A summary of my SLD routine, since people have asked.
This info is based on the hard cover edition of the book - I highly recommend checking out the new paperback edition of the book as it's been revised with a lot of new information about which oils to pick, etc.
SLD Basics
I first heard about this method in an article in the New York Times:
Basically, this psychology professor at UC Berkeley, Seth Roberts, started reading articles in science journals that reported the results on the weights of rats when they were fed various diets of different flavors. These studies concluded that the more plainly-flavored the calories in a particular diet, the less the rats ate. He wondered if this would hold true for humans as well and started experimenting by taking flavorless calories himself (120 calories worth of table sugar in a liter bottle of water) at least an hour away from any meals. After trying it a few times, he realized his appetite was much reduced when it came to meals, and with less appetite, he ate less. (You can read the papers he wrote summarizing his results and the ones he based his research on
here.)
After following this sugar water regime himself for a few months, a friend told him he could also get flavorless calories by taking a tablespoon of oil instead of sugar in water. The oil method has the benefit of being healthier (less of a insulin shock than the sugar and there are some really healthy oils out there, like flaxseed, walnut, fish oil, that have other benefits) and quicker to take than the sugar water (which should be sipped slowly). He switched to oil and kept on losing weight.
The key is that the calories you take have to be flavorless (or near flavorless - the sugar water is barely sweet at that concentration) and that you need to take them at least an hour away from your meal times, so that your body doesn't associate the flavorless calories with the flavors you get from your meal.
Here's a short summary of guidelines contained in his book
Recommended amounts of flavorless calories are as follows (p. 56 of hard cover book):
Amount of Weight to Lose Sugar in Water (dissolved in 0.5-1 Liters of water) Sugar Calories Oil Oil Calories Total Calories
< 20 lbs 1 Tbsp 45 1 Tbsp 120 165
20-40 lbs 2 Tbsp 90 2 Tbsp 240 330
> 40 lbs 3 Tbsp 135 2 Tbsp 240 375 You can take both sugar and oil (as per the above - never at the same time though, e.g. oil in morning, sugar in the evening/afternoon - do not take them together), just take oil, or just take sugar. I'm just sticking with the oil because sugar tends to make me jittery. The Tablespoon should be a full cooking tablespoon (15 mL), not a silverware tablespoon. Some people have had success by taking oil early in the morning (first thing when they wake up and then they wait an hour before they eat/drink/brush teeth) or right before they go to bed (can't brush your teeth afterward though, so I don't do this). The amounts of flavorless calories listed above are also just recommendations. Some people find that taking more flavorless calories initially results in greater appetite suppression.
My own schedule is as follows:
Breakfast: 7:00-7:30
First Oil Dose: 1 Tbl of Flax Oil around 11:00-11:30 AM
Lunch: 2:00-2:30
Second Oil Dose: 1 Tbl of Flax Oil around 5:00-5:30 PM
Dinner: whenever I get home, 7:30-8:00
If I know that I'm going to miss the afternoon or morning dose because I'll be busy, I just take both tablespoons at once.
Again, when you take the oil or sugar is completely up to you - most people play around with their dosing for awhile before they find something that works for them.
The other things I do besides taking 1 tablespoon of flaxseed oil twice a day are
1.) track the foods I eat using Sparkpeople and Fitday (sort of like Weight Watchers Online, but free)
http://www.sparkpeople.com/index.asp
http://www.fitday.com/
I do this because even with the appetite suppression I get from the SLD oil, which is substantial, I have a tendency to eat a whole dish of food because I have poor portion control. Keeping a range of calories that I try to hit every day reminds me to watch my portions. I've tried food tracking before in past diets with poor results because the reduction in calories make me very hungry. The nice thing about the SLD oil is that I'm simply much less hungry. It's basically cut out all snacking for me (particularly evening snacking and carb snacking (I love bread), my great weaknesses).
2.) Got a Brita Water Pitcher and keep it at my desk at work. I have a tendency to get really busy/involved in what I'm doing each day and keeping the pitcher of water at my desk reminds me to drink water (Yes, I am so lazy/forgetful that getting up to get a cup of water on a regular basis is too much of a pain. ^_^;;) You may find, as I did, that a lot of your "hunger" is actually just your body telling you that it's dehydrated.
3.) Take a walk on the weekends. It's not a fast walk - I only go about 4-5 miles total. I actually hate exercise and sweating in general, and I have better things to do with my time. ^_^;; But I'm finding I have a lot more energy now and I actually feel a need to walk some of it off. I don't know whether the increase in energy is because I'm just carrying around less weight, or if it's a benefit from the oil, but it's a strange feeling since exercise has never been a big part of my life.
This is the first diet I've ever been on where I haven't been hungry, although again, it's not really a diet - it's a way to suppress your appetite. You don't lose weight because of the oil/sugar - you lose weight because you're eating less because you're less hungry. It's still easy to overeat if you're like me and just like food. This is why I track my calories and try to hit a certain range each day - it's a good reminder to myself that my eyes are bigger than my stomach.
The other really crucial thing that I wish I had known about when I first started SLD is the importance of Omega-3s and essential fatty acids. I realize now that, pre-SLD, I was barely consuming any essential fatty acids, let alone approaching the quantities that authorities now recommend. Ever since I switched from Extra-Light Olive Oil as my SLD dose to Flax Oil back in mid-July, I've noticed a really surprising improvement in my mood and energy level. That doctors are now prescribing Omega-3 oils for depression and bipolar disorder (though I've never been diagnosed with either) doesn't really surprise me, given my personal experience. I recommend that if you do choose to take your SLD dose as oil that you pick an oil that is high in Omega-3s, like flax or fish oil. Here's a government table that ranks the oils in terms of Omega 3 content:
Omega-3 ranking of oils Other good places to check out for more information concerning the diet are
the book (but get the new edition!)
the SLD forumsand a
series of informative blog posts by someone who has lost 72 lbs on the diet.