The Fat Smash Diet: The Last Diet You'll Ever Need Study Guide

The Fat Smash Diet is the book-length version of the nutrition and fitness regimen that Dr. Ian K. Smith has used with great success and to widespread acclaim on VH1’s popular weight-loss reality show, Celebrity Fit Club . In the book, Smith outlines a simple weight loss plan that foregoes trendy gimmicks and focuses instead on a rigorous, commonsense approach. Dr. Smith avoids delving into the emotional complexities that many other experts regard as the chief component of weight problems and instead emphasizes the physical mechanics and bodily processes that have been consistently linked to successful weight loss efforts, both in scholarly research and in Smith’s experiences working with a diverse range of clients.

Smith’s Fat Smash Diet plan proceeds in four distinct, but interrelated phases that are designed to carry the reader through not only the initial weight loss, but also through a lifetime of healthy weight maintenance and beneficial nutrition and exercise habits. The plan is geared to be flexible and adaptable to the ups and downs, changes and transitions that characterize real life. As such, Dr. Smith has included some latitude for social situations and stressful times that may impede one’s ability to stick to a healthy fitness and nutrition program. If a person who has reached the maintenancephase of the plan regresses, slips up, or otherwise regains weight, Dr. Smith recommends returning to the first phase of the diet for a 10-day period of rehabilitation. This unusual level of flexibility distinguishes the Fat Smash Diet from other, less realistic weight loss plans, and positions individuals using this approach to develop the skills and strategies that are necessary to achieve and maintain weight loss in the long-term.

The Fat Smash Diet plan begins with a relatively strict phase of limited food choices and regular exercise. Dr. Smith refers to this nine-day period as the“detox” phase of the diet, during which a simple, largely-plant-based eating plan is designed to clear the body of unhealthy toxins. In addition, the mandated avoidance of all fast food, fried food, coffee, desserts, alcohol, and soda during this period is geared to help participants begin to loosen the grip of all of the bad eating habits that may have been ingrained over the course of a lifetime. This strict eating regimen is accompanied by a fitness routine that consists of thirty minutes of cardiovascular exercise five days a week.

Each subsequent phase of the Fat Smash Diet plan builds on the foundation established in the“detox” phase of the program, with a number of additional food and beverage options added during Phases 2, 3, and 4. In phase 2 (“The Foundation”), a number of the strict limitations imposed during the initial phase are eased, with program participants regaining the option to chose foods such as lean meats, seafood, eggs, dairy products, cold cereals, and coffee. The exercise requirements are also increased slightly during phase 2, with participants required to up their five-times-a-week cardiovascular workout sessions to 35 minutes each.

By the fourth and final phase of the Fat Smash Diet (“The Temple”), the food choices available to diet participants have increased considerably. In keeping with his stated goal of gearing the diet toward real-life success, Dr. Smith has added food and beverage choices ranging from pizza to pancakes, with daily desserts and occasional alcohol consumption both allowed in moderation. However, the weekly exercise requirement during this lifelong maintenance phase has been increased to 5 sessions of one hour each in order to compensate for the increased caloric consumption. Dr. Smith also reiterates the near-inevitability of plateaus and backsliding in any long-term health and fitness plan, reminding readers to return to the strict “detox” plan outlined in phase 1 for nine days if they experience a ten-to-fifteen percent weight regain.