Choose to lose and forget calories

The Harcombe Diet: Stop Counting the Calories and Start Losing Weight,
by Zoe Harcombe, Exisle Publishing, $22.99.
I'm always planning to lose weight, tone up ... the problem is I don't really like dieting, and I hate exercising. When another diet book landed on my desk I was about to put it aside when I saw praise for the book from a Sunday Mail journalist: "I lost 4 kilos in 5 days" emblazoned on the front cover. Now that doesn't sound too bad.
At least it got me inside the book. And it was there I became convinced this was the diet for me: bacon and eggs for breakfast, hell, how hard can that be?
I convinced two mates we could do it and we looked forward to a summer parading the beaches in our itsy bitsy teeny weeny bikinis.
Zoe Harcombe, author of The Harcombe Diet: Stop Counting Calories & Start Losing Weight, had us eating protein for five days - no cups of tea in the morning, no alcohol in the evenings, no bread, no fruit, no potatoes.
I started off on Monday with a hiss and a roar and scrambled eggs. Lunch saw me eating salad and salmon and for dinner, a nice onion, tomato and pea curry with brown rice.
The next morning it was scrambled eggs again. Now I have never been a fan of scrambled eggs, I like eggs, but I like them fried - in butter. I did manage to find time to cook bacon and eggs once, and it was fabulous. But I have to say, after five days, eggs smeggs, I'm over them.
By midweek I was tired, my legs felt like lead, but I couldn't decide if that was the diet or day light saving kicking in.
I never felt hungry and I didn't crave sweets. But I did find the diet limiting. However, for just five days it wasn't too difficult.
We never waivered once, although Thursday was a challenge. It's our regular Coronation St and a few glasses of wine night. We still caught Coro but it didn't seem the same without the wine.
By Friday I felt great. Again, I couldn't decide if it was the diet, or the fact I knew we were weighing in that afternoon and then having a glass of wine.
However, I was surprised. I didnt want wine. I didn't want chocolate. All I craved was a baked potato.
We weighed in and between us we lost 8.5kg. It wasn't the five kilos each we had set our hopes on, but it wasn't bad for just five days.
Phase two is meant to keep you losing weight, although, obviously, at a slower pace than phase one. It brings in the carbs, but you can't mix carbs with protein. No steak and potatoes. And avoid processed foods.
As for phrase three, you can have your cake and eat it, too. Phase three is maintaining your goal weight.
As long as you are sensible, according to Harcombe, you will be all right.
One of the big things that comes across in this book is foods that cause cravings. Avoid these and that bikini is yours.