Keto + South Beach: Lose your belly

Drop 1 pound a day!

Seems like only yesterday the South Beach Diet was all the rage—and for good reason! Women dropped massive amounts of weight on the cardiologist created plan, and they felt healthier than ever. The problem? It simply didn’t work long-term. Not even for its creator, Arthur Agatston, M.D.: “I would eventually ‘cheat’—on my own diet!—when I was stressed or traveling and definitely during the holidays,” he admits. “I got pretty frustrated at my poor self-control, not to mention the return of my belly!”

What led to Dr. Agatston’s diet-revolutionizing “aha” moment? Blueberry pie! “After a late-night binge, I dove into the research and realized that there was a good reason I was cheating,” he tells FIRST. “I wasn’t giving my body enough time to reset my insulin levels.” While the traditional South Beach Diet temporarily lowers levels of the

belly fat–packing hormone insulin over the course of two weeks, it doesn’t measurably improve the body’s ability to utilize insulin—so as soon as you reintroduce insulin-spiking foods like fruit and grains, the body starts storing fat again. Dr. Agatston’s research revealed that changing the way the body processes insulin takes longer than the two weeks of low-carb eating his original diet called for. “It’s clear now that it takes at least four weeks for the body to switch out of fat-storing mode and start burning fat for fuel,” he explains. “The original South Beach Phase One simply wasn’t long enough.”

Dr. Agatston’s new plan combines the strongest parts of the original South Beach Diet with the best practices of the keto diet—making both better. The new approach emphasizes the good protein, fats and low-starch carbs from the South Beach plan, but it incorporates a longer initial low-carb phase to help the body relearn how to process insulin and burn stored fat for energy. Extending the low-carb portion of the plan is key, says Ryan Lowery, Ph.D., co-author of The Ketogenic Bible. He explains, “When you eat low amounts of carbohydrates, the body releases less insulin, which allows you to break down body fat to use as energy.”

Dr. Agatston also made sure to keep plenty of healthy carbs and protein in the food formula, sidestepping one of the most common problems women have with the keto diet: low moods and lack of energy caused by restricting too many nutrients. “This enables us to get the fat-burning benefits of the keto diet,” he says. “But it’s easier to start and easier to sustain as a lifestyle.”

The proof is in the results: Dr. Agatston reports that his newly reimagined plan speeds weight loss even more effectively—and most of those dropped pounds come from the belly. “Since starting my new approach in 2018, I’ve maintained a 20-pound weight loss—almost all from my belly—with surprising ease,” says Dr. Agatston. And women FIRST spoke to echoed the doctor’s success, with some women losing as much as 8 pounds every seven days! Vivian Tordeau, 55, lost at least a pound a day. “The weight loss was astronomical,” she raves. “I’ve never felt better in my life, and I think I look at least 10 years younger!”

Just as nice as the lower number on the scale is the slew of health benefits that keto-friendly South Beach dieters rave about, including better sleep, more energy, fewer headaches and even less joint pain and acid reflux. “Many health issues, such as brain fog, irritable bowel symptoms and skin conditions like acne and psoriasis go away,” Dr. Agatston says. And best of all, he reports that most women begin to see these benefits after just three days!

Ready to start your transformation? Read on for the plan that will help you look and feel decades younger.

“You get the fat-burning benefits of the keto diet, but it’s easier to sustain

as a lifestyle” —Arthur Agatston,

M.D.