FAQ

With the science-based help that iDiet provides, almost everyone can be successful on the program. It’s all about learning to work with – rather than against – your natural food instincts. Weight loss success does require some effort – even buying new food can be a challenge if you don’t know where the items are located in the grocery store! Trying a new recipe can be fun but takes time and thought. However, the results of your efforts are so dramatic that you’ll love this kind of “work”.

The book is full of helpful materials and guidance, but most dieters find it challenging to apply the iDiet principles alone. A Certified Group Leader who is trained to provide step-by-step practical guidance leads our iDiet groups. The Group Leader offers personalized support and advice while you learn to apply key iDiet principles. The videos in our OnDemand program break everything down for you to make it easy. And our menus have been updated since the book was published.

iDiet believes in whole foods. We do offer some processed food options as part of your overall food plans, but we do not require that you eat them. They are options.

The only processed food options we include in our menus are those that are designed to be better for weight loss than the real thing. For example, low-carb breads and high-fiber pastas help you to enjoy familiar foods such as sandwiches while getting more fiber and controlling blood sugar and hunger spikes. And low-sugar protein bars help you carry a portable snack that could save you from eating something truly bad if you are presented with temptations while you are hungry or stressed.

Likewise, we advise that if you have a sweet tooth, any of the FDA-approved no-calorie sweeteners can help you enjoy your foods while staying within your calorie target as well as within our proprietary nutrition ratios that encourage healthy weight loss. These include plant-derived sweeteners such as Stevia or Lo-Han, and the forms of rare but naturally-occurring sugars that resist digestion, such as Xylitol, Erythritol and Allulose. But you have the option to forgo using them.

Yes. iDiet offers our regular EasyPlans designed for people who enjoy foods like pizza and burritos. We also offer a Vegetarian version that can be modified to be Vegan, and a Gluten-free version.

We base your calorie target on each person’s individual energy requirements, so there is no one-size-fits-all answer to this. Our goal is to lose up to 2 pounds per week, which is the maximum healthy rate for weight loss that preserves your metabolism and your lean muscle mass. We do not believe in crash dieting or exceeding unsafe calorie ranges to achieve faster results.

Yes. The good news is, we make healthy eating enjoyable, and we help you retrain your brain to prefer it. Once you have reached your goal weight and are ready to maintain the success you’ve achieved, we do have guidelines for how to do it sustainably. We also help you to maintain without waking up old cravings and old eating patterns that caused weight gain in the first place. It’s important to remember that losing weight is not an interval of temporary suffering and then you go back to old eating patterns that caused weight gain. Maintaining weight loss requires eating for your new size, and maintaining health and good nutrition for a lifetime.

We do offer one-on-one coaching with some of our senior Group Leaders. Please write to info@theidiet.com to inquire.

You can re-take an iDiet class as a refresher, and benefit from the group energy that comes with learning together. As a graduate, you can also take OnTrack Plus. OnTrack Plus is welcoming to all graduates now, whether you are maintaining or actively trying to lose weight.

The differences are:
1) In a regular iDiet class, you get group support and lessons. So if you’ve forgotten how to make iDiet work for you, a class is a good option.
2) In OnTrack Plus, the focus is on group coaching, group sharing, and special weekly topics related to motivation, meaning, and the psychology of weight loss. We do not have lessons, on the assumption you have already taken one or more iDiet classes, and also because you have continued access to your prior class recordings. Another aspect of OnTrack Plus is that it’s open-ended, meaning it doesn’t stop, until you cancel. So you don’t have to worry about being tied to a 10-week timeline.

So if you already feel you understand iDiet principles and your challenge is motivation, and you need to be enrolled in a group to borrow some enthusiasm and understand your weight psychology better, OnTrack Plus is a good choice.

But if you need to totally reboot and start your educational journey over, taking an Engage or Advance class again as a first reboot step would be helpful.

You can also take OnTrack Plus to get the group coaching, and to re-watch the videos in your account from your Engage and Advance meetings on your own. We always recommend re-watching your videos regardless, because it’s impossible to absorb or remember everything from one viewing.