Dieters are flocking to the latest trend on the scene: the Overnight Diet, a rapid weight-loss plan that claims you can actually slim down while you sleep.
American obesity doctor Caroline Apovian, of the Boston Medical Center, just penned a new book, "The Overnight Diet," advising that dieters eat a high-protein diet for six days, followed by one day of a liquid diet. That followed by lots of sleep (with no exercise necessary) equals a slimmer you, up to two pounds per night and eight pounds in one week -- at least that's the promise. The book is published April 9 and available internationally.
While mounting research suggests that more sleep can help you lose weight, skeptics say the diet is all a little too good to be true. "In order to lose two pounds of body fat overnight you'd have to burn up about six or seven thousand calories and there's just no way to do that by sleeping," Keith Ayoob, director of the nutrition clinic at the college's Rose F. Kennedy Center, told ABC News.
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"It goes without saying that anything being touted as an 'overnight diet' is complete and total bunk," writes fitness blog Blisstree. "But I'm gonna say it anyway because people still fall for the allure of quick, fast, and easy crash diets."
Apovian doesn't entirely disagree that the weight loss is water, at least intially, and the diet does make room for a variety of healthy foods, including some good carbs and plenty of fruit. The liquid diet day consists of all-you-can-drink smoothies that Apovian claims are specifically engineered to produce a reduction in the body's production of insulin. If you're bloated or store fat around your midsection, insulin is to blame, she says, and following the diet can help release that stored water and salt weight -- leaving you slimmer and feeling healthier.