Weight Loss & Diet Plans

The South Beach Diet Supercharged

The South Beach Diet Supercharged: What It Is

Five years after the publication of his wildly popular South Beach Diet (which has sold some 23 million copies), author Arthur Agatston, MD, has released an updated version called The South Beach Diet Supercharged. The diet outlined in the new book is essentially the same as that found in The South Beach Diet, with some additional foods allowed. What's new is the addition of 20 daily minutes of interval walking or total-body toning exercises designed to "rev up your metabolism" and result in faster weight loss and better health.

After listening to his patients and getting feedback on his web site, Agatston says, he decided to update the South Beach Diet plan with more flexibility in the earlier phases along with the new exercise component.

"We learned about lots of struggles people were having with weight loss and exercise, from sitting all day and getting injured when they go to the gym [and] boredom with routine exercises, to hitting plateaus and yo-yo dieting," he says. "That inspired me to figure out a way to safely burn more calories without a huge time commitment."

Some studies have shown that losing weight requires close to an hour a day of moderate exercise, more time than many people can easily fit into their lives. So Agatston teamed with University of Miami exercise physiologist Joseph Signorile, PhD, in search of fast-track fitness, and discovered the merits of interval training.

Just as a car uses more gas when you start and stop, interval training burns more calories than walking at a steady pace, Agatson says. Further, adding high-intensity intervals makes muscles work harder. And, as a bonus, Agatson says, "time goes by much faster while you are exercising."

The South Beach Diet Supercharged also includes lots of practical advice, and strategies for maintaining weight loss. It includes plenty of tips, success stories, answers to frequently asked questions, menu plans, and 40 new recipes. The South Beach Diet Supercharged is available as a book, audio compact disk (narrated by the author), and a workout DVD.