You might have heard about the 5 Factor Diet, but does it really work? I decided to investigate.

This Five Factor Diet was originally designed by Harley Pasternak for Hollywood celebrities. He made it easy to follow by using the number 5 in various ways in the diet.

For example, you should have five meals every day. The theory there is that your body will keep a high metabolism going, unlike starvation diets, where the body slows down its metabolism and defeats the fat-burning purpose.

All 5 meals are low in fat and calories. The meal plans emphasize lean meat, carbohydrates with low glycemic index, fiber, and lots of water to drink.

For convenience, the meals only have five ingredients and take only five minutes to prepare. That sure is easy.

The number five also comes into play with five workouts per day, consisting of 5 exercises each. This comes to a total of 25 minutes of exercise per day, but in small, manageable time periods.

There is also one cheat day per week built in to the diet, which is really good for keeping up your spirits and allowing you to have some normally forbidden foods.

There is a website for the 5 factor diet where you can go for help and support as you work through the diet plan. In addition, of course, you can read Pasternak’s book for more information.

In my opinion, the diet, although it may seem gimmicky with all the 5’s, actually is a very healthy plan and will teach you good habits that you can take with you even after the diet is over.

Many diet experts say that eating more small meals per day is healthier and better for losing weight than just eating 3 meals per day. And who can argue with eating lean meat, sticking with low glycemic index carbs, consuming lots of fiber, and drinking plenty of water? These are all common sense factors in any sensible eating plan.

In addition, having your exercise in 5-minute periods makes it a lot easier to get your daily amount of workouts.

And I think that including a cheat day every week is great, because you know that people cheat on their diets. There is no way to stick to a diet all the time. This way, the cheating is controlled and does not sabotage the whole diet.

I think that the Five Factor Diet is actually very smart and makes the basics of dieting easy to follow. The five factor diet lasts for five weeks, but the habits that it teaches you will hopefully last for a lifetime.

Read how to loose weight, learn how to avoid the typical trap of the weight loss.