I am so excited to share my thoughts and experience on GM (General Motors) Diet.. Just a brief background, it is said that GM Diet was developed by the General Motors management with the intention of facilitating wellness and fitness for employees. 


I've always been curious about it since a colleague from my previous job introduced it to us and lost about 10 lbs in 7 days following the diet plan.. We even photocopied her 2-page document but I think I lost it. Some colleagues were so much thrilled to have the same amount of weight loss and just jumped right in.. However, we kinda have a stressful and long-hour 9-730 job so most were not able to keep it and gave up after Day 1 :P


The thing is... its not as easy as it seems! This diet plan would make you develop either love or hate for fruits and vegetables.. or completely hate dieting at all..

I've been fat all my life and this was my 3rd diet attempt. First was 5 months in preparation of my 18th birthday.. From 160, I dropped to 138 with no rice, soda and chips diet and dancing 30mins every other day to Jlo and Carmen Electra. But I gained it all back when I started eating rice again after my 18th birthday party. It ballooned some more when I started working in Singapore. My 2nd attempt was during a Weight Loss Challenge here in Singapore. The organizers were from Herbalife and those who signed up for the challenge met every week trying to outdo each other in losing weight. I didn't do Herbalife yet but I only had grilled chicken and salad and running every other day. After 6 weeks, I only lost 3lbs from that and tried Herbalife for 3 weeks. But I only lost a total of 4lbs from both and was not able to maintain it because I got frustrated with how slow it was. Haha I know that's how narrow minded I was back then when it comes to Health and Wellness..


Don't get me wrong. I am an advocate of fashion in all sizes and shape and I still wear fashionable items and my confidence is still in me.


But what triggered my need to lose weight? I gained so much weight back in the Philippines. This has got to be my largest frame and highest weight in my entire life. I lacked exercise, I ate when Im stressed, I forget to drink water while at work, I lacked sleep on weekdays and it didn't help at all that Banchetto is just behind my previous office every Wednesday and Thursday nights. I'm having irregularities in my menstruation. and I know that the gyne would tell me to lose weight, exercise and sleep better to improve my hormonal imbalance. I noticed that my necklines also darkened even worse! I saw the difference in my chin, jawline and cheeks from photos from one year back and most of the clothes no longer fit! 


With all those in mind, I told myself that my 25th year birthday will be my deadline. Since the Lenten season and my resignation from my previous job, I started shifting slowly to a healthier lifestyle. I skipped rice for most of my meals, sometimes I substituted pasta or bread (I actually prefer these two over rice). But then I am a self-confessed carnivore, I have a sweet tooth and I am a snacker and vegetables are not my thing.. Since I came back in Singapore, I've decided to step up a notch my quest for healthier lifestyle by getting 8-9 hours of sleep (huh sometimes I reach 13hrs haha I know that's bad). I also started jogging 3x a week.. but for 1 month, all it seem to do was to maintain my weight since I didn't cut down much on the calories..


My friend Vishnu is preparing for his sister's arrival and another friend's wedding. He is determined to start the GM thing and our other friend Pat joined him.. I read through the mechanics and rationale behind the diet and I realized why not? It will help me lose weight, kickstart my slow metabolism and force me to eat something healthy. After some thought, my mind told me there's nothing to lose if you try, in fact I have a lot to lose haha, so I also signed up for it. Goals are better reached if you have buddies right?  I didn't have much expectations, but I also wanted to prove self-control and discipline..


So here's a day by day account just so others who will do GM diet can also manage their expectations. Everyday, I also learned about my unhealthy eating patterns and how to overcome it.

Tuesday - Day 1: All fruits except bananas.. 

Morning weigh-in 178.8.. (Normally, I'm not comfortable to discuss my weight but what the heck its just a number)



Its an all fruits day! Hooray! Still not so bad.. I enjoy fruits when they are served cut and ready-to-eat..  (And I ate a variety.. guava, melon, honeydew, watermelon, mangoes and grapes for snacking. I've never had so much fruits in my entire life.


My brother ate roasted pork and rice that day along with the 3 of us haha.. so tempting.. good thing I'm not much into roasted pork..


I usually sleep at 3 am.. but around 1130.. i'm already experiencing some headaches and hunger pangs.. I realized maybe I was really consuming a lot of calories and my body had a hard time to adjust to the sudden drop of calorie intake..

Wednesday - Day 2: Mashed potato for brekkie and all vegetables for the rest of the day.. Imma pretend to be a rabbit day.. I forgot to weigh myself in the morning.. oops.. 

or i may have purposely forget it.. cause if i gained i wouldn't push through with this day.. my most dreaded day.. Mashed potato for breakfast.. I.AM.NOT.A.FAN even with KFC gravy on it.. and as i said, vegetables are not my thing.. For me, it's meant to be consumed as a side dish with a fish or its meant to be cooked with minced pork or tofu at least.. but no it should be the only food to consume..


Mixed peas, carrots and corn for afternoon snack.. which I also hate.. isn't it supposed to be a side dish to a steak or pork chop?





This was such a grumpy day for me. I hated all kinds of smell from food. Haha! I hated it when I hear about food. Pat and Vishnu makes it really hard to stick to this GM thing. They keep imagining food! haha NOT HELPFUL! Yet I realized I can survive even with the temptation of TJ Hotdogs on the table, even with my Nutella and Banana Walnut Bread combo keeps saying "Hi"


Pat cooked chopsuey for dinner.. I smelled and looked at it distastefully but I'm thankful coz it was really good.


I weighed about 11pm and boom! 179.2 lbs! What just happened? After all the sacrifice? I would only gain more lbs?


I knew it, diets don't work! It was so easy to just give up right there but I went on and shrugged it off, maybe I drank too much water, maybe my body hasn't adjusted yet. I realized that there's no such thing as an overnight result and that it is just a test of patience and discipline.


I realized veggies are more filling than fruits, the hunger pangs diminished and the headaches lessened.

Thursday - Day 3: Mix of fruits and vegetables except banana and potato.. Morning Weigh-in: 175.5. Weeeeee! It's working! 

I am the only person at home for the rest of the day.. No one cooked a veggie meal and no one prepared cut fruit.. It was so tempting to just have sandwich and cheese slice so I won't have to prepare my own veggie meal. I kept passing by the opened bag of chips on top of the microwave oven.. But i realized I already made it through Day 2 which is supposed to be the toughest day and I already lost 3 lbs! It is working and I won't put to waste what I lost in the past 2 days.


So I sliced some eggplants and cooked a veggie meal for myself. tossed some eggplants, cabbage and Baguio beans and added a spoon of oyster sauce and teriyaki sauce.


Secret unlocked! I realized I am a convenience eater. I don't take time to check what I eat. I love buying take outs. I am lazy to cook and prepare my own food. Hah! Day 1 and 2 was easy coz my buddies prepared our food. 


The rest of the day was easier. No more grumpiness and hunger pangs.. just temptations. So I decided to walk around the block and buy some cut fruits from the nearby stall. And buy bananas and milk for Day 4. Buying and planning and advance makes its easier to stick to healthy eating! Boom another secret unlocked!


Night came and Pat arrived telling us he's dropping out as he already ate pasta, ice cream and all to his heart's and belly's content with his friends. Hah another test! It was so easy to also drop out.. but.. I remember my admired stylist Liz Uy's quoting this the day before in Twitter "Self-control and delayed gratification are useful arts to learn" Hah! another secret unlocked!


I'm not sure.. but I don't think I can do GM over and over after this.. but I think I should be more restrictive especially on weekdays. I am designing my own health plan..

Friday - Day 4: 8 bananas and 3 glasses of milk

Morning Weigh-in: 173.5. Weeeeee! It's working! 


 versus 


For my first meal, while my supposedly diet buddies consumed a whole full meal of ham, bacon, egg and rice in front of me, I was consuming 3 pcs of my saging na saba very slowly haha..


I fried 1 saging saba for midday snack. We usually eat out on Friday nights so I thought it would be a test. Good thing they chose KFC and while they ate, I contented myself by shopping for accessories! Yey thank God for GSS (The Great Singapore Sale).


I packed two cavendish bananas in my bag just in case. Yet we were almost home when I felt hungry and ate them at home.


Vishnu's sister Krishna arrived from Manila by midnight. She tried GM too and all other diets.. however, she shared that her mentor told them saging na saba is not good for GM! boom!


Oh well at least I still managed to follow the banana and milk combo. I'm still on a roll! It was actually an easy day. Good thing I don't have lactose intolerance and I love bananas.




The post is getting quite lengthy already.. I have to save some more space for Part 2, End Results and Conclusion! Follow this link