17 Day Diet: Dr. Michael Moreno's Plan for Weight Loss in Four Cycles Goes Viral

April 7, 2011 — -- When Rachel Wilcox, a 38-year-old mother of three, gained weight after having her third child, she tried Dr. Michael Moreno's 17 Day Diet.

In 17 days, she'd lost 13 pounds and said it wasn't hard at all.

"The food choices were easy and with all the weight loss, it motivated me to try another 17 days," she told ABC News' "Good Morning America." "I lost 36 pounds in four months."

Others have similar stories of remarkable weight loss, including Mary Jo Macomber, who lost 51 pounds, and David Horner, who's lost 22 pounds since January.

17 Day Diet: Read the first chapter.

They all lost the weight on Moreno's plan, which has become the latest diet craze. It's creating lots of buzz.

For Macomber, the diet has become a family affair.

"I have six sisters and they all live around the country, and so we're all on the diet ... and totally we've lot 111 pounds," she said.

The diet seems to have gone viral. It's on Facebook and Twitter, and of course, there's a DVD.

Moreno, the diet's creator and author of the book, "The 17 Day Diet," said people who follow his plan will achieve results that will last for a lifetime.

The plan has four cycles. Each cycle consists of 17 days where dieters vary the carbs, proteins, fruits and other kinds of foods they eat in order to stimulate their metabolism and promote weight loss.

Each cycle unfolds in 17 days because that's right before the time when the body starts to recognize the diet as a habit and metabolism starts to slow as a result, Moreno said. Dieters also walk for 17 minutes a day. Moreno himself walks with his patients in San Diego.

While the diet doesn't completely eliminate certain foods, there are some dos and don'ts: Use spices. Use fruit instead of sugar. Use garlic, and cinnamon, and choose mustard rather than mayonnaise. And no fruit or certain types of carbs are allowed after 2 p.m.