Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 03-05-2008, 07:08 AM   #1  
Junior Member
Thread Starter
 
Dies Irae's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 8

S/C/G: 232.4/227.2/130

Height: 5'2"

Talking Its only been a week and Im already changing plans!

Last week I decided I was going to finally start dieting again. Over the years it had been off and on, sometimes I was really into it, sometimes not. I had followed a number of different plans with success but all of them seemed to fail at one point, so I always end up trying something new.

My normal eating habits when Im not dieting are horrible. Im one of the ones that eats for taste, and gets the largest portion avaliable not because I'm hungry but because for some reason I want more. Also dealing with 9 years of depression I became a comfort eater, when Im sad I reach for those sweets.

When I decided I was going to diet last week I decided to do the 30 day juice fast to get it started. I would start out awsome in the morning, I would stick right to it, until it got to the late afternoon, then I would decide I didnt want to diet anymore, and I would pig out on other food. But the next morning I would try again, and the same thing would happen and so on. I was getting obsessed with loosing the weight, so if I did go off track I would feel so guilty and even get sad. After a week and a half of trying this I decided it definately wasnt for me.

So these past few days I have decided to try something new. Iv decided to try for 900-1000 calories a day. I know to some that doesnt seem healthy given that I am quite heavy, but as Iv been following this the past two days I have felt stuffed after every meal. I feel that this plan is definately something I can stick to because Im getting the required amount of servings from each food group.

I have never felt this good in a long time! I actually have energy now, Im actually motivated to stay on track. And not only that, since I started dieting last week and bouncing between the juice fast and the 1000 calorie plan I have lost 6 pounds

I set up little mini goals every 10 pounds, and when I reach them I will reward myself by doing something that makes me feel good and beautiful. Wether its get your hair done, or getting a new outfit, I think rewards are a good way to stay on track.
Dies Irae is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-05-2008, 07:20 AM   #2  
Made of Starstuff
 
Lovely's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: New England
Posts: 8,731

Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dies Irae View Post
So these past few days I have decided to try something new. Iv decided to try for 900-1000 calories a day. I know to some that doesnt seem healthy given that I am quite heavy, but as Iv been following this the past two days I have felt stuffed after every meal. I feel that this plan is definately something I can stick to because Im getting the required amount of servings from each food group.
This might be healthier than nothing but juice for 30 days, but I must STRONGLY advise against this sort of plan... 900-1000 calories a day is under the recommended amount even for the normally TINIEST of women. Granted, every once in awhile we may get under 1000 calories a day, but on average our calories should rarely to never drop below 1200 unless properly supervised by a doctor.

Not to mention that your body needs more calories in order to function properly even without exercising. This sort of long term diet could cause a lot more harm than good. I worry that you may be setting yourself up for a huge crash or organ damage.

I beg you to reconsider. We're all here to support you, and we all WANT you to succeed, but we want for you to do it in a healthy way. In a way that you'll be able to continue for the rest of your life.
Lovely is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-05-2008, 07:21 AM   #3  
Simply Filling Technique
 
pamatga's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Atlanta GA
Posts: 1,352

Smile Good luck with your plans

Many of us have changed our plans. Consider it a part of the learning experience and evolving as a new and thinner you.

Make sure you are getting enough of all the food groups. If you like to eat a lot (and who doesn't) there are plans on this site that will help you with that. Your calorie range is low, even for your weight. At some point, once you begin exercising, you might want to consider eating a few hundred calories more. First things first though, right?

Keep up the great attitude and you will be losing in no time.
pamatga is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-05-2008, 07:47 AM   #4  
3 + years maintaining
 
rockinrobin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 12,070

S/C/G: 287/120's

Height: 5 foot nuthin'

Default

Yeah, that juice plan didn't sound so sustainable to me.

But then again, neither does 900 calories. The thing is we need something we can STICK with longterm. 900 calories, day in day out just can't provide you with enough nutrients, energy and SATISFACTION. There is no reason on earth that you shouldn't be able to lose weight while eating, say 1400 calories. Those extra calories WILL provide you with enough nutrients, energy and SATISFACTION. Those 1400 calories, if healthy ones and divided properly throughout the day, will keep your stomach full, thus KEEPING you on plan. And that is key. Just like the juice diet. You would start off well and then by the end of the day, you'd overeat. Same thing with the 900 calories. Just something I'd like you to consider........

Anyway, I wish you the very best of luck as you sort this out and find the "right" plan for you.
rockinrobin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-05-2008, 08:15 AM   #5  
Former Quitter
 
GirlyGirlSebas's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 5,500

S/C/G: 310/310/180

Height: 5'7

Default

Many of us have changed plans throughout our journey as we search for what works for us and a way of eating we can follow for a lifetime.

One word of caution for you on your chosen calorie count....not only is it not the healthiest of options, but it won't work for losing a lot of weight and keeping it off for a lifetime. Initially, you might lose some weight quickly. However, your body will soon go into a starvation mode and stop losing the fat. Your body is like a well oiled machine that requires fuel to function. Without the fuel (calories) required daily by your body, your body will cease to function correctly and will not burn off the fat. I encourage you to start off with a higher calorie count....maybe in the neighborhood of 1500-1600 calories. You might be very pleasantly surprised at the weight you can lose while still consuming a higher number of calories. If you don't feel like eating a high volume of food, why not add some healthy higher calorie options.....like some peanut butter, a handful of nuts, some shredded cheese on your salad, etc.

Your plan to have a mini-reward for every 10 pounds is a fabulous idea! I look forward to "seeing" you get many such rewards on your journey.
GirlyGirlSebas is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-05-2008, 09:08 AM   #6  
The Radiant One
 
fiberlover's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Upstate NY
Posts: 2,751

S/C/G: 250/142/135

Height: 5'2"

Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dies Irae View Post

My normal eating habits when Im not dieting are horrible.
This is the one sentence that stuck out to me. It's not your diet you need to change so much as your eating habits in general. This statement says to me that you think of dieting as something temporary.
The most successful people here on this board have changed their lifestyles and ways of eating, more so than just dieting to get the weight off.
Read through the goal thread, and you will see that common theme running through their stories.

Nothing wrong with changing plans to find something that works for you, but make sure it is something that you can do for your whole life.
Keep us posted!
fiberlover is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-05-2008, 09:50 AM   #7  
Senior Member
 
shelby897's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: NY
Posts: 1,853

Default

It's all trial and error until you find out what works for you and there are up and down days. Not to preach -- but why eat so little when you don't have too? I'm a bit heavier than you but have been able to lose weight on 2,000 calories a day when I start out -- and that also gives me plenty of room to drop it down when I need to. I worry that if you start to low, you will most likely lose a big amount quickly, but when you plateau, you have nothing to adjust to move it along.

Congrats on finding something that works for you -- I think consistency is much more important than a rapid loss and if a juice diet is too difficult to stick to for a full day, definitley not the plan for you!!

Good luck
shelby897 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-05-2008, 10:30 AM   #8  
Hooping my Life Away
 
Daimere's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Kentucky
Posts: 2,052

S/C/G: 298/218.1/170

Height: 5'8"

Default

Quote:
My normal eating habits when Im not dieting are horrible.
Quote:
This statement says to me that you think of dieting as something temporary.
I definately agree with this statement. Also, I think trying to juice diet and severly cut calorie diet also shows this. I do not believe you can keep this long term nor I couldn't see how you could want to. You don't need to lose weight fast. It's actually not advisable to. I've only heard of people following plans like this under doctor supervision. It's very risky. Good luck. You will figure this out and be in the groove soon!
Daimere is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-05-2008, 10:35 AM   #9  
Anne
 
RealCdn's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 1,631

S/C/G: 407/358-Dec2007/tracker/125

Height: 5'4"

Default

I'm going to join with the rest in urging you to eat more. Believe me, I know sometimes that it's hard to eat a higher calorie intake. I struggle to eat as close as I can to 2100 every day. Sometimes it's because I'm not hungry, but mostly it's because I think I shouldn't be eating so much. However, it works. My average weight loss is more than 2 lbs a week, something I never did on lower calorie diets.

Assuming you lose 1 - 2 pounds a week overall, can you eat this way for more than a year? What will you do when you stall (we all have plateaus)? You can't lower it, and if you do reach your goal you'll have a very tough time raising it. I know that the initial 6 pound loss is tempting, but you just can't maintain it safely on the calories you're eating. Please consider changing it, for your health if nothing else. You won't lose weight as fast, in fact, after a week of juice fast and low cal eating you might gain a couple of pounds back. In the long run you might find a more sustainable way of eating.

Best of luck though, no matter what you decide.
RealCdn is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-05-2008, 10:38 AM   #10  
Changing My Lifestyle
 
tleef's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Calgary, AB, Canada
Posts: 241

S/C/G: 230/180/140

Height: 5'4"

Default

It's good that you recognize the need to find a plan that is more sustainable than the juice fast. IMO anything that says "fast" in it is not generally going to be sustainable long-term. The only time fasting can be a good thing is perhaps for a limited amount of time or for religious reasons. Even then though...generally it's not for long periods.

I have to echo what everyone else said...900-1000 calories may seem like a great idea, especially since you've lost 6lbs in the first week. However, keep in mind that nutritionists say that a woman requires between 1200-1400 Minimum for weight loss just to stay healthy and not burn muscle mass. I realize that there are diets out there (Medi-Fast/Bernstein/etc) where the calorie intake is very low but it's either medically supervised (Bernstein) and you're receiving B-12 injections and so on (urine samples weekly to monitor ketosis) or it's been created by a group of doctors (Medi-Fast) and made to include all needed fat/protein/etc to maintain health through the use of their products almost exclusively...and really what happens when you stop using their products or plan and start to eat normally, even if you're doing it carefully? You'll likely gain back some weight.

I started at 227lbs and used a 1500 calorie plan and while I went off track from August - January, since May of last year (so really in 5 months) I've lost 30lbs. That is about 6lbs a month which is a nice sustainable loss. I also eat six times a day and sometimes I use meal replacement shakes or bars just for convenience sake, but I've also learned how to cook using healthier alternatives, what a portion looks like, how to properly balance a meal and what an important role exercise plays in changing your lifestyle. Without the proper tools you could yo-yo diet through a lifetime and all you would really succeed in doing is screwing up your metabolism and make it harder to get healthy in the long-term. I plan to drop my calories to about 1300 and possibly a bit lower if I need to when I get close to goal...but for now 1500 (and sometimes it is a little higher/lower) is working really well.

I guess really you have to pick what works for you. But from my own experience deprivation leads to binging and that is never a good thing...especially when you said yourself that you like huge portions and your eating habits are horrible. Maybe try just making some small changes instead of diving in to such a restrictive plan. Try Learning what a real "portion" of everything looks like, eat more fruits & vegetables, drink more water, eat only lean protein, Whole grains instead of "enriched" stuff, limited amounts of "good" fats. Just these changes (even if you only start with one a week) will still result in a loss and you'll learn to make healthier choices and may even come to enjoy the lifestyle change.

That's just my $0.02!
Cheers,
Tamara
tleef is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-05-2008, 10:56 AM   #11  
Senior Member
 
barbygirl43's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Oklahoma
Posts: 3,354

S/C/G: 344/279.1/???

Height: 5'6"

Default

It's great that you are sticking with something new. I too will add that if you are only getting in 900-1000 calories now where will you go if you stall. Like the others have said you will need to find something you can do for a lifetime.
I don't use the word "diet" much. A diet is something you go on to lose weight and go off of when you've lost it. All so you can gain the weight back again. Instead I think of it as living. We all have to eat to survive. How we choose to eat is our diet. Everyone has a diet. Some good. Some not so good. It's all in how you look at it. Heck I got onto DH last night because he told me he went off his "diet" for dinner because he wanted spaghetti. I asked him if he would just say he made a different choice for dinner. It wasn't what he would normally eat but it was a choice to eat something different. That way the diet mentality doesn't kick in and when you have something that's not on your "diet" you don't blow the rest of the day and eat tons of stuff not on your "diet."

Good luck in your weight loss efforts and I look forward to hear about your successes.
barbygirl43 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-05-2008, 12:01 PM   #12  
Member
 
SandiCO's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Colorado
Posts: 90

S/C/G: 163/147/126

Height: 5'7"

Default

I'm sure that folks will disagree with this ... but here it goes:

IMHO - fasting has tremendous health benefits. I did a 10 day cleansing fast last month and lost 20 lbs. I gained back 10, the next week ... but the first 10 stayed off. I did the Master Cleanse for the first 5 days and water with lemon juice for the last 5.

I did the fast to jump start my diet, AND the remarkable result of the fast was that all of my cravings for caffeine and sugar disappeared. (I was a diet coke junky). My sense of taste & smell got better. My insomnia went away. All my allergies went away. I never felt so good!! After the fast my eating habits also changed - I ate between 1200-1500 calories per day. All whole foods - nothing processed. It was easy since I was craving real food, not donuts.

Unfortunately, the allergies came back after 4 weeks AND I started craving cookies ... so I started a 5 day water fast this week to see if they go away again. This is day 3 and my sniffles and headache are gone. My tongue has a white film on it ... I am assuming this is junk in my system coming out.

Another interesting observation, is that during the fast I wasn't hungry. I wanted to eat out of habit ... but realized that my body wasn't starving (like I had so often thought). I thought that I would die if I didn't eat every day, and I started the fast thinking that I would quit. I didn't experience any hunger until day 8 of the 10 day fast. Pretty remarkable. And by then I was so close to the end, I just stuck it out.

I plan to incorporate fasting into my life ... just for the cleansing benefits. Now that I am more in tune with my body, I'll know when it needs a good cleaning.

Last edited by SandiCO; 03-05-2008 at 12:02 PM.
SandiCO is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-05-2008, 12:19 PM   #13  
Anne
 
RealCdn's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 1,631

S/C/G: 407/358-Dec2007/tracker/125

Height: 5'4"

Default

Sandie,

I'm sorry, but you're right, I do disagree with you. First, both your current and goal weight fit within the healthy range. I have no problem with anyone wanting to weigh less, however, please remember that you're giving this advice to people with generally more than 100 pounds to lose. I'd take Robin's advice (someone who has lost 165 pounds and maintained it) and many of the others here before yours. What works for you may be dangerous for others. I'm glad you found something that works for you.

You also did (somewhat) validate what I said, that once you stop crash diets some of the weight will come back. For others who might consider something so drastic, take a look at some writing on the subject before doing it.

http://body.aol.com/diet/basics/fasting

I remember many years ago (maybe a decade) trying one fad diet over another. I eventually ended up at my highest recorded weight. When you have a lot of weight to lose you need to find an eating method you can maintain - for life. Not just for 10 pounds. I lost about 130 pounds the last time I dieted, with a combination of too little sleep, too little food and too much exercise. I ended up in the hospital for almost 3 weeks (and in Canada that's a big deal, with socialized medicine they try and get you out fast). It knocked me off track, but this time I'm down more than 30 pounds with a way of eating that I can maintain for the rest of my life. No crash/fad diets for me again. I think it's great if it works for you, but it's not for me.

Sorry, I meant to add something, but I couldn't find the post. It was a list of how much weight you could lose by only losing a pound a week. It was about if you started in January you could be more than 50 pounds lighter by the end of the year. I know sometimes that we think a pound isn't a good weight loss, but they do eventually add up.

Last edited by RealCdn; 03-05-2008 at 12:24 PM.
RealCdn is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-05-2008, 12:33 PM   #14  
Just Me
 
nelie's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Maryland
Posts: 14,707

S/C/G: 364/--/182

Height: 5'6"

Default

Often when we want to lose weight and are committed, we want to lose it as fast as possible and we think cutting calories drastically will get us there. That isn't always the truth.

I'd recommend starting somewhere reasonable, 1500-1600 and see what happens. Look at including lots of fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

Remember, this really is a lifestyle change because losing weight is the easy part, maintaining that weight loss with the skills you learned while losing is the difficult part.
nelie is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-05-2008, 12:37 PM   #15  
3 + years maintaining
 
rockinrobin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 12,070

S/C/G: 287/120's

Height: 5 foot nuthin'

Default

Fasting aside, that's a whole other issue, and getting back to the original poster, Dies Irae, I don't want you to think that we are ganging up on you, because we're not. It's just hard for most of us here to support your PLAN. YOU on the other hand we most certainly can and will support. We are simply trying to help you and steer you gently towards what most truly believe would be a better, healthier longterm plan.

Last edited by rockinrobin; 03-05-2008 at 12:38 PM.
rockinrobin is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off



All times are GMT -4. The time now is 04:50 AM.


We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.