Lose 30 Lbs - It can't be this easy

[h20skibum]

Okay, my goal is to loose 30 pounds by April. I started a week ago on December 8th. The first week has been great, and I have lost 9.5 pounds, or 5% of my weight. This is my own diet, and I am not saying it would work for everyone, but it is working for me at this point.

 

I started a fruit and vegetable diet that has essentially consisted of a protein shake for breakfast each morning. Eating apples, oranges, carrots, celery, strawberries, blueberries, or other fruit or vegetables every couple hours during the day, and a salad for lunch and supper. The salad usually has hot or mild peppers for flavor, but no dressing.

 

Essentially, it is a low carb, or no carb diet with low calories and some time to workout on the treadmill and bike at the gym.

 

Day 1 - lost 1.5 pounds

Day 2 - lost 3.5 pounds

Day 3 - lost 1.5 pounds

Day 4 - lost 1.5 pounds

Day 5 - lost 0.5 pounds

Day 6 - lost 1.0 pounds

 

Total of 9.5 pounds so far. If only the rest comes off this easy.

[ducklite]

I hate to break it to you, but fruits and veggies are all carb, and your body NEEDS healthy fats and lean proteins to survive. You have lost water weight, continuing on this diet you will stop losing within the next couple weeks, and possibly cause yourself heart damage.

 

You aren't developing a healthy relationship with food, and are going to gain it all back once you stop dieting because you aren't developing good eating habits.

:::walks away shaking head:::

 

 

Autocorrect responsible for most typos...

[h20skibum]

What I meant to type was that it was a good carb, vs. bad carb diet. I am not saying this is the complete diet intended for long term use, but it does give a jump start to seeing the needle move in the right direction. It will be balanced with portion control and exercise, and yes, it will contain some lean meats. That part of the equation was intended for later posts. The diet is also supplemented with a good multi-vitamin.

 

The vegetables have fewer calories and their complex carbs do not convert as easily as sugar so you feel full for a longer time. They are also a better source of fiber than the bad stuff we usually eat.

[ducklite]

I strongly encourage you to also add in some avocado and quinoa to get some healthy fat and whole grain.

 

Again, you aren't learning good eating and will go right back to bad habits once your diet is over. I eat anything I want but practice portion control and keep track of calories. I exercise at least an hour a day, so it's easy to stay on track as far as calories. Diets don't work. You need to change your lifestyle, not overly restrict the foods you eat. (Of course cutting out junk like soda, chips, candy, etc. is beneficial)

 

By the way, a good salad dressing option is one part olive oil to five parts balsamic vinegar with garlic and mustard powder added to taste. About 60 calories per tablespoon.

 

Autocorrect responsible for most typos...

Edited December 16, 2013 by ducklite

[middlehaitch]

Go to a website like myfitnesspal or livestrong and set yourself up with an account then enter a weight goal for your cruise and it will work out how many calories a day you need to reach your goal weight. Try both for a week to see which you find easier to use.

A brief comic interlude; my better half gave up the Wednesday night chicken wings once it was discovered they were over 100 calories each. One order plus the pint of beer was just short of the total daily caloric need. They are now an occasional treat and we both count calories now.

Give youself a week less than the cruise date just in case you overindulge at Christmas.

From your initial set up you can then count your calories daily. You will find it is much easier to count your calories if you prepare your meals yourself.

Both programmes advise on an adequate fat/carb/protein breakdown as well as giving you a nutritional breakdown of what you have eaten.

You can also enter your days activities so the calories expended during exercice are accounted for.

I used Livestrong for a couple of years then switched to Myfittnesspal because I can use it with the runtastic apps for iphone and just have to log my pool time. It also has a food lable scanner so if I am including packaged goods in a meal I can just scan the barcode for the info.

I know you are trying to the best for your body, but if you do a diet that is only a diet not a lifestyle change the weight will roll back on super fast once you return to your normal diet.

I have never met Ducklite but the posts he does on this board, though sounding a little harsh at times (sorry Ducklite), are very consistent and well thought out.

Learn to read food lables; low fat can often mean more salt and sugar to add the flavour that the fat removal has taken away. More and more research is showing that fats (including those from red meat and dairy) in moderation are far less harmful than sugars or salts.

The old adage 'everything in moderation' is certainly true for healthy, permanent weight loss.

Sorry if that sounded like a lecture; I only mean well.

Cheers, h.

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

To the OP. you current diet has many elements in common with Pastor Rick Warren's "Daniel Plan." The advantage of Warren's plan is that he adds in a few other elements to prevent the muscle wasting and dehydration of your diet which is quite spartan and could be very difficult to follow for an extended period of time.

 

Also Warren's plan was devised with the help of doctors and nutritionists. Warren's book is very informative, but Warren is a pastor afterall, so there is much reference to Biblical scripture amongst the nutritional explanations and encouragement. So you may or may not be a fan of that, but the diet itself is so similar to yours, but much more complete, that I think you might benefit from the guidance in Pastor Warren's book.

 

There are other books about the Daniel Plan and even recipe books. Not all go so deeply into scripture, but I think Warren's has some of the best explanations of the diet itself. Plus he is very encouraging and understanding of the challenges of dieting.

Edited December 17, 2013 by Gangway Style

[Josh&Reagan]

Unlike the others who've posted, I won't say anything about your diet. I don't really know enough about nutrition to give my opinion. I do know that I am also on a weight loss mission and am glad to have found someone else that is as well. I am not cutting anything in particular out of my diet, just trying to stay around 1200-1500 calories per day and have started going to the gym. We cruise in march and I am just trying to lose as much weight as I can by then. As of today, I'm down 12 pounds and hopefully I'll have more to report in a couple of days! Good luck!! And keep us updated.

[lrowe70]

Oh my goodness.

If this were Weight Watchers, you'd be eating about 6 points a day(protein shake). The lowest they recommend is 26 points.

Of course the weight is coming off, you are starving.

Edited December 22, 2013 by lrowe70

[Keith1010]

It is not that easy. Some of the loss can be just water.

 

The key is to eat in moderation and to have a very well balanced diet and to exercise. Don't starve yourself and limit what you eat to one type of source. It doesn't work, is not healthy and most people gain the weight back.

 

Moderation is key.

 

Keith

[ducklite]

If you lose 20 pounds in two months, you will lose 6 pounds of fat and 14 pounds if lean body mass (bones, muscle, etc.). Your body fat percentage will actually rise. If you lose 20 pounds over seven months you will lose 18 pounds of fat and 2 pounds of body mass. Your body fat percentage will reduce by around 6%.

 

The more skeletal muscle you have, the easier it will be to keep weight off and continue to lose any additional non-visceral fat you need or want to.

 

Autocorrect responsible for most typos...

Edited December 26, 2013 by ducklite