The Simple Diet-Weight Loss

SweetChildofMine

I thought this was a good book great for someone who needed to control portions and cant be bothered with measuring, cooking or lived alone.

http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Diet-Docto ... 209&sr=1-1

basically, its 3 protein supplements (bars/ shakes) 200 calories each no less than 10 grams of protein

5 fruit and vegetable servings

2 frozen meals up to 300 calories no less than 10 grams of protein and less than 9 grams of fat.

basically works out to roughly 1400 calories a day.

You need to eat at least 1200 a day for the body not to shut down and store your fat.

And its cheap to do. No meetings no buying specialty food or drinks. Blah blah blah...

I was looking for a plan that increased my protein intake without having to eat meat or increase my calorie intake.

Anyway, thought I would share.

Jennytree

Where do the protein shakes and bars come from? I thought bars like that are high in sugar, no?

MayDay10

The basics of that are alright. However, 1400 is probably too low and your body actually slows down at that point. It also depends on how much you weight. You should take your weight, x13 and subtract 500. That is the best starting point. Need a lot of protein too. The powders are the best way to go outside of 'clean' meats. There are a lot of terrible bars on the market.

Jennytree

MayDay10 wrote:

You should take your weight, x13 and subtract 500. That is the best starting point.

For weight loss, should you not be eating less calories than your BMR (I see that the above calculation roughly gets that)?

I reckon everyone is different - depends on your current weight, weight you want to lose, your workouts etc. There's also so much conflicting information out there, tis hard to know what you should be doing!

redrock

Hmmmm.... 50lbs in 12 weeks is way too fast of a rate to remain 'permanent'. Also, what happens when you try to eat 'normally' again (ie no shakes, etc.). With this kind of diet, you do not LEARN to eat properly. It's not necessary to weigh food, etc. to understand portions. Furthermore, with this diet, you are eating ready-made, processed foods. High in sodium, sugar, etc. Not good.

Also, from his website:
"First Phase
Intensive weight loss: During this phase you will lose about 75% of your weight using three shakes, two entrées and five servings of fruits and vegetable daily. Importantly, you increase your physical activity by walking and doing other physical activity by at least 30 minutes per day."

Why all this weight loss? Because you're not eating properly. 1400 calories is way below the average recommended calories for an adult to function as it should. I understand one needs to eat less/spend more calories to lose weight but this doesn't really look quite right. Another fad diet.....

Proper eating is just a habit and becomes second nature.

SweetChildofMine

MayDay10 wrote:

The basics of that are alright. However, 1400 is probably too low and your body actually slows down at that point. It also depends on how much you weight. You should take your weight, x13 and subtract 500. That is the best starting point. Need a lot of protein too. The powders are the best way to go outside of 'clean' meats. There are a lot of terrible bars on the market.

I agree taking in consideration one's body weight.

The plan says its at approximately 1160 calories a day at 86 oz of food (a lot of food!) I figured it out at 1400.

The thing that gets me is I am physically miserable on a diet that is high in carbs which is what I'm basically eating now because its cheap or free. I feel like shit. I agree, there are a lot of terrible bars on the market jumping on this bandwagon. (hell who doesnt want a protein bar made by snickers.. but hell its still a better choice than the snickers)

Everyone's body chemistry is different on how they are processing the food they eat. High proteins low carbs always work the best for me. I thought Id try this as an alternative to see how it works, I have a limited budget and dont feel like cooking anymore. To me its kinda freeing to end a preoccupation with food which you are still doing on a plan like weight watchers even though you are still reteaching yourself how to eat and cook and maintain proportions. But youre constantly still preoccupied with the food it never seems to get you off of that, the weighing the measuring the cooking... they have changed WW the plan which I dont like and has a higher carb rate which my body does not agree with.

iluvcats

I've lost weight before with exercise, 2 meal replacement shakes, fruits/veggies then a sensible dinner (not ever 50 lbs, it wasn't necessary)

meal replacement shakes are a good way to shrink your stomach. I kept the weight off for a good year and a half til I started pigging out on bags of chocolate :(

SweetChildofMine

redrock wrote:

Hmmmm.... 50lbs in 12 weeks is way too fast of a rate to remain 'permanent'. Also, what happens when you try to eat 'normally' again (ie no shakes, etc.). With this kind of diet, you do not LEARN to eat properly. It's not necessary to weigh food, etc. to understand portions. Furthermore, with this diet, you are eating ready-made, processed foods. High in sodium, sugar, etc. Not good.

Also, from his website:
"First Phase
Intensive weight loss: During this phase you will lose about 75% of your weight using three shakes, two entrées and five servings of fruits and vegetable daily. Importantly, you increase your physical activity by walking and doing other physical activity by at least 30 minutes per day."

Why all this weight loss? Because you're not eating properly. 1400 calories is way below the average recommended calories for an adult to function as it should. I understand one needs to eat less/spend more calories to lose weight but this doesn't really look quite right. Another fad diet.....

Proper eating is just a habit and becomes second nature.

I know proportions. I know what not to eat.

Thats the other thing.

Do you realize how expensive it is to buy fruits and vegetables? Do you realize how expensive it is to eat healthy items? On my old diet for example...Id love to buy my high fiber protein Wasa Breads and laughing low calorie cow cheeses yadda yadda... but at 5 bucks a pop its not feasible. Your looking at 9 bucks for those two items alone plus if I added an additional piece of fruit its another 70 cents. Plus I still havent rendered the protein my body needs. The items I relied upon to keep my weight in control or learned how to manage are out of control expensive.

Want some boca burger? 5 bucks 8 oz package. Even TVP is getting out of control expensive.

$18.00 for a huge can of protein supplement. Im not a fan of processed foods (see thats the trade off) but they are relatively cheaper this point in my budget than trying to purchase and prepare my own healthy meals.

covered in bliss

Buy generic/store brand frozen fruits and veggies at the cheapest store in town.

Look online at the sales ad's of the grocery stores around you. Stock up on ground turkey, chicken breasts (freeze them in single serving portions). Eat eggs (with yolks) and oatmeal for breakfast-both have lots of protein and are cheap.

As for the protein shakes, something like this is good http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/ast/vp2wheyisolate.html you can find it for around 30 bucks but there are 32 scoops/shakes in 2 lbs of the stuff. Have one shake for lunch and that meal is taken care of for a month at a buck a day! Throw in a handful of frozen blueberries or spinach.

I hear ya about stuff being expensive but with a little effort and planning, you don't need the bars or frozen dinners.

Jennytree

It isn't expensive eating healithly at all. Here, there are supermarkets that will put certain fruit and veg on special offer for 1-2 weeks, like a bag of carrots for 49c (euro). Same for a bag of clematines, some leeks etc. There has to be somewhere around you that would do the same, so maybe keep an eye on the papers and telly ads. A bag of crisps or a bar of chocolate can cost nearly €1. For a fiver, I can get some lean mince, mushrooms, sweetcorn and a can of tomatoes to make a tasty bolognaise that I can eat over 4 dinners. Or freeze it and have that instead of buying the frozen dinners.

iluvcats

plain almonds, no salt, no smoke, etc are expensive but are a good source of protein and help curb hunger.
expensive...

SweetChildofMine

Maybe where you live its not expensive. For me, yes.




Bag of carrots my price conversion to Euro is 1.50 euros. Im paying 3 times as much.

SweetChildofMine

iluvcats wrote:

plain almonds, no salt, no smoke, etc are expensive but are a good source of protein and help curb hunger.
expensive...

true

Jennytree

SweetChildofMine wrote:

Bag of carrots my price conversion to Euro is 1.50 euros. Im paying 3 times as much.

I think they're usually that price here too, but I don't buy them unless they're on the special offer Plus, it saves me living off of carrots all the time!

RKCNDY

redrock wrote:

1400 calories is way below the average recommended calories for an adult to function as it should. I understand one needs to eat less/spend more calories to lose weight but this doesn't really look quite right. Another fad diet.....

Proper eating is just a habit and becomes second nature.

:? according to MayDay's formula, I should be eating right around 1350 calories. A 1400 calorie 'minimum' I would need to weigh about 150 which is considered overweight, borderline obese. If I got to 100 lbs (which for my height would still be considered normal, I'd be eating 800 calories)

I started using a calorie counter (MayDay suggested I up my caloric intake since I am doing a high intensity workout). It was really hard for me to eat all those calories...I just wasn't hungry, but I did see the numbers on the scale go lower than they have in over a week. Don't eat protein bars anymore because they are usually filled with preservatives and carbs.

Eating healthy is expensive because it's 'whole' foods, most packaged foods (bars, shakes, snacks, frozen meals) are filled with cheap fillers, and preservatives. See if you can share a Costco/Sam's Club membership with somebody, or ask to go along with them on their shopping trip. Yesterday for lunch, I had a Salmon Patty and 1 red bell pepper, it was really filling, and broken down cost me $2.06 ($1.23-salmon patty, $0.83-Bell Pepper or $14.79/12 pk of salmon patties, $4.99/6pk Bell Peppers) that's the same price as a frozen meal...on sale. I also bought 3.5# of almonds for $9.99-you only need a small handful (I think 23 almonds) for a snack. 3# of cottage cheese costs $3.99 (where at a regular grocery store, 1# costs $1.99)

You can eat healthy for a reasonable price, you just have to do your homework and do price comparisons at the stores in your area.

MayDay10

yes. I have read 13x weight is a good general barometer for BMR. Then you subtract for the net loss. 500 is a good starting point. Then you monitor and go for 1-2.5 lbs per week. If you are active/doing cardio, you can consume more calories.

This is the best, simplest guide:
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthrea ... 741&page=1

You only have to follow three simple rules:

- Workout 3 times a week with weights.
- Eat 1g protein / lb lean body mass.
- Reduce calories to lose 1-2 lbs / week.

Success is 100% guaranteed.