Everyone hates to diet. Have you found a successful way to lose it quick?
I am currently on an 800 calorie diet and giving myself HCG (hormone) injections every day. SUpposedly I will drop 20# in a month. My first week I only lost 2#. 800 calories is hardly any food. Sometimes I feel hungry.
What did you do to curb your appetite?
There is no real safe way to lose weight for the long term “quick.”
Overweight people didn’t put on the weight overnight, and it’s not going to come off overnight either.
Personally, I lost 93 pounds on WW. It took 11 months to do. Still a lot quicker than the rate at which I put it on…
What do I do when I’m hungry? I munch on pickles.
Zev Steinhardt
I lost 34 pounds by merely controlling portion sizes. See a nutritionist and have him/her show you what a normal portion of food is. Watch the fat intake. Take a walk now and then. Restaurants typically overfill plates, and fast food joints are constantly yammering at us to ‘supersize’. Americans’ perception of what constitutes a normal portion of food has been grossly distorted.
Truth is, you can eat anything you want, as long as you keep the portion size down and try to keep it balanced. Counting calories is frustrating to most people because of the guilt involved and the feeling that you’re not getting enough to eat. You might try Weightwatchers. My sister is down 50 pounds at this point and has trouble eating all the food that is necessary to maintain her point level. If you don’t eat enough, your metabolism can slow and the weight stops coming off.
You will not lose 20lb of fat in a month, it is impossible unless you are hundreds of pounds overweight. A good rule of thumb is that you can’t lose more than 1% of your body weight per week in fat. Any more than that and you will also be losing a lot of lean tissue such as muscle and bone marrow, which presumably you don’t want. So if you are overweight at, say, 200 lb, your absolute maximum weight loss per week should be 2 lb, ideally less than that. Any more and you are not eating enough food.
On a starvation diet like your 800 Calories you will certainly be losing muscle tissue, which will in turn lower the amount of calories you need per day, making it ever harder to lose weight and easier to gain.
I lost 76 pounds with weight watchers. It took me about 9 months. They taught me a lot about what was self destructive in my eating habits.
800 calories a day is unhealthy and dangerous and those hormones probably are too. My 2 year old eats about 800 calories a day! Losing 20 pounds in a month is also unhealthy and will result not in 20 pounds of fat loss but of almost 20 pounds of muscle and bone loss.
Lose the weight in a healthy, sustainable way. Your body will thank you for it.
No I do not weigh 200#. I am about 40# overweight (although I don’t look it)
I am being monitored by the doctor and have to visit each week. Supposedely the hormone injections trick my body into thinking I am pregnant and give energy from stored fat.
I am eating a lot of little meals throughout the day and like someone else posted…potions is importaNt. This diet that I am on is trying to teach me to eat healthy foods in small portions thoughout the day.
I tried Weight Watchers but that didn’t work for me.
I tried the baby food diet and that worked for the loss of 10# but then I gained it back.
My diet story is still in progress because I haven’t hit my goal weight. I’ll preface my story by saying losing weight in a healthy manner requires lots of patience, time and high frustration tolerance levels.
So far I’ve lost 74 pounds on a very simple, intuitive diet and exercise routine. For the first half of my dieting, I cut out all sugars/ fats, kept a food diary, and slowly added some exercise. I dropped 6/8 pounds per week at first. Once I was able to maintain my new eating program for months, I started working on replacement foods. When I eat bread, I only eat wheat bread and when I have an ice cream craving, I eat yogurt. After a couple months, my weight loss slowed down to 2 pounds/week.
Walking has been my main exercise. It’s like magic. Walking shrinks your waist, belly, and sculpts legs. Plus, it’s easy on your joints.
Then I hit a weight loss plateau. I cut my calories to 800/day and increased my exercise. Well, I gained weight! If your body gets too little calories, it panics and thinks there’s a famine and starts to produce fat. It’s a biological survival mechanism that I learned the hard way.
After talking to my doctor, we established 1200/day as my goal. Alternating cardiovascular exercise(walking) and strengthening (pilates). I’ve been dropping weight ever since. Taking my time, adjusting my program and consulting my doctor has helped me to develop healthy habits for life.
Losing weight over time is the best and healthiest way to lose weight. Hormones, pills, and insane calorie restrictions won’t work. I suggest talking to your doctor or a nutritionist. Also, I’ve heard good things about the Curves gym. Remember it’s not the number on the scale, it’s the healthy habits you teach yourself that matter in the long run. Good luck!
I got sick one day. My gal called me one morning to come by before work. Don’t recall exactly what it was about, probably out of dog or cat food, but I dropped by. In the few minutes I was over there, I suddenly realized, “I don’t feel good. I feel really bad. I thing I’m not going to work today, and I’m just going to crawl back into bed.”
Which I did. I had a headache, real queasy stomach, and I was running a fever that got as high as about 100.6. Not too serious, but still a fever, so I felt I had made the right decision. I decided to just stay in bed as much as possible, and not move any more than absolutely necessary. Overnight, my fever finally started breaking, and I started feeling better. Whatever it was had passed.
The next morning, I realized that I had not eaten a thing the entire previous day! I had been in bed, not even going to the fridge. I thought, “Well, I do need to lose weight. This is as good a time as any to start.” I realized from previous experiences that a “diet” was not the way I wanted to go. Instead, I looked at my lifestyle, and looked for bad habits, thinking I would try some behavior modification first. So, I did, and came up with four points that I could correct:
I consistently over-ate. Duh! I enjoy eating, always have. The problem was that I was eating past the point of being “satisfied,” and to the point of not being able to pack in more food. I needed to recognize when I was really “full.” Heck, save the rest for leftovers.
I skipped meals. I thought if I ate breakfast, lunch, and supper, maybe I’d end up eating less during the course of the day. So, I start each day with a big breakfast.
Sweet tea. I drink about a half-gallon at a sitting. I switched to unsweetened tea.
Sedentary lifestyle. I don’t engage in any kind of outside activities that burn calories. I thought if I could get some calorie-burning activities, that would help. I don’t have much interest in jogging, and seeing how both my mother and father (and half his siblings) all have/had bad knees, I though that jogging was some trauma that I just didn’t need. I started walking instead, averaging 3-4 miles a day.
I adopted this changes, not as a way to “diet,” but as part of a permanent lifestyle change. I don’t know what my peak weight was, nor do I know what my current weight is, but I pulled in six belt holes over the course of a year. My clothes fit (then and now), and I’m comfortable with my size–and the best part: I still each cheese fries every week. Life is good.
I lost 26 pounds in about 11 months. My story obviously isn’t going to tell you how to lose weight quickly! 
I am very aware of what I put into my mouth these days. I know a lot more about what is in the foods I eat (calories, fat, etc.) and I strive to find a healthy mix.
I had to reduce the amount of food I was eating. No more sharing a pizza with the old man for dinner. No more eating a whole pint of Ben & Jerry’s in one sitting. I had to start eating more veggies. I’ve always liked fruit, and never really had a problem with that. I paid attention to the amount of fat I was ingesting. Lower fat items, using less butter and oil when I cook, things like that.
Then I realized that I could kick it up a bit if I started to exercise. So I went to the gym and rode a stationary bike. I also would get out and walk/hike. Then I started running.
I say all of this without mentioning the commercial diet program I used (WW) because while WW was a means to an end, what I actually did was what got the weight off.
No matter how you do it, it seems like a few things are constant and constantly helpful: eat healthy, eat moderate amounts, and get active if you can.
And have patience. You’re gonna need it!!
When I’m hungry, I try to eat vegetables or something high in protein. I eat full fat foods instead of low fat, so my body thinks it’s getting more food than it is. I try to drink 1-2 liters of water a day (34-68 ounces). I exercise 6 hours a week including an hour of weight-lifting. I don’t eat sugar and I only occasionally eat something with wheat in it. I eat only enough to feel full.
I don’t count calories, so I have no idea how many calories I eat in a day. 35 lbs in 7 months. As others pointed out, there’s no safe and effective way to lose 20 lbs in a month without losing muscle and bone.
My mom did it, about a year and a half ago. She was in ICU for 2 1/2 weeks after a car accident that nearly killed her. She probably lost 20 lbs in that time and during her recovery. It completely screwed up her metabolism and for the first time in her life, she started gaining weight. She’s only now losing it.
I am honestly surprised a doctor would give you that kind of extreme diet plan especially with you only being 40 pounds overweight.
Have you gotten a second opinion?
I lost 62 pounds in 9 months on WW, and have kept it off for over a year now. I lost it by taking control of my eating habits, and by following WW’s guidelines.
One question for you, Isabelle - what are you learning by eating so low calories, and by depending on hormone injections? By doing WW (and continuing to do so), I learned proper portion control, the importance of water, the importance of treating myself right, that I don’t have to go into total deprivation to stay thin, and that learning to eat right was a process. What happens after (if) you lose the weight - how will you keep it off?
I would agree with tanookie - definite second opinion.
Susan
I agree with tanookie. What is that stuff supposed to be doing for you? Making you feel so ill you don’t want to eat.
Let me tell you my diet failure story first. Back when SlimFast first came out it became a fad of sorts–the kind passed around the office. I was getting married and wanted to drop 10-15 pounds fast. The idea at the time was to live on nothing but Slimfast–three shakes a day and that was it. It add up to 800-900 calories. I held out for about a week and a half. It was pretty miserable–the stuff tasted even worse then than it does now. Then one day, my folks brought home a bucket of fried chicken and fixings for dinner. I literally broke down in tears. That ended that diet, and whatever weight I had lost gradually came back.
You feel hungry sometimes? I should hope so.
All the accumulated wisdom on this subject says that super-low calorie plans are doomed. You cannot keep this up for the rest of your life and you do run a very real risk of regaining more than you lose.
One question for you, Isabelle - what are you learning by eating so low calories, and by depending on hormone injections?
-----The injections I am not learning anything. But the low calories I am learning to eat low caloric foods and eating lots of small meals. Trying to keep fuel in the old body. I am also learning portion control. Also water is VERY important. I am supposed to drink 3 quarts a day
What happens after (if) you lose the weight - how will you keep it off?
-----Well I have to start an excersise program between this and portion control I should do alright.
I might also add that I have done this diet before and lost 20#
I kept it off for 4 years but then I stopped running (I was running 25 miles a week) and I started nibbling here and there until my eating was out of control.
I like comfort foods which means has meant in the past drinking 64 ounces of coke a day. It was nothing to sit and eat an entire pint of Ben & Jerry’s if I were depressed.
52 lbs in 6 months on WW. Now I’m not as strict with the points system unless I go up about 6 or 7 pounds, then I’ll start counting every point again until I get back to my maintenance weight.
It’s safe, and easy after the first couple of weeks. You just have to learn to pay attention to what you’re eating and use moderation. Hell, I didn’t even exercise any more than previously (which was nearly none.)
Well I did a little reading and everything I have found about this HCG plan suggests you are eating too much. The diet that accompanies the injections is 500 calories a day. The theory is the HCG will get the other calories for you out of your fat cells. My reading also suggests you will lose about 10% of your body weight in 6 weeks and that this diet is only for the morbidly obese who have failed at everything else. You are also supposed to drink a lot of water. I’ve also read that you should be visiting the doctor daily and having them do the injections and weigh you and monitor you.
Taking what the doctors say at face value (that this is a safe plan and that the HCG does force your body to burn fat) when the injections stop you cannot follow this kind of low calorie diet any further without serious damage to your body. You will then have to learn how to eat properly and maintain your weight loss.
You say you do not weigh 200 pounds so I will use 160 as a guesstimate/example.
If following the plan exactly you lose 10% in 6 weeks you would lose 16 pounds in 6 weeks - 2.6 pounds per week. There is some debate about how much of this is lean tissue and how much is fat.
On WW I maintained a similar loss over a span of months and learned how to eat healthier and smarter. I did not feel hungry and I also did not fear losing muscle or bone. The meetings helped me address problems in my eating habits and find support for the days when all I really wanted was to wallow in Chunky Monkey. I learned true portion control and how to listen to my body’s needs.
Until you address your issues with comfort foods (and I know how hard that is) and any other eating issues you may have, you have not solved your eating problems and when this fad is over will probably revert back to your habits and cycle through the yo-yo that I (and most of the people in this thread probably) have gone through.
There is no substitute for a true lifestyle change when it comes to weight loss and health. The HGC plan is not a lifestyle you can maintain.
I’ve seen friends wreck their health to be thin and it is not worth it!
I’m trying to lose 20 lbs., and have been going to the gym 3x a week, walking 2 miles/day, and eating healthy crap. So far the only thing losing weight is my wallet. Though if hating going to the gym burned up calories . . .
I’m thinking “eating disorder and unhealthy diet pills” is the way to go . . . Who can afford to live a long life, anyway?
Eve I tried the Iopec diet (that is the liquid you injest in case of swallowing a poison) I used to take a teaspoon of that and barf my brains out. Did this for awhile but realized I was becomming bulemic. I didn’t lose any weight this way anyway.
I tried the diet pills but found I was jittery and anxious and didn’t lose any weight with them.
My mother is grossly overweight (I bet over 300#) and I don’t want to end up like her. I have struggled with my weight for years and I am desperate now hence the HCG diet.
Tanookie has read more on the diet then I have! She mentioned 800 calories is too much a day. YIKES! I can’t imagine going to 500 calories!
Why is it so easy to put on and so hard to take off?
Oy. Because life ain’t fair.
(I ask myself that same question often!)
Has anyone tried the Atkins Diet? I did this for about a week and coulnd’t stand it any longer. There is only so much cheese and meat a person can eat!! I lost a few pounds but nothing to write home about.
A guy in the office was doing the same diet and lost 17# in like 3 weeks. I was so jealous.