Hi this is my first time here.
I am 23 now and I have been 6' and 220lb since 18 years old, so yes I am overweight. Now I am lose some weight. Especially my lower body and my abs.
I am not really into taking diet pills, so I am wondering how effective is low cal. diet and sugarless diet.

Currently, I have been consuming less than 750 cal. everyday for the past two weeks. I try not to take any carb. I work out (joggling, swimming, weight training, etc) 3 days a week. Also, I go to golf range at least twice a week. However, my weight does not seem to drop. Any good advice for me? I really appreciate any input.

Thank you

At only 750 calories your body is probably in starvation mode. When in this mode you will not lose weight as your body thinks it is starving and is trying to hold onto every calories it has. You need to eat more. Take your weight and multiply it by 10, that is how many calories you can safely eat to lose weight. If you multiply your weight by 15, that is the amount of calories it will take to maintain your current weight. You should eat plently of carbs such as your fruits and vegetables. Also you need to eat some whole grains. Cut out anything white (sugar, flour, rice, pasta), and cut out all processed foods. Don't forget your protein. Plenty of water. Also take a good whole food multi vitamin. I guarantee that you will start losing weight, and in a healthy way.

Hi, thanks for the reply.

So you mean I should have 2200 Cal everyday to lose weight?

But even with my normal appetite, most of the time I couldn't even reach 2000 Cal.

Can you tell me what are some examples of process food??

Currently most of my Cal come from egg, lean ham, lean chicken breast- boiled without any souce. I took your advise I start having banana, apple, and asian pears,

Thanks again for all your help

hi, 2000 cal is really not that much, especially if u are that tall/wieght. mind if i ask how you got to be overweight if u don't eat much? if there is a health problem that caused u to gain weight, u should see a dr before going on a diet.

in your diet, i would cut out ham because it has a lot of salt in it. it is also a processed meat and probably has more fat than other meats.

if you post a sample menu here, we can give you more advice.

Hi, I do not have any medical condition that is making me gain weight. I checked with doctor before. My weight has not really changed since I was 18.
Here is a sample menu of what I normally eat now.

I normally wake up around 10am, so I would drink a can of Slimfast and eat a banana. This would keep me full through lunch. If I am hungry, I would have an apple in the afternoon.

Then my dinner is around 5:30pm. I usually would eat a banana to keep me half full before dinner. Then depending on my mood, I normally have three choice- boiled chicken breast, boiled salmon, boil fresh corn with 2 slices of lean ham (1 slice has 25 cal). Also, I would have 2 boiled eggs.

If I am hungry around 8pm, I would have an apple. Then I would have nothing beside water before I go to bed around 2 or 3 am.

Feel free to give me any suggestions.

Thank you

She is right, you definitely need more calories everyday! Shoot for about 1500 calories everyday. And don't fall into the slimfast trap!!! Your breakfast needs to be the biggest meal of the day. Maybe oatmeal, a piece of fruit and an egg. Lunch should be the second biggest meal of the day. Maybe salad and a sandwich. Dinner should be smallest meal Like some fish and veggies. NEVER SKIP MEALS or you will never lose weight. When you do, your body thinks you are starving and wont let you burn any calories. Have a snack in between meals like fruits and veggies.

I lost 35 lbs. and have kept it off for over 4 years. I have done tons of research on this topic! I wish you the best!

P.S. drink lots of water water water~ and no soda pop!

Of course I am not lucky enough to get to eat 2000 calories, but I do eat between 1400 & 1800 a day, the average being about 1600.

This is a typical day for me

2 egg omlette w/raw cheese whole wheat toast w/organic butter. Glass of fresh squeezed orange juice. Coffee w/half & half. (1 cup)

Or museli cereal (Jordans brand it is delicious 50% fruit & nuts) with whole organic milk or with fresh squeezed orange juice in it.

Mid-morning Snack bananna or piece of fruit.

Lunch a huge salad with beets, carrots, cucumber, tomatoes, and blue cheese. Balsamic vinegar & olive oil on it. A small whole grain roll.

Mid-Afternoon snack handful of nuts, trail mix, or fruit.

Dinner is either chicken, fish (salmon, tuna, ect..), shrimp (or other seafoods),hamburger (without the roll) or steak( all grass fed-beef) with steamed or grilled vegetables and or/ a salad.

Snack watermelon or fruit or nuts.If I havn't eaten enough calories I will make a yogurt smoothie with fresh fruit.

I am never starving, as you can see I eat all the time. That keeps my metabolism steady. I also drink plenty of fresh juices like carrot and apple, or cantelope (yum). I also drink plenty of filtered water. I take a whole food liquid vitamin called liquid health (it tastes delicious and is soooooooo good for you). I do not eat anything white or processed. Sometimes I do treat myself with a piece of Rapunzel chocolate (it is made with whole sugar and no soy), or I will go to this place that makes fresh homemade icecream and have a scoop, but this is not the norm.

I hope this helps you. It would be a good idea to invest on a inside health grill so when grilling season is over you can cook foods that way. Good Luck to you. I know it sounds scary to eat more, but you see that it works. When to see how good you feel you will realize that you made the right decision.

I think if you simply dropped simple carbs and sugars and ate more calories you would lose fast. check out the book The South Beach Diet. I lost my first 10lbs in less than a week. It was water weight but still thats 10lbs off my body.
Bananas are high sugar food so you might want to avoid them for a couple of weeks when you avoid simply carbs and sugars.
Fat and calories is not the enemy. Simple carbs and sugars are.
You can eat hardly nothing at all and be overweight simply from the food choices you make.
For example this is one of my days...
Breakfast: Scrambled egg(or egg whites)With chopped lean deli ham onions, low-fat cheese. Water

Snack: 1tsp Jif Peanut Butter spread over a celery stick plus water

Lunch: Chicken/tuna salad spread over salad. I usually make the chicken/tuna with light miracle whip and chopped up onion and celery. Then I get a bowl of salad (usually premade salad) and put my chicken/tuna on top. Its yummy! and I have more water

Snack: String cheese with lean ham rolled over it. And water.

Dinner: Chicken with Light Feta cheese melted over it. Broccoli, Cottage Cheese, Water.

Snack: Sugar free Pop/fudgesicle. (instead of ice cream)

Just check out the South Beach Diet....you will learn alot. Or research low carb diets online. Its not cutting out the carbs, but learning what carbs are good and what aren't. Carbs and sugars as the same as fat....there are good and bad. But the bad carbs and sugar is why many americans are overweight and diabetic.

[This message has been edited by JadenStacy (edited 07-12-2003).]

Jif peanutbutter has trans fats in it as do most commercial peanut butters. Sugarfree fudgesicles have aspartamine in it. Miracle Whip has soy oil i.e. trans fat and hidden sugars. Becareful of your choices as all of the above ingredients have known health problems associated with them. This is why I sooooo strongly suggest whole food, nothing man-made or "created", without whole ingredients. There are many good choices for a diet, but if you choose to simply change your dieting habits and eat more natural whole foods forever, you will not be yo-yoing all of your life. Of course exercise needs to always be incorporated in your life change. The above poster has a good point about knowing good carbs from bad carbs, however you still need to look at the ingredients to make sure you are not eating trans fats and fake sugars. They are the real killers. You wanted examples of processed foods, well the above listed are. Store bought salad dressings, regular cereals, hot dogs, cheese (other than raw cheese, packaged foods ready to eat like beefaroni, hamburger helper, frozen dinners, store bought icecreams & deserts, doughnuts, cookies, wonder breads etc.....

P.S. I only have the chocolate and icecream as a treat maybe a few times a year(less than a handful). Having the choice I would rather have icecream with whole milk ingredients than "sugar-free". But again I don't have it everyday as it isn't the healthiest choice. An alternative to the ice pops would be to take shaved ice and pour some fresh juice over it. This is very refreshing and healthy, it also can count as water.

[This message has been edited by girlygirly (edited 07-13-2003).]

[This message has been edited by girlygirly (edited 07-13-2003).]

wow... thanks girlygirly and everyone that provided many helpful tips.
girlygirly I will definitely try to follow your tips.

Ok here is another question. Can someone tell me that what is the effect if I don't follow my diet plan rigorously. What I mean is that I sometimes would eat out with my friends (mostly Chinese food, Thai food, asian, etc) once or twice a week. Its likely I would eat foods that has more fat and sugar. The only thing I can do is to reduce the amount that I eat.

What should I change on my diet after my eating out??

Thanks again!

When you go out for chinese beware of msg, it is in almost everything. Ask before you order not to include any. Why not order steamed vegetables with shrimp, seafood, or chicken? This way it is still whole foods that you eat. Try to stick with the whole food approach, it can be done. Stay away from the white rice though. Good luck, you are going to do great. You will find that this "diet" improves your quality of life. It has with me. I just started this approach in mid May and I have never felt better. You might want to look up Weston A Price, he was a dentist in the 20th century he studied how nutrition affected teeth and traveled all around the world to research this. He has a web site that will give you tons of info on nutrition, basically I am following his approach which is basically common sense.

You asked what will happen if you do not follow the diet exactly, wellllllllll, you will begin to feel lousy shortly after eating whatever it was. Your body will get used to better foods so you really notice how awful those other foods make you feel.Your digestion will improve from this diet, so you may experience some digestion problems like gas or bloating when eating processed foods. Also remember there may be a time that you can't follow the diet (say your at a party), one day won't kill you, but make that day a rarity.

[This message has been edited by girlygirly (edited 07-13-2003).]

Thanks. Those are some great tips.

I have another question. I really like to have salad. But I don't like to eat it plain without any dressing. Can anyone recommend a dressing that is health and tastes great?

Thank you.

if you go to the grocery store, there are a lot of fat free dressings. i personally like giraud's brand and krafts. BE careful u don't use more than 2 tablespoons becauset the calories will add up even if there's no fat. as a alternative, u can try using flavored vinegar (like citrus, balsamic?) to see if u like that. girly girly is right on the mark on all her suggestions!

for being 220, i suggest you eat about 2000 calories a day and do 45-60 min cardio daily to start losing weight. you should increased your calories slowly so you don't shock your body.

you asked what to do when u eat with friends. well anywhere u go, there are choices. you can try eating before hand, but this might be hard anyway. it is hard to resist when there is good food sitting in front of you. if you decide to eat out, you can pick the healthiest entree, or ask the waitress to customize your order (ask for no oil, broiled instead of fried, etc).

keep in mind that having a "cheat meal" occasionally won't do any harm. its when u do this repeatedly and frequently that will cause you to make NO PROGRESS. a better diet is a lifetime change!

hey thank you chopstix_gal for all your suggestion

I have now increased my daily cal. to around 1200
I am eating more veggie and fruits, foods that has more fiber. However, I am not sure why I am getting really hungry after eating salad and other veggie. I didn't really have this problem before even when I am only eating aroun 750 cal.

As for salad dressing, I have found a creative way to deal with it. I use Kraft fat free cheese as my dressing. Each slice is 30 cal and without any fat.

thanks for all the suggestions.

Originally posted by archis:
hey

I have now increased my daily cal. to around 1200
I am eating more veggie and fruits, foods that has more fiber. However, I am not sure why I am getting really hungry after eating salad and other veggie. I didn't really have this problem before even when I am only eating aroun 750 cal.


ok 1200 for now is good, i think u should increase +200 each week while doing cardio, increase until u hit 2000 and keep it there while excercising. you need to bring your body out of "starving" mode slowly.

the reason u feel hungry is that those foods u mentioned vegs/fruit/etc digest fast when eaten by themselves. for a satisfying meal, u should have a little fat and some protein in it. for example eat a chicken salad or cottage cheese with the fruit