I thought this was wrong??
Sheila00000
Posts: 94 Member
I have always read and heard that no one should EVER eat below 1,200 calories a day. I just read that Penn Jillette lost 105 pounds ONLY eating 1,000 calories for three months. Um, what?
"In a matter of months, from December through March, Jillette consumed only about 1,000 calories daily and was able to lose an average of .9 pound a day, he tells People."
He did it healthy, he at a lot of salads, fruit and veggies. "Now he isn't on a calorie-restrictive diet, but consumes no animal products, no processed grains, and no added sugar or salt. "I eat unbelievable amounts of food but just very, very, very healthy food."
So what do you think? Can we set any calorie amount we want or is there really a healthy minimum we should never go under (which I thought was 1,200). I'm completely and totally confused now. I mean, honestly he sounds like he did a healthy thing.
I'm happy he lost weight but now I'm discouraged and wondering if I should do a major calorie drop. I want to lose a pound a day! I have lost three pounds this week but I could be doing more if I cut back to close to 1,000?
"In a matter of months, from December through March, Jillette consumed only about 1,000 calories daily and was able to lose an average of .9 pound a day, he tells People."
He did it healthy, he at a lot of salads, fruit and veggies. "Now he isn't on a calorie-restrictive diet, but consumes no animal products, no processed grains, and no added sugar or salt. "I eat unbelievable amounts of food but just very, very, very healthy food."
So what do you think? Can we set any calorie amount we want or is there really a healthy minimum we should never go under (which I thought was 1,200). I'm completely and totally confused now. I mean, honestly he sounds like he did a healthy thing.
I'm happy he lost weight but now I'm discouraged and wondering if I should do a major calorie drop. I want to lose a pound a day! I have lost three pounds this week but I could be doing more if I cut back to close to 1,000?
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Replies
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I don't think a pound a day is a healthy goal.
I also don't think there's a "never ever" about 1200 - it's a good guideline, though.0 -
Just because a celebrity did it, doesn't mean it should be done. Of course you will lose weight eating that little, but you aren't giving your body the fuel it needs, especially a large guy like Penn. I doubt it would be sustainable long term for most people.
Unless you are very short and petite, you shouldn't eat that little.0 -
But what would make a pound a day not a healthy goal? What does losing fast do to your body bad if you are eating healthy? Does anyone know?0
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Yes Amy I'm having a hard time keeping at my 1,600 to be honest. I have high blood pressure and high cholesterol issues and I need to lose close to 55 pounds.
MFP has me losing .5 a week where I'm at, but I was thinking about lowering it to do more. But you are right, this is comfortable for me now. Anything less might tip more over what I can do at this point, willpower or not.0 -
Losing 1lb/day =/= healthy just because the diet consists of higher nutrient food.0
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I believe the recommended minimum for men is 1500.
Don't let his loss discourage you or feel like you are doing something wrong, especially if you are losing at a good rate which you are doing. Comparison is the thief of joy.0 -
amyrebeccah wrote: »Also, as to whether a pound a day weight loss is feasible to you, that will also depend on metabolism. Are you a 6'7" man?
No I'm a female, 5"2. But what ana said, that he was eating a higher nutrient food diet, wouldn't that eliminate any causes of him weakening his muscle mass even those he lost a pound a day? He exercised too, so his muscles were being used causing them to not get any weaker.0 -
Sheila00000 wrote: »I have always read and heard that no one should EVER eat below 1,200 calories a day. I just read that Penn Jillette lost 105 pounds ONLY eating 1,000 calories for three months. Um, what?
"In a matter of months, from December through March, Jillette consumed only about 1,000 calories daily and was able to lose an average of .9 pound a day, he tells People."
He did it healthy, he at a lot of salads, fruit and veggies. "Now he isn't on a calorie-restrictive diet, but consumes no animal products, no processed grains, and no added sugar or salt. "I eat unbelievable amounts of food but just very, very, very healthy food."
So what do you think? Can we set any calorie amount we want or is there really a healthy minimum we should never go under (which I thought was 1,200). I'm completely and totally confused now. I mean, honestly he sounds like he did a healthy thing.
I'm happy he lost weight but now I'm discouraged and wondering if I should do a major calorie drop. I want to lose a pound a day! I have lost three pounds this week but I could be doing more if I cut back to close to 1,000?
From my understanding, reading the article, he was under a doctor's supervision during this time and he was morbidly obese (or close to it). That's going to be much different than say someone trying to lose 50lbs.0 -
I believe the recommended minimum for men is 1500.
Don't let his loss discourage you or feel like you are doing something wrong, especially if you are losing at a good rate which you are doing. Comparison is the thief of joy.
omg I love this "comparison is the thief of joy" you are so right. But goodness turning on the Internet there is so much of that, so easy to get discouraged, skinny celebrities, etc, thanks.0 -
1200 is a guideline.
If you're heavy enough, you could go, literally months on ZERO calories consumed (doctor supervised, of course) with no long term ill health effects.
It's a guideline. It ain't like 1200 is AOK and 1199 will kill you instantly, right?
FYI: An apple a day doesn't really keep the doctor away either.0 -
Have you seen what he looks like now? I know there aren't many photos but the ones I've seen - he looks terrible.
And I bet that as he was under a doctor's supervision, he had some chemical help, even if no one is readily admitting to it.0 -
I have my doubts about this story. Penn Jillette is pretty well known in the skeptic circles and I've been wondering if this short timeline is him pulling our leg a bit!
That said, never say never and don't try to mimic celebrity diets unless you too have a kitchen staff, personal trainer and personal physician.0 -
Have you seen what he looks like now? I know there aren't many photos but the ones I've seen - he looks terrible.
And I bet that as he was under a doctor's supervision, there had some chemical help, even if no one is readily admitting to it.
You know my husband loves Penn and I showed him this morning the after pictures of him now and he said, "Wow, he looks awful" I didn't really notice at first because I was so obsessed with the weight loss, but I do notice it a bit in his skin texture. Yeah I was thinking there could be some chemical help too. Just don't know.
@sergeant: yes I eat lots of apples and had to see the doctor this week for a sinus infection, no fair! ha ha!
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crazyjerseygirl wrote: »I have my doubts about this story. Penn Jillette is pretty well known in the skeptic circles and I've been wondering if this short timeline is him pulling our leg a bit!
That said, never say never and don't try to mimic celebrity diets unless you too have a kitchen staff, personal trainer and personal physician.
Yes it could of been a bet/stunt aimed at the dieting world or something. You never know. And true he has enough money to hire lots of people to help him.
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Sheila00000 wrote: »amyrebeccah wrote: »Also, as to whether a pound a day weight loss is feasible to you, that will also depend on metabolism. Are you a 6'7" man?
No I'm a female, 5"2. But what ana said, that he was eating a higher nutrient food diet, wouldn't that eliminate any causes of him weakening his muscle mass even those he lost a pound a day? He exercised too, so his muscles were being used causing them to not get any weaker.
I interpreted Ana's comment differently. That losing 1lb/day is NOT healthy despite eating nutritionally dense food. And I would agree, I don't think 1000 kcal/day is a good goal for a large man. Ih he was on an exercise program and there is nothing to indicate he eat back exercise kcals. The way I read it 1000kcal was gross intake, not net, and that sounds awful.0 -
Sheila00000 wrote: »crazyjerseygirl wrote: »I have my doubts about this story. Penn Jillette is pretty well known in the skeptic circles and I've been wondering if this short timeline is him pulling our leg a bit!
That said, never say never and don't try to mimic celebrity diets unless you too have a kitchen staff, personal trainer and personal physician.
Yes it could of been a bet/stunt aimed at the dieting world or something. You never know. And true he has enough money to hire lots of people to help him.
Yeah, I'm holding out for a bit to see how it plays out. He's obviously lost weight, I'm just skeptical of the timeline is all!
But hey, it it's true, that's pretty awesome esp for those who need fast weight loss!0 -
1200 non doctor supervised minimiums were invented so that impatient people have a chance to not succeed in destroying their health!
When you lose weight you are losing water, muscle, and fat. Most people are only interested in losing the fat and would prefer to keep their muscles intact. Weight loss of more than 1% a week increases the chances that what you will lose is not fat.
Faster weight loss also sets you up with unsustainable habits. What happens when you are no longer on your "fast weight loss" plan? Did you change anything in your life or are you going back to your previous habits and weight?
I am not 100% clear as to what exactly happens with your body as you push down harder on the calories, someone with more knowledge may be able to clear things up. However things such as metabolic adaptation where your body learns to operate sustainably at a lower caloric level comes to mind.
I don't know about you; but, I actually enjoy eating, maybe too much so!
In any case, I plan to continue eating as much as my body allows me to in as "healthy" a manner as I can.
My goal is not to train my body to survive on the least amount of food possible.
My goal is to train ME to recognize when I am over-eating and how to make better trade-offs that maximize my eating satisfaction without leading to fat accumulation. And maybe move a bit more.
Last thought and you even alluded to it yourself (which makes me wonder why you even posted, what would you think would be better for me?
(change the numbers so that they are appropriate to you)
Would it have been better to go a three month diet at 1000 calories a day and lose up to 50lbs of weight while feeling h(a)ngry and lightheaded all the time, or to change my daily and eating habits over a 12 month period while eating an average of 2300 calories and lose almost 80lbs of fat?
It is not a sprint to the finish.0 -
To me, hey whatever, good for him. I know it is not a realistic goal for most people, and he was likely monitored by his doctor. The thing that worries me is how some people may react to the story, just assuming that they can do that too, and possibly causing harm to themselves, or at the very least becoming discouraged when they don't see themselves losing a pound a day and just giving up completely. I would have liked to see a quote from him discouraging people from blindly copying him, and encouraging them to seek quidance from a doctor0
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There's a very important contextual point missing here. I looked this up, and it seems that he was on 6 (SIX!!!) heart medications and obese. The benefits exceed the risks in this case (or so it seems, and I do believe that he'd be doctor monitored/approved for the drastic diet).
Simplistically speaking, it's a matter of the distinct possibility of death in a year's time (or less), or lose the weight and be malnourished/muscle depleted for a while (but still alive, with hopefully improved heart health).0 -
Sheila00000 wrote: »amyrebeccah wrote: »Also, as to whether a pound a day weight loss is feasible to you, that will also depend on metabolism. Are you a 6'7" man?
No I'm a female, 5"2. But what ana said, that he was eating a higher nutrient food diet, wouldn't that eliminate any causes of him weakening his muscle mass even those he lost a pound a day? He exercised too, so his muscles were being used causing them to not get any weaker.
No, the loss of muscle mass is because there is a limit to the amount of energy your body can recover from a given amount of fat during a given period of time (I believe it's 30 calories a day per pound of fat, but I'm pulling that out of my memory, so if it matters to you, double check with a reliable source)--think of it as a factory with a finite set of inputs, limiting production.
If your deficit exceeds the amount of energy you can recover from the fat in your body, you have to get it from somewhere, and "somewhere" includes muscle, and muscle includes your heart muscle. And as the poster above said, you can't control which muscle your body is going to tear down to get the energy it needs. (Actually, my understanding is that even at smaller daily energy deficits that are within the theoretical limits that your body fat could supply, you will still likely be losing at least some lean body mass to make up the deficit--i.e., that your body doesn't strictly get the energy it needs from the various possible sources according to some prioritized list, exhausting all the potential of one source before moving on to the next--but once you hit that theoretical limit, everything beyond that will have to come from non-fat sources.)
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Just like my life, your life, and those of other MFPers....everyone has more to their story than they're willing to put out there for the entire world to know. I think there is a LOT more to this story than we know. I read the article too. My first thought was that I didn't believe the timeframe, don't really believe the # of calories either. Even under a doctor's care, there could be some serious long-term health effects from such a fast weight loss (IF it occurred as reported). But we won't know that until time has passed and then it's extremely unlikely that anyone will put it together with the diet he went on.
I think you need to do what is best for YOU. You and your doc can work that out together. I'm a regular person. Putting my make-up on the same way a model does is not going to get me on the cover of Vogue. Trying to lose weight the way it's reported Penn did it, isn't going to promise you the weight loss he got. Do what's best for you, and keep some healthy skepticism in your life when it comes to celebrities.0 -
1200 non doctor supervised minimiums were invented so that impatient people have a chance to not succeed in destroying their health!
When you lose weight you are losing water, muscle, and fat. Most people are only interested in losing the fat and would prefer to keep their muscles intact. Weight loss of more than 1% a week increases the chances that what you will lose is not fat.
Faster weight loss also sets you up with unsustainable habits. What happens when you are no longer on your "fast weight loss" plan? Did you change anything in your life or are you going back to your previous habits and weight?
I am not 100% clear as to what exactly happens with your body as you push down harder on the calories, someone with more knowledge may be able to clear things up. However things such as metabolic adaptation where your body learns to operate sustainably at a lower caloric level comes to mind.
I don't know about you; but, I actually enjoy eating, maybe too much so!
In any case, I plan to continue eating as much as my body allows me to in as "healthy" a manner as I can.
My goal is not to train my body to survive on the least amount of food possible.
My goal is to train ME to recognize when I am over-eating and how to make better trade-offs that maximize my eating satisfaction without leading to fat accumulation. And maybe move a bit more.
Last thought and you even alluded to it yourself (which makes me wonder why you even posted, what would you think would be better for me?
(change the numbers so that they are appropriate to you)
Would it have been better to go a three month diet at 1000 calories a day and lose up to 50lbs of weight while feeling h(a)ngry and lightheaded all the time, or to change my daily and eating habits over a 12 month period while eating an average of 2300 calories and lose almost 80lbs of fat?
It is not a sprint to the finish.
I enjoy eating way too much myself! lol But I posted this before I started reasoning on everyone's comments, and I have a vacation in June so I was thinking I could do the same thing he did and be at my goal by June instead of this .5 a week thing. It was SO tempting this morning after reading it, seriously.
I mean I almost didn't even eat breakfast so I could save calories for later, but I calmed down and asked everything so my head is on right now! ha ha! All of the comments are rounded and make sense, it's not smart for me. I'm the queen of fad diets so I was about to jump hard on what he did. The calorie's I'm dong now are working and it's not out of my limit of management.0 -
The thing that worries me is how some people may react to the story, just assuming that they can do that too, and possibly causing harm to themselves, or at the very least becoming discouraged when they don't see themselves losing a pound a day and just giving up completely.
Yes exactly!!! That's where I was at this morning. I was like I can do that! I never have had anyone to talk to before I have done these fad diets so you guys have been very helpful I don't feel like a slacker for not losing a pound a day, lol.0 -
Just Googled... His neck looks like a Lady Garden. He can keep his pound a day weight loss.
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I had to lose weight quickly so I would be deemed an appropriate candidate for kidney donation. I did 1200 cal per day without eating back exercise calories for probably about the first 6 - 8 months. The speed at which I did it was for the recipient's benefit, not mine. If I had simply been doing it for myself I would have opted to go slower. Losing as much weight as I did in as short a time span as I did ended up actually messing up things that had been fine previously. My blood pressure went up. Like WAY up. My fasting blood sugar went way up....none of the doctors had any idea why but the common go-to was that losing weight quickly can mess with things and it takes time to "settle", whatever that means.0
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@megan wow how much did you lose in that time frame? With your number off hopefully you were still able to do the kidney donation. I'm realizing it does seem like it messes up more things internally than what's seen on the outside.
Since Penn was losing it for blood pressure reasons, I'm curious if his blood pressure went up like yours did. The articles don't say anything about his numbers after the weight loss.0 -
Sam Smith did kind of the same thing for two weeks. But I hate the People feature that tells what celebrities are eating because they're probably lying through their teeth. I picked up the one with Tracy Anderson when I was in a waiting room and saw that she exercises and breast feeds her baby on 1700 calories. Even if she's trying to shed baby weight, that still seems really low for a celebrity trainer who worked out that day.0
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I lost about 120-130 of my total loss in that time period. I lost a little beforehand unintentionally just because groceries were expensive...lol...and I lost a few more pounds after to get to my current 140 ish maintenance range. My numbers did end up within an acceptable range for donation. I just donated at the beginning of january of this year. part of the problem with my blood pressure was that I was actually too low on my sodium (I aimed for less than 1000mg per day and was sometimes as low as the minimum required amount of 500mg) but I was running so much that I was losing a wackload of sodium from my high sweat rate. That threw off my sodium/potassium balance, which is what I suspect affected my blood pressure. I just get blank stares and a "well....good that it all worked out, I guess" from the doctors when I suggest that as a possibility, but it's the only thing I've found to closely correlate to my BP. I gave up on low sodium when my BP kept going higher anyway. As soon as I started pouring salt on everything my BP dropped from 145/84 to 106/64 within days and stayed there. And if I have too many days of super high sodium content meals it actually tends to dip even lower for the systolic...into the 90s range. That said, correlation doesn't necessarily mean causation. If you have high blood pressure, don't go pouring salt on everything because that worked for me. I'm weird. lol.0
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Sheila00000 wrote: »Yes Amy I'm having a hard time keeping at my 1,600 to be honest. I have high blood pressure and high cholesterol issues and I need to lose close to 55 pounds.
MFP has me losing .5 a week where I'm at, but I was thinking about lowering it to do more. But you are right, this is comfortable for me now. Anything less might tip more over what I can do at this point, willpower or not.
If you wanted, you could set MFP at 1 lb/week. I've got it set at 0.5 kg which is just a bit more than 1 lb/week.
At 0.5 kg/week, MFP has me on 1250, which is a challenge and is just doable. Thank goodness for exercise, or it wouldn't be doable for me.
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Ophra did something like this too. Then, she got fat again.0
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