Calorie Restricted Diets

RDahling

Howdy Collective,

I was reading an article on the BBC about Calorie Restricted (CR) diets which sounded interesting to look into and consider as an additional option for weight loss for myself. They provided a link to the iDiet website, but the prices there seem somewhat outrageous to me.

Checking out articles on the benefits of CR Dieting (such as this ONE on calorie restricted diets in obese women in the JCEM or this ONE that concludes increased fibre can help with weight loss as well as this general article from Livestrong.com), it seems that the evidence demonstrates positive results, but how are other people handling it? I've seen a couple of threads in here on how much calorie restriction sucks, but I'm still interested in considering it as an option for myself - more to the point, I'd be interested in seeing something beyond journal articles on how to implement one and recommended recipes to ensure satiety despite eating less.

Anyone have any links or recommendations for CR diets?

Cheers,
Rob

elphie754

Regardless of what eating plan you choose, you still need to be in a calorie deficit (calorie restricted) to lose weight.

kommodevaran

I would also NOT pay more to eat less (calorie restrict).

I would also learn to handle feelings of hunger, that are perfectly normal and no cause of alarm as long as one is eating a balanced and nutritious diet.

Calorie restriction (eating less) in itself shouldn't suck (physically), because you're "eating" off your stored fat, and that's how we have survived as a species, but the having to control one's intake can suck (mentally), because we are surrounded by temptation 24/7, which is quite new to us.

lemurcat12

Isn't calorie restriction (having a calorie deficit) what everyone does to lose weight? There are lots of ways to get there, of course.

cherilee0831

I am on a calorie restricted diet through my doctor. I keep my calorie intake under a 1000 a day but allow myself a little more on the weekends. I have lost 32 pounds in 7 weeks. To make sure I keep it off, once I get to my half way goal, I will start increasing my calories so that I am at 1500-1800 a day to maintain.

cross2bear

Thats what CICO supports - the idea that if you want to lose weight, your calories in have to be less than your calories out - so you restrict the number of calories you consume. And of course the converse is true - to gain, your calories consumed have to be more than the calories you expend. And thats what so many of us here at MFP are doing - I was going to say its not rocket science but I guess for some people it is. Its definitely science!

quiksylver296

cwolfman13

Any weight loss plan or diet is calorie restriction...

kimny72

Everyone who loses weight does so by calorie restriction - that's literally the only way to lose weight.

Any diet like Keto, DASH, Jenny Craig, WW, "clean eating", etc works if the changes you make to your diet cause you to eat less calories. You might not be actually counting the calories, but you lose the weight because you are consuming less calories than you burn.

I didn't use any particular diet, just logged my food and learned over time that focusing on getting enough protein and fat helped me to feel full on slightly lower calories.

kommodevaran

cherilee0831 wrote: »

I am on a calorie restricted diet through my doctor. I keep my calorie intake under a 1000 a day but allow myself a little more on the weekends. I have lost 32 pounds in 7 weeks. To make sure I keep it off, once I get to my half way goal, I will start increasing my calories so that I am at 1500-1800 a day to maintain.

Good luck with that. I hope you're not going to binge (like almost everybody does after extreme calorie restriction.)

RDahling

I get that a standard weight loss diet aims at CI < CO (I currently run a deficit of anywhere from 500 - 1500 kcal/day, depending on what I do), but the CR diets talked about in the articles and the website generally imply something other than just a ratio imbalance - it seems that the CR Diet aims at a specific percentile of necessary calories rather than simply running a deficit (somewhere around the range of 60%), which is why I'm curious about it.

As for satiety, I don't seem to have any issues with that, even when I'm 1500+ deficit on the day.

usmcmp

RDahling wrote: »

I get that a standard weight loss diet aims at CI < CO (I currently run a deficit of anywhere from 500 - 1500 kcal/day, depending on what I do), but the CR diets talked about in the articles and the website generally imply something other than just a ratio imbalance - it seems that the CR Diet aims at a specific percentile of necessary calories rather than simply running a deficit (somewhere around the range of 60%), which is why I'm curious about it.

As for satiety, I don't seem to have any issues with that, even when I'm 1500+ deficit on the day.

Such as total calories the body burns - 20%? That's actually suggested a lot on here because it is an appropriate deficit no matter how much weight someone has to lose. A morbidly obese person could have an even greater deficit, but -20% is enough to be satisfied for most people and helps ensure adequate intake to preserve lean mass no matter what the body fat of the person is.

lemurcat12

RDahling wrote: »

I get that a standard weight loss diet aims at CI < CO (I currently run a deficit of anywhere from 500 - 1500 kcal/day, depending on what I do), but the CR diets talked about in the articles and the website generally imply something other than just a ratio imbalance - it seems that the CR Diet aims at a specific percentile of necessary calories rather than simply running a deficit (somewhere around the range of 60%), which is why I'm curious about it.

As for satiety, I don't seem to have any issues with that, even when I'm 1500+ deficit on the day.

The study linked (https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article-lookup/doi/10.1210/jc.2002-021480) is not talking about a specific diet called the calorie restricted diet. What it's comparing is a carb-restricted diet where total calories are not limited (the question is how much the dieter will limit them without that) vs. a so called low fat diet with a calorie limit.

I can't tell what the iDiet is exactly, because of course they want you to pay, but I don't think it's just about some level of calorie restriction (and a diet is calorie restricted if you are, well, restricting calories in some way, there's no specific formula).