What diet???

rcrainel1979

I’m 220 right now and my goal is 165. Right now I am drinking 2 protein shakes daily, having a balanced dinner, and no eating at all after 7pm. I’m going to incorporate a work out routine shortly. Does anybody have any thoughts on this way to lose weight?

BarbaraHelen2013

No way to assess whether it’s going to help you lose weight unless you have calculated the calories in your shakes and ‘balanced dinner’.

If the total calories you’re taking in represent a sensible calorie deficit when compared to a reasonable estimate of your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) then you will lose weight.

If there is no difference between your total intake and your TDEE then you won’t lose.

If the intake number is higher than your TDEE then you will gain.

That’s just how it works. I’ll not go into whether I think it’s an all over sensible plan because that’s not what you asked. Whether you’ll lose or not comes down to the numbers - it’s physics!

Lietchi

My thought is: learn to eat real food. You aren't going to drink protein shakes to replace two meals a day long-term. So you're not teaching yourself how to eat long-term to maintain your weight once you reach your goal.

Also, protein shakes (liquid calories in general) aren't very filling. You'll probably be more hungry than if you ate regular foods.

And finally: what is important is how many calories you are consuming, that is what determines weight loss. Two protein shakes and a balanced dinner sounds low calorie and therefore potentially a bad idea. But to judge that, we would need to know a lot more about you (age, sex, height, activity level) and how many calories you would be consuming.

sijomial

Thoughts....
I think there's a high probability you are reducing your chances of success at a difficult task.
(Success defined as losing that excess 55lbs and then successfully maintaining at goal weight long term.)

Although some people have the ability to lose weight in very different ways to how they plan to maintain at goal weight I believe that's more suitable for people who are already good at maintaining weight and don't have a lot to lose.

Personally, I would be excessively hungry (drinking calories is a technique I use to BOOST calorie intake.)
I would be massively annoyed by rigid time rules and the impact on my social life would be an extra irritation. I would struggle to eat enough on that schedule to avoid an excessive deficit and get adequate nutrition.

To me that plan relies far too much on motivation which is a very limited resource and not compatible with adherence over the long period of time you should take to lose that weight. Overall making a hard job even harder.

88AViva

It may seem simpler than meal prep and such to just drink your shakes followed by one meal but it may actually be harder in the long run. Harder to maintain stable mood when you are hungry and harder to motivate yourself to be consistent when you aren't in a good headspace. More chances you will give up because this isn't the normal way of eating.

And there is no way to know how fast you will gain the weight back once you start eating normally (even the smallest amount). More than just weight loss, this won't help you build a good relationship with food. Food isn't just fuel, it's there to nourish you. I learnt this the hard way, when something doesn't bring you joy, it's hard to maintain. You might have to go through this process more than once.

JBanx256

rcrainel1979 wrote: »

Does anybody have any thoughts on this way to lose weight?

Oh indeed I do have thoughts about it...it sounds absolutely terrible.

There's no reason whatsoever to cut yourself off from food at 7pm (or any other time for that matter). Your body doesn't magically stop burning calories when the clock hits a certain hour. Just think about it for a second...if that were how it worked, what would happen during Daylight Savings Time? What about when you are on a trip and cross into a different time zone? What about people who work night shift? A lot of porting events are played at night; are the athletes not burning calories while running, jumping, throwing, tackling, etc?

Re: substituting 2 meals/day with shakes? I'd be hungry enough to gnaw off my own arm. I generally have a protein shake daily, but that's as a way to increase my overall protein intake, not to completely ditch actual meals.

What, EXACTLY, is a "balanced" dinner? How many calories? Calories are what ultimately determine weight loss (or gain), not some arbitrary adjective.

As others have pointed out, it's HIGHLY unlikely that this way of eating is sustainable for the long term; do you really see yourself, 5 or 10 years or until the day you die, down the road, still only eating actual food once per day? If not, you may want to reevaluate your plan because while you may lose weight, your chances of actually keeping it off, are fairly dismal.

HNivens520

I started a macros diet at the beginning of the year. I am down almost 30lbs and we have similar weight loss goals. Macros allows me to eat whatever I want within my numbers but to eat enough to feel full you really have to eat healthy most of the time. I think it is something that I will continue once I hit goal weight and is definitely sustainable. You just have to be willing to plan out your day. Reach out if you have questions and good luck! I never thought I would be down almost 30lbs in 4ish months.

cwolfman13

My thoughts...

- There is a high probability that you aren't consuming adequate calories for health. Protein shakes aren't particularly calorie dense and depending on what your dinner is I would think you would be under 1K calories per day.

- Protein shakes are just protein supplements. They lack the other essential nutrition to replace an actual meal.

- It's going to take awhile to lose 55 Lbs and two protein shakes per day and dinner is probably going to get really old, really quick.

- Liquid calories go right through you and are easily digested. You're likely to be hungry a lot of the time and thus rather miserable.

- You're not learning anything about nutrition or what your calorie needs are. What are you going to do when you move to maintenance and haven't learned anything?

Losing weight is already hard, making in even harder is likely not going to be sustainable. Losing weight is a long process and however you go about it, it needs to be sustainable over months and months and months.

fstrickl

JBanx256 wrote: »

rcrainel1979 wrote: »

Does anybody have any thoughts on this way to lose weight?

Oh indeed I do have thoughts about it...it sounds absolutely terrible.

There's no reason whatsoever to cut yourself off from food at 7pm (or any other time for that matter). Your body doesn't magically stop burning calories when the clock hits a certain hour. Just think about it for a second...if that were how it worked, what would happen during Daylight Savings Time? What about when you are on a trip and cross into a different time zone? What about people who work night shift? A lot of porting events are played at night; are the athletes not burning calories while running, jumping, throwing, tackling, etc?

Re: substituting 2 meals/day with shakes? I'd be hungry enough to gnaw off my own arm. I generally have a protein shake daily, but that's as a way to increase my overall protein intake, not to completely ditch actual meals.

What, EXACTLY, is a "balanced" dinner? How many calories? Calories are what ultimately determine weight loss (or gain), not some arbitrary adjective.

As others have pointed out, it's HIGHLY unlikely that this way of eating is sustainable for the long term; do you really see yourself, 5 or 10 years or until the day you die, down the road, still only eating actual food once per day? If not, you may want to reevaluate your plan because while you may lose weight, your chances of actually keeping it off, are fairly dismal.

This is so great, thank you! I always am waffling on the forums in MFP because some people view diets as a one time thing, when I don't think that's true at all. Solid advice for, and some important things that OP (and everyone really) needs to think about in their health journey.

AnnPT77

I agree with those above.

More subjectively, I can't speak for you, but it would make me miserable. I would've given up before losing 60 pounds, or probably any reasonable fraction of that. Instead, to lose roughly that amount (and stay at a healthy weight for 6+ years since, after previous decades of obesity), I did this:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10636388/free-customized-personal-weight-loss-eating-plan-not-spam-or-mlm/p1

That's not a universally perfect plan, either, although it worked swell for me (and similar for some other people here).

But personalization is important. What works well depends on our individual preferences, strengths, and challenges.

If two shakes, one meal, rules about eating and clock time work well for you, let you lose weight at a sensibly moderate rate while staying generally feeling full, well-nourished, energetic and overall happy, then your routine is a good one for you. If it doesn't accomplish those things, I'd give it a rethink, if I were you.

It takes time to lose any meaningful amount of weight (in a healthful way), and 60 pounds is a meaningful amount of weight. I'd expect you should be planning a routine - or a progression of them - that will work for quite a few months, let alone the many years of weight-maintenance after that. Does this feel like something you can continue happily and healthfully for many months, maybe forever? If so, you're all set. If not, well . . .

Wishing you good outcomes, whatever course you decide upon, sincerely. Reaching a healthy weight is a huge quality of life improvement at least it was for me.

yirara

HNivens520 wrote: »

I started a macros diet at the beginning of the year. I am down almost 30lbs and we have similar weight loss goals. Macros allows me to eat whatever I want within my numbers but to eat enough to feel full you really have to eat healthy most of the time. I think it is something that I will continue once I hit goal weight and is definitely sustainable. You just have to be willing to plan out your day. Reach out if you have questions and good luck! I never thought I would be down almost 30lbs in 4ish months.

Macros are not necessarily needed for weightloss. And setting ones macros in one certain way has the added prerequisit of knowing what kind of macros keep you full and happy. Just saying do 50/30/20 will not work for a substantial amount of people because they feel miserable and hungry. Just starting with a moderate deficit works, and along the way people can figure out what works for them in more specifics.

BruceHedtke

JBanx256 wrote: »

rcrainel1979 wrote: »

Does anybody have any thoughts on this way to lose weight?

There's no reason whatsoever to cut yourself off from food at 7pm (or any other time for that matter). Your body doesn't magically stop burning calories when the clock hits a certain hour.

This is something I've heard from people time and again. "Don't eat after X p.m." Their thought process is (because they told me as much) is that after that time, you are "winding down" and your body doesn't burn as many calories as earlier in the day when you're more active. While, in a very strict sense, that is true...the difference is usually negligible trending toward non-existent.

The way they believe, your calorie burn just shuts down at night and anything you eat will just lay in your intestines until you wake up again and re-start the engines. It's hogwash but it is something that continues to be passed along as fact.

Your body burns calories night and day at roughly the same rate, around the clock. There is a reason most people weigh themselves in the morning when they wake up...your body has had a 7-8 hour period of just pure calorie burning.

yirara

BruceHedtke wrote: »

JBanx256 wrote: »

rcrainel1979 wrote: »

Does anybody have any thoughts on this way to lose weight?

There's no reason whatsoever to cut yourself off from food at 7pm (or any other time for that matter). Your body doesn't magically stop burning calories when the clock hits a certain hour.

This is something I've heard from people time and again. "Don't eat after X p.m." Their thought process is (because they told me as much) is that after that time, you are "winding down" and your body doesn't burn as many calories as earlier in the day when you're more active. While, in a very strict sense, that is true...the difference is usually negligible trending toward non-existent.

The way they believe, your calorie burn just shuts down at night and anything you eat will just lay in your intestines until you wake up again and re-start the engines. It's hogwash but it is something that continues to be passed along as fact.

Your body burns calories night and day at roughly the same rate, around the clock. There is a reason most people weigh themselves in the morning when they wake up...your body has had a 7-8 hour period of just pure calorie burning.

Kind of. With no new food added, the stomach is empty and lots of food already digested. Plus a bit of dehydration. Drink half a liter of water first thing in the morning and you've magically gained 500gr of weight. Also, energy is constantly in flux. Surplussed stored for later or energy taken out of storage. But yeah, this is one of the odd notions that I wish would go away.