Juicing: maintainable or no?

ashandstuff

LONG VERSION: First of all I am not asking for myself, but for my brother. Poor guy gained nearly 80 lbs in the past few years and is really desperate to get rid of the weight. But, he is so clueless when it comes to eating right.

He is doing this c-r-a-z-y juicing diet for 60 days where he has two meals juiced and the only protein allowed is fish. (I’m not even sure where he heard about it, all the sudden he shows up with a blender and fruits/veggies talking about this!?)

He lost 10 lbs in 6 days?????!!??? Which to me, screams water weight and bowel movements, but let’s just pretend he’s actually lost that much.

Here is my problem: every one in my family is congratulating him and telling him to continue this diet, but personally….I just think he’s not learning how to eat right so once the diet is over and he goes back to his old habits, the pounds will pile back on.

I feel bad for being the only person to tell him that this is a crazy diet and he just needs to learn to eat right and start exercising.

And I figured, hey, I need to step back a second. What do I even know?? Maybe it does work long term for some people?

So I’ve come to ask you.

Did juicing work for you in losing weight and keeping it off long term?


TL;DR Does juicing work for in losing weight and keeping it off long term?

karkaskompetisie

Reminds me of the documentary "fat, sick and nearly dead" (you can watch it on youtube). Anyway, I couldn't do it, not even for 2 weeks, I just don't have the willpower.

ExtremePhobia

I can't say that I've ever done it but I can't say (from what I've heard) that it's overly good for you. 10 lbs in 6 days is quite awful. Most would recommend that you should take about 6 times as long to lose that much weight not because it's impossible but that kind of rapid weight loss isn't good for your system to begin with and usually results in a bounce back effect (not to mention skin stretching).

Liquid diets are notorious for having a nasty bounce back and causing serious problems when you finish the diet. If you return to a normal diet afterwards, your body isn't prepared for the thickness of the food and generally makes people sick.

I would say you should tell him about that (do some other research of your own about the negative effects of this kind of diet) and if he doesn't listen, then don't force it on him. If/When he bounces back, don't rub it in his face, just offer to show him how you've been doing it, that it's successful and doesn't have any negative side effects. Sometimes people need to make mistakes to learn. Just be supportive if this is the case.

ANDRE_DOE

I've been Juicing on and off for about 15 years and what i've learned is that over time I learned how to eat right. Not many people close to me at the time was into it so I had to get my info from the WEB.I got new information as the food clouds disappeared and I started learning about myself. I was able to liberate myself from from the bad food addition. Over time i learned about things like lifestyle change, eating for nutrition and how to do it for myself. You will be a good help to him by supporting him and feeding him information that you learned and other healthy meals from time to time. remember EVERYONE BODY is different. And a big part of his lifestyle change will come from you.

Ainar

So it's sugar, water (fruits, veggies) and fish? It's basically just a low carb, high protein diet. Yes, it can work. But I is it healthy? Maybe... depends, is he eating enough fish and what is his calorie deficit. But like you said he doen't follow that so I dont think it will be healthy for him. If he's in calorie deficit then he will lose his weight but prolly slow down his metabolism pretty hard plus pig out once diet is over, plus go back to old eating habits and gain all back, maybe even some more. No, those kind of stupid diets never work long term.

ndj1979

I would say no...but then it is going to be tough to convince him and you may have to wait until he crashes and burns and then suggest the "normal method" i.e. create a 500 calorie deficit and work out more which will lead to longer term sustained weight loss.

Eating that little eventually he is going to binge and go back to old habits. I mean if I could only eat fish once a day and had to drink to juiced meals I would go crazy by day ten...

Maybe pull him aside when away from family and say "hey, I know you think this is a good plan but here is why it is not..." and then suggest he look into MFP or something?

These family situations are always dicey ..

but IMO this is a horrible diet idea....