Finished a very low calorie diet - what next?

deanjcrawford

Finished a very low calorie diet, what next?

Quick backstory: today, myself a lot of others from my yoga group finished a 10 day brown rice cleanse.  I've lost  9.4 Kg but more importantly, I feel great and my skins looks amazing.

However, even though I do want to lose weight and I continued to exercise during the cleanse, this was too much and was a surprise. I wasn't counting calories during the cleanse because you're just supposed to eat when hungry, but  I've since worked out that I was eating between 700-1000 calories a day and am worried that I'm going to put the weight on right away.  I've read that when you eat low calorie and go back to normal, your body clings on to calories much more than it normally would.  before exercise, my calories are set to .  So theoretically, if I up my calories for today to say, 1800-2000 calories a day, i shouldn't gain any of the weight back and continue to lose?   Or is there something else I need to do to ensure that doesn't happen?  

Like I said, I didn't do the cleanse to lose weight, but now that I have, I don't want to put any back on and have made myself nervous by reading around!

usmcmp

You should talk to your doctor.

ETA: I personally think what you did wasn't very smart, but the damage is done. Slowly increase your calories, making sure to get protein. Start resistance training. There's a good chance you will gain some of it back, but slowly increasing calories is a good place to start.

Chief_Rocka

All cleansing does is make room for new toxins

Ninkyou

I agree, speak with your doctor.


And eat more. That being said, you WILL see a gain on the scale when you increase your calories to anything more than you were eating. This is from your glycogen stores being replenished. You've probably depleted the heck out of them. Usually this is a temporary gain though.

Muzica1959

Yes, you probably will gain it back because that is not a healthy diet and your body recognizes that. I've been there a thousand times and the weight always comes back. The best thing for you to do would be to change your eating lifestyle to consuming a healthy diet and let the fad diets go. Use MFP and go by what it tells you. Be brutally honest when logging in weight, foods and workouts. Weigh and measure everything you eat. Follow the MFP program and you WILL lose without all of that silly fad diet mess. You can eat anything you want as long as you do so in moderation and log it honestly. Trust me, I've done more fad diets that just about anyone I have ever met and all those ever do is screw up your metabolism in the long run. Eat healthy, exercise and live life.

JayMc98

I don't think you will go right back to normal when you finish the diet as long as exercise is involved. Don't exercise while your on the low calorie diet but as start to get off of it increase the calorie intake by 100 every 3 days. As you do so exercise while you increase.

deanjcrawford

I didn't really want to get into the rights and wrongs of a cleanse, some people think its madness, others live their lives by it.

I'm just after info about how the body reacts after something like this, weight gain wise. I'd be interested to here what damage you think has been done after 10 days?

deanjcrawford

I feel people arent really understanding me. THIS WAS NOT A DIET, IT WAS A CLEANSE! I was never hungry during the 10 days and it was only a 10 day thing. They say to rest during a cleanse but I carried on lifting and doing hiit which is what much have caused the extreme weight loss.

Muzica1959

Was this brown rice cleanse all organic? If not, every time you ate you were adding toxins. And no offense but you are the one who called it a low calorie diet.

Ninkyou

I feel people arent really understanding me. THIS WAS NOT A DIET, IT WAS A CLEANSE! I was never hungry during the 10 days and it was only a 10 day thing. They say to rest during a cleanse but I carried on lifting and doing hiit which is what much have caused the extreme weight loss.

Your calories were restricted, no matter how you slice it, it was a diet. You can call it what you want, but you were on a calorie deficit, which is what caused you to lose weight.

Like I said in my previous post, your glycogen stores become depleted when you're on a deficit. When you eat more than your cut, your glycogen stores will replenish.

deanjcrawford

Was this brown rice cleanse all organic? If not, every time you ate you were adding toxins. And no offense but you are the one who called it a low calorie diet.

Yes, it was organic. And I think you're getting confused by diet. When I say diet, I mean the food I eat, not fad diets like south beach, etc.

gmallan

Was this brown rice cleanse all organic? If not, every time you ate you were adding toxins. And no offense but you are the one who called it a low calorie diet.

Yes, it was organic. And I think you're getting confused by diet. When I say diet, I mean the food I eat, not fad diets like south beach, etc.

A brown rice cleanse even if it was just for 10 days sounds exactly like a fad diet, you could even call it the 10 day brown rice slim down diet. Guaranteed to lose 5kg in 10 days and rid the body of toxins.

It's not a sustainable way of eating day in day out and it's designed to drop weight fast therefore it's a fad in my book.

Muzica1959

The word diet means what you eat. I was just using your words. I did not mean to be offensive and sorry that you took it that way. I am just speaking from years of experience of doing juice fasts, raw vegan etc etc. Anytime you go back to eating regular foods you will put some weight back on...or at least I did, no matter how healthy it was. Your body spent 10 days being denied the nutrients and vitamins that it needs to live. I've been there. Start back slow and eat healthy. If you try to go back to eating a lot all at once beware of serious cramping. The best cleanse I have ever done was a 3 day water fast. I'm not knocking cleanses. I'm just saying if you are doing it to lose weight...that is not a good thing. I just assumed that since you do not want to gain the weight back that you lost on this cleanse that weight loss was one of your goals. I still stand by what I said before about eating healthy, sensible and tracking your calories with a good workout included. It will make you healthier than any cleanse out there.

navyrigger46

I just want to know what toxins were cleansed, and how brown rice accomplished this feat.

Rigger

Muzica1959

I just want to know what toxins were cleansed, and how brown rice accomplished this feat.

Rigger

Supposedly, any "cleanse" cleans out many toxins that our body consumes such as chemicals sprayed on the fruits, vegetables and grains as they are growing, growth hormones and steroids that are given or fed to animals that we consume, and even the toxins in the water we use and the air we breath. A cleanse is also supposed to take care of toxins from shampoos, soaps, etc etc. Again I say supposedly. I lived by this for the last few years and ended up in hospital with emergency surgery from a severe cellulitis infection. Christmas of 2013.*shrug*

deanjcrawford

Was this brown rice cleanse all organic? If not, every time you ate you were adding toxins. And no offense but you are the one who called it a low calorie diet.

Yes, it was organic. And I think you're getting confused by diet. When I say diet, I mean the food I eat, not fad diets like south beach, etc.

A brown rice cleanse even if it was just for 10 days sounds exactly like a fad diet, you could even call it the 10 day brown rice slim down diet. Guaranteed to lose 5kg in 10 days and rid the body of toxins.

It's not a sustainable way of eating day in day out and it's designed to drop weight fast therefore it's a fad in my book.

Not necessarily because other foods don't have the properties that brown rice does.

And thanks for helping to answer my question rather than make judgements.

LucasEVille

I just want to know what toxins were cleansed, and how brown rice accomplished this feat.

Rigger

Do not question the yoga broscience.
Instead realise, that there is no science.

PunkyDucky

Yes, you will gain most of that weight back. What you did was a bit outrageous bc brown rice has no special powers to grant a cleanse from whatever toxins you have in your body. See a doc like others have suggested. If not..

Then just gradually increase your calories 100 a week to your specified calorie goal.

These links will help if you need it:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/912920-in-place-of-a-road-map-3-2013

cbhubbybubble

I really have no idea or personal experience as I've never one a cleanse or fast. 10 days of 700 calories f brown rice would probably have me following it up with a prison diet as someone would have gotten hurt. That said, I don't think you've done irreparable damage in 10 days. If you eat sensibly you may gain a little back as your body sucks up what it has been deprived of, but if you plan for a deficit it won't stay around long. I can't quite figure if you want to lose more weight or just maintain from here

mewickla

Sorry your post got taken over by such snarky people. :flowerforyou:
It seems like whenever someone asks a question on here, they're all quick to jump on you instead of actually answering the question in a positive and constructive way.

There's seriously some uppity people on these boards, y'all need to calm down. :sick:

giggitygoo

Sheesh. That sounds like it was rough.

Well, the good news is that if you can stick to this super restrictive cleanse for 10 days, you can pretty much do anything!

It's likely that you have only truly lost a pound or two, and the rest will come back as you revert to your normal intake. There really isn't anything you can do to avoid that.

PunkyDucky

Sorry your post got taken over by such snarky people. :flowerforyou:
It seems like whenever someone asks a question on here, they're all quick to jump on you instead of actually answering the question in a positive and constructive way.

There's seriously some uppity people on these boards, y'all need to calm down. :sick:

LucasEVille

Sorry your post got taken over by such snarky people. :flowerforyou:
It seems like whenever someone asks a question on here, they're all quick to jump on you instead of actually answering the question in a positive and constructive way.

There's seriously some uppity people on these boards, y'all need to calm down. :sick:

Azdak

Any "weight" you "lost" in a 10-day cleanse, or low-calorie binge or whatever it is you did, is NOT "weight loss". At most you lost maybe 3 pounds of fat. The rest is water, glycogen, etc.

It's like you squeezed a wet sponge, then stuck the sponge back in water and you want to know how to keep it from filling up.

You can't.

You didn't really "damage" anything in 10 days, at least not metabolically.

So you go back to a regular eating plan. If you are in energy balance, then any actual fat that you lost may well stay lost-at least for a while. The majority of your "weight loss" was due to transient fluid shifts, and that will resolve itself by its own accord once you resume a normal eating pattern.

deanjcrawford

I just want to know what toxins were cleansed, and how brown rice accomplished this feat.

Rigger

Rigger, if you're genuinely interested, here is the info. Might i add, i would NEVER do this for longer than 10 days. People seem to be getting confused thinking that i do this all the time. i don't. I'm generally a fat git who thought the opportunity to cleanse my system from all the food and booze i drink sounded like a good idea. For 10 days. Not for a lifetime. I was just genuinely surprised by how much weight i lost, yet i think a lot of that had to do with the big meal i ate before i weighed myself and possibly some muscle lost, but i actually got stronger so i don't know what's going on there.

"Why do a cleanse? 
 
It's a method of giving the digestive system a rest.  By eating one type of food, your body 
only  has  to  digest  one  thing.  This  means  energy  usually  used  to  digest  food,  can  be 
redirected and used to heal, cleanse and repair the body. 
 
The Ohsawa  diet  is recommended for 10 days.  Usually, 7 days of cleansing wipes the 
slate  clean.  Your  body  is  usually  fully  cleansed,  reset  and  ready  to  run.  However, 
depending on how toxic you are, 10 days makes sure most people receive the full benefits 
of the cleanse. 
 
Effects of the Oshawa cleanse 
1. Intensive  purification  &  massive  detox,  elimination  of  toxins accumulated in body 
tissue (unpleasant physiological reactions) 
2. What  if  i  am  already healthy?  This will refresh and give a general cleanse of the 
body. 
3. Purify the energy system.  Cleansing the NADIS .   
4. Kapha  dosha (phlegm)  is reduced  which  hinders  the  movement  of energy in the 
body.  This  purification results  =  significantly  immediate  clarification and  clarity of 
mind; 
5. Digestion improves significantly 
6. Hormone secretions are regulated, 
7. The skin is clean and bright. 
8. Eyes are brighter with an unexplained power and lust for life, often foreign to them. 
9. Excellent method to regulate weight, without starvation. 
10. What if you’re underweight?  10 days of the Oshawa cleanse can normalize weigh t.
11. Resistance to extreme hot and cold temperatures are amplified.   
12. Sweating & body odours are reduced. 
13. Yang status of the cleanse helps us to feel that we can better control our emotions. 
14. For  those  who  are  addicted  to  drugs  or  toxic  substances  (alcohol,  coffee, 
recreational drugs etc) the number 7 regime detoxifies the body. 
15. INTENSE HEALING 
16. Enhances  the  control  over  the  sexual  and  vital  energy,  is  effective  in  fighting 
premature ejaculation"


 
 
 
 

deanjcrawford

A lot of you may see that as voodoo, but i don't care. I'm open for trying all manner of things and seeing what works for me. What i do know is that my skin looks great and i feel great. I just wanted some advice about returning to my normal eating methods and wanted to know what to expect from my body as i do so.

deanjcrawford

Sheesh. That sounds like it was rough.

Well, the good news is that if you can stick to this super restrictive cleanse for 10 days, you can pretty much do anything!

It's likely that you have only truly lost a pound or two, and the rest will come back as you revert to your normal intake. There really isn't anything you can do to avoid that.

Fair enough, that's all i wanted to know really. Thanks.

deanjcrawford

Any "weight" you "lost" in a 10-day cleanse, or low-calorie binge or whatever it is you did, is NOT "weight loss". At most you lost maybe 3 pounds of fat. The rest is water, glycogen, etc.

It's like you squeezed a wet sponge, then stuck the sponge back in water and you want to know how to keep it from filling up.

You can't.

You didn't really "damage" anything in 10 days, at least not metabolically.

So you go back to a regular eating plan. If you are in energy balance, then any actual fat that you lost may well stay lost-at least for a while. The majority of your "weight loss" was due to transient fluid shifts, and that will resolve itself by its own accord once you resume a normal eating pattern.

Perfect, thanks.

Like i say, it wasn't undertaken for weight loss but i'm not going to complain about it.

WalkingAlong

You can't use certain words here without getting jumped on. You hit a lot of em-- cleanse, toxins, very low calorie.

My opinion- You did no damage, bodies don't 'cling to calories', eat normally and enjoy your nice skin. :flowerforyou:

SLLRunner

Sorry your post got taken over by such snarky people. :flowerforyou:
It seems like whenever someone asks a question on here, they're all quick to jump on you instead of actually answering the question in a positive and constructive way.

There's seriously some uppity people on these boards, y'all need to calm down. :sick:

Is that really all you have to say? I mean, come on. People are responding to what the OP wrote.

Where's your advice to the OP?

As for my advice to you, OP- can you see in hindsight that what you ate was a very low calorie diet of brown rice and that what you did was not an actual cleanse? Organic brown rice is delicious but it has no special properties.

I understand you feel good that you lost some weight, even though you say you did not do the cleanse for the purpose of "dieting"," but chances are you will gain some of it back. If all you ate was brown rice, you deprived your body of nutrition and essential macros such as fat and protein (but you had plenty of carbs! :bigsmile: ). Your body will thank you when you begin fueling it properly again.

By the way, why did you do this cleanse if not for weight loss?

I advise that you talk to your doctor.

WalkingAlong

Brown rice does have some fat and protein.

OP- Are you pretty sure you only ate 700-1000 calories a day? That's like 3-4 cups of cooked brown rice. That's not much.