Question about the CURVES plan

aprildh

I had a friend just show me her Curves book and wanted us to do it together for a week. But, I am not sure I agree with a maintenance calorie intake of 2000-2500 calories in Phase 3 to recover metabolism. It seemed like there was a lot of weight yo-yoing in this plan? I know in MFP we have our consistent daily goal, not one set of calorie goals for different times of the month. Any thoughts. Any one else doing it this way? Which is better?

JE55Y

That's a weird coincidence...

I know someone at work who is doing the Curves Diet. I thought she meant the Atkins Diet at first, because it's a low carb diet. I'm a bit sceptical about it as she said she's doing it for two weeks and then she goes back to her normal eating habbits. Umm.. big portions of Fried chicken..

I don't see any point in doing this, but she said she lost 56 lbs doing it four years ago. I'm still sceptical! LOL

BamaRose0107

I worked at curves through college and did the diet. There are two versions the low carb and the low calorie. I did the diet class but was not impressed at all. It is a yo-yo diet. The plan starts off very restrictive in carbs and calories then you add more after one or two weeks depending on how much you have to lose. The good thing about the diet is that you will lose weight quick. The bad thing is most of the women in our club had alot of trouble sticking with it because it was restrictive. We also had a lot of women gain the weight back after they returned to somewhat normal. In my opinion there are much healthier diets out there that can become a lifestyle change. I am not sure about the maintenance part of the diet, we never had anyone make it that far. We would have the same people take the class two or three times a year trying to lose the same 30 pounds. This is merely my opinion and what I saw while working there.

aprildh

Thanks so much. It did seem like a yo-yo diet but according to my friend you lose the weight over the long haul But even if I made it to the metabolism recovery weeks (which was after the first month for 2-4 weeks) of eating 2000+ calories, I know I would put the weight right back on. However, according to the book, just go back on the restrictive diet for a couple of days to keep that in check. That seems like a lot of work to maintain. My friend loves this meal plan though. I don't even see anywhere where it accounts for "calories earned by exercising". I think it makes more sense to stick with a healthy calorie goal daily. I do wish I would see some results a little more than I am though. I am wondering if I am doing something wrong. For the most part I stay in my calorie goal and I am exercising 5-7 days a week. I have been doing this for 6 weeks and not really any change yet other than I feel stronger and better.

paulkj

It's interesting that you brought this up. I recently pulled out my curves book and have been reading up on their metabolic recovery. I have been trying it for about 3 weeks now and I can't really say if it works or not. Now, I don't go up to the suggested 2000-2500 calories per day but I do go up to 1500-1800. The first cycle it took me 9 days to reach my 'high' weight and 3 days to get back down to my 'low' weight. The second cycle it took me only 5 days to get up to my 'high' weight (and according to their book it is supposed to take longer to get up to the high weight with each cycle) and now I am on day 3 of the low calorie and I wil see tomorrow if I am down to my 'low' weight.

I haven't seen any testimonies or anything from anyone who has tried this. I said I would do it for 3 months just to see if it indeed works, but I will see what happens when I step on th scale tomorrow morning.

simona1972

I dont really know anything about Curves but I would think the yo-yo effect is to keep the people coming back to Curves. Seems to me that they're more profitable if people gain weight back and start over...and over....and over.