One month and fighting to keep going.

I would just eat real healthy foods(fruits, vegetables, lean meats, dairy) and take a daily vitamin:)
I need the taste, smell, texture of real food or else I feel I'm being cheated or punished.

I dont normally reply to posts but feel quite strongly about your post. My personal opinion is that after many years struggling with my weight the only way that i have lost weight and kept it off is by getting a healthy apprach to my food, diet and exercise. I HAVE NOT undergone a faddy diet to loose this weight because for me its important to undergo a whole lifestyle change and eat this way forever. 14 lbs is great, but realistically will you countine this diet for much longer...I suspect not and when you do stop i would of thought that the weight will creep back on before it goes down.

MFP has allowed me to treat myself to a little of what i fancy everyday and so i have found it easy to maintain my diet, there is very simple science behind weight loss which is at the core of MFP, do not eat more calories than you burn. the site has educated me as to which foods will keep my fuller for longer, the best times of day to eat (for me) and what foods may make me happy but use all my calories for the day and don't keep my body going.

My message to you would be to ditch the faddy diet programmes and meal replacements and re-educate yourself into healthy normal food, this lifestyle change is what will help you in the future not protein shakes and bars. I may sound like i am being a bit rude but just feel very strongly about the subject being that after struggling for years i reliased that all i had to do was eat less, exercise more and think about the food groups i was eating! EASY!

Hi Roberta, and welcome to MFP!

Wow thats ALOT of protein!!!! But i guess if you're told by someone in the know that its what you need then its best to take their advice.

I can't offer any advice unfortunatly but i can offer support, just think though, by the time you can eat normal regular food again it's all going to taste so good and you'll be so greatful of it.
I think many of us gain weight because we take food for granted and don't appreciate it enough. We just shove it in our mouths to releive hunger, stress, upset, depression, anger etc but once that food is taken away from you you realise just how good it actually was!

You WILL get there hun and this feeling of deprivation won't last forever, take each day as it comes and try to focus on feeling healthier x

Wow! You have done great! I think losing weight requires a certain change in thinking and it may be that you are not there. I was also raised on junk and continued to eat that way as an adult. But when I had a motivation that was for me, my mind just clicked and I am motivated (for the most part LOL). I think you feel as though this has been forced upon you. I think for your health it would be worth sticking to but maybe you could make some adjustments. Maybe you could have a free day where you eat what you want, within reason of course, or maybe a free meal. Talk to your doctor maybe about what adjustments could be made. Good luck!

Honestly, I would worry about that much protein effecting your kidneys and at your weight, I would think that 1400 calories is too low. I would tell him that you can't handle all those shakes and bars. Obviously, if you are feeling this way mentally about them, then it isn't the right program for you. Besides, the GI symptoms show that they don't agree with you. You might mention that you want to add more fiber to your diet so that you can have a normal bowel movement. Too many doctors are anti-carb and forget that you have to have them for the bowel benefits if nothing else.

Did he mention anything about your heart rate while working out? Just FYI: people with high blood pressure should workout under 70% of their maximum. There are numerous ways to determine the maximum heart rate, but the current standard without clinical testing is to use 220 - your age. They are currently doing research as to how that formula might need to change, but until it is actually proven that something else is better, that is what I use for my clients. At 52 years old, your maximum heart rate would be 168 beats per minute. 70% of that would be about 118 beats per minute. Don't go over that while working out. Exercise will increase your blood pressure while you are working out but will decrease it over time. When you have high blood pressure, raising your blood pressure while exercising can put it so high that it becomes dangerous. Thats why you have to work in the low end of your zone, so that you don't get your blood pressure too high. Eventually, over a long period of time, you will see benefits from the exercise of a lower overall blood pressure.

I agree with Emmalou and she said everything I was feeling....Good luck!

Roberta,

I tend to agree with a lot of what's said here already, especially MrsEJr's comments.

I would make one recommendation to you. Read. Don't read **** on MSN or YahooAnswers or something. Get online and read about weight loss, about macronutrients, and health and nutrition... not from newspapers or magazines from from serious institutions (even Wikipedia is good, but government departments, especially elite sports agencies are better). You'll have to make up your own mind what you think is legit and what you think is crap, but don't believe it just because someone says it. That goes for your doctor too. All these supplements you're on sound ridiculous. Eat real food - especially vegetables, grains, nuts, legumes... things that grow in the ground. Eat them as close to their natural state as possible. Bars and shakes are really only useful if you exercise so much that getting enough calories requires more food than you can fit in your stomach, or if you have a really restrictive diet for some other reason.

The key to a healthy change is consistency. If you don't think you can do what you're doing for the rest of your life, then something's wrong. Good luck!

When you get your bars and shakes do you pay the doctors office? or get them somewhere else? Look the product up on the internet and do some research. See if there are any side effects of this diet. Talk to some of the patients in the waiting room, see if they are using the products.

I used to go to a chiropractor who's wife was a naturopath, he was selling a line of diet products for her from his office. He tried to get me to buy some every time I went. I quit going to him. Soon there were news blurbs and articles in the paper about how bad those products were and they were pulled from the market. Most of their patients had purchased the stuff (it wasn't cheap either). He and his wife were making a killing selling it.