Rotation Diet

kingon8
kingon8 Posts: 200 Member
edited September 18 in Food and Nutrition
I know how most everyone on here feels about starvation mode, but I was digging through a health book last night from 1988 and it had something in it called the rotation diet, where women eat 600cals for 3 days then 900 cals for 4 days, then 1200 cals for 7 days and then repeat once then take a mini vacation and eat normally for anywhere from a week to a month before doing the cycle over (For men the rotation is 1200/1500/1800 I believe) I would have to have read the book by the author Martin Katahn to know all the nutritional info and complete details on the diet, but it seemed really interesting to me, he suggests you drink plenty of water, get plenty of brisk exercise and take a multivitamin to make up for any nutrition lacking on the low days. I have tried to research this on the internet and some people say good things about and some bad, but I was wondering if anyone else has heard of it, tried it, or have thoughts on it. Something else I want to add, I dont know if any of you have watched it, but last week on discovery health they had a show called the Human Body and one of the things they addressed was starvation mode, they are saying that they believe now that doing this to your body periodically actually increases the lifespan of a person, and I cant remember if there were toehr benefits, I have it on dvr, I'll get back to you, but I am just confused now, because I am hearing so many contrasting things about starvation mode.:ohwell:

Replies

  • kingon8
    kingon8 Posts: 200 Member
    I know how most everyone on here feels about starvation mode, but I was digging through a health book last night from 1988 and it had something in it called the rotation diet, where women eat 600cals for 3 days then 900 cals for 4 days, then 1200 cals for 7 days and then repeat once then take a mini vacation and eat normally for anywhere from a week to a month before doing the cycle over (For men the rotation is 1200/1500/1800 I believe) I would have to have read the book by the author Martin Katahn to know all the nutritional info and complete details on the diet, but it seemed really interesting to me, he suggests you drink plenty of water, get plenty of brisk exercise and take a multivitamin to make up for any nutrition lacking on the low days. I have tried to research this on the internet and some people say good things about and some bad, but I was wondering if anyone else has heard of it, tried it, or have thoughts on it. Something else I want to add, I dont know if any of you have watched it, but last week on discovery health they had a show called the Human Body and one of the things they addressed was starvation mode, they are saying that they believe now that doing this to your body periodically actually increases the lifespan of a person, and I cant remember if there were toehr benefits, I have it on dvr, I'll get back to you, but I am just confused now, because I am hearing so many contrasting things about starvation mode.:ohwell:
  • kingon8
    kingon8 Posts: 200 Member
    I also wanted to add, the mini vacation is apparently to keep the metabolic rate from slowing, in case anyone was thinking about that after reading my post
  • Mireille
    Mireille Posts: 5,134 Member
    Yes, I have heard of it. I believe body builders do something similar (but with more calories).
    Personally, I don't think I could do it. I think I would go mad with only 600 or 900 calories (even for just one day at a time). Are you considering it?
  • rheston
    rheston Posts: 638
    The "Rotation Diet" is making a come back as you've described here but with no variances for either men or women eating 600 calories for three days, 900 for four days, and 1200 for a week and repeating that cycle again and then taking the "vacation." There are promises of losing a pound a day, etc.

    The problem I think people have pointed out before is that this is really strenuous on your body and it doesn't teach you to use portion control and learn balanced eating. It's a quick gimmick to lose weight fast but the down side is the negative impact it places on your bodily functions and life support.

    If you do decide to do this type of diet please talk it over with either your doctor or a reputable nutritionist.
  • banks1850
    banks1850 Posts: 3,475 Member
    it sounds like another fad to me. No offense intended. With all the sucess on here from just using the site, why try to find other ways? There's no magic pill, it's all about hard work, and being vigilant and honest with yourself.
  • kingon8
    kingon8 Posts: 200 Member
    I have read that is the one thing he tries to stress in the book is that when people take that mini vacation, they should try to eat sensible and apparently he gives recipes( but I dont have the actual book so I dont know) I have tried to do some more research, but theres not a whole lot on the web.. apparently, the idea is that you trick your body by changing the calories the way it's suggested then once you get to your desired weight loss, you maintain a sensible diet, caloric intake and exercise plan. I dont know if I am considering doing this or not, I would like to research it a little more though, or maybe buy the book. I am going to see if I can get a link to the human body segment that talked about starvation mode and post it .
  • kingon8
    kingon8 Posts: 200 Member
    it sounds like another fad to me. No offense intended. With all the sucess on here from just using the site, why try to find other ways? There's no magic pill, it's all about hard work, and being vigilant and honest with yourself.


    no offense taken whatsoever:flowerforyou: , I am just researching it right now, but I will say the diet is not intended to be a lifelong plan, and what i have read says that he does stress how important exercise and water are to making this "diet" succesful, If I find out anything else I will post.
  • banks1850
    banks1850 Posts: 3,475 Member

    no offense taken whatsoever:flowerforyou: , I am just researching it right now, but I will say the diet is not intended to be a lifelong plan, and what i have read says that he does stress how important exercise and water are to making this "diet" succesful, If I find out anything else I will post.

    k, I think it's great that you're researching things. Keep doing that, I think if you dig deep enough you'll find out what I did after a few weeks of research, that the only proven way to become healthy permenantly is to change your lifestyle and eating habits. No diet, no matter how good for you, is going to work in the long term as well as a permanent change, because of one simple fact, on a diet you are changing your patterns temporarily. Ask yourself, what happens when you go back? Now ask yourself what happens when you stop the change in your new, permenant lifestyle, see my point? It's permenant, so there's no change, thus no reason for your body to gain the weight back or become unhealthy.
  • RKJR925
    RKJR925 Posts: 254
    This works and many bariatric physicians use this to keep your metabolism from peaking.

    Same principle in the gym you have to change up your workout every couple weeks/months to keep from hitting that wall
  • DETERMINED2Drop
    DETERMINED2Drop Posts: 285 Member
    You will drop weight, but it wont stay off... as soon as you return to your old eating habits the weight will come right back on if not more...

    I used to have an eating disorder and I have seen the results of people doing this, it's not healthy, and not attractive... you will drop lean muscle, not fat.

    Be careful and keep up the good work.
  • nmweasel
    nmweasel Posts: 3
    The Rotation Diet is not recommended for Bariatric post-ops. To see the diet for bariatric post-ops go to this link:
    http://www.beforeandafterhelp.com/index.php?showtopic=33947
    This website is bariatriceating.com and is the most comprehensive website for bariatric post-ops.
    The founder is an almost 8 year post-op who speaks at conferences for bariatric surgeons.
    They have a great forum where there is much caring but they will not feel sorry for you if you start eating bad stuff again. I appreciate that tough luv.
    Thank you for the post.
  • DjBliss05
    DjBliss05 Posts: 682
    I would think that you could do the same kind of thing here by giving yourself a high calorie day every once in a while.

    I saw a variation of this on with a diet plan that someone was promoting (not the people from the plan) as a way to break plateaus, but I think those calorie limits sound way too low.

    I get the idea of rotating occasionally, but keep it out of starvation mode levels if you are considering it!
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