Anyone else tried meal replacements plus solid food to lose weight?

JAT74 · January 2015

Yes I know I've been here before and have tried different approaches in the past and for the last year or so my weight loss hasn't been great so here I am back again!

The good thing is I pretty much know what does/doesn't work for me but now I just need to find a way to stick to what works and I am hoping I can do that and lose the weight I want finally in the first part of this year once and for all.

A friend of mine got me all the Weight Watchers books and calorie counters etc. and I know that would work, but at the moment I want to try something different, mainly due to time constraints with work at the moment. This means I don't have a lot of free time and won't have for at least a couple of months but I don't want to let that stop me in my goals. I have therefore invested in some protein shake powder and meal replacement powder (Dymatize Elite and Elite Fusion) and have enough to last me for a good few weeks.

I want to be able to get in enough calories but I want to keep my carbs and fat fairly low so will be aiming for around 1200 calories per day in total (regardless of exercise which I am hoping to do most days for approximately an hour). I want to try and keep my protein just above my carb levels overall so I'm not aiming to go very low carb, just lower than normal levels.

I want to have a meal replacement shake for breakfast so I am full until lunchtime and then a proper meal of around 600-800 calories at that time. It suits me to have a large lunch due to the time I have available and the fact I can cook healthy meals at home then and I sometimes go out for meals at lunch rather than dinner. I also personally find that a large lunch means I don't tend to get hungry in the evening so I am planning to make my 'dinner' a second shake, but this time just a straight protein shake mixed with milk and ice. I find that I pile on the pounds when I eat dinners in the evening more than during the day.

If I find it's not working this way and I'm getting too hungry or bored with the shakes I may reduce the size of my main meal and add other things to the shakes such as fresh fruit in the morning or peanut butter etc. but I want to see how I get on first like this.

Has anyone else tried this approach and had success? Looking for some new and motivating friends to help me on my journey. If you don't agree with what I want to do, please don't comment but anyone else who has tried similar I'd love to hear from you. I have tried doing fruit and veggie versions of the the 'shakes' by juicing and blending before but it was very expensive and time consuming and I felt I wasn't getting enough protein in. This way I will still keep the fat low but I will be getting more protein and it will be very quick to make. I am also planning on taking a multivitamin every day and Omega 3 tablet and I am aiming to lose 2-3 pounds per week if I can so I reach my goal of around 30 lbs in 12 weeks time. After that I will probably switch to reducing the number of shakes to just the evening one and having a simple breakfast.

Just to add, up until now I've been pretty much eating 1200-1700 calories per day for the last year so I haven't been massively overeating but I haven't been logging my intake at all so I don't know how accurate that really is. I haven't been very active in general either due to an operation I had in the middle of last year and I've also had a couple of periods of sickness and injuries which have stopped me training as much as I'd have liked, although I have normally still managed to walk at least 3 times a week for an hour and I've also had a couple of sessions in the gym most weeks. In addition, I have been pretty much eating whatever I liked so that has included eating high fat/high sugar foods which I am now hoping to cut right down on and maybe even cut out completely so I hope this will help too.

One more thing is that I have a very slow metabolism and I also have a high body fat percentage of at least 33% (hard to get an accurate figure) so fat loss is my main aim. I have a friend who recently lost a lot of weight by eating smaller portions than before and cutting out alcohol and she's advised me to do the same but I don't drink very often (one or two drinks every 7-14 days) and I eat a lot less than she did anyway so I know that wouldn't necessarily work for me. I also watched a TV program a couple of days ago where someone piled on the pounds by eating 4000-6000 calories per day and doing no exercise in order to put on over 40 lbs and then lose it in 3 months and she found it very easy to lose the weight. In her case she dramatically reduced her calorie intake and dramatically increased her activity level so again that wouldn't apply to me as I already eat fairly moderately and exercise on an off for up to 4 days per week.

paxbfl · January 2015

Here are some thoughts for ya...

First, to answer your question, protein shakes/meal replacements are fine if you enjoy them and find them convenient. It's a little tricky finding ones that taste great (I have recommendations if you're interested). If you don't really enjoy them you won't keep drinking them (and you might get bored with them anyway, so you might want to mix things up on occasion). But many of us use them to increase our protein intake because protein is very, very important.

Second... whenever anyone says "I haven't really been logging" that's a huge red flag for me. I'd bet $ that you're underestimating how much you're eating, possibly by a LOT. When I don't log I end up mysteriously gaining weight. lol. Get back to logging and log everything as accurately as you can - at least until you're comfortably losing and feel like you're in control.

Third... I wouldn't worry too much about keeping your fats low unless you're concerned about heart disease. As far as carbs go, keep your "simple carbs" low - things like sugar, pasta, white bread. In moderation, "complex carbs" - whole grains - can help satisfy your hunger and give you long-lasting energy. And again, make sure you're getting plenty of protein.

Fourth... I don't believe your metabolism is particularly slow. I think the problem is you're eating too many calories. But if you want to increase your metabolism, I recommend two things. First, work out harder. Google "HIIT" - high intensity interval training. This is where you walk, then jog, then run, then sprint to really get your heart pumping. You can do this on the street, treadmill, cycle, elliptical, whatever. The idea is to get your heart-rate up, which gives you a nice "afterburn" where you burn calories after your workout. It's also a great way to get in awesome aerobic shape. Second, eat smaller, more frequent meals. This way your body is always digesting food and being properly fueled. More significantly, it helps keep your blood sugar stable - so instead of being really, really hungry and eating a big meal (and then being sleepy afterwards), you're just a little hungry 3 hours or so after you ate your last meal - so you can better control your portions (and your energy is more stable throughout the day too). Obviously with your busy schedule this requires some planning but I'm sure you can figure it out. I eat at 9am, noon, 3pm, 6, and 8. Each meal is about 20% of my daily total except dinner, which is a double meal - about 30-40%. I recommend against your big lunch.

Finally... I'd like to see you have a more specific goal vs "1200-1700" calories. Try this calculator: http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/

Choose "Desk Job Without Exercise" (unless you're really active at work). This will give you your BMR (which is the minimum calories your body needs - eat at least this number or 1,200 calories, whichever is HIGHER) and your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) without exercise. Set your calorie goal on MFP to TDEE-20%. When you work out, MFP will suggest that you can eat more. Keep in mind you don't have to eat those calories back (although you may feel better if you eat some of them back). I usually put most of my workout calories toward fat loss.

So for me, my TDEE without exercise is 2230, so I set my goal to around 1800. I usually burn 600 calories at the gym, but I only eat between 2000 and 2200 calories. So my net ends up being well under my goal, usually around 1600 calories.

Consider getting a heart-rate monitor (like a Polar) to determine how many calories you're burning at the gym. I was sad to learn that the machines (especially) and MFP tend to overestimate your calorie burn, sometimes by quite a bit! Just as you want to log everything you eat accurately, you also want to get an accurate number for how many calories you burn. Then you can do the math and see exactly why you are (or aren't) losing weight. If you have the right numbers, weight-loss really is simple math.

Good luck - hope my long-winded rant helps!

JAT74 · January 2015

Hello and thanks for the reply. As I said at the beginning, I've already been on here and spent a lot of time doing calculations etc. in the past as I have been on this gaining/losing weight cycle for my entire adult life unfortunately.

This means that I pretty much know from past experience how much I eat 'normally', ie. when I'm not counting calories or logging accurately and that's how I know it can be anything from 1200-1700 calories, but definitely not more than that as I find it very hard to eat 1700 calories even when eating 'junk' foods (I know this from logging my very bad days). The problem I've had/reason I gained again and have put on a lot of body fat has been down to lack of exercise and the fact that all my healthy eating habits have gone out the window in recent times. This has meant that I've pretty much allowed myself to eat anything and everything I want, which isn't a huge amount, but it has consisted of things I would never have eaten before such as a lot of bread, sugary cereals, refined carbs in general and less fruit, vegetables and wholegrains.

Re. protein shakes I spent a lot of time researching them, looking at the calorie, carb content and other ingredients as well as reviews of nice tasting shakes and have found two I like well enough, so plan on alternating them. One if more of a meal replacement ie. more filling which is why I plan on having it for breakfast, because my lunchtime meal is normally eaten quite late at around 2.30 or 3pm so that keeps me going for a good few hours.

After years of experimentation and dieting, I know now and have known for a long time that I do have a VERY slow metabolism. I've had my thyroid checked out recently and it's ok, if a little on the underactive side but not so much that I require medication for it. I have tried to set my goal at TDEE-20% before and have tried eating the recommended amount but even when I tried that for several months I ended up gaining even more weight so ended up very unhappy and demotivated. Realistically, I can't eat any more than 1200 calories in total in order to lose weight, even if I exercise daily, therefore 'eating back' my exercise calories is just not possible. The only time I have found I am able to do this is on holiday, when I generally walk for 5-6 hours a day solidly and eat what I want.

Without exercise I can't eat more than about 900 calories unfortunately, but that's just my personal experience with my own body over the years. I have even tried changing the types of foods I eat and eating more wholegrains, fruit and veg. and lean protein etc. but in my case I find what works best is calorie counting and lowering carb levels, especially at night. I have started logging today, and I find this the easiest way to stay on track, but it's very hard to stick to it once you see weight loss and get closer to your goal. At those times I start to think I don't need to do it anymore and that's when I find my weight creeping up again.

I have done HIIT training before and I am going to implement it again as part of my workouts. I don't feel that I get hungry particularly once I am in a routine of eating less, and my lifestyle/daily routine suits my eating pattern of breakfast/meal replacement followed by a large lunch and very small meal/shake in the evening. This is because I work from home, and often fit in my workouts between breakfast and lunch. I don't often go out for dinner and I don't feel at all hungry in the evening on the whole and I go out for lunch 2-3 days a week and where I live the restaurants generally serve special lunch menus consisting of a starter, main and dessert. I usually have a healthy starter in this case, followed by a healthy main course which I usually eat around half of and I always skip dessert.

I have a Polar heart rate monitor which isn't working at the moment, but before it stopped working I was able to log more accurate calorie burns for most of the main machines I use in my home gym, as well as for other things like walks and weights workouts. Obviously this can vary but I can estimate roughly what the true burn is so the figures I put in MFP daily are fairly accurate.

I just hope that I can lose the weight and keep it off this time, though as always I like to hear what works for others and if anyone has any ideas to help me.

paxbfl · January 2015

Well, it's possible that you have a slow metabolism, but it's not at all likely.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/weight-loss/expert-answers/slow-metabolism/faq-20058480

Have you read the "In Place of a Road Map" posts on MFP? There's now a group for it:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/8017-in-place-of-a-road-map

Basically the idea here is that if you don't eat enough you can actually struggle to lose weight because you cause your body's metabolism to slow down. It sounds strange but people swear by it. I'm no expert but it might be something to look into.

If you're at 33% body fat with 30 pounds to lose and can't lose weight eating 1200 calories a day, something isn't right. I suspect that you're eating more than you think, or you're not as overweight as you think.

But I'll stick to my original advice - eat more frequent meals, work out hard, and put a new battery in the Polar!

JAT74 · January 2015

Thanks, I tried all that a couple of years ago. That's why I say I have a very slow metabolism. I actually believed that it wasn't possible and I was kidding myself and followed the advice of people on here and the road map etc. for quite a while but it just didn't work and made me start to gain more than I was already carrying which started to scare me. I was already at the point that none of my clothes fitted me and I was depressed and miserable and I felt that I wasted a lot of time trying to 'fix' my metabolism when it did nothing to help me in the end and did me more harm than good as I ended up even bigger.

Unfortunately I think I have a faulty Polar, I have tried to get it working again but it just doesn't recognise my heart rate so I'll have to do without.

I can confirm that I am definitely as overweight as I think I am! I have two sets of bodyfat scales and I have calipers and I get readings ranging from 32-38% depending on what I use so I am probably 33-35% in reality. I don't look as big as I am because my fat is spread out pretty evenly, and with clothes on it isn't that obvious!

As for eating more than I think, as I've said already I have been eating between 1200 & 1700 calories over the last year and a half I would say, without really monitoring things very closely and my weight has gone from about 133 lbs to 147.5 lbs which is where I started on my last weight loss journey 2 years ago. The weight creeps on slowly at first so that I think it's not going to get any higher but it finally peaks where I am now and I'm back to square one.

I am not saying I can't lose any weight on a consistent 1200 calories and daily exercise, but if I was to do that my weight loss would be so slow that I know I wouldn't stick at it and would stop logging and monitoring what I was doing. I am just not prepared to wait that long to feel and look better. Eating 1000-1100 calories per day and exercising daily really isn't that bad to be honest, and if for any reason I have days when I can't work out I will just make sure I eat less proportionately less. When I look around at my thin friends I notice that while they generally eat what they want, they don't have big appetites and they sometimes skip meals if they are not hungry some days. They don't constantly think about food like I do. In this way they are naturally able to keep to their lower weight, but in their cases they have been like that all their lives so it's easy.

I was brought up to love an appreciate good food and I was allowed to eat second helpings or the quantity that I wanted, which were never huge but maybe just a little more than my body could handle and I never really thought about it when I was young. I didn't really start gaining weight until after puberty but I then found I could no longer get away with it so much. As a child and teenager my mum also tried to feed me healthy foods as much as she could and banned everything unhealthy except on special occasions or when she allowed it. This lead to me sneaking chocolate, burgers and other things into my day when I was away from home and throwing away her healthy foods because I wasn't allowed the other stuff otherwise. The real problems started Uni and I could eat what I wanted, when I wanted and that's when my weight started getting out of control due to unhealthy choices and too much alcohol living in student houses. It would be small things which caused the weight gain like that second glass of red wine every night, or the 'low fat' cheesecake slice I had daily or take aways. Back then I was probably eating way more than I have done more recently, I couldn't say how much but it must have been 2000-3000 calories minimum but that was down to junk food, fast food and alcohol.

I have generally never really eaten huge portions with my meals since those days (my mid 20s and I'm now 40) because I've never been surrounded by others who do and my appetite isn't that large, but in my case now even a little extra or something high in fat or sugar on a regular basis is enough to get me on the wrong track and the weight creeps on. That coupled with the fact that my body doesn't respond in the same way as other people's in terms of the calorie intake I can manage without weight gain has meant that I have never really been able to eat a normal healthy 3 meals a day plus healthy snacks and its always been a struggle for me to keep the weight off. A good example of this was a recent trip away for 4 days for a birthday celebration. I had a 'normal' breakfast of a bowl of cereal or slice of toast plus tea every day, a lunch consisting of a sandwich or a bowl of soup with bread, a biscuit or 2 at tea time and then a 'proper' dinner ie. meat and two veg including pasta or potatoes at around 7.30pm with a fruit dessert and I came home 3 pounds heavier!

mykaylis · January 2015

i would weigh, measure, and track your intake very carefully so as not to over/underestimate your food. you don't have to eat back your activity allowance if you don't want to. some of us do have a slower metabolism, i'm someone who does, but for the most part the rules don't change. try to get a lot of nutritional bang for your buck, drink plenty of water. the last day's meals you mentioned sound like way too many high-GI carbs and not enough fruits and vegetables - pasta and potatoes are not vegetables, they are starches, and high GI ones at that. your breakfast is basically sugar. your lunch might be ok depending on what you put in your soup or sandwich, but i would skip the bread here. have a treat at tea time if that's your special time of the day. meat for supper? good - but how much? how much nonstarchy vegetables? how much starch? late night fruit is just fine, but i'm not sure what you mean by "fruit dessert". apples are great. apple pie, not so great.

you don't have to be perfect of course but if you need to tweak your diet to get on track, those are my suggestions.

zipa78 · January 2015

[quote="JAT74;30738813"That's why I say I have a very slow metabolism.
[/quote]

Just because you say that does not make it true. And even if it was true, the effect would be somewhere around 50-100 kcal / day for someone your size.

So, unless you have a diagnosed thyroid problem or something else that has been diagnosed by a professional, then what you have is the beginning of an eating disorder. Especially when you think that you are over 30 % and even closer to 40 % body fat, when on your profile picture you are clearly at around 15-20 % body fat at the most.

Holla4mom · January 2015

In July 2014, I replaced two meals a day with protein shakes. I bought a vegan based protein shake from whole foods. I ate one "healthy" meal a day of salmon or baked chicken, green veggies and whole grains. I lost 12 pounds in one month. I looked good.

I couldn't maintain that. It wasn't feasible because I was apparently made to eat my food and not drink most of it. It also meant I hadn't done the main thing I needed to do, "Eat food I love, eat less of it and log all of it." So I have gained that 10 pounds back and 15 more. I am heavier than I have EVER been.

I had friends who dropped massive amounts of weight on Isagenix shakes. I hate to say it, but they looked malnourished because they were basically on a liquid diet. None of them were able to do it long term, so they gained the weight back. One friend didn't because she went on to a serious weight training/ diet regimen.

If you do this, I am sorry to tell you, you will more than likely be right back here on January 2016 saying you have tried everything, including protein shakes, and nothing has worked.

This time I am trying something completely different- preparing my food ahead of time; eating more veggies/fish/ whole grains (because they make me feel good and feel me up) and moving some everyday.

LAWoman72 · January 2015

Not saying this is you, OP, nor anyone in particular who posted here, but I used to think I had a slow metabolism too. Then I started weighing and measuring, and what a wake-up call that was! I thought I was the Calorie Queen...I knew every official count, but boy howdy...my guesstimate of portions was off!

Now I'm a decrepit old perimneopausal hypothyroidal biddie (all I need is to get a few dozen cats and I'll be the most awesome sterotype you ever saw), yet actually eating the amount of calories calculated for me to lose...I'm losing.

JAT74 · January 2015

To answer each post, firstly mykaylis I was not talking about what I eat typically, but what I ate when I went away on a family break, because that is what I was given and what was available to eat. That is what a lot of people eat daily and maintain their weight on but as I said in the post, I came back after 4 days away eating like that and not huge portions and I had put on 3 lbs.

Secondly Zipa I absolutely NO WAY have an eating disorder and I am not kidding myself in terms of my body fat % I can assure you. My body is deceptive, especially from the shoulder up. I have a very lean top half exclusing my arms and I've always carried almost no fat on my face or neck, although when I lose weight my face goes very very thin.

I carry the majority of weight on my bum, thighs and upper arms as well as hips and stomach. I have a very small frame and small bones so while I don't look very big to most people it is very very noticeable in photos during the summer as the bits which aren't thin are pure fat. I have a very strange shape because I have extremely small ankles, calves and forearms so if I wear clothes well I can hide the areas carrying the fat. This year I have pretty much tried to avoid wearing jeans because none of them fit me at the moment as I've put so much on around my bum and thighs. Two years ago my waist was 26.5 inches and my hips were 35 inches and I was still 14 lbs off my goal weight but now my waist is 28 inches and my hips 37. It is very possible to be the body fat % I am and have it distributed in the areas I've stated and if you think about the added inches I now have in the main fatty areas it quickly adds up.

When I was at my thinnest which was 121 lbs around 10 years ago I lost some fat from my bum waist/tummy and boobs and was still around 25% body fat due to the fat which remained on my thighs and arms which is unnaturally distributed in those areas. My face was gaunt and my waist went down to 25 inches but I was still quite flabby in some places so I didn't completely look like a 'thin' person. As they say you can't spot reduce so the only way for me to lose the fat completely would be to lose more weight and I'll probably end up looking too thin in some areas but that's just my shape.

Hi ckholland. Thanks for your input. Like you, I don't plan on doing the shakes forever, and not even for that long. The main reason I am doing it now is to 'kick start' my weight loss and also because I've got a work project on at the moment which means I don't have the time to prepare extra food at some times during the day. I know I won't drink the shakes forever, so am planning to do it until the project is finished by the end of January and then I will keep drinking the meal replacement shake for breakfast as that is the normal amount of calories I have for breakfast anyway and it's filling enough to keep me going. It also has the right amount of protein and carbs in it for me to drink after a workout. I will probably switch to eating more of a snack/salad in the evening but lunchtime will always be my main meal as I work from home and so does my other half and we both feel physically better if we eat more during the day. Socially, we generally go out for lunches with friends too as the climate here supports outdoor eating and it's a lot more pleasant to spend a long lunch out than it is to go for dinner.

LAWoman72 yes I know that guestimating calories can sometimes be wrong but I've had 12 years of trying to lose weight and I really do know the calorie counts of most foods. When I go shopping if I buy anything pre-packed I look at the labels and for natural foods I weigh and measure in general even though I was not logging calories as such. I also did a 'mental' calculation for a lot of what I ate daily and that's how I know roughly what it was most days. The difference now is I am restricting my calorie intake so with exercise daily I am allowing myself no more than 1100 calories and possibly up to 1200 on a 'bad' day and I am going to be weight training 3 times a week as a minimum. I want to take some fat burning supplements too and I am hoping that if I can stick to the exercise regime plus keep logging and stick to my allowed calorie level then the weight will come off.

I think I've realised that the only way I can get the weight off and keep it off is to keep counting/logging and stick to what I've given myself as a routine for exercise as well as my calorie levels. The problem I've already had in the past is I've stopped short of my goal as my clothes have started to feel looser and I've grown tired of logging or working out so much and that's when the weight comes back on. What I need to do is aim for my goal weight, try to achieve that and then keep on the same path in order to maintain it. I am sure that when I get there I'll be able to eat a little more anyway as long as I keep monitoring how my body responds to what I'm doing.

sheldonklein · January 2015

Good thing you have it all figured out. Good luck.

jgnatca · January 2015

I was put on a high protein liquid diet (medically supervised) for two weeks and it was dreadful. I was hungry for the first couple days but then that feeling went away. While I was on it I was weak and I could not do strenuous exercise. The first day I went on a habitual walk and I nearly passed out. And the monotony, you can have it!

The medical goal was to shrink my liver to make laporascopic surgery less dangerous, and that goal was achieved. All my glycogen stores were depleted.

I appreciate that you have done your research, but you may find that the liquid approach leaves much to be desired. IMO no shake can keep you full for 3-4 hours.

robinrmcfal · January 2015

I like to drink the slim fast shakes for breakfast because I don't have a lot of time and also because I can take up to an hour & a half to finish it. That way my stomach doesn't feel so empty so quickly if I just take a drink every 15 minutes or so.

elphie754 · January 2015

I am sorry but I am going to be brutally honest. Every post in this thread from you is an excuse for why you can't do the things people sugges and how that doesn't work for you. Be honest with yourself- they are just excuses and until you stop making them, you are likely to continue to yo-yo diet.

Liftng4Lis · January 2015

sheldonklein wrote: »

Good thing you have it all figured out. Good luck.

well put!

JAT74 · January 2015

Just a quick update. I have been drinking doing this for the past 5 days, now on day 6. So far I've found the morning shakes to be great, no particular hunger issues to be honest. One day I knew I had to train mid-morning and as I hadn't eaten the evening before I had a piece of wholewheat toast with Marmite for breakfast first thing. I then had a half size shake after my training session.

I find that as the shakes I'm having are high protein and low carb it helps me get in enough protein during the day as I'm weight training, otherwise I find this very difficult and as I've said before the shakes also save time until I've finished my project.

I have had my evening shake only 3 out of the 5 days for two reasons. On one of the days I couldn't stomach it because it was cold and the thought of having a cold shake didn't appeal so I made a quick homemade Chicken and Vegetable soup. The other day I'd had a really big lunch but I ate very late and therefore didn't feel hungry at dinner time so I didn't have anything at all.

What people need to understand is that we all have different lifestyles and in my case I generally eat lunch very late in the afternoon, usually between 2 and 3.30 due to the break times I get so I am never very hungry in the evening anyway and a shake is usually enough. At the moment it's quite cold here in the evenings so until it warms up I have decided I might not have a shake every evening but try and substitute it with an alternative high protein snack or a soup instead.

JAT74 · January 2015

Elphie754 looking at your profile you may have lost 40 lbs but your goal is a total of 137.5 pounds to lose so you are probably coming from a very different place from me.

My current weight (144lbs) is close to the total amount you need to lose therefore you are probably double my size. In which case you can't even begin to imagine the weight struggles I've had compared to yourself. At my very heaviest I needed to lose no more than 50 lbs in total and that was 12 years ago. For the last 12 years my weight has fluctuated between having 0 and possibly 30 pounds to lose (though my goal weight, some would consider to be too light at 117lbs). I acknowledge that I look god at 126lbs but was still unhappy with my body fat percent which was around 25%.

I have only every 'over' eaten or been clinically obese during one period of my life and that was during my student years which I admit as I ate a lot of take away foods and drank a lot of alcohol. Other than that I have always eaten less than what is considered within normal ranges for women (in the UK that is 2000 calories per day). The problem I've had is that eating at this kind of level, even eating 1500 calories on a regular basis causes me to gain weight over time and that is unfortunately just my bad luck. The only way I can get my weight to a level where I feel comfortable in myself and can lose body fat so that it is at a healthier level is to find ways in which to get my calorie intake down to 1000-1200 per day on a regular basis and take regular exercise. Part of doing that for me means finding things I can prepare which fit the correct number of calories and the macros I want to aim for ie. high protein/low carb which isn't always easy.

If your body doesn't respond well to eating food in a normal way like mine doesn't it's actually really hard to avoid putting on weight. The reason I've yo yo'd quite a bit is because it's very hard to accept you can't eat what most people consider to be 'normal'. I am not talking about people who eat huge portions of food or people who eat junk food I'm talking about 3 normal meals per day. That just doesn't work for my body.

I've spoken to doctors about this by the way and their answer is 'you are just not built to be slim', which I choose to reject. I am determined to get to where I want to be and find a way to stay there. If that means exercising 6 days a week and eating 1200 calories for as long as I can then so be it.

innerhottie · January 2015

I use Slimfast High Protein shake for breakfast every morning. I am not a big morning eater, so it works for me and I think it tastes good.
It, along with coffee, keeps me full until lunch.

luciboring · January 2015

JAT74 wrote: »

Yes I know I've been here before and have tried different approaches in the past and for the last year or so my weight loss hasn't been great so here I am back again!

The good thing is I pretty much know what does/doesn't work for me but now I just need to find a way to stick to what works and I am hoping I can do that and lose the weight I want finally in the first part of this year once and for all.

A friend of mine got me all the Weight Watchers books and calorie counters etc. and I know that would work, but at the moment I want to try something different, mainly due to time constraints with work at the moment. This means I don't have a lot of free time and won't have for at least a couple of months but I don't want to let that stop me in my goals. I have therefore invested in some protein shake powder and meal replacement powder (Dymatize Elite and Elite Fusion) and have enough to last me for a good few weeks.

I want to be able to get in enough calories but I want to keep my carbs and fat fairly low so will be aiming for around 1200 calories per day in total (regardless of exercise which I am hoping to do most days for approximately an hour). I want to try and keep my protein just above my carb levels overall so I'm not aiming to go very low carb, just lower than normal levels.

I want to have a meal replacement shake for breakfast so I am full until lunchtime and then a proper meal of around 600-800 calories at that time. It suits me to have a large lunch due to the time I have available and the fact I can cook healthy meals at home then and I sometimes go out for meals at lunch rather than dinner. I also personally find that a large lunch means I don't tend to get hungry in the evening so I am planning to make my 'dinner' a second shake, but this time just a straight protein shake mixed with milk and ice. I find that I pile on the pounds when I eat dinners in the evening more than during the day.

If I find it's not working this way and I'm getting too hungry or bored with the shakes I may reduce the size of my main meal and add other things to the shakes such as fresh fruit in the morning or peanut butter etc. but I want to see how I get on first like this.

Has anyone else tried this approach and had success? Looking for some new and motivating friends to help me on my journey. If you don't agree with what I want to do, please don't comment but anyone else who has tried similar I'd love to hear from you. I have tried doing fruit and veggie versions of the the 'shakes' by juicing and blending before but it was very expensive and time consuming and I felt I wasn't getting enough protein in. This way I will still keep the fat low but I will be getting more protein and it will be very quick to make. I am also planning on taking a multivitamin every day and Omega 3 tablet and I am aiming to lose 2-3 pounds per week if I can so I reach my goal of around 30 lbs in 12 weeks time. After that I will probably switch to reducing the number of shakes to just the evening one and having a simple breakfast.

Just to add, up until now I've been pretty much eating 1200-1700 calories per day for the last year so I haven't been massively overeating but I haven't been logging my intake at all so I don't know how accurate that really is. I haven't been very active in general either due to an operation I had in the middle of last year and I've also had a couple of periods of sickness and injuries which have stopped me training as much as I'd have liked, although I have normally still managed to walk at least 3 times a week for an hour and I've also had a couple of sessions in the gym most weeks. In addition, I have been pretty much eating whatever I liked so that has included eating high fat/high sugar foods which I am now hoping to cut right down on and maybe even cut out completely so I hope this will help too.

One more thing is that I have a very slow metabolism and I also have a high body fat percentage of at least 33% (hard to get an accurate figure) so fat loss is my main aim. I have a friend who recently lost a lot of weight by eating smaller portions than before and cutting out alcohol and she's advised me to do the same but I don't drink very often (one or two drinks every 7-14 days) and I eat a lot less than she did anyway so I know that wouldn't necessarily work for me. I also watched a TV program a couple of days ago where someone piled on the pounds by eating 4000-6000 calories per day and doing no exercise in order to put on over 40 lbs and then lose it in 3 months and she found it very easy to lose the weight. In her case she dramatically reduced her calorie intake and dramatically increased her activity level so again that wouldn't apply to me as I already eat fairly moderately and exercise on an off for up to 4 days per week.

Hey i know how you feel !! I found out through research to use protein energy meal replacement instead of a protein powder. I use Garden of Life Raw Energy. I feel FANTASTIC !! I drink it for breakfast and dinner and have nice less fat lunch. I am losing 3-4 pounds per wk. I haven't started exercising yet that I begin Monday.
I would like for us to be friends since our goals are about the same.
Luci

JAT74 · January 2015

Hi Luci, yes let's definitely do that. I've never heard of protein energy meal replacement, not sure I can get it here but I'll look into it. Glad it's going so well for you, keep it up!

ardenspark · January 2015

I was logging on to tell you my experience with MRP and how I'm using them but I think I weigh too much for you to take advice from me.

Anyone else tried meal replacements plus solid food to lose weight?

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