James Duncan Diet 1 stone 1 week

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Replies

  • jonnysharpe
    jonnysharpe Posts: 35 Member
    I will post my weight each week, including what activities I've done, for the next 3 months to track this. Some people seem to keep the weight off, with adjustments to regular routine/diet, and others don't, so I'm not prepared to write this off until I've been through that process.
    What happened to you swaymyway, sounds pretty awful though!
  • BennyCH
    BennyCH Posts: 73 Member
    Orphia wrote: »
    Have you tried giving CICO a go?

    Why do people come here if they're going to try The X Diet instead of counting their calorie intake?

    because it is not always very easy to precisely estimate the input and especially not the output, and in the end it's all about "trial and error" and "mini-steps" and see what works best for you...
  • Unknown
    edited June 2015
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  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,302 Member
    edited June 2015
    LOSE 10.5lbs in just one week!

    3.7lbs of FAT
    1.8lbs of MUSCLE
    and
    5lbs water and glycogen
    that will be replenished within a few days of ending your fast.

    vs:

    Engage in a 20% deficit off of your 2,500Cal average TDEE for about 3 weeks and lose the same amount of fat with a much lower risk to your muscles, less drama, and perhaps a chance to retain some of your loss longer term.

    Assumptions and what have you:
    14lbs x 3500Cal per lb of fat = 49,000 deficit in 7 days => 7000 Cal a day <-- really? Who has a 7000Cal deficit?
    Not the average person who burns about 2,500 Cal!
    (WHO adult data says about 2410 Cal http://www.who.int/nutrition/publications/nutrientrequirements/9251052123/en/)

    So, @ 2500Cal average expenditure, and a total fast => 17,500 Cal maximum weekly deficit.

    2:1 or 3:1 fat to muscle calculations.
    Assumptions: 17500 deficit, 3500Cal=1lb fat, 1500Cal=1lb muscle, 500g of glycogen is about 2000Cal and is bound to about 4lbs of water, for a total of 5lbs of glycogen+water loss.

    After glycogen, 15500 Cal to account
    2:1 ratio => 3.7lbs fat, 1.8lbs muscle, 5.5lbs for both, 10.5lbs total scale loss.
    3:1 ratio => 3.9lbs fat, 1.3lbs muscle, 5.2lbs for both, 10.2lbs total scale loss.

    Optifast, Medifast, and the Protein Sparing Modified Fast are some of the few VLCDs that are designed to protect your muscle mass. Don't worry, much, only a few people have died from implementing VLCDs.

    Good luck on your VLCD!
    For my part, I will just keep plugging along at just about 20% off of my TDEE while trying to continue to maintain my better than 10:1 ratio... :smiley:

  • jonnysharpe
    jonnysharpe Posts: 35 Member
    Is VLCD less than 1000 cal per day?
    So far I've consumed 976, 1358, 1796.
    Not particularly worried about dying from this. You could die from running a marathon, driving home, flying in a plane. 500 cal per day for a sustained period is probably a bit reckless though.
  • jonnysharpe
    jonnysharpe Posts: 35 Member
    Ok, so I lost 8 pounds (or 3.5kg) over the last week. I've since done my research and calculated TDEE, so plan to stay under this and have upped my exercise to 3 times a week to hit the target 78kg.
    Learnt quite a lot over the last week, so it's been really useful. I wouldn't do this diet (or any diet) again as I'm not a huge fan. As lots of people have mentioned, a longer term plan will burn the fat required.
    However, if you need to shift some weight to kickstart yourself, motivationally or for other reasons, give it a try.
    I'll post my weight each week to track the sustainability of the weight loss
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    Is VLCD less than 1000 cal per day?
    So far I've consumed 976, 1358, 1796.
    Not particularly worried about dying from this. You could die from running a marathon, driving home, flying in a plane. 500 cal per day for a sustained period is probably a bit reckless though.

    For a man a VLCD is anything under 1500 actually...

    VLCD are not a good idea unless supervised by a qualified doctor as it causes numerous issues later on.

    I've done fad diets and hated all of them...I yo yo'd for 20 years...this is the first time I've been able to maintain my weight loss for longer than 6 months...using CICO.
  • jonnysharpe
    jonnysharpe Posts: 35 Member
    Ok, as promised, my weigh-ins since the end of the diet.
    Starting weight - 84.5kg
    End of Diet - 80.9kg
    One week after the end - 81.7kg
    This morning - 80.9kg
    (The MFP iOS app is not too accurate recording these weigh ins as I entered them, but it's a small diff)

    During the diet I went for one 8.5km run and one 23km bike ride.
    In the week after the diet I did the same as above.
    This week, I've been on one 8.5km run so far.

    Since I ended the diet I haven't been able to exercise 3-times a week due to a nasty virus, which has knocked me sideways. Ideally, I would run twice a week and bike once a week.

    Despite that, I appeared to put almost 1kg back on in water weight, but have since gone back down to the weight I was when I completed the diet. So, it is sustainable, in my opinion. I've been doing CICO since the end, quite meticulously, averaging about 2000cal a day for an allowance of 2400cal.

    Continuing with CICO and exercise 3 times a week, I think I can hit the target of 78kg within 2 months.
    This might not be for everyone, but it's worked really well for me. I would not recommend it for longer than a week, under any circumstances. But as a platform to progress from, definitely. if you're inclined to give it a go.
  • daaaaaanielle
    daaaaaanielle Posts: 114 Member
    You are not a doctor therefore you cannot say if even a week would be safe for anyone (even yourself) to try a VLCD.
  • efwolfcub
    efwolfcub Posts: 99 Member
    1 stone a week, unless you're in the super-morbid-obese category is severely dangerous. Even when I was on my 1000cal/day preop diet for my weight loss surgery I lost "only" 19 pounds in 11 days. I also hated the world and wanted to kill everyone. There's no magic "chemical" formula to lose weight - that reminds me way too much of "grapefruit 45" or "lypozene". Interesting that the diet promises a stone in a week, you tried it, and now you're hoping for a stone (6kg) over the course of 2 months. Good luck :)
  • jonnysharpe
    jonnysharpe Posts: 35 Member
    edited July 2015
    I agree, I don't expect most people to be able to lose a stone. I didn't expect to. I'm only hoping for 3kg over the next 2 months, as I already lost 3kg :)
    To be clear, I'm not doing this diet again, I'm just resuming a healthier lifestyle
  • jonnysharpe
    jonnysharpe Posts: 35 Member
    You are not a doctor therefore you cannot say if even a week would be safe for anyone (even yourself) to try a VLCD.
    I'm not sure I ever said it was safe or not. Just providing the facts of my experience, as opposed to speculation and generalisation

  • jonnysharpe
    jonnysharpe Posts: 35 Member
    According to NHS guidelines, this isn't a VLCD. That would be 800 calories a day or less. I averaged about 1000 calories a day.
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  • jonnysharpe
    jonnysharpe Posts: 35 Member
    You misunderstand, this was just the first step towards resuming a healthier lifestyle. I led a fairly healthy lifestyle before this, but was overweight by about 1 stone and could not shift the excess.
    This was always just a platform to kick-on from.
    Also, it's a low calorie diet, not a VLCD. And you're guessing at where the weight loss came from.
    Way too many cynics. I actually did the diet, have demonstrated that it works and am sharing the info for others.
    I'm not into long-term diets that take months, I'm too impatient. I have an open mind towards all other options and opinions, but it would be interesting to hear from people who've done it. Not everyone is the same, therefore it's not a 'bad idea' for everyone. I'm sure it is for some, but let's not generalise.
  • AMSmit88
    AMSmit88 Posts: 100 Member
    According to NHS guidelines, this isn't a VLCD. That would be 800 calories a day or less. I averaged about 1000 calories a day.

    Just putting it out there that when I was eating 1000 calories a day the NHS considered me to have an eating disorder.

    Obviously there is far more to an ED, but what I am trying to highlight is that as a woman 1000 cals a day was considered by my health team as being far too low. For a man it most definitely is VLCD.

    I've been lurking and following this thread so I acknowledge that you were only doing it for a week as an experiment. However, I don't think it is very responsible to (and pretty sure it's against the TOS to do so) advocate a VLCD as being sustainable. I think actually if you are taking an experimental approach to it too I would definitely be considering the fact you came down with a virus immediately after finishing the diet - I have to wonder (having myself been very ill from weeks of restrictive eating in the past) if that's perhaps a correlation that you should have seen?

    Also this:
    shell1005 wrote: »
    I agree, I don't expect most people to be able to lose a stone. I didn't expect to. I'm only hoping for 3kg over the next 2 months, as I already lost 3kg :)
    To be clear, I'm not doing this diet again, I'm just resuming a healthier lifestyle

    It's too bad in my opinion that you picked a choice that had to lead to you "resuming a healthier lifestyle." It should always be healthy....and not some low calorie sham diet to begin with. Congrats on losing lean muscle mass though on your vlcd. It's not my choice and I hope anyone reading this thread looks at the long term success of those saying it is a bad idea vs. This guy.

    I too really hope others reading through this thread will realise that decimating your LBM and making yourself ill is not the sustainable way to achieve weightloss.
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  • jonnysharpe
    jonnysharpe Posts: 35 Member
    "advocate a VLCD as being sustainable"?
    I'm saying the weight loss can be sustained after the diet ends. I also said "I would not recommend it for longer than a week, under any circumstances".

    I caught a virus that my kids had, along with half the nursery/school population in the local area. I don't believe it's related. The diet didn't make me feel weak or feeble, I was able to exercise as usual. I was just hungry. It didn't impair my immune system...I can't see how it could?
  • jonnysharpe
    jonnysharpe Posts: 35 Member
    shell1005 wrote: »
    Oh, and this guy is a lost cause, but for the sake of anyone else reading this....it IS a bad idea.

    Really? We're doing that now? I'm a lost cause? That's a fairly harsh interpretation of me simply offering up my experience. I don't subscribe 100% to your orthodoxy, so you call me a 'cheat'.

    If someone trying to get into shape, get fit and try and improve things for themselves is a lost cause to you, then I feel sorry for you. You know nothing about me or my life. Nothing about the pressures I might be under, or the priorities I need to constantly balance.

    I was enjoying the experience of trying something new and sharing the experience, until now. Some folk choose to read the lines they want and ignore others. I'm not cheating at anything, I'm just kick-starting something positive.

    The only 'bad idea' was mistaking a public message board for a place to genuine try and share ideas, without being insulted.
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
    "advocate a VLCD as being sustainable"?
    I'm saying the weight loss can be sustained after the diet ends. I also said "I would not recommend it for longer than a week, under any circumstances".

    I caught a virus that my kids had, along with half the nursery/school population in the local area. I don't believe it's related. The diet didn't make me feel weak or feeble, I was able to exercise as usual. I was just hungry. It didn't impair my immune system...I can't see how it could?

    http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/66/2/460S.abstract
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
    shell1005 wrote: »
    Oh, and this guy is a lost cause, but for the sake of anyone else reading this....it IS a bad idea.

    Really? We're doing that now? I'm a lost cause? That's a fairly harsh interpretation of me simply offering up my experience. I don't subscribe 100% to your orthodoxy, so you call me a 'cheat'.

    If someone trying to get into shape, get fit and try and improve things for themselves is a lost cause to you, then I feel sorry for you. You know nothing about me or my life. Nothing about the pressures I might be under, or the priorities I need to constantly balance.

    I was enjoying the experience of trying something new and sharing the experience, until now. Some folk choose to read the lines they want and ignore others. I'm not cheating at anything, I'm just kick-starting something positive.

    The only 'bad idea' was mistaking a public message board for a place to genuine try and share ideas, without being insulted.

    You're not getting fit and in shape by eating under 1000 calories.
  • LC932017
    LC932017 Posts: 94 Member
    It's very scary to me how easily someone can put together a "diet" and sell it. Tbh last time I was on a 500 calorie diet I was 14 and anorexic meaning it is by no means sustainable or healthy. It's not a good way to lose the weight at all. It puts your body through some rough times.

    Please don't put your body through this.
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  • jonnysharpe
    jonnysharpe Posts: 35 Member
    "advocate a VLCD as being sustainable"?
    I'm saying the weight loss can be sustained after the diet ends. I also said "I would not recommend it for longer than a week, under any circumstances".

    I caught a virus that my kids had, along with half the nursery/school population in the local area. I don't believe it's related. The diet didn't make me feel weak or feeble, I was able to exercise as usual. I was just hungry. It didn't impair my immune system...I can't see how it could?

    http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/66/2/460S.abstract

    Thanks for the link, that's really useful.
  • jonnysharpe
    jonnysharpe Posts: 35 Member
    shell1005 wrote: »
    A kickstart is just that, a cheat. And I didn't read anything between the lines. I read what you said. You did a kickstart cleanse because you are too impatient to do healthy weight loss. Got it. Enjoy.

    And yes, it might have been a bad idea to post on a public message board where you promote an unhealthy cleanse diet and not expect people to say something about that.

    I'd love to read the rule book on weight loss. You know, the one that everyone must follow like automatons. We're all identical, after all
  • AMSmit88
    AMSmit88 Posts: 100 Member
    "advocate a VLCD as being sustainable"?
    I'm saying the weight loss can be sustained after the diet ends. I also said "I would not recommend it for longer than a week, under any circumstances".

    I caught a virus that my kids had, along with half the nursery/school population in the local area. I don't believe it's related. The diet didn't make me feel weak or feeble, I was able to exercise as usual. I was just hungry. It didn't impair my immune system...I can't see how it could?

    http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/66/2/460S.abstract

    Beat me to it.

    Nutrition and immunity are most definitely linked, there's years of studies supporting that. Yes, maybe everyone was going down with the virus but a compromised immune system from a low calorie diet would most likely have made a person more susceptible.



  • jonnysharpe
    jonnysharpe Posts: 35 Member
    (deep breath)
    Thanks for the feedback, everyone. To reassure you, I'm doing healthy weight loss right now. The very short-term LCD worked for me at that time. I learned a great deal from it and accept it's not the magic solution in the long-term.
    I will continue to post my progress
  • AMSmit88
    AMSmit88 Posts: 100 Member
    "advocate a VLCD as being sustainable"?
    I'm saying the weight loss can be sustained after the diet ends. I also said "I would not recommend it for longer than a week, under any circumstances".

    I caught a virus that my kids had, along with half the nursery/school population in the local area. I don't believe it's related. The diet didn't make me feel weak or feeble, I was able to exercise as usual. I was just hungry. It didn't impair my immune system...I can't see how it could?

    http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/66/2/460S.abstract

    Thanks for the link, that's really useful.

    There's a lot more if you search 'nutrition and immunity' on google scholar. It's definitely worth looking into.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    please don't

    or start a blog .. you have one up there .. that's the place for your unique and individual story
  • jonnysharpe
    jonnysharpe Posts: 35 Member
    "advocate a VLCD as being sustainable"?
    I'm saying the weight loss can be sustained after the diet ends. I also said "I would not recommend it for longer than a week, under any circumstances".

    I caught a virus that my kids had, along with half the nursery/school population in the local area. I don't believe it's related. The diet didn't make me feel weak or feeble, I was able to exercise as usual. I was just hungry. It didn't impair my immune system...I can't see how it could?

    http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/66/2/460S.abstract

    Thanks for the link, that's really useful.

    There's a lot more if you search 'nutrition and immunity' on google scholar. It's definitely worth looking into.

    Cool, thankyou
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