My 10 day low-carb challenge became a 4 week success!!

Kudos!

KMD1214 wrote: »

At my highest weight ever (175 at 5’3”), I started what was going to be a 10-day, 1000 calorie, 25 or less carb personal challenge to get some of this weight off. I stopped drinking wine, shopped for low carb alternatives and logged every bite of food on MFP. I also set little goals each week..... but exceeded them! (Whatt???)

My “success” story on day 28 (exactly 4 weeks) isn’t as dramatic and mind blowing as others, but I weighed 161.2 this morning!!!! 14 pounds in 4 weeks!! That’s amazing for me and I’m going to continue until I’m down to a healthy 135.

The quick results of low carbs and cals, as well as the steady loss was critical to my “immediate gratification” tendencies 🙄. As well as MFP. Here’s to getting healthier!!!!!

But what about the “don’t go below 1200” calories thing
Don’t you feel hungry all the time
I have this instant gratification problem too if I don’t see results right away I would not stick to the plan and that why haven’t lost anything yet just but your plan seems doable and one more thing when you say 25 carbs does that mean carbs from the actual carbs or carbs every where Imran carbs in greens also ??

hafsatoheed2019 wrote: »

KMD1214 wrote: »

At my highest weight ever (175 at 5’3”), I started what was going to be a 10-day, 1000 calorie, 25 or less carb personal challenge to get some of this weight off. I stopped drinking wine, shopped for low carb alternatives and logged every bite of food on MFP. I also set little goals each week..... but exceeded them! (Whatt???)

My “success” story on day 28 (exactly 4 weeks) isn’t as dramatic and mind blowing as others, but I weighed 161.2 this morning!!!! 14 pounds in 4 weeks!! That’s amazing for me and I’m going to continue until I’m down to a healthy 135.

The quick results of low carbs and cals, as well as the steady loss was critical to my “immediate gratification” tendencies 🙄. As well as MFP. Here’s to getting healthier!!!!!

But what about the “don’t go below 1200” calories thing
Don’t you feel hungry all the time
I have this instant gratification problem too if I don’t see results right away I would not stick to the plan and that why haven’t lost anything yet just but your plan seems doable and one more thing when you say 25 carbs does that mean carbs from the actual carbs or carbs every where Imran carbs in greens also ??

Soooo, here is what I do. for snacks I have green peppers or celery or cheese stick. I will argue that having unlimited amounts of celery, or green peppers will not hurt your diet. You can also have 10 cheese sticks, to = 100 calories. If I go over, then exercise to work off the difference.

Drinks - I also drink a lot of caffeine drinks ( coffee/ diet coke). Caffeine is an appetite suppressant and the liquid will help you feel full.

Commander_Keen wrote: »

erickirb wrote: »

Commander_Keen wrote: »

So keep in mind there allot of members out there that will say I am / we are doing a dis-service
They are going to say that eating 1000 calories is really bad, and when pushed they say this:
Your body will shut down - Well if I am 100 lbs over weight it will take me up to 50 weeks - 100 weeks before my body would shut down -
Issues with Hair and nails - Again 50 weeks before there is an issue. Also if one is concern, once should eat nutrient dense foods.
Loss of Muscle mass - Well how did I get muscle mass to begin with ? so I would assume eat more protein.
They will say its not sustainable - which is true.. so you have have to be loose with with, meaning eat unlimited celery, carrots, lettuce, mushrooms.

Although some of those points are good. It is difficult even on 1200 cals to day to get adequate Protein, Fat, vitamins and minerals... so imagine how much harder it is on 1000 cals. even at 1200 there is really no wiggle room for non-nutrient dense foods.

And how did you come up with 100 weeks before main, hair and other issues? I agree it will take weeks, but probably much much less than 100 weeks... think about it, at 100 lbs overweight eating 1000 cals you will probably lose 3 lbs/week, so that would be 150lbs in 100 weeks, which would put you at 50 lbs underweight? most likely issues will start happening with energy, nails, hair, etc. in the 8-15 week timeframe.

and to maintain muscle, you are correct get enough protein, in a deficit that would be about 0.8 grams per lb of goal weight, but you also need to incorporate a progressive overload strength training regimen.

Protein - it depends on the person, and their goals .. Protein drinks is 30 grams
Chicken Breast - 30 --- Turkey - 30
Chicken Quarter - 37 -- Salmon 20

Time frame - Everything is assumption, because no one is perfect, or has perfect days or perfect logging
A 100 weeks = 1 lbs loss for 1 week. just to get to your ideal weight. Then the question is when
does it start when your 1 lbs under weight , no.. how about 2, no, 10 lbs, prob not. 20 lbs, maybe.

But the premise was 1,000 cals/day which would for someone overweight be 2-3 lb loss/week. if you aimed for 1 lb/week your calories would be more like 2,000 and this thread wouldn't exist.

It starts when you are still overweight... your body will sacrifice non-life sustaining functions while in a long term deficit, these include nice skin, nail, hair, etc. you don't have to be underweight to be malnourished.

Commander_Keen wrote: »

erickirb wrote: »

Commander_Keen wrote: »

erickirb wrote: »

Commander_Keen wrote: »

So keep in mind there allot of members out there that will say I am / we are doing a dis-service
They are going to say that eating 1000 calories is really bad, and when pushed they say this:
Your body will shut down - Well if I am 100 lbs over weight it will take me up to 50 weeks - 100 weeks before my body would shut down -
Issues with Hair and nails - Again 50 weeks before there is an issue. Also if one is concern, once should eat nutrient dense foods.
Loss of Muscle mass - Well how did I get muscle mass to begin with ? so I would assume eat more protein.
They will say its not sustainable - which is true.. so you have have to be loose with with, meaning eat unlimited celery, carrots, lettuce, mushrooms.

Although some of those points are good. It is difficult even on 1200 cals to day to get adequate Protein, Fat, vitamins and minerals... so imagine how much harder it is on 1000 cals. even at 1200 there is really no wiggle room for non-nutrient dense foods.

And how did you come up with 100 weeks before main, hair and other issues? I agree it will take weeks, but probably much much less than 100 weeks... think about it, at 100 lbs overweight eating 1000 cals you will probably lose 3 lbs/week, so that would be 150lbs in 100 weeks, which would put you at 50 lbs underweight? most likely issues will start happening with energy, nails, hair, etc. in the 8-15 week timeframe.

and to maintain muscle, you are correct get enough protein, in a deficit that would be about 0.8 grams per lb of goal weight, but you also need to incorporate a progressive overload strength training regimen.

Protein - it depends on the person, and their goals .. Protein drinks is 30 grams
Chicken Breast - 30 --- Turkey - 30
Chicken Quarter - 37 -- Salmon 20

Time frame - Everything is assumption, because no one is perfect, or has perfect days or perfect logging
A 100 weeks = 1 lbs loss for 1 week. just to get to your ideal weight. Then the question is when
does it start when your 1 lbs under weight , no.. how about 2, no, 10 lbs, prob not. 20 lbs, maybe.

But the premise was 1,000 cals/day which would for someone overweight be 2-3 lb loss/week. if you aimed for 1 lb/week your calories would be more like 2,000 and this thread wouldn't exist.

Its not an aim, its an assumption. if we were to target 2lbs per week, and I am 100 lbs over weight, then to lose the weight wold be 50 weeks? Thats almost a year, to get to my target weight. Then after that full year.

Here is a good reference, if you have over 100 lbs to lose you can lose more than 2 lbs/week safely, that being said it is best to set a realistic safe weekly loss goal and:
If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.

The reasons: the less you have to lose the less fat stores you have to pull from. The less fat you have to pull from the less your body wants to take any. So if your deficit is too large given your stats you will burn a large % of lean muscle. Doing the above also helps set you up for maintenance without a large increase in caloric intake all at once.

Losing faster than the above puts you are a risk for losing hair, weak nails, poor skin, loss of lean muscle, low energy levels, etc.
So, even with 100lbs to lose, it should take longer than 50 weeks, should be 25 weeks for the first 25, next 35 lbs, 24 weeks, next 25, 25 weeks and last 15 lbs 30 weeks for a total of 103 weeks

Well done OP ! I also think everyone has to find their way and that we all do so understanding the risks. Risks are potential, not asbolute outcomes - as we are all grownups, we make those decisions for ourselves and accept the consquences, good or bad. I think thats forgotten here sometimes.

Here in the UK there is a big push to steer people away from Pre Diabetes and Type 2 - the outcome is that the NHS is now trialling MONITORED short term diets that are considered very low calories (800 per day) for two reasons. 1) They are testing the theory that to reverse these issues, fat around the internal organs, particularly the pancreas, needs to be lost (you can be fat or thin on the outside and have this) which enables it to balance insulin correctly again (so reversing T2). 2) There is some interest in this field in proving whether there is an increased risk of regaining the weight once lost. The original (small) Newcastle Diet trial monitored those on it for a few years after and it showed that the majority reverted to their previous diet but did not regain the weight or regain their diabetes diagnosis - this was because they were adjusting their portions down.

Before the woo'ers get too excited, here's some reading which I think is pretty interesting even if you dont support the approach :

https://www.ncl.ac.uk/press/articles/latest/2018/12/diabetesdiettrialledbynhs/

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-46363869

It would be useful I think if on MFP we did a poll for anyone regaining their lost weight to understand the approach they followed and whether we are more likely to regain if it was lost quickly. That still only makes it a data analysis and an assumed outcome, not a fact.

I see lots of information quoted about the 'right' rate of weight loss - perhaps it might be time to revisit the context of this advice. Perhaps we should consider there is a more complex decision making process for some people....