Help with JUDD (Alternate Day Diet) please

gibbsak1
gibbsak1 Posts: 7 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been researching this plan with the intention of starting it in 2022...just to celebrate my 70th year!
Looking at a few different sources on the net..one mentioned the first 2 weeks or induction should be no more than 500 calories (or 20% of 'normal' calories) to turn on the SIRT1 gene. Is this correct or do I alternate UP and DOWN days? My TDEE is 1470 cals so 20% of this would be about 300 cals. I find it hard to believe one could survive 2 weeks on 300 cals/day.
Can anyone who has followed this plan please offer me some explanation/advise. The book "The Alternate Day Diet Revised" isn't readily available here.

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,418 Member
    ^^What they said.

    It's also against this site's Community Guidelines to discuss ways to use very low calorie diets (VLCDs) since they are dangerous.

    Please don't try this.

    There are lots of strategies to use to stay in a reasonable, healthy calorie range and still lose weight. Let us know when you're ready to do that.
  • mirianyusm
    mirianyusm Posts: 89 Member
    I am not a scientist but I don't think a person can "activate his/her genes". Also a 500 cal diet is not sustainable in the long run because sooner or later it will lead to binging and abandoning the so called "diet". As many said before, you will be better eating at a reasonable calorie deficit instead of starving yourself.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    edited December 2021
    Congrats on your 70th year!

    To answer the question about how the diet works -- not weighing in on whether there is any reason to do it, as I personally think that is going to have to do with how much you like it and use it as a healthful way to lose vs going into too steep a calorie deficit -- here you are:

    https://www.freedieting.com/alternate-day-diet

    "Every day is either an Up Day or a Down Day. You are free to eat as much as you would like to on Up Days and On Down Days you will restrict calories. While you can eat whatever foods you want and as much as you like you should not intentionally overeat, but it is important that you eat enough so that you feel satisfied.

    For the first two weeks of the diet you consume no more than 20% of your usual calorie intake on Down Days. To simplify matters a daily intake of 500 calories for Down Days is suggested during the induction phase."

    So you still have Up Days (where you eat what you want) and Down Days and alternate. You also might want to use 500 vs 300 -- I've never seen it discussed (or the related 5:2) with less than 500 on the low cal or "fasting" days.

    "Meal replacement shakes are recommended as the only food that you consume on the Down Days during the induction phase. This is because they are convenient and make it easy to monitor your calorie intake. You only have to diet for one day at a time. The next day is your Up Day where you are free to eat the way you normally would."

    The meal replacement shake recommendation seems goofy to me, but YMMV.

    "The longer-term Alternate Day Diet plan is not as restrictive as the first two weeks. You can eat real food on Down Days and can also increase your calorie intake to up to 35% of your normal amount if you want to lose weight. If you have already reached your target weight you will eat up to 60% of your normal calorie requirements in order to maintain your weight."
  • gibbsak1
    gibbsak1 Posts: 7 Member
    Thanks for the wake up call everyone. Looks like I'm heading back to my Dukan Plan. It's been a tried and tested plan for many years. I've also enjoyed the Diet Doktor's HFLC.
  • musicfan68
    musicfan68 Posts: 1,143 Member
    There's a much easier way to diet - eat what you like, keeping within the calories you need to eat to still lose weight. I don't know how much you need to lose, but 1 lb a week is a good start. There is absolutely no reason to complicate this. These weird diets are why no one seems to know why they can't keep weight off. Because the so-called "diets" aren't sustainable. Just eat normal foods, and eat the calories you need. Starving yourself isn't helping with anything.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    I wouldn't personally enjoy this alternate day dieting thing or 5:2 -- which it seems similar to -- but it's not that weird, it's basically just a different way of creating a deficit. I have a friend who loves 5:2 since she only has to count cals 2 days per week. However, she also has never been particularly overweight and started just losing some pregnancy weight, so she really can not track on the higher cal days and just on the low cal ones. I suspect it's quite possible to overeat enough on the higher cal days that you would not have a deficit for the week, but I also suspect for others it would work (if they enjoyed it).

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