I need help! Low Calorie Diet? No Carb?

hello!! I started at 274. it took a couple of months for me to figure it out, but, I would suggest changing your eating habits first. I know people say that all the time, but, I realize NOW how important it is. Once you start eating more fruits and veggies, lean proteins, and complex vs simple carbs, and forcus your diet on those, doing a reduced (NOT LOW) calorie diet/lifestyle is easy. Losing weight becomes a breeze, it just happens. because after time, you begin liking and craving the healthier food - your tastes change.

I can't stand fast food anymore. the thought of it makes me want to gag. I am sure, likely, sitting your chair, starting the journey, this may sound strange, BUT i can assure you, if you take the time to focus 80% on healthier foods all the time (with an occassional treat), you'll find you start craving the better stuff.

anyhow - once you start liking the good stuff, not really wanting the bad stuff as much (took me a good 2 months to reach that point), then it makes it easy to lose weight, because the foods you like are naturally lower in calories, so you just end up eating 'normally' I'm down 40 lbs, and it feels like I haven't been on a diet at all for the past 2 months. I just make a conscious choice on my foods to stay within a calorie range. i.e., I choose from a wide variety of foods that I LOVE, that are lower calorie, so it's SO easy.

Tonight, dinner was Apple Pie Oatmeal: oats, apple sauce, cinnamon and brown sugar. less than 300 calories for a FULL bowl. Tastes like warm apple pie, ain't missing a darn thing

Tomorrow night I'll have pizza (a lower calorie version) I use a flat bread, lots of sauce, REAL pepperoni, and a mix of Fat free and part skim mozzerella. I actually prefer the way it tastes, and can have a LARGE portion for 500 ish calories (less than 2 pieces of regular pizza fits that bill.

I have mexican at least every other week, pizza at least once a week, I have a egg/cheese breakfast sandwich almost EVERY morning for breakfast, I NEVER go hungry - well - i never HAVE to anyhow sometimes i do because I don't plan well and run out of time or rush around, but I never have to go hungry.

Up until recently, i would go out for mexican or have a 'high' calorie day, and find myself thinking "oh, I need to diet" and then I remember "oh, wait - I AM dieting !" tee hee....

agree with this too - liquid diets are --- so not worth it. There's so many reasons why I think that - and I've done medifast, I lost like 30 pounds on it i think (or less even) before I threw in the towel. Gained all the weight back and then some.

doing this way, I have been watching calories, focusing on healthier foods, and went on vacation for a week. No access to scales, exercise equipment, food logging tools or internet. I ate meals with everyone else and stressed beyond belief when I got back home to get on the scale. I DID NOT GAIN A POUND. I actually think I lost .5 had I been on a liquid diet, or very low carb diet and been thrown into that situation - I can't imagine how much damage it would have been.

There's other reasons - i just shudder when I think about those liquid diets anymore.

I AM MOTIVATED TO LOSE WEIGHT!!
I am 23, Female, 360lbs roughly.
BMI of 58 says I can eat around 1900-2500 calories.

Here's the thing, I want to lose a substantial amount of weight before making that life long change of eating THIS many calories and exercising.

I hear people who are morbidly obese do a liquid diet low calorie for about a month or less. Can anyone recommend something like this?

I WAS 380 but I have been doing a low carb diet but I know that its not something I can live with for the rest of my life. I love pasta and breaded chicken with broccoli in it LOL also I hear it doesn't last and the weight comes back easily. And gout scares me.

My other problem with sticking to a diet is cooking. Does anyone follow a low calorie diet (1500-1800) with either something they can cook in the microwave or something easy like that? I would love a simple routine. I'm the type to get up for work and get ready in 5 minutes and I'm out the door. I'm lazy and play video games.

I am reading all this stuff online and it's all so confusing. My main goal is to reach 300 (roughly 60lbs) as fast as possible. (liquid diet) and then make my life changes from there.

Please give me the advice I need.. I have little friends who know what I am going through. I would love to just be a size 18 again..

what's your thing about carbs? why are they so terrible? Liquid diet? eeeek. Why put yourself through that? If you want simple, something you can cook in the microwave then get a bunch of lean cuisines or healthy choices. I wouldn't eat them for every meal of the day, but one a day isn't too bad on the sodium if you keep the rest of your day low.

Edit: Actually, I'm a microwave type of gal also, BUT I love cooking just not on the week days. Quick and easy. Buy a bunch of chicken breasts, cook them however you want on the weekend, then freeze them. Heat them up whenever you want. Pair it with veggies or whatever

I'm not a fan of the liquid diets, even for most people who may need to lose a lot of weight. I also don't like the idea of "low carb" diets since almost all the evidence really points to cutting down calories to more appropriate level, but keeping a good balance of proteins, fats, and carbs. Don't cut calories too low, or else you end up too hungry and end up eating more. Under eating leads to over eating. With a fair amount of weight to lose, your 1800-2000 calories sounds pretty good. One of the best things I ever heard was that the best weight loss program doesn't leave you hungry. An RD can help as well, even one appt with a registered dietician could be very helpful. I hope these are useful comments.

Eat carbs. Just eat good carbs. Whole grains, lots of veggies and fruit. If it doesn't have fiber, don't eat it. Stay within your calories and focus on protein.

F all that noise about a liquid diet. There is absolutely no reason to starve.

Good luck!!!!!!!

Hezz

Whoa....here's something I learned along this path...

We like what we like and we eat what we eat. Before you start throwing food that you love away think this through. Before you start a liquid diet (not sustainable) or change your entire diet (it will make you sick), here's what I did.

You will probably want to give up (for a little while) potatoes, rice, white bread, chips, cake, and anything else that contains sugars, starches and creamy yummy goodness.

Pick your favorite vegetables and know their serving sizes and calorie counts.

Chicken, steak and fish will be your friends.

Now...here's what I did on a 1,200 net calorie life change (exercise more to eat more) and my husband did on a cut down plan (no exercise):

SERVING SIZES ONLY!!!

My husband has lost 51 pounds in the past 4 months and I've lost 100 pounds in 11 months.

You will be amazed at the results you will see, you won't be hungry and you will feel better in 2 weeks.

Hi! First of all I don't trust low cab diets for losing weight. They have already proven that the most fit people in the world also eat the MOST carbs. That tells me something. That being said, all I can tell you is what works for me. I went to a calorie calculator website (http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm) to find out how many calories I should be eating. It gave me three numbers. For maintaining my weight, losing weight, and EXTREME weight loss. Then I use this website to help me stay within my goals. I do occasionally get off track but I get right back on. I have also recently purchased a Nutribullet to help me get the nutrients I need. I also try to walk daily although I haven't walked for almost a month due to the hot weather. But when I do I eat back the calories burned from my walks. I use the Runtastic app on my smartphone to track my walks as well as track calories burned (I have found that the goals this site gives you are a bit off.). I try to eat healthier but basically I eat what I want but just stay within my goals and spread my calories throughout the day so I don't get hungry. I lost 24 pounds so far just by doing these things. Hope this helps!! :happy:

My advice - don't try to do a fast liquid or any other kind of diet. Just start today eating your calories. I'd set them for what MFP recommends for a 2 lb per week loss. My guess if you go on a liquid or other fad diet at first - when you start eating healthy again you could easily gain some of the weight and get discouraged. The weight didn't go on over night - who cares if it takes a few extra months to come off. The longer you are on this lifestyle of healthy eating the less you will crave the carbs.

Here's to your success! You can do this!

I think this is great advice.

Just start out by eating smaller portions of the foods you like, add in as many extra fruit and veggies (more veggies than fruit) as you can and eat the calories that MFP recommends.
And start some kind of exercise - ANY exercise. Walk on the spot during TV commercials or walk for 5 mins away from your house then 5 mins back again. Or dance like a silly thing.... or play Wii..... anything that gets you off the couch and moving for a few minutes at a time is a great start.

Good luck!

Liquid and other VLCD diets give fast results over a short period, 6-8 weeks. They are appropriate for your level of obesity with medical consent so talk to the doctor. The advantage of them is that they are nutritionally complete so you don't go short of anything. An example of their use is at http://www.ncl.ac.uk/magres/research/diabetes/reversal.htm which set out to reduce obesity with a quick weight loss in order to improve diabetes.

At the end of the 6-8 weeks you would need to plan to increase calories in steps towards a sustainable eating level for the long haul.

You'll hear lots of fairy stories about muscles loss and "gaining it all back in a flash" but the evidence is that these are effective tools for doing what you want to do - a quick reduction to get you started.