Liquid diets...I need some advice please

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-22-2003
Liquid diets...I need some advice please
10
Thu, 03-11-2004 - 11:40pm
Hi Everyone,

How are you all doing? I haven't posted here in quite some time. I've been lurking around, though, trying to keep up with everyone. I've been very depressed because I got sick back in October with recurrent ear infections, sinus infections, bronchitis, and just overall yuckiness. Then I learned my thyroid is out of control again and I have a goiter (enlargement of the thyroid gland) with multiple nodules (bumps) on it. It's quite swollen, but lately it's started going down. Sometimes it's even hard to swallow things...especially really cold water. Anyway, that's not what I wanted to post about!!

I've been struggling for a long time with my weight...really all my life. I'm 25 years old and weigh about 315 pounds. I wear a size 24-26 clothing and feel completely awful about my weight. My doctor recommended a program that heavily emphasizes liquid diets (i.e. HMR or Optifast liquid shakes). There are two choices with the diet. You can either do a full fast (all shakes, no food) or a modified fast (4-5 shakes and 1 meal). There is a discussion board online that I was lurking on and posting on for awhile trying to learn more about these liquid diets. The people on there are so excited about full liquid diets (no food). They pride themselves on abstaining from food. So I thought, "Well, I have a LOT of weight to lose, I'll try it." So I joined a hospital program which required blood work, an EKG, and a full physical as well as a psychological evaluation. Everything checked out fine so I started the full liquid fast last Monday, March 1st. I made it through Days 1 and 2 without food. But Wednesday came around and I abstained from food all day, but had pizza at night. Then it was downhill from there. Every day after that I vowed to get back on track, but just couldn't. It's like it's too hard for me. After reading all the posts from the other discussion board, I feel like a failure. Like I am horrible because I can't abstain from food. Is my thinking way off?

I went to have a check-up at the clinic yesterday and I didn't lose any weight because I cheated horribly. I have exercised nearly every day in the last week. Usually I do 30-40 minutes of cardio every day and then a few times a week I do circuit training and strength training. So I'm exercising a ton. And I LOVE it. The doctor who saw me yesterday told me that I should switch to the modified program and have a meal every day. I guess I should tell you that my all-liquid diet was 1050 calories/day (and that's higher than a typical all liquid diet) and my modified diet is 1300 calories/day.

I guess where it gets down to it is I need advice. I still don't feel comfortable have a diet that's only 1300 calories when I burn at least 600-700 calories at the gym/working out. What do you guys think? I have tried Weight Watchers in the past and their calories for me is at least 1700 calories per day. I just didn't stick with WW so of course I didn't succeed. I'm wondering what you guys think? I love the meal replacement shakes with my current program, but I like the flexibility of WW. I know I can order the meal replacements online, which I will even if I discontinue the hospital program. Are any of you familiar with liquid diets like Optifast, HMR, or Medifast? They promote very rapid weight loss because they're typically very low calorie diets (VLCD).

I guess I just need advice as to what to do. The other discussion board has my brain biased because they're all into the liquid diets. I want other's opinions. What's the best way? I exercise a ton! What should I do??

I appreciate all your input. Sorry this is so long. I'm just confused!

~Shannon

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2003
Fri, 03-12-2004 - 12:20am
My concern with all all liquid diet is that it doesn't teach you how to eat right. There is no way you could stay on it forever and what happens when you lose the weight. Will the Dr. work with you once you lose the weight in order to keep it off? You might try the one meal a day and see how it works, but just make sure you don't have a lot of food in your house in case you get hungry. If it still doesn't work I would look into other options. I personally don't think I would have the will power to do it and am doing a low carb which I have heard is good for people with thyroid problems.(which I also have.) good luck. sharla
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-16-2003
Fri, 03-12-2004 - 8:58am
Shannon,

Well the only problem with liquid diets, as we all saw with Oprah about 10 years ago, is that you cannot do them forever. Even she said the day after she had all those pictures done in People or whatever it was about her diet, she said she ate like a hog b/c she could again. I think that's what happens a lot with those diets. It's not a permanant thing--the best choice for anyone is just to change your eating habits for long-term results.

Sara

okay I didn't read what sharla said, so DITTO lol


Edited 3/12/2004 9:03 am ET ET by sayruhb02

~Sayruhb02
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 03-12-2004 - 9:36am

Shannon....Im kinda on the fence about the liquid diets and here is why.

  Shawna-- Proud Cl for 100 Pounds or More to Go 

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-08-1999
Fri, 03-12-2004 - 9:47am
You don't have to take my advice and you could shrug me off as another nutcase in the crowd but here it goes.. This is what I would do if I was you...

~Throw away all thoughts of a liquid diet. Liquid Diets are mainly for people who are lazy and don't want to learn about nutritional information and eating properly.

~Sign up at www.fitday.com (increase your protein & decrease your carbs)

~Keep on exercising!

Why are you trying to live on 1300 calories a day? Especially when you're doing as much strength training as you are. You need atleast 1 pound of muscle to start burning calories when you're doing nothing. But those muscles need food, girl!! 1300 calories is ideal for a 130 pound iron lifting (or strength training..whatever you want to call it) woman. You should be at 3150 or 525 calories per meal (if you eat 6 meals a day). It sounds like a lot but it's not going to send your body into starvation mode and you're going to lose weight!!

~Make your lunches & snacks the night before so you can sleep in if you want and you won't make bad food choices (this works for me!).

~Drink water. Don't go overboard...8 glasses a day is fine. Studies show (this was in the newspaper a few days ago) that people who drank more than 8 glasses a day didn't benefit any more than the people who drank 8 or less. When you're thirsty, drink water!

~Journal (I HATE this part). You can do this portion in your FitDay account.

Good Luck and let us know how you're doing when you get back on track!

~Dana

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-22-2003
Fri, 03-12-2004 - 2:25pm
Hi Shawna,

Thanks for your input. I wonder why your friend didn't just stick with Optifast instead of the bypass? I must say, though, gastric bypass is NOT an option for me. I'm going to do this! I don't have any health problems like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or anything. So my doctor said bypass is not really an option for me (she said it's unlikely they'd even do it with me being young and having no documented health problems). Anyway, it doesn't matter...I don't want it anyway.

I think you're right. WW didn't fail me...I just didn't follow it wholeheartedly. About 2 years ago, I joined WW and lost 25 pounds in 4 months. One thing I noticed at WW is that when I followed the plan to a T, I only lost about 0.4 or so per week. However, when I "cheated" on one or two days, I ended up losing 1.4-2 pounds a week. I'm not sure why this is. I was also exercising (walking every day). I was not happy with how long it was taking, so I dropped out. Well, had I stuck with it, I'd probably be to my goal! :) My only concern is that Dana posted that I should be eating more calories than WW has me eat. So I don't know what to do!

Again, thanks for your input. I appreciate it!

Shannon

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 03-12-2004 - 3:16pm

Your welcome Shannon =)

  Shawna-- Proud Cl for 100 Pounds or More to Go 

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-13-2003
Fri, 03-12-2004 - 3:34pm
Here is a great article about the Wendie plan from last week:

http://www.putdownthedonut.com/archives/001957.php

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-22-2003
Fri, 03-12-2004 - 4:25pm
Hi Shawna,

I almost always at my activity points because like many people said, if you don't, it's harder to lose weight (it's like your body wants to grab on to the weight). Plus I'm really hungry if I don't.

As far as Optifast, I've decided I'm not doing it. Actually the program that I'm on is called HMR...the shakes are equivalent to Optifast but taste a heck of a lot better. I'm still going to use them occasionally as a snack or pre-workout meal (or even breakfast), but I'm not going to rely on them as my sole source of nutrition. I just can't. I work out a lot and I'm very hungry. The people at my group for this liquid diet program keep telling me I'm "emotionally hungry," not physically hungry. Well, I'm sorry, but I exercise almost daily and burn 600-800 calories when I do...if I'm only consuming 1050 calories in liquid form, I'm very hungry. I've decided that I just don't like the idea of doing this because it's such high pressure. They expect you to go out to eat and just sit there, not eating anything. I'm NOT kidding. Your friend probably has reason for concern regarding going back to eating normal food. They really scare you into NOT eating a single bite while on the liquid diet. The thing I hate about the liquid diets is that you're on low calories (most of them are "get this" 450-800 calories a day). So your metabolism slows way down and if you do cheat, you gain weight. That is unlike WW because sometimes whe I cheat on WW, I lose weight because it revs my metabolism!

Thank you for your support and advice. I'm looking at going back to WW. And I'm really thinking about incorporating the Wendie Plan. I myself has been studying it. Actually I found my Woman's Day magazine with the Wendie Plan in it and I think I'm going to give it a go. Plus I like the WW meetings...and they're less than half the price of my group meetings at the hospital in which I feel like a sinner because I eat FOOD. Oh the EVIL 4 letter word...NOT FOOD!!! I admit their weight loss is substantial, but what I don't like is that a woman who weighs over 300 pounds has been on the program 5 weeks. The last 2 weeks she's only lost 2 pounds a week! If that's the case when you're on 800 calories a day, there's something majorly wrong with her metabolism due to this diet.

Talk to you soon!

Shannon

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-04-2004
Fri, 03-12-2004 - 4:33pm
I'm glad you decided not to do the liquid diet, Shannon. I know I couldn't do it! I also don't believe that it works for long term weight loss. Like other posters said, we need to change habits and learn how to eat properly. We also need to learn how to deal with emotional eating. I don't think that a liquid diet will teach any of that. I applaud you for making that decision and good luck with the WW! Keep us posted on your progress.

~~Linda

~~Linda

 

Avatar for angelinoh
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-19-2003
Sat, 03-13-2004 - 12:52am
Hi Shannon, i agree with you about the liquid diets. With exercising i eat around 1300-1500 calories, i can't imagine eating less than 1000 exercising and losing/having energy to even exercise..lol..Good luck with losing =)