Is this ok?

HI everybody

My question today may sound a little funny. For the first time in the past
few years, I have reached my target weight. I gave myself 10 days to loose
about 4 pounds, being about 22lbs overweight. MY concern is whether I have
been dieting in a healthy way.

I did some very good (and fun) excercise for two days (in the beginning of
the ten day period), I completely stopped eating chocolates and took only
one sugar in my coffee instead of two. I also started drinking at least 2
litres of water daily.

But, today, for instance, I had small high fibre breakfast breakfast (1 fat,
25 carb, 5 prot), during lunch four small high fibre snacks (Oats and Brown
Sugar with cinnamon snack - I only know the brand names, but I don't think
it is sold in the US)- (2 fat, 18 carb, 2 prot each). At 3:00 I had a mango
fruit juice. At 8:00 I had dinner at a friend: The menu included an extra
lean rump steak, avocado and tomato salad, seed bread, pasta with no-fat
falvouring (small quantity), chocolate mouse (about a cup) and a small piece
of chocolate.

My total calories for the day was 1938 and I burnt about 3000 without
excercise.
I also take a supplement to ensure that I meet my nutritional criteria.

My question is: Is a day like this healthy? I don't want to experience one
of those diets where you can't maintain your weight.

Question 2: Is 4 pounds in ten days a reasonable and healthy target?

As you can see, I would rather take longer to loose weight than to risk
gaining it all and more in two months. And loosing weight is not my only
goal, I want to live generally healthy.

I have to say, I could never have done this without the amazing people on
this group. Thanks guys!

Cheers
JS (Male)

"JS" wrote in message ...
HI everybody

My question today may sound a little funny. For the first time in the past
few years, I have reached my target weight. I gave myself 10 days to loose
about 4 pounds, being about 22lbs overweight. MY concern is whether I have
been dieting in a healthy way.

Initially, weight loss is primarily water and comes off quickly. It should
slow down over time.

I did some very good (and fun) excercise for two days (in the beginning of
the ten day period), I completely stopped eating chocolates and took only
one sugar in my coffee instead of two. I also started drinking at least 2
litres of water daily.

But, today, for instance, I had small high fibre breakfast breakfast (1
fat,
25 carb, 5 prot), during lunch four small high fibre snacks (Oats and
Brown
Sugar with cinnamon snack - I only know the brand names, but I don't think
it is sold in the US)- (2 fat, 18 carb, 2 prot each). At 3:00 I had a
mango
fruit juice. At 8:00 I had dinner at a friend: The menu included an extra
lean rump steak, avocado and tomato salad, seed bread, pasta with no-fat
falvouring (small quantity), chocolate mouse (about a cup) and a small
piece
of chocolate.

My total calories for the day was 1938 and I burnt about 3000 without
excercise.
I also take a supplement to ensure that I meet my nutritional criteria.

My question is: Is a day like this healthy? I don't want to experience one
of those diets where you can't maintain your weight.

Question 2: Is 4 pounds in ten days a reasonable and healthy target?

As you can see, I would rather take longer to loose weight than to risk
gaining it all and more in two months. And loosing weight is not my only
goal, I want to live generally healthy.

I have to say, I could never have done this without the amazing people on
this group. Thanks guys!

Cheers
JS (Male)

Most people shoot for 1-2 lbs. a week. That's considered a reasonable and
healthy rate.

Jenn

"JS" wrote in message ...
HI everybody

My question today may sound a little funny. For the first time in the past
few years, I have reached my target weight. I gave myself 10 days to loose
about 4 pounds, being about 22lbs overweight. MY concern is whether I have
been dieting in a healthy way.

Initially, weight loss is primarily water and comes off quickly. It should
slow down over time.

I did some very good (and fun) excercise for two days (in the beginning of
the ten day period), I completely stopped eating chocolates and took only
one sugar in my coffee instead of two. I also started drinking at least 2
litres of water daily.

But, today, for instance, I had small high fibre breakfast breakfast (1
fat,
25 carb, 5 prot), during lunch four small high fibre snacks (Oats and
Brown
Sugar with cinnamon snack - I only know the brand names, but I don't think
it is sold in the US)- (2 fat, 18 carb, 2 prot each). At 3:00 I had a
mango
fruit juice. At 8:00 I had dinner at a friend: The menu included an extra
lean rump steak, avocado and tomato salad, seed bread, pasta with no-fat
falvouring (small quantity), chocolate mouse (about a cup) and a small
piece
of chocolate.

My total calories for the day was 1938 and I burnt about 3000 without
excercise.
I also take a supplement to ensure that I meet my nutritional criteria.

My question is: Is a day like this healthy? I don't want to experience one
of those diets where you can't maintain your weight.

Question 2: Is 4 pounds in ten days a reasonable and healthy target?

As you can see, I would rather take longer to loose weight than to risk
gaining it all and more in two months. And loosing weight is not my only
goal, I want to live generally healthy.

I have to say, I could never have done this without the amazing people on
this group. Thanks guys!

Cheers
JS (Male)

Most people shoot for 1-2 lbs. a week. That's considered a reasonable and
healthy rate.

Jenn

"JS" wrote in message ...
HI everybody

My total calories for the day was 1938 and I burnt about 3000 without
excercise.

well, for one don't even bother counting calories at anything less
than the nearest 100.

I also take a supplement to ensure that I meet my nutritional criteria.

That's really no guarantee, but 1900+ calories should be plenty of
space to get good food.

My question is: Is a day like this healthy? I don't want to experience one
of those diets where you can't maintain your weight.

I'm no expert, but why are you in such a hurry?

The main danger of crash dieting is losing body protein from muscles
and internal organs. With starvation, the conventional wisdom says the
body thinks famine has hit, and starts conserving fat and metabolizing
protein. Eat enough to avoid the body doing this.

Question 2: Is 4 pounds in ten days a reasonable and healthy target?

Yes and no. It's a theoretical 14000kcal deficit, or 1400kcal/day.
It's reasonable to undereat this much, but its way out of line for
what experts consider not unhealthy (500kcal/day). 1000kcal/day is
pushing it, btw.

As you can see, I would rather take longer to loose weight than to risk
gaining it all and more in two months. And loosing weight is not my only
goal, I want to live generally healthy.

My POV is that I'm on this diet for the rest of my life so I have no
need to lose it all NOW!

Now that I'm within 5-10lbs of my absolute rock-bottom weight, I don't
care if it takes a year or a decade to get there. The long-term trends
are still good and I'm enjoying my WOE.

I've still got to add in the muscle-(re-)building component, but I'm
going to start that RSN...

Just shoot to have less fat on you next month than you do now. With
this attitude I find I'm making a lot of smarter choices than I did in
the past.

"JS" wrote in message ...
HI everybody

My total calories for the day was 1938 and I burnt about 3000 without
excercise.

well, for one don't even bother counting calories at anything less
than the nearest 100.

I also take a supplement to ensure that I meet my nutritional criteria.

That's really no guarantee, but 1900+ calories should be plenty of
space to get good food.

My question is: Is a day like this healthy? I don't want to experience one
of those diets where you can't maintain your weight.

I'm no expert, but why are you in such a hurry?

The main danger of crash dieting is losing body protein from muscles
and internal organs. With starvation, the conventional wisdom says the
body thinks famine has hit, and starts conserving fat and metabolizing
protein. Eat enough to avoid the body doing this.

Question 2: Is 4 pounds in ten days a reasonable and healthy target?

Yes and no. It's a theoretical 14000kcal deficit, or 1400kcal/day.
It's reasonable to undereat this much, but its way out of line for
what experts consider not unhealthy (500kcal/day). 1000kcal/day is
pushing it, btw.

As you can see, I would rather take longer to loose weight than to risk
gaining it all and more in two months. And loosing weight is not my only
goal, I want to live generally healthy.

My POV is that I'm on this diet for the rest of my life so I have no
need to lose it all NOW!

Now that I'm within 5-10lbs of my absolute rock-bottom weight, I don't
care if it takes a year or a decade to get there. The long-term trends
are still good and I'm enjoying my WOE.

I've still got to add in the muscle-(re-)building component, but I'm
going to start that RSN...

Just shoot to have less fat on you next month than you do now. With
this attitude I find I'm making a lot of smarter choices than I did in
the past.

"JS" wrote in message ...
My question today may sound a little funny. For the first time in the past
few years, I have reached my target weight. I gave myself 10 days to loose
about 4 pounds, being about 22lbs overweight.

Don't focus too much on targets. You're losing for life, it has probably
taken you years to put on the weight. You're not in such a hurry to lose the
pounds, it's a lifelong marathon, not a sprint.

I did some very good (and fun) excercise for two days

Fun is good, it means you will enjoy doing them, and enjoying them means you
will miss them if you skip.

But, today, for instance, I had small high fibre breakfast breakfast (1
fat,
25 carb, 5 prot), during lunch four small high fibre snacks (Oats and
Brown
Sugar with cinnamon snack - I only know the brand names, but I don't think
it is sold in the US)- (2 fat, 18 carb, 2 prot each). At 3:00 I had a
mango
fruit juice. At 8:00 I had dinner at a friend: The menu included an extra
lean rump steak, avocado and tomato salad, seed bread, pasta with no-fat
falvouring (small quantity), chocolate mouse (about a cup) and a small
piece
of chocolate.

Are you going for low fat or trying to focus on healthy fats? Then the
avocado is pretty high in fat then, though its only healthy fats. You don't
want to go too low fat anyway, some fats have high health value, and tend to
give a good level of satiety.
You say you have cut on chocolates, but you still ate some. That's a good
thing, you have understood that using moderation is enough and that you
don't need to ban things completely.
I won't comment on the nutritionnal content of your meals, some people here
are more into that than I am. But it seems "good enough" to me,
especially if you take a daily vitamin as a security.

My total calories for the day was 1938 and I burnt about 3000 without
excercise.

That's a high deficit, but you're still eating as much as some people on
maintainance.
How do you know how much you burn? You monitored your meals (and then you
have a pretty exact value) or you used a formula (then, it might be way off
the real value)?
That's a decent starting point. You're eating enough to cover your
nutritional needs. Adjust according the hunger (if you get too hungry, it's
usually not a good sign - famine reaction) and weight loss rate as you go.

I also take a supplement to ensure that I meet my nutritional criteria.

Good. If you're really going low fat (and not just healthy fats), you might
want to look after omega-3 supplements and vitamins that are found only in
lipids (A,E...).

My question is: Is a day like this healthy? I don't want to experience one
of those diets where you can't maintain your weight.

I think weight maintainance is not that related to the diet. Unless you
actually manage to wreck your metabolism and lose all lean mass and no fat
mass, long term maintainance mostly depends on abilities outside of the diet
itself. Like, your ability to avoid binges, to stick to eating reasonnably
*for life* (otherwise, the weight *will* come back, no matter what diet you
did), to resist overeating when stressed...

Question 2: Is 4 pounds in ten days a reasonable and healthy target?

Initial weight loss is fast, especially since you're a guy. Your target is
not unreasonnable, but don't expect your first week weight loss rate to have
anything to do with your average rate afterwards. Common wisdom points to
1-2lbs/week, but there is some room for specific situations. A very obese
man will lose much faster with no real risk. A woman that is near target
will often lose much slower and with lots of stalls.
As a moderately overweight man, you can expect around that 1-2lbs figure,
with maybe stalls as you get really near to goal.

"JS" wrote in message ...
My question today may sound a little funny. For the first time in the past
few years, I have reached my target weight. I gave myself 10 days to loose
about 4 pounds, being about 22lbs overweight.

Don't focus too much on targets. You're losing for life, it has probably
taken you years to put on the weight. You're not in such a hurry to lose the
pounds, it's a lifelong marathon, not a sprint.

I did some very good (and fun) excercise for two days

Fun is good, it means you will enjoy doing them, and enjoying them means you
will miss them if you skip.

But, today, for instance, I had small high fibre breakfast breakfast (1
fat,
25 carb, 5 prot), during lunch four small high fibre snacks (Oats and
Brown
Sugar with cinnamon snack - I only know the brand names, but I don't think
it is sold in the US)- (2 fat, 18 carb, 2 prot each). At 3:00 I had a
mango
fruit juice. At 8:00 I had dinner at a friend: The menu included an extra
lean rump steak, avocado and tomato salad, seed bread, pasta with no-fat
falvouring (small quantity), chocolate mouse (about a cup) and a small
piece
of chocolate.

Are you going for low fat or trying to focus on healthy fats? Then the
avocado is pretty high in fat then, though its only healthy fats. You don't
want to go too low fat anyway, some fats have high health value, and tend to
give a good level of satiety.
You say you have cut on chocolates, but you still ate some. That's a good
thing, you have understood that using moderation is enough and that you
don't need to ban things completely.
I won't comment on the nutritionnal content of your meals, some people here
are more into that than I am. But it seems "good enough" to me,
especially if you take a daily vitamin as a security.

My total calories for the day was 1938 and I burnt about 3000 without
excercise.

That's a high deficit, but you're still eating as much as some people on
maintainance.
How do you know how much you burn? You monitored your meals (and then you
have a pretty exact value) or you used a formula (then, it might be way off
the real value)?
That's a decent starting point. You're eating enough to cover your
nutritional needs. Adjust according the hunger (if you get too hungry, it's
usually not a good sign - famine reaction) and weight loss rate as you go.

I also take a supplement to ensure that I meet my nutritional criteria.

Good. If you're really going low fat (and not just healthy fats), you might
want to look after omega-3 supplements and vitamins that are found only in
lipids (A,E...).

My question is: Is a day like this healthy? I don't want to experience one
of those diets where you can't maintain your weight.

I think weight maintainance is not that related to the diet. Unless you
actually manage to wreck your metabolism and lose all lean mass and no fat
mass, long term maintainance mostly depends on abilities outside of the diet
itself. Like, your ability to avoid binges, to stick to eating reasonnably
*for life* (otherwise, the weight *will* come back, no matter what diet you
did), to resist overeating when stressed...

Question 2: Is 4 pounds in ten days a reasonable and healthy target?

Initial weight loss is fast, especially since you're a guy. Your target is
not unreasonnable, but don't expect your first week weight loss rate to have
anything to do with your average rate afterwards. Common wisdom points to
1-2lbs/week, but there is some room for specific situations. A very obese
man will lose much faster with no real risk. A woman that is near target
will often lose much slower and with lots of stalls.
As a moderately overweight man, you can expect around that 1-2lbs figure,
with maybe stalls as you get really near to goal.

"Ignoramus19552" wrote in message
...
In article , JS wrote:
HI everybody

My question today may sound a little funny. For the first time in the
past
few years, I have reached my target weight. I gave myself 10 days to
loose
about 4 pounds, being about 22lbs overweight. MY concern is whether I
have
been dieting in a healthy way.

I did some very good (and fun) excercise for two days (in the beginning
of
the ten day period), I completely stopped eating chocolates and took
only
one sugar in my coffee instead of two. I also started drinking at least
2
litres of water daily.

But, today, for instance, I had small high fibre breakfast breakfast (1
fat,
25 carb, 5 prot), during lunch four small high fibre snacks (Oats and
Brown
Sugar with cinnamon snack - I only know the brand names, but I don't
think
it is sold in the US)- (2 fat, 18 carb, 2 prot each). At 3:00 I had a
mango
fruit juice. At 8:00 I had dinner at a friend: The menu included an
extra
lean rump steak, avocado and tomato salad, seed bread, pasta with no-fat
falvouring (small quantity), chocolate mouse (about a cup) and a small
piece
of chocolate.

My total calories for the day was 1938 and I burnt about 3000 without
excercise.
I also take a supplement to ensure that I meet my nutritional criteria.

My question is: Is a day like this healthy? I don't want to experience
one
of those diets where you can't maintain your weight.

Those chocolate mice must be delicious!
Hehe! Whoops!


I can't see how health of a normal person can be damaged by your
eating...

Question 2: Is 4 pounds in ten days a reasonable and healthy target?

You see, when you start losing weight, you first lose a few pounds of
"water weight" very quickly. That water weight is water bound to
"glycogen", a store of quick energy. Then your weight loss slows
down. So, 4 lbs in the first 10 days of dieting includes the water
loss and so it is not a huge rate of weight loss.

Whether 0.4 lbs per day is too much on an ongoing basis, is a separate
question.

As you can see, I would rather take longer to loose weight than to risk
gaining it all and more in two months. And loosing weight is not my only
goal, I want to live generally healthy.

Sounds like a great attitude. Nothing worse that screwing up health
and metabolism for the sake of a small weight loss.

I have to say, I could never have done this without the amazing people
on
this group. Thanks guys!

You sound like a sensible and cautious person, which helps a lot...

Try dieting in a way that would resemble your eating post-weight loss.

i

Thanks!

"Ignoramus19552" wrote in message
...
In article , JS wrote:
HI everybody

My question today may sound a little funny. For the first time in the
past
few years, I have reached my target weight. I gave myself 10 days to
loose
about 4 pounds, being about 22lbs overweight. MY concern is whether I
have
been dieting in a healthy way.

I did some very good (and fun) excercise for two days (in the beginning
of
the ten day period), I completely stopped eating chocolates and took
only
one sugar in my coffee instead of two. I also started drinking at least
2
litres of water daily.

But, today, for instance, I had small high fibre breakfast breakfast (1
fat,
25 carb, 5 prot), during lunch four small high fibre snacks (Oats and
Brown
Sugar with cinnamon snack - I only know the brand names, but I don't
think
it is sold in the US)- (2 fat, 18 carb, 2 prot each). At 3:00 I had a
mango
fruit juice. At 8:00 I had dinner at a friend: The menu included an
extra
lean rump steak, avocado and tomato salad, seed bread, pasta with no-fat
falvouring (small quantity), chocolate mouse (about a cup) and a small
piece
of chocolate.

My total calories for the day was 1938 and I burnt about 3000 without
excercise.
I also take a supplement to ensure that I meet my nutritional criteria.

My question is: Is a day like this healthy? I don't want to experience
one
of those diets where you can't maintain your weight.

Those chocolate mice must be delicious!
Hehe! Whoops!


I can't see how health of a normal person can be damaged by your
eating...

Question 2: Is 4 pounds in ten days a reasonable and healthy target?

You see, when you start losing weight, you first lose a few pounds of
"water weight" very quickly. That water weight is water bound to
"glycogen", a store of quick energy. Then your weight loss slows
down. So, 4 lbs in the first 10 days of dieting includes the water
loss and so it is not a huge rate of weight loss.

Whether 0.4 lbs per day is too much on an ongoing basis, is a separate
question.

As you can see, I would rather take longer to loose weight than to risk
gaining it all and more in two months. And loosing weight is not my only
goal, I want to live generally healthy.

Sounds like a great attitude. Nothing worse that screwing up health
and metabolism for the sake of a small weight loss.

I have to say, I could never have done this without the amazing people
on
this group. Thanks guys!

You sound like a sensible and cautious person, which helps a lot...

Try dieting in a way that would resemble your eating post-weight loss.

i

Thanks!

Thanks for the replies, everyone!
JS