BEWARE!!!

Ok I want some honest opinions on all of this. This might cause some conterversy but hey it'll probably be a good thread. So here we go! I have some feelings on dieting...and starvation things and what works and blah. 1. To start off it is said alot.."Under 1200 calories you go into starvation mode and don't lose weight" I don't think that is totally true and I am going to tell you why I think that. 2. Anorexia....starving...not eating. Guess what they're skinny TOO skinny...how did they get that way...starving obviously they lost. I believe that yes starving does put your body in freak out mode but eventually it starts eating off of the stored fat. 3.  Biggest Loser TV show. They're starving....they don't let you think that but its true. They're eating an X amount of calories probably 1200 or more...but working out anywhere from 4-5 hours a day burning EVERY stinkin calorie they put into their mouth plus more! Which comes out to a negative amount of calories that you ate that day! Not even zero a NEGATIVE. Starving? which also becomes a loss? 4. Gastric Bypass surgery. Yes I have my opinion on this too. Ok guess what its like starving. Only an X amount of calories that is below 1200...losing tremendous amounts of weight! Because why....starvation.  Which leads me to number 5. 5. With everything being said and done....how many people actually gain it back or some back maybe not all but some? I know many people that have had WLS to just gain it back. Or people from the TV show they gain some back as well. So what is this purpose? Does it really ever end?  Maybe for some people it really works...but for the rest of their lives their watching what they eat like calorie by calorie fat gram by fat gram how much they burn at the gym times this and divide by that holy craziness. It just never ends no matter if you lose all your weight or not. You may get healthy...look better....feel fabulous. But everything is still not what it should be.  So that being said...ATTACK! I know this is going to be very opinionated. So have at it kids. Let the craziness begin.  P.S. I am not posting this to make anyone mad, to hurt anyone or start any fights. Because I love you all! :) And I just want to hear other points of views on my opinions and how I think THANKS!

I just saw Carnie Wilson on a show. She had Gastric Bypass surgery and she lost weight she was down to 120 and now she is back to 172 and she is 5'3.  This shows you need to look at  food as something you need to live . Not that we live for food. I have to live always knowing I can gain all my weight back .  I t is easy to gain because food is everywhere. AT work they have candy  and cake for us to eat. Especially in the brake room.  We . us the ones with the weight problems have to deal with the stress of watching everyhing we eat. If we don't we will die early or be confind to bed just to become an overweight freak show. I don't want to be using a motorized wheelchair. I see alot of obese people now in those wheelchairs because they get out of breath. It is getting easier now not to have to walk in store just  get a wheel chair.  Has fat people we fool ourselfs  has to why it is hard to maintain our weight. We sure can't fool the person that as been there

Know what, Christa?  I agree with you!!!!! And what's the pits is that the less you weigh, the less calories you can eat to maintain that weight.  So if we'd weigh 120 lbs., we could only eat about 1200 calories to maintain that weight (unless we exercise alot to burn more). It's really a life long problem that we'll just have to deal with.  BUT...we certainly don't want to be in wheelchairs or bedridden, etc.  Right? Bren

there are many different ways to lose weight. different diets, various degrees of starvation like you are talking about. the simple truth of the matter tho is that if you do not do it RIGHT to start with and stick with it, then you will gain some-if not all of it plus more- back. it's about changing how you view food and your lifestyle. the people who gain it back, don't stick with the program. also, when you first start out doing this, it is really alot of work. you really do have to count calories etc etc and make sure you get in min amounts of exercise. because you are used to your old unhealthy habits that got you to where you are today. i do not believe that if you truely make it a lifestyle change that it will continue to be work. it will be your new lifestyle. it's just  new and healthier habits rather than the old and unhealthy. as far as the starvation thing goes too. it might work at taking off weight. but, it also does major damage to your body. the healthy way to lose weight lets you take it off while making your body healthier, not worse.

1. To start off it is said alot.."Under 1200 calories you go into starvation mode and don't lose weight" I don't think that is totally true and I am going to tell you why I think that. Truth is you will lose eventually-- but you may lose muscle and not fat storage, and it also does temporarily slow your loss sometimes to undereat-- not to mention the attendant malnutrition. I am eating well under that-- I eat 650 calories a day and malabsorb some of that-- I exercise daily-- and I am not dead. I am also in a long stall. It'll come off eventually. 2. Anorexia....starving...not eating. Guess what they're skinny TOO skinny...how did they get that way...starving obviously they lost. I believe that yes starving does put your body in freak out mode but eventually it starts eating off of the stored fat. You're right-- it does--- AND worse yet, it eats off your muscle storage. 3.  Biggest Loser TV show. They're starving....they don't let you think that but its true. They're eating an X amount of calories probably 1200 or more...but working out anywhere from 4-5 hours a day burning EVERY stinkin calorie they put into their mouth plus more! Which comes out to a negative amount of calories that you ate that day! Not even zero a NEGATIVE. Starving? which also becomes a loss? They tend to have fast temporary losses and regain what they have lost. Makes exciting TV, but not great long-term health. 4. Gastric Bypass surgery. Yes I have my opinion on this too. Ok guess what its like starving. Only an X amount of calories that is below 1200...losing tremendous amounts of weight! Because why....starvation.  Which leads me to number 5. Gastric Bypass surgery was initially devised to be used only in extreme cases of obesity where serious medical morbidities are present: what it's become is another story altogether. Unlike crash diets and anorexia, it is also medically supervised, and nutritionally supplemented. Both undereating *and* WLS will result in weight loss: the issue is relative safety, I suppose. 5. With everything being said and done....how many people actually gain it back or some back maybe not all but some? I know many people that have had WLS to just gain it back. Or people from the TV show they gain some back as well. So what is this purpose? Does it really ever end?  No, it doesn't end-- because YOU HAVE TO CHANGE YOUR HABITS FOR LIFE! The notion that a diet is something you do for a bit and then go back about your old ways is stupid, troublesome, doesn't work, often causes precipitous regain, and does little except to perpetuate a multi-gabilliondy dollar weight loss industry and cause a lot of people inestimable hurt. Maybe for some people it really works...but for the rest of their lives their watching what they eat like calorie by calorie fat gram by fat gram how much they burn at the gym times this and divide by that holy craziness. It just never ends no matter if you lose all your weight or not. You may get healthy...look better....feel fabulous. But everything is still not what it should be.  "Should be"? Like, as in, eat whatever you want, forever? Ain't happenin'. You have two choices-- learn to count, measure, moderate and move it, or stay fat/get fatter. You seem to be in a constant scramble for an easier answer-- we'd ALL like the magic pill--but there isn't one. Eventually, new habits need less monitoring as they become instinctual. I am pretty regimented in my approach-- it takes a lot of my time, but it beats the living **** out of the impending death I was quite literally facing. Think of it like chemo-- who the hell wants chemo? No one. But that's what you have to do to rid yourself of cancer, so you do it. You do what you need to do to run the machine as well as you can. It's really that simple. Lots of people regain after bypass-- most, in fact. If you don't rethink your life long relationship with food, you're right-- it's no different than a surgically sponsored/medically supervised crash diet. But if you use your resources (doctors, nutritionists), take adequate supplements, and learn how to eat appropriately, weight loss surgery can be an effective tool in losing weight *and* maintaining loss-- for life. While many people can lose using diet/exercise, long term data suggests that post-surgical patients have considerably better outcomes. (I will look later for the data.) So that being said...ATTACK! I know this is going to be very opinionated. So have at it kids. Let the craziness begin.  P.S. I am not posting this to make anyone mad, to hurt anyone or start any fights. Because I love you all! :) And I just want to hear other points of views on my opinions and how I think THANKS!

Hey Christa.... I think you have valid points all across the board.... I like the Biggest Loser.. but the reality of it is... none of has 4- 5 hours a day to working out per day.... unless we want to be unemployed!!   But I think the craziness does not end... we will literally have to change the way we think about food and montior input and output... The second you turn and eye from those things the weight starts to creep back on.... so it is a life long commitment...  This whole weight loss journey is different from trying to quit smoking or drinking... simply because you have to eat period.... smoking and drinking are recreational and do not have to do them.... The one thing I have noticed is some of the folks that have gained weight after the WLS stopped going to the support meetings and support groups.  I think those groups are designed to help keep a new lifestyle fresh on the mind which can be a challenge.  Or they may have it that they are mentally cured from obesity...and depend on dumping or getting sick to let them know they have gone overboard....but when that does not happen any more there is no personal will to stop the bad habits....  and the weight starts to come back. We all may literally be in the fight of our lives with this journey...

People who use a healthy diet to promote weight loss typically lose 75% fat and 25% lean tissue.   A VLCD forces the body into starvation mode which decreases fat loss to half and increases lean tissue loss to half.  Starvation mode causes the metabolism to slow.  Because it is voluntary starvation, doctor supervision is highly recommended b/c of all the stresses on the body.  These include things like electrolyte imbalance which can wreak havoc with virtually everything in the body.  They pretty much govern the fluid levels for the body to keep heart rhythm normal, brain function normal, etc.  And there is also a high potential, especially for women, of bone mass loss which can lead to osteoporosis. Those who have WLS are given a diet that is healthy for them to follow whi*****ludes lots of supplements.  The high protein makes up for some of the malabsorption.  I know of several who have had problems with anemia at some point and have to go for transfusions. I lost weight, kept it off and gained it back.  Why?  Because I did not commit to a lifelong healthy diet.  The problem is that word... DIET.  People still view a diet as something temporary.  If we can start looking the at the origin of the word which is "manner of living" and apply that.  The only way to lose weight and keep it off is to prescribe to a lifelong healthy diet.  That doesn't mean never ever eating a cheeseburger or birthday cake or ice cream or whatever.  It means consuming more healthful foods to supply the body with what it needs to function properly.  Diet is not temporary, it's permanent.

Ok I want some honest opinions on all of this. This might cause some conterversy but hey it'll probably be a good thread. So here we go! I have some feelings on dieting...and starvation things and what works and blah. 1. To start off it is said alot.."Under 1200 calories you go into starvation mode and don't lose weight" I don't think that is totally true and I am going to tell you why I think that. Under 1200 calories you WILL lose weight.  No doubt about it.  But it should be under the supervision of a doctor.  VLCD cause risk to your muscle mass, bones and heart.  Also, VLCDs do not deal with the underlying cause of obesity which cause the person who lost the weight to gain it right back - think Oprah... she lost a TON of weight on a VLCD (physician supervised) but gained it back because while she had lost weight very sucessfully she had failed to learn how to eat right. 2. Anorexia....starving...not eating. Guess what they're skinny TOO skinny...how did they get that way...starving obviously they lost. I believe that yes starving does put your body in freak out mode but eventually it starts eating off of the stored fat. Eventually your body will eat the stored fat, yes.  But only after it has eaten a significant amount of your muscle.  Muscle not only in arms and legs but also the muscles that help food move through and muscle that keeps your blood flowing through you.  This is a negative equation as well.  It is well known that muscle improves metabolism, loss of muscle therefore reduces it.  People who do not have aneorexia will also not be able to survive on 2-300 calories a day.  After a few days of not eating their survival mechanism will take them to the nearest old country buffet.  Only a person with a severe mental disorder can keep themselves from eating.  Conversely, I believe it is a mental disorder that often makes people eat 4-5000 calories a day as many compulsive eaters do. 3.  Biggest Loser TV show. They're starving....they don't let you think that but its true. They're eating an X amount of calories probably 1200 or more...but working out anywhere from 4-5 hours a day burning EVERY stinkin calorie they put into their mouth plus more! Which comes out to a negative amount of calories that you ate that day! Not even zero a NEGATIVE. Starving? which also becomes a loss? If you burn more than you take in your body will not go into starvation mode.  As long as you are eating a healthy diet with plenty of protien and other necessary nutrients your body will burn fat stores to make up the difference.  Starvation is really malnutrition.  You put yourself into starvation mode while eating quite alot of bad food with little or no nutrients. 

According to the biggest loser website they use standard BMR calculators to determine how many calories a person should eat to maintain their weight, plus provide for the exercise they are doing minus an amount appropriate to lose weight weekly.  Clebrity fit club usually recomends a balanced LCD of 1200 per day for women and 1600 per day for men.  Again, these folks lose weight but will not keep it off unless they learn to live with food. 4. Gastric Bypass surgery. Yes I have my opinion on this too. Ok guess what its like starving. Only an X amount of calories that is below 1200...losing tremendous amounts of weight! Because why....starvation.  Which leads me to number 5. GBS does more than restrict the amount of food you can take in, it also restricts the amount of nutrition you can absorb.  Factor that with the removal of the pancreas from the picture (this is what controls the diabetes) and you begin to see the huge potential for problems.  This is a form of VLCD and must be done under a doctor's supervision.  Without the use of supplements, careful food planning and adequate protien there will be malnutrition.  Without a serious commitment to lifestyle change a WLS patient can eat their way past the surgery. 5. With everything being said and done....how many people actually gain it back or some back maybe not all but some? I know many people that have had WLS to just gain it back. Or people from the TV show they gain some back as well. So what is this purpose? Does it really ever end?  Maybe for some people it really works...but for the rest of their lives their watching what they eat like calorie by calorie fat gram by fat gram how much they burn at the gym times this and divide by that holy craziness. It just never ends no matter if you lose all your weight or not. You may get healthy...look better....feel fabulous. But everything is still not what it should be.  The statistics are pretty clear.  Most people who 'diet' gain the weight back and then some.  A few will gain some back but not quite all, and a very small minority will make the life changes necessary to keep the weight off long term. There was a time when I thought it would never end.  I knew how to lose weight.  Losing is not a problem, hasn't been for years.  For the first time I understand that it is the 'keeping it off' that matters.  I am not eating the way I eat today to lose weight.  I am eating the way I am to reach a healthy weight and stay there.  I know that I have given up red meat for life.  It will be an occasional treat, but not my norm.  I have given up baked goods - again, as an occasional treat only.  These changes are not in effect just until I reach some arbitrary milestone.  They are changes that I will live with FOREVER.  If, at some point, I want to go back to eating in resturants or having 20 oz triple mocha breve lattes with scones and cookies I can.  But I will pay the price with my life and I know it. That is what made the difference for me.  When weight loss was no longer about looks, it was about living.  It was about seeing my child graduate from high school and college, watching him get married and have children.  I am not ready to die, but my body was.  I had to make a commitment to me. I too was an average enough teen.  I was heavier than my peers but not grossly fat.  It wasnt until my 20's that I began gaining... and losing and gaining and losing until I dieted my way to where I was on August 1. My sincere hope is that you will make a commitment to yourself.  You can lose the weight in any one of a number of ways.  The weight loss is easy.  Eat the cereal, Eat high protien, drink liquid supplements, do southbeach, grapefruit, detox and colonics, yes - you can even starve yourself - whatever method you choose, you will lose weight if you stick with it for more than a few weeks.  The problem will be if you ever STOP dieting and go back to eating the way you did before.  You will likely gain back every ounce you ever lost plus a few.

I wish for everyone here to have peace with food.  I now measure and weigh every bite, but I am at peace with it.  I am amazed at how much more I enjoy food... and how revolting crap food has become.  I ate a cookie sample in the grocery store on Saturday.  It was a keebler peanut butter something or other.  I felt safe because I knew I could log it in my food journal and because I was not taking a whole package home.  The cookie was ok - but not brilliant.  This morning I bought a honey crisp apple.  It was wonderful.  It was so sweet, so satisfying... and I knew that I was treating myself well by eating it.   So that being said...ATTACK! I know this is going to be very opinionated. So have at it kids. Let the craziness begin.  P.S. I am not posting this to make anyone mad, to hurt anyone or start any fights. Because I love you all! :) And I just want to hear other points of views on my opinions and how I think THANKS!

It's not like those starvation diets are easy.  I was in the hospital about 14 years ago for pancreatitis.  I could not eat or drink anything for five days.  Guess what I lost?  A lousy four pounds from eating 0.  There is no magic pill, no super diet, there is only one real way, lifestyle change. Why did I do so poorly while I was on vacation.  Obviously, I had not committed myself to a lifestyle change 100% of the time.  I know in my mind though, that is what has to be done to be successful.  It's definitely not easy, you must constantly fight. Brenda