C'est Juice! Freshly Squeezed by Missy Kia

02.02.05

Diet

I am under the care of a physician who evaluated my body fat and general makeup including what percentage of my body is water, muscle and bone. Based upon that evaluation, he prescribed a diet and exercise plan. Each plan is different and based solely upon the unique makeup of each individual. For example, my friend who referred me to him (and who weighs considerably less than I do), has a higher fat content than I do and a smaller frame. She's on a different program than I am so if you're starting a diet, I can't stress enough how important it is that you seek the guidance of a trained, licensed physician knowledgeable in this field.*

My composition report came back as follows:

As you can see from the doctor's notes on this report, he recommends I walk at least 30 minutes a day and for a decrease of one pound a week, intake no more than 1,200 calories a day or, alternatively, for faster decrease (of no more than 2 pounds a week), intake 1,000 calories daily.

Other things we talked about:

Most grain and sugar alcohol carbohydrates (bread, rice, potatoes and the dreaded sweets) rapidly turn into insulin which in turn becomes fat (in my case, this may be different for someone with a medical problem, such as diabetes). Decrease consumption of the whites in these areas, such as white rice, white bread, white potatoes and go for the ones that are richer in dietary fiber.

Be careful of consuming cooked carrots and corn, once heated they metobolically change and sugar alcohols increase. Therefore, carrots should be primarily eaten raw. This also goes for fruit vs. fruit juices.

I'm not a big dressing fan after learning that most salad dressings are higher in calories and fat than hot fudge topping on a sundae (and given the choice of either, which one do you think I'd rather spend the fat and calorie budget on?), I don't often put dressing on my salads. I tend to use the lower cal barbeque sauces, sometimes mustard, low fat (or no-fat) cottage cheese or simply a variety of salad oil and vinegars which have zero, zilch, zip calories or fat content.

Finally, he said that for me to retain my muscle mass, I needed to keep a protein intake between 70 and 80 grams a day. He said that the protein was harder for the body to digest and therefore took longer to burn off compared to sugars and other simple carbs. He continued by saying that hunger would be relatively staved by keeping the protein up and the simple carbs down.

Note: The doctor said that I do have extraordinarily large bones and a much higher muscle mass (as denoted on the analysis above) than the average weight loss patient. Again, before you start any diet or exercise plan for the purpose of weight loss, please consult with a licensed medical professional.

My metabolism is sluggish mostly because I rarely eat before one or two in the afternoon. Even though the doctor prescribes appetite suppressants (one at 10 AM, two at 4 PM) we talked about it and decided that since I need to eat in the morning to get my metabolism kicked into gear, and because I stay up late (which is when the open-the-fridge-unlatch-the-jaw-tilt-the-fridge-back syndrome comes into play), I'm better off having the first suppressant at 2 PM and the other two around 7 PM which is working out well so far. I also start out my day with protien (Boca Burgers are quick and easy to fix and very high in protein) which gives my metabolism an added push.

Another thing that I've found is that the body struggles to set a temperature especially when faced with "starvation." If caloric intake, in my case, is decreased but at a steady intake, the food is stored rather than used efficiently. Therefore, if I vary the daily caloric intakes, I find I consistently have better results in my loss. But there is a science to this.

My recommended weight loss caloric intake is between 1,200 (for a one pound a week loss) and 1,000 (for two pounds a week loss). Of course, I'd rather have the 2 pound a week loss. Therefore, 1,000 x 7 days = 7,000 calories a week. Regardless of how I vary my daily caloric intake, my weekly must be no less than the total of 7,000 calories. For optimum results, I look at a 14 day span (therefore, 14,000 calories). If I decrease one day's caloric intake to 800 calories (I won't go lower than that), I must replace the remaining 200 elsewhere in that 14 day span.

Note: It's important to take vitamins during this period to ensure you are not depleting your body of any important minerals and vitamins necessary for blood production and flow, bone strength, etc.

So let's take a look at the varied caloric intake for a two week period of time:

Not only do I vary my caloric intake, but I also make certain I'm staying within the limit for the amount of fat grams, carbohydrates and protein I take in. For 1,200 calories, I make certain 26 grams are fat, 140 grams of carbs and 100 grams of protein (but no less than 70 grams).

While planning is important, it's also equally important not to get too caught up in plans versus reality. For example, if I planned to eat 1,200 calories but was only able to get in 900, I simply adjust accordingly. It's like setting out a dress for the next day only to wake up in a really funky mood and no matter what, that damned dress isn't going on over your head and out that door on your body. It just would upset your balance all day. Same thing here, if you get too stuck on numbers, you're going to hate doing this for yourself. And isn't that the reason you're doing this to begin with? So be happy and take things in stride. There is always tomorrow and that's why we're doing this -- to ensure we're healthy to enjoy tomorrow and all that it promises to bring!

Like most weight loss folks, I've done a sundry of programs out there and attempted other weight loss 'gimmicks'. Whether is was apple pectin pills, Slim Fast, Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, the bogus St. Johns' Hospital Heart Healthy diet (which caused me severe iron deficencies and resulted in some medical complications) or even the controversial Phen/Fen program. Weight Watchers was probably the most sane approach to weight loss, but my weight loss is my own personal venture and one that I buck if I'm drawn into the "12 step" mentality which I feel is the premise upon which WW relies. In other words, it didn't work for me.

After my boys weaned and the risk of their health was not in jeopardy if I started dieting, I turned to a doctor to get me the help I needed in losing the weight. Like many others back then, I scoured the 'Net for information about "get tough, stay real" programs that helped folks like me (chronically obese) get the damned weight off. Opti-fast was a big thing at one point, one of the first medically supervised, big success story programs in the weight loss field. But patients who had lost tons of weight in a very short period of time, had two problems to contend with: extra skin and being re-introduced to foods. Anorectics have been around for centuries, or so it seems, but the dangers of using them are high and include addiction, irrreversible damage to vital organs and so on. A new drug, a cocktail of sorts, had been introduced and had amazing results. By using two different drugs, fenfluramine and phentermine, administered by prescription, obese patients were showing astounding results. By the time I received information, the first reports of serious damage on the heart and lungs were just beginning to surface and it was rumored the FDA would pull the drugs off the shelf but without appropriate data, the imminency of this ocurring didn't seem high.

I found a doctor in my area that was willing to put me on the medication and I did beautifully. I lost 40 pounds in a short period of time. But then the FDA did pull the drugs and things spiraled downward. At that same time, the doctor I was seeing became less than involved in my struggle to keep the weight off and continue to lose weight as I had not made it to my goal weight (I was another 60 pounds away). I started to see a nutritionist (also a personal friend at the time) who tried to help but couldn't get her head around the reasons for my behavior (she continues to struggle with anorexia and uses her knowledge as a weapon with others, like me, who struggle while twisting the information around to validate her own behaviors -- not exactly a healthy relationship which is why I say she was a friend ... at that time).

I later learned, after leaving the doctor who had been managing my weight loss, the doc was less than respectible in the community for questionable practices. Had I spent a bit of time doing research (like I had with finding the options available to me), I would have realized this and never had gone to her in the first place. But I didn't want to look under those rocks. That's why I can't seem to stress enough how important it is to really make certain you are going to a respectable and credible licensed medical professional. You may not hear what you want, but are you really willing to risk your life to have someone appease you with a get thin quick plan?

I went through months of torment and extensive, espensive medical testing to ensure I did not develop any life threatening problems by being on the drug cocktail, phen/fen. Had my doctor shared with me the risks (which were known at the time, I later learned) of being on the medication longer than six weeks (I was on it for over 4 months), I wouldn't have done it. After all, I lost my first child during labor and had, miraculously, just given birth to twins a little over a year before starting the diet regimen. I did this so that I could have a long and healthy life with my boys and here I was risking it all without knowing it.

Since you're here, I suggest you stop by and read through the exercise plan I have posted. Another good read is the information I've researched on metabolism or if you'd like, learn about basal, lifestyle and activites and more on using the FREE FitDay.com services.

I'm not including a place to post your comments about this particular entry because I may not catch them (since HaloScan doesn't notify free members they have comments posted) and I don't want to overlook your comments. If you do have a comment, please leave me a note or email me (see the navigational links). Thanks and the best of luck to you on your own weight loss journey!

Miss These?
My Diet Secret
Skinny Resolution
*New* Reduced Fat Menu
Benadryl and Nuts
Jamba Juice

< put de limes in de coconuts >
and shake it all up!
Voila! Smoothie!

Dishing