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Hi, everyone. I'm a man in his late 30s, and here is my diet story.
I've struggled with weight my whole life. Yo yo dieting. Big appetite. Emotional eating. Lack of portion control.
The good news is I eat a lot of healthy fats; I walk a lot; and I don't drink or smoke at all.
I avoided the doctor for about 8 years (obvious reasons) and I finally went for a physical exam in September. The bad news is that I was 6 feet and 471 pounds. The good news is my blood pressure was 120/80; cholesterol 190. Full blood work was good. Cardiac sonogram normal. I even had a colonoscopy a couple of months later (family history) which was perfect. I did come up as prediabetic, not surprising for someone of my very large size. In this vein (among others), my doctor recommended that I lose weight to prevent future problems, despite my relatively good health at the moment.
In October, Doc put me on the weight loss drug Qsymia, and told me just to eat less. The drug suppressed my appetite and sped up my metabolism a bit. It worked spectacularly! I was down to 425 pounds by Feb without even trying! It did raise my blood pressure a bit, so I had to go on a mild blood pressure medication.
Unfortunately, as many warned me, the drug stopped working. Apparently my body built a resistance. I put 4 pounds back on and I was up to 429 again.
I told Doc that I was against weight loss surgery. He agreed: I'm not advised to take even the minimal risk of surgery when I am ok at this time. Personally, I consider the procedure too invasive and I do not want to do it.
So, I decided to go on the Medifast plan and my doctor agreed. This was June 24.
The first 2 weeks on Medifast were really tough. I ended up cheating a few times, but I never gave up and went right back.
Monday July 6th I decided that the transition period was good enough that I could go on Medifast for real. Again, the first two days were horrible. Bad mood. "Nightmares about food" at night. Fatigue. But I kept myself busy and I stuck to it.
Since Wed. July 8th the cravings, bad moods, and nightmares have gone away. And the fatigue slipped away too after about a week.
My clothes are much looser and I have so much energy! I am also not as hot in the summer heat. I am not weighing myself until I check in with the doctor.
The only deviation from the Medifast plan was not even that big of a deviation: on Monday, I went out to eat with some friends and had a garden salad with ranch; a rib-eye steak; and steamed broccoli. Which leads me to the question I have for all of you.....
My doctor is unable to address this issue because there is no science on it. I'd like to lose about 175 pounds, and I am eating less than 2,000 calories daily now. So the weight is coming off. My concern is the problem of screwing my metabolism, and my body going into conservation mode.
I've read about "calorie cycling" and "cheat days" online and I don't know what to make of it. Should I take a day every week (or another time interval) and "bend" my diet to prevent my metabolism from slowing down? Does anyone have personal experience with this? If I should do this, how often should it be? And, what should I eat?
Any thoughts on these questions would be greatly appreciated.
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