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In short I've lost 18 lbs in 4 weeks with the majority of it coming from a 5 day juice fast (I think about 11 lbs). Since I've transitioned to two juices for meals and one healthy meal a day plus two healthy snacks (right now I'm munching on 1 oz walnuts and 1 oz carob chips).
I've cut out all alcohol, soda and I limit myself to two cups of coffee each morning.
Until this past weekend I've been going to the gym 5 days a week doing stretching and 35 minutes of cardio on the elliptical machine burning on average 425 calories a day. This past weekend I introduced what I'd call mild weight training into my routine.
I've seen calorie intake recommendations from 1,200 a day to 2,387. I use MyFitnessPal and it recommends 1,590 and then if I exercise it recommends additional calories equal to what I burned (this seems confusing). My daily calories come in between 1,200 and 1,500 depending on the day. I do one cheat meal a week but it isn't crazy, this past weekend I had sushi one night. Nothing fried and ordered rolls with little to no rice.
Based on past experience I should be losing more weight than I am, last week I didn't lose a lb. I'm approaching 50 so I know it's not going to be as easy as it was in my late 30's or early 40's but something just doesn't seem right.
I'd say my average nutrition breakout comes out to be 50% carbs, 30% protein and 20% fat give or take depending on the day but I'd say this is average. I have to be-careful with the amount of protein I eat as I have poly-cystic kidney disease and my nephrologist has advised against a diet high in protein.
I really enjoy juicing as it gives me a lot of the nutrients I need (and some of them taste great) but I'm wondering due to the fact that they're so low in calories if I'm hurting myself. I did buy some natural whey protein to make green smoothies with thinking I'll rotate these into my diet. Base will be almond milk, no-fat Greek yogurt and a scoop/serving of protein powder. I'll then add spinach and some kind of a fruit to it.
Anyone have any thoughts? I understand the weight didn't go on overnight and I shouldn't expect it to come off overnight either, but when I've done this before (without the juicing) in 4 weeks I would have dropped about 20 - 25 lbs.
Thinking about hiring a local nutritionist to help me out but thought I'd see if there's any wisdom on here that could save me some time and money. Bottom line I'd like to lose another 50 lbs, I'm prepared to put in the hard work, just trying to get the nutrition dialed in and I'm thinking I'm not taking in enough fuel.
Location: Los Angeles>Little Rock>Houston>Little Rock
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Juicing, in my opinion, is ridiculous. You need the fiber you are missing out on with the juicing. Eat real food to fill you up. You have teeth for a reason, to chew your food.
CICO is the way to lose weight. It is just basic science. Can you up your protein and fat just a bit? Don't be too aggressive in the amount of weight you want to lose a week with MFP. It should be no more than 1 lb. a week if you don't have huge amount to lose.
Juicing, in my opinion, is ridiculous. You need the fiber you are missing out on with the juicing. Eat real food to fill you up. You have teeth for a reason, to chew your food.
CICO is the way to lose weight. It is just basic science. Can you up your protein and fat just a bit? Don't be too aggressive in the amount of weight you want to lose a week with MFP. It should be no more than 1 lb. a week if you don't have huge amount to lose.
I understand what you're saying regarding insoluble fiber, that said, I'd never be able to eat the up to 5 - 8 servings of veggies I get in one serving of juice if I ate the fruits and veggies as I wouldn't eat that many servings of in a day let alone in one meal. I generally get my daily dose of insoluble fiber through brown rice which I typically have with my healthy meal.
I'm rarely hungry which is part of my calorie intake issue I suppose so the insoluble fiber doesn't seem to be an issue.
I agree with the CICO approach being the most basic and easiest to understand, my concern is conflicting information on daily need especially when inserting exercise into the equation.
Regarding having a huge amount to lose, to me I feel I do. When I started this journey my goal was between 60 and 70 lbs.
After some research and speaking with a trainer I am hurting my weight loss with my low calorie intake. With daily exercise I should be taking in just over 2,000 calories a day. I'm not coming close to that.
Going to go down to one juice a day as a meal, 1/2 juice for a snack and introduce a green smoothie into my daily meals as a meal replacement. I really like them and I'll continue to get my veggies as well as fruit. Add greek yogurt, almond milk and protein powder and it's a meal.
I'll check back in 30 days from now and let you know how my diet tweaks worked.
You didn't give your age and weight, but I'm 5'1, 160 lbs and I figured out my TDEE is about 1900-2000 depending on how hard I work at the gym. I burn approximately 250 calories on the elliptical for 30 minutes. So I then need to subtract 500 from TDEE to lose weight, so that gets me to about 1500 calories.
I hope you don't hire a nutritionist, I don't think many are really any more educated than anyone else. But that's just my personal opinion.
And don't forget that if you kept up that low calorie intake, you would have eventually lost. Hence why you lost 11 with the juice fast.
I understand what you're saying regarding insoluble fiber, that said, I'd never be able to eat the up to 5 - 8 servings of veggies I get in one serving of juice if I ate the fruits and veggies as I wouldn't eat that many servings of in a day let alone in one meal. I generally get my daily dose of insoluble fiber through brown rice which I typically have with my healthy meal.
I'm rarely hungry which is part of my calorie intake issue I suppose so the insoluble fiber doesn't seem to be an issue.
I agree with the CICO approach being the most basic and easiest to understand, my concern is conflicting information on daily need especially when inserting exercise into the equation.
Regarding having a huge amount to lose, to me I feel I do. When I started this journey my goal was between 60 and 70 lbs.
You are only getting 3.5 grams of fiber from a cup of long grain brown rice. You need a minimum of 25 grams of fiber daily. Real vegetables are a great way to get that fiber. Stop juicing and eat your vegetables. It really will help, not just with weight loss, but with overall health.
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