I have been built and athletic my entire life
and even had a six pack senior year of High School. Then some things
in College went down hill and I basically got depressed and started
eating. Two months ago I was around 215. My ideal weight is somewhere along the lines of 185-190 seeing as my muscles everywhere else are still hanging in tact. I got help with the depression factor and it won't be happeneing again, or at least I won't use food as a source for helping it out. Back to two months ago. I figured that this was the last straw and that I needed to get my body back in the right
direction.

I was put on adderral for ADHD and this seems to have a permanent side
effect that I don't mind at all: lack of hunger. Basically I'm going
to tell you what I did to get to where I am at now and I just want
your opinion on the final results. You say to eat 6 meals a day. I
can't afford to do that as a struggling college student, no matter how
cheap. The lack of hunger has allowed me to only eat one meal a day. A
lot of people say this is bad because it slows down your metabolism
almost to a grinding hault. But the fact of the matter is, the only
meal I eat is at dinner and it is always light. I would assume the
hault of metabolism would be present if I'm just eating one giant meal
a day but I stick with Salads, Sandwhiches, and Chicken. I haven't had
but a few soft drinks in that time and I think I've officially cut
them out. Ah how I miss the sugar rush but water has taken on a new
respect. I am at home right now so I haven't been doing a whole lot of
working out. I run and do push ups every so often but I won't be able
to hit up the hard weights until I go back to school in a few weeks
and when I do it will be non stop. I am now at 198 lbs and my gut has
noticeably shrunk(8 weeks averaging about 2 lb.s a week seems ok to me but I know I will soon start to drop the weight quickly when I
hit up the weight room). Basically I am on the "Get Slim" quick diet.
The problem I have heard with this diet is that you will lose weight
fast but gain it back faster. I don't necessarily see this happening
as I am pretty good to sticking to something once I have started it.

Eating one light meal a day could be seen as starving myself and
unhealthy but I figure I can make it up once I lose what gut I have
left. I know that once I get back up to school and get a job I can
afford to do the 6 meal a day thing but as for now I'm sticking with
this just to lose the weight. What problems do you see me running in
to? Thanks.

Edit- Sorry for the way it formatted, don't know why the text did that.

I"m sorry to hear of your approach.

I'm not even entirely sure how to respond...you don't sound like the kind of person who plans on taking advice on this issue...but I should at least tell you a few things:

1- I'm a college student, and my grocery bills are around 150 dollars a month (and that includes a can of salmon at a buck fifty every morning! so 100 bucks w/out the salmon per month) so I'm pretty sure you can afford it. I eat 6 meals a day. I buy things like canned beans, frozen veggies, tuna, and oatmeal. I know how things go in college...you "can't" afford groceries, but you can afford to drop 40 bucks at the bar on friday night. Sacrifice will get you success, no such thing as a get slim quick scheme.

2- Sure, you can lose weight really fast...too bad it'll be 90% muscle and lean body mass and 10% water. You'll be stuck with a frame with absolutely no tone or muscle definition (sorry if this sounds harsh, but you'er not losing a bit of fat if you're only eating one meal a day and tis a light meal at that). Don't expect to lose even one oz of fat on your type of "program."

3- Unhealthy? FOR SURE. Why would you do that to your body?

4- You can't spot reduce, you sound like you might believe that you can...you can't.

There is no get slim quick scheme or miracle pill, drug, machine, or way to get pefect 6pack abs for just two easy payments of $19.95. If there were, I'd have done it by now. Your scheme will work for a short time, as you'll see "newbie" gains, then it'll trail off and you'll be stuck completely. You body will go in to starvation mode despite the effects of addoral, and you will then make absolutely no gains and if you do they'll be in the wrong direction.

Sorry if this sounds harsh, but your scheme is literally aweful and I don't want other newbies reading it thinking its the way to go.

Actually it is very interesting. My brother told me about a diet called "The Warrior Diet" a few months ago. He is in his last year of med school and he said a lot of the doctors he knew in the hospital were using this same principal to lose weight. He told me that over about three months a lot of them lost a lot of weight and had a lot more energy. Of course, I think the one meal is a bit bigger in the Warrior Diet, but it is almost the same principal. I haven't read the book, but I thought it was interesting. My brother doesn't follow it either, he is more of a eat all day long and go to the gym two hours a day (he has always been that way and he has always been in great shape), but I have known people in the past who have done the one meal a day thing and lost a lot of weight and even kept the weight off.

Hey, look at the survivor contestants. They all would lose a lot of weight on that island, and most of the overweight ones who lost a lot of weight tended to keep the weight off!

I say, if it is working and as long as you are picking up good habits once you are out of the red there is nothing wrong with it. And as long as you are aware that it is a difficult road to take and maintain, why the hell not.

Here is link to that book...

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0938045482/qid=1091769009/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/102-1972007-3065757?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

I say whatever works for you. You are telling your body to use your fat cells for energy. A common law of losing weight. You are cleaning out your system and obviosuly losing alot of fat. I would recomend eating a little more when you do the weights. Alot of people are saying to eat 3000 calories to lose weight but I dont buy it. Good luck.

I say whatever works for you. You are telling your body to use your fat cells for energy. A common law of losing weight. You are cleaning out your system and obviosuly losing alot of fat. I would recomend eating a little more when you do the weights. Alot of people are saying to eat 3000 calories to lose weight but I dont buy it. Good luck.

Whatever works...yeah, if its HEALTHY...jeez, steroids work, why not just pump yourself full of them?

How are you telling your body to use fat cells for energy? If anything eating less means you're telling your body to hang on to every bit of fat it can so it can save it up (definition of "starvation mode").

Cleaning out your system? Maybe fasting for a single day MIGHT do that, but not everyday eating sub500 calories and weighing what he does...no way.

"A lot of people are saying eat 3000 calories to lose weight..." Who put that number on everyones progress? There are many different ways of determineing ideal calorie amounts, and it takes time to find one that works best for you. No one is saying "Whoever you are, just eat X amount of calories and you'll lose weight..." They're saying a relatively universal principle of fat loss: create a SLIGHT deficit in order to burn the maximum amount of fat. This means, eat what your body needs and excersize in order to create a deficit.

It kind of seems "to each their own" on this one. I think you guys look past that a lot because you're so into your way and if other people are losing it other wise...you don't really listen. I feel the best that I have in 5 years. My arm muscles are as big as they ever were and my stomach is the smallest it's been in years. My Uncle is a personal trainer and after reading this forum I was sure you guys had it right. I told him all about it and he laughed. I made him sign up and read some diets and I'll paste what he said in e-mail:

"These people probably look great, but they are insane. You think everyone that loses weight goes by this regime? Exercise daily and just watch what you eat, but don't ever be that O.C.D. about it or you'll go insane. It's all about will power, stick with working out and jogging. It isn't as hard as they make it sound so don't be discouraged. I was in College too at one time and I understand where you're coming from with the drinking question(Asked him if drinking was going to hurt the process) and hey man, just have a good time and don't worry about it. Having some beers isn't something that a few extra reps won't solve...EVERYONE would be fat otherwise haha. As you know, your father and I partied it up plenty in college and I'd say we turned out okay(too bad it didn't help your fathers facial features! j/k). Anyway, quit buying into everything you read on the internet. These people are far too into it and are just going by personal experience. I saw a post where a guy asked a simple question about his work outs and these "experts" reamed him and told him what a mistake it was. Thing is, I live by this so called "faulty" routine. Everyone is different and I know if you just work out and run over the summer you'll be the same as you were Senior Year...but you'll still look like your dad. Haha. Good luck and keep me updated."

He'd probably call me crazy for my current process as well but I gotta say I'm having no problems.

It kind of seems "to each their own" on this one. I think you guys look past that a lot because you're so into your way and if other people are losing it other wise...you don't really listen. I feel the best that I have in 5 years. My arm muscles are as big as they ever were and my stomach is the smallest it's been in years. My Uncle is a personal trainer and after reading this forum I was sure you guys had it right. I told him all about it and he laughed. I made him sign up and read some diets and I'll paste what he said in e-mail:

"These people probably look great, but they are insane. You think everyone that loses weight goes by this regime? Exercise daily and just watch what you eat, but don't ever be that O.C.D. about it or you'll go insane. It's all about will power, stick with working out and jogging. It isn't as hard as they make it sound so don't be discouraged. I was in College too at one time and I understand where you're coming from with the drinking question(Asked him if drinking was going to hurt the process) and hey man, just have a good time and don't worry about it. Having some beers isn't something that a few extra reps won't solve...EVERYONE would be fat otherwise haha. As you know, your father and I partied it up plenty in college and I'd say we turned out okay(too bad it didn't help your fathers facial features! j/k). Anyway, quit buying into everything you read on the internet. These people are far too into it and are just going by personal experience. I saw a post where a guy asked a simple question about his work outs and these "experts" reamed him and told him what a mistake it was. Thing is, I live by this so called "faulty" routine. Everyone is different and I know if you just work out and run over the summer you'll be the same as you were Senior Year...but you'll still look like your dad. Haha. Good luck and keep me updated."

He'd probably call me crazy for my current process as well but I gotta say I'm having no problems.

I don't know where your uncle got the idea that there was one set 'regime' all of us follow, but thats simply not the case. All of us here are doing different things, and many of us have very different goals. Your goals seem very aesthetic, whereas others are more interested in becoming healthy, while others are interested in gaining weight or working around a difficult schedule. We aren't experts by any means, I'm a 21 year old history major from Indiana, I'm not expert. I give advice because I've spent countless hours reading, researching, and posting here to learn more myself. More often than not, it really just depends what a persons goals are...There are at least 10 people on these boards who are 300+lbs, so I don't know where your Uncle got the idea that we're all some kind of bodybuilders here...and furthermore, I would say the VAST majority of us are interested in eating in moderation and excersizing in moderation as well. I don't think you uncle took too much time in examining these forums, nor the type of advice that they give out. I have beers, I "live" I'm not anal or OCD about fitness, but it is something that I take very seriously. I'm glad your program is working for you at this time, but I doubt it will long term and I think you could be doing some serious damage to yourself along the way. As I said in my first post, you don't sound like you're the kind of person that is open to advice or suggestions, so I'm not wasting any more time on this...good luck.

My Uncle is a personal trainer and after reading this forum I was sure you guys had it right. I told him all about it and he laughed. I made him sign up and read some diets and I'll paste what he said in e-mail:

"These people probably look great, but they are insane. You think everyone that loses weight goes by this regime? Exercise daily and just watch what you eat, but don't ever be that O.C.D. about it or you'll go insane. It's all about will power, stick with working out and jogging. It isn't as hard as they make it sound so don't be discouraged. I was in College too at one time and I understand where you're coming from with the drinking question(Asked him if drinking was going to hurt the process) and hey man, just have a good time and don't worry about it. Having some beers isn't something that a few extra reps won't solve...EVERYONE would be fat otherwise haha. As you know, your father and I partied it up plenty in college and I'd say we turned out okay(too bad it didn't help your fathers facial features! j/k). Anyway, quit buying into everything you read on the internet. These people are far too into it and are just going by personal experience. I saw a post where a guy asked a simple question about his work outs and these "experts" reamed him and told him what a mistake it was. Thing is, I live by this so called "faulty" routine. Everyone is different and I know if you just work out and run over the summer you'll be the same as you were Senior Year...but you'll still look like your dad. Haha. Good luck and keep me updated."

He'd probably call me crazy for my current process as well but I gotta say I'm having no problems.

It's neat to see an outsider's perspective.

Your uncle is advocating eating in moderation and healthy doses of exercise, which is a fine way of doing things, but, perhaps, not the most efficient.

As a whole, our forum does tend to get bogged down in the numbers, but this is so that we feel in control and know that our routines should be working; most members come from a background where they were "out of control" and to be so involved in their own weight-loss is as much an ease on their psyche as a valid way to go about their transformation.

I think your Uncle got the wrong idea about us. We aren't a society or community of experts. We are individuals who have gone through (completely or to an extent) the transformation process and know what has worked for us and can only recommend, as anyone including a trainer only can, of what to do. What right have we to recommend principles that we don't understand and haven't tested? We only have to give what we have done.

You should encourage him to revist the forum and hopefully inspect us further and see that we are as I've said.

I think what people are forgetting with all these diets is that a calorie deficit causes your body to start eating away muscle and fat tissue how much fat and how much muscle tissue is lost is up to many variables such as excercise, how often you eat and what you eat. A prime example is me and my brother. My brother is about an inch shorter than me and has always had broad shoulder(unlike me). Now I have been dieting for about 2 months now where i started at 76 kg my brother was 77 when he started at the same time. I followed a diet composed mainly of a 40/40/20 split and he used atkins. I went to the gym 5 times a week 3times weights 2times cardio and he didnt. We now weigh the same weight. So i lost just as quick as him. But i would guess i am around 10-11% where i would say he is easily at 14-15%. So we both lost weight and we both look slim but if i was to do it again i would do it with six meals a day a slight calorie deficit and excercise for sure.

chicanerous: I appreciate most of your posts, including this one. Even if you are a Reservist and have the funky avatar.

It's neat to see an outsider's perspective.

Your uncle is advocating eating in moderation and healthy doses of exercise, which is a fine way of doing things, but, perhaps, not the most efficient.

As a whole, our forum does tend to get bogged down in the numbers, but this is so that we feel in control and know that our routines should be working; most members come from a background where they were "out of control" and to be so involved in their own weight-loss is as much an ease on their psyche as a valid way to go about their transformation.

I think your Uncle got the wrong idea about us. We aren't a society or community of experts. We are individuals who have gone through (completely or to an extent) the transformation process and know what has worked for us and can only recommend, as anyone including a trainer only can, of what to do. What right have we to recommend principles that we don't understand and haven't tested? We only have to give what we have done.

You should encourage him to revist the forum and hopefully inspect us further and see that we are as I've said.

Basically I am on the "Get Slim" quick diet.
The problem I have heard with this diet is that you will lose weight
fast but gain it back faster. I don't necessarily see this happening
as I am pretty good to sticking to something once I have started it.


I know a guy who does this. He lost forty pounds by eating one meal a day, and he is still the same weight, still eating one meal per day. I'm not sure how healthy he is, but I'd bet not as healthy as me.

Are you going to eat one meal a day forever? Because as soon as you start eating more than that, you will gain the weight back. What's the point?

You can do this. Some people find it easier to eat just one meal a day, so that food dont occupy their mind to much. They say it gives them energy. And they exercise. Pretty good at it too. But if you want to gain muscle this will not take you in that direction. I guess you are into fitness since you came to this site? You need more kcal to build muscle. The people I know who lived like like this, didnt gain weight by eating more meals, but some of them kind of *exploded* when they started eating more. Birthday/ christmas etc, when there is unlimited amount of junk in the house or when people expect you to eat. Some ended up with binge eating disorder. They gained the weight back slowly but a friend of mine is still struggeling after 5 years. Not saying this will be you.

Teenage girls are often into this kind of diet.

At first you will loose both muscle and fat. So in the beginning it might look like what you are doing is working. But later you will start to loose almost only muscle. And when that happens your BF% will start to get higher again. Because your LBM is decreasing much faster than your fat at that point. And there is nothing you can do to prevent that unless you start eating more food and more often. And when and if you start to eat better and enough to rebuild muscle you will also regain fat. And when you are back at the LBM you had when you started you will also probably have more fat compared to when you started. :(

Regards!

I don't need to read the responses to tell you that people are telling you that you'll lose - well, have lost already - lean body mass. You have. Not only does this hurt how you look when you are thin, but it does kill your metabolism, and will make weight gain easier than before. There is a reason why those in the know don't follow a "get slim quick" plan like that you've outlined. It's bad. Look at prisoners of war. They're thin too. You're basically on the POW diet.

EDIT: In regards to what your uncle said I suspect that he follows a similar approach to a lot of people here. Not everybody here counts every calories and loses sleep over whether they topped off that scoop of whey or didn't on the shake they made 3 weeks ago. Your uncle says to excercise and watch what you eat, which is really all anybody here does.

You feel confident in what you're doing now. You can re-read what I'm saying, should you care, in the future when it's failed you. You're following the same get rich quick ideology that a lot of people follow with dieting, and it's one of the reasons why people are continually ballooning up across the nation. They don't do it the right way. They do what they think is easiest, and they pay for it later, just as you will, because your lean body mass is now less than it was, and it's much easier to pile on fat than muscle.

I once tried a severe calorie deficit approach and it seemed to work vey well for a time. I dropped from approximately 240 to 180 in one semester. It was just crazy. I came home and people barely recognized me.

The problem is, I did start eating more, and the weight did come back on. Like others have said, I suspect I lost mostly muscle. At 6'1" 180 with a large frame like mine, I'd have expected a 6 pack, but I was way off.

Now I'm trying to do things a little more conventionally. My lean body mass alone is 180 pounds, and I'm not particularly muscular. So imagine how much muscle I had to lose to get to 180 without looking really skinny.

I think your plan will work for you. You will drop lots of pounds, and quickly. I just think in the long run, it will be tricky to adjust to eating normally. Obviously, one difficulty here is the reduced appetite due to the medicine.

And finally, about your uncle's perspective, I don't feel like he judged this board very fairly at all. There are a few experts on this board who make their living like he does, but the vast majority of us are regular people with weight problems just looking to improve things. People's workout programs here vary wildly, as he would have seen if he had stuck around a little longer. And as far as being obsessive, I don't consider tracking exercise, weight and calorie intake qualifies as that. I think that is the most scientific way to handle this process, and some of our minds do work that way. Many of us had no grasp of how many calories a meal has or how many calories an activity burns, so these steps are necessary.

One meal per day for the rest of my life would have me jump off a bridge.

Needless to say, that approach is on the very bottom of the list of things to do for an intelligent approach to fitness. I can't even say anymore on the issue, being that it's such a "far out" outlandish idea, I can't even bring the concept into my realm of fitness reality.

~SC~

And as far as being obsessive, I don't consider tracking exercise, weight and calorie intake qualifies as that.It's been said that what one considers obsessive, another considers it dedication.

My friend in highschool dropped 60 lbs in a short period of time basically starving himself. His leg muscles were still very large afterward because of his genetics, but his upper body was not big at all. He actually kept that weight off for about 4 years or so (he'd only been fat for about two years prior to the big weight loss BTW), but his eating was always crap. I know because I worked out with him all the time and was aware of what he was eating. I'll admit he looked pretty ripped at one stage (though, like I said, little upper body muscle, and he had a huge frame), but I think that his metabolism may have always been a bit stunted. EItherway last time I saw him he was chubbing up again and though I've lost contact with him directly I think that he's been yo yoing quite badly for the past several years.

Yeah we all know his method is retarded long term but, whatever it his choice. The most troubling thing from his post is that he seems to be doing it for all the wrong reasons. His whole, "i don't feel like eating, i;m not going eat, i'm not going to take any advice attitude is bullshit. Why did you bother posting? It should be about health, empowerment, satisfaction, and meeting goals. For him it sounds like a self defeating exercise in feeling sorry for himself. No one can maintain a program long term, that is radically different from what is "natural" whatever that means, unless they are ill, mentally, physically whatever. Most of the diets on the board are in line with whatever natural means. Frequent meals, etc are what thousands of years of evolution, little tweaks to make it go faster work. Success insn't measure in weeks, days, pounds, waist size or bf. It is a life time of healthy living, and all the reward that come with it.

Yeah we all know his method is retarded long term but, whatever it his choice. The most troubling thing from his post is that he seems to be doing it for all the wrong reasons. His whole, "i don't feel like eating, i;m not going eat, i'm not going to take any advice attitude is bullshit. Why did you bother posting? It should be about health, empowerment, satisfaction, and meeting goals. For him it sounds like a self defeating exercise in feeling sorry for himself. No one can maintain a program long term, that is radically different from what is "natural" whatever that means, unless they are ill, mentally, physically whatever. Most of the diets on the board are in line with whatever natural means. Frequent meals, etc are what thousands of years of evolution, little tweaks to make it go faster work. Success insn't measure in weeks, days, pounds, waist size or bf. It is a life time of healthy living, and all the reward that come with it.

Great post. Especially the last line.

I just watched a bit of a show last night on MTV about adhorall (SP?). One guy that had been taking it actually couldn't even complete tryouts for basketball his junior year of HS. He said his heart started racing and he broke into a cold sweat, so he didn't play that year. Now, he's started his senior year and he's not taking it, even though it did help him concentrate on school.

Then there was a 19 year old girl that had taken it. She was supposed to take it once in the morning during only the weekdays, but she liked how it helped her focus so she started taking it multiple times per day all week. Her mother took the medicine away from her when she found out what the girl was doing. The girl was so hooked she turned to speed for a fix.

These were only two accounts of people taking the drug and I'm sure by no means suggest that everyone taking it will have a problem. I only mention it to suggest to you to do some research about the drug and rethink what you're doing.

There's no such thing as the "get slim quick" program that works in a healthy way. That is to say, that quick weight loss results in large losses of lean body mass (e.g. muscle, organ tissue and bone), and very little fat. The reality is that there's a very simple equation for weight loss. calories IN - calories OUT = deficit or surpluss. PERIOD. There's no hokus pokus about it, no matter what Atkins, Jenny Craig or the Warrior Diet or any others say. Most people don't want to hear that. They're looking for a quick fix or "magic bullet," if you will. That doesn't exist. Sure you may lose weight on those types of plans, but 1) you won't lose it in a healthy way; 2) you will train your body to exist in starvation mode, which will only result in the accumulation of more body fat as soon as you start eating "normally" again; 3) those eating habits aren't sustainable, meaning that one may be able to stick with it for a couple of months or so, but it's not a life-long, sustainable change, which is really what we all want.

As for the Adderall, I know it supresses appetite. It can be tough, but I knowmany people who've been able to work around it. It's a matter of timing your meals with your dose. Eat first, then take your Adderall. As your first dose wears off sometime around mid-day, eat your next meal before taking your next dose. Then just eat dinner when the second dose wears off. Adderall only lasts for about 5 hours.

As for just eating 1 meal per day ... NOT a good idea. You'll just make your body think it's your starving and will end up with all the results I listed above. This is particularly important since you're trying to lose fat and gain muscle. All you'll do is lose weight in the form of muscle mass NOT fat. Plus, you'll gain even MORE fat when you resume regular eating habits.

As for not being able to afford 5-6 meals per day, try this. Take what you eat in your 1 meal and divide it into 2 or 3 portions to eat during the day. Then buy some healthy snack foods (e.g. fruit, non-fat yogurt, canned tuna, amall amounts of raw or no-oil added nuts, vegetables, etc.) that you can take take with you. Don't worry about eating 5 or 6 huge meals. Make them snacks and just eat until you're not hungry. Doing that won't cost you much more than you're spending now. Besides, when you start working out again, you'll never be able to maintain your energy level with one meal per day. Furthermore, your appetite will increase dramatically as you increase your caloric expenditure. Go with it ... EAT!! Your body will need it ... and don't skimp on the carbohydrates. Just make sure they're whole grains and not bleached, processed flour, devoid of fiber and nutrients.


Just remember to stick with it and make one small change at a time. Good luck. :bb:


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