# Shakes diet....100lbs to lose and 1 week in, no difference at all



## Abz1982

Last Sunday I started a shake diet........Not fully shakes 2 + 1 meal, but always under 1400 cals a day. 

Surely I should see SOME weight loss already, given I am 250lbs?! The meals I have are a LOT healthier than I used to have as well and I have basically STOPPED sweets and full fat fizzy drinks. I am eating fruit, but I limit it as I know it contains carbs and also makes me feel ill.


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## MummyToAmberx

Shakes are very unhealthy.

What got renember is your body will be use to what theyve bedn.given it, can.take upto.6 weeks before your body sees youve changed your ways and lose the weight.

If your eating 1400 then exercising burning 409. your then undereating.

Best way to lose weight is to.eat as crazy as it sounds.


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## Abz1982

MummyToAmberx said:


> Shakes are very unhealthy.
> 
> What got renember is your body will be use to what theyve bedn.given it, can.take upto.6 weeks before your body sees youve changed your ways and lose the weight.
> 
> If your eating 1400 then exercising burning 409. your then undereating.
> 
> Best way to lose weight is to.eat as crazy as it sounds.

I know it is, but I tried that also, and WW. Last time I lost weight I had to take my cals REALLY low in order to get any shift at all :(. The doc to also said that maybe I was one of these folk that needs a sub 1000 cals diet to lose weight so I though, Lets give that a bash! 

I havent been feeling tired or anything like I have done in the past when I diet, and I also havent yet fallen ill - as I always used to, about 2 weeks in and if I lose say 3-4 lbs I get a cold, a proper full blown crappy one that saps my energy for weeks on end and of course, to get over it I stop the diet. 

I need to get my weight down.......I am NOT being 250lbs when I turn 30 in December! I am so serious this time - I am even going to bed at 9pm some nights so that I sleep before I get hungry. 

Ive asked my mate if her mum will sell us her tread mill, then my neighbours are going to hate me as I am going to try to walk for an hour a day MINIMUM, then jogg when I lose weight. I cant jog now as my chest is too large and I cant breathe properly when I do :(. 

With my weight so high, there should be SOME movement in weight with a reduction in intake. on my regular diet I wasnt putting on weight. I was maintining it and the only fluctuations were with my menstrual cycle......going down 5lbs just before ovulating and then UP just after AF. 
I am just about to ovulate now accordig to my cycles and I am + 3lbs now........so this better not be my low!! 

At least this time its made me a lot more angry than it has defeatest. I am going to do this without having to revert to a gastric band or something!!


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## MummyToAmberx

Im still all for whole clean healthy eating.

Your body clock could be very run down. 

your body needs time to adpt to new things.
Shakes are packed full processed sugars.


You need eat as much food close to its natural state as possible, track your intaks through my fitness pal even better ask boards on there for advice alot of people know stuff better than docs.

I started out at 240lbs.... Was eating least.1500-1600 in food.


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## Kimboowee

Im the same weight as you and have been having about 1400-1600 a day and have been steadily loosing. 

If your doing a shake based diet you need to be drinking at least 2l of water a day too


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## magnolius

At your weight, even if you barely move around you would be able to lose about a pound a week eating 2500 calories a day. Then down to 2200 by the time you are down to 225. Down to 1900 once you hit 200 and then see where things sit from there.

Shakes are a ridiculous way to lose weight. You'll need to learn to eat in such a way that you don't weigh 250. It takes practice if you aren't used to it. I was 235 at my highest and it it took time to retrain my brain.

Exercise is good too.


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## Abz1982

magnolius said:


> At your weight, even if you barely move around you would be able to lose about a pound a week eating 2500 calories a day. Then down to 2200 by the time you are down to 225. Down to 1900 once you hit 200 and then see where things sit from there.
> 
> Shakes are a ridiculous way to lose weight. You'll need to learn to eat in such a way that you don't weigh 250. It takes practice if you aren't used to it. I was 235 at my highest and it it took time to retrain my brain.
> 
> Exercise is good too.

I have lost it all before - I went from 234 to 150 lbs about 5 years ago, but when I got pregnant I had so little energy I spent all my time sleeping and I was CONSTANTLY hungry. To keep at 150lbs I had to spend 1 hr at least in the gym, that is after seeing to my horse and riding for an hour a night and I consumed approx 1000 cals a day. Any more and I put on fat (I have the Body fat scales). back then I was fit, I had 22% body fat and muscles. 

I tried to lose the weight the same way I did then...........Eat less, do more.....I got 1 month in, no weight loss despite eating a 'good' amount - it was not less than 1500 a day and no more than 2500......plus the exersise. When nothing came of that, that is when the doc said "Oh, maybe you are just one of these folk that needs less than 1000cals a day!". She was pushing the Cambridge diet etc. I didnt fancy it so I stuck at the diet but then a few weeks later I had only lost like 3lbs and then I get ill, proper put you n bed full of the cold ill for a week. And the weight goes BACK on. 

So I go get over that cold and try again...........same thing. So I go ask docs for blood test as given my general health and how I feel 2 friends say it sounds like Underactive Thyroid. Get bloods done, comes back smack bang in the middle of the range for all - T4 and Liver function. Doc deems me normal, again harps on about sub 1000cal diet.

So I have been giving it a try........and decided that dieting and seriously upping exercise at same time had failed before so I have been doing the dieting with just doing bit more , but not proper exercise and like I said nothing happened. 
So I decided to add in exersize................and its all gone Pete Tong again :(. I am FULL of a head cold, every muscle in my body aches and I have an appetite of a horse.............With the energy of a sloth :(. At the weekend I had nachos and a burger and 2 days later appeared to have lost 4lbs of fat (the scales say!), so I have re evaluated and taken out shake bar breakfast. They have extra protein in (% wise only 30% cals is from carbs) and are better than say cereal - fruit is not an option that early in the day, my stomach cannot handle it - and have say a small sandwich at lunch then soup in the evening............that has been this week so far. I have no energy. I have been taking multi vits and some sups, that are supposed to help with focus and energy and I just feel CRAP. 

I have also got 5 o'clock shadow.........and mu muscles actually feel hard - - like on my legs the fat/muscles are not squidgy any more, they are hard :(. I have huge legs as that is my powerhouse basically. I was a horse rider and MTB rider (XC) before I had LO and so they did all the work. 

I am getting peeved as well at folk at work just saying "eat less, just eat less" etc etc..............if that did work then I wouldn't still be fat!! I have banned anything sweet that I like from the house - and anything OH has must be hard to access so it cant just be grabbed etc. I dont drink sugary drinks. I am eating off my daughters ditty little plates as well (that really does work though for portion control as a full plate looks stupid) 

I know your metabolism changes with age and more so with having a child. I know that 1lb fat = 3500 cals and that muscle is approx 3 times heavier than fat, you cant spot reduce, it takes time etc etc. I even know the order in which fat seems to deplete of my person...............but why does it have to be soo hard!!!! I know folk say it doesn't have to be, but when you follow a so called " stress free" method that turns out to be a big stress mess hassle, it does get you thinking, what is the frikkin point!


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## aliss

How long did you do WW?

Here's the problem that a lot of very overweight people face: it took YEARS of overeating and inactivity to get to the point. It is going to take years to reverse the damage.

Programs like shake diets prey on impatience and desire/motivation. Sometimes desire/motivation can overtake the sense that it may take years to drop the weight properly and in a healthy manner.

In ONE week, a normal woman can fluctuate around 1-5ish lbs just from water retention, the time of day, if you took a poop, etc.

If you focus on changing your eating habits, lifestyle, and stick with it long term, you will find drastic change.

I must disagree with your doctors. Unless they have done a medical test to prove something like thyroid disease then you are not a miracle of physics, you can eat well above 1000 calories, more like 2000 calories. This isn't about starving yourself and then binging because of your body's rebellion, it's about healthy steps.


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## aliss

^I wrote that before I saw your last post.

I think you should try and get a referral to a registered dietician and an endocrinologist. If what you say is true and your diet is accurate then you are dealing with medical issues because it shouldn't "make sense" iykwim?? They may want you to weigh your foods down to the gram...

Nobody needs to live off 1000 calories a day and hours of exercise. Nobody. That's outrageous and there must be another solution.


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## Abz1982

aliss said:


> ^I wrote that before I saw your last post.
> 
> I think you should try and get a referral to a registered dietician and an endocrinologist. If what you say is true and your diet is accurate then you are dealing with medical issues because it shouldn't "make sense" iykwim?? They may want you to weigh your foods down to the gram...
> 
> Nobody needs to live off 1000 calories a day and hours of exercise. Nobody. That's outrageous and there must be another solution.

HAHA, I have had to do this for some things already as I use a food diary and where its something I make I have to weight and add each ingredient to get the overall cals. OH thought I was potty as I had 2 identical potatoes..........one was 30g more than the other but didn't look it. 

What I found SUPER amusing, was that the doctor was about a size 16, and she giggled when she told me I was "rather large". 

I've been reading some things that say you should exercise first then after a few weeks drop your cal intake.........my issue is that lugging my weight around makes anything more than walking a pain in the hoop - well swimming is ok obv, and things that do not make the wobbly bits wobble. So I had hoped to get down to about 16 stone through dieting and walking then take up more physical stuff (one the baby pooch stops flapping so much) but I am getting the impression my weight is not controlled by diet.............but my exercise, so I am going to have to just knuckle down, do the hard physical stuff and just dose myself on Diclofenac and pain relief to get through the day s until I get fitter? 

I do know it will take time.........hell it took me 8 months to put back on the 88 lbs I lost (impressive weight gain eh?!). 

I just wish I had physically been able to do stuff when I was on maternity leave, but I was basically stuck inside unless someone came ot help me carry LO down the stairs cos I had sciatica that flared up and left me unable to walk if I carried too much, and toddler + buggy = too much :(. 

I have to lose the weight though..........Even LO goes about telling me I am too fat :(.


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## aliss

Well, the good thing (!) about your weight is that you are carrying a good amount of muscle mass. With exercise at your size, you may find simple activities to be painful in terms of joints just because of excess weight. Finding anything you enjoy that is low impact and easy will help, such as swimming or the elliptical.

I lost almost 50lbs myself, not a massive amount I know, but I struggled to walk up stairs. Lately I've been thinking of competing in powerlifting. 10 year difference. So just start slow and work your way up - going too hard too soon is what sets a lot of people back.

Good luck! I do think you should try and see an endocrinologist though...


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## magnolius

Abz1982 said:


> but I am getting the impression my weight is not controlled by diet

It is about what you eat.


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## Abz1982

magnolius said:


> Abz1982 said:
> 
> 
> but I am getting the impression my weight is not controlled by diet
> 
> It is about what you eat.Click to expand...

But in the past...........despite eating healthily, unless I worked out heavily I would put on weight. I could say, just go to work, ride the horse and eat 1200 cals a day and I would put on weight..........to keep it down I would then have to go to the gym for about an hour a day. I did find that I could decrease what I ate to below 1000cals adn that would stop me putting on weight......but then as it has been said that is unhealthy.............


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## Abz1982

aliss said:


> Well, the good thing (!) about your weight is that you are carrying a good amount of muscle mass. With exercise at your size, you may find simple activities to be painful in terms of joints just because of excess weight. Finding anything you enjoy that is low impact and easy will help, such as swimming or the elliptical.
> 
> I lost almost 50lbs myself, not a massive amount I know, but I struggled to walk up stairs. Lately I've been thinking of competing in powerlifting. 10 year difference. So just start slow and work your way up - going too hard too soon is what sets a lot of people back.
> 
> Good luck! I do think you should try and see an endocrinologist though...

I wish.........current fat % is 46! So basically all the weight I have put on since getting PG and now is yukky fat. (I do know there is more to it than just fat and lean mass etc). 

The doc did mention I could try Levothyroxine and if that made a diff then stick with it........I might ask her about that again. 
I am not looking for a super quick fix......as much as I do wish someone could suck the fat out over night, haha..........I just want something to actually work.......for any effort I put in to actually have an effect, as its like flogging a big fat dead horse !


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## magnolius

Abz1982 said:


> magnolius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Abz1982 said:
> 
> 
> but I am getting the impression my weight is not controlled by diet
> 
> It is about what you eat.Click to expand...
> 
> But in the past...........despite eating healthily, unless I worked out heavily I would put on weight. I could say, just go to work, ride the horse and eat 1200 cals a day and I would put on weight..........to keep it down I would then have to go to the gym for about an hour a day. I did find that I could decrease what I ate to below 1000cals adn that would stop me putting on weight......but then as it has been said that is unhealthy.............Click to expand...

Have you every consistenly ate at a normal caloric level?


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## carly_mummy2b

Levothyroxine is for an under active thyroid. Have you been diagnosed with a thyroid condition? If not, why would a doctor suggest the possibility of you using it, doesn't make sense to me, maybe you should see another doctor x


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## Abz1982

magnolius said:


> Abz1982 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> magnolius said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Abz1982 said:
> 
> 
> but I am getting the impression my weight is not controlled by diet
> 
> It is about what you eat.Click to expand...
> 
> But in the past...........despite eating healthily, unless I worked out heavily I would put on weight. I could say, just go to work, ride the horse and eat 1200 cals a day and I would put on weight..........to keep it down I would then have to go to the gym for about an hour a day. I did find that I could decrease what I ate to below 1000cals adn that would stop me putting on weight......but then as it has been said that is unhealthy.............Click to expand...
> 
> Have you every consistenly ate at a normal caloric level?Click to expand...


By normal I assume you mean the generic recommened 2000 a day? 

Yes, I assume did when I was down at college, and most likely before that when I was a child as I wasn't allowed sweets and only ate what my parents let me have. I was a fat kid, fat teenager and fat until I was 22/23. But then, I didn't actually obsessively check the cals in everything back then. But since I managed to gradually put on 5 stone from age 18 to 23 then I was obviously overeating somewhere. I should add that I was NOT a lazy child. I spend most evenings out of the house doing athletics, swimming, riding my horse and out on my bike. I was also 5ft6ins at 11 years old and have only grown 1.3inches in height since then. 
I was a ridic skinny baby though.........5lbs full term and Aphgar 5. And I was as my mum says, skin and bones till I was about 6 when I dramatically started to fill out. 

All the females in my family are well, not heavy set, but not skinny. We have cankles, and butts and broad frames. I will never be 'skinny' as such. My heritage is farming/fishing Rural highlands with some Mediterranean, Cornish and Irish thrown in there. I do think that my body type/shape is a working one, and that it NEEDS me to be active, maybe more so than some. But as I am doing an EXTREMELY sedentary job, its just keeping the weight on. 

Can anyone, without being obsessive and checking actually state that they do eat at a normal calorific level?


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## Abz1982

carly_mummy2b said:


> Levothyroxine is for an under active thyroid. Have you been diagnosed with a thyroid condition? If not, why would a doctor suggest the possibility of you using it, doesn't make sense to me, maybe you should see another doctor x

She suggested it as even though my bloods came back normal, despite me trying there was not the shift in my weight that she would hope to see. I do suspect she thinks I was bullshitting. But its hard to be over weight and actually have folk believe that you aren't living on doughnuts and lard. 

I am going to go back and ask them about the dietitian again. And for a meal plan - and hope to god that its not expensive.


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## magnolius

Abz1982 said:


> By normal I assume you mean the generic recommened 2000 a day?

Sorry, I wasn't clear. A maintenance level for your goal weight based on your activity level and height.

Good luck!


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## ttc_lolly

What shakes are you using? It's just because some of them are full of sugar so actually aren't that great anyway.

I'm on a VLCD (very low cal diet) that consists of shakes, soups and meal packs and it's perfectly safe. It isn't long term mind - just 8-12 weeks, and then I go on to a re-feed programme and then on to maintenence. It's hard work and requires a LOT of will power, but you see results fast and gives you the motivation to continue :flower:


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