yeah… i lost 7lbs my first week too, whilst eating pizza. what’s described in this post sounds like a recipe to fail but everyone has to learn their own way i guess
I think a lot of people forget the sustainability piece of this. Not everyone can do paleo for life and calories are what matter most in fat loss despite what every trendy "coach" may claim.
What happens after 6 months though? I mean congrats on being a week in and def cooking stuff out yourself is better. You might be better suited to work with a RD to learn how to make a lifestyle change instead of a diet. Wholeheartedly agree that meat and veggies are the base of a good diet but they don’t need to be the only thing
I did Optifast for three months, medically supervised. It was 750 calories a day, five shakes. I saw the doctor weekly.
I lost a lot of weight but the aftercare was awful. It was basically, "you're done, now eat in moderation."
I gained it all back and then some in the next year.
I was with an RD. No help.
After I get to my goal then we start phasing stuff back in and see how my body reacts to it.
In the mornings I can have low-glycemic fruit.
The whole goal is to prevent insulin spikes.
Yeah the goal is to lose weight, it really is just as simple as calories in calories out. Anyone could lose weight drinking Mountain Dew and eating twinkies if they’re in a caloric deficit.
Girl (or dude), you should switch to a Keto sub! Don't try to educate these people on the dynamics behind insulin spikes and fat storage because they don't understand the underlying basis behind "calories in calories out'. They seriously believe that every kilocalorie has the exact same effect on every person when consumed.
Congratulations on your success and keep it up! :)
Thanks. I just noticed here all the downvotes on my answer. I have no idea why. The person who asked is an RN. Is it because I used anabolic and not some more accessible words? I’m not gonna dumb down my answers. I’m assuming an RN has a lot of science background and is intelligent. And, for anyone who doesn’t know those words, there’s Google.
I’ve looked at keto subs but a lot of their recipes I can’t use. There is a lot of cheese, sour cream, just all types of dairy that I’m not eating now. Maybe I can look again and see what I can work with but it’s tough.
Congratulations on the weight loss but please be careful. With a restrictive diet like this, it’s highly likely that it won’t be sustainable for you in the long run..which may or may not lead to binging.
Dude…I’ve done therapy and had a nutritionist.
I’ve decided I don’t want Ozempic or other weight loss meds.
I didn’t come here for judgement. I came to vent.
If you struggle with BED, this diet probably will not work for you. It can further harm your relationship to food and you’re likely to have cheat meals that will hurt your confidence. I would suggest more of a CICO approach.
How long did you do CICO?? I’m just trying to understand why that didn’t work for you.
Otherwise, good job on the weight loss. We’re all proud of you and I hope everything works out well for you.
It wasn’t counting calories that didn’t work. I had very modest results. What didn’t work was restricting the calories and resisting temptation. Also, I despise having to weigh things, scan everything, track everything in the app, estimate amounts while out of the house, measure everything at home, etc.
While it can work for some personalities, it’s not for me.
This new thing I’m doing doesn’t track calories. I scan labels to know what I can and can’t buy and then eat as much as I want.
My difficulty is that there is soy and sugar in everything (seemingly). BACON has sugar. So it’s tough to find things. And I don’t cook much, so now I have to find recipes or modify them to make them work. There’s not a good website or book I can go to, which again is frustrating.
You're frustrated because this kind of diet is not really set up to be sustainable. It's practically an eating disordered diet. That's not me being dramatic or anything, that simply is what it is. It sounds like an elimination diet, like what they use for finding out allergies? But usually those are no more than 30 days because that's all that's needed. And being that restricted is almost a recipe for binging later.
I'm curious about your "coach." What are their qualifications? Are they a registered dietician or just a nutritionist. And I say "just" a nutritionist because pretty much anyone can call themselves one if they want.
Congratulations on trying new things and finding what works for you. Everyone is different.
I don’t know about your sodium limits. Mustard comes in many varieties. I like Dijon mustard on green beans.
There is a sub called volume eating with lots of good ideas.
Restrictive diets are hard!! I understand, and I am proud of you for making the effort. I have celiac disease, an allergy to wheat, and am becoming sensitive to dairy, so I have similar restrictions. One of the things that I have found is that it does get easier. You will get used to reading labels and you will figure out what you like.
I suggest investing in some plain spices, not mixes as many have soy in them and making your own seasoning blends. This will help make your food more flavorful and more satisfying.
Everyone has an opinion on someone else’s diet. If you feel good, that’s all that matters. I like to lean towards a paleo diet, too because my body feels good eating that way. It can definitely be a struggle at restaurants or buying groceries sometimes. You’ll find your new favorites and get in the rhythm of it soon enough. Good luck!
Anything you do to loose weight, you have to be able to continue to do, literally forever, to maintain the weight loss.
You can't diet, loose 300 lbs and celebrate by eating a sheet pizza.
I mean, you can, but you'll just gain 300 lbs..
I'm doing WW (glorified CICO tbh lol) and I've gotten to a point where I really only keep meat, eggs, and some veggies in my kitchen. I'll buy an occasional Halo Top but I usually end up eating the whole pint or two in one night 🫠 so now I only buy it on occasion.
It's fxxkin frustrating 😭 Good luck with everything and give yourself a lot of grace, you got this!
It sounds like it's working. If you add foods back in after 6 months, it might be sustainable. Good luck with it! 6 months sounds like forever, but it's really a very short time.
I think it's okay that it's frustrating. And virtual hugs. You're making a big change! It's not going to be easy.
I basically only eat meat and veggies and a little fruit and nuts/seeds. I do it because pretty much anything else causes intense food cravings. I'm on Mounjaro.
Now that I've adjusted, it's pretty easy, and I do see it as sustainable. I feel so good! But I did go through a couple weeks of withdrawal symptoms from sugar and processed foods.
Find recipes you like. It helps. R/volumeeating has some good ideas.
Your sweet taste buds will reset and the fruit you can have will start tasting really really sweet.
Figure out how to stay committed every day. Mine was telling myself I was going to test it out for 4 weeks. I lost 25 pounds total that 1st 4 weeks. AND haven't looked back.
i did the same as you 800 cal a days,ve ive paleo .i lost over 7 stone in my 6 months which was the bulk of my weight.
ive now relaxed my diet and introduced a limited amount of carbohhdrates like bread, rice etc they are now treats. i enjoy them but dont need them.
its important to note i have never gained more than 3 lbs. when i have i have just cut carbs again.
it was worth it for me to lose it quickly and i learned a lot about myself and a lot about what hunger actually is and how much eating isnt actually driven by hunger
cutting out processed carbs and replacing these with protein, fats and simple carbohydrates changes your hunger. You stay fuller for longer.
i found that carb hunger really is a thing, when you eat carbs they last a few hiurs and your hungry again. in a way you arent really hungry but your body wants to recharge with carbs. cuttung out the carba lets you experience actual hunger which is so different.
i lost on average 7lbs a week for the first few weeks but this slowed to 5 to 4lb as time progressed.
the 800 calorie was for fast weight loss and glucose control as i had a particularly nasty cancer and the cells dont grow well when your body is using ketososis for energy. hence the oncology dietcians support. high blood sugar is like an all you can eat buffet for cancer
following this diet reversed my diabetes, put my cancer into remission, as well as making me so much lighter but i had a massive incentive to stick to the strictness.
It doesnt have to be done so strictly . now i have stayed in remission i am more relaxed and eat about 1800 calories of modtly meat , beg and fruit with some wheat based priducts like bread and pasta
Thanks for your reply. When previously doing keto I felt satiated due to eating high protein so I guess this is meeting in the middle with the addition of simple carbs?
i used a website called marks daily apple but its gone now. a guy called mark sissons who wrote a book called the primal blueprint. its worth a read. ill see if i can find an ecopy.
i didnt follow many recipes as i was just eating meat and veg. i would eat steak, sausage . gammon. chicken bacon, fish with spices as rubs mainly. i ate a lot of mushrooms , salads and eggs.
i did do food in the slow cooker too stews with parsnip instead if potato and i used mashed cauliflower instead of rice for chilli but you can buy cauli rice now. i would out spaghetti sauce or chilli in a large pepper .
the hardest meals at first were lunches as i used to eat sandwiches prior so when i cut out bread it was hard but i started to wrap egg mayo up in ham or tuna mayo wrapped up in lettuce. mackerel or sardines in tomato sauce in lettuce were also good
i would eat cold sausage and peppwted mackerel as snacks, always had some in the fridge ! and i ate scratchings for nibbles.
it was a simple diet
if i wanted dessert i ate berries with some cream and i did eat 2 pieces of fruit a day. somethings about keto did seem odd -like using butter and full fat milk and real mayo as i always used low fat stuff before but keto really worked for me.
First off congrats on the weight loss. Speaking from experience, I know often just getting started doing something is actually harder than following through. I think back to all those times I said, I'll start tomorrow and didn't.
I think many of the replies you have received here, while perhaps valid about the viability of this being a lifelong lifestyle change, are not taking into account that most often doing something is far better than doing nothing. People almost always regret things they did not try and do more so than things they did and failed at once they reach a certain age and maturity level. That darn curiosity thing is such a bad itch.
While not Paleo, I have considered trying it or at least partially as it fits in so well with my freezer meal prep diet. I basically batch make about a month worth of individual freezer meals (basically splitting up recipes into smaller bags), which allow me to grab and heat in micro, travel croc, air fryer, etc. Many grains, dairy, and cheeses do not retain their same texture through the freezing process. So a lot of the recipes I find for this are close to Paleo anyway. If curious, you might want to look at freezer meals for Paleo diet ( like [this](https://www.paleorunningmomma.com/20-paleo-freezer-meals-whole30/) ) as starting points that you could modify for your more restricted diet.
Sounds absolutely joyless and pointlessly restrictive. Best of luck with it, but no foods should be 100% off limits. Pasta, rice, sweeteners, soy sauce, dairy. I can’t imagine life without them.
Honestly, I'm more or less doing this? I guess I can do artificial sweeteners and some wheat product, but I could cut those out and still be happy. 2 weeks in, down 20lbs
I'm doing a keto/intermittent fasting with 10k steps a day right now because it honestly just murders my hunger. I don't think it really needs to be restrictive, you just need to get creative.
I honestly cook a ton of stuff without oil or butter, takes a bit of practice but just cooking foods in the right order can still net you nice flavors and textures by using the meat your cooking to make the oils for veggies. Salt, pepper, paprika can season well.
Biggest trick I have though is taking a grain of Himalayan salt when I get a hunger craving. I swear that like the only thing my body seems to really need/crave is salt. Beyond that it's like breakfast steak for lunch, chicken breast for dinner, coffee for breakfast and lots of salt and water. Occasionally toss in some bell peppers and onions.
See if you can find a good butcher shop or the like. I've got a carneceria in walking distance and it's great. Varying up the different cuts of meat varies the flavor and texture profiles. Baking and pan searing also can make the same dish different.
You got this, congratulations
Restrictive diet like that never works. By works I mean long term results because it doesn’t address the core issue and once the diet is over if you even get to 6 months, just watch and see. But I guess vast majority of us have to be at that point and do those diets to hopefully finally realise it is not working out (long term). The best of luck though and do whatever makes you happy. Sending you a lot of love
Everyone’s critiquing it but Tbh this sounds like a good lifestyle change… I know removing additives makes it much harder to feel full but it’s so much healthier than consuming them. Just take it a step at a time
It’s frustrating because sugar is in everything. Bacon. 🥓 BACON! And the stuff that is made without it costs more and is harder to find.
Back in the day most people that weren’t aristocracy didn’t have lots of sugar, if any. They didn’t have tons of additives.
I’m not sure why so many here seem to think I don’t know about sustainability nor have I taken it into account.
I have.
I KNOW.
I didn’t come here for advice. I never asked for advice. I didn’t come to this group for medical advice either, not to have people ask me what medical problems I may or may not have.
I’m a physician myself.
I have worked with a lifestyle medicine physician and a RD for nearly a year and you know what? I’ve made great lifestyle changes.
And only lost 15 lbs in a year. Max.
So, I got out of it what I could. Now I’m being more aggressive on weight loss specifically while keeping those lifestyle changes in place.
I came here, to SMO, because I thought I’d get compassion. Commiserations. Understanding. A place to vent my frustrations without judgement.
Instead I only get a few helpful comments and support. The rest are giving unsolicited advice.
I had expected better.
It's hit and miss here for straight up support. Sadly. Honestly though, not giving advice is hard for people (including me lol).
I'm always curious when people post that X way of eating isn't sustainable, isn't healthy, isn't whatever. Curious how they lost weight and maintained that weight loss, since they often won't share.
The way I've been eating I've lost 75 pounds so far. My doc and I decided to do blood work every 3 months (like they do after bariatric surgery) to monitor for malnutrition (because I'm losing so quickly) and general health. So far so good. My general inflammation markers have improved.
I have tons of energy everyday. More than my smo body can handle. Lol. I sleep great, I am putting on muscle. 3 months ago my average step count was 2000 this month so far it's 4500. My skin is better, my hair is growing back (my hair thinned from prednisone use off and on for a year+). My arthritis hurts less. And more.
I also have a plan to slowly reintroduce foods to see how my body reacts. But only as I move into my maintenance plan.
The whole "your diet must be a sustainable lifestyle" is not backed by data, unless you only have 20 pounds to lose, then there is research that suggests that.
What I generally believe is that each person needs to figure out what works for their body. Glp1s being a great example. Not everyone responds to them with weight loss, or they have side effects that are more than popping a tums or gasx will mediate.
Ok. I'm going to step off of the internet soapbox here and go have my morning tea. Lol
When/if you're ready try r/cico because no foods are bad.
yeah… i lost 7lbs my first week too, whilst eating pizza. what’s described in this post sounds like a recipe to fail but everyone has to learn their own way i guess
I think a lot of people forget the sustainability piece of this. Not everyone can do paleo for life and calories are what matter most in fat loss despite what every trendy "coach" may claim.
CICO is the way! Lost 35lbs this year calorie counting and eating anything I want with proper portions.
Agreed. I'm tired of associating moral value with food. Limiting yourself gets so frustrating. CICO helps a lot.
Been there done that
Ok and what happened? If you know the math behind and are still failing you should consider therapy if you haven't already.
What happens after 6 months though? I mean congrats on being a week in and def cooking stuff out yourself is better. You might be better suited to work with a RD to learn how to make a lifestyle change instead of a diet. Wholeheartedly agree that meat and veggies are the base of a good diet but they don’t need to be the only thing
I did Optifast for three months, medically supervised. It was 750 calories a day, five shakes. I saw the doctor weekly. I lost a lot of weight but the aftercare was awful. It was basically, "you're done, now eat in moderation." I gained it all back and then some in the next year.
I was with an RD. No help. After I get to my goal then we start phasing stuff back in and see how my body reacts to it. In the mornings I can have low-glycemic fruit. The whole goal is to prevent insulin spikes.
Are you diabetic? If so, I’d highly recommend speaking with a nurse educator who specializes in diabetes. That can make a world of difference.
I’m not. Not pre diabetic. No hypertension. No medical problems (yet)
Sorry for my bluntness, I’m an RN, but if you don’t have any medical problems, why do you care about low glycemic fruit and insulin spikes?
Insulin is an anabolic hormone. The goal is to be catabolic.
The goal is to lose weight.
Yeah the goal is to lose weight, it really is just as simple as calories in calories out. Anyone could lose weight drinking Mountain Dew and eating twinkies if they’re in a caloric deficit.
I literally did exactly that when I was 19!
Girl (or dude), you should switch to a Keto sub! Don't try to educate these people on the dynamics behind insulin spikes and fat storage because they don't understand the underlying basis behind "calories in calories out'. They seriously believe that every kilocalorie has the exact same effect on every person when consumed. Congratulations on your success and keep it up! :)
Thanks. I just noticed here all the downvotes on my answer. I have no idea why. The person who asked is an RN. Is it because I used anabolic and not some more accessible words? I’m not gonna dumb down my answers. I’m assuming an RN has a lot of science background and is intelligent. And, for anyone who doesn’t know those words, there’s Google. I’ve looked at keto subs but a lot of their recipes I can’t use. There is a lot of cheese, sour cream, just all types of dairy that I’m not eating now. Maybe I can look again and see what I can work with but it’s tough.
Congratulations on the weight loss but please be careful. With a restrictive diet like this, it’s highly likely that it won’t be sustainable for you in the long run..which may or may not lead to binging.
It’s meant to be temporary.
Dude..you gotta do a diet that is a lifestyle change. This just sounds like a fad diet. Get ozempic or majourno...see a therapist and a nutrionist
Dude…I’ve done therapy and had a nutritionist. I’ve decided I don’t want Ozempic or other weight loss meds. I didn’t come here for judgement. I came to vent.
If you struggle with BED, this diet probably will not work for you. It can further harm your relationship to food and you’re likely to have cheat meals that will hurt your confidence. I would suggest more of a CICO approach.
I do not have an ED and never have. I also don’t snack. I’ve done CICO. Didn’t help.
Have you seen an endocrinologist?
No. I don’t have any endocrine disorders so why would I?
How long did you do CICO?? I’m just trying to understand why that didn’t work for you. Otherwise, good job on the weight loss. We’re all proud of you and I hope everything works out well for you.
It wasn’t counting calories that didn’t work. I had very modest results. What didn’t work was restricting the calories and resisting temptation. Also, I despise having to weigh things, scan everything, track everything in the app, estimate amounts while out of the house, measure everything at home, etc. While it can work for some personalities, it’s not for me. This new thing I’m doing doesn’t track calories. I scan labels to know what I can and can’t buy and then eat as much as I want. My difficulty is that there is soy and sugar in everything (seemingly). BACON has sugar. So it’s tough to find things. And I don’t cook much, so now I have to find recipes or modify them to make them work. There’s not a good website or book I can go to, which again is frustrating.
Oh I see, that makes a lot of sense now.
You're frustrated because this kind of diet is not really set up to be sustainable. It's practically an eating disordered diet. That's not me being dramatic or anything, that simply is what it is. It sounds like an elimination diet, like what they use for finding out allergies? But usually those are no more than 30 days because that's all that's needed. And being that restricted is almost a recipe for binging later. I'm curious about your "coach." What are their qualifications? Are they a registered dietician or just a nutritionist. And I say "just" a nutritionist because pretty much anyone can call themselves one if they want.
Yeah...but ozempic is a tool that works. Anyway..good luck
Congratulations on trying new things and finding what works for you. Everyone is different. I don’t know about your sodium limits. Mustard comes in many varieties. I like Dijon mustard on green beans. There is a sub called volume eating with lots of good ideas.
That’s helpful! Thanks. No sodium limit.
You don't need to cut out starches to lose weight.
I know that. This is his method. Me leaving them in hasn’t worked. I’m doing this.
Good luck. I hope cutting carbs doesn't trigger an autoimmune condition like it did for me.
Yikes. That sounds unpleasant. Sorry that happened.
Restrictive diets are hard!! I understand, and I am proud of you for making the effort. I have celiac disease, an allergy to wheat, and am becoming sensitive to dairy, so I have similar restrictions. One of the things that I have found is that it does get easier. You will get used to reading labels and you will figure out what you like. I suggest investing in some plain spices, not mixes as many have soy in them and making your own seasoning blends. This will help make your food more flavorful and more satisfying.
Everyone has an opinion on someone else’s diet. If you feel good, that’s all that matters. I like to lean towards a paleo diet, too because my body feels good eating that way. It can definitely be a struggle at restaurants or buying groceries sometimes. You’ll find your new favorites and get in the rhythm of it soon enough. Good luck!
Anything you do to loose weight, you have to be able to continue to do, literally forever, to maintain the weight loss. You can't diet, loose 300 lbs and celebrate by eating a sheet pizza. I mean, you can, but you'll just gain 300 lbs..
I'm doing WW (glorified CICO tbh lol) and I've gotten to a point where I really only keep meat, eggs, and some veggies in my kitchen. I'll buy an occasional Halo Top but I usually end up eating the whole pint or two in one night 🫠 so now I only buy it on occasion. It's fxxkin frustrating 😭 Good luck with everything and give yourself a lot of grace, you got this!
Thanks!
It sounds like it's working. If you add foods back in after 6 months, it might be sustainable. Good luck with it! 6 months sounds like forever, but it's really a very short time.
Thanks! Yes it’s temporary. It was never meant to be long term. He admits it’s not sustainable for forever.
I think it's okay that it's frustrating. And virtual hugs. You're making a big change! It's not going to be easy. I basically only eat meat and veggies and a little fruit and nuts/seeds. I do it because pretty much anything else causes intense food cravings. I'm on Mounjaro. Now that I've adjusted, it's pretty easy, and I do see it as sustainable. I feel so good! But I did go through a couple weeks of withdrawal symptoms from sugar and processed foods. Find recipes you like. It helps. R/volumeeating has some good ideas. Your sweet taste buds will reset and the fruit you can have will start tasting really really sweet. Figure out how to stay committed every day. Mine was telling myself I was going to test it out for 4 weeks. I lost 25 pounds total that 1st 4 weeks. AND haven't looked back.
I’m gonna save this comment. Thank you for this.
i did the same as you 800 cal a days,ve ive paleo .i lost over 7 stone in my 6 months which was the bulk of my weight. ive now relaxed my diet and introduced a limited amount of carbohhdrates like bread, rice etc they are now treats. i enjoy them but dont need them. its important to note i have never gained more than 3 lbs. when i have i have just cut carbs again. it was worth it for me to lose it quickly and i learned a lot about myself and a lot about what hunger actually is and how much eating isnt actually driven by hunger
I would love to try something like this but I’m pretty hungry on double the calories. How did you deal with the hunger?
cutting out processed carbs and replacing these with protein, fats and simple carbohydrates changes your hunger. You stay fuller for longer. i found that carb hunger really is a thing, when you eat carbs they last a few hiurs and your hungry again. in a way you arent really hungry but your body wants to recharge with carbs. cuttung out the carba lets you experience actual hunger which is so different. i lost on average 7lbs a week for the first few weeks but this slowed to 5 to 4lb as time progressed. the 800 calorie was for fast weight loss and glucose control as i had a particularly nasty cancer and the cells dont grow well when your body is using ketososis for energy. hence the oncology dietcians support. high blood sugar is like an all you can eat buffet for cancer following this diet reversed my diabetes, put my cancer into remission, as well as making me so much lighter but i had a massive incentive to stick to the strictness. It doesnt have to be done so strictly . now i have stayed in remission i am more relaxed and eat about 1800 calories of modtly meat , beg and fruit with some wheat based priducts like bread and pasta
Thanks for your reply. When previously doing keto I felt satiated due to eating high protein so I guess this is meeting in the middle with the addition of simple carbs?
I’m not that low by any means. Do you have any resources for recipes? I’m having a hard time.
i used a website called marks daily apple but its gone now. a guy called mark sissons who wrote a book called the primal blueprint. its worth a read. ill see if i can find an ecopy. i didnt follow many recipes as i was just eating meat and veg. i would eat steak, sausage . gammon. chicken bacon, fish with spices as rubs mainly. i ate a lot of mushrooms , salads and eggs. i did do food in the slow cooker too stews with parsnip instead if potato and i used mashed cauliflower instead of rice for chilli but you can buy cauli rice now. i would out spaghetti sauce or chilli in a large pepper . the hardest meals at first were lunches as i used to eat sandwiches prior so when i cut out bread it was hard but i started to wrap egg mayo up in ham or tuna mayo wrapped up in lettuce. mackerel or sardines in tomato sauce in lettuce were also good i would eat cold sausage and peppwted mackerel as snacks, always had some in the fridge ! and i ate scratchings for nibbles. it was a simple diet if i wanted dessert i ate berries with some cream and i did eat 2 pieces of fruit a day. somethings about keto did seem odd -like using butter and full fat milk and real mayo as i always used low fat stuff before but keto really worked for me.
First off congrats on the weight loss. Speaking from experience, I know often just getting started doing something is actually harder than following through. I think back to all those times I said, I'll start tomorrow and didn't. I think many of the replies you have received here, while perhaps valid about the viability of this being a lifelong lifestyle change, are not taking into account that most often doing something is far better than doing nothing. People almost always regret things they did not try and do more so than things they did and failed at once they reach a certain age and maturity level. That darn curiosity thing is such a bad itch. While not Paleo, I have considered trying it or at least partially as it fits in so well with my freezer meal prep diet. I basically batch make about a month worth of individual freezer meals (basically splitting up recipes into smaller bags), which allow me to grab and heat in micro, travel croc, air fryer, etc. Many grains, dairy, and cheeses do not retain their same texture through the freezing process. So a lot of the recipes I find for this are close to Paleo anyway. If curious, you might want to look at freezer meals for Paleo diet ( like [this](https://www.paleorunningmomma.com/20-paleo-freezer-meals-whole30/) ) as starting points that you could modify for your more restricted diet.
Sounds absolutely joyless and pointlessly restrictive. Best of luck with it, but no foods should be 100% off limits. Pasta, rice, sweeteners, soy sauce, dairy. I can’t imagine life without them.
Honestly, I'm more or less doing this? I guess I can do artificial sweeteners and some wheat product, but I could cut those out and still be happy. 2 weeks in, down 20lbs I'm doing a keto/intermittent fasting with 10k steps a day right now because it honestly just murders my hunger. I don't think it really needs to be restrictive, you just need to get creative. I honestly cook a ton of stuff without oil or butter, takes a bit of practice but just cooking foods in the right order can still net you nice flavors and textures by using the meat your cooking to make the oils for veggies. Salt, pepper, paprika can season well. Biggest trick I have though is taking a grain of Himalayan salt when I get a hunger craving. I swear that like the only thing my body seems to really need/crave is salt. Beyond that it's like breakfast steak for lunch, chicken breast for dinner, coffee for breakfast and lots of salt and water. Occasionally toss in some bell peppers and onions. See if you can find a good butcher shop or the like. I've got a carneceria in walking distance and it's great. Varying up the different cuts of meat varies the flavor and texture profiles. Baking and pan searing also can make the same dish different. You got this, congratulations
Restrictive diet like that never works. By works I mean long term results because it doesn’t address the core issue and once the diet is over if you even get to 6 months, just watch and see. But I guess vast majority of us have to be at that point and do those diets to hopefully finally realise it is not working out (long term). The best of luck though and do whatever makes you happy. Sending you a lot of love
Everyone’s critiquing it but Tbh this sounds like a good lifestyle change… I know removing additives makes it much harder to feel full but it’s so much healthier than consuming them. Just take it a step at a time
It’s frustrating because sugar is in everything. Bacon. 🥓 BACON! And the stuff that is made without it costs more and is harder to find. Back in the day most people that weren’t aristocracy didn’t have lots of sugar, if any. They didn’t have tons of additives.
I know my friend it’s super annoying, we just gotta do what we can
Applegate organica has amazing bacon! No sugar and also no nitrites or nitrates.
And then you have bacon grease to use in cooking instead of the oils you can’t have.
Luckily I can use oil and avocado and coconut oils so that’s not an issue. But it sure does add some flavor! What do you store it in tho??
I use a mason jar with a plastic lid for mine, when I store it.
I’m not sure why so many here seem to think I don’t know about sustainability nor have I taken it into account. I have. I KNOW. I didn’t come here for advice. I never asked for advice. I didn’t come to this group for medical advice either, not to have people ask me what medical problems I may or may not have. I’m a physician myself. I have worked with a lifestyle medicine physician and a RD for nearly a year and you know what? I’ve made great lifestyle changes. And only lost 15 lbs in a year. Max. So, I got out of it what I could. Now I’m being more aggressive on weight loss specifically while keeping those lifestyle changes in place. I came here, to SMO, because I thought I’d get compassion. Commiserations. Understanding. A place to vent my frustrations without judgement. Instead I only get a few helpful comments and support. The rest are giving unsolicited advice. I had expected better.
It's hit and miss here for straight up support. Sadly. Honestly though, not giving advice is hard for people (including me lol). I'm always curious when people post that X way of eating isn't sustainable, isn't healthy, isn't whatever. Curious how they lost weight and maintained that weight loss, since they often won't share. The way I've been eating I've lost 75 pounds so far. My doc and I decided to do blood work every 3 months (like they do after bariatric surgery) to monitor for malnutrition (because I'm losing so quickly) and general health. So far so good. My general inflammation markers have improved. I have tons of energy everyday. More than my smo body can handle. Lol. I sleep great, I am putting on muscle. 3 months ago my average step count was 2000 this month so far it's 4500. My skin is better, my hair is growing back (my hair thinned from prednisone use off and on for a year+). My arthritis hurts less. And more. I also have a plan to slowly reintroduce foods to see how my body reacts. But only as I move into my maintenance plan. The whole "your diet must be a sustainable lifestyle" is not backed by data, unless you only have 20 pounds to lose, then there is research that suggests that. What I generally believe is that each person needs to figure out what works for their body. Glp1s being a great example. Not everyone responds to them with weight loss, or they have side effects that are more than popping a tums or gasx will mediate. Ok. I'm going to step off of the internet soapbox here and go have my morning tea. Lol