I’ve lost 60 lbs 3 times in my life (haven’t kept it off more than a few years then had to lose it again) so these observations are purely about me and about the losing fat portion:
[quote]Bricknyce wrote:
He says that consuming a protein-sparing modified fast consisting of all or nearly all solid food only looks good on paper and that this approach results in failure for most who’ve tried it.
Well, it doesn’t look good only on paper. I think I look pretty good after 4.5 weeks on a PSMF having dropped 15 pounds of flab. In a recent conversation with my fellow RDs, quite a few discussed the success they had with their clients using PSMFs that consisted of nearly all solid food. When I did the Rapid Fat Loss Diet recently, I consumed TWO protein-shake meal replacements in 4.5 weeks, excluding mid-workout nutrition!
[/quote]
I tried the v-diet after eating low (like 10-20%) carb for several months.
I agree, in the end I found it easier to eat appropriately while eating regular food than I did on the v-diet. One big reason I think is that the shakes have lots of artificial sweetners, this alone affects my sweet tooth and cravings. when I eat real food, i eat meat and vegetables and the only sweets I get are fruit, which are often less sweet than a flavored shake, which is not what you’d expect. While eating food I had no cravings and could easily resist the doughnuts in the break room. While on the V-Diet, my cravings came back.
Also there may be other reasons eating food takes longer, maybe it feels more like “work” and leaves me feeling more sated, maybe because the dairy has a higher glycemic load, I don’t know I don’t like speculating too much in those areas.
Obviously counting macros and calories is easier with a processed food like a shake, it can still be done if you prepare most of your meals yourself.
The one good thing the V-diet taught me was I was not getting enough protein, it was the first time I really got enough, my lbm was 140-150 when I started (I weighed 250) so I was eating only about 140 g, when I bumped it up to 210 or so grams I really saw a difference. Of course that’s not the vdiet itself.
[quote]
Another idea that SEEMS to have been promoted in his writings is that cheat meals have no place in a diet. Of course writings can sometimes be misinterpreted, but that seems to be his general flavor when discussing cheat meals. [/quote]
For me this is true, if I eat crap then mentally I really have to work at getting back in the game. But it’s not really the cheat meal itself, it’s me. But telling myself it’s no big deal helps. Making a big deal out of it is just crying over spilled milk.
But I find a lot of mental things I have to do anyway like visualization. Having goals is what’s most important, because then I can focus on my goal when making decisions.
