Nutrional Advice. Is this healthy?

[Camlex81]

I started a weight loss program on February 18th. Motivated for personal reasons, I just wasn't secure and confident with the way I looked anymore. When I started I was 187.6lbs @ 5'9". I don't know what fat % was, but I'm sure it was high.

I started a strict diet and would like advice to know if it is safe or not. Currently I am intaking about 900-1000 calories per day. I stopped drinking alcohol and increased water intake to 1 gallon per day. calories come from a protein shake I take in the morning and before I go to bed. I use non fat milk and the exact calorie content per shake is 400 calories (I did the math) with 2grams of combined fat from both the shakes. I eat half a bananna twice a day, in between these shakes.

I am currently doing 1 hour cardio every morning on an empty stomach. I come from a military background, so I just went to the basics that I've learned. This includes 300pushups (worked myself up from 100 because I was so weak) as well as an ab workout regime that consists of about 10 sets of 15 on different ab muscles. I've also started free weights on biceps. I'm doing the pushups/abs/biceps so that muscles won't be completely lost from the calorie deficit. diet consists of about 100grams of Protein.

I also take a daily multi vitamin (one a day for men) which helps cover nutrients I am not receiving from proper eating. And I take a fat burner (OxyElitePro).

Since I've started program (I self made it, I did not copy or researched it) I have cut weight down to 175lbs. About a 12lb loss in 2 weeks. Most of the weight came off rather fast, probably from drinking more water and cutting alcohol. It's now slowed down to about .4lbs - .5lbs per day. I saw a friend today and he noticed the weight loss immediately.

I need advice as to wether or not I can maintain this lifestyle and basically not kill myself or do damage to organs/body. It's been 2 weeks. I feel extremely great, I have no hunger issues and the lowest weight I have ever been was 156lbs (which is currently goal). Once I reach this weight goal, I will definitely increase calorie intake and switch to strength training as main source of fitness plan, mixed in with 15-30 minutes of cardio per work out.

Will I be ok? I realize I've set an ambitious goal. And I know the reccommended weight loss is only 2lbs per week. But I feel up to this, and will be doing this for the next 4-6weeks until I hit weight goal. Will I lose a lot of muscle rather than fat? Even though intake is 2grams of fat, and mostly protein. Does the multi vitamin I'm taking help me gain the nutrients I am no longer consuming?

Thank you.

[Camlex81]

I'm 31 by the way. Not sure if I mentioned that.

Really would like a response. Thank you again.

[Boss Man]

First things first.

Fat Burners are absolute rubbish, they are either usless, or at worst dangerous, I.E. Hydroxycut Hardcore killing people, so ditch the fat burner as it won't help you, it will just give a false sense of weight loss, because the other things you are doing might be hleping you, but that product almost certainly will do nothing.

As for the calories they're too low. Sedentary males need around 2,000 calories a day, but you could add another 200-500 a day in for the exercise days to have more calories to burn.

So I'd add another 1,200 calories in per day at least. You can do this, by having 6 meals a day, so you could add another 300 calories to 4 other meals to make it even.

Uusual suspects, like lean meat, veggies, fruit, legumes, grains, soy products, wholewheat pasta and fish.

You need this, as the diet you're on could be seriously lacking in bone nutrients for one and you might be causing the bones to thin and if they thin too much, you could make them intolerant to shock from cardio or flexion from weights and cause a minor fracture, or some other kind of bone damage.

Weights should be done all over, so you are working all the body. Just the arms is not a good thing, if you have muscles and connective tissues in the arm, disproportionate in strength and size to the rest of you, as it might cause some mobility issues and or pain.

So there's things to think about there hopefully .

[Camlex81]

Thank you for your advice, I will definitely take it all in. I plan to go on a similar plan you mentioned, by eating at least 2000 calories daily; just right now this is short term program for the next 6 weeks. I'll definitely research the whole bone thinning you mentioned, as I didn't know that. Will I damage body severely in 6 weeks if I continue this? I guess I just want to get to weight goal before I start rebuilding body to where I want it to be. The whole focus on arms/pushups/situps was to minimize muscle loss as much as possible. Will throwing in whole body workouts slow this down?

Thank you again.

[Boss Man]

Whole body workouts are better tnan just working out certain areas, as strengthening certain areas, can cause posture problems and associated pain, discomfort and mobility issues.

it doesn't matter whether you do TBT training, like I described in previous post, or some kind of split system, the emphasis is to encourage a balanced attack on the muscles each and every week, so you can try and avoid the issues I mentioned above.

I doubt you'd get much bone thinning in 6 weeks, but many nutrients are directly or indirectly associated, like Calcium, Phosphorous, Magnesium, Vit D, Vit K2, Vit C, Copper, Strontium, etc, so undereating one or more of them would certainly have some kind of negative effect on the bones, if the bones were getting a lack of bone creating nutrients, or nutrients that mediate the use of bone nutrients.

You can have bones tested with things called T-scores and Z-scores.

T-scores are based on a healthy 30 year old man, but I'm not sure why.

Z-scores are based on someone of equivalent age and gender.

Both work of the same readings, which are 0 to -0.99 healthy, -1 to -2.49 thinning, (osteopenia), -2.5 or worse, (osteoperosis).

[Tallgirll22T]

About a year ago, I lost a good chunk of weight by paying meticulous attention to calorie intake. Reading nutrition labels helped, but I also found useful info on online calorie counter websites like calorieking. I wrote everything down in the front of a composition notebook for handy reference, then wrote weightloss goals and food journal in the rest of it. It really helps to write things down. It helps keep us accountable and with the grumpiness and frustration that can sometimes come along with weightloss.
Other than that, I am curious about your diet. I am completely useless on workouts if I don't eat first. I have found that creatine really helps me keep going, but I am a girl, and I have read that men and women react to creatine differently. There have been studies done in elderly communities trying to preserve their muscles. If you are at all concerned about losing muscle, maybe give creatine a try. I just use plain old creatine monohydrate without the added sugars. It costs under 9 bucks at local supplement shoppe. I take 5 grams 30 mins -1 hr before workout in the morning.
I have currently been trying a strict diet to lose 10 pounds, but I haven't lost any yet. I think it is just too restrictive. No dairy, milk, cheat meals, low carb. It's good that you are drinking all that water, but I think you aren't eating enough. If you look up some foods, you will be surprised at how low calorie they are (such as radishes.) I love to snack on radishes. I also read that a handy tool to know how much to eat is to take your goal weight and multiply that number by 10. That would put your caloric intake needs at around 1500 a day. You may be able to get away with less since you aren't that tall, but I don't think you will be getting the vitamins and fuel you need if you take in under 1000 calories.

[Boss Man]

Less than 1,500 calories a day for anyone except those training for muscle based stage compeitions is not advisable due to lack of nutrient intake and potential stuttering of weight loss at some point.

Creatine can cause water retention especially basic ones like monohydrate. The use of Creatine is really good for explosive fast twitch muscle fibre movements, like sprinting, martial arts, heavy weightlifting, baseball, rugby etc.

If there was something worth taking to preserve muscle mass, then a cheap carb based protein shake will work, or BCAA's stacked with glutamine.

Creatine will have some effect for women, but I don't think it's much, as many men don't really get much out of it, unless they're pretty darn big. I speak from experience here, as the results I got off it about 1 year into training, were rubbish.

[nikkibee21]

Ive used hydroxycut many times I usually just order it from walmart.com
http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng ... nstraint=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Its a lot more affordable then in the stores or a lot of other products I have tried in the past, Obviously you have to change your diet and put in time at the gym but I loved the added energy it gave me during workouts and It actually helped me loose 12-15 pounds in just a couple weeks. I would highly recommend

[Boss Man]

Well in all honesty I wouldn't recommend fat burners at all, they're all rubbish and a complete scam and anyone trying to prove what weight loss they achieved using one, versus what would have happened without one, would find it easier looking for a needle in a haystack and many of these products are tested very poorly. You can check out the published test about XLS medical on their website and see what I mean, when you read it was tested on 10 slim people and another test involving people on a calorie controlled diet for 3 days.

Hardly sounds like sensiblem rational testing does it?

The 12-15 lbs is likely to be a bit of fat and some water weight. Especially as some people lose a lot of weight initially, then plateau once the water loss is taken out of the equation.

However should the weight loss continue at such a significant volume, then it could be crash dieting, which could harm muscle mass and also increase the potential for more loose skin.

I'm afraid the only thing you lost was probably was a fair chunk of your savings .

Sorry I'm just being honest .

[Alexandrae]

Well, it's also important to choose a diet that won't leave you feeling hungry. Look for plans that promote foods that are high in water and are fibre-rich, like soups, fruit and vegetables. These foods fill you up and reduce food cravings to help you stick to your diet plan without feeling deprived.

[Boss Man]

You also benefit from a goodly amount of protein every day as protein fills you up as well.

[Alinshop]

400 calorie shakes? What's in them?