Diet and Health FAQ

Tagged As: Healthy Liquid Diet

Question:
My local hospital has a medically supervised fasting/liquid diet for a 12-week period. They state you can lose 40-60 pounds in that 12 weeks. This would be great in getting off half my weight fast, mainly for the purpose of getting me in better shape to exercise more, and also maybe to get me off two hypertensive meds. I'm sure the hospital would give you assistance in maintenance advise, but I'm just wondering how would a person be able to ever maintain that weight loss by going back to any food? Does a healthy liquid diet really work?

Answer:
I did one of those. The supervision part should also include weekly classes on nutrition, portion sizes, etc. The plan should also include a maintenance phase to help you learn how to deal with real food on a regular basis. Is the program HMR? If so then you can do the 12 weeks with the shakes and then do more with a supervised meal plan using actual food to get to your goal weight. The key is to follow through with the maintenance phase. I did and it's why I'm one of the only ones I know who did the program that didn't have to go back and do it again a few years later. What will kill you is to decide you're done and not follow through with additional support post weight loss. A liquid diet is not a magic tool that makes you thin. You're going to need to make major changes in your lifestyle. Plus, you will have to exercise while on the plan and of course afterward. Don't assume that the hospital is going to do it all for you. The clinic where I did mine had very well meaning people who had zero clue how to deal with things like eating disorders. *YOU* are still going to have to take responsibility and do what you need for yourself. Period. I've maintained the majority of my loss by going to Weight Watchers for continued support and tools and by basically becoming a jock. I participate in quite a few sports and work out regularly at the gym. I gave up my lifestyle of hanging out drinking & eating with my friends and instead play volleyball with them and golf and ride bikes. My social life revolves around some kind of activity most of the time. I learned a lot about nutrition and eating ON MY OWN - again I did not depend solely on a single plan. As a result I've kept off 100+ lbs for almost 3 years now. This is after 25 years of yo-yo dieting, bulimia, and other weight related misery. It's doable and relatively simple, but certainly not easy.