Amazing Weight Loss/Lifestyle Transformation

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Elbata

Full time employment: Posting here.
Joined
Dec 23, 2012
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656
Heart disease is the #1 cause of death, not only in America but the Western world. Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn states that heart disease is a food-borne illness that need never exist. What a bold statement, especially in light of our present condition, but if what he says is true, it would turn our world upsidedown.

We all know about Jenny Craig, WeightWatchers and the Atkins diets. Wouldn't it be great to do a randomized control trial five years out? Seems to me, easy enough to do, especially on such an important matter. Ever wonder why it doesn't happen?

Chef AJ, who has her own Youtube channel, is on the forefront of a lifestyle diet revolution. Here's an inspirational presentation by Chef AJ..

Another woman, who also has her own Youtube channel, interviews a woman who's lost 150 lbs. To let you know, the interviewer has also lost over 200 lbs. Both are members of Chef AJ's Ultimate Weight Loss program.
 
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Members? That has a nice ring to. What does it cost to be a member?
 
Elbata, do you have experience with any of these programs?
 
Murf2 said:
Members? That has a nice ring to. What does it cost to be a member?
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I don't know but my membership to myfitnesspal was free and DW and I lost 110 combined pounds.

So many dollars are spent on diets it's nice to see something free. OK I spent $15.00 on a food scale.
 
MRG said:
I don't know but my membership to myfitnesspal was free and DW and I lost 110 combined pounds.

So many dollars are spent on diets it's nice to see something free. OK I spent $15.00 on a food scale.
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Are you saying the OP's "membership" deal is free?
 
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Maybe bad advice is part of the problem.

Fat is bad, especially saturated fat. Better to eat pretzels than nuts. Better to have low-fat sugary yogurt instead of full fat plain yogurt. Better to eat a heart healthy sugar bomb cereal for breakfast than high cholesterol eggs. Better to eat margarine made with trans-fat than butter. Better to eat factory made meat substitutes than real meat.

What if It's All Been a Big Fat Lie? - The New York Times

Phil Handler, then president of the National Academy of Sciences, testified in Congress to the same effect in 1980. ''What right,'' Handler asked, ''has the federal government to propose that the American people conduct a vast nutritional experiment, with themselves as subjects, on the strength of so very little evidence that it will do them any good?''
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Murf2 said:
Are you saying the OP's "membership" deal is free?
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NO! I know zero about the It's membership. I'm saying there's a plethora of free tools! No need for expensive food, membership, etc. NO crazy diets, or food, lose weight for free.
 
I agree, I've lost 80 lbs using a sorta Whole 30 approach.

I was curious about the original post but not enough to invest an hour if now.

Thanks.
 
I did my own version of Jenny Craig once, I was wildly successful. I pre planned 3 meals a day with foods that I knew what their calories were. After trail and error. We found 7 dinners & lunches that we liked. Breakfast was boring, oatmeal or a yogurt and fruit.But I knew pretty much how many calories everything had. After a few days I got used to Im only eating what I had. We did clean out the cupboards, and I walked around with Ice water whenever I could. I walked on treadmill/ran every day for 1 hour. I lost 53 pounds in 4.5 months. I was back to my "fighting" weight. My goal was not to go over 1600 calories. We had a few weddings during that time that we attended. I didnt stick to the diet during those events. I did limit my booze to 2 drinks per wedding.
 
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Made me look up Chef AJ's site. For this incredible offer of only $149, members receive

6 videos (4 hours) - From Live Seminar
Audio downloads - From Live Seminar
4 x Audio Downloads of Pre-recorded Group Coaching Calls [mp3 files]
Calorie Density Refrigerator Magnet
Wrist band
21-Day Recipe Guide
Membership in Private Facebook Group

Weight Watchers must be quaking in its boots. I can't join because we have a magnet-free refrigerator.
 
OP here. I'm glad to see my post was a big hit.

So, the comments are about membership and the $150 joining fee. No comments about her talk. BTW, her Youtube channel is free and she does a talk every Wednesday.

Kind of reminds me of President Trump's new health care bill. Only 20% of Americans are in favor. So let me guess, <1% have any idea what's in the bill. But hey, that's OK, polls are good, that influences us to how to make decisions. Good to know and then make a decision on what people think about what they don't know.
 
Elbata said:
OP here. I'm glad to see my post was a big hit.

So, the comments are about membership and the $150 joining fee. No comments about her talk. BTW, her Youtube channel is free and she does a talk every Wednesday.

[irrelevant political stuff deleted]....
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As Michaelb asked above, do you have experience with this program? The video lnks are an hour and forty-five minutes long total--not watching that much youtube here.
 
Blue Collar Guy said:
I did my own version of Jenny Craig once, I was wildly successful. I pre planned 3 meals a day with foods that I knew what their calories were. After trail and error. We found 7 dinners & lunches that we liked. Breakfast was boring, oatmeal or a yogurt and fruit.But I knew pretty much how many calories everything had. After a few days I got used to Im only eating what I had. We did clean out the cupboards, and I walked around with Ice water whenever I could. I walked on treadmill/ran every day for 1 hour. I lost 53 pounds in 4.5 months. I was back to my "fighting" weight. My goal was not to go over 1600 calories. We had a few weddings during that time that we attended. I didnt stick to the diet during those events. I did limit my booze to 2 drinks per wedding.
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Very similar to my daily routine which has been working relatively well for me over the past several years.

Current cal. goal is around 1750 / day. But, I need to drop that soon since my weight has stablazed about 15 lbs. above my fighting weight (from early 20's).

I do cheat[/I ]when travelling, attending weddings, etc. as well as about once every two weeks for dinners out. Even then, I notice myself making less bad (not necessarily good) choices than I would have in my 30's when I was steadily gaining weight, not in any good ways.
 
I am familiar with Chef AJ, but not through her own site, but through Dr McDougall. https://www.drmcdougall.com/health/programs/

He advocates a whole food plant based diet, heavy on starch and Chef AJ speaks at his seminars along with a few other Vegan professionals.

Dr McDougall has a free program on his site along with some paid opportunities. And I think he has a Youtube program. You can find the info free, and for those who want a little more help, can pay for a program.
 
Or EBYM (Eat Below Your Means).

"I could eat that. I'd like to eat that. Everybody else is eating that. But it will keep me from achieving my goals, so I'll pass."
 
The problem for me at least with these diets, all of which are "plant based" but each with a unique twist or two to distinguish themselves from the many others out there. is sticking with them. Any will eventually help you to lose weight and they all seem to me to be the same in their essentials, which are what cause the weight loss. I have managed to get the habit of eating a bowl of spring mix every day, now with homemade dressing of either olive oil and lemon juice or organic blueberries and coconut oil (nuke them together to melt oil and blend into a dressing). I can actually discern this meal making me feel better as I eat it, really can, which still amazes me. But, cant say I like it, the spring mix part that is, even with two years of experience doing this. I get it down by thinking of it as being more medicine than food that I actually like. It does not, however, stop me from wanting and indulging in a bowl of ice cream later on. It has kept my iron values (the leafy greens do this) well within norms even tho i rarely eat red meat anymore. I do enjoy lots of dairy.
 
razztazz said:
Marketing/buzzword. Like "all natural"
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Almost all of the diet crapola that people push is junk. Not maintainable or healthy.

For those who have no specific medical conditions(PCOS or thyroid), all that appears to matter is CICO. Eat candy and lose weight.

That works! DW lost over 60 pounds and eats Ben and Jerry's and Brookside chocolates every night.
 
Chuckanut said:
Maybe bad advice is part of the problem.

Fat is bad, especially saturated fat. Better to eat pretzels than nuts. Better to have low-fat sugary yogurt instead of full fat plain yogurt. Better to eat a heart healthy sugar bomb cereal for breakfast than high cholesterol eggs. Better to eat margarine made with trans-fat than butter. Better to eat factory made meat substitutes than real meat.

What if It's All Been a Big Fat Lie? - The New York Times
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Best thing I ever did was go back to eating full-fat foods, and being careful with carbs (not ditching them completely, just under 100 g a day). The difference in how I felt was astonishing, and hunger was so much better controlled. Had lost 45 lbs eight years ago on a more standard "diet," and mostly maintained it, but then lost 25 more last year by shifting to fewer carbs/more fat.

(Then DH got sick, and junk food started appearing at the house, and it got hard to follow, but I'm getting back to it now. And already feel better again.)

EDIT: Calories still mattered, of course, but it was a whole heck of a lot easier to feel satisfied at 1,800 calories eating full-fat yogurt or full-fat dressing or slathering olive oil on vegetables than eating cardboard "fat-free" items full of sugar and carbs.
 
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googily said:
Best thing I ever did was go back to eating full-fat foods, and being careful... snip....

EDIT: Calories still mattered, of course, but it was a whole heck of a lot easier to feel satisfied at 1,800 calories eating full-fat yogurt or full-fat dressing or slathering olive oil on vegetables than eating cardboard "fat-free" items full of sugar and carbs.
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Your experience and DW and mine are the same. While we really were CICO the mix of macros made a big difference. Fat = full!
 
MRG said:
Your experience and DW and mine are the same. While we really were CICO the mix of macros made a big difference. Fat = full!
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[emoji106]

CICO and macros - speaking the language!

(I didn't mention bacon for fear of starting a riot, but what a joy to return that to the lineup.)
 
I agree (although I don't care for some fatty things, such as butter, fatty meats, salad dressing). Low-fat or non-fat foods have their place, but when manufacturers, with a straight face, actually started pushing fat-free "cheese," I had had enough. It was as if the most important thing was how much volume of food one could eat and "get away with it," rather than eating to satisfy one's hunger and taste buds.

googily said:
Best thing I ever did was go back to eating full-fat foods, and being careful with carbs (not ditching them completely, just under 100 g a day).

EDIT: Calories still mattered, of course, but it was a whole heck of a lot easier to feel satisfied at 1,800 calories eating full-fat yogurt or full-fat dressing or slathering olive oil on vegetables than eating cardboard "fat-free" items full of sugar and carbs.
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I had a bad EKG in September. It was a shock to me. I do crossfit three to four times a week at 5AM and play tennis two or three times a week at night. It's not hit and giggle tennis, but competitive, strenuous tennis, 4.5 level for the tennis players out there. The bad EKG was while I was doing a stress test at the local university and they stopped me before I ever broke a sweat. I was told to take EKG results to my Dr. and I might need to see a cardiologist. They told me not to plan on any crossfit or tennis until I saw my Dr. Needless to say I didn't celebrate the results. Sure enough, my doctor said these results don't look right, let's send you to a cardiologist to do an electrocardiogram (I think that's what it was called). In layman's terms, it was a stress test with a sonogram of your heart before and after heavy running on an treadmill that inclines. They put me on the treadmill and said to go as long and as hard as I could. I said if I had known I was going to do that, I would have taken my viagra before the test. Long story short, they said I did better than most of the college students that come in for a test and my issue was an abnormal baseline. I can do all the crossfit and tennis I like but if I ever feel light headed, to stop. I think that is standard advice for anyone over 50.

The whole reason for the story so far is to explain why I changed to the Esselstyn diet. I am not as strict as he wants his patients to be but I don't think I am in the serious condition many of his patients are. I had been on vegan and vegetarian diets before but when you get a bad EKG you take the diet thing a little more seriously. That was nine months ago. Fortunately I can measure the results of the diet because my employer has us do a wellness test each year for a discount on health insurance, so I gladly participate. I can tell you since being on the more vegan diet, weight is down 10 lbs, total cholesterol down 59 points, cholesterol ratio is much better, blood pressure lower. That was after 7 months on the diet. The gal that did my test asked if I had taken medication to lower my cholesterol and I said no, I just eat a lot of pizza and drink a lot of beer.

I'm a little spoiled because DW is a great cook and she has bought into the diet and prepares almost all the meals. It helps that she has a nutrition/food science degree. When we discuss our eating habits with other people they usually say they would be concerned with not getting enough protein. I sometimes ask if they are concerned about Kwashiorkor. Then the blank stare and response...what's that? That's a medical term for protein deficiency, especially when eating a lot of carbohydrates. My guess is most people in the US have never met anyone with severe protein deficiency but they surely have met or heard about people who die of heart disease. We modified our diet to be mostly plant based and the wellness report I got shows substantial improvement in the numbers the Drs. would like to see. And just so you don't think our diet is no fun, remember that beer and wine are plant based. :)
 
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