special k & me :)

there are quite a few threads on this but i wanted responses from people more recently. i dont know if this is a bad diet, or what.. my roommate has done it before & she lost 6lbs and she mentioned she wanted to do it again. we have both been working out, and eating better. i decided about a month or so ago i was going to eat better, lots of veggies & fruits, and no processed foods.. that and i started to work out. which i apparently influenced her, so now we kind of motivate eachother. i have really only lost 5 lbs. which is better than nothing. but still.. i would really like to loose 6 lbs or so by halloween weekend. like i said i started a month ago. i do binge drink on the weekends, and im sure thats not helping but during the week i dont drink & i work out 4 times during the week at the gym. any input would be appreciated :)

I think you already know this, but your binge drinking is a big problem.  Not only will it affect your diet, but also can lead to problems with addiction, your liver, depression, etc.  Not to mention all the calories that are in alcoholic drinks.  If you're serious about losing weight, then you need to cut way back on the drinking or give it up altogether.

well im 22. the typical college student. binge drinking is yes, unhealthy. when i say binge drinking, im talking about maybe 5 vodka cranberrys. not like 20 beers. and 2 days out of the week? seriously cant put too much damage to my liver. but i didnt come here to get a lecture on alcohol. addiction is not in my future.

Original Post by m2brown:

I think you already know this, but your binge drinking is a big problem.  Not only will it affect your diet, but also can lead to problems with addiction, your liver, depression, etc.  Not to mention all the calories that are in alcoholic drinks.  If you're serious about losing weight, then you need to cut way back on the drinking or give it up altogether.

You are sooooooooo right!!!!!!!

I'm a 22 year old college student as well.

I drink about once a week on average (clearly it depends on the week), and it takes about 3 mixed drinks to get me to my happy place, haha.

I don't think drinking twice a week is bad at all. Five drinks does seem a little excessive, but maybe I'm just a light weight...

What is the special-k diet exactly? Do you substitute the cereal in for lunch...or breakfast? or both maybe?

My friends sister did it and she now looks like a walking skeleton (she was small to begin with), but I'm pretty sure she was just eating a couple of bowls of cereal a day.

There's nothing wonderful about Special K - it's just a meal replacement so that you aren't eating as many calories. I've known one person to do it, and not only did it not work, she was miserable doing it - not enough variety, and she was much more likely to overindulge on the non-cereal meal of the day.

Have you tried just counting calories? Use the tools on here to figure out how many calories you burn, and figuring out a reasonable amount to eat?

Original Post by m2brown:

I think you already know this, but your binge drinking is a big problem.  Not only will it affect your diet, but also can lead to problems with addiction, your liver, depression, etc.  Not to mention all the calories that are in alcoholic drinks.  If you're serious about losing weight, then you need to cut way back on the drinking or give it up altogether.

lol

this is not true

I wrote what I did because I believe binge drinking can be a major cause of concern and prevent weight loss, not becuase I was trying to sound holier than thou.  I don't think drinking 5 drinks qualifies as binge drinking anyway.

As for the special k challenge, I just talk to someone who did it and she lost 5 pounds.  She said it was hard to maintain though because she got bored and wanted to eat other things. 

5 drinks is nothing compared to what most people my age can drink.. and it also depends on how strong they are made. i use to drink a whole lot more but ive cut back within the past 3 months. i was drinking probably every night.

the special k diet it where you eat 2 bowls of cereal/1 bowl of cereal & special k protein bar a day replacing 2 meals. in between meals you can have a snack, which can be anything from fruit, veggies or their own 90 calorie snack bars. when you have the cereal you can also eat fruit with it.

i have tried plugging in my calories on here, but i dont ever eat enough. it averages about 500 calories a day. im afraid to eat certain foods. so if i stick to a plan where i know its okay i can probably have more progress. i love cereal... but am so afraid to eat it! another reason why i decided to do this with my roomie.

like today what ive eaten so far is for breakfast had a serving of the vanilla almon cereal with serving of fat free milk. and for lunch im having salad (leavey greens, green onion, cucumber & celery w/ lime as dressing) with one of the special k protein drinks. for dinner, i will probably have a meal replacement bar. i dont know. i havent thought about it.

Original Post by m2brown:

I wrote what I did because I believe binge drinking can be a major cause of concern and prevent weight loss, not becuase I was trying to sound holier than thou.  I don't think drinking 5 drinks qualifies as binge drinking anyway.

As for the special k challenge, I just talk to someone who did it and she lost 5 pounds.  She said it was hard to maintain though because she got bored and wanted to eat other things. 

 

 

 oh okay :) i misunderstood you then. how long did she do this for until she got bored?

Original Post by sillysillygoose:

i have tried plugging in my calories on here, but i dont ever eat enough. it averages about 500 calories a day. im afraid to eat certain foods.

This is incredibly worrisome, and suggests that you should not be embarking on a diet which has no rationale beyond the idea that it will reduce the total number of calories you normally eat.

Since you are undereating, and you say that you are afraid of certain foods, I think a trip to your schools health services is in order.

Original Post by sillysillygoose:

 i decided about a month or so ago i was going to eat better, lots of veggies & fruits, and no processed foods.. that and i started to work out.

Original Post by sillysillygoose:

the special k diet it where you eat 2 bowls of cereal/1 bowl of cereal & special k protein bar a day replacing 2 meals.

So, in an effort to eat less processed foods you're planning on eating nothing but processed foods for 2 of your 3 meals? 

Original Post by floggingsully:

Original Post by sillysillygoose:

 i decided about a month or so ago i was going to eat better, lots of veggies & fruits, and no processed foods.. that and i started to work out.

Original Post by sillysillygoose:

the special k diet it where you eat 2 bowls of cereal/1 bowl of cereal & special k protein bar a day replacing 2 meals.

So, in an effort to eat less processed foods you're planning on eating nothing but processed foods for 2 of your 3 meals? 

 well i meant like frozen foods or fast food. or mac n cheese which is a favorite. and no. im eating 1, maybe 2 meals of the special k. i rather eat 2 salads and a bowl of cereal which is what i have been doing.

Sillygoose

She said she got bored a little under a month.  All the best to you:)

sillygoose: I just read your journal entries, and as far back as May you were concerned about drinking not going well with weight loss.  It doesn't matter that you are "22 and the typical college student".  No one plans for addiction in theif future; you just wake up one day and there it is!

My thought: eat more (healthy foods) and drink less!  You will lose weight and feel better, both physically and mentally.

(And I agree with amethystgirl: that you talk to your school's health services or early intervention team.)

When I started dieting I drank once a week, in excess, I managed to lose 30 lbs..now that I have stopped drinking, I broke my plateau so the drinking this is a bigger deal than more people think! but to the OP, my mom did the diet, lost 20 lbs..then gained it all back plus some when she ate normal food again, it sounds like you need to eat more anyways

I don't think what you're drinking is a problem as long as you can go without. Like if you can't make it through a weekend or two without drinking, then obviously something is wrong. But I was drinking much more than that throughout college and it was never a problem as far as addiction is concerned.

Weight gain, now that's different. But anyway.

If you are only eating 500 calories a day, first of all, that seems unlikely. Second of all, no wonder you aren't losing any weight. Especially if you are working out on top of this. Your body is likely in starvation mode and is clinging to every single bit of fat you have. Think like a bear hibernating in the winter - they manage to survive because their bodies cling to the body fat they have.

Definitely, DEFINITELY you need to eat more. I don't suggest the Special K diet. It is boring and totally unsatisfying, plus you would just gain the weight back anyway. Try the Eat More Foods diet. Protein. Carbs. Healthy fats.

alaskanmama: yes back in may is when i was drinking a lot. every night i would probably down a bottle of wine. so to me, now, having 5 cranberry vodkas, or 2 glasses of wine, is not impacting me drastically. but i do understand what youa re saying & i understand that even some alcohol DOES affect your weightloss.

delaney: ive never heard of the eat more foods diet. that is something ill have to look up.

and with this special k diet, you are eating a lot of food. i mean i cant go through the plan exactly because i cant eat that much but if anyone gets this correctly and gains the weight back, i would assume its because they didnt learn to portion their meals correctly.

and with this special k diet, you are eating a lot of food. i mean i cant go through the plan exactly because i cant eat that much but if anyone gets this correctly and gains the weight back, i would assume its because they didnt learn to portion their meals correctly.

 The Special K Diet is an advertising gimic to get people to buy Special K and their spin-off products!  It is not a healthy way to lose weight, and it is not "a lot of food"! If you feel that you can't eat that much, then you have a skewed sense of how much you should be eating. 

Also, proper portion control involves eating REAL FOODS! Not just cereal, cereal bars, and other brand related convenience foods!  Please, give up on pursuing this unhealthy method of losing weight.  It's much more beneficial to count your calories, drink less, eat more, and exercise a reasonable amount.

Best of luck and many prayers in your direction.

Drinking won't help weight loss at all. While your body is trying to process the alcohol anything you may eat after drinking will be stored as fat. Your liver can only process a certain amount at a time, if you are drinking heavily it won't process any foods you eat, it only stores it on your body as fat, the more you drink the worse it is. Its partly why they have limits on how much you should drink. Even the next day your body will still be trying to process the alcohol so its not a good thing to do.

Also yes, you do need to eat a lot more food to lose weight. I know how rediculous it sounds but its true, I tried to skip calories once and exercised HEAPS like 2 hours every day for a week and I ended up retaining water and i was about 4lbs heavier. You body goes into starvation mode as people have previously mentioned.

Original Post by sillysillygoose:

...if anyone gets this correctly and gains the weight back, i would assume its because they didnt learn to portion their meals correctly.

If you already know how to portion your meals correctly, then why you are doing this?