What are the reasons for and benefits of going on a liquid diet?
Summer’s here, and I’ve been wanting to focus more on dieting since I have the time.
I’m male, 18, 6’4", weigh about 260, and I’ve lost about 40 pounds since the end of last year with diet and exercise.
My question is, would a liquid diet be a good idea for me in my current health situation? What would be the benefits? Are there any good resources for finding out more about this?
People go on a liquid diet because they have usually been ill or just had a major surgery and the GI tract is impaired. There is absolutely no benefit a liquid diet for any other reason. Like Chris said, it is not healthy.
If you want to continue to lose weight, continue doing what you are doing. If you are at a plateau, then you need to change things up.
For diet, you could simply find a way to drop 100 calories….look to your food groups that 1.) give you a lot of serving allowances in the first place, like the grains group, and 2.) are large contributors of calories, like fats, sweets and oils group and meat or dairy group. So for example, you might find a way to give up 1 slice of bread somewhere, and reduce your portion size on the meat you eat at lunch or give up a slice of cheese on a sandwich.
Or another EASY way to reduce a day by 100 calories is eat how you normally would , and leave about 3-4 bites on your plate at each meal…..it adds up and you don’t really notice it.
For exercise, you can simply increase it a bit by say, jogging a half a mile more, or adding a game of tennis to your routine etc. Another thing to consider is sometimes, after you are doing a routine for some time, your body gets used to it, so maybe when you first started the routine, your body burned more calories, but 4 wks later, it has compensated and calorie expenditure is less. Change up your routine to throw your body a curve ball. I used to always run, but one time my 60 yr old mother insisted I speed walk with her. I laughed,,,,I run! This will be a breeze. Not the case, I huffed and puffed in a different way and the next day I felt muscle burn in new places. So if you run, try the stair stepper, if you play tennis, try basket ball etc.
Remember what ever you do, diet or exercise, it should always be looked at as a lifestyle…..meaning something you can do for the rest of your life. You could never live on a liquid diet for the rest of life,,,,at least not very well, and, you could never probably keep up with P90X for very long either. Set your goals for something you can attain. It does you no good to do something extreme for a short time, its better to do something normal, for a long duration. The body will do weird things to respond to extreme conditions and many times, its counter productive. Hope this helps. Good luck!!
People go on a liquid diet because they have usually been ill or just had a major surgery and the GI tract is impaired. There is absolutely no benefit a liquid diet for any other reason. Like Chris said, it is not healthy.
If you want to continue to lose weight, continue doing what you are doing. If you are at a plateau, then you need to change things up.
For diet, you could simply find a way to drop 100 calories….look to your food groups that 1.) give you a lot of serving allowances in the first place, like the grains group, and 2.) are large contributors of calories, like fats, sweets and oils group and meat or dairy group. So for example, you might find a way to give up 1 slice of bread somewhere, and reduce your portion size on the meat you eat at lunch or give up a slice of cheese on a sandwich.
Or another EASY way to reduce a day by 100 calories is eat how you normally would , and leave about 3-4 bites on your plate at each meal…..it adds up and you don’t really notice it.
For exercise, you can simply increase it a bit by say, jogging a half a mile more, or adding a game of tennis to your routine etc. Another thing to consider is sometimes, after you are doing a routine for some time, your body gets used to it, so maybe when you first started the routine, your body burned more calories, but 4 wks later, it has compensated and calorie expenditure is less. Change up your routine to throw your body a curve ball. I used to always run, but one time my 60 yr old mother insisted I speed walk with her. I laughed,,,,I run! This will be a breeze. Not the case, I huffed and puffed in a different way and the next day I felt muscle burn in new places. So if you run, try the stair stepper, if you play tennis, try basket ball etc.
Remember what ever you do, diet or exercise, it should always be looked at as a lifestyle…..meaning something you can do for the rest of your life. You could never live on a liquid diet for the rest of life,,,,at least not very well, and, you could never probably keep up with P90X for very long either. Set your goals for something you can attain. It does you no good to do something extreme for a short time, its better to do something normal, for a long duration. The body will do weird things to respond to extreme conditions and many times, its counter productive. Hope this helps. Good luck!!
References :
I am a Registered Dietitian who previously worked with Army soldiers to meet weight standards.