Questions Concerning The Zone Diet - So Confused
 

First, I know you do not have to count calories on The Zone as long as you follow the blocks. But, I checked for how many blocks I am supposed to have and it is 19 blocks. I am a male 5'11" and weigh 441.2. So, according to the block calculation (since the calculator won't do it for me), I am to assume 50% body fat and 50% lean which means that I have 220.6 lean body mass. I multiply that by .6 which gives me 132.36 grams of protein. When I divide that by 7, I end up with 18.9 blocks. So, 19 blocks.

Here is my concern. When I did low carb a few years back, I had trouble losing weight. I found out that I wasn't eating enough. I was eating around 1500 calories and I needed to be eating close to 3000 calories. I have also heard this even after I quit low carbing. So, that got me to calculating. 19 blocks of protein is 7 grams per block (133 grams). Since each gram of protein is 4 calories, then that means the calories for protein is approx. 532. Carbs are 9 grams per block making 19 blocks 171 grams. Since each gram is 4 calories, that calculates to 684 calories. Fat contains 19 blocks with 1.5 grams per block making the total grams 28.5 grams. Since fat is 9 calories per gram, this equals 256.5 calories.

When I add the calories for each, I get a total of 1,472.5 calories. This is less than half of what I was told before I needed and what I am being told that I need now. On top of that, I am being told (and was told when I was on low carb before) that I at least need to eat my BMR which is 2550. But, it is recommended I eat 20% less than my TDEE which would be 3,775 calories. I know the story about the I think it was 1700 pancakes and that your body gets its extra calories from the excess fat. I agree it will do that. But, I also have experienced my body stalling because I wasn't eating enough.

What also concerns me is the protein amount. Even all the other low carb programs tell me I need at least 1 gram per pound of lean body mass which would be around 221 grams. That is 60% more than The Zone is telling me I need. I am being told that if I don't each enough protein, that I will lose muscle mass which I don't want to do.

So, here is what my question boils down to. Has anyone who was morbidly obese and had to lose over 100 pounds ever monitored your lean body mass while on The Zone? Did you follow the guidelines provided or did you increase your intake? Did you lose lean body mass while doing this?

I need something that is going to sustain me for life and I am concerned that this may not be sustainable for me since the calories are so low and I may not be able to keep up with it. In other words, I am so confused because I really don't know what the truth is. :confused:

I think your misgivings are right on. I was over 100 pounds overweight and the Zone had that stalling effect from too few calories also. For that reason I think Sisson's Primal is a better plan, or Robb Wolff's Paleo, for semi-low carb.

Some things to think about -

- The Zone was developed for athletes, and the data they are working from did not include any super obese people, as far as I can tell.

- The carb amounts from Zone can be a problem with super insulin resistant people. Robb Wolff also talks about this. the Primal limits seem to work better - they count grams per day instead of blocks.

- The predictive equations in general can be off by as much as 30% (!!!) for the super obese only because there are not many studies including such people. We can only start with these as estimates. the Miffin St Jour seems to be the best last time I looked.

- There is evidence that metabolism will slow down when you reduce your dietary calories more than 30% off maintenance. The body seems to have a point at which it thinks famine is here, or can only release fat so fast, it seems. You can google "adaptive thermogenesis"

I know the zone diet IS at heart a low calorie diet. Why not consider a different plan?

What about Atkins, Paleo, Primal or South Beach? All have their various merits and most aren't as low in calories, or are as high carb, as the Zone.

Hi Rick,

Yeah, I do know where you're coming from. I was quite a big lad before I decided to lose weight. The thing that most people tend to forget is that, the bigger we are, the more our body needs to keep going. As Seejay had said below, the Zone diet was developed for people, who are in no way, is as big as you and I are, or were in my case.

The other thing I've discovered about the Zone diet is that it's very complicated when compared to other diets such as Atkins. Having lost weight myself, a considerable amount of weight, I should add, with a much simpler diet, I can unreservedly recommend that you change the diet that you're on now. As Nancy LC had said below, that the Zone diet is, at heart, a low calorie diet, I think you’d b pleasantly surprised if you do change. Not just that you will feel more satisfied by what you eat, but also, you will feel what you're body feels as the pleasure of being a slim and fit person becomes more and more a reality.

Hope that helps,

Mark