I would love a buddy to go through the next couple of months with me. I started the Pro Cal 100 liquid diet 3 days ago.

I am on day 4. I'm actually attempting to stay on the diet until the 19th of May.

That gives me 9 weeks to lose 48 lbs.

Is this attainable? I'm 5' 3". Would love a few buddies.

198/198/150

I know what Pro Cal 100 diet shakes are but, when you mention starting a "Pro Cal 100 liquid diet" - are you meaning to say that you intend to eat NOTHING but those diet shakes for the next 9 weeks???

If so, I wish you the best with your weight loss. However, that said, probably the reason you haven't yet found a buddy is that very few folks, if any, who regularly visit this site would consider a liquid diet (even a supposedly low-carb one) to be either reasonably healthy nor reasonably sustainable.

Lots of folks have read your post and nobody has responded. Probably because nobody wants to nay-say you because we all empathize deeply with your desire to lose weight and to do so quickly. But, to be honest, you need a better plan!

If you really want to lose weight AND have any hope at all of keeping it off, you need to find a Way of Eating (WOE) that will allow you to lose the fat while maintaining or even increasing your muscle mass. And, it needs to be a WOE that you can at least IMAGINE yourself sticking to for the REST of your life.

If you weighed 300 pounds, then yes, you could probably lose 48 pounds in 9 weeks without doing your body too much harm...although even then, doing it via a liquid diet would NOT be the best way to go about doing it.

But for you, 48 pounds is 25% of your current weight. It's highly unlikely that you can lose that high a percentage of your total body weight that quickly. And, even if you were to succeed in sticking with the liquid diet and actually dropped all 48 pounds as quickly as you want, a huge part of the lost weight would be muscle mass, not fat.

The problem with losing muscle mass is that you end up with a higher percentage of fat to muscle than you started out with. Plus, on a starvation diet your body's metabolism slow way anyway. The loss of muscle mass and slower metabolism means that, when you start eating normally again, it even easier for you to gain weight and even harder to lose the excess weight next time around.

If you follow your diet plan, it is highly likely that, as soon as you go off of it, you'll regain every pound you lost and each regained pound will bring another 1/2 pound of extra fat with it. You'll end up fatter than ever.

Please, please, please, do yourself a favor and study some of the diet plans that others on this forum HAVE had success with. Pick one that lets you eat REAL food and lose weight without going hungry. Forget all the diet meals and diet shakes and pre-packaged diet crap. You want REAL food with real protein, fat, vitamins, minerals, etc. and more importantly, REAL TASTE.

Don't you think it would be better to lose weight a bit more slowly and never gain it back again, than to crash diet it off and then regain that weight (plus more) as quickly as you lost it?

With a good, carefully-selected WOE, you COULD easily drop 20 pounds by May 19th. And, trust me, that will be enough to make you feel and look like a million bucks! And, with a good, carefully selected, WOE, you'll be able to stick with it so that over the next 4 to 8 months you can drop the remaining 28 pounds. (Weight loss tends to slow the closer you get to goal). And best of all, with a good WOE, you CAN sustain the weight loss for the rest of your life.

I do wish you well. I just hope you'll reconsider and choose a wiser plan so that, when May 19th rolls around with whatever the big event is that you're losing weight for, you'll be both slimmer and HEALTHY!

Excellent, well worded response Bevangel!

Carol - I applaud your desire to improve your weight. And I wish you the best in the endeavor. I do not believe the Pro Cal 100 Liquid Diet is the way to accomplish that. I agree with Bev that you might see a rapid weight loss but you will see a return of the weight, plus some, once you switch back to real food. I Googled the Pro Cal 100 Liquid Diet and was unable to find that particular diet plan. The manufacturer's website does not reference an exclusively liquid diet. The products are described as "great for those 'on the go'." From that, I infer that the shakes are meant to be used in conjunction with real food - not as a complete replacement.

I came across the shake mixes. Here's the nutritional breakdown - excluding Vitamins:

Fat: 1.5g (zero saturated fat) 3% DV
Protein: 15g 30% DV
Carbs: 7g (all from sugar) 2% DV
Cal: 100
Sodium: 200mg 8% DV

I don't put much stock in the "Daily Values" as recommended by the US government because I believe they should be higher fat, moderate protein, and low carb. Fat is required for, at a minimum, the body to absorb and use various vitamins. The shake mixes result is a high protein, lowER carb, and LOW FAT plan. They also result in a low sodium plan. Sodium plays an important part in our bodies correctly working. Even drinking 6 shakes per day would result in too low of a fat intake, too high protein, and too much sugar. Not to mention, 6 shakes equals only 600 calories - not nearly enough to sustain muscle mass (as Bev pointed out).

I encourage you to take a look around this forum and read up on the various Ways of Eating and the research posted. Read up on the importance of fat and sodium for our bodies.

I do not want to discourage you from pursuing weight loss. I simply want to see you pursue that goal in a manner and by a Way of Eating that is, and will result in a weight loss that is, sustainable.

Best wishes.

Thank you for responding. I am doing shakes for breakfast lunch and having a meal at dinner.

So far it's working like a charm.

198/189/150

I'm glad its working for you and you're sticking with it!!

All diets work if you take them to the extreme. Its when you stop that it becomes hard. But I guess that at least if you kick start like this and then gradually introduce low carb foods, you will be able to continue to lose and maintain.

The worst thing you can do - and its a mistake that most of us have made over the years I'm sure, is to hit your target and then to stop "dieting". Inevitably, you go back to how you ate before, the way you ate that made you gain weight.

Jo xxx

I'm glad to hear your diet is working for you and even happier to hear that you're eating REAL food at least once a day.

I still think the Pro Cal shakes give you too much sugar and protein and not enough fat. If you balance things out better with good nutritious dinners - and you're not feeling starved and deprived CONSTANTLY - then perhaps this will work out okay and your body will shift in ketogenic fat-burning mode.

I have my fingers crossed for you! Do let us know how it goes. And, when you have the time, do take advantage of all the combined wisdom available on this board to learn more about what others have found to work for getting the weight off and keeping it off.

I've done that. If I had to do it over again I would watch the tape measure as well as pounds. i lost pounds all right, but also a ton of muscle because the calories were so low. So then when I went "off" that diet my metabolism was like an old lady's but I ate like a young lady - well you get the picture. There was a big old rebound weight gain.

Do you know how to use a tape measure every week, to see if what you lost was fat, muscle, or both? It's quite fun. In a geeky sort of way.