If you had to drop 30lbs and couldn’t workout???

[03mossy]

Without writing a novel here the Dr wants me to loose 30 lbs before June 17th.

I had a L4-L5 spinal fusion September ‘22. Follow up microdicectomy May of ‘23. Since then things got somewhat better but never even close to feeling good or pain free. The past 8 months or so things have gotten progressively worse. I’ve done hundreds of PT sessions, injections, spinal decompression, etc… You name it I’ve tried it. My disk below the fusion has ruptured and is not only out but out and down. I am scheduled for an L5-S1 fusion. Since they have to tie in to the existing fusion this surgery is higher risk and they will operate from the front on the 17th then from the back on the 19th. Pretty pissed about this whole thing but I have no choice because I can’t walk for more than a few feet. It’s constant shooting pain from my back into my left calf.


Anyway if you were told to drop 30lbs what would you do? For reference I started 6’2” 251lbs last week when I got the Drs orders. Was 283 4 years ago. Did a 3 day fast this past weekend and am at 244 now. My plan is a mix of fasting and carnivore but looking for ideas. Keep in mind any cardio or major lifting is out of the question .

 

[keystone112]

Limit your diet. No more than 75 grams of fat per day.

I did this to try to lower my cholesterol. It worked but I lost 15 pounds. I only weighed about 170. I ended up going to cholesterol medication. 155 was way too low for me.

 

[mt terry d]

Two options come to mind:
1) tapeworm
2) eat less

I'd choose #2 but that's just me.

Seriously though, water & animal protein.

 

[MallardSX2]

Water
Salad
Deer meat

 

[The_Jim]

I’d focus on real foods. 1 ingredient. Eat your target body weight in grams of protein. 220 grams of protein each day. Protein first, veggies second, starches 3rd. By the time you’ve eaten 73 grams of protein in each meal you’re not going to have much room left for other food.

I would typically say walk 10k steps per day but it sounds like walking is painful, is there any physical activity you can do?

A fast can be deceiving, you’re a big guy so you could lose a lot of water weight. Also if your calories are too low your body will naturally pair down muscle and although you’ve lost body weight, your body fat percentage will remain the same or go up.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

Anyway if you were told to drop 30lbs what would you do? For reference I started 6’2” 251lbs last week when I got the Drs orders. Was 283 4 years ago. Did a 3 day fast this past weekend and am at 244 now. My plan is a mix of fasting and carnivore but looking for ideas. Keep in mind any cardio or major lifting is out of the question .

Seems tough but I've done it, did 100 lbs in less than a year without fasting. If I needed to do it now I'm confident I could. I'd do a strict keto, almost carnivore, and the rest is simply calories in vs calories out. 3500 calories is a lb of fat, so calculate out out according to your base metabolic rate and eat an appropriate amount per day and you're good. Also if your goal is 30 lbs of actual body weight you need to add another 10 lbs for water weight if you're doing anything keto based, so scale need to be 40 lbs less than your 251.

Broccoli and lettuce won't hurt anything at normal portion sizes and will help you feel full, just don't put anything on them except salt and pepper.

ETA: depending how the calories work out it may be easiest to do an intermittent fasting just one meal per day timing. It does make it easier so you're not hauling food to work and such.

 

[P Carter]

My two cents: Talk to valley 2 peak nutrition or other qualified professional. Sounds like serious business.

 

[Seeknelk]

I'd eat nothing but game,eggs,bacon, fatty red meat,salt and water. Really improves my lipid panel doing that. And drop weight of course.

 

[wapitibob]

I lost 50# in 10 weeks on Adkins a number of years ago. You can also lose extensive weight on one of the programs like medifast but those are mostly just severe calorie restrictions.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

Seems tough but I've done it, did 100 lbs in less than a year without fasting. If I needed to do it now I'm confident I could. I'd do a strict keto, almost carnivore, and the rest is simply calories in vs calories out. 3500 calories is a lb of fat, so calculate out out according to your base metabolic rate and eat an appropriate amount per day and you're good. Also if your goal is 30 lbs of actual body weight you need to add another 10 lbs for water weight if you're doing anything keto based, so scale need to be 40 lbs less than your 251.

Broccoli and lettuce won't hurt anything at normal portion sizes and will help you feel full, just don't put anything on them except salt and pepper.

ETA: depending how the calories work out it may be easiest to do an intermittent fasting just one meal per day timing. It does make it easier so you're not hauling food to work and such.

So I just ran some numbers guessing, for 90 days at your height and weight you need to be at 1166 calories daily deficit. Guestimating your lowest BMR not even sedentary at 2100 calories per day leaves you with eating 934 calories per day. It's very easy to calculate calories for real food based on weight, be sure you're calculating raw weights for raw values, cooked foods throw your calculations off based on how much or little you cook them.
If you have a steak just eat that and broccoli or whatever, if you have something lean like venison or chicken breast throw in some almonds or an avocado weighed for calories not to go over 934 of course.

 

[sodaksooner]

I'd eat nothing but game,eggs,bacon, fatty red meat,salt and water. Really improves my lipid panel doing that. And drop weight of course.

Sounds counterintuitive based on what we have all been taught but this is the truth. Protien and Fat provide satiety which makes you feel full and it lasts longer than carbs. I know this is the truth but have a huge sugar addiction, so that negates it a lot... Also avoid grains, starches, sugar, and processed foods. if it comes in a bag, box or can don't eat it.

 

[gbflyer]

I have a female friend who went with ozempic. She is very active, team sports etc pushing 60y/o and weight wouldn’t come off as needed for a knee replacement. Worked great. She has gold plated state employee insurance which is a big deal because it’s like $1K a month.

 

[Speaks]

Carnivore or at least strict keto and aggressive fasting.

 

[The_Jim]

I’m a far cry from a doctor, but I’m not sure how hung up I would get on the 30lbs by June 17.

If you diet and lose it by that date, you’ll likely gain it right back once you quit the diet. Makes more sense to adjust your lifestyle, find healthy foods you enjoy and lose that 30 lbs over 10 months and never gain it back because you made real healthy habits.

 

[03mossy]

I would typically say walk 10k steps per day but it sounds like walking is painful, is there any physical activity you can do?

Not much unfortunately. I can walk but real slowly. Running is a complete no go.I managed about 15 mins on the elliptical on Sunday and felt ok during but painful after. I am going to try and head to my parents this weekend and try their assist bike to see the pain level of that.

 

[PredatorSlayer]

Carnivore - its the easy button for weight loss. You’ll feel great too.

 

[03mossy]

I’m a far cry from a doctor, but I’m not sure how hung up I would get on the 30lbs by June 17.

If you diet and lose it by that date, you’ll likely gain it right back once you quit the diet. Makes more sense to adjust your lifestyle, find healthy foods you enjoy and lose that 30 lbs over 10 months and never gain it back because you made real healthy habits.

I realize it’s faster than the recommended but the surgeon said I had too to do the surgery.

 

[PredatorSlayer]

You might consider an OMAD approach with carnivore. Eat as much as you want that one meal. Eggs, Meat, cheese, butter etc. I have found that I feel the best when I go red meat heavy with my meals.

 

[03mossy]

You might consider an OMAD approach with carnivore. Eat as much as you want that one meal. Eggs, Meat, cheese, butter etc. I have found that I feel the best when I go red meat heavy with my meals.

This is really what I am leaning towards!

 

[ScreamingPotato]

This is really what I am leaning towards!

If you want to play the guessing game sure, otherwise eat 934 calories of all those things one meal a day and come in exactly where you want to be.