major weight loss...scared of losin it...help

[kalosedopening]

Late May I weighed 195lbs. I started a "starve myself" diet where all I ate was chicken, salad, and soup....and little of it. Now I weigh 147lbs. I've always been told that this kind of diet will work, but then I will gain all the weight back. I have yet to start gaining weight but I am scared that I will, if I keep going as I am. I want to try and diet the right way without gaining any weight back but I have no clue what to do. Also I want to tone my body because I have pretty much no muscle and everything is pretty soft. Again I don't know what to do. I don't want to kill myself lifting weights but I don't want to do too little and nothing happen. I'm really at a complete loss here and I need all the help in the world.

Some stats:

Calorie intake/day: 500-700 (yep...starve)
Protein/day: not much (less than 20g)
Carbs/day: less than 40g

I don't know if those will help but there they are.
I'd really appreciate any help on this.

[Trans_Isomer]

Late May I weighed 195lbs. I started a "starve myself" diet where all I ate was chicken, salad, and soup....and little of it. Now I weigh 147lbs. I've always been told that this kind of diet will work, but then I will gain all the weight back. I have yet to start gaining weight but I am scared that I will, if I keep going as I am. I want to try and diet the right way without gaining any weight back but I have no clue what to do. Also I want to tone my body because I have pretty much no muscle and everything is pretty soft. Again I don't know what to do. I don't want to kill myself lifting weights but I don't want to do too little and nothing happen. I'm really at a complete loss here and I need all the help in the world.

Some stats:

Calorie intake/day: 500-700 (yep...starve)

Protein/day: not much (less than 20g)
Carbs/day: less than 40g

I don't know if those will help but there they are.
I'd really appreciate any help on this.

Heres a good starting point:
http://www.discountanabolics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=59

[Ibanez]

Hi there-I used to be overweight 265lbs (pre weight training-then lost 82lbs) so I can appreciate and KNOW where you are coming from. Let me offer advice based on what worked for me, doing things the right way, this will be in laymans terms... these forums are great but sometimes the language gets a bit tough for new ppl!

Firstly, the minimum/starve yourself type diet is not a good choice for several reasons. ( thought this would make sense for myself in the beginning too) When you starve the body of food, the body goes into a ration type mode where it notices that your intake of food has severely dropped, so it slows the metabolism way way down. Secondly, to get the nutrients it needs, it will start supplying energy needed by chewing into your muscle, so you are not losing just 'fat' as such, but muscle as well, probably why you are noticing that muscle is near non existent on your frame. Because the metabolism is slowed right down, when the person who follws this diet stops (inevitably) they go back to old eating habits (usually not real good habits) and then the metabolism gets in trouble as it has to process the sudden increase of food, and it is more than likely not real healthy food, so the result? The weight comes back with a vengeance...

What you need to do is forget your current starve diet and get back to regular meals again, but 5 or so meals a day, but make the portions smaller, about half your current 'meal' size. Sounds crazy I know, but when you feed at regular intervals with smaller amounts your now sluggish metabolism will be able to work with you a lot better than if you have 3 'big sqaure meals' again. This absolutely works, and myself and several friends of mine who were overweight over the years would testify to this. Smaller regular meals will assist your metabolism greatly

Exercise will be a great idea too, but take it easy to start off with, if you don't exercise regularly right now, start off with a 10 min walk and increase slowly but surely. At some point, you may want to jog, ride a bike, do some weights. I wouldn't worry about hitting the weights right this minute, spend a few weeks getting back into a regular eating pattern first.

Lastly keep the eating habits sensible, once a week or so, enjoy a hamburger, speaking from experience, and seeing many around me, if you deny yourself the 'luxury' of a 'bad' meal once in a while, say once a week, the desire to remain focused will diminish. Rome wasn't built in a day, do the change of diet gradually and you will be WAY more likely to stick with it, and keep your food lifestyle change. A MRP (meal replacement shake) will be good to give your body better nutrients instead of a meal as such. I used this myself and again testify to the results doing this. You will gain a little more energy and start feeling healthier by incorporating this into your diet. Generally I try and follow a 40/40/20 rule, 40% of my meal is carbs, 40% protein and 20% fat, with smaller than your fist sized portions of carbs and protein (eg chicken breast, rice and green beans)

Bill Phillips has an excellant book called 'Body for life' which would be excellant for you to read. You can get this off amazon.com for about $6. It will be of great benefit for someone who wants to change their diet, and get into exercise, but it also addresses the change in thinking that needs to happen, when altering your lifestyle like this.... Hope this assists you in some way, any further questions, email me, I will be happy to assist

Naturally, other opinions on the forum may have different ideas, but what is above is a good overall outline. Eat more regulary, but smaller portion s, incorporate exercise and don't try and build rome overnight-take your time but enjoy the journey-it will help KEEP the weight off in the long run