I feel silly even asking this but...

[lgna70]

I bought the JUDD book on my kindle and did a quick read. It sounds good, and maybe I missed some parts ( as I said it was a quick read for me and I was in a bit of a rush ) - but I could have sworn I read that you eat what you want on your up days, no restrictions, just eat till your satisfied ( dont stuff yourself ) - but from the threads I have been reading, its seems there is a calorie cap on up days for most people here. I am confused on this. Can someone clarify? I understand the concept of calorie counting on down days, but up..?
Thanks!

[Beeb]

Originally Posted by lgna70

I bought the JUDD book on my kindle and did a quick read. It sounds good, and maybe I missed some parts ( as I said it was a quick read for me and I was in a bit of a rush ) - but I could have sworn I read that you eat what you want on your up days, no restrictions, just eat till your satisfied ( dont stuff yourself ) - but from the threads I have been reading, its seems there is a calorie cap on up days for most people here. I am confused on this. Can someone clarify? I understand the concept of calorie counting on down days, but up..?
Thanks!

When you go on the JUDDD site there is a calorie calculator that gives you suggested amounts for DDs and UDs calories. And yes, it does say you can eat until full in the book BUT that can be a major problem for people and the reason why the UD calories are there. It's giving you a "guide" to go by so you are mindful of what you are eating and this gives JUDDD the chance to work it's "magic"!

If you are a person that can identify when you are full and will not eat anymore, then eating without counting calories on your UD would not be a problem for you. I, for one, could never do that, well at least before I started JUDDD. I now know when I've had enough, but still don't trust myself to not count and eat up to my calorie ceiling, as suggested on the JUDDD site calculator. I would just be upset if I found out I was eating way more than the suggested UD calories that has worked so well for me.

HTH and hope you come over to the "Dark Side" with the rest of us!

[pjsam1156]

Beeb is right. I ate whatever I wanted on my UDs the first week, and lost weight. But the next two weeks, I didn't lose anything. so I had to go onto the website calculator and get my totals, and now I'm keeping track of my UD calories to see if I start losing. I think I was eating just enough on my UDs to cancel everything out--so I just maintained. Hope this helps.

[Mommie22boys]

I agree with Beeb. If you read enough threads you'll see posts of people who did not track their UD calories and weren't seeing results...then once they were mindful of them, the plan started to work. So, while the theory of "eat until full" likely works, the real-life plan in action often requires tracking those UD #'s as well.

Good luck and welcome!!

[SoHappy]

Originally Posted by lgna70

I bought the JUDD book on my kindle and did a quick read. It sounds good, and maybe I missed some parts ( as I said it was a quick read for me and I was in a bit of a rush ) - but I could have sworn I read that you eat what you want on your up days, no restrictions, just eat till your satisfied ( dont stuff yourself ) - but from the threads I have been reading, its seems there is a calorie cap on up days for most people here. I am confused on this. Can someone clarify? I understand the concept of calorie counting on down days, but up..?
Thanks!

It's easy to understand where the confusion lies after you read it over several times. There is a YES and a NO answer to your question and observation here...

That's because he sort of talks out of both sides of his mouth about the subject, saying in one part:

"..........On Up Days you will be free to eat as much as you would like (without intentionally overeating) as well as the kind of food that you would like.........."

Whoa! THAT'S my kind of diet! Right? Can this really be true? We tend to just glom onto those words and not read or analyze any further.


But, here's how this all continues, and how it plays out. On the JUDDD site, he provides a calorie calculator, which we use to figure what he labels *our normal calories*. You are given a figure for your normal calories.

And he goes on to tell us how to figure our DD calories as a certain percent of our *normal calories*... like the suggestion that our DDs will be 20% of our UDs, but that they can be higher, but that it's better to not go over 500 calorie DDs, etc. etc. etc. and he even goes on to tell us about how to eat for our maintenance once we've gotten to goal:

"..........When you have lost the amount of weight that you desire, you can maintain your weight by eating up to 50 to 60 percent of your normal calorie allowance on Down Days.

So, while he talks about us being free to eat as we wish on our Up Days, it's also pretty obvious that he very much has an upper calorie figure in mind, our normal calories. We have our DD percentage to eat at, and then for UDs, we have *our normal calories*. LOLOLOL

I've followed JUDDD on other weight loss sites where they actually don't pay any attention to their UD calorie calculator number, instead latching onto that perceived permission to eat as much as you want, and those folks throw their *normal* calories number under the bus, and you know what? The weight losses that get reported and bragged about are far fewer and pretty disappointing compared to the JUDDD results found here!

When we actually use calorie calculators to determine our normal Up Day calorie numbers, and then we don't overeat that number, we can make this plan hum!!!

And the lovely thing about it all is, after paying attention to UD calorie numbers, and actually working this thing, and truly weighing and measuring foods and serving sizes and tracking the calories, eventually your FAT has actually melted away. We keep having people here shouting Goal! Goal! GOAL! GOAL!

And by then, they often are about ready to do a bit of UD eating without counting the calories, because the hope is that JUDDD can also be teaching us how much to be eating on Up Days, because we'll have been truly eating at the right amount. By following the plan, and sticking to our *normal* calories, tracking and not going over, we are practicing the art of learning how to eat without turning ourselves back into fat people again! And finally, we hope that JUDDD will have prepared us and taught us, and we can actually be relied upon to eat with some common sense from now on! Woo Hoo!

[pjsam1156]

Pat, I seriously don't know why Dr. Johnson didn't hire you to write his book--everyone would be much better off.

[2muchme]

I agree. You've saved me from much confusion. I do thank you!

[avecrain]

I started tracking my UD calories because when I listened to my body (while having a diet mentality), I wasn't getting enough calories. Now I have a target and I know I'm keeping my metabolism happy! I haven't had any trouble losing at any point on JUDDD, but it's nice to know that I'm doing the plan in its ideal form.

[SoHappy]

Originally Posted by avecrain

I started tracking my UD calories because when I listened to my body (while having a diet mentality), I wasn't getting enough calories. Now I have a target and I know I'm keeping my metabolism happy! I haven't had any trouble losing at any point on JUDDD, but it's nice to know that I'm doing the plan in its ideal form.

I don't think anybody could argue with your great success in following JUDDD so carefully.

[jiggles]

I am not tracking my UD calories (yet). I did JUDDD last winter while doing a weight loss challenge at work and lost 20 lbs. in 3 months (I was also exercising). I didn't count UD calories then either. But I have read a lot of books on Intuitive Eating so that is what I tried to do on my UDs. Sure, I may have lost more weight (and not lost the challenge by 4/10th of a % to a guy!)if I counted on UDs but then it would have felt too much like a restrictive diet to me. I HATE counting calories but when I learned about JUDDD I thought "Wow, I only have to count every other day and only up to 500?! That's easy! I can do that!"

I really tried hard to not overeat on my UDs and to pay attention to my hunger/full signals since I wasn't keeping track of the calories. I was satisfied with my results especially because it really didn't seem very difficult to do.

I got off track over the summer & fall and turned every day into an UD and have gained back 8 lbs. So, I'm back at it and think I am in the right frame of mind again to get these pounds off. I'm still not going to count calories on my UDs. If I have difficulties losing then I will start to track them also.

Everyone has to choose what's right for them. I've read a lot of success stories on this forum and yes, it seems like most of them track UDs too. For me, it feels too much like a "diet" and would make me give up but for others it's what they have to do in order to lose.

Good luck to you with whatever you choose. JUDDD really is an awesome diet IMO whether you track UDs or not. It's been the easiest one I've ever done!

[SoHappy]

I do have to say, if I hadn't had to track calories to lose weight, I sure wouldn't have!

But for myself, it was my unrestricted and unaccounted for eating (much like big Up Days) that got me fat in the first place.

For those who can eat at about where their UD calorie area should be, just naturally, I'll bet that works out so nicely. I could sure dream of that!

Now days, I eat some UDs with no counting or accounting at all. But I still have to do the counting off and on to keep within my maintenance range. I don't expect to ever be able to simply never have to count on any of my UDs ever again. I can go for awhile, and then I see that it's time for me to tighten up.

For myself, it was important for me to not go over a certain calorie area, else I'd not lose or lose disgustingly slowly, and I was already a slow loser, but it was also important for me to not fall too low down from that calorie number, else I wouldn't be able to encourage a faster metabolism as time went on, which was a big hope and goal for me.

So for me, it just worked out much the best when I did the work involved for me to be successful. But I sure wouldn't have if it hadn't been needed for my success!

[2muchme]

I hope to not have to count UD calories at some point but leaving me to my own devices.....I can't be trusted. For me, being that most CR diets limit to 1200 or less EVERYDAY....1800 seems like a great number and very unrestrictive. But, yeah, you're right, to each their own...whatever floats your boat.