500 calorie magic number?

[BobApjok]

Hi, im kinda curious about something. I have given thought to extending my atkins to include JUDDD. My question is, is there anything magical about the 500 calories days? after thinking about it i came up with a meal plan that actually comes out to a little less than 600 that i think i could do, so i wondered if anyone uses the 500 as a guideline or a hard and fast number. I know with atkins he uses 20 carbs, but i also know that some people do 10 or 30 so i just wondered if anyone with experience could tell me whether 600 is too much or whether it would work. Ive never tried this method before, so i thought i might give it a try to help. If the answer is no, i will try and rework my plan.

Thanks.

[mom23kids]

Dr. Johnsons recommends two weeks of 500 calorie dds and then you start going lower, based on your info in the calculator on his website. However, there are some who do higher dds and still lose weight, so you just need to experiment and see what works for you many of us find it pretty easy to do low dds after you've done juddd for a while. I'm going to have a 250 calorie dd today and that doesn't phase me at all-4 months ago i couldn't even wrap my mind around 500 calorie days lol. It does get easier!

[hot-in-texas]

Depends on your metabolism. You will receive health benefits if you have a significant difference in your calories every other day. So, if you have 600 calories on your DDs, and 2000 calories on your UDs, you will get the health benefits from this WOE. The doctor who developed this WOE says best case scenario is to fast completely(besides water or lemon water) on your DDs. Knowing that this will be difficult to near impossible for most, he says it is OK to allow up to 500 calories in the first 2 weeks because he discovered you will still receive healthy benefits with that amount, and you will still lose weight.
I do know, from first hand experience, that you can lose with 600 calorie DDs. Again it depends on your metabolism, so give it a try and see how it works for you.
Also, if you haven't, Google JUDDD calculator to get your daily calories for after induction. Most of us find that you will lose best if you use the 20% weight loss method. But again, you will have to experiment, as all of us do.
Welcome!

[BobApjok]

Thanks guys. At one point i had done KimKins for about 2 months (before the whole blowup) and was eating about 500-600 daily so i know i can actually go low if i feel like it. this idea has intrigued me for some time so i have been thinking of giving it a try in combination with low carb.

[BobApjok]

Also, was wondering about something else. Do you guys control the carbs on the up days as well. Does it really work without doing that? seems like eating pizzas and bread and all on the up days would completely destroy any progress, but from what i have read, there seems to be no "program" restriction of carbs.

[mom23kids]

Originally Posted by BobApjok

Also, was wondering about something else. Do you guys control the carbs on the up days as well. Does it really work without doing that? seems like eating pizzas and bread and all on the up days would completely destroy any progress, but from what i have read, there seems to be no "program" restriction of carbs.

Juddd is only about calories and nothing about carbs i do the typical sad diet with juddd, have lost 30lbs and just called goal a couple days ago.

[BobApjok]

Went to the site to read a little more. seems my 20% currently is 677 calories. i lost a ton on atkins many years ago, but this time around it is very, very slow so i hope this might help out.

I noticed he said to use replacement shakes on induction, but cant tell if that is a suggestion to make it easier count or a rule. does it actually matter where the 500 cal come from? i can easily do a salad with a little bit of chicken and stay under 200 cal for a meal, but i want to do it right if i am going to try it.

[BobApjok]

oh, and GREAT JOB!!!!!

[Flutter]

You don't have to do shakes/protein bars for the 500 cals. The doc just recommends it to be sure you're coming in at 500 calories. I never used them and did fine. Good luck to you!!!

[hot-in-texas]

If you can do the 500 calories, I would recommend it, as the doctor does stress this.

[BobApjok]

Thanks everyone for the responses.

that was another question. I have been reading the threads all morning and been confused on what "my numbers" mean. it seems some threads say to use 500 and other comments say to use the 20% number. In my case the 20% is actually 677, so i am a little more confused now as to what to use. I think if i am understanding correctly, i need to use 500 during induction, then after that i use the 20%?

I think part of the problem is i am much bigger than most of the posters that are women so my 20% is much higher.

Another poster said on the up days you can eat what you want "as long as you dont go over your calories". Im not sure what that means. would that be the "normal calories" on that calculator (in my case 2953). yet, other sites dont say anything except dont overstuff yourself.

[adillenal]

I am one that used the shakes (no bars) for induction since it was so easy and I did not have to stress about what to eat.
Iin the book Dr. J talks about 500 for two weeks then go to your calculator calories. I loaned my book so cannot look anything up for you. I apologize. Like you said, most of us then went lower since the calculator had our calorie levels under 500 but there are some that had higher. I was not one of them.
This is all about calories not carbs. I have eaten my UD calories in junk more than a few times and I am at maintenance now. I have lost 40 pounds on JUDDD. If I had eaten clean and healthy I am sure I would have lost faster but I was not in a hurry. Dr. J says to eat to satisfaction but what is that? The calculator gives you UD and DD calories and most try to stick pretty close to those two numbers.

[Flutter]

If your down day calories (per the calculator) are over 500, by all means, eat that! The calculator has most of us under 500 calories for down days, so we shoot for 500 or below. Make sense? You just shoot for 677 or below!

As for your up day calories, if the calculator says 2953 for you, you should stick as close to that as possible on those days. There are no other "rules" really for what to eat on down days or up days. Just sticking to your calculator numbers as close as possible!

[BobApjok]

ok, i will go find the book too. that would probably help me understand. i am kind of an expert on the atkins stuff, but so new to this one. I think i will need to start with a low carb version because i am afraid if i cant do this one i will have gone off the low carb and when i go off low carb i almost immediately gain 5-10 lbs. this way i can do this and not worry about that aspect. i cant make myself beleive yet that if i eat carbs on the up days i would still lose weight. i picture myself eating pizza on an up day, but i cant convince myself yet that that will work. plus, in general i think low carb is a healthier lifestyle. i am excited however to give this a try. it would be nice to be able to partake in the items at our office on the up days with everyone else sometimes.

I ate a 130 cal bar for breakfast today, so i think i am just going to start today. thanks.

[mom23kids]

And make sure to re-calculate your numbers periodically as you lose weight, as they will go down as you lose

[BobApjok]

i think on atkins i generally eat about 1800-2200, but i think i can get to 2900 by just adding more cheese or nuts or whatever, of course on this plan it looks like i could make that up with any food i want. im a excited to see how this works for me.

i really appreciate all the answers. im going to add the book to my list as well. (I enjoyed reading the science behind the atkins method and it helps me to understand why it works because it made scientific and logical sense.) if for nothing else that to allow me to read the logic of it and see if it even makes scientific sense. my guess is that i would benefit from the same knowledge of this diet plan.

[BobApjok]

Great point MOM, i handnt thought of that. i would begin wondering why i was gaining weight. lol

[BobApjok]

is the book i am looking for actually called "THE ALTERNATE-DAY DIET"

also is eResveratrol necessary for the diet to work, or is that a supplement that isnt necessary?

also, maybe this is covered in the book, but on DD if i exercise and burn say 200 calories, does that affect what i eat or is it still 500 total.

[mom23kids]

Originally Posted by BobApjok

is the book i am looking for actually called "THE ALTERNATE-DAY DIET"

also is eResveratrol necessary for the diet to work, or is that a supplement that isnt necessary?

Yes that's the book, juddd is just a nickname i think most of us skip that supplement. I do take a daily probiotic and a baby aspirin (to help prevent another blood clot), others take various other supplements based on preference

[Yennie]

There is a thread on this board 1-2 screens back discussing whether to add back in exercise calories. Short answer: most of us don't but YMMV. Main reason: unless you have a bodybug or something similar, the tendency for MOST PEOPLE is to over-estimate the calories burned so when you add back, you're adding too much which stalls weight loss.

[LoCarbGal]

Since you're a guy, I would use your higher calculated numbers and forget the 500 for now. I'll bet you'll lose great there, and if you need to reduce them later, you'll have that in your pocket. Good luck!

[Librarygirl]

Bob! I'm excited to have man here! It will be nice to see a male's perspective on JUDDD. You're so lucky that you can eat nearly 700 calories on DD.

I was skeptical at first about eating whatever I wanted and still losing weight too, at first. Now, I eat pizza, mexican, cookies, cake, you name it. LOVE this WOE!!

[hot-in-texas]

Originally Posted by BobApjok

ok, i will go find the book too. that would probably help me understand. i am kind of an expert on the atkins stuff, but so new to this one. I think i will need to start with a low carb version because i am afraid if i cant do this one i will have gone off the low carb and when i go off low carb i almost immediately gain 5-10 lbs. this way i can do this and not worry about that aspect. i cant make myself beleive yet that if i eat carbs on the up days i would still lose weight. i picture myself eating pizza on an up day, but i cant convince myself yet that that will work. plus, in general i think low carb is a healthier lifestyle. i am excited however to give this a try. it would be nice to be able to partake in the items at our office on the up days with everyone else sometimes.

I ate a 130 cal bar for breakfast today, so i think i am just going to start today. thanks.

Jump on in! I started on a DD. I did not count the cream in my coffee that day though(it was 130 calories)since I decided to start after having the coffee lol
I had also just come from Atkins, and since I could not figure out what to eat that first DD, I ended up having pasta and then I never counted another carb. I t was very strange at first, eating carbs.

[BobApjok]

I went ahead and started thanks to all the encouragement. Lunch was pretty easy since i had generally eaten salads with chicken anyway. after work until bed will be the test, but i am interested to try it. Found an ebook online so i am reading it now too. I was losing 25+ lbs a month on atkins years ago, but this time, not so easy. of course, i was over 400 and like 23 years old. Maybe this will be the way to do it.

[BobApjok]

I take if from "librarygirl"'s comment and the threads ive read, there are mostly women here?

[adillenal]

Originally Posted by BobApjok

ok, i will go find the book too. that would probably help me understand. i am kind of an expert on the atkins stuff, but so new to this one. I think i will need to start with a low carb version because i am afraid if i cant do this one i will have gone off the low carb and when i go off low carb i almost immediately gain 5-10 lbs. this way i can do this and not worry about that aspect. i cant make myself beleive yet that if i eat carbs on the up days i would still lose weight. i picture myself eating pizza on an up day, but i cant convince myself yet that that will work. plus, in general i think low carb is a healthier lifestyle. i am excited however to give this a try. it would be nice to be able to partake in the items at our office on the up days with everyone else sometimes.
I ate a 130 cal bar for breakfast today, so i think i am just going to start today. thanks.

Oh yes, this is nice. I have had carrot cake more than a few times in the past year. On DD's I just wrap it up and put it in the frig for tomorrow. BUT after a year I am getting picky about how to spend my calories. Carrot cake always wins but other kinds that are just cake to me, I will skip and not even miss. We seem to have cake, cookies, donuts or whatever a fw times a week in the breakroom.

[mom23kids]

Originally Posted by BobApjok

I take if from "librarygirl"'s comment and the threads ive read, there are mostly women here?

There's a few guys here, but they don't post a lot

[calichris]

Hi Bob!

The point of the 500 calories is to go low enough to activate the SIRT gene, but for you I bet your 20% calories would do it just fine. (For many women, their 20% is LOWER than the induction 500 calories, but your 20% is more, so I think it would work well to go with your 20%). After those two weeks, Dr. Johnson says:
"While it is still perfectly acceptable for you to continue eating 500 calories, or 20 percent of your regular calorie intake, on Down Days after the induction phase, many individuals find that eating up to 35 percent is easier to maintain over the long term."

I do 20% most down days, but I sometimes add more within my losing range depending on what's going on that day. The flexibility is great.
Also, I started by not counting up day calories, but about two months in my losses slowed, so I started being more aware of up day calories then.
You don't have to do this low carb, but you can. I started out high carb, just transitioning to lower carb for health reasons ... it works either way. It's a fun plan, and guys usually do amazingly well on it!

[BobApjok]

Thanks,

I started reading the book a few hours ago. ive read 1/3 of it so far, 6 chapters. definitely interesting. ive read the chapter named "starting the alternate-day diet" which makes no mention of 500 cal, just says use 20%. The induction phase chapter is coming up so im assuming thats where i will find that.

[adillenal]

I commend you for getting the book. I think it is an excellent plan and I am glad I have the book although I need to get mine back so I can reveiw the maintenance section.