Optifast Diet Plan Question

Hi Ray,
My name is Dianne and I have your Fat to Fit e book as well as being on your email list. I love the info you pass along. Thanks.

I am a personal trainer but always like to see what others are doing , get some ideas, etc. Your philosophies are that of mine.

But I do have a question/ opinion. I am doing some nutrition counseling for a physician in my area ( I have a degree in foods and nutrition and am a nurse too). These are people that have been on a very low calorie intake ( of which I do not believe in) but he wants me to help them transition back into eating normal meals after being on a low calorie diet using "foods" he has using a program called Optifast. I am doing this because I am so against this Optifast ( and I am trying to convince him of this) and would like to help people lose weight through good nutrition and exercise. Anyway.....she is coming off this optifast and has been on approx 1000 cal/day. ( I haven't seen her yet so I'm waiting to look at her food journal and talk to her). She weighs 214 lbs, 52 yr, 5' 6" and has incorporated exercise into her regimen 3x's / week (I have to find out exactly what she is doing ).

So here's my question:

For someone who has been on such a low calorie diet for some time, is it better, in your opinion, to increase the calories where they should be, based on BMR and activity, at a slower rate? She has lost some weight but I know that her body has to be in starvation mode! I think she should be in the 1500 - 1700 cal range for weight loss (probably higher because of her current weight). From what I am told about her she is going to have a hard time adding these calories on because she is afraid she will gain the weight back that she has lost.
I just wanted to see what you thought

Thanks for taking the time to read this...........Dianne

ANSWER FROM RAY:
Whew, your in a tuff spot. Alot is going to depend on your client. Sometimes they just wont listen and it breaks your heart to care more for them then they do about themselves.
I hate it when people are put on diets below 1100 calories no matter what. Even if they do lose SOME weight, its unhealthy and its clawing at the gates to come back for survivals sake like you said.

Bottom line, I agree that she should go back to a BMR and activity based caloric intake. You are going to run into oposition because she will gain some short term weight because of the state here body was in. SHE WILL HAVE TO TRUST YOU that once her body normalizes and she trains the way you ask her, that she will achieve results that will blow the past program out of the water.

I hope that helps and great job on using proper exercise and nutrition to help people live better lives.

Ray Burton President Buildingbodies Inc
http://www.buildingbodies.ca

http://www.FatToFitProgram.com

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