Something I don't understand about celebrity diets.

StormWarrior

When a celebrity loses weight and looks really good and healthy, they often have their diet published in magazines. It's often something along the lines of the following (just as an example):

Breakfast - an omlette with a tomato OR a bowl of porridge

Lunch - a chicken breast with salad

Dinner - a peice of fish with vegetables.

Now, by my calculations, that can't add up to more than 500 cals a day. But the diets are often touted as being around 1200 cals a day. I don't get it, are my calculations just really off?

And if the celebrities can eat so little and be healthy, why are normal women told you MUST eat a minimum of 1200 cals a day to be healthy?

Is the diet example above an OK one to be following? (For a woman who just wants to lose weight I mean.)

cowzerp

Your well off, the omelette alone would be anywhere from 3-500 kcals. 1200 sounds about right! Add in a couple of pieces of fruit and its as healthy a calorie restricted diet as you'll get!

tribulus

Or possibly a liberal amount of dressing in the salad or oil used in cooking and you've got some more calories.

I certainly wouldn't take what's published completely at face value.

StormWarrior

cowzerp wrote: »

Your well off, the omelette alone would be anywhere from 3-500 kcals. 1200 sounds about right! Add in a couple of pieces of fruit and its as healthy a calorie restricted diet as you'll get!

Really? I thought that an omlette would be about 200 cals, about 160 cals for 2 eggs plus about 40 for a teaspoon of oil? So you think that diet's ok then, it's not like a starvation diet or anything? I guess the calorie estimates I got for various foods off the internet must have been wrong.

brianthebard

As trib says, taking these articles at face value is a bad idea. Is that omlette 2 eggs or 6? What fish is it? What size is that "piece"? How much dressing is on the salad and veg? There's more left out than put in in that menu.

Davei141

StormWarrior wrote: »

When a celebrity loses weight and looks really good and healthy, they often have their diet published in magazines. It's often something along the lines of the following (just as an example):

Breakfast - an omlette with a tomato OR a bowl of porridge

Lunch - a chicken breast with salad

Dinner - a peice of fish with vegetables.

Now, by my calculations, that can't add up to more than 500 cals a day. But the diets are often touted as being around 1200 cals a day. I don't get it, are my calculations just really off?

And if the celebrities can eat so little and be healthy, why are normal women told you MUST eat a minimum of 1200 cals a day to be healthy?

Is the diet example above an OK one to be following? (For a woman who just wants to lose weight I mean.)

Omelettes can vary. I wouldn't use 2 eggs for an omelette 3 minimum and usually a decent bit of oil unless you have a non stick pan. Defo have more than tomato on it too. Cheese & Ham/ chicken etc.

When they say salad they usually mean salad with some olive oil drizzled over it.

Fish. If the fish is a decent bit of salmon then salmon can pack a decent few calories. Giant plate of veg depends on the veg how many calories.

If you follow that diet don't skimp on the eggs. Don't skimp on the topping either. Don't skimp on anything. Have a BIG piece of chicken with a lot of salad, onions, sweetcorn, cheese, cucumber etc and some dressing. Ideally a sort of healthy oil. With the fish make sure its not the piece of crap 80 cal per 100g frozen fish with no healthy fats on it. Go heavy on the veg. If you try completely cut the cals on that plan by having 2 eggs no oil for breakfast etc you are setting yourself up for a fail so don't skimp.

MagicMarker

Moral of the story, ignore 'celebrity' diets or anything read in a magazine that would contain a celebrity diet.

Roper

I don't think it's that celebrity diets are to blame, they're probably on the same calorie restricted diets that any of us would go on if we wanted to lose some weight. The problem is that usually the magazine/tabloid takes those diets and needs to sensationalise them to sell more issues.

Which of these sounds better:
Celebrity X has lost 5 pounds on her new diet thanks to controlling her calorie intake and only eating whole foods.
or
Celebrity X is on a dangerous diet that could be costly to her health. A close friend said she is "concerned" for the star after she decided to severely restrict her calorie intake and only eat whole foods.

StormWarrior

What about people who do diets like lighterlife, where they're only getting about 500 cals a day? They seem ok on those diets, do you really need 1200 cals a day?

rubadub

StormWarrior wrote: »

I guess the calorie estimates I got for various foods off the internet must have been wrong.

They often are incorrect. And 90% of the time I find they underestimate what people really eat. I used to eat museli out of a mixing bowl! probably up to 1000kcal while the quoted portion of 35g on the pack is miniscule

Some of the estimated WW points for takeaways are ludicrous, I dunno what scabby portions these "estimators" get, but I would hand back a portion they got as it would not feed a small child. One dish was said to be 5.5points, I estimated in my local Chinese it is at least 33.5points.

Be careful on the net as recipes & portions can change all around the world. e.g. in the UK calories for spirits are often calculated at 25ml, while a shot here is 35.5ml. A "average" chicken breast in Australia is probably bigger than here, big macs calories are different in the US and here. etc

And like Roper says it is all about selling papers. I think I saw George Clooney being questioned by paparrazi type lads walking past and saying he lost weight by eating less and exercising more. They looked disappointed, they want to hear about Beyonce drinking nothing but maple syrup.

StormWarrior wrote: »

What about people who do diets like lighterlife, where they're only getting about 500 cals a day? They seem ok on those diets

Just another lipotrim knockoff. Check out the lipotrim threads people with hair falling out, weak, dizzy etc.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article4548020.ece

Irish nutritionists call for regulation of Lipotrim
Experts say the weight-loss programme is not being monitored properly

NUTRITIONISTS have called for greater regulation of the Lipotrim weight-loss programme being sold in pharmacies. While it is designed to help the clinically obese lose at least a stone a month, it is just as popular with thinner women and brides-to-be who are eager to emulate the “size-zero” image made fashionable by the likes of Victoria Beckham and Nicole Richie.

Followers of the Lipotrim programme pay the 163 pharmacies that sell the product at least €82 for a week’s worth of sachets containing meal-replacement milkshakes and soup, then €65 for each following week. Dieters are told not to eat or drink anything else for at least two weeks or until they reach their target weight, at which point a maintenance diet is introduced.

Howard Foundation Research, the UK company that makes the product, claims the sachets provide dieters with enough nutrients to survive on 450 calories a day. Generally 2,000 calories a day are required by women and 2,500 by men.

But Margot Brennan from the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute said: “The body’s first response to low energy intake is to break down muscle and you can’t select where that muscle is coming from. It might be from the heart or lungs.

“Not all pharmacies are monitoring use of Lipotrim properly. The product is compliant with legislation but the legislation itself is weak.”

Nicola Grant, 32. People are not classified as being overweight until they have a BMI of more than 25.

Grant did not eat for five days on the programme but gave up after experiencing “severe dizziness”.

“The person that I dealt with in the pharmacy did comment that I was within the healthy weight range but did not say that I should not start the programme,” she said.

Grant lost 5lb but put all the weight back on within two weeks. She has since lost weight by following a healthy eating plan.

“This is not a good way to lose weight,” said Kellie Collins, a nutritionist who has advised Gaelic football teams and developed weight-loss plans for Tesco Diets. “People want a quick fix. The side effects of low-calorie diets include hair loss and brittle nails, but nobody knows the long-term effects on the body.”

On the discussion forum of WeddingsOnline, brides-to-be and newlyweds extol the virtues of Lipotrim. “I just think of wanting to look my best when I am buying the most important dress of my life,” one woman said.

“It’s a hot topic among brides,” said Rachel Vowels, editor of WeddingsOnline, which has 40,000 registered users. “It is normal for a girl to want to shed pounds before her

wedding, and fad diets are bound to come up. In many of the forums about Lipotrim you will see brides discouraging its use, and warning about the negative side effects.”

The Howard Foundation said Lipotrim is restricted to “overweight and obese individuals who want to lose a significant amount of weight and must be monitored and controlled by pharmacists”. It says it trains and later inspects pharmacies to ensure that they screen potential patients and monitor their progress properly.

The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland, which regulates the country’s pharmacies, said it hasn’t received any complaints about Lipotrim.

The Irish Medicines Board reviewed Lipotrim in July 2006 and concluded that it should be classified as a food and was therefore outside of its remit. It was then assessed by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), which deemed Lipotrim as compliant with national and European Union legislation.