Is this "diet" safe?

Notavirus.exe

I am on medication for "mental reasons". A side effect is loss of appetite. Between first going on this medication 2 years ago and now, I've lost a stone or two. I never really worried about my weight. Currently, my BMI is healthy.

In the morning I don't feel hungry (this is before I take the medication) so I only eat a few biscuits or a bar or something small like that. I then go to work and it involves a lot of walking around and at lunchtime I can only eat half a sandwich (because I'm not hungry when on the medication). I then go home and have a proper dinner and then I seem to be fine for the rest of the evening. This has been the same since I started on the medication 2 years ago.

A few weeks ago I stopped eating junk food and putting sugar in my tea/coffee because I want to lose weight. Is it unhealthy to suddenly cut down on sugar intake?

Any help will be appreciated, thanks.

RHJ

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Notavirus.exe

RHJ wrote: »

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I thought that sudden changes in your diet can be unhealthy.

Back when I started on it I would get a checkup maybe every 1 or 2 months and the doctor checked my height and weight and said that I must have been getting the proper nutrients or something. I'm not sure if that would have been an adequate test. Would a blood test show signs of vitamin deficiency? I might get one if so.

I actually have talked to my doctor about it and told them about my lack of appetite. They just said that it's a common side effect of the drug.

RHJ

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bee06

Notavirus.exe wrote: »

I thought that sudden changes in your diet can be unhealthy.

Maybe if you went from eating 4000 calories to 2000 calories it would but not eating junk food and taking sugar wouldn't be an issue.

Instead of thinking of your food intake as three meals of breakfast, lunch and dinner maybe eat small amounts regularly? So even if you don't feel hungry eating something small won't make you feel like you're forcing yourself to eat. And as the previous poster said, multivitamins would be a good idea.

Notavirus.exe

RHJ wrote: »

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Well I'll check my vitamins with another doctor. If there is a deficiency then I'm sure the doctor would recommend a diet and/or give me vitamin things.
Now that I think about it, I have to take a certain dosage of the medication because of my weight. I haven't had a checkup in months and I've probably lost a considerable amount of weight in the meantime and maybe I don't need to take as much. I'll ask the doctor anyway.

bee06 wrote: »

Maybe if you went from eating 4000 calories to 2000 calories it would but not eating junk food and taking sugar wouldn't be an issue.

Instead of thinking of your food intake as three meals of breakfast, lunch and dinner maybe eat small amounts regularly? So even if you don't feel hungry eating something small won't make you feel like you're forcing yourself to eat. And as the previous poster said, multivitamins would be a good idea.

If I ate small amounts regularly I would feel like I was overeating.

Your mention of calories reminds me of something. I weighed myself 2 weeks ago and again last week. I had lost between 2-3 pounds. I weighed myself again today and I have lost another 2 or 3 pounds. Should I be concerned? Let me point out that I recently cut down on sugary stuff and I've also started to increase my walking speed during the day.

I've heard that sudden weight loss like that can be a sign of something bad (a disease or something). I'm not worried about it due to the fact that I had remained about the same weight for a long time until I changed my diet. My changes in diet might be fine and dandy but I'm a little worried I may have started this diet too soon or something.

The main reason why I started this thread is because I want to ask how I can maintain a healthy diet and lose a little weight. Maybe someone can give me a link to a helpful site or something?

Thanks for the help so far.

bee06

I think you should talk to your doctor about this. If weight changes could impact how your medication works it's better to consult him/her first.

RHJ

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Notavirus.exe

RHJ wrote: »

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A number of factors may contribute to how I weighed last week and how I weigh today.

I'll weigh myself for 7 days in a row at the same time everyday starting tomorrow and I'll write down what I weigh everyday and post the changes here. If there is a strange fluctuation that you can see, I'll go to the doctor.

njs030

Weight can fluctuate from day to day depending on many factors, once a week is fine. Giving up sugar and doing more exercise is beneficial for most people so not something to be concerned about.

If your doctor has said loss of appetite is a side effect then it's not a big deal.

Really if your weight affects medication dosage you should be talking to a doctor, strangers on the internet aren't the correct people to be advising you on this.

Notavirus.exe

Well according to the interwebs, going on a "low-carb" diet (which I think means cutting down on sugar) can cause almost instant "water weight" loss or something like that. It also says that weight loss then slows down after that, so what I've experienced is normal.

Anyway, I'll weigh myself everyday for the rest of the week and see what the fluctuation is like.

Oryx

Im not really happy about this thread tbh. You have established medical issues and yet are asking here what to do rather than your doctor, who is the only person in a position to advise.

Losing weight is ok if you have it to lose. Cutting out sugar is beneficial if the rest of your diet is healthy. But in your case you have medication which is a factor, and you need to stick with professional advice.