She gave me general information about the PSMF developed at the Cleveland Clinic.
I wanted to give it a try so she told me to get a physical with my personal physician and to make an appointment to have my blood work done. I'm not a physician so I couldn't tell you the technical name for the type of blood work but I remember it included liver enzymes, cholesterol, and possibly uric acid and electrolytes. It was pretty comprehensive.
Those were the initial steps.
When I went to her office she described the plan in more detail.
Basically, the diet consists of lean meat and vegetables. By limiting the amount of carbohydrates in a person's diet and still consuming an adequate amount of protein, the body will go into a state of ketosis. Ketosis is the process of the body using stored fat for energy instead of using carbohydrates. The reason for eating enough lean meat is to keep the body from looking to its own muscle mass as a source of energy.
She advised me that I personally would need 13 oz of protein a day divided into 4 meals. I needed to consume 4 servings of "non-starchy" vegetables a day as well. That means no potatoes, corn or carrots. I was delighted to find out that jalapenos and onions were considered "free" vegetables. I could add those to any meal without worrying about the quantity.
A typical serving of vegetables is 3.5 oz for a total of 14 oz a day.
There are no added oils allowed and there are very few allowable condiments.
Another thing I liked about it was that I was actually told to over-salt my food because I would be losing a lot of electrolytes. Supplements are also necessary because of this loss of electrolytes, specifically: Centrum, Calcium, Magnesium and PRESCRIPTION Potassium not over-the-counter!
There were a number of associated risks as well. Hair-loss! Diarrhea! Constipation! Dry Skin! I don't remember all of them, probably because I personally didn't experience any of them. Because of these risks I had to have my blood drawn every 2 weeks to check my uric acid levels.
As long as the readings were healthy I could be on the diet for 90 days at a time. After a 30 day break I could go back on it for another 90 days.
After a few false starts because of my schedule and some other health problems, I went from 310 lbs in May 2003 to 204 lbs in April 2004. My goal was 180 lbs but I got complacent when I reached 204. I always regretted not getting to my goal which I claimed would have prevented me from gaining the weight back. After many, many more diets, personal trainers, and years later I now realize that the only way I will lose weight and keep it off is to track the number of calories I consume daily and to make sure it does not exceed the amount of calories that I burn.
DUH!
