Weight-Loss Sacred Heart Medical Diet

Weight-Loss

Tik

New member
Soo...I'm not a fan of diets. I don't think sticking to a strict regime for a few days, to lose a certain number of pounds is healthy...most of the time I find people end up gaining more weight afterwards. HOWEVER, a coworker of mine is doing the Sacred Heart Medical Diet, a diet that is often given to people who need surgery but must lose weight quickly before being admitted.

Him and his gf are doing it, and have lost -8lbs each over 5 days. He says he's never hungry, has more energy than ever, and is enjoying the food.

Have any of you tried it? I'm so tempted to whip up the soup he's eating all day, and give it a go...but I HATE doing these things! But -8lbs in 5 days is a pretty lovely number, and it makes me want to see that too!

Do any of you know if the weight loss is sustainable with this? I'm curious to see!

Also, I wonder if it's a good thing to do once a month- or if it'll actually hurt your body...

Any opinions are welcome!


**I posted below the outline of it, if you haven't heard of it! If you google it, you can find lots of sites that are about it, but they tend to have ads**

Sacred Heart Medical Diet
This 7-day eating plan can be used as often as you like. If correctly followed, it will clean out your system of impurities and give you a feeling of well-being. After only 7 days of this process, you will begin to feel lighter by at least 10 pounds and possibly 17 pounds, and experience an abundance of energy.

SOUP:

* 1 or 2 cans of stewed tomatoes
* 3 plus large green onions
* 1 large can of beef broth (no fat)
* 1 pkg. Lipton Soup mix (chicken noodle)
* 1 bunch of celery
* 2 cans green beans
* 2 lbs. Carrots
* 2 Green Peppers

Season with salt, pepper curry, parsley, if desired, or bouillon, hot or Worcestershire sauce. Cut veggies in small to medium pieces. Cover with water. Boil fast for 10 minutes. Reduce to simmer and continue to cook until veggies are tender.

This soup can be eaten anytime you are hungry during the week. Eat as much as you want, whenever you want. This soup will not add calories. The more you eat, the more you will lose. You may want to fill a thermos in the morning if you will be away during the day.

DRINKS:

* Unsweetened juices
* Tea (also herbal)
* Coffee
* Cranberry juice
* Skim milk
* Water, water, water

DAY ONE
Any fruit (except bananas). Cantaloupes and watermelon are lower in calories than most other fruits. Eat only soup and fruit today.

DAY TWO
All vegetables. Eat until you are stuffed with fresh raw, cooked or canned veggies. Try to eat green leafy veggies and stay away from dry beans, peas or corn. Eat veggies along with the soup. At dinnertime tonight reward yourself with a big baked potato and butter. Don't eat any fruits through today.

DAY THREE
Eat all the soup, fruit and veggies you want. Do not have a baked potato. If you have eaten as above for three days and not cheated, you should find that you have lost 5-7 pounds.

DAY FOUR
Bananas and skim milk: Eat at least 3 bananas and drink as much milk as you can today, along with the soup. Bananas are high in calories and carbohydrates, as is the milk but on this particular day, your body will need the potassium and carbs. Proteins and calcium to lessen the cravings for sweets.

DAY FIVE
Beef and tomatoes: you may have 10 to 20 ounces of beef and a can of tomatoes, or as many as 6 tomatoes on this day. Eat the soup at least once today.

DAY SIX
Beef and veggies, eat to your heart's content of the beef and veggies today. You can even have 2-3 steaks if you like with green leafy veggies but no baked potato. Be sure to eat the soup at least once today.

DAY SEVEN
Brown rice, unsweetened fruit juice and veggies, again, be sure to stuff yourself and eat the soup. You can add cooked veggies to your rice if you wish.

By the end of the 7th day, if you have not cheated on this diet, you should have lost 10 to 17 pounds. If you have lost more than 17 pounds, stay off the diet for two days before resuming the diet again.

This diet is fast. The secret lies within the principle that you will burn more calories than you take in. It will flush your system of impurities and give you a feeling of well-being. This diet does not lend itself to drinking any alcoholic beverages at any time. Because of the fat build-up in your system. Go off the diet at least 14 hours before any intake of alcohol.

Due to the variety of digestive systems in individuals, this diet will affect everyone differently. After day three, you will have more energy than when you began, if you do not cheat. After being on the diet for several days, you will find that your bowel movements have changed. Eat a cup of bran or fiber. Although you can have black coffee with this diet, you may find that you don't need caffeine after the third day.

The basic fat burning soup can be eaten anytime you feel hungry during the seven days. Eat as much as you wish. Remember the more you eat, the more you will lose. You can eat broiled, boiled or baked chicken instead of the beef. Absolutely no skin on the chicken. If you prefer, you can substitute broiled fish for the beef on only one of the beef days. You need the high protein in the beef for the other days.

Continue on the diet as long as you wish and feel the difference both mentally and physically.

DO NOT - DO NOT
No bread, alcohol, carbonated drinks (including diet drinks). Remember, absolutely no fried foods.

DO - DO - DO - DO
Drink plenty - at least 6 to 8 glasses - of water a day, as well as any combination of the following beverages: black coffee, unsweetened fruit drinks, cranberry juice and skim milk.

This diet comes from the Sacred Heart Memorial Hospital that is used for overweight heart patients in order to lose weight rapidly, usually prior to surgery.
 
oh now, come on...you've been on the forum long enough to know none of us would support a diet like that. I've got the same old question for you..... what happens when your done with this diet?? your gonna regain the weight. Lifestyle change girl!! Eat the way you can eat for the rest of your life.
 
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oh now, come on...you've been on the forum long enough to know none of us would support a diet like that. I've got the same old question for you..... what happens when your diet with this diet?? your gonna regain the weight. Lifestyle change girl!! Eat the way you can eat for the rest of your life.

I know I know! I'm sooo ashamed to have posted this...but -8lbs!! OMG!! I would LOVE that! It's taken me 2 months of darn hard work to lose 15!

But I know...*sigh* I know...it's not a sustainable diet...I mean, he's gotta crash and gain it back...

I'm letting the numbers sway me! I've never ever dieted like that before, but it's so tempting!

I suppose if anything, the soup is filled with nutrients, and is rather healthy- it could be a good staple in a healthy diet mixed with other things!

...BUT -8 lbs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :drool5:

I would be interested to see if people do bounce back and gain the weight! It is endorsed through many hospitals (pff, i should know better to think that just because hospitals promote it that it's golden) ...
 
well of course people gain the weight back. This diet is nothing more than just really low cals. When I was sick 2 wks ago, i lost 10lbs in 1.5 wks...but that was just b/c i was only eating 500-700 cals a day...once i went back to normal, most the weight came back.

I understand this diet sounds way cool and -8lbs would be an awesome jumpstart. I'd just hate to see you work hard and lose the weight just to gain it back afterwards and be even more disapointed.

So what if it takes you a while to lose the weight the right way. See...years ago I thought about just cutting back A LITTLE every week...like literally a can of pop or whatever. But then I thought, "man, that'll take me a YEAR to lose my weight if I only lose 1lb a week" so I went more drastic. Guess what happend?? the more drastic was too much for me and now i'm bigger than I was when I started!

I just don't wanna see that happen to you.
 
Just looked over the plan.

I would bet that I could gain weight following that plan. And not even struggle. On every single day, there is an easy possibility of going over my allowed calories (~2250).

The soup has no calories? BS! Of course it does!

Watermelon is low in calories? No, it's not, for what it provides, it's actually rather high, and it has next to no nutritional value.

As much fruit as you want? Surefire way to go over your calories. Same for vegetables. There are vegetables that are rather high in calories, and they don't specify what to eat.

I have seen this plan before, it's ages old (I think I was about 12 or 13 when I've first seen it, which would make it at least 23 years old), and it's never really worked.

Stay away from it. You know so much better than to go for something stupid like this!!
 
Word of advice..

Any plan that actually uses the word DIET is something to worry about from the start. Rarely are they plans that you could do for the rest of your life. Usually..it's part of a book (pay for it) or you have to pay for extras.


Common Sense is free. So is actual knowledge.
 
Hey, thanks for the advice! I'm not a fan of diets, and I'm always one to promote a "lifestyle" change rather than a quick fix.

It's hard to grasp as these people are smart, and were recommended this through a nutritionist. I know I can be naive sometimes, but it just struck me as a, 'wow, is this actually worth it?' kind of thing...in my head, I know that slow and steady weight loss, is a loss that is maintainable in the long run.

As for the calories in the soup. He said that a batch makes 10 large servings, and each is roughly 270 calories...which actually seems floored me a bit.

I was also worried about doing this diet while exercising...sure you have lots of sugar and carbs through the fruit/veg, but what happens when you don't have your protein post work out?

They both exercise about 5 days a week- could part of their loss be muscle? As they're not giving themselves the proper nutrition post work out?
 
It certainly could be. :/ I understand that you only need a deficit of about 700-800 calories to lose a pound of muscle :( (I'm not 100% sure of this figure because I don't remember where this number came from...)

Also, normally diets like this end up ... not exactly dehydrating you, but if you're retaining water you flush it out. Low carb is similar, you retain less water so you could lose 3lbs of water in addition to anything else. Of course, as soon as you go back to 'normal' eating... the water weight goes right back on!

And I'm 100% with you on the worries about the lack of protein. Seems like the goal is to flush a bunch of water out of you and not care if you're losing muscle or fat. :/

If you're really wanting the big # loss, then a Protein Sparing Modified Fast like Lyle McDonald's Rapid Fat Loss diet is safer. However... I couldn't do it for more than 2 days. :p Basically you eat nothing but lean protein, fat free cheese, and fibrous low calorie veggies. Chicken boobs, egg whites, spinach, peppers etc... and well.. I suppose you could make some sort of soup out of it all to be more filling but. Like I said.. I lasted two days before I had to EAT something! I just don't want it enough ;)
 
Just to say - if indeed this has been inspired by surgical patients' diets - that the diets given to patients before surgery are intended to empty as much of the GI tract (guts) as possible. They're not aimed at weight loss or improved nutrition. They're designed for practicality (surgery is difficult if the gut is full of digesting food/faeces).

The other 'diet' patients are put on before surgery is Nil By Mouth aka eating nothing.

So basically I just want to illustrate that these 'diets' are purely for the aim of making surgery easier. They're not intended to help you lose weight and they're certainly not a long term solution.
 
I have completed the first day of this diet. I ate nothing but three bowls of the soup, three helpings of watermelon and cantalope, drank six glasses of water and a glass of juice. I had a cup of coffee and a cup of tea. GUESS WHAT ? At the end of the day I had gained 4 pounds. I am sure the gain was all from the liquids I drank. I have a serious heart condition and a blood pressure problem so I take a diuretic to control fluid build-up. I was up 5 times last night peeing so I had a sleepless night. By this morning I had lost 3 of the 4 pounds that I had gained because of all the peeing so I am still 1 pound heavier than when I started the diet. I am going to continue on with the diet to see what the end results are but at this point I am not happy.

.
 
Funny you post this because iv been looking in to it as well! I was thinking ( in my opinion) that it would be a great way to jump start weight loss perhaps, maybe do it once a month or once every couple of months or perhaps when you hit a plataue. Its not somehting you would want to do for ever (obviously!) but i think it could possibly jump start your system and rid your body of toxins plus, not starve and it also changes up every day so i think it could work well if you do it properly...go on it for a week then healthy eating after words instead of going back to the way "your fat self eats" sorta thing. are you going to give it a try??
 
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