I was reading some things on the internet about it and decided to go to an orientation last night. It's thru one of our hospitals' Weight Management Centers.

They offer several different options, but the one I was interested in was the low calorie one. You are placed under weekly medical supervision to monitor your health because of the low amount of calories.

Honestly, the program itself is way to much out of the pocketbook for me, and my insurance won't pay anything, but I know I could do it on my own and just follow up regularly with my family doctor (which my insurance would pay for)

I was just curious if anyone else had tried this particular program and if so, what were the ups, downs etc of it.

Thanks!!!!!!

I've looked into programs like that -and decided they weren't for me because well because I like food too much and that low a calorie diet would just set me up to fail...

It seems like a lot of money to spend, that I'm not sure is sustainable long term... What happens when you reach your goal weight? are you still on the low low low calorie diet or do you get to eat "normally" and what is normally?

What about exercise on the program?

i'd honestly think a better alternative would be to re-educate yourself on proper nutrition and find what a decent calorie range for you is - that you can sustain forever - basically make a lifestyle change... It can be done if you'reready to do it

I love HMR! I have been on since 3/5/07. I have lost almost 30 lbs. I do get to eat on it. I do 6 shakes a day, then eat for supper a lean and green. 8 oz of lean meat and a salad with walden dressing. (calorie free) or veggies. I really like the diet cuz I do not feel deprived when my family eats. I have done my own tweaking and modifiying it myself. It works for me and the products are way better than slimfast. I googled up who sold it in cans, that was the cheapest way to go for me.

good luck w/ your weight loss! Sheila

Sassy,

I am doing something very similar to HMR. I have 5 meal replacements per day plus one lean and green meal. The lean and green consists of a portion of protein about the size of a deck of cards. That could be a chicken breast, turkey, lean beef, lean pork, low fat cottage cheese & etc. The "green" is basically salad or low glycemic vegetables.

It is working very well for me. I have lost about 57# so far. (since October... including 6 weeks off of the program)

If you have questions about this kind of diet let me know and I will do my best to answer them for you.

Mark

The first reply was dead on the money.

Low calorie diets are scams and extremely unhealthy. Ever wonder why athletes are able to eat huge amounts of food and yet are extremely fit and have low body fat? Exercise. I eat 3,000 calories a day and have lost 2 lbs. a week for 12 weeks.

Low calorie diets:

1) Slow down your metabolism (so fat loss is even more difficult the next time)
(2) Hit a fat loss plateau
(3) Regain all the weight
(4) Damage your health due to nutritional deficiency
(5) The very low calorie diet cannibalizes your own muscle tissue, while your body goes into starvation mode to protect the last 10-15 lbs of energy reserves (stored fat tissue).

I hear the same thing over and over again about significant weight loss but few admit the gain later on. My brother and I started losing weight at the same time, he did it through South Beach and I through exercise. At first he was blowing me away as he lost 13 lbs. in two weeks. By week 6 I caught up to him, by week 12 he had gained all his weight back and I was still going down. Furthermore I have added several pounds of muscle while he has lost some.

No such thing as a diet. You change your life for good and if you are like me and can't give up food, you exercise. Yes, exercise at first is hard but after a few months (or whenever you get fit) it becomes easy and there is no substitute for the fantastic feeling of being in condition. I eat a lot more fresh fruit and vegetables and less processed food but I still have ice cream and other goodies a few times a week.

Hi Mark,

I found this post from a while back that you had written on HMR. Did you continue to have success with the program? My endocronologist has recently recommended this for me after no luck with other method. I'm curious about others' success.

Thanks

Spence,

I lost about 60 pounds on the plan. I went off of it for several months and gained some back (especially over the holidays). I have not been back on the plan full time yet, but have been watching things closely the last few weeks and have taken off a few pounds. I weighed 263 when I started. My lowest weight on the plan was 203. When I weighed a week or two ago I was at 219.

I realized from the last experience that I do need to focus more on the maintenance aspect and not give in to foods I know are not good for me. I am pretty much a couch potato and also acknowledge that I need to exercise...

Given some personal discipline and support from others this type of plan is very effective and can get you off to a fast start toward reaching your weight loss goal. A couple of guys at work went on the program with me and doing it as a group was an encouragement to all of us that were involved. I lost the most, the others lost about 30 & 40 pounds.

The program we were on cost approximately $250-300 per month. If you would like to know more about what we did, drop me an e-mail and I can tell you more if you want. mstrahan1@hotmail.com

One thing you need to keep in mind with this type of plan is that you can't cheat without paying the consequences of slow or no weight loss. If you stay on the plan and do what your medical health professional tells you to do, you could lose 3-5 pounds per week pretty reliably, sometimes more.

Good luck with whatever you choose to do. I know you will feel better losing the weight and could improve your health also. I know that I sure noticed the difference climbing ladders or going up stairs.

My goal weight is 185.

Mark

I was not a fan of the diet program at Intelligent Health Center: HMR. In fact, it's extremely bland and limiting. I struggled with my weight for years and I went to Intelligent Health Center for some time. Sure, you've got to have a calorie deficit to lose weight, but this program is based on eating meal replacements. The meal replacements are shakes and tv dinner things. These dinners don't even need freezing. It doesn't take a nuclear physicist to figure out there is something wrong with that. They even told us we could eat them room temperature, not microwaved. Yuk.

Working out is a small part of the program, which is a disappointment. The program is also expensive and even if you're healthy, you're forced to see the Dr. (who is surprisingly rude at times) or the nurse and get labs ($$$). Here is the real problem with the program...

Their motto is "More is Better." They monitor you to make sure you are buying enough of their food and every single week you get told that the more of their food you eat, the more you lose. Ok sure, you are less likely to run to Burger King, but what in the world is someone supposed to do when they finish the program now that they're a voracious volume eater???? Oh that's right...buy more of their food!!!! Did I mention their food costs an arm and a leg? Box of shakes for $38.50 and each tiny salty entree is $3.50.

Wonder why you haven't heard more about HMR before? Because it's a miserable diet. Learn about nutrition, eat healthy and work out regularly. It's hard, but it will leave you happier, healthier, and not as broke!

I'm a big fan of HMR diet program. In the clinical setting it is a fast and effective way to lose weight!!

I've done the medically supervised version, which is very restrictive, and if you need to quickly loose weight for medical reasons, I think it's a great option.

For me, at the time, it was difficult. I was in a horrible marriage, and losing weight quickly made my ex very insecure about our relationship. It was difficult to be under suck a huge amount of stress and be on such a restrictiver diet.

They have another program called "Healthy Solutions" that allow you to eat fruits and veggies along with HMR shakes and entrees. This was a much easier.

And, they now have an 'At Home' program, which is what I am doing now. I like the idea that I have fewer choices to chose from, it helps me not to feel 'crazy' about food, as I tend to be a bing eater. I've been on the program for almost a week, and am very happy!!

It is a bit expensive, but so is Jenny Craig, and NurtraSystems etc.