Pace of Weight Loss/Supplements

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone

Sorry for lurking and not posting until now. You know how it is, you’re new to a subject and assume that you have nothing to say that hasn’t already been said.

However, I have several questions regarding the speed at which CR is first undertaken. I’ve heard it repeated several times that if you ‘cut back’ on calories too quickly at the start it will have a negative effect. I seem to remember someone saying that some of the rat studies seem to suggest this. Am I correct?

If this turns out to be true, I’m confused. I thought that nutritionists advising people on ‘diets’ warned against swift weight loss (i.e. too few calories) because this would fool the body into slowing it’s metabolism, assuming it was going through a famine/lean period or something? I thought this was the ultimate aim of CR, to reduce the metabolism?

The reason I’m concerned is because I’ve recently lost approximately 20 pounds in around 2-3 months. The speed wasn’t really intentional. I just cut out the junk and the pounds just dropped surprisingly easily. I feel much better for it, but now I’m concerned that this will have a negative effect if I decide to take it further and start CRON? Will it still have the desired effect or has the rapid weight loss caused a problem because I didn’t do it very slowly? (Assuming that it was rapid, I don’t really know. I’m not a dieting expert. I did it to feel better, not as a conventional diet.)

Also, when first undertaking CR, is it advisable to take vitamin and mineral supplements until I get used to optimizing my nutrition? I’m aware that these are best obtained in their natural forms within food, along with the countless other molecules that they are ingested with, many of which we still have to discover. I just wondered if there is any reason why supplements shouldn't be taken, especially in the early days?

I hope someone can help me with these issues. Any replies will be eagerly awaited and gratefully accepted.

Thanks

Ron Tullock