I just read an article in a Woman's World magazine (Jan 30 '07 issue) about the Johnson Upday Downday Diet. You basically eat what you want/need one day, and the next day you semi-fast. This pattern supposedly activates a gene which has some interesting health benefits as well as helping with lose weight.

I started it a couple of days ago and I'm down 1.5 lbs. already. I didn't notice hunger pangs any more than on any other diet, and it was pretty easy to stick with low calories for just ONE day, knowing that the next day I could eat normally. If you're interested in reading about this diet, I have the website; a book is coming out but is not yet published. What I liked about the website was that it was not "super hype" but did give some science to back up the ideas. Best thing--you don't have to buy anything, join anything, etc.

http://www.johnsonupdaydowndaydiet.samsbiz.com/pag e/1ed7e/Home.html

This diet sounds like a good way to slow down your metabolism. Basically, every other day you are starving your body, causing your metabolism to say, "Whoa! I better slow down, because there's not enough food."

As for losing 1.5 lbs. over 2 days, that is well within the range of normal weight fluctuation. Today, I'm 2 pounds heavier than I was yesterday. I ate about 2500 calories and exercised for an hour, so if anything, I should weigh less today. But it just doesn't work like that.

I don't mean to discourage you from losing weight, but this diet just doesn't sound like a viable strategy for the long term.

Hi, Tom!

I agree, it does sound pretty unusual. I'm sure it would not be appealing to everyone. And, I agree, normal weight fluctuations could easily account for 1.5 lbs. lost.

I'm going to give it a try anyway. I don't have a lot of success restricting calories every day--I'm always "falling off the wagon" so to speak. Maybe I can do it every "other" day!

I have tried Atkins and got so cranky and unhappy and tired of the food; I have tried WW and had some success, but the weight didn't stay off. I had the most success with a crash diet from Overeaters Anonymous, but I was so incredibly miserable on it that I couldn't live with it long term. I am looking for something that I can live with that works.

The researchers have reported other types of health improvements such as a marked improvement in asthma symptoms. As a life-long asthmatic, even if it only helped with THAT, I would benefit!

Thank you for your thoughtful input, Tom. I really appreciate the response, and I hope you have great success on the plan you're working with!

Thanks for the link Beth - this actually sounds a lot like Wendie dieting (basically cycling your calories, low calorie days interspersed with high calorie days) or intermittant fasting (IF). While I haven't tried IF, Wendie-style calorie-cycling has worked very well for me. My longest plateau has only been 2 weeks or so. I've been meaning to try IF, but since I haven't really experienced a long plateau yet, I haven't had to. If you do try this diet, please post back and let us know how it goes?

Wendie diet

Intermittant Fasting info:

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/index.php?s=int ermittent+fasting&submit=Search

http://www.arthurdevany.com/2006/12/intermittent_f a_2.html

I have heard of that Wendie diet, Shiny Penny, but never read much about it. Glad to hear that it has worked for you. I hope this similar idea works for me!

Holy Cow!

I started the Johnson Up Day Down Day diet on Thursday, and I have lost five pounds! In other words, I severely restricted calories to around 600 on Thursday, ate whatever on Friday, restricted calories on Saturday, ate whatever on Sunday (including homemade cinnamon rolls with butter, Chinese buffet for lunch, including desert, and a chicken enchilada with real sour cream for dinner, plus a Hershey bar!).

I dieted for TWO days out of the last FOUR and I lost five pounds? That's crazy! I weighed on the same scale, wore similar clothing compared to what I weighed last time, so that does not account for it. And it hasn't even been a whole week yet!

Will keep you posted!

Beth
(doing a down day today)

Please do keep us posted - I'd love to know how it goes.

That's cool...so, if I wanted my "Up Day" to be on Thanksgiving this year, is tomorrow an Up Day or Down Day? My brain hurts.

LOL! I don't know! Now my brain hurts, too!

Beth
(Today's an up day--yay, say I, as I enjoy my glazed donut for breakfast)

Hi Beth!

It does sound like the program is working for you, but I wonder at the health risks of eating anything on one day, and practically nothing the next. Probably your caloric intake is evening out over the two days (or something close to it), but what's the nutritional benefit of eating this way? Is there any adherence to your intake of fiber, protein, fruits, veggies, etc.? I'm sure that cinnamon rolls with butter are tasty, but eating like that 3-4 days out of the week just doesn't seem like it would be heart-healthy.

Anyway, just my 2 cents. Take care and good luck!

Hi, Pamela--

Well, tonight for dinner I am having salmon (full of healthy omega-3 fatty acids) and fresh asparagus (a dark green vegetable), so it's not all donuts and chocolate bars around here!

I put that thing in about the cinnamon rolls because on a regular low-calorie diet, it is pretty hard to work that in, and yet, what a lovely treat to enjoy once awhile. Also, I personally think a pat of butter is probably better than margarine because of trans fats. Yes, butter has saturated fat, but, of the two, I will prefer the butter. I always drink skim milk, though. I prefer it.

Frankly, even when I am on a low-cal, low-fat diet, like Weight Watchers, I still want those things, but can't have them and feel deprived and crave them. On this plan, I can eat them if I want--they are not forbidden foods--and therefore the mental craving is actually less.

The website I posted at the top of this thread addresses some of the issues you brought up--test subjects substantianlly lowered their bad cholesterol and raised their good cholesterol while on this diet, for instance. Also, there are documented improvements for people with asthma symptoms, so as an asthmatic I am very excited about that, and hope that it will reduce my symptoms.

I plan to have a blood screen done in April through the wellness program at work. By that time, I will have been on this eating plan for over two months. I should be able to see some marked improvements over last year's test results if there really is anything to this. I will post information about that.

I have noticed that on my UP days, I am not as ravenous as I expected to be. Sure, I CAN have anything I want, but it is surprising how much less I actually do want to eat than I thought I would.

Thank you for your good wishes! I wish you the very best of health as well!

Beth

Oh, I wanted to add--yesterday was a DOWN day, and I was surprised that I had a lot of energy, felt well-rested when I awoke, and was in a good mood. I did experience some hunger pangs during the day once I actually had a shake. The longer I wait to have the first shake, the longer it takes for the hunger pangs to start. Interesting.

Beth
(having a hamburger for lunch--maybe some grapes would be good, too!)

@Pamela - Maybe this method of eating is more similar to traditional patterns ( experienced by people before food was so freely available and plentiful ) - the binge and fast, binge and fast cycle. Maybe the body really is better adapted to this? Not sure about it yet ... but it seems to be working. I love the fact that being a member of Traineo means I don't have to experiment with all those eating plans myself A few weeks will tell ... keep us in the loop Beth!

@Chereen--You know, that actually makes a lot of sense now that I think about it.

And same here on the eating plans--I don't know if I could do the binge & fast cycle myself, but I'm excited to see how it goes for Beth.

I have lost six pounds since last Thursday (I'm writing this the following Wednesday morning), dieting only every OTHER day. This is cool!

Yesterday was an up day. Had cereal and two eggs for breakfast; had a donut as a morning snack; we made hamburgers/buns for lunch. One of my kids had baked chocolate chip cookies, so I had some of those for desert. Snacked at work in the afternoon. Had a handful of shelled walnuts (I love walnuts). Ate mashed potatoes made with butter, asparagus with some butter, and broiled salmon (about a 4 oz portion) for supper. Had another chocolate chip cookie or two. I was not the least bit hungry. And I STILL lost another pound when I weighed this morning!! This is crazy!

I was scared to weigh myself today. I thought, "I'm going to gain
weight today, I just know it, and then I'll feel stupid because I
told my family and friends and everybody I was doing this crazy diet!" Well, this is the EXACT
same scale I have been using for the last year at the local senior
center, and I purposely dressed in similar clothing. And I lost
another pound. That gives me a total of a six pound weight loss in
one week. I can NOT believe that I have lost six pounds this week,
dieting every OTHER day and eating whatever I want the rest of the
time. I am waiting for the fat collecting cells to return from the
vacation they are apparently on and say, "Hey, she can't get away
with this!"

Today is a down day, so I'm having my three shakes. Oddly enough,
since I have succeeded in doing 3 down days so far, it isn't as
initimidating as I thought it would be. I actually have a lot of
energy and free time on down days. Down days don't scare me any
more. In fact, it is 9:00 a.m., I've been awake for two hours, and I
still haven't had my SlimFast yet and I don't particularly care. I experienced some intense hunger pangs aroun 8:15 a.m., but I was in the car so there wasn't anything I could do about it, and by the time I arrived back home they were gone.

My hubby has been trying to diet all month long, and he has lost only 2 pounds using portion control. There seems to be a universal human tendency to underestimate what you're eating, so that must be why the Johnson website recommends using shakes or prepackaged foods with the calories listed--that way you know exactly how many calories you're consuming.

I thought about fasting just by drinking milk or juice, but the shakes do have added vitamins and minerals, and they taste pretty good.

Beth, first let me say that I am glad you are encouraged by the progress you are getting with this diet, and I in no way want to discourage you from your weight loss goals.

However, I have to say I have been monitoring this thread since it started, and I now feel compelled to "weigh-in" on this topic.

This diet concerns me because it is not teaching you how to create a new lifestyle for yourself or helping you to institute new healthy habits. This is not something that I could see anyone maintaining over the long term, and I don't see any reference in your posts to a workout regimen that you are implementing to complement your weight loss plan.

I quickly ran an estimate on Fitday.com for what you told us you ate on your upday. Granted, I don't know exact quantities of what you ate, and I don't know what you drank throughout the day. So, I left beverages out, and used normal portion sizes for everything else. I also guessed on the cookies and put in 5 for the day. You consumed 2100 calories on your up day, but what was more alarming to me was the breakdown of what you consumed... 53%Fat 30%Carbs and 17%Protein. That kind of diet just goes against everything I have learned in the way of eating healthy.

Again, I am not trying to discourage you, but I just want to caution you to start implementing other healthy lifestyle habits, so when you have lost all the weight you want, you will be able to maintain it.

Honestly, the Upday Downday terminology makes me think of a Yo-Yo...which is not a word we like to hear in the weight loss community.

Best of luck to you, and I hope I am wrong!

sorry - off topic for thread a little, but thanks Jennie for mentioning Fitday.com.

I've just checked it out for the first time and it's fabulous!

No problem! I am glad you like it!

Thank you for your thoughtful input, Jennie.

My biggest concern is losing unhealthy weight. With normal calorie-restricted diets, I have followed them faithfully for weeks on end with little or no result. For exercise, I walk. In twenty years of dieting and watching the scale creep up and up, I have yet to discover what it's like to go on a maintenance plan after I lose weight--'cuz I'm still trying to lose weight!

There is science to back up the health benefits of alternate day fasting. These include lowering the "bad" cholesterol and raising the "good" cholesterol in the bloodstream. Also, there are specific benefits for asthmatic patients, of which I am one. A gene called SIRT1 purportedly is activated by the fasting, which has many beneficial effects.

I believe for maintenance purposes, you simply increase your calories on the down days. On up days, you eat whatever you want--that includes any fruit or vegetables you want, too. Also, the meal replacement shakes are made with skim milk and have added nutrients.

Yeah, maybe I got a little crazy with the butter and donut thing. But why? It's because I like those things and I have been depriving myself of them. It's the classic dieter's nightmare--you try to hold yourself in check 24/7, lose a few pounds, and then it seems like you turn into the Hindenburg while merely standing near the buffet table at the office Christmas party!

Also, I must point out that even while I did indulge my desire for some foods I usually don't allow myself to eat, you can only eat so much of it. I ate one donut for a snack, not a whole bag. It's amazing what knowing you CAN have it does for removing your feeling of desperation.

I have never gotten the relatively painless results I am getting now. I've tried low fat, low carb, low calorie, Curves, South Beach, Atkins, Weight Watchers, the Calorie King website, even Overeaters Anonymous, and frankly, I figured I had no hope anymore. This is working well--at least in week 1. We'll see how week 2 goes.

FWIW, I actually feel quite good on the down days--energetic, have a little spring in my step, and my clothes already seem to fit better. I'll admit, it's weird. But I'm excited!

Best wishes to you on your diet plan, and thank you again for posting your thoughts.

That is what I am afraid of. I have experienced that with so many "diets". My husband always joked that I can gain weight simply by watching him eat. Well, I am finally on a weight loss plan that I see myself maintaining for the rest of my life - not a diet, but a change in lifestyle. Results come slower, but I feel like I am doing it right.

I don't "deprive" myself of anything anymore; but I have been able to change my attitude toward food and portion sizes. It is not always easy, but for me it is easier than the "diet" concept which was always a temporary mindset to me.

Anyway, I am glad to hear that you are approaching this with some experience under your belt, and I am very glad to hear that you have a walking routine in place. I would love to see you succeed!

I'm gonna have to go with Beth on this one - every diet plan has a success story. Let's be honest - trying to lose weight is unhealthy by definition. The moment you eat less than your body needs: you are starving. It doesn't matter what way you wrap that up.

I know many people who have tried the 'eating healthily' route to weightloss, and just like any other kind of diet modification - it works for some and not for others. While I probably would be concerned about somebody starving themselves or doing an all pineapple diet, Beth seems to be a smart cookie. She knows glazed donuts aren't good for her.

The more I learn about weightloss the more I've begun to understand that the key to success is not committing to new lifestyle of healthy eating - it's committing to a lifestyle of constant improvement. Maybe Beth's diet right now isn't perfect, but the increased energy she is getting from her success now may fuel significant health changes down the road.

You go Beth, you're doing great!

Thanks for those encouraging words, Jennie!

Hi Beth! I read the same magazine and just started this diet Tuesday, and Tuesday was my first down day. I couldn't believe how good I felt by the end of the day, almost euphoric like I was supposed to experience on Atkins but never did. Then on my up day I ate what I wanted, but made sure to include 5 servings of fruits and vegetables and did my exercise. For the whole month of January I was on Body for Life and I only lost 2 pounds! On my first day of the up day down day diet I lost 4 pounds!! It is so much easier than measuring everything every day and constantly being in the kitchen chopping up fruits and veggies and doing tons of dishes, etc. This diet feels like freedom to me! I am still going to keep up the exercise routine from BFL but I much prefer this way of eating. I have so much more time on the down days because I'm not thinking about food or shopping or preparing food. I'm glad there's someone else out there who it's working for, too! I also had the same experience as you: The longer I wait to have a shake the less hungry I am. The first day I drank decaf coffee in the morning and didn't have my first shake until 1:30 p.m.

I think compliance with a weight loss diet can be problematic for most people. For instance, I was on a low-calorie diet after the holidays, trying to limit myself to 1,400 calories per day. That is not very much food. Over the course of several weeks, I lost 3 pounds, but I do not feel that was a very good return for being hungry and feeling deprived every single day. I felt that the enormous effort I put into shopping, cooking, looking for tasty recipes, exercising and counting calories should have resulted in a larger weight loss. I wasn't sad to lose 3 pounds, but I thought it was a pretty small return for all the work I did.

On this diet, I am seeing an excellent, better-than-expected return for the will power I exercise on my down days. And the fact that I get every other day off makes the down days pretty doable. I am not feeling desperate because I know I can eat what I want the next day. (Ironically, when I get to the up day, I don't care about eating that much!)

I have been reading and researching the science behind this, and ran across this item last evening:

In 2003, Mattson had a brilliant revelation. As a matter of course, the test animals in most published calorie-restriction studies were fed every other day, presumably because it made life easier for graduate students. But what if that intermittent feeding pattern, not the severe diet, was triggering the results? Mattson promptly devised a study wherein rats had access to all they could eat on every other day, and nothing during the intervening days. The striking result: The rodents behaved much like their calorie-restricted counterparts in prior studies. Their glucose metabolism improved -- blood sugar and insulin levels dropped -- and so did their stress response. This, Mattson surmised, signaled diminished free-radical production and an enhanced ability to deal with stress, both keys to longevity and disease prevention. (Low blood sugar thwarts diabetes, while the ability of the heart, blood vessels, and brain to resist stress protects against heart disease and strokes.)

Hellerstein and Hsieh went on to show that intermittent feeding may have a similar effect in thwarting cancer. They fed mice on alternating days, with one group getting just short of the standard lab diet, while the other mice ate 33 percent less. Remarkably, the well-fed mice showed nearly the same slowdown in cell proliferation as the severely restricted group. The researchers concluded that the biological trigger had to be the intermittent fasting, not the overall food intake. "That was stunning to me," Hsieh says.

And yet it rings true, Hellerstein says. In the wild, nobody is guaranteed a daily meal. Carnivores in particular have a built-in schedule: hunt, pig out, sleep it off, fast, repeat. Humans are no different, Mattson agrees. "Our genetics are geared towards going for extended times without food," he says. "Our ancestors never had a refrigerator in their house -- they had to go out and find food, and depending on the season of the year they might have had trouble."

Instead of starving, Hellerstein and Hsieh say, perhaps a partial fast on alternating days will prove enough to trip the self-preservation response in humans. "We had been thinking about it as kind of a preserve-your-body-in-the-most-crude-way response: Don't die now," Hellerstein says. "Unknowingly, we stumbled upon the fact that you can exploit this starvation response for therapeutic benefit because it's so potent and so brilliantly conceived. "

(excerpted from Live, Fast, Die Old, by Kara Platoni, originally published by East Bay Express 2006-01-18
©2005 New Times, Inc. All rights reserved.) http://eastbayexpress.com/Issues/2006-01-18/news/f eature.html

The article itself is about the well-known, but almost-impossible-to-do, practice of staying underweight to extend life. Well, that doesn't interest me at all--but the scientific study described in the excerpt above suggests that alternating fasting and feasting will give the same health benefits as trying to remain underweight. Alternate day fasting, I am finding, is doable.

Well ignoring all the science and such like, there are many cultures in the past and still around today that always ate alot for a while then had a lean time.

Admittedly not on a day to day basis, most of them (to my knowledge) were on the small side. But then i also have to point out that they lived in or close to scrubland or desert type areas.

so assuming beth has an above average "healthy" meal from time to time and the odd vitimin pill i am sure it will all even out.

Do what works for you, and so long as you healt gets no worse than it was last week or last month kepp doing it so long as it works.

[quote=Julie Gold] This diet feels like freedom to me!

Wow, I am not alone! I agree with what you are saying--your post describes exactly what is happening to me! And I agree--freedom from the extra planning, shopping, preparing etc. is great. I hope you post again and let us know more about how it's going for you. Congrats on 4 pounds lost!

Thank you for the encouragement!

Congratulations on your progress, Beth.

There's very little out there to read about this Johnson Diet, and my concern is whether people with various health issues - diabetes/ BP/ etc. can go on this diet. I'm sure, like its counterparts, it comes with a disclaimer that one ought to consult one's physician before going on the diet.

I wonder, Beth and Julie, if you have any health issues, or consulted your doctors before going on this diet, or if the proponents of the diet have anything specific to say about this matter.

Thanks!

Beth,
My name is Beth also! I just read the article in woman's world and am interested in starting it. I appreciate your postings it has encouraged me to try it too. I think it's great that it's working for you, I have tried so many diets and have become so discouraged. I'm excited now to try this since I have seen that it's working for someone else. Keep up the good work!

Tigerlily, here is what the website says regarding various health issues:

Based on a variety of sources of evidence, following the Johnson UpDayDownDay Diet will prevent, delay or improve a wide range of diseases associated with age. These include asthma, arthritis, atherosclerosis (heart disease, stroke), allergies, auto-immune disease, infectious diseases of viral, bacterial and fungal origin, diabetes, cancer and central nervous system disorders such as Alzheimers, Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis.

If you go to the website, you can read about a study done on people following this diet, and what happened to their levels of oxidative stress.

Also, I do have health issues related to being overweight (like high blood pressure) and losing weight should help with that; this eating plan is supposed to help relieve all types of inflammatory diseases, too, and a recent study has shown it to help relieve asthma/allergies symptoms in as little as two weeks in some people, so I'm excited about that, since I have had asthma and terrible allergies since childhood.

Pretty amazing claims! We'll see! I would tend not to believe him, except there are links to published studies in medical journals to support the claims.

HTH.