Tony Ferguson Weight Loss Diet v Paleo
I was really surprised to see this poster advertising the popular Tony Ferguson weight loss diet. It advertises that with the joining fee you get a free lifetime membership.
Surely a weight loss program should “work” within a finite period? For a program to be working, I'd expect a successful dieter to lose at least 0.1 kg a week (the smallest interval most scales will measure). If a dieter is doing such a weight loss program for 50 years of their life, losing 0.1 kg a week – they'll have lost 260kg. Given that this seems rather ridiculous, I can only conclude that the lifetime membership is offered because dieters on this plan fail to achieve their weight loss goals – or put it all back on?
What is the Tony Ferguson Diet?
The diet appears to be a very low calorie diet, where dieters select from a range of heavily processed “meal replacement” products, such as shakes, soups and bars. These seem to replace one to two meals a day, with the remaining meal being a “proper” meal from a restricted list of allowable foods. The plan also recommends a lot of supplements of vitamins and minerals. These are vitamins and minerals that appear to be difficult to obtain when cutting out the natural food sources.
Good Ingredients?
These are the ingredients for one of the products, the Mixed Vegetable Soup. I'm not sure how something with 3% vegetables (which is mainly legumes anyway) is called “vegetable” soup, but still…
Milk solids, soy protein, thickeners (1442, 412), flavours, inslin, dried vegetables (3%) (corn, pea, red capsicum, tomato), yeast extract, salt, sunflower oil, onion powder, minerals (sodium phosphate, magnesium oxide, ferric pyrophosphate, zinc oxide, manganese sulphate, copper sulphate, chronium chloride, sodium molybate, potassium iodine, sodium selenite), anti-caking agent (551), colours (160a, 141, 100), garlic powder, vitamins (C, E, B3, B5, B2, B6, B1, A, folate, K, biotin, D, B12), parsley, flavour enhancer (635), spice & herb.
A Better Way?
Surely instead of being on a lifelong diet and not being able to eat real food, Paleo is a far better way to lose weight? Learning to eat properly – then eating that way for the rest of your life is a far more sustainable – and healthy approach.
Have you ever tried a weight loss plan like this? I'd love to hear your experiences and thoughts on these types of weight loss plans.
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I have never tried a diet like this that appears primarily to consist of liquids and “bars” as I like the “chew” value that real food gives me. I did another weight loss program several times over the last 48 years but the weight loss was not permanent.
I’ve been eating Primal for over 14 months now and this is the longest I have been able to stay at the weight I want. All I had to do was give up the grains, sugars and artificial sweeteners and that’s the best thing I ever did for myself. It is relatively effortless and much more satisfying. Working on the principle that if something I want to buy has an ingredient list then it is probably not what I want to eat, requires spending a little more time in the kitchen creating and experimenting with new recipes. This I enjoy. Our meals are delicious and definitely not boring. Most importantly, by buying and eating real food I can do this for the rest of my life.
That’s great Kahiba – isn’t it great to find something so effective and easy to carry on with!
Hi,
Loved your article on the Tony Ferguson Diet, it’s surprising just how many people fall for this kind of gimmick how stupied can some people be but I suppose we have all fallen pray to this kind of advertising at some time our other, but like you said it’s obvious that you must put the weight back on again .
I love this Paleo way of eating and please keep up the good work we do appreciate it.
Marjorie
Marjorie – that’s the problem – it’s all a gimmick and advertising to “get you.” I always tell people that if it comes with “meal replacement” anything, it’s probably junk food in disguise.
check out how much fructose they use in the shakes!
It’s frightening isn’t it Guy!
When I started losing weight in 2008, I was 262 lb., and I spent 1.5-2 hours in the gym everyday and limited my diet to a “balanced” 1200 calories /day.
I lost weight…and I was miserable. I thought about nothing but food and dreaded going to the gym. I wasn’t sleeping well, I woke up mad, definitely didn’t feel better.
After researching for about a year in the medical and scientific literature, I finally caved and concluded that grain were, indeed, horrible, terrible, no good, very bad.
I went “paleo” without knowing I was going paleo (no grains, no sugar, no high-glycemic carbs), and the weight started melting off with seemingly NO effort. It was wild.
Also, through literature research, I started doing 5-10 minute workouts as hard as I could and got stronger, and saw faster results than EVER before!
Now, paleo is just how I eat…not a diet.
Same here Graham – that’s great how you came about Paleo – and what a great transformation!
Graham, I totally agree.
Hey, we started on Paleo on Friday. Today is Wednesday…Yesterday and today I am suffering from terrible headaches. Is this normal?
Yes. Especially if your diet previously was excessively high in carbohydrate, you are (probably) going through what atkins calls “induction”. Make sure you get enough sleep and drink enough water. It will probably take between 1 and 2 weeks of misery, depending how sugar heavy your previous diet was, but after that it will be all good. Additionally, after you have re-adapted to fat burning, if you do have a “cheat” day, or just eat a bunch of sweet potatoes, you will not suffer the same symptoms.
Persevere! It’s worth it.
I don’t consider myself stupid but yes I have tried this diet. When you are really over weight for most of your life you will try anything to loose weight and look just like those great looking thin people you see all around you, just to be able to walk into a shop and buy clothes that fit without going to the fat lady section is all you can think about. I have since discovered the Paleo way after my two adult children started it. I now realise that good health is much more important than what I look like. I have learned to be happy with myself as I am and I have learned that real food is what really makes me feel good. It is still a struggle to stay off the sugar and grains even though I know it makes me feel so much better and thats because it is all around us and people say things like how can you possible stick to that kind of diet but its certainly much much better than a shake for breakfast and lunch. Unfortunately these kind of advertisements are aimed at those people who are desperate to loose weight and be thin because that is what is shoved in our faces from every angle. Just eating real food should be the norm and hopefully one day in the future it will.