The food break week

slimmann

Full Member
FOOD BREAK NEED HELP

Hi guys i am struggling to get my head round the food break wk as some people say it is not really nessesary and others say it is crucial, one person has posted a thread saying she did not have her food break and her hair started to fall out and she also had hemorrhaging and had to stop ts all together for a total of 8wks under gp advice.I think i might do the food break after all and have listed some meal ideas as i am on a tight buddget what with having to pay for my packs from exante as well so any feedback would be great to indicate weather the choices i have made are good :) or not :(:

Ham salad
Chicken salad
Fresh tuna steak teriaki sauce and steamed veg
Rump steak, mushrooms and asparagus served with a mustard dip
Home made burgers(steak mince,onion,salt,pepper,fetta chesse)
with side salad and mayo
Chicken wrapped in turkey rashers or bacon and steamed veg
Salmon or tuna with scrammbed eggs

Thanks guys
 
I don't honestly blame skipping the meal week for bleeding and hair loss. Some people suffer from hair loss with or without the break and there's a tendency on a VLCD to blame it for everything :). Personally I don't have a food week but I do one WS day a week.

Keep your meals low cal too - WS is a max of 400 cals. Don't add in Atkins style food for the week
 
I think advising ppl it is ok to skip the AAM week especially as a moderator is irresponsible. I was the one this happened to and it was so bad it was suspected I was having a miscarriage and the doctor did tests and told me it was the diet causing it because I had been far too strict. I didn't eat the odd bit of food here or there I was 100% TS and when I did have a week off I either had no packs and had a rubbish diet due to work or I had a healthy meal but skipped a pack because I felt guilty for eating... I learned the hard way - and if I can stop someone else going through this than it is worth it. Just because some people are lucky and get away with it does not make it healthy or ok to do - they wouldn't suggest you do it for no reason.
 
I don't think Starlight was suggesting that slimmann should skip their AAM week, but simply stating that she personally chooses to forgo it herself.

Katt - I know I had hair loss last time I did a VLCD but hadn't heard of anyone haemorrhaging before! That sounds truly frightening and I hope you're okay now! *hug*
 
I agree rainbow I don't don't have the week off but as starlight said she has one ws day a week which works for her so she does in fact have something other than packs during the month she just prefers to have it once a week instead of a week a month!
 
Also I was on it for 19 weeks last year and I lost a bit of hair if you look at the exante website they tell this is a possibility whether you add a meal week or not!
 
I also will not be doing AAM week.

You say yourself that you didn't follow your AAM weeks properly so maybe that's why you became ill.
Exante say to have the food break but if it's not done properly then there is no point at all, much better to just carry on TS.

Exante HAVE to recommend the food break for us because we are not being monitored like others on vlcd's, they are only suggesting it to cover themselves and something to do with the NICE guidelines (I've heard someone say that)
Other people on other vlcd's dont have food breaks and they are all fine.

I also agree with starlight in that people on exante seem to blame the diet when things start going wrong with them and it's usually not the diet's fault!
 
Katt said:
I think advising ppl it is ok to skip the AAM week especially as a moderator is irresponsible. I was the one this happened to and it was so bad it was suspected I was having a miscarriage and the doctor did tests and told me it was the diet causing it because I had been far too strict. I didn't eat the odd bit of food here or there I was 100% TS and when I did have a week off I either had no packs and had a rubbish diet due to work or I had a healthy meal but skipped a pack because I felt guilty for eating... I learned the hard way - and if I can stop someone else going through this than it is worth it. Just because some people are lucky and get away with it does not make it healthy or ok to do - they wouldn't suggest you do it for no reason.

Katt just for the record I'm a member here and following Exante like everyone else first and foremost. I'm a Moderator second. As such I'm entitled to my opinion. I cant see anywhere that i advised not to do it I said how I do it and the way I do it is the way many people do it

Exante advise the break primarily because were unmonitored doing this unlike people doing CD etc

People doing Vlcds as a whole tend to blame the diet for every ailment

My being moderator has absolutely no bearing on my posts in connection with my diet and I object to the accusation that I'm being irresponsible. At the end of the day people make up their own minds all we can do is share our own opinions
 
Here here Hun! I agree I don't do the add a meal and I suffer various health problems unrelated to the diet and even my doctor who is very supportive of me being on this diet has told me its to cover their backs as in reality it is actually only every 12 weeks she has advised me to have one which I believe is exactly what Cambridge do!
 
Actually, I had been on the diet for almost 18 weeks - and that is the point I am making. People get so obsessed with not adding AAM week because they think they won't lose weight or will gain a few pounds - so they are not going to go add a meal on week 12 either are they - why would they if they have been ok for the 12 weeks?

I was also told by a Doctor - not a website, not some concerned family member or not my own opinion that what happened to me was a direct result of the diet - and I am not complaining about the hair loss, I knew that could happen before I started it. And if any of you bother to do some research VLCD's do have various side effects some of which can be serious.

I am not saying the diet is at fault on its own or that we should all run to the fridge in fear, I already held my hands up and said I didn't follow guidelines and I was the one who suffered for it. But I am not the type of person to sit back and watch other people make my mistakes because they fear eating a healthy meal for one week out of 5 when it can help them reach their goal in a safe way.

It is so easy for you all to disagree or say I am just blaming the diet - you were not losing so much blood you had to be given drugs to stop it, so I don't feel you have the right to tell me that I don't have a valid point And eating for 3 weeks actually made me have a normal bleed this month and my hair is already growing back.

You say that Exante only tell you to AAM to cover themselves - well why would they do that if it was perfectly safe to just be TS until you reach goal? They do it because if you are an idiot about the diet like I was, I can hardly go and blame them can I? So obviously that shows they know that issues can occur if not done properly.

And sorry, but in my opinion I feel a moderator will be listened to, and stating that people just blame the diet if anything goes wrong is irresponsible.
 
I'm a Moderator of this site not Exante. Something I think people are well aware of. I'm not going to come on here and spout official quotes from websites because I'm a moderator. Like you I'm sharing my experience. What happened with you sounds awful I know hair loss is a common side effect of Vlcds but thankfully I've never heard of thevother effects you had. Thankfully it's not a common side effect and a rare one.

I'm speaking from my experience as a dieter and will continue to do so. I'd be surprised if anyone here paid any more attention to my diet posts purely because I have moderator under my name.

I think all we can all do on here is share our experiences on this and ultimately allow people to make their own choices
 
The same can be said about smoking too can't it? Some people smoke and don't get lung cancer some people do my point was side effects and reactions vary from person to person I will add a meal every 12 weeks but some like sandy have one every week different people different rules however I neither have heard of extensive blood loss I'm not saying it wasn't because of the diet because I am not a doctor! I am sharing my advice and experience whether people listen and take my advice or not is up to them as it is up to sandy to share her advice whether she is moderator or the queen of England! We are friendly on her and sandy has been a massive support to me the last year not as a moderator but as a source of advice and comfort so to single her out just because you don't like what she's saying or because she has moderator under her name is just out if order
 
I didn't single anyone out and in fact I am the one getting singled out by you lot who think you know it all because you have done a few weeks/months and are fine - In fact is is actually not very supportive at all to be told that what happened to me was in no way due to the diet - I am just pointing out that people shouldn't say it is basically ok to skip AAM week because it works for you - that is directly going against Exante's advice - like it or not. I have seen enough people on here pulled apart for offering bad advice such as if they wish to drink alcohol on exante but yet oddly I am in the wrong because something very bad happened to me and I am trying to get people to see that it was not worth skipping AAM week to go through that. Go figure. I challenged someone for saying it is easy to blame a diet when I didn't the doctor did! And what smoking has to do with it is beyond me - you are right it is your diet to do with as you wish and if you get ill so be it.
 
The smoking was meant as an example! As in not all people get cancer from smoking the same as not all people will have the same side effects from exante I didn't disagree that it was a dr who told you in fact if you re-read you will see that I actually said that I was not going to say it wasn't exante that caused it because I am not a dr! And we havnt just been on exante for a couple of weeks! I have been on it nearly a year!
 
Guys i dint want my thread to cause a huge arguement, i just wanted some advice really :( , being so new to the diet and never having done a vlcd before its difficult to grasp as there are so many people saying different things about what you should and shouldnt do, starlights posting on my thread was just giving me some pointers and sharing her experiences with me, just as important katt was sharing her experiences.After reading a lot of posts i think i have come to the conclusion that it would be safe enough to leave the AAM wk until the 12wk, as a friend of mine did LL diet and he did not do the AAM wk until wk 12.All i wanted to find out from my thread was if the foods i had listed to go ahead with the AAM wk were good choices, and if people could share with me what they ate on the AAM wk so i do not go wrong.I am not very good at making food choices, and as starlight points out in her first reply to me maybe the food i have choosen is to much like Atkins, the reason for this is because i have done Atkins before but could not continue with it as i did not enjoy all that fat ect, but because it puts your body in to Ketosis i assumed that the foods that i ate on Atkins would be ok to apply to the AAM wk on Exante.I beginning to wonder if it is worth carringing on with TS at all now as maybe i have not done my research as i really dont know what i am doing and good advise seems far and few between.I am on day 5 and feel great, not even hungry and have already lost weight, but i am already worrying about the AAM wk weather is be wk 5 or 12 as i am worried i will make the wrong food choices which would throw mw out of Ketosis and put be back to square one of the TS programme.Also i have placed a couple of threads regarding exercise as i wanted to join the gym but once again am worried as people on here have been saying it stops weight loss altogether, were as other people have said go for it, so all in all being new and not getting the correct advice or any helpful advice is making me question weather i should continue.The other thing is as well although as mentioned TS is going well and i am on day 5 and feeling great, today i woke up with IBS, has anyone else experienced this, or should i just put it down to change in eating habbits?...Plz no more arguments just great advice would be good lol.....Thanks for listening guys and i hope i gain some good advice from the thread.
 
Katt I think youre taking things too personally. I at no time said YOU blamed the diet when it wasnt I said 'people' and thats true, there are posts on all the VLCD forums with people having various illnesses and ailments and 90% of them just put it down to the diet, whether it actually is or not who knows as most dont go to a doctor. Some of the things being put down to the diet are downright bizarre at times

You quite clearly DID single me out, as Im the only Moderator posting on this thread and at NO time have I ever said anyone should skip the AAM week, I would never dream of doing that. As Ive repeatedly said what I said is **I** personally dont do it. I personally have a Working Solutions day once a week and that works for me. Many people on here do the same, but a lot do the AAM week.

I also have skimmed milk in my coffee and drink Asda diet coke, both are fine for me but I NEVER say to ANYONE its ok to do it.

As Ive already said all we can all do is share our own experiences, which we are doing, then people are armed with all the information they need to make informed decisions.

I think the comparison shell made was actually a very good one... the effects something has on one person doesnt follow that everyone will get it.
 
Hun I overdid my exercise! I mean if you read my diary I was in the gym 3 hours a day! I'm sure that if you did just do half hour a day you would be fine. As for add a meal week just try and avoid red meats and citrus things etc stick to things like chicken fish and quorn hope this helps xx
 
Oh dear! Slimmann, don't be disheartened! The thing with Exante is you have to find what works for you in terms of exercise and what you can and can't eat. Everyone is different and will react differently to everything and anything.

With the exercise, start off small. I would recommend walking! I really do, I managed to maintain a steady weight over xmas while off exante just by making sure I walked to and from work and while on exante I think it helped my weight loss. Maybe start off by going for a gentle 20 minute walk and gradually build up. You know what, you could buy a pedometer and measure how many steps you do in a day and then try and increase it up to 10,000 and beyond. Even easier if you have a dog!

As for AAM, try and base your meals around the protein. Say you start off by saying you want salmon as the basis of your meal then think of things you can have with it like herbs and onions on the fish and asparagus or you could have chicken with baked peppers and mushrooms.

You're doing really well to get to day 5!! Exante really is all about trial and error and finding what works for your body. Don't let the varying advice confuse you, just use it as a guide as to how you feel. If you get to week 3/4 and you feel like you want to do AAM then go for it but if you don't, soldier on with it. If you feel too much exercise is stalling your weight loss, cut back on it. Hope this helps
FF :eek:
 
Hi ff thanks for the advice.I already walk around 30-40mins a day at the moment altough i am over weight i am still phsically fit as i used to be a dancer and sort of maintained the fitness side, but i piled on weight due to bad food choices ect and have given up dance altogether now so the pounds piled on.I joined the gym a few months before xmas and it was great i was doing 3 x 45min cardio sessions a wk and 2 x weight sessions a wk , so hopefully this should be ok to do with exante time can only tell.Thank you for the food advice as well, do you know if it is ok to have things like chicken salad, ham salad also rumm steak which is low in carbs and high in protein? not sure what the calories in them are though lol, but know that exante say up to a 400 kcal meal or snacks, but think i shall see how i feel by wk 4 and if need be will do the AAMwk on the 5wk but if i am feeling ok i shall wait until wk 12 before i do the AAM wk.:)
 
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