Thread: Eating food versus shakes.

I'm not entirely sure what it is you are trying to conclusively agree on, surely what diet someone chooses to follow is personal choice as to what suits you and your lifestyle. The basic fact is that all diets will work if you follow them and maintenance is possible if you change the way you eat so there is little room for debate.

I don't think there should be an argument. Different things work for different people at different times in their lives. So in my opinion there is no right or wrong.
However - A lot of people have opinions against VLCDs, but they actually know little about them and base their opinons
on negative press.
I only know what worked for me. I didn't eat for 10 months. I lost 12 stone and my life has been transformed and I am healthy.
RESULT.
If I had done WW or SW etc it would have taken me so much longer and I think I would have lost motivation.
Horses for courses.
Good luck to you and your friends xx

Hi
Great to see this discussion is still going.
Slendablenda, it is not actually an argument, it all started last week when I was out with a group of girlfriends and we started to discuss different diets. They all know I am doing Go Lower and I was trying to persuade them it is the best diet because it is real food, it is delivered and I get chocolate snacks etc and I am losing weight, not that they can really see that yet as I am still in baggy clothes. Well of course, they are then saying in my opinion Go Lower is the best, but maybe it is not for everyone so I said what is???
What I was trying to get across was that if I am eating foods then when I come of the diet I will not put on weight because I have not had a substitute.
That is how the discussion got going and since reading these replies I can see I am just totally biased to GL and I need to stop being so opinionated and accept other peoples success stories. I guess personally because I can not handle shakes I assumed they were only ever taken for a short time. I didn't realise that some people maintain them for a long time. (Gotta ask what does VLCDs mean?)
Fantastic weight loss, that definitely deserves a compliment in my book!
Hi again Porgeous
as you can see from my reply above I am trying to realise that different diets work for different people I guess it is because I have finally found a diet that works for me, Go Lower, I have been trying to convert everyone else and my friends said back it up and that is what I was trying to do.
The comments on here certainly got us discussing all sorts when we met this weekend and I have promised them I will try to learn to keep an open mind.
Thanks for keeping the replies coming
Best regards

Originally Posted by SuzyK

What I was trying to get across was that if I am eating foods then when I come of the diet I will not put on weight because I have not had a substitute.

Ahh, but you could. It's all calories in vs calories out. I've put on many a time before I did cambridge after some 'real food' diets. Not blaming the diet at all, as maintenance isn't about the diet. I'm pretty sure that if I had lost the weight on go lower and then decided to eat way more than I needed, I'd gain it again.

I assumed they were only ever taken for a short time. I didn't realise that some people maintain them for a long time.

Well, I don't. I don't use the products at all now, though I must admit that I have had the odd Go lower bar that I've bought in the shops

Don't forget that these shakes are food. The only difference is that they are formulated so you can be sure you are getting everything you need. Once you are maintaining, you can still have shakes, porridge, soups etc, and if you want, you can use the products you used to lose the weight (ie have the formulated ones)...just like with go lower.

I have promised them I will try to learn to keep an open mind.

Good, because you never know what the future will bring

Hiya

I think we have all probably felt when we find a diet that works for us that it is the best one in the world but the reality is that it could be any diet it's the mindset that is different. The diet is purely a tool and they all work it is our ability to stick to them that makes the difference.

On the maintenance thing, like KD, I haven't had a CD product since the day I hit goal and don't see them as something that should be part of long term maintenance.

Good luck to you all whichever diet you choose.

x

Hi ya
Thanks for the replies KD and Porgeous.
KD I am hoping the future will bring me a lottery win to pay of my mortgage and of course a new wardrobe to go with my new body....... I don't think that is too much to ask, is it????? Seriously KD since being on this site I have learnt alot about different diets and attitudes etc. The biggest thing I have learnt is about maintaining, which I know is where I have gone wrong in the past but then I have never really reached a goal weight that I was totally happy with as I could not stick to the diet.
My comment about shakes for a long time was not meant to be about using them for maintaining, it was the comment from Slendablenda that she didn't eat for 10 months. Until very recently I thought you only had shakes for weeks rather than months whatever diet you did. Ignorance on my part!
Porgeous, I agree the diet is the tool, it is just finally with Go Lower I have found the tool that works for me and I am finally seeing results, which I rarely do when I have previously dieted as it is such a long process and then I give up.
I am going of on a tangent again....
Looking forward to reading your comments
Regards

PS What are VLCD's?

Originally Posted by SuzyK

PS What are VLCD's?

Very Low Calorie Diets. Theres a forum on here devoted to them in general, then specific forums for most of the popular ones (cambridge, lipotrim, lighter life etc. etc.) It's a term mainly used for nutritionally complete meal-replacement diets (shakes/soups/bars etc.) though some use it to describe a 'starvation' diet they're trying- i.e. they're eating 500cals of food thinking thats a good idea, which I don't, but thats a whole other thread! LOL!

Hi Irishmum, thanks for the reply,
I did wonder. I was trying to work out the initials to link with shakes in some way, and yet it doesn't mean shakes at all. Doh!
I would love to read some more replies so please keep them coming.
Best regards

Hi Suzy

I just want to agree with Porgeous, we all think whatever diet we are being sucessful with at a given time is the best!

I have never tried any of the 'faddy' diets, eg cabbage soup, etc. I have also never been tempted by a vlcd as I believe I love my food too much for it to be sucessful for me. However, as I haven't tried it I can't say for sure.

Mind you, in some ways I can see how it may have helped me deal with my bad habits - such as picking at the kids dinner.

I honestly don't believe that theres any one diet better than the others - and statistically I have never saw anything to say that any one diet is the most sucessful, though I suppose it would be difficult to measure, due to there being so many variables.

For me weight watchers has worked really well, but I only got to goal 2 months ago, so its too soon to tell how I will cope with maintenence in the longterm.

The stories on this thread of longterm maintainers has given me hope that it CAN be done tho!

Nicola xx

Hi Purple Star, thanks for the reply. I am glad to see you like writing posts as so do I and it is great to keep getting different opinions on my posts. I think you have also replied to my other thread which is great, thank you.
I also agree with Porgeous that the diet is just a tool it was just I was so into Go Lower I was trying to tell all my friends this is the diet to go with, not thinking that different diets agree with different people. I also don't know enough about other diets to pass judgement I was just so sure my idea was the right one. Ignorant I know! It would be great if we could measure which is the most successful diet but then as I just wrote above I guess it will always depend on the person.
I also haven't gone with any of the faddy diets, cabbage soup, yuck! I don't do veggies!
I know what you mean about the kids food, I am so glad we now have chickens to give their leftovers to so that I am not tempted to clean their plates.
A big well done for reaching goal and you will maintain as you have this great forum to keep you going.
I look forward to reading more of your replies
Best regards

I really wanted to do the cambridge diet as the fast weightloss really appealed to me, but it made me feel so ill when going to the toilet (sorry, not nice I know) I hear this from a few people I have since spoke to.

I bought the fibre powder from my counsellor, but it didn't work for me. I used to try to go to the toilet and I could feel my bp dropping, I would go into a sweat and get very dizzy and almost pass out, it was very scary

In the end I couldn't take it anymore so stopped going, and have now started slimming world I have found a great supportive group and i'm loving the fact that I am eating healthily and my family are to.

I know it will take longer, but slowly slowly catchy monkey feeling very positive at this point oh and no toilet problems either

I think different diets work for different people and there are no hard and fast rules, we have to do whats right for ourselves, if we were all the same it would be pretty boring

Hi Soccermum,
hey don't worry about the details, I have kids therefore nothing is sacred anymore. I just finished my last thread a few minutes ago as I need to wipe my youngest sons bottom, (he's three). What was really funny (well I think so, but then I am biased,) was him running to me on all fours totally naked with his bum in the air as I didn't get of the computer quick enough and he was yelling at me "finished now". Why he has to be naked every time he goes to the toilet I don't know..... is this a sign of things to com?

I can't do the shake thing so I can sympathise that you couldn't stick it but I have had lots of replies from people who have done really well on it. I agree with you it would be boring if we were all the same.

It is great to hear you have found a great support around you. For me looking at the posts on this site has been great and although at the moment I am doing OK and don't really need the motivation I have confidence that if I start to struggle I will soon get plenty of support.

Now I have a friend on the phone who I just said I will call straight back and I wonder why I normally don't get online when I am at home.
Best regards

I am doing LL at the moment and the main reason it works for me is that it is easy and since I hate cooking it takes the stress of that out of the equation.

I haven't reached maintenance yet but I went down two dress sizes three years ago on a food diet (calorie counting and Xenical) and it was the first time that I didn't put the weight back on. It's difficult to say what has changed that made this possible. I also seem to have the developed the technique of not giving up if I slip off the wagon but just get back on again the next day. It may be that I've just grown up a bit, I can't say I did anything in particular to change my attitude. It was managing to keep the weight off that prompted me to go for LL and try to actually get healthy rather than just lop a bit off being morbidly obese.

I'm not sure how I feel about maintaining this time, I figure I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

this is interesting, I noticed that irishmum is doing well since I last saw here a few months ago, i dunno if irishmum remembers me lol.

anyway I personally wouldnt choose any diet but there again thats just me, but i am a bit suprised that so many people on here dont cook, i mean i dont know how to cook alot of dishes and I dont even know if I could follow a recipe, but I can do simple meals that are still healthy, like homemade pizza and pasta dishes, i just think if i didnt cook I would put on weight too easily because of all the snack foods I would have.

Originally Posted by icemoose

4 years now since I reduced my weight by 12 stone on a shake diet.

Saying that maintenance in my opinion has nothing to do with how you lost the weight, I haven't dieted in 4 years and that is why I am still slim.

It was when I changed from using a diet as a lifestyle choice to just a tool that I found success.

It was also dealing with why I was really overeating that unlocked the doors to stopping dieting for good.

sounds radical and but true, and it must be that some folk need to lose a lot of weight fast one way and then maintain the weight loss another way.

Belle