Thread: 2 weeks in, fantastic losses so far.

Hello people,

Just a quick report on my S&S journey so far.

I am not new to VLCD i done 12 weeks of exante way back in march 2010 and lost 75 lbs. however here i am 30 odd months later and put a fair bit back on. I decided to try S&S for the variety and have a 6 week purge before xmas.

so far its gone a little something like this, start weight, 250lbs... week 1 - 14 lbs weeks 2 - 5lbs. From what i know of the last time i VLCD'd i expect to loose 5-6 lbs a week from now til the 19th dec. Im on the hardcore version, 4 packs a day with just water. No added milk or veg, plus i train in the gym 3-4 times a week.

So for all you starters out there, VLCD's do work and fast but the hard part is the maintaining as i never managed that part.

good luck on your journey. As a regular yo-yoer I'm with you on the maintenance being hard. Hopefully we can learn by past mistakes.

I'm making a big assumption here based soley on your username that you are a chap? If so, I would be a little bit concerned that you're not taking enough in, particularly with all the gym work you are doing, there is a danger you'll be losing muscle mass. Brilliant loss in the first 2 weeks though

good point noodles! 5 packs, or 4 with protein if you are a bloke. Apologies if not!

I agree with noodles! You even burn calories while sleeping! And exercising the way you are id probably have another pack! I guess you know your body though,but just keep an eye on how you feel and your weightloss, doing really well though,keep at it hun xx

Also I agree on the maintenance! Im worried about it already and im not even near it yet! Guess that's a new challenge we all have to face! Fingers crossed xx

Fantastic losses, well done!!

I was going to say the same. To be honest, even if you're not a guy (I'm assuming you are though!) that's a LOT to expect your body to do on so little. You can do a bit of gentle exercise with S&S but the gym that often isn't really good. You won't actually get any benefit from the gym. What are you doing there, strength or cardio? If it's cardio, you're burning a lot of calories when you're not taking enough in as it is. If it's strength/resistance in the hope of working on muscle then that's not going to work. For muscle work you need a high protein diet, on a VLCD you get enough protein to preserve muscle but you won't be able to build it.

Sorry if the replies to your post haven't been quite as positive as you wanted or expected. What you've done so far is fantastic, they're great losses, we just don't want to see you end up hurting yourself or burning out.

Hi, yes im a guy, and i know guys tend to loose quicker than ladies.

With regards to the gym work im doing it for fitness more than anything else, i do a little resistance mainly core work and a steady go on the treadmill/cross trainer. i also swim. Im not going mad in the gym though, nice and steady away. Im not the tallest of guys, only 5"9" so i thought id see how 4 packs a day go, so far im feeling quite energized.

Iv got to say though S&S is far easier to stick to than exante.

With regards to maintenance the last time i got down to 13"7" and i instantly put on 7lbs when i started to eat, i was hovering around the 14"7" - 15" quite comfortably for about a year then the weight slowly crept on again

im determined not to make the same mistake again though.

All feedback is welcome, and i will stress again these VLCD's do work just stick with them.

My plan is to go total until the 19th dec then back on it again in the new year, i estimate another 6-8weeks in the new year should see me at my goal. here's hoping.

Please look at your intake, you are seriously not taking in enough calories for your body without the exercise, adding that in and you are potentially doing some damage. I would urge you to find out more about how vlcd's affect the body and take care of yours, including the emptying and filling of glycogen stores as this is what gives you a big loss on week one, and a gain when you come out of ketosis - it's water weight you're putting back not fat gain.

Absolutely vlcd's work, without a doubt, but please, look after yourself while you're doing it.

I'm going to go against the general view here. The description you give of what you're doing at the gym sounds quite gentle. Core work isn't going to burn too many calories and if you're doing gentle cardio and a little bit of resistence work then you should be fine, especially of this is a normal level of exercise for you since before you started the diet. As to the number of packs, on LL men are on exactly the same as women (4 packs a day) and I don't believe that they have to have 5 - it's just that they can. I know this isn't SnS advice though.

The important thing is to listen to your body. Don't put it through hard times if you don't have to. If you get to the end of a workout and you feel drained/shakey/sick/weak then you should have an extra pack straight away. Treat this as an extra pack, which you are allowed as you are male. You could perhaps have 5 packs on the days you work out and 4 packs on other days. Another option would be to have 4 packs plus extra protein on the days you work out if you feel you need it. The important thing is to have it if your body is telling you you need it. Refusing to do so could hurt your health and would mean that phsycologically you are likely to eat more over the festive period. Look after yourself.

A person will lose as much on 850 cals a day as 460 -- US study. This is because you're metabolism will slow itself down to dead stop (practically) -- so, listen o your body and if you need the xtra pack when you gym it -- have it. Remember your water ALWAYS. people forget a of water is food -- so, with less food you need to up your water significantly. Plus this is a ketogenic diet and you need to flush your system.