A Lizard's Lipotrim Loss

[Gecko]

Hey guys. First diary post, so expect it to be too long to bother reading!

So, I made a different thread but it was getting off-topic so I figured I'd make a diary. I've been on Lipotrim eight days now. Today I went to the pharmacy for my first results! Eleven pounds is brilliant! The lady just recommend I drink more water. Now, I had a bit of a problem with my first week's items. They only had six chocolate shakes in, so most of my shakes were vanilla. And after trying it, I despise it, but chocolate ain't that bad with some ice. I asked the lady to stock up on various items on the phone, and today found she had done that! She also exchanged all of my spare vanilla shakes (I bought extra at the start to be safe) with chocolate.

Here's where things went a bit pear-shaped. After reading some posts about the "flapjacks", I concluded that they can't taste that bad, surely. So I asked her for six of the coconut ones. She said they'll taste "like cardboard", so after arriving home I happily took a chomp. Then...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

WORST THING I'VE TASTED IN A BLOODY LONG TIME! Cardboard would be a five-star dessert comparatively! Holy. Hell. I spat my mouthful in the bin and the rest of the "flapjack". I am an idiot for buying three days' worth. Here's the "pear-shaped" part: I realised I didn't have enough food left for the week since I won't eat these things. I'd puke them out, seriously. I did get a couple of chicken soups which I haven't tried, so I'm hoping I'll like (or be able to tolerate) these. Even with all that, it wasn't enough. So I have a confession to make. Tonight I got a takeaway. Will there be repercussions? Yes. Will it impede my progress? Likely. Do I regret it? No.

When I ordered the takeaway, I didn't actually have a craving to do so. It was more, "if I don't have this meal I won't have enough food in for the full week", rather than wanting the specific items I ordered. I can't realistically go back and exchange the flapjacks now because the pharmacy is quite far away and I don't drive and go once a week. Taxis cost quite a lot. So I'm not going to mope over this. This is a one-time setback since I won't have any excuses any longer about what foods I will or will not like. Worst case scenario in my opinion is that I won't lose any weight for this week. If I (and I will) stick to my diet for the other six days I don't think that will happen and I'll lose something, since it (on average) takes two days to enter ketosis again. Either way, even if it's a week of progress damaged, that's not a big deal compared to the many months I'll be on Lipotrim.

The only thing that bothers me is that without the "flapjack" I won't have anything to eat on the move. When I was on a TFR shake diet in the past I took shakes with me, but Lipotrim says you must have them very soon after they're made.

That's basically it so far. Summary is that I learnt my lesson from ordering too much of what I wasn't sure I'd like, and that you should avoid "flapjacks" at all costs. I'll enjoy reading your threads as well. Let's do this!

 

[Derry]

It'll be trial and error initially but once you settle on a routine you'll be grand. Good to read your post and the important thing is you've already taken the first steps on a very long journey which will make really positive changes for you in loads of aspects of your life.

We're all in the same boat and right behind you!

Good luck

 

[Gecko]

Thanks Derry. Not much to say for today really. If you cheat, your old cravings will probably remain for a small period of time. But I'm past that now and back on track. I also know what you guys mean about things tasting better over time. I drank the chocolate shake quite casually today (of course, with plenty of ice!) rather than chugging it. I don't think I'm going to weigh myself at all this week since I did cheat and I don't want to end up really disappointing myself.

Speaking of that, how often do you guys weigh yourself "unofficially"? Funnily enough, my own scales look better than the pharmacy's which looked like bog-standard Home Bargains scales! (Mine also have features like measuring body fat percentage, but I never use them.)

 

[Derry]

I try to avoid it but unfortunately end up doing t quite a lot!

Key thing is no matter what the unofficial scales say, for me the important ones are the chemists.

 

[JoanieK]

Hey sorry I've only seen your diary, draw a line under the blip. On the go is difficult, what you could do is purchase some of the tasty bars from other plans and they are handy and the likes of superdrug stock some.

I'm a daily weigher even now I am not on the anymore. Can be frustrating but I'm looking for scales like yours as I'm doing a lot of toning training.

 

[Derry]

How you getting in Gecko? Hope all going well. First couple of weeks are rough going but you can get through it!

Good luck

 

[Gecko]

Thanks for the replies. Would it be okay to use bars from other diets? Probably better than the alternatives, I guess! Also, these are my scales, Joanie. Not that cheap. To be honest, I should probably start using them for their extra functions.

I had a couple of setbacks. I had to stay with family for a couple of days. I can't see this happening again any time soon as if I see my family, I usually go there for a few hours and come back, allowing me to have a shake before I leave and then when I return. My mother is a bit of a problem. She's the kind of person who—even if she thinks she has good intentions—always manages to bring you down if you try anything new. So telling her I'm on Lipotrim would have caused her to pick apart everything that's bad without looking at any of the good and berate me constantly. I'd rather just eat her home-cooked meals than endure that for the rest of my Lipotrim journey, so I spent two days off the diet. So, about half of this week hasn't been healthy or on TFR. That's disappointing, and I expect by the time I'm weighed I won't have gained anything and may have even gained a pound or two since I heard that switching out of ketosis and then back on can cause some fluctuations.

Staying with my family did cause a few interruptions in my schedule so I haven't gone to the pharmacy today and won't do until Thursday. On the bright side, this might get me back on ketosis by the time I visit and I'm going to drink plenty of water. However, I will admit these mistakes to the pharmacist. Also, I thought it was worth mentioning that I'm going to the hospital for two weeks next month for an operation and the recovery time. Since Lipotrim is kinda endorsed by the NHS (or at the very least, a lot of doctors), maybe if I explain it all to them and my need to be strictly on the programme they'll allow me to have the shakes during my time there. If they're not going to be awkward about it, if anything it will be beneficial. I won't even be able to get any of my "forbidden foods" in hospital (okay, there's vending machine food but I'd probably need to request staff to get it for me, no thanks), and if anybody here has experience with hospitals they'll understand that Lipotrim might be more appetising than hospital food.

 

[Derry]

As always, the key thing is to not beat yourself up about it and just focus on your goal. Getting friends and family aligned and bought into it can be as difficult as the diet can sometimes be but stick at it.

Remember this isn't just about shifting some weight quickly, it's about refocusing your relationship with food and drink so that in the future it is a good one rather than a destructive one, if that makes sense?

All easier said than done but that fact you've taken the first steps to get in the diet in the first place means you CAN do this!

Good luck

 

[Derry]

Forgot to add - good luck in hospital! Hope all ok.

 

[Gecko]

Yes, it absolutely does. Maintenance will be just as important as the diet itself, maybe even more so. Apparently, "only 5% of people who lose weight on a crash diet will keep the weight off". It's quite a bold statement, but I have every intention to be a part of that 5%. I still plan to keep my family out of the loop on this. There are a few things you should share with other people. I don't think a diet is one of them if you can avoid that. My parents are adamant about me actually staying at their house during the one-week recovery. I'm going to have to be crafty about this, but I'll probably say something like, "I was put on a low-calorie programme during my time at the hospital, so they want me to drink these high-calorie shakes just for the next week to wean me back onto normal food."

This recent experience has discouraged me from cheating (even if I felt the situation warranted it) in general, because of how messed up I felt after getting back on Lipotrim. But now that's over. Not sure how, but the chocolate shake isn't a chore to drink at all now. Don't get me wrong—in a perfect world I'd drink chocolate milk over it any day, but it doesn't make me gag or cause any negative reflex like it did at the start.

 

[JoanieK]

Don't be hard on yourself, you get back on and I understand why you had to blip. Hopefully hospital does get on board but ur recovery is most important and I had to come off as my body was going into starvation mode.

 

[Derry]

Spot on - it's natural to think negatively when you have a blip but you gotta stay on top of those feelings and keep in mind all the days you've been successful as they are the only ones that matter!

Good luck

 

[Gecko]

Thanks guys. I have good news, actually, so I'm no longer being hard on myself! This week I went to the pharmacy on a Thursday (today) rather than the usual Tuesday, so it's not entirely correct to call it a week, but hell, let's do it anyway. It turns out I've lost 4lb, in spite of my prediction of not losing anything (or very little) earlier in the week. Gotta keep drinking plenty of water and staying positive.

 

[JoanieK]

Oh and on the weight gain I maintained for about 8 years before health issues. You can be one of the 5%. I came off tfr about 6 weeks ago and have lost a stone I'm that time.

 

[Derry]

Great news mate! Keep it going.

Good luck

 

[JoanieK]

Hey gecko how are you getting on?

 

[Gecko]

I'm baaaaaack! Though it looks like Derry and Joanie haven't visited the forum in a while? That's a shame. (Looks like you reached your goal though, Joanie. Congrats!)

Anyhow, I guess I might as well explain a little. There's the good news and the bad news. I'll start with the bad. I talked about the hospital stay. Unfortunately they wouldn't let me stay on Lipotrim. Turned out as well that I had to stay at the hospital for about ten days longer than expected. Although the results were satisfactory, food is like a drug to me. I just wasn't able to get onto Lipotrim again with Christmas so close. Decided to do it the next year, but I haven't been. It's been such a struggle to give up fast food. I'm a little over 10lb heavier than I originally started, but it could be worse I guess. Though the realisation that I could have reached my goal weight by now if I had stayed on Lipotrim is a little depressing.

Good news! I've been on Lipotrim for about five days now and the momentum has kicked in. I'm no longer really craving food or feeling much hunger despite being on this VLCD. I've updated my profile and sig to reflect all of this. There's something else as well. I decided to no longer continue Lipotrim with the assistance of a pharmacy. I know some might disagree with this, but I wasn't happy with my pharmacy. A couple of the women didn't seem to know what they were doing (not saying I know much better myself though) and one time when they weighed me they gave me different numbers for lb/kg, and the numbers just seemed off. I'm now getting sachets from eBay. Yeah, I know the Lipotrim man in the video mentioned something about third-party sellers selling fake products, but come on, we all know they're saying that because they don't make as much money when people use third parties! If people want to produce counterfeit products they'd choose one that's profitable. Lipotrim isn't that popular. It would cost too much to produce a recipe that's identical to the originals, and everything else looks exactly like the Lipotrim I got from the pharmacy, so I don't think there's any difference here.

I also mentioned my mother those months back. I see my parents once a week, but my mother texts and calls me every day. If I try to tell her I have a problem with that, she tells my siblings and I'm suddenly the bad guy. It's all very toxic, and it's also sadly the case when it comes to diet. She's on Slimming World herself and she's constantly talking about it. Back when I was on Lipotrim before she kept telling me how wrong it is and how I should join Slimming World. It was such a pain in the ass, I have to say that when it comes to family I preferred to not be on a diet, because she might look down on me for being "the fat child", but at least she knows I'm not on a particular plan to improve and she doesn't keep nagging me and asking for a status report on my diet so frequently. Therefore, I've decided to keep her in the dark about my recent diet change. That meant that today I ran into a problem. She offered me food, I said I'd already eaten but I think she was suspecting I was on the diet, so I said I'd eat some of the meat she cooked when I don't feel full anymore, and I also had one of those "Capri-Suns". Checked the carbs, 21g. Should still be in ketosis, and the meat has no carbs either. No big deal I hope.

I need a proper plan for this. I know all of this sounds crazy, but you'd only understand if you had a mother as nosy as mine. This isn't a case of "all mothers are like that". Anyway, I've got some food colouring. I also have a SodaStream machine. I'll carbonate water and colour it to convince her I'm still on the fizzy pop I'd usually drink. I also still have some old empty food packaging which I'll keep handy. It's worth it, really. I could really do without the constant hassle.

Now I'm done with that rant... let's do it! No stopping me this time and I can't wait for my next weigh-in in a few days.

 

[Emmaline]

I really feel for you Gecko .. being a mum myself it's difficult to divide the line between being concerned about your welfare and the just wanting to know bit and I think you are handling this in the best way .. what she doesn't have to know is entirely up to you and shielding it from her is a very thoughtful way to go as at least she won't be worrying about it which I'm sure is her main motive although I think you are convinced otherwise!
Personally I much prefer to get into the proper way to eat and be sensible about what I eat even if I do stray from my good intentions from time to time .. to err is human is it not?!
All the very best to you and keep up the good work!

P.S. I still worry about my "children" and they are all in their 60s

 

[Gecko]

Thanks for your input. Yes, I know that she's mostly just trying to help me. Unfortunately she goes the wrong way about that. I think in part it might be because I'm the youngest child (still, I'm 29 this year and I won't feel young when my first digit changes again!) and she's finding it harder to ultimately let go of me. Just a theory. I can try to appreciate her perspective nonetheless, but given her general attitude towards my dieting in the past, until she gives me more leeway in life I'll have to avoid sharing it with her.

I agree, the "proper way" is of course better, but I struggled so much with healthy eating in the past and any progress I made was so slow. For the short amount of time I was on Lipotrim last year I was losing considerable weight and that felt so empowering. This mystery powder hardly constitutes food and I more so see it as fuel. Still, as soon as I've reached my initial 200lb goal I'll start looking into healthy eating options. At any rate even Lipotrim is far better than eating fast food and takeaways all the time.

 

[Emmaline]

I agree with you about how she no doubt feels especially as you're the youngest .. she doesn't want to see her strapping great lad fading away for the lack of proper nutritional food.. you're doing okay it seems so keep up the good work!