Well I started off great having phoned Lipotrim before starting re-feed to ask for advice. I felt really confident despite initially feeling scared about moving away from the security of the shakes. So I started off with 2 shakes and then had a chicken breast with 5 sprouts for my tea. My word it was delicious.
Lesson 1: I always have my shakes at 12 midday, 4pm then 9pm. Re-feed was different, i.e. had to have a breakfast, lunch then tea so 9am (ish) 12 midday(ish) and then 5pm or 6pm (ish). This was something I had not planned for so it was a shock as I struggled to get first shake down me so early then was looking for something around 9pm despite having had my 3 meals (2 shakes & 1 real food meal). Need to alter times of shakes 1 week before re-feed in preparation to lessen the shock and make the transition easier.
So managed days 1 to 3 but then it became tooo difficult following the re-feed advice on the official sheets. During our time on TFR 100%, we have no choice on quantity and do not leave ourselves open to interpretation. We open a shake packet & mix with 250ml of water......that's it!!!!! Re-feed directs us to select from small/moderate sizes and 2 heaped tablespoons....what on earth do these crude measurements amount to in ounces or grams??? I was worried to death I wasn't having enough or worse still, too much....I need specificity......not an approximate guess. Re-feed also allows lean meat with all visible fat trimmed off.......but it doesn't state how much of this lean meat we can have.....again, did I over indulge.....innocently??? Could explain my 2.5lb weight gain after my 1 week of re-feed!!
Lesson 2: Don't try to guess quantity of food items, find out before embarking on re-feed!
Maintenance products or regular shakes......why do we need to change when we're happy with what we've been having!!! I decided to try one of the free sample maintenance meals (caramel bar) but it was absolutely disgusting to me. So why do we have to move onto them?? Why do we have to continue to have a Lipotrim product if we've lost weight?
Lesson 3: Find out more about Liotrim products on re-feed and maintenance.
Now re-feed well underway but I still have to restrict my vegetables.......why??? They're supposed to be good and healthy for us and what I think I should be filling up on to stop me from being hungry!! I so wanted to eat lots of sprouts and cauliflower and broccoli but oh no...it's restricted to 2 measly heaped tablespoons.......how on earth do you measure out 2 heaped tablespoons of sprouts or broccoli or cauliflower?
Lesson 4: Discover more about the mystery of vegetables and their quantity when re-feeding and maintaining
Re-feed going bad and more bad with every passing day but what next........I'm supposed to now be eating potatoes & bread and meat......in unknown quantities as long as it's lean!!!! How many calories am I supposed to be eating a day??? I had no idea so I lost it and got myself spiralling out of control and heading fast to the chocolates where I fell into for 3 whole days!!!! Total and complete disaster.....binge eating like the old days.....I now realise I'm not yet ready to re-feed....I'm nowhere near as prepared as I need to be to keep the control.
Lesson 5: Learn how many calories I need each day and how many from each food group to stay healthy and avoid blood sugar highs and lows to stop the urge to binge.
With all that went wrong for me, I decided to go back to 100% TFR for another 4 - 5 weeks to lose a further 1.5st and give me enough time to learn all the lessons I need to before carefully planning a more successful re-feed for next time. I have emailed Lipotrim with the following questions and when they reply, I will post the answers I receive from them because I firmly believe that there are many others like me who struggle and fail at the last hurdle so hopefully the answers to these questions will go a long way to stopping a second failed attempt at re-feed for me and everyone else. Here is what I've asked to have answers to:
1. For days 1 - 3, it states moderate serving of salad (small breakfast bowl). 'Moderate & Small' mean different things to different people. Can you please state in either ounces or grams what you mean by moderate or small breakfast bowl? Is it 6oz of salad or 400g? Being more specific would be of great benefit to people like myself.
2. Why can we not have cauliflower or carrots on days 1-3 as vegetables and at what stage can these vegetables be introduced?
3. Does the amount of potato or bread on Day 4 onwards have to be as much as 8oz or 2 slices etc... or can it be less than this? If not then why not?
4. From Day 4 onwards, it states 'lean meat with all visible fat trimmed off' but it does not specify what the quantity is. Again it would be much more beneficial to have an amount stated in either ounces or grams. Also is this the amount to have for the rest of our lives to maintain weight loss?
5. Again it states small servings of fruit. How much is a small serving? It would be more helpful to either state 6oz of grapes or 1 small satusuma or 1 medium banana or 1 medium apple etc.. Simply stating small serving is far to subjective and will be interpreted by each individual differently.
6. Is gravy made with instant granuals allowed and if so, on what days can this be introduced and is there a limit to how much?
7. Can you continue to use the Lipotrim foruma rather than the maintenance products during refeed and the weeks following the first week as I've tried the sample maintenance products and didn't like them.
8. There is no mention of eggs on the re-feed sheets, are these permitted and if so, from what day and again, what is the quantity, small medium or large (as stated on the boxes they are purchased in).
9. Is tinned crab meat or tinned clams allowed during re-feed in addition to or as a replacement for tuna in brine and if not, when can these be introduced and in what quantities?
10. Once the first week or 2 of re-feed has been successfully undertaken, are we then expected to adhere to a low calorie diet and if so, how many calories should we be aiming for and how many calories from each food type, i.e. 300 calories from protein, 300 calories from carbohydrates, 200 calories from fat, 400 calories from fruit, 300 calories from vegetables???? Information like this would be invaluable in helping to plan ahead and maintain weight loss for the future.
So this is the story of my disastrous re-feed attempt so back on 100% TFR and hoping to do it successfully early February.
Nina, did this answer your questions about re-feed, did it help at all?
Lesson 1: I always have my shakes at 12 midday, 4pm then 9pm. Re-feed was different, i.e. had to have a breakfast, lunch then tea so 9am (ish) 12 midday(ish) and then 5pm or 6pm (ish). This was something I had not planned for so it was a shock as I struggled to get first shake down me so early then was looking for something around 9pm despite having had my 3 meals (2 shakes & 1 real food meal). Need to alter times of shakes 1 week before re-feed in preparation to lessen the shock and make the transition easier.
So managed days 1 to 3 but then it became tooo difficult following the re-feed advice on the official sheets. During our time on TFR 100%, we have no choice on quantity and do not leave ourselves open to interpretation. We open a shake packet & mix with 250ml of water......that's it!!!!! Re-feed directs us to select from small/moderate sizes and 2 heaped tablespoons....what on earth do these crude measurements amount to in ounces or grams??? I was worried to death I wasn't having enough or worse still, too much....I need specificity......not an approximate guess. Re-feed also allows lean meat with all visible fat trimmed off.......but it doesn't state how much of this lean meat we can have.....again, did I over indulge.....innocently??? Could explain my 2.5lb weight gain after my 1 week of re-feed!!
Lesson 2: Don't try to guess quantity of food items, find out before embarking on re-feed!
Maintenance products or regular shakes......why do we need to change when we're happy with what we've been having!!! I decided to try one of the free sample maintenance meals (caramel bar) but it was absolutely disgusting to me. So why do we have to move onto them?? Why do we have to continue to have a Lipotrim product if we've lost weight?
Lesson 3: Find out more about Liotrim products on re-feed and maintenance.
Now re-feed well underway but I still have to restrict my vegetables.......why??? They're supposed to be good and healthy for us and what I think I should be filling up on to stop me from being hungry!! I so wanted to eat lots of sprouts and cauliflower and broccoli but oh no...it's restricted to 2 measly heaped tablespoons.......how on earth do you measure out 2 heaped tablespoons of sprouts or broccoli or cauliflower?
Lesson 4: Discover more about the mystery of vegetables and their quantity when re-feeding and maintaining
Re-feed going bad and more bad with every passing day but what next........I'm supposed to now be eating potatoes & bread and meat......in unknown quantities as long as it's lean!!!! How many calories am I supposed to be eating a day??? I had no idea so I lost it and got myself spiralling out of control and heading fast to the chocolates where I fell into for 3 whole days!!!! Total and complete disaster.....binge eating like the old days.....I now realise I'm not yet ready to re-feed....I'm nowhere near as prepared as I need to be to keep the control.
Lesson 5: Learn how many calories I need each day and how many from each food group to stay healthy and avoid blood sugar highs and lows to stop the urge to binge.
With all that went wrong for me, I decided to go back to 100% TFR for another 4 - 5 weeks to lose a further 1.5st and give me enough time to learn all the lessons I need to before carefully planning a more successful re-feed for next time. I have emailed Lipotrim with the following questions and when they reply, I will post the answers I receive from them because I firmly believe that there are many others like me who struggle and fail at the last hurdle so hopefully the answers to these questions will go a long way to stopping a second failed attempt at re-feed for me and everyone else. Here is what I've asked to have answers to:
1. For days 1 - 3, it states moderate serving of salad (small breakfast bowl). 'Moderate & Small' mean different things to different people. Can you please state in either ounces or grams what you mean by moderate or small breakfast bowl? Is it 6oz of salad or 400g? Being more specific would be of great benefit to people like myself.
2. Why can we not have cauliflower or carrots on days 1-3 as vegetables and at what stage can these vegetables be introduced?
3. Does the amount of potato or bread on Day 4 onwards have to be as much as 8oz or 2 slices etc... or can it be less than this? If not then why not?
4. From Day 4 onwards, it states 'lean meat with all visible fat trimmed off' but it does not specify what the quantity is. Again it would be much more beneficial to have an amount stated in either ounces or grams. Also is this the amount to have for the rest of our lives to maintain weight loss?
5. Again it states small servings of fruit. How much is a small serving? It would be more helpful to either state 6oz of grapes or 1 small satusuma or 1 medium banana or 1 medium apple etc.. Simply stating small serving is far to subjective and will be interpreted by each individual differently.
6. Is gravy made with instant granuals allowed and if so, on what days can this be introduced and is there a limit to how much?
7. Can you continue to use the Lipotrim foruma rather than the maintenance products during refeed and the weeks following the first week as I've tried the sample maintenance products and didn't like them.
8. There is no mention of eggs on the re-feed sheets, are these permitted and if so, from what day and again, what is the quantity, small medium or large (as stated on the boxes they are purchased in).
9. Is tinned crab meat or tinned clams allowed during re-feed in addition to or as a replacement for tuna in brine and if not, when can these be introduced and in what quantities?
10. Once the first week or 2 of re-feed has been successfully undertaken, are we then expected to adhere to a low calorie diet and if so, how many calories should we be aiming for and how many calories from each food type, i.e. 300 calories from protein, 300 calories from carbohydrates, 200 calories from fat, 400 calories from fruit, 300 calories from vegetables???? Information like this would be invaluable in helping to plan ahead and maintain weight loss for the future.
So this is the story of my disastrous re-feed attempt so back on 100% TFR and hoping to do it successfully early February.
Nina, did this answer your questions about re-feed, did it help at all?
