Does anyone get scared..

[laurenmay]

..about VLCD's and TFR's when they read articles in magazines, online and hear people always raving on about how these are crash diets or 'fad' diets?

If I had the patience, then I'd probably count calories, eat healthily and exercise, do all the things that are known for being the best way to lose weight.. But I'm not a patient person. I have five stone to lose, and I also have a huge issue with food so for me I need to take food out of the equation for a while, focus on losing weight and getting down to goal, refeeding and then maintaining..

But then when I read about people regaining all the weight they lost on VLCD's straight back after they finished it frightens me. I don't want to spend all this money on products, go through all the hard work and however long it takes just to regain all the weight back afterwards!

Also refeeding and maintanence scare me. I'm petrified that my body won't agree with food after a VLCD and I'll just start gaining weight again.

Does anybody else feel like this?

I want to be slim, fit and healthy, I want to be toned and in shape, and I really hope & pray that slim and save will get me that way. But when everyone else claims it won't, and healthy eating & exercise is the only way to do it, it makes me question if I'm wasting my time? :-(

 

[Mo-Jo]

heya Lauren
with any diet VLCD or not there is always the danger that if you go back to your old life style that you will gain all the weight back and then some....Im sure theres enough ppl who lose the weight and change theyr unhealthy habits and keep the weight off ...but I guess that wouldnt be put in magazines cos well...its a shat story innit lol
I think when your on a VLCD and largely abstaining from food , all those times when you used to be munching are a bit of a void and you do a lot of thinking about your relationship with food and how much you ate that you didnt need.
I wanna be toned and i shape too but I dont want to waste 3 years getting there I want it now...I also dont wanna spend those 3 years hiding in the house in my leggings or PJs (cos theyr all thats comfy) I wanna be part of my family and be on photos. I wanna be able to take my kids on rides without worrying if I will fit in them...most of all tho I dont wanna leave my kids life early cos my healths at risk cos of my weight.
My mom had a stroke in november last year she was overweight had high blood pressure diabetees and was a smoker all contributary factors , I sat beside her bed in the hospital thinging fecking hell mum why have you done this to yourself...I dont want my kids to be sat by me thinking the same.
You need to get your head onside Lauren, stop talking yourself out of diets before you start , stop this destructive cycle your on once and for all and take control of your life.
x

 

[RebekahR]

You got to do what's best for you hunny

I personally don't worry I need to loose fast for my op. I happily maintained my post atkins weight on 2500 calories but I'm not ever gonna get my op at that weight!!

I'm pretty ocd so I enjoy planning my refeed and it keeps me going knowing I've got every macro, food and week planned on spreadsheet!! The thought of goal and refeeding the right way really encourages me

Do what works for you, don't worry about magazines etc... If your determined you can do it and refeed sucessfully!

Xxx

 

[Avon Rachel]

A lot of people have opinions on these that have no experience or knowledge of them. I have struggled with educating my friends the last two weeks and several of them still treat me like I am a moron who doesn't know what she is doing.

There is the risk of piling the weight back on, but by weighing out the veggies and getting into the habit of eating that much veg each day it helps with getting into a healthy routine for the future.

My excuse for starting a VLCD was that having already lost 3 stone over the last couple of years by calorie counting, my weight has stagnated and I haven't lost any more since Christmas. This is to bump my weight down to a healthy level. By using S&S's packs you still get all the nutrients your body needs, just less calories to make it use up your fat reserves. So it isn't unhealthy like if you were trying to do something along these lines alone.

Try not to listen to too many people who aren't actually informed, but have an opinion.

 

[laurenmay]

Thanks everyone I know that it's true of any diet, VLCD or not, that if you go back to your unhealthy eating habits afterwards that you're likely to gain the weight back and some more.. I do want a healthy lifestyle, I want a good relationship with food and like Avon Rachel said, slim and save does make you weigh out your veggies portions and that'll help me in the future when I'm at goal and maintaining with healthy eating.

I'm a huge Jillian Michael's and Bob Harper fan, and hearing them both rave on about how eating healthily and exercising is the only way to lose weight and keep it off I do get discouraged and feel like I'm being stupid following a VLCD..

BUT - I do have faith in slim and save, and in myself to follow it through to the end and prove anyone wrong who doubts me or the success of a VLCD. I just need to stop letting other peoples opinions affect me and get on with it

 

[Saddlebag]

Like others have said, don't listen to people who don't know what they're talking about- people are scared of the unknown. I can guarantee when you've lost weight people will be asking for the name of your diet and they'll want to do it too, because it's no longer scary and unknown to them.

I have also had an unhealthy relationship with food, right across the spectrum. I know how to eat well, I just don't. Who knows why... I still haven't worked that one out. I know that control and greed are both issues for me and can send me one of to ways!

My focus during maintenance will be to channel the control and greed into healthy eating and exercise- controlling what I eat rather than how much, and getting loads more exercise into my routine as I have no excuses whatsoever. Slim and save will make you slim, but not toned- only exercise can do that. Jillian Michaels is like many celebrities who are in control of their eating and exercise. I think you have to take parts from different people and lifestyles that suit you. Her 30 day shred though is excellent and I can really recommend it if you want to look toned. Got the DVD new off eBay for about £6, and it's only 20 minutes a day.

 

[GretaGrip]

Well, yes. You absolutely will put the weight back on if you return to your old habits. And yes, you will put it on if you suddenly go from consuming 500 odd calories a day to say, 1500 a day. This is just common sense. The same would be true of any other weight loss plan... if you go back to stuffing pizza and kettle chips then the weight will return.

I am thinking a lot about maintenance right now as I approach my goal weight and what I am going to do differently this time. Don't self sabotage yourself by thinking negatively at this point. This is what I believe will keep the weight off once you are at target...

1. three meals a day

2. no snacking in between

3. moderate carbs. So, if you have , for example, bran flakes for breakfast, do not follow this up with a sandwich for lunch and pasta for dinner. Just have the carbs once a day in one meal

4. Completely cut out all white carbs - such as white bread, pasta, rice etc... swap for wholegrain alternatives

5. Cut down on fruit. It's full of sugar, albeit naturally occurring ones. You'd be better off upping your vegetable intake than eating a lb of grapes and 2 bananas.

Err, we will wait and see if this does the trick!

 

[laurenmay]

Well, yes. You absolutely will put the weight back on if you return to your old habits. And yes, you will put it on if you suddenly go from consuming 500 odd calories a day to say, 1500 a day. This is just common sense. The same would be true of any other weight loss plan... if you go back to stuffing pizza and kettle chips then the weight will return.

I am thinking a lot about maintenance right now as I approach my goal weight and what I am going to do differently this time. Don't self sabotage yourself by thinking negatively at this point. This is what I believe will keep the weight off once you are at target...

1. three meals a day

2. no snacking in between

3. moderate carbs. So, if you have , for example, bran flakes for breakfast, do not follow this up with a sandwich for lunch and pasta for dinner. Just have the carbs once a day in one meal

4. Completely cut out all white carbs - such as white bread, pasta, rice etc... swap for wholegrain alternatives

5. Cut down on fruit. It's full of sugar, albeit naturally occurring ones. You'd be better off upping your vegetable intake than eating a lb of grapes and 2 bananas.

Err, we will wait and see if this does the trick!

Yeah I know, when I get closer to goal I'll start planning my refeed and maintenance plan too.

A book I'd advise you to buy is Bob Harper's Skinny Rules.. I bought it a while ago & it's really informative and useful, and will be especially so when we're all going through maintenance

 

[GretaGrip]

I shall check that book out. Thanks.

John Briffa also supposed to be good too ?

 

[BordersGirl]

I've moved to maintenance now and I was terrified that I had screwed up my metabolism for good to start with as although I did a very gradual refeed my weight did start to rise initially but now I'm out of ketosis, maintaining by counting calories, and my weight is now lower than before the refeed. I am careful with what I have and am very conscious that I could base my entire diet around carbs if I'm not careful. I restrict carbs during the week (although I'm not in ketosis, I just aim to have under 100g on weekdays) and when I do have carbs I try to ensure that they're low GI carbs. That's not to say that I don't ever have anything that's considered 'naughty' so for example yesterday someone at work brought in some Minstrels but I had 2 instead of scoffing the whole packet like I would probably have done pre diet. I do have fruit because I like it but I try to restrict it to 1 portion per day because of the sugar. I have also cut out alcohol almost entirely now and I was a big wine drinker before. I did intend to have it at weekends but I think a better way forward for me is to keep it to special occasions.

I realise that it's early days for me but I'm feeling confident about maintaining at the moment. I know that I have to make these changes to be successful in maintenance otherwise I will pile it all back on. So my advice is to refeed very slowly, have a decent plan in your head for maintenance, and keep adapting it to maintain your weight. Oh, and don't go into denial if you do start to put weight on, think about why it happened and tackle it straightaway. That's the bit I screwed up last time having maintained for 2 years. I need to be better at it this time round .

 

[laurenmay]

I've moved to maintenance now and I was terrified that I had screwed up my metabolism for good to start with as although I did a very gradual refeed my weight did start to rise initially but now I'm out of ketosis, maintaining by counting calories, and my weight is now lower than before the refeed. I am careful with what I have and am very conscious that I could base my entire diet around carbs if I'm not careful. I restrict carbs during the week (although I'm not in ketosis, I just aim to have under 100g on weekdays) and when I do have carbs I try to ensure that they're low GI carbs. That's not to say that I don't ever have anything that's considered 'naughty' so for example yesterday someone at work brought in some Minstrels but I had 2 instead of scoffing the whole packet like I would probably have done pre diet. I do have fruit because I like it but I try to restrict it to 1 portion per day because of the sugar. I have also cut out alcohol almost entirely now and I was a big wine drinker before. I did intend to have it at weekends but I think a better way forward for me is to keep it to special occasions.

I realise that it's early days for me but I'm feeling confident about maintaining at the moment. I know that I have to make these changes to be successful in maintenance otherwise I will pile it all back on. So my advice is to refeed very slowly, have a decent plan in your head for maintenance, and keep adapting it to maintain your weight. Oh, and don't go into denial if you do start to put weight on, think about why it happened and tackle it straightaway. That's the bit I screwed up last time having maintained for 2 years. I need to be better at it this time round .

Sorry to be nosey, but when you started refeeding and maintenance & you said your weight started to increase - just how much did you gain and over what period of time? And how long did it take until it started falling off again and you managed to get below your refeed weight?

Maintenance does scare and worry me, but listening to people who have been successful like yourself encourages me to stick with it & inspires me

Sorry to

 

[BordersGirl]

I upped my calories initially to 800 (back in March) as I was within my last stone and I was losing about 1lb - 2lbs per week, then I upped them to 800 during the week and 1000 at weekends, and was still losing albeit a bit more slowly. I got down to 11st 4.4lbs on 27th June and after upping calories to 1000 during the week and 1200 at weekends the weight loss stopped. I was still keeping carbs ketosis low at that point but the scales weren't moving. I then made a decision to come out of ketosis and I upped my carbs and my weight went up to 11st 9.4 at that point so I gained 5lbs to begin with. A week on my new calorie level (1200 during the week and between my BRM and TDEE at weekends, so between 1400 and 1700) and the scales started dropping back down again. I weighed in on Wed 25th July at 11st 2.6lbs so lower than I got to previously. So over a period of a month, the scales stuck, went up when I came out of ketosis, and have now started to drop again even though I've upped my calories. You just have to hold your nerve I guess and give your body time to adjust to a new eating pattern. If you've been on a VLCD for a while your body needs a while to sort itself out again. I'm feeling really happy that I'm through the other side and my weight is still stable.

 

[bridie]

Just though I should mention that the diet won't make you healthy and toned! It will make you slim however! Te healthy side comes fro
Eating the correct types of food when maintaining and the toned side comes from excercise!

 

[Deezer]

I shall check that book out. Thanks.

John Briffa also supposed to be good too ?

That book is amazing!!!

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