Has any 1 Kept the weight off FOR GOOD

babezone

Full Member
Hi all, like the title says really, it worries me the amount of people i see on the forum that have done a vlcd and have regained it all and possibly more after they have finished over a a year or 2 or whatever.

Im just scared once ive finished the diet and hopefully at goal. if i will keep it off. i dont suppose it helps with other people saying you will only gain it all back once youve finished.

What kind of life style do you leed after, do you just genealy have your 3 meals healthy ones and maintain or do you have to follow some other general program like weight watchers/ slimming world.

I know ill always have a problem with food i just dont want to do all of this for at the end of it to be for nothing xx
 
Hi babezone
I know exactly wat you mean its one of my big worries to, wat I can say is that unfortunately I am one of those people you are talking about I lost over 3 stone with LL last Jan-april and a yeah and a half latest I'm on exante needing to lose over 4 stone if I want to get back to that, which is about 9 stone 4lb I am not going to that but am going to be more realistic and aim for about 10stone 4-7lb. This is because the smaller you are the less calories you need to function (type basal metabolic rate into a search engine and play about with different weights) I found that I would only be able to have 1ooo cals per day at 9'4 but about 16oo cals at 1o stone which is more realistic for me, also and this is very important to know wen I finished the diet I ate worse than I did before, a lot worse I know we can't mention particulars on here so calorie wise I was probably topping 3ooo per day a lot of the week which is triple wat I should have been on at my thinnest and double wat I should have been on at 1o.5 stone so that's why I gained the weight, I am confident that if I do it properly I may gain 3-4lbs back but that will be it
I hope this has helped, sorry if it sounds a bit jumbled and if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask
Good luck x x
 
I wish I could help, but I can't.

Well, at least I can't provide any practical personal experience, although I have a good idea of what I will do.

After steadily gaining weight from childhood through teens and early twenties, I went to Slimming World in 1995 weighing 17st 10lbs.

In the next 8 months I lost 5st, getting down to 12st 10lbs.

In the next five years I managed to gain the lot back, plus another three stones for good measure. I was up and down a bit for a few years, never really moving much from where I was, until last year.

Last January I rejoined Slimming World and went from 19st 3lbs to 14st 3lbs - another 5st loss.

I then left SW and went back to the old ways!!

Thankfully I caught myself before too much damage was done, and I weighed around 16st 3lbs.

I tried very hard to find the focus to start losing again, but it was only in August when I started Exante that I really found the determination I needed, and so far I'm down to 14st 7lbs, with the intention of getting all the way down to my target at 12st.

So you see, it is extremely easy to fall back into old ways and con yourself that you've cracked it and you can relax.

My plan to avoid this 'yo-yo' effect this time is to change to a low-carb diet.
This diet will be a three-meals-per-day, low fat, moderate protein and high fat plan, that is designed to lower my blood glucose levels, control my insulin response and use fats for fuel.
This will curb hunger pangs caused by carb consumption, restricting my need to snack and will hopefully be practical enough to maintain for life.
 
Research shows that the vast majority of slimmers put the weight back on. Usually pretty quickly after reaching goal. But this doesn't have to happen.

My advice is to go low carb, or at the very least, low GI, during maintenance. It was carbs that got you fat in the first place and it will be too many carbs that get you fat again, if you don't limit them.

Check out Atkins and other low carb plans for the longterm future. It really works!
 
I have never stuck to a diet long enough to get to my goal weight so I've never had the experience of gaining it all back ...but I have been thinking about what I have to do to maintain and I know that I will have to follow a low carb lifestyle.

Carbs are my downfall and I know that if I go back to the way I was eating I will gain it all back. I think to maintain you have to change your mindset and your way of eating for life.

I will obviously be able to treat myself with carbs more when I'm at target but it will not be an everyday occurance like it was before. For example, I might eat low carb Monday - Friday but allow myself to relax a little on the weekend or I might just be more relaxed in my eating on special occassions. The main thing I think will be to take it one day at a time, to keep monitoring my weight so that if I do see a gain of a few pounds I can do something about it there and then before it gets out of control. I might allow myself a 5lb window of gain or something.

No matter the route we all chose, ie. low carb or low calorie etc. I think the main thing is to introduce these foods back into our WOE gradually so that we can see how many carbs or how many calories our bodies can take before we gain weight, if that makes sense.
 
Once reaching goal, you have to introduce foods at steady rates. If you go through the correct steps then you should be able to maintain a healthy weight. I think regular exercsie, whether it's walking or something more is key to weight management...if you don't burn it, it will stay. It's probably a good idea to look into various diet plans, to help you.

I'm no where near that stage yet, but I do look forward to eating again and maintaining a healthy weight :)
 
Thanks everyone, I do hope to be abit more active and excersize more definetly. my little boy starts nusery in january im really hoping to join a jym then and have mollie in a creshe maybe a couple of time or even simply going for walks etc. My biggest problem is portion size. i dont think i eat that much rubbish but my dinners looking back i probably eat double/tripple the amount i should do. and i need to learn to leave it when im full. i always think my dinner is too nice to leave and that i dont want to waste it!.

If i can look at those things and sort them i may hopefully be well on my way. hopefully
Thanks xx
 
there are thousands of people who have lost the weight and kept it off , but then they leave minimins and you dont here from them , so all the success stories are not heard and only the 'returners' return to minis !!!
I know of one person who did amazingly , and he has a blog called 'the diet guy ' which is fabulous is you want to have a read . Statistically many people do regain the weight , but it is possible to keep it off with a lifestyle change and hard work .
 
it's not just with VLCD that people regain the weight - WW, SW, RC, etc, etc, etc!

Basically, if you do what you've always done, you'll get the results you always get!

You MUST change your lifestyle - food, exercise, the lot, to maintain the weight loss.

Good luck (and yes, I lost 6 st with LL almost 3 years ago, and am back to lose the 2 st I regained plus the last bit I never managed to lose with LL)
 
I would echo most of the other comments on here. I lost over 120lbs on Lighterlife at the tail end of 2008/early 2009. It was without a doubt the best thing I've ever done. I don't regret it for a minute. I started at almost 22 stone and got down to less than 14. Did I keep it off? Sort of. As I sit here and type this 3 years later, I'm 17 stone. Still 5 stone lighter but not where I want to be. I lost 2 stone on exante earlier this year and put it back on over the summer. I'm back to get it off again and try and stay there for the long haul.

I remain convinced that it can be done but it's totally down to you. Keeping this weight off will be one of the hardest things you will ever do. At the end of the day no one is forcing anyone to eat. It's a choice. I don't think the method of loss has any real bearing on long term success. As long as you have the mindset that the abstinence is the easy part and the keeping it off the hard part I;m sure you will be fine. :)
 
On this theme, I decided yesterday to peek at the 'maintenance' threads of each and every major diet category here. I think these sections make very telling reading.

When people are maintaining well, they post. I sure did! They tend not to vanish sort of overnight. When people do slip off the radar it is usually, I do feel, because they have hit problems and are regaining.

This is borne out by the large number who later suddenly reappear in the 'restarters' threads. This is an ongoing fight. Losing the weight is winning the battle; keeping it off is winning the war. And it's a hard fought war!

But certainly longterm maintenance is definitely possible. I've done it, myself. I doubt anyone has 100% perfect maintenance, just as I doubt anyone ever has true, no kidding, totally 100% strict diet adherance over a period of months.

100% is not necessary. It might be very nice but it's asking too much of us! Ditch the foods that made you fat in the first place. I don't even try to bargain with my poisons. Experience has taught me that I cannot have 'just one biscuit', nor 'just one tiny slice of cake'. There may be days where I can have this limited amount but sooner or later my cravings will torment me until I give in. So I avoid the biscuits and the cake, entirely.

I think we expect miracles from ourselves after years of overeating. That alone can make us feel like total failures, so we give up. Extremes are not good. My addiction took hold over many years and wasn't banished in one night, nor one month. I live every day with my always good intentions, and I try my best to eat healthy and to avoid my trigger foods. It works!
 
I wonder if those who weighed near on every day/ every other day were any different to those who didnt really step on the scales. i mean i no its easy for me to say oh i wont gain the weight etc and all could be very different later on down the line, but ive always been a compulsive weigher. even when i have not been on a diet i step on the scales in the morning its just routine for me now lol.

So after this diet i no doubltly will be stepping on the scales each morning ill be giving myself a 4-5lb barrier to fluctuate between but if i weighed myself and saw i had put on say 7lbs which i no i couldnt do overnight like. but if i gained like 2lb over the 5 barrier then i would be making sure im cutting right back and maybe lessing my portion sizes again that next week diet wise to get it back off.

Thats what i hope to do. but i wonder if those who regained wanted to give up the scales and relax again and didnt want to step back on them or feel they didnt need to.
i so hate how this is going to be a big issue really for the rest of my life! xx
 
Unfortunately the statistics are not good for all diets. 90-95% do regain their weight, I think it's down to the individual. You have to Make lifestyle choices. I lost 6 stone with LL and maintained for over 6 months, found it ok, but had to watch what I ate and monitor it. I then got pregnant and thought all the rules had changed, back to the old ones, needless to say by the time my baby was born I had put on 5 stone, working hard to get that off now! Yes it will always be a struggle, but of course it can be done, if you work hard and make real changes. You need to change your relationship with food, I can hilly recommend the Beck diet solution book, gives you a lot of strategies, similar to that used with LL about how to change how you think and use food. in the end, we are all individuals and we all need to make choices and be accountable for them.

I am a social worker and was working with a recovering alcoholic a few years back and he said something that really stuck with me, he told me, after ten years being sober, that he still went weekly to his AA meetings. When I asked why he told me that only 1% of alcoholics stay sober and he wanted to do everything he could to make sure he was the 1%. kinda made me think the same about dieting, just need to work out what my AA is??!?!
Hope that helps x
 
Hi Babezone

I've also been interested in this topic. My mother in law lost about 5 stone years ago on Lipotrim and kept it off whilst she lived by herself. We all moved in together 13 years ago and slowly but steadily she has regained it - she's now considering doing Exante with me but needs to check with her GP first, (she's 80 in March and only on meds for her arthritis!!!). A colleague at work did Lighter Life over 2 years ago and lost 7 stone - she started to gain immediately as she admits she's 'all or nothing' - she was ill earlier this year and is now back at her original weight. She's also considering Exante when she's back off her holidays.

I'm hoping to have learnt from these two - I know I can generally eat quite healthily but my portion size has been far too large for a long time. I also love carbs!!! I'm hoping that being on TS will reduce my appetite to a level that when I eventually start to eat again, I'll be happy on smaller portions - I'm also planning to have a low carb diet with small treats every now and then. I know I'm going to struggle with my weight all of my life but this is the first time I've ever done anything this extreme - here's hoping it's going to be the only time :)

I think coming on here and hearing people's stories really helps.

I'm just at the end of week one and want to lose about 6 stone so I know I've got a huge journey ahead and I'm also planning on a 5lb 'window' when I'm eating again.

I do tap and jazz dancing and am in a show every year - I'm fed up of being the fat one on stage who needs to alter the costume to make it fit - even combining two outfits to make one! I hope when I see next years DVD, it will help me keep the weight off :) Maybe dancing and performing in the show each year is going to be my AA????
 
Losing the weight is winning the battle; keeping it off is winning the war. And it's a hard fought war!

Great quote, am going to write this in my diet book (and maybe on my fridge door too!)

I read something recently that those who weight themselves every day after a diet keep the weight off better than those who just do it on a weekly (or less) basis, so I plan to do that, and also to carry on recording my weight (only weekly though) on a chart for the foreseeable future. Basically this time round I'm planning to treat maintenance as stage 2 of the diet, instead of party time!!
 
My mother in law lost about 5 stone years ago on Lipotrim and kept it off whilst she lived by herself. We all moved in together 13 years ago and slowly but steadily she has regained it - she's now considering doing Exante with me but needs to check with her GP first, (she's 80 in March and only on meds for her arthritis!!!).


I really, really hope I'm not still doing Exante when I'm 80! :eek: Good on her for not giving up the battle though!
 
there are thousands of people who have lost the weight and kept it off , but then they leave minimins and you dont here from them , so all the success stories are not heard and only the 'returners' return to minis !!!

Thats such a good point. Most people when they get to goal do feel Minis work is done and leave, they dont tend to pop in and post 'Hi there, still slim' lol

it's not just with VLCD that people regain the weight - WW, SW, RC, etc, etc, etc!

Well said!! I hate the common misconception on Minimins from people not doing a vlcd that 'the faster you lose it the faster it goes back on' How do they explain the VERY regular restarters on WW/SW etc

Exante is going to be the last diet I ever do. I dont intend to maintain through SW/WW/Atkins or anything else
 
I weigh once a week, and no more. I have no intention of adding scale-hopping to my list of addictions/compulsions! But if others can weigh daily and not be totally thrown off-track by seeing mysterious gains that can only be water, fine. We have to find what works for us.

The equivalent of AA, for us, would of course be OA - Overeaters Anonymous. And how right that recovering alcoholic is! To stay in that precious 1% he has to admit his powerlessness every single day. He has to continue to work to keep that recovery.
 
Hi
I first started a vlcd 3 years ago. I lost 7 and a half stone in just under 6 months getting down to 10 stone 7lb. When I started eating real food I found it difficult to eat healthily all the time, mainly due to the fact that the unhealthy food, especially chocolate, tastes sooooo good! The only way I have not manged to put all the weight back on is by keeping a close eye on my weight(I am actually quite obsessed with the scales!), and not allowing myself to go over 11st 7lb. When I reach 11.7 I go back on either 3 shakes/soups/bars plus a low carb meal for a few weeks until I loose that extra weight. Don't get me wrong I know this is probably not a good idea, as this will be seen as yo-yo dieting which is never a good thing! But I am now 33yrs old, I have been overweight ALL my life, tried EVERY diet know to man, lost 5 stone in the past doing slimming world then put on 7 stone after stopping!, so I know what works for me and what doesn't! I only have to look at a mars bar to put on half a stone. I even put on 1.5lb starving myself for a week doing weight watchers! If I thought that I had to diet every day for the rest of my life I couldn't cope! People will say just eat healthily to keep the weight off but I will be honest and say that I just can't do it! I am so so jelous when people say that their stomach has shrunk since doing a vlcd and they can no longer eat large amounts. For a few weeks after I came off it this was the case for me but this did not last long! So the solution that works for me is eat what I want when I want, and then restrict myself for a while when I have been overdoing it a little! It has worked for me for the last 2 years. I will NEVER let myself get back up to 17.13 but the only way I can make sure this doesn't happen is by allowing myself to eat what I enjoy but then taking control before letting myself get back to square 1! xxx
 
Well done Upsy-Daisy on maintaining such a fab loss - that's wonderful and really encouraging. You know what's best for you and I suppose going onto Exante every now and then is like doing a detox - you're getting everything you need :)

LastEverDiet - I'm 40 and hope I won't be doing Exante when I'm 42 :) My mother in law is partly to blame for my weight - she lives with us and doesn't know the meaning of moderation! She serves massive portions which I've got used to over the years and now I serve them like that too :(
 
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