Hello Everyone

[mamba]

Firstly I wanted to say HELLO, as I've been visiting this site a lot whilst trying to decide whether LL is for me. Everyone seems really nice and supportive!

Secondly I am just at the end of week 3, and am one of the lucky ones so far, in that I've had a good weight loss and no side effects. But I am a bit worried about some of things you see on the internet, like gallstones and kidney problems... has anyone had any issues with this sort of thing?

The other thing I am thinking about is when we all stop, and if it's true that the weight will "pile back on". I was thinking about doing this to, say, 1.5 stones above where I want to be, and then turning to the gym and WW to lose the rest. Does this sound plausible or like a terrible idea to you more experienced lot?

Thank you and sorry to ask so many questions on the very first thing I post!

ps: I should add that I lost the first 3 stone by myself and have kept that off for about 2 years. It's just the scaremongering about it galloping back on after stopping the diet that is worrying me...

 

[Spanglymum]

Hello and welcome! The weight only gallops (!) back on if you make choices that don't work for your body. LL in and of itself won't make you gain weight at the end, particularly if you do the cbt and rtm. There are a lot of myths about vlcds changing your metabolism but I couldn't find any scientific papers to back that up. Your metabolism will change, but that is only because a lighter body needs less fuel than a heavy one does.

I have maintained for a year now. It's do-able! I just chose to go a bit (lot?!) mental at Christmas and experienced some galloping lol ... But most of the time these days I make better choices and my weight is stable.

Good luck!!

 

[8541boo]

Hi there I'm with spanglyMum here the weight will only go backon if you let it! I lost 5stone 2years ago and am now back because of the bad food ( or should I say drink!?) choices that I made. It makes no difference how quickly you loose the weight to if you will put it back on again. This diet is tough but the results are amazing and I can 100percent say that I will not be doing this again once Iam at my target weight! How can I be so sure? Because when I lost the weight before I felt absolutely brilliant the weightloss of course made me feel great and had so much more confidence, but also in the mind knowing that I had done it and how proud my oh and family were of me. To have got to the end of week 3 as well is brilliant and the time does seem to go so fast when you are getting good results and can see the difference! Xx

 

[nzmegs]

Welcome!

With regards to your worries about kidneys and gallbladder problems...

Drink loads of water and your kidneys will be fine. All high protein diets can present problems to people who already have kidney issues, but if yours are fine then just drinking water will be OK.

I have already had my gallbladder removed due to developing stones when I lost weight through another diet. The fact is that losing weight (on any diet at all) can result in the formation of stones. But you usually only get symptoms if your diet is high in fat following the diet.

Also losing weight is far better for your health and concerns about gallstones should not stop you from going ahead. gallstones can be dealt with and are only very rarely life threatening. I have lived for years without a gallbladder and it has caused me no problems at all. My body just digests fat in a slightly different way.

Hope that eased your mind. But if you want a professional opinion ask your doctor about it.

Good luck.