Here as I am...

This will bang on a bit but bear with me!

I first started Lighter Life in February 2007 and in under two weeks lost 12lbs and I looked and felt great but I was living with someone who was awkward about it and still expected me to cook his meals so I just caved in. Also my counsellor didn't really do the counselling thing and just held drop-in sessions. Anyway, I put the weight back on and apart from an ebay sourced three day stab at it in August of the same year (3lbs), I gave up on the LL diet.
In did a stint on SW a year ago and lost a stone which I kept off until I met my other half (he's a chef damn it!) in November last year. I haven't put on more than four pounds but have tried SF and SW with limited success. So here I am, I've contacted a counsellor and hope to start in the next few weeks. My partner is 100% behind me but and weirdly I'm more excited that I ever have been at the thought of a diet because I know from experience that it really does work. But I'mm trying to program myself to be ready for it but all I seem to be doing is eating with the cheerful thought at the back of my mind saying 'it's ok you start your diet soon and you can get rid of it easily'. So is my excitement just masked enthusiasm for stuffing my face until the diet starts, is it genuine?
Did anyone else go through something similar? Can I get myself to the best place possible before I start or does the LL counselling do that for me? Also, did anyone else stuff theire faces before they started and then went on to get to goal?

Thanks

ls
 
Not sure I can really answer your questions. I really don't remember if I ate more on the lead up to my start date. I know I was excited and just wanted to start ASAP.

Anyway, just wanted to say hello and welcome. I'm sure other more experienced posters will be around shortly to give you the benefit of their wisdom. :)
 
HI ls

I was the opposite actually, and without really realising it I cut back on my eating in the weeks between the info session and actually starting the diet....about 6 weeks or so. By the time I was ready for the diet I was ready to say goodbye to food. But we all prepare for the diet differently.....what is really important is how you behave ON the diet. ;) :) What you do before should not impact getting to goal or not - you will get to goal, because you WANT to. :)

Good luck to you!!
 
hi there
i had to wait 6 weeks to start and put on half a stone while waiting!

i also spent my time reading up everything ever written about LL and loads of blogs from people on here

when i started i was 100% committed and i felt totally ready
hth
daisy x
 
I started 1 week after my info session and lost 3 lbs during that week. I was quite apprehensive about starting as I found it difficult to believe I could survive on 500 calories a day. I was very surprised to find just how easy it was! It was a great relief to find a 'diet' that was so straightforward and effective. My OH has been very supportive - although she does get a bit fed up with me banging on about it all the time.

I think quite a few people eat a bit more in the run up to starting LL - many mention the "Last Supper" before starting
 
Hi Ls, welcome to LL & minimins.

I started on 2 Jan and had info session on 27 Dec so had the Christmas festivities before starting. Can't say I loaded-up any more than normal, but then at that time of year is difficult to know!

Good luck with sticking to the plan this time, you'll be fine.
 
If you needed any more incentives to start, the before and after photos (Especially BL's - amazing weight loss BTW you are literally unrecognisable compared to before) should convince you!

The counselling isn't magic - you have to apply the teaching to yourself in an active manner. The urge to overeat before starting the diet is an example of the 'wrong thinking' that CBT is trying to overcome. Retraining your brain is the difficult part of the diet - abstince is 'easy' in comparison. It's after you've lost all the weight that the hard work starts...
 
Thanks everyone.

I'm more ready for the packs than I am the counselling, there's a large(!) part of me that can't wait to stop the eating and guilt that follows. I'm also so curious as to what I'm going to look like afterwards.

Anyway, I've dipped in and out of minimins since I first did LL two years ago and I've silently read up on the livetoslim blog so I'm armed with a few facts!

LS
 
Hi there

I definitely ate for England (and Scotland, Ireland and Wales!) for the week or so before I started. I think that's a reasonably common approach, all I would say is, you do tend to suffer more in the first few days on the programme if you have eaten a high level of carbs (you suffer withdrawal, which means headaches, feeling very tired etc).

Good luck, you know it works, so I am sure if you are committed you'll have massive success :)
 
If you needed any more incentives to start, the before and after photos (Especially BL's - amazing weight loss BTW you are literally unrecognisable compared to before) should convince you!

The counselling isn't magic - you have to apply the teaching to yourself in an active manner. The urge to overeat before starting the diet is an example of the 'wrong thinking' that CBT is trying to overcome. Retraining your brain is the difficult part of the diet - abstince is 'easy' in comparison. It's after you've lost all the weight that the hard work starts...

Thank you ANders. :)

And you are spot on - trust me folks, abstinence is indeed the easiest part of it!! Maintining is hard work! But rewarding. But don;t kid yourselves and think once abstaining is over you are "Fixed"....the work continues....but it is indeed made easier by how wonderful you will feel.
 
welcome and good luck with it, I was sooo excited before I started and yes I did overeat before hand, thinking it didnt matter cos i was starting LL, but in hindaight I wish I blooming hadnt, as I put around a stone on in the month between my initial drop in session and when i started the programme x
 
I did cambridge in 2006 and lost 6 stone since then ive struggled to get back on it but i decided to try LL for the counselling and group support. I ate loads before probably because i knew what i was in for! i regret it as i felt so rough first few days but got thru it and despite a tiny slip up im now going into week 5 and have lost 17 pounds. You can do it you just need to be 100% focused, its a hard feeling to describe but when you got that determination nothing will stop you! good luckx
 
Thank you all!

I've just spoken to my LL counsellor and she's agreed to see me on Thursday so that I can get the packs a week early. I won't be having my group meeting until the following Thursday!

I'm so excited but when I rationalise the fact that my main hobby and source of comfort will soon be taken away from me, i can't help but feel a little freaked out. Anyway, the counsellor mentioned that it was only shakes in the first week and no bars, when i did it before it wasn't like that so she conceeded that I could have bars if it was an issue. I'm happier with having bars as I have visualised how this will work for me in relation to work and home life; I prefer a shake for breakfast, a bar at work and two shakes in the evening. I'm concerned that I think I'm committed and ready for this diet but not willing to surrender fully to a liquid existance - I hope I can sort this out in my head.

So the big start day is Tuesday August 4th (The fattest day of my life) and by my other half's birthday in November I am adamant to be a size 12/14.

Any advice/wisdom on the no bars in the first week thing would be greatly appreciated.

LS
 
Well, my philosophy is that LL has done all the research to see what works best, and made the decision to not allow bars in the first week. I don;t know exactly why - but thats what they do, so thats what I did, because I was going to follow the diet 100%....which I did. No rule bending, no lapsing, etc. It was my last chance....I really felt LL had to work or if it didn;t I was destined to spend the rest of my life morbidly obsese. Bending the rules on all the other diets didn;t do me any favours, so I was not going to allow myself to bend LL rules. By the book. That way I could relax, and know the diet was working as it could - that I wouldn'g have those feelings if "I would have had a better loss this week if only I hadn;t ______" Fill in the blank with whatever fits. So it was straight and narrow for me.

And it was fine. I think, personally - and this is just me - but we are trying to make a permanent life change, and that requires discipline, determination, drive and "staying within the lines".

Its a personal decision - but I know me. If one rule is bent - then it gives the OK to bend other rules. For me, that leads to disaster.

Good luck though, on whatever you decide...you have to do what works best for you - I would just suggest really understanding why you make the choices you make. That is helpful in the long run.

I don;t know how much you have to lose - but just remember - this 'discomfort' is only temporary. Everything you are giving up will still be there. WHen you are at goal. You can do it. :)

Good luck!!
x
 
How about a compromise - when I started, we were allowed bars from day 4. Not sure why, assume by then we're deemed to be in to ketosis, whereas with the bars being higher in carbs it make take longer - could be totally wrong though! I know the approach varies by LLC from previous threads on here.

Anyway, I followed the approach of bars from day 4 (as it's what my LLC told us to do!!) and lost 11lbs in the first week, so it worked for me :)

I have to agree with BL though around bending the rules - if I had started changing the plan to suit me, I hate to think where I would have ended up - definitely not nearly 5.5 stone lighter in 4.5 months though, that's for sure.
 
Im surprised your LLC said you could have them, surely she should have tried explaining to you why you couldnt have them. I know its not the same, but in my head it would have been like me saying - 'hmmmm, well I dont want to have 4 shakes a day, I want to have 6 and her saying, well if 4s a problem then we can bend the rules for you'
Its quite extreme, its rigid, it works, dont try to find ways of bending the rules now cos a few weeks in you may have other obsticles that you think you can bend the rules for, which wont help you in the long run. Give it 100% and you will reap the rewards xxx
 
Thanks!

I'm not actually looking to bend the rules here and as I understand from having done LL previously it's an all or nothing diet - that's the reason I'm doing it. I need those boundaries to be clear. I have had a counsellor who allowed bars from the outset so there can't really be a strict rule within the LL camp. It may just be down to the counsellor's discretion. I certainly won't be asking for six shakes a day!

The reasons I asked for bars is because I have no intention of telling my work colleagues what I'm doing. I don't want to be in the kitchen preparing my shakes in front of everyone, I want to sit at my desk or in the park with my bar - it's what I know works best for me. I've gone through a period of reconcilliation to get to the decision to do LL again and mapping my days at work was part of that. Socially I'm writing off the next three months and having me time, i may change my mind as the weeks go by but that's how I'm preparing.

Thank you Lucy for the suggestion of shakes for 4 days to get me into Ketosis and then using bars - I'm working a ten minute walk from home that week so I'll probably walk home and do shakes for the first few days.

LS

 
I was also told no bars for three days to get into ketosis quicker and then you could have bars from day 4.
 
yeah i was told the same x goodluck with everything xx
 
I was also told no bars for the first 3 days to help get into ketosis, but I took the decision to skip them for the first week entirely.

I know what you mean about work, I too didn't want anyone to know, but fortunately as I work from home most days, it wasn't a problem for me.

If your LLC is prepared to let you have bars from day 1 and you accept it may take a bit longer to get into ketosis, I don't see it causing any great harm in the long term.

Good luck with your journey :)
 
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