Need help to understand

[senorita]

Hi everyone, I am new to posting but have been lurking around this great site for a week or two, but have a question if someone wouldn't mind taking a minute to answer it.

I am aware that CD, LL and other VLCDs work, I can see the results and they are very impressive.

Although I have searched around the site, I am even more confused though and my question is this.

From what I can gather the CD,LL etc meal replacements are all nutritionally balanced to stop your body from going into 'starvation mode'. I know that this state genuinely exists and I'm not questioning it.

But when first on a VLCD your calorie intake is very low (well under a thousand cals a day) which if eating 'normal' foods would not be enough to sustain you for any length of time.

What is in the meal replacements that stop your body from entering starvation mode but allow them to still stay so low in calories. Are they just very high in vitamins and minerals? Is that enough to keep starvation mode at bay?

If that is the case, then wouldn't an ordinary calorie counted (say 500 cal) a day high protein, low carb based 'oridinary food' diet, taken with sufficient vitamin and mineral pill supplements achieve the same thing?

I know about Ketosis and how it burns fat and that you need a high protein/low carb intake to get into that state. But can't that be achieved with the diet I suggested above?

Again, I am not questioning that CD etc works but wondering if the same effect is possible another way.

(sorry, ended up more than one question didn't it?)

 

[SoonToBeGorgeous]

It is the balance of the protein/carb/fat that keep the body going.

Have a read of the two Dr. Alan Howard Cambridge books published in 1985 and 2005, I think you might gain a lot from them

I wouldn't attempt to try it any other way.

Incidentally I have a blood test every four weeks and my bloods have remained perfect throughout

 

[mandye]

In theory I think that yes you would be able to do a 500cal meal and vitamins ect but the cd ll lt w8 have had years of getting the balance right not sure you would be able to replicate that from the suppermarket /chemist .So unless you have all the research these companies have put in (and understand it ) then I would say it would be dangerous to try xx

 

[Heffa]

Before I started CD I did look into Lipotrim, Cambridge, LL and W8. I tried my own less than 500 cal diet by eating chicken, vegetable soup, salad etc. I was absolutely starving all the time which led to eating more albeit healthy food. The weight loss was not anything like CD. It took me 6 months to lose 20 lb with lots of exercise and lots of hunger. I've not been hungry on CD, feel fine and have lost 19lb in 5 weeks. I'll do the healthy eating thing once I've lost weight.
Most of the problem I have with dieting is finding something to eat when i'm starving -i need to have lots of healthy food in the cupboard. With CD I don't get very hungry. Its got all the vitamins etc in it so you don't have to buy supplements. I would recommend it.
I think maybe the only way you can do your own and not feel so hungry is to buy appetitie suppressants - but I really didn't want to do that. Good luck if you try it - let us know.

 

[blue_grapefruit]

I think sometimes that people sya "a body needs a certain amount of calories to function"

Anyone thought how many "calories" we have stored in our bodies?

I would seriously advise against trying to sort out your own 500 cals a day because you risk bigger problems - if you lack in protein, then the only protein stores in your body is your muscle. Don't exactly want to be digesting your muscles do you?

If you don't get yourself in ketosis, then you will be hungry

Good luck, and believe me - CD is the hardest diet i have ever done, with the most amazing results EVER!

xxxxxxxxx

 

[BIG BIRDY]

BG I disagree. I CAN'T be the only person who finds this the EASIEST diet I have ever tried! No choices, no cooking (except for the family and they get whatever is easiest for me to do now!), no hunger and no misery cos the scales don't tell you what you think they should! I did LT 18m ago and again found no problems, this time it's easier cos I know whats happening too. A few weeks down the line I might have to do aam or 790 for sanity, but right now, NO PROBLEMO!

 

[spannerpan]

Could you devise your own diet for less than 500kcals and take vits and mins and get the same effect as Cambridge or LL? Yes in theory but years of doctor research went into the diet - do you have the same knowledge and expertise as them? Also I doubt it would be cheaper than CD or LL if you COULD do it - vits and min supplements would cost a lot - CD is only £36 or so a week.

Also part of the beauty of these diets is you don't have to think about food at all. You just have your mealpacks and that is it - DONE! Why devise your own diet with tonnes of effort when you can have it all done for you?

Plus with the diet you get support as well.

 

[senorita]

Well I appreciate your replies everyone, and from what I can glean from what you have said in answer to my questions, it would be possible to use a low-cal, high protein/low carb diet with lots of vitamins and minerals to achieve a similar result to CD/LL but very difficult to get the balance and measurement correct.

Just to put your mind at rest, I am not intending to try going it alone. I have lost seven stone now going from a size 26 to a size 12 by restricting my cals and following a very healthy and well balanced diet most of the time and if I'm honest (when I got 'into the zone' so to speak), at times restricting my calories too much. That didn't last for any longer than a few weeks at a time though as I love my grub too much!

I have probably under a stone to go now so I'm quite happy with that.

My queries were only because we are forever hearing about 'starvation mode' and how it is directly connected to a restriction in calorie intake and I wondered how it was that with such a low cal diet it didn't happen with CD.

Thanks for your time folks.