Newbie question re. Total Solutions and BMI

Hello everyone,

This is my first time posting here and first time on a VLCD meal replacement plan - I want to shift quite a bit of weight that has stayed on me from having my second child. 16mths later, I'm still getting congratulated on my 'pregnancy'!! So! Here goes!

I've just started today - and tbh am pleasantly surprised by the taste of what I've had so far - very palatable! (But yes, I am feeling hungry...still, it's only to be expected.)

Anyway, down to the question - I'm a bit confused about how long to stay on the Total Solutions for, since it's not recommended for people with BMIs of under 25 to follow. Right now is OK as my BMI is 30. My ultimate target weight however, would take my BMI down to about 21-22.

So - are you supposed to stop doing Total as soon as you reach a BMI of 25 or less, then change to Simple Solutions? Or, do you keep at it until the actual target weight is reached, then go on to a maintenance plan like Healthy Solutions?

Thanks for your help, and maybe see you around on the forums. :)
 
you are suppposed to do total for 5 weeks and intro a meal this is in the book you received with the diet. But once your bmi falls below 25 i think u should limit you shakes etc and eat more food, i think it is all in the mini book, Just concentrate on your 1st goal 1st and worry about the rest later. I think most go onto something like the atkins when they almost reach goals so high protein low carbs, but don;t quote me on that, and good luck.
 
You have it just about right. There are certain "rules" to VLCD that apply to all diets not just Exante. They are set by NICE who are a kind of advisory/regulatory body within the NHS and have been formulated after years of studies and research.

You should not, in any circumstances, stay on TS for more than 12 weeks at a time. Exante recommend you have an add-a-meal week after every 4 weeks, although you can go longer than this if you are being monitored by a medical professional on a regular basis and they say it's OK.

You should also not be doing Total once your BMI hits 25. At this point you need to work up to a minimum of their Working Solution and possibly go through the refeed process to Simple or Healthy.

From personal experience you may well find that by the time you get to (or even near) a healthy BMI you have learned a lot about your own body and how it works and what it needs as well as about what the diet can provide. If this is the case you can either follow the Exante solutions to the letter or you can find your own way to health and target weight - it's where I'm at right now and there is a thread of mine "Coming Off TS" around on here that may be useful for you to read.

The idea of moving up through the solutions gradually has sound medical thought behind it and works on several levels. It reintroduces food in a controlled and monitored way. It allows you to experiment and see if you have any trigger foods for weight gain and/or bloating that you may need to limit or even eliminate from your diet in future. Most of all though it prepares you mentally and physically for the hardest part of any VLCD - maintaining the weight you have lost!

One other thing to bear in mind is that BMI isn't always an accurate measurement of health for everyone and that your final target doesn't necessarily have to depend on what the scales or the BMI charts say.

We have seen several people here set themselves goals based on scales figures and they get very disheartened as they find that they can get near to but never quite to their goal - that way lies misery and possibly even eating disorders.

Keep your goals small and manageable and review them regularly. You could well find that as you progress and lose weight your ultimate outcome changes quite considerably from what you thought it would be when you started!

But most of all good luck with your weigthloss and welcome to Minis. :)
 
Hi Calligas and Yambabe,

Thanks for your replies, that does clarify it better for me.

I read the booklet and was aware of the break in the 5th week, of one meal a day plus usual amount of meal replacements, but got a bit confused by the part where it said:
...You can then return to the Total Solution. After you have reached your target weight you reintroduce conventional food slowly and carefully following our healthy solution...
Hence target weight of BMI 25 or target weight of where you want to be at the end...I'm easily confused haha.

So thank you for your help! I know what I'm doing more now lol.
 
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