Newbie to VLCD and Exante

margarino

Chronic dieter!!!
Hello all,

I am a complete newbie to the VLCD having always relied on WW to shed pounds at a "healthy" rate, whatever that means!! But i have a dilemma that i am going to Australia for Easter and have about 7 weeks to get from 13st 5-ish lbs to 10st 10lbs, which would put me at the top of my healthy weight range.

I have just bought the special 4 week package on Exante, so hopefully should be coming tomorrow or the next day. And now don't know what to do...
1. Is there anything i need to do to prepare myself for the diet?
2. Should i wait till after valentines day as i know that i will be having chinese for dinner?
3. Is there a limit to how long you should be on Total Solution before you should stop?
4. I will need to eat normally for Easter or risk insulting my family so what is the process of going back to normal foods? How long does the process take?
5. Finally i have replaced most dairy products with soy products in my normal diet because of the taste and bloaty feeling it gave me, can anyone suggest how i can mask the milky taste of the products? Any tips you've tried would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading and any advice you can give me.

I so hope this works!!! :sigh:
 
1) Eat a few less carbs over the next 2 days, cut down bread, potatoes, biscuits, fruit etc.

2)Up to you. Might be a good idea if you "have" to eat on that day. Seems a shame to me to pay our all that cash then not follow the programme by eating as well!

3)It's all in the literature. 4 weeks TS then you have an add-a-meal week, then another 8 weeks and another add-a-meal week then start again (if you need to) or use the books provided to reintroduce food.

4)If it's going to be a real problem for you then why not try the working solution rather than total? You should still be able to lose around 10lbs a month apparently but won't feel so guilty and may be able to fit the food you want to eat socially into your plan. Normal eating from TS apparently is about 4 weeks.

5)I dilute mine down and have them over 2-3 meals rather than all at once. My afternoon half is usually taken hot with a hermesetas sweetener in it. I believe you can also have them in coffee. Apparently although you have to buy the full pack once you've got it Exante will swap your shakes for soups if you email and ask them though, you could try that?

HTH.
 
Oh and Quak is probably the most experienced (and successful!) Exante dieter here but I think she's on hols this week.

I'm sure she'll have more info when she gets back though!
 
Hi and welcome! I've done weight watchers in the past as well, and whilst I think it is a very good plan, I feel that doing Exante Total gives you the chance to evaluate your relationship with food, which was what I needed at this point in my life. As for your questions, I know YamBabe has covered most of the points I would make, but here goes:
1. I drank extra water whilst waiting for my products to arrive and really cut down on carbs.
2. I would, if I were you - enjoy that and start on the Monday or something.
3. Yambabe covered this point rather well I think
4. And this point too.
5. Try adding coffee to the shakes perhaps? I really like all the flavours of the shakes, so I'm not much help on this point really.
 
Hi Margarino, can't add much to what the previous posters said but just wanted to say welcome.
 
Thanks Gina, can't wait for my package to arrive tomorrow, think might not do the chinese dinner for valentines and get stuck in (I'm sure my boyfriend wont mind). Much more important to focus on getting to goal by Easter so i can have a proper meal with my family when i'm in Australia - they are massively catholic so it's a big deal for them :)
 
I am on the 2nd full day now, and lost 3lbs so far !

I too have a major meal - 8 people round for tea at ours, and I plan to cook the lot & have a soup or shake when they are tucking into lasagna
 
Wow that's amazing will power! I think that's what i find hardest, cooking a normal meal for my boyfriend and then eating a salad or soup myself, after i've smelt all those aroma's for an hour or so i want to eat it too!!!! hehehehe But hopefully the fear of being this weight in 7 weeks time will help me to resist the temptation when i'm on exante - that and the fact that i've spent so much money on it!! :D
 
goodness margarino
I had to double check your location for a moment then

I thought I was talking to a fellow yorkshire woman then

"arm darn well going to do this, a've spelt a lot o hard earned cash, and its going t'work"

;D
 
I think it gets easier cooking for others. We're a family of 7 and i cool a meal from scratch most nights. Tonight they're having chicken in mustard and honey sauce with mash, carrots, green beans and leeks. I'm tucking into tomato and basil soup. Can't wait to join them once again but i want to be slim more.
 
Maggie - hehehehe no not from yorkshire, actually not even from the UK, i'm australian, but just very poor at the moment as i've taken leave from work to finish my studies.

Gina - very good point, the want to be slimmer has to prevail!

Well i hope my pathetic will power is better tomorrow, have completely gone off the rails today - lindt chocolate in the house and i go bananas!!!
 
I'm getting there with the cooking for others thing. The OH is a rubbish cook so I'm still sorting him out in the evenings but rather than the from-scratch meals that I used to do he is currently living on easy-cook stuff that I'm not so keen on, so oven chips, sausages, beans, pies, pasta, chops, frozen or tinned veg, the odd microwave meal etc. He's banned from having bacon at the moment though! :D

I'm hoping he does decide to join me on the diet from meal week onwards cos it will make life a lot simpler for me.

I have found now I'm well into it that the smell of food, or handling it, isn't bothering me so much. Except bacon...........:eek:
 
'...to shed pounds at a "healthy" rate, whatever that means!!..'

It is the rate where you're just about making some kind of progress, but slow enough that you pay your £5 a week for the maximum amount of time possible before you get fed up and leave.

Cynic, moi? ;)

Best of luck. It's a big ask for 7 weeks (esp if you're still thinking about throwing in the odd meal, and then it'll take you a couple of days to get ketotic again each time), but if you stick with it, you should make some decent progress.

I hope it goes well. :)
 
Last edited:
Yeah i figure that i probably wont lose as much as i want to but am going to do the total solutions solidly for 4 weeks like yambabe said and then slowly reintroduce foods so that i can have my Easter meal without it making me feel ill, then after that will do it properly as it should be done - can anyone give me any links about how to follow the total solutions, i searched all over the exante website and found no info on how to follow it. Do you get any information when you order the pack?
 
Yes, you get full instructions with the pack and it's also on the website but Minimins frown on us posting links. Click on the "solutions" button.
 
you mean the booklet?
did I not get something

as I said to Yams, no councillors on Exante-they are phasing them out!

I got an email to say that, she said email the exante team if you need help
 
No, i meant i found the solutions page on the website, it says a little about the program but doesn't explain how to follow it, i hope that the information pack that comes with the products tomorrow will make things clearer - i just want it to be here now!!! :D Patience is not something i am known for, hence why i am so hopeless at dieting on weight watchers :D
 
You get a couple of little booklets telling you about it all.
Have to say though, it could be more informative.
 
Back
Top