Wanting to embark on Lighterlife, lots of questions! (sorry)

lillypop

now got pictures in album
Hi everyone

I've been reading this forum with great interest and its been so great looking at all the pictures of befores and afters.

I've been thinking of going on lighterlife for a few weeks now, my mate is on it and has lost 6 stone but still hasnt gone back to food.

I am 23 stone and 4lbs, I am desperate to lose weight, I've tried Xenical and have been on a low fat diet now for 3 weeks, I've lost 8 lbs, I've stopped Xenical this week because it gave me headaches.

My questions are these:

1 - After the initial few days, do you feel hungry on the plan? I love fruit and I worry that without being able to eat my blackberries etc at work, I will fail, when you go onto Lighterlife, do you just feel full all the time?

2 - Because I pick (all the time) I dont usually have three a day meals, but little and often especially on this new diet that I've been on and I've been enjoying it but with the plan, is it 4 food packs a day and nothing else? (except water?) :tear_drop:

3 - What happens when you bring food back into your life? This is what worries me the most, what happens if I lose all the weight and then when food comes back into my life, I put it all back on again :eek::eek::eek::eek: I know that I am desperate but doesnt your body miss the 'chomping' sensation of my mouth eating?! :rolleyes:

Sorry guys, I think that's my questions so far, I'm 95% there on contacting the person in my area just have to be totally sure.

Thanks, Lilly :)
 
Hi everyone

I've been reading this forum with great interest and its been so great looking at all the pictures of befores and afters.

I've been thinking of going on lighterlife for a few weeks now, my mate is on it and has lost 6 stone but still hasnt gone back to food.

I am 23 stone and 4lbs, I am desperate to lose weight, I've tried Xenical and have been on a low fat diet now for 3 weeks, I've lost 8 lbs, I've stopped Xenical this week because it gave me headaches.

My questions are these:

1 - After the initial few days, do you feel hungry on the plan? I love fruit and I worry that without being able to eat my blackberries etc at work, I will fail, when you go onto Lighterlife, do you just feel full all the time?

Once your body is in ketosis you don't really feel hunger. You may still "fancy" something but you don't feel you need to have it.

2 - Because I pick (all the time) I dont usually have three a day meals, but little and often especially on this new diet that I've been on and I've been enjoying it but with the plan, is it 4 food packs a day and nothing else? (except water?) :tear_drop:

It is just the 4 food packs a day and at least 4 litres of water a day too. After the first week you can have 3 food packs and a bar a day.
you can make certain types of recipes out of the foodpacks but its not adding extra food, its just cooking them in different ways for variation.


3 - What happens when you bring food back into your life? This is what worries me the most, what happens if I lose all the weight and then when food comes back into my life, I put it all back on again :eek::eek::eek::eek: I know that I am desperate but doesnt your body miss the 'chomping' sensation of my mouth eating?! :rolleyes:

With the LL plan you have ongoing group counselling to examine the issues why we all eat as we do and gain weight as we do, and once you reach your goal weight you move into a different group called Route to Management which is to assist you in maintaining and not gaining again.

Sorry guys, I think that's my questions so far, I'm 95% there on contacting the person in my area just have to be totally sure.

Thanks, Lilly :)


Hope that answers some of your queries.
Good luck. We all love the Plan xxxx
 
Hi Lillypop.... I'm only on day 4 but I can tell you after the first 3 days it gets easier. On day 2 I was set to kill the next person that dared eat a chocolate biscuit near me and it seemed like every advert on the TV was food! However I went for my Pop in and after three days lost 9lbs and let me tell you that had spurred me on.

It is true once you're in ketosis you are not hungry but I will be honest it is boring. However the choice for me was stay overweight and continue to get bigger, or undertake a standard diet and lose 1-2 lbs per week - this would never work for me I am too impatience and always fall off the diet wagon, or do something extreme and I think LL is extreme. The way I look at it by the summer I can be 3-4 stone lighter and feel and look oh so much better. :D

My advise would be to try it... hey if you don't get on with it then never mind... at least you tried it. I think you'll do great on it though, and the fact you have a friend doing it as well is even better you can support each other.

Good luck x
 
It's just as Lemma said! I will say though that whilst on the plan your sense of smell goes into overdrive, I can smell fish and chips at a hundred paces at the moment. As long as you don't give in you'll do great on this plan. You start to see results in a few days - I've been on the plan for just over two weeks now and have lost 18lb already. It does motivate you to keep going.

But the real benefit of this plan is the counselling, and the route to management. It is said that if you complete the Route to Management you'll stay Lighter for Life. From what I have seen and heard it is generally those that do not do Route to Management that end up putting the weight back on.

My advice to you Lillypop is this - MAKE THAT PHONE CALL!!! The longer you leave it to make the call, the longer it'll be before you see a lighter you.

Good Luck
 
I think your questions have been answered and my best advice would be to ring your LL Counsellor and get yourself booked onto it - got to say that this diet has been the best thing I've done ... and I'm a total food lover!
 
The only thing I can add that helped me, is taking the time before I started to really decide if I could commit to the plan or not, as I felt this strict a diet would require utmost commitment for it to work, as it is based on abstinance and ketosis. I learned about the diet in November, and started the first week of January. That gave me a lot of time to get my head wrapped right around what I was embarking on.

I was terrified at cutting the chord with food. Really fearful of it. But then when I consciously realised, it is a very short time to go without for wonderful rewards - well worth the sacrifice. I mean, would I rather keep eating and stay fat forever - OR - would I rather give up food, only temporarily, and finally realise my lifelong dream, and then have food back in my life again. It was a no brainer. I was determined, no matter how hard the first few days were, and I was surprised they were much easier then I imagined.

Its a great diet, and the results are amazing, and it is the easiest one I have ever done. RARELY really hungry. Cravings yes, but hunger....nope. Amazing innit!! It really is, and food was everything to me, so if I can do it, you can do it. And you will get loads of support here to spur you on. We are all like minded, looking for the same thing.

Good luck. :)
 
Hi Lilly

I know the thought of going off food is scary but it is a life changing experience. Starting LL is the best thing I've done for myself in years. It gave me a welcome break away from food and I lost 6 stone in 20 weeks. I'm not saying it's easy...there were days when I cried...but I stayed strong and have gone from a 24 to a 12-14. I've been maintaining since October and I eat low gi now. I think the secret is you have to use the time without food to change your attitude. I know now that I'm being destructive if I choose to go back to my old habits as my life has altered immeasurably for the better since my weight loss. Go for it...and give yourself the gift of a lifetime!
 
I've got to admit that I do find being in abstinence on LL a lot easier than I find sticking to a 'normal' diet such as ww or slimming world. If you stick to what you're allowed then you can't fail whereas on any other diet where there's limited food I can always tell myself that one more potato won't matter, or that the pasta portion really is so many points where it's probably double. I find this like smoking - it's much easier for me to stop than it is to cut down ---- think I definitely am an all or nothing kind of girl!
 
I'm like you Katie and I've got to say that being in abstinence takes the stress out of dieting. I always struggled through lack of organisation, not having the right food in the house, getting home so hungry that I pick at the wrong foods but with LL you know it's only gonna take you a mo or two to get ya dinner and you got the whole weeks worth there!! I'm taking this time to try and work out how I'm gonna stay slim once I get there. It is a fantastic weight loss programme and I find the counselling invaluable. Go for it Lillypop, you really won't regret it :)
 
Wow, thank you all so much for your replies, they have been so helpful. I got an email back from the lighter life counsellor and have replied asking a few more questions. It does sound amazing, I've been reading how much weight you have all lost, I'm thinking 'could I really be slim one day???'

I have some more questions!!

1 - When you start, I read that you have to do 100 days, do you have to actually pay 100 days? or do you pay for it weekly? or 4 weekly? Just wondering how I will pay for it and if I can afford it so that will be be really helpful to know. Also, if after a couple of weeks, I dont like it, is there an option to stop taking the food packs or is it once you've signed up, you have to buy them for a certain period? I understand that this may help if the first week is so awful but I am wondering if I cant stomach the packs after say a few weeks, I would like the option to say no if I wanted to.

2 - What happens when you, say, go on holiday? Like if I started this now, I have a holiday booked in September, that's like 5 months away, do I Just carry on eating for 2 weeks and then go back to the packs when I come home? I cant imagine just doing the packs when I am in Crete! I am 23.8 stone so I have at least 10 stone to lose! I wont have lost that in 5 months so I will still be on just the food packs right?

3 - When you begin, is it better to be at work or to have a few days off? I dont want to be at work and faint or something like that!! I mean, really how bad is it at the beginning?

Thank's soooooooooooooooooo much for all your replies, it has been sooooooooo helpful!!
 
Hi Lillypop,

Firstly, you pay for lighterlife weekly usually, £66 per week. You are not tied into the 100 days at all, the 100 days is just the amount of time in the foundation section. You can stop whenever you want (I'm sure you won't want to :D).
As far as your holiday goes, the choice is yours, alot of people take there packs with them on holiday whilst others opt to take a timeout type thing. Only you will know whats right for you at the time.

Got to be honest, I felt fine when I started and didn't suffer at all so prob best to let some of those who have answer the last question

Hope that helps :D
 
Hi lillypop,
I'm currently in week 3, and I'm planning my birthday & summer holiday atm and the thought that I could actually be thin for both is definitely a weird/slightly daunting feeling, but one I'm really going to work at to stop self-sabotage (which has happened before)
Just one thing to mention - you'v got to pay a £66 deposit when you first sign up, which you get back either in the first week of rtm or in the 1st week of maintenance (maybe an experienced llfer could clear that up), and you've got to pay for any weeks that you miss. You're free to quit the program but you can't just go for the councelling by itself and eat normal food at the same time - but I wouldn't worry about it - the pack are actually quite nice and if you get bored you can make all sorts with them...
I'm planning on eating for my birthday, but I think its something to talk through properly with your councellor - as long as you get back on the diet as soon as you get back and not use it as an excuse to carry on eating & return to your old days you'll be fine.
All I can say is DO IT!! I was quite aprehensive before I started, but it's the best thing I've done in a long while. Everytime my mind wanders I just think '13lbs in 2 weeks' and it keeps me on the straight and narrow!!
Emma
 
Every LLC is different, we didn't have to pay a deposit - we only paid at the actual first session.

I am gong back to California for 3 weeks in May - I am hoping beyond hope I stay on the diet, as much as I will miss ALLLLLLL my favourite foods....but coming off for a couple of weeks is quite dard to get back on track.....as others have experienced, so I am thinking I will stay on the diet....which is my priority - however, I may change my mind and do 3 packs a day and one meal. Similar to management. Discuss your options with you LLC she will be happy to help.

I booked off the 3rd and 4th day of diet from work, as those tend to be the days that hit most people, but I was fine. I was however happy to be at work and distracted for the first 2 days....made it easier.

Good luck!

X
 
You will know what to do when it is holiday time. I started 6 weeks before christmas and couldn't imagine christmas wihout eating, but when I got there I knew I could do it. I did it and so did many others. It is best to stick to the plan if you can, I know people who have 2 weeks in the sun and stuck to it. You can go on holiday and stick to low carb, low fat and not do too much damage weight-wise it might be difficult getting back on the plan when you come home.
5 months in general life is not that long, 5 months on LL will totally transform your mind and body.

I don't think many LLC take deposits, and you just pay weekly. £66 per week might seem a lot, but if you add up what you eat in food, takeaways, snacks in the pub, garage, bakers, lunch out etc, it soon adds up. I found it wasn't that much different, and well worth it.

I would totally recommend the management program, you don't have to do it, but I think it is essential. I am on week 3 and can see how it is working on me and how it is going to help me stay lighter for life.
Abstinence is easy, RTM is trickier, but fun.


Get your head in the right place for starting and go for it, it will be the best thing you ever do for yourself.
 
hi all, im into day 5 now and I totally agree with everyone, I have always been overweight and size 22 top and 18 trousers and my thinking was the same, I looked into it properly for a month, asked a friends, friend who had tried it loads of questions and prepared my head for it, but its like everyone says, a few months of serious working at it brings endless results, and iv spent so much going to weekly classes the last five years that this is an investment in me! and I know that when ive done it im goin to work damn hard at keeping the weight off, im not going back to comfort eating, you only get 1 life so do it for you x
 
Hi Lily,
It would be misealding to say that it is easy, but nothing in life worth getting is easy.
I am a great believer that when the time is right, the right thing to do will find you, the trick is recognising it and hanging on.
I was recommended to the program through the lady auditing the firm I work for. Talk about a wierd way to find something. I ran around like a loony getting ready for the scary person who was going to rip my files to shreds and then, five minutes later, I was on the phone to Lighterlife.
If it has found you, then maybe it is time to take the leap and go for it. Let's face it the only thing you really have to loose is what's stopping you getting into the clothes you really want to!
Go for it - jump and I know the support network will catch you!
x:party0019:
 
If it has found you, then maybe it is time to take the leap and go for it. Let's face it the only thing you really have to loose is what's stopping you getting into the clothes you really want to!
Go for it - jump and I know the support network will catch you!

How lovely a quote is that ----- sums it all up that does ;)
 
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