Whats made people start vlcd

[MsJMC]

Hello there , just asking whats made people start VLCD , for me my weight has been creeping up for few years now and also what realy hit me was seeing in my local paper about the NHS Hertfordshire the primary care trust has recently introduced a programme that forces obese people to lose weight before they are allowed orthopaedic surgery.... so it brings your bmi down to a normal weight . which they do say helps and sometimes you don't need surgery , which yes i think is a good idea ... also they are doing this for people who smoke if people smoke and have problems regarding this the programme to stop smoking , has any other hospital put this in place ?
Really is a wake up call i guess .
Also the other reasons are how you look on the outside too and shopping for clothes .
I can think of more but the one that hits home more is having a normal BMI , so on my way to bring that down .

 

[girlsbig98]

My sister in law lost 7st with Lighter Life so I started LL last year because of how well she done, currently doing Slim & Save as its same shakes and a hell of a lot cheaper.

VLCD not been easy to get back into as have done a few in the past but this time im mega motivated and having a good start so far hoping I can see it through!

As for BMI im not really worried about what the number is as to how I worry how I look in the mirror, same goes for my weight I dont care what the scales say its how I look that matters to me.

 

[MsJMC]

Ho not heard of slim and save , and i love LL i did join that think almost 2 years ago but was not ready as in my head was not in the right place .
Where do you get the diet from ?
see I have a knee problem now and i know if i need anything done they will not do anything until i bring it down to a normal weight so i may as well start now and its not helping my joints carrying this weight around anyway and yes how you look on the outside is the real eye opener .

 

[girlsbig98]

slimandsave is the site for it

Yes I have deleted many of our holiday photos because I cant bear to look at them nor want anyone else to see them Love your quote "Strong Women Stay Slim"

 

[MsJMC]

Yes I just have to be that strong woman now !
Ok yes have that site up now and looking , seems pretty good .
Thank you

 

[BordersGirl]

I went back to a VLCD because it has pretty fast results (when you have a lot to lose that's important) and also it takes all of the choice out of the diet. I find with 'normal' diets where I have to decide what I eat it doesn't take long for me to decide to eat some of the wrong things and then it's the slippery slope. A VLCD takes all of that temptation away because it's all or nothing. I'm on Slim and Save and Dietimeal MRP (actually I think they're one and the same thing from the taste, varieties on offer, packets and nutritional content). I also added a few Proti Chilli meals (although not strictly speaking MRP) as I like the taste and variety is important as otherwise I'd be eating the spag bol every single night! Lost 10lbs in 2 weeks and feeling good about fitting in some of my smaller clothes sometime soon.

I started again because:

I am fed up of being breathless when I walk up hills / stairs
I no longer want to be perceived as fat
I avoid my photo being taken like the plague as I hate the way I look
I want to be able to shop in 'normal' shops and buy nice clothes rather than heading to the plus ranges
I want to feel good about myself like I did when I did a VLCD before

 

[MsJMC]

wow thats great 10 off in 2 wks .
Yes i know what you mean about clothes shopping , i gave up along time ago i almost excepted me being this size because i was fighting with diets , feel in a better place now . today has been effortless but tomorrow could be hard . but i'm on my way down , come smiles and tears i guess lol

 

[MaryMZ]

I started because I hadn't had any success with WW and took a year to lose a stone with slimming world. (My own fault for not sticking to the diets.) But I obsessed with what treats I could have trying to ration myself to one biscuit one packet of crisps and so on. So now I can't have any of those so in a way it's easier. Not saying that it would work for other people but it's working for me though it's early days yet. I think everyone is different. People should do the diet that suits them. Some people have great success with WW and other diets. What really started me looking into low calorie diets was reading about Pauline Quirke's fantastic weight loss.

 

[MsJMC]

Pauline Quirke's ho yes she was on This morning and she was doing LL , i must say she was getting very big and took action , now look at her , amazing .
she really talked VLCD up which is good because theres alot of negative people about ...
I think sw or ww work for some and some not , yes your right .
With this you know its faster and you know what you have todo .
I know it can get boring , i'm stick of black coffee now ... may allow myself one cup with milk .
No pain no game lol

 

[MaryMZ]

I'm not keen on black coffee either. I'd rather not have a coffee than black so I allow myself one with milk sometimes. But I've given up sugar! It was good that Pauline Quirke did the low calorie rather than go for the gastric band.

 

[BordersGirl]

Someone at work started on LL because she saw Pauline Quirk on the TV. I don't know how people can say that these diets are so unhealthy. Surely it's much more unhealthy to be obese, or morbidly obese and struggling with diabetes, arthritis and other health issues that are connected to being overweight?

 

[pandorasinbox]

Someone at work started on LL because she saw Pauline Quirk on the TV. I don't know how people can say that these diets are so unhealthy. Surely it's much more unhealthy to be obese, or morbidly obese and struggling with diabetes, arthritis and other health issues that are connected to being overweight?

Exactly! I made this point to my GP when he refused to sign my form to start LL because we "don't ascribe to that type of diet". I have no other health problems other than being obese and he was preventing me from dealing with it! (He offered me xenical, but ew! No, thanks!)

I started LL because I've done every other diet going - I did a combination of atkins/WW over 2007/08 and lost 6st (19st to 13st) then, but I've piled nearly all of it back on again because I didn't deal with my poor eating habits and because WW let me be "naughty" as long as I starved myself the rest of the day. That's not the way normal, healthy people eat! A VLCD is allowing me to abstain from food which is forcing me to face my attitudes to it when confronted with it in every day life.

I'm also terrible for not noticing weight loss. Like I said, dropped 6st and barely noticed it at the time. It was only when I looked back at pictures that I realised how much smaller I was and how stupid I had been not to see it, but it had come off so slowly that I hadn't been aware of it. LL doesn't let you do that because the weight loss is so quick that it's impossible not to notice.

Not slagging off WW here by the way - it works a treat for some people and power to them, but everyone approaches their weight and attitudes to food differently. Some of us just need a different method!

 

[girlsbig98]

good points, also whats to stop people just eating minimal with no support from lighter life or guidance from their support group. At the end of the day my doctor is fatter than me so who is she to tell me about weight loss anyway?

 

[BordersGirl]

Yes, anyone can go on crash diets that don't have the correct vitamins and minerals and aren't balanced. I could choose to eat lettuce 24 x 7 if I so wished with no support from my doctor and that's clearly not at all healthy. My doctor did say that I could do with losing weight, so here I am doing so in a way that will suit me and give me the quickish results that I know I need to keep my motivation going and a diet that removes most of the choices about food (other than what flavour shake to have ). I haven't run this diet past my doctor but I don't have any reason to suggest that there is a problem. In fact I feel a bit healthier already. I guess I'll just go in and have my blood pressure checked at some point and hopefully it will be down as I was on the cusp of needing to take pills before I started this as it was on the limit of being too high.

When I finish I just need to deal with my food issues as although I dealt with them pretty much for 3 years after doing Lipotrim I then ended up in a job that required me to travel a lot so spent lots of time in hotels eating out and drinking that piled the weight back on over time. I found that all the time I kept the carbs low I was in control of my eating but the minute I introduced bread, rice and pasta back into my diet it made me overeat. I need to bear that in mind this time and try to deal with it. I do so love bread though (and wine!). It's the one thing I smell that makes me want 'proper' food! The OH wanted bread a couple of days ago so we stopped off at the supermarket and bought a fresh, warm french stick. The smell of it in the car on the way home was unbearable and of course as soon as we got back he had some. I can still smell it now!

 

[pandorasinbox]

good points, also whats to stop people just eating minimal with no support from lighter life or guidance from their support group. At the end of the day my doctor is fatter than me so who is she to tell me about weight loss anyway?

I made this exact point to my doctor. I said that I could go out and have nothing but water/soup/shakes without guidance, support and ongoing health checks and he wouldn't have a word to say about it. It was just the fact he had to sign a form declaring I was healthy to do it. My doc said "well why do they need you to fill out a form, have a health check and ongoing BP checks? No other diets do. Maybe that should tell you something!"

I pointed out to him that maybe other diets should and that the fact LL make you do this shows they are more responsible than others, not less! He wasn't having any of it though. Stubborn old goat!

 

[BordersGirl]

Yet my friend at work who is doing LL went to her GP and was told that it was a really good idea for a short time to kick start the weight loss. Guess all docs are different.

 

[MaryMZ]

. I found that all the time I kept the carbs low I was in control of my eating but the minute I introduced bread, rice and pasta back into my diet it made me overeat. I need to bear that in mind this time and try to deal with it. I !

When I was on weightwatchers I just craved and craved. Even worse than slimming world. When I had a chocolate treat I couldn't stop at that. If I had bread I was starving and ate four or five slices sometimes. Also I've read that diet drinks can make you hungry. Not sure if that has been proved. So I haven't had any since I've been on the Cambridge diet.

 

[MsJMC]

these Doctors , they make you laugh , mine weighed me once and had a little chuckle to herself saying your a bit over weight , and there was her bigger than me , i think i was 13 half stone then . so its really one rule of them and one for us .
My last Gps were not helpful with weight loss ... I think they could do so much more helping people with weight loss before it gets out of hand and then knee joints and back pain starts ... Now you won't get any help from the Hertfordshire NHS until your BMI drops to a normal weight ... they put you on a diet plan now and when its brought down then you can have the op . so its a wake up call really .
Same with smokers too a programme for them too .

 

[girlsbig98]

Also I've read that diet drinks can make you hungry. Not sure if that has been proved. So I haven't had any since I've been on the Cambridge diet.

they all have citric acid in them and stops ketosis so dont drink it while on VLCD x

 

[girlsbig98]

We know what GP stands for yeah, 'General Practitioner' meaning they know a little about everything and not a lot about any one subject from my experience!