Question about VLCD???

You should take some potassium supplements if you want to try it and you should lose fast as long as you exercise. Try to get most of your calories from protein. You also need a plan to reintroduce a normal amount of calories when you hit your goal weight.

You should take some potassium supplements if you want to try it and you should lose fast as long as you exercise. Try to get most of your calories from protein. You also need a plan to reintroduce a normal amount of calories when you hit your goal weight.

Never mind how dangerous a VLCD plan can be - THIS is not the best advice, either. Potassium supplements on top of a nutritional "shake" is not a good plan. Potassium should only be supplemented under a doctor's strict supervision. This is one supplement you don't want to mess with.

I don't think it's the poster who wants to do this, she was asking for her friend who did it and was successful.

I know someone who lost more than half their body weight following one in the UK called Lighter Life for around 6-8 months. She ended up at around 155lbs and she's quite tall.

From what I remember she told me her doctor recommended it and she stuck to it religiously for the whole time but they also sent her to counselling and to see a nutritionist so that she could change her eating habits when she stopped the diet. As far as I know she's put back around 15lbs of the weight but she re-trained as a fitness instructor so it really helped her for the long-term.

If she hadn't done it she would have been in danger healthwise definitely as she was extremely obese. I suppose it's a good alternative for people who don't want an operation if your very overweight but it's very very restrictive. I guess if you overeat and food is a temptation the idea is to remove food from the equation and only drink a liquid that's been nutritionally balanced to avoid overeating.

I did a long-term vlcd for close to a year and lost 94 pounds. It took about 10 months; this was about 13 years ago. I wouldn't do it again, but that's not to say it might not be right for some people. Everyone takes the weight off, everyone is thrilled, and then almost everyone puts all the weight back on and then some. Sure, it was great fun to buy size 6 pants, but those diets don't teach people how to eat properly or to maintain weight. They do try; there's a maintenance component. But because people haven't been practicing different habits throughout their weight loss, they tend to quickly go back to old ways. And in this program, at the very least, there was a continual push to get people to maintain by having at least two shakes a day, or their packaged entrees. Those entrees are terrible! White-flour pastas and processed proteins, no vegetables....this is no way to teach people how to eat.

My understanding is that because the long-term success rate with vlcds is so bad, this program now does a 1,200-calorie-a-day program instead; maybe some people with specific medical needs to lose weight quickly for surgery are still allowed on the shakes-only diet. and it is a terrible 1,200-calorie-a-day diet, too. I eat 1,200 calories, but I eat really yummy, whole, real food.

VLCD = Very Low Calorie Diet.

They're usually so unhealthy that it's one of the forbidden topics here. This thread might get locked because you brought it up.

But they are not unhealthy when done short term under the care of a physician, as the OP's friend did. For those with a lot to lose it can be a very useful tool when used properly.

Here's the thing with VLCD (which stands for Very Low Calorie Diet), and I'm basing my opinions on my real life observations of all my WLS friends that I have had the pleasure of being friends with for the past few years...

VLCD are not necessarily "dangerous." Most people who have WLS do VLCD for some period of time after their surgery, and they lose weight very quickly.

What I have noticed and experienced is that the people who remained on a VLCD for the longest (the most common number is 800 calories) lost the quickest and reached their goal weights. BUT (and this is a huge BUT!) they also decimated their metabolisms and are now stuck eating 1000-1200 calories to maintain.

The people who gradually bumped their calories up after surgery ended up eating 1200-1500 calories to lose, and lost more slowly, ended up being able to eat a lot more to maintain their weight when they finished losing.

I think if you are considering a VLCD for a short-term (less than a month) attempt at losing, you probably won't harm yourself. If you extend that VLCD for longer, you will damage your metabolism and you will need to eat fewer calories to maintain your new weight than if you had lost with higher calories over a longer period of time which will make it much more likely that you will regain.

My other observation is that most of the people who followed the VLCD post-surgery did not have the energy to work out intensely, which means they probably lost a lot of their lean mass. The people who ate more post-op tended to be people who fell in love with running or strength training and understood that food was fuel for their workouts. They tended to have more strength and endurance, and were more fit at the end of their weight loss.

I don't know how much potassium is in your nutritional shake but just check the label to see if you're getting enough.