Controversial - VLCDs and Lighter life

What has changed is, after the space from food I now mentally feel like I could have another go at losing while eating. Genuinely. But am I just being overly hopeful?

Not necessarily. The one thing that impressed me from the WebMD article is the group couseling to determine why you overeat. Perhaps that has helped. Buf, once you go off, if you find yourself struggliing reach out to another counselor.

Best of luck to you.

Losing the weight that quick from an unsustainable approach is not going to teach you ways to keep the weight off in the long run. Instead of dealing with your binge eating issue, you substituted it with a quick fix. You say you have not had real food for a few months, so it might be a good idea to speak to a professional for the re-introduction of real food. If not, your body might flip you the bird.

What has changed is, after the space from food I now mentally feel like I could have another go at losing while eating. Genuinely. But am I just being overly hopeful?

You can do it, many others have done it. You might consider seeing a dietician for ongoing help and support.

When you started out you had a huge amount to lose and the benefits of losing quickly probably outweighed the risks as your health was probably suffering. Well done on your loss so far.

However I would definitely recommend transitioning to a more sustainable plan now, aiming to lose around 1lb per week. Consult your GP and ask to be referred to a dietitian who can set you on a healthy, long term plan and hopefully help you address some of your food relationship issues to help prevent you going back to square one.

I would not trust taking advice from the Lighter Life advisors as naturally they'd want you to stay with them as you're paying their wages.

Op - I have done Lighter Life myself for 4 months so I feel qualified to give you an opinion it. My opinion is this:

Please be very, very careful

Like you, I shed weight easily and hit their predicted 1 stone (14lbs) a month loss and ended up losing around 60lbs. I got a rubber stamp from a local, mostly disinterested, doctor to enable me to start the program.

I came off it because I was starting to feel a total lack of energy, getting muscle pains and generally being not quite 'right'. I had a blood test to screen for various things and the result was that my red blood cell magnesium and my B12 levels were rock bottom. I then actually had to a course of injections in the butt to right things and I was told in no uncertain terms to stop the VLCD and go on a more sustainable diet.

I also put all the weight back on (and more) within a year because LL didn't teach me to eat healthily or normally, it simply taught me to stop eating full stop with the exception of those powdered soups and awful bars they sell you.

If your local group leader isn't answering your questions then you really need to ask yourself why. I can tell you why (it's because they're totally centred on their commission and cramming a load of pseudo NLP and CBT stuff down your neck) but you need to find out yourself. By the way, have you asked how any of her previous clients are doing 2-5 years down the line? Because that's the measure of success - not the initial loss and meeting goals, but keeping it off for 5 years.

Anyway, your group leader should be helping you to determine when to come off and if she doesn't, phone up LL and tell them the support isn't up to scratch. Also, of course, talk to your doctor!

First off, congrats on taking steps to make changes in your life and for the extreme progress that you have made so far.

You are actually getting some great advice in this discussion.

I'm not familiar with the Lighter Life program but I have had previous experience with another VLCD program.

Had good success losing WHILE ON THE PROGRAM on that plan but, unfortunately, the problems came when I eventually could not take eating the prepackaged meal plans and shakes any longer and tried to get back in to eating real food. Had lost around 60-70 pounds while on the program but, like many/most of us who tried these plans, I ended up gaining all of those pounds back again (plus a few more as well) in probably 7 or 8 months after stopping the program.

The problem is that while on the VLCD program I never did learn how to eat properly in any meaningful way that was sustainable for me in the long term.

I'm owning up to that myself, however I also feel that most/all of these VLCD programs are also culpable as their emphasis is not really on that aspect of the issue. Let's face it, they are a business. As long as we all keep the mindset that we are powerless to do this on our own without the magic VLCD shakes or meals then they are raking in the $$$$.

Finally smartened up at the beginning of 2013 and am now doing this the right way from here on out.

MFP has been a godsend to me on that front as it has helped me realize that there is no magic to this at all. It is simply just math + patience + consistency.

As long as calories expended is consistently greater than calories consumed then the results will be positive over a REALISTIC amount of time. I emphasize REALISTIC as the pound ticker is now going down at 1 to 2 pounds a week and not the 5 to 7 pounds a week that it was dropping while on the VLCD.

I am totally cool with that slower pace, however, as I realize now that this is a completely sustainable lifestyle change that I have now made and not a short term diet.

With MFP's help in counting/tracking/logging calories over these past 9 months I feel that I am actually learning how to eat properly for the first time in my adult life.

The good news is that I don't have to be doing it while eating shakes and pre-packaged meals that I can't stand but that I am actually eating pretty much all of the real foods that I have loved in the past but felt that I would have to banish in order to lose and maintain weight.

With that said, my advice to you would be to be thankful for the extreme amount of weight that you have lost so far on the VCLD program but start to transition yourself out of program and work on maintaining a moderate caloric deficit while moving over to real food.

Realize that this will mean adjusting your expectations down in to the 1 to 2 pound loss a week realm rather than the higher numbers that you have become accustomed to.

There will also, no doubt, be weeks where you don't lose anything and event times where you might gain a pound or two.

Don't let that scare you or cause you alarm.

Just stay consistent and you will get to your ultimate goal in due time. Might take you another year or more to lose that next 100 pounds, but you are young and this is a long-term lifestyle change not a race.

Totally know that you can do this and am wishing you the best.

Hi OP! It is so hard when you are in a difficult spiralling out of control binge eating pattern and have loads of weight to lose!! Then along comes lighter life to offer a miraculous cure. I have had several colleagues who have followed lighter life and all but one of them have put all the weight on (and more!) after coming off the diet. Indeed one friend has been on it 3 times...cant imagine what it is doing to her body...she seems to spend 6 months on the programme losing followed by the next 6 months gaining!! Anyway, she has finally decided to abandone it and use slimming world as a means to weight loss instead. I think that if you abandon the programme early you MUST have a sure fire method in place so that you DONT spiral upwards again..because I am sure that would probably demoralise you. Good luck in your quest for a healthier you AND learning about food again :-)

Ok, am I really reading this right? you average losing 9 pounds a WEEK?

I understand the bingeing and you wanted to go liquid, because food was a trigger, but this seems very dangerous to me... 9 pounds a week is literally unheard of, unless I am reading the numbers wrong? I mean, if it worked great, but I don't see how you can go back to eating regular food now without gaining it back (maybe not all of it, but at least half of it.)

If you were worried it would have screwed up your metabolism in the long run, maybe you should have done more research before starting. That's my opinion.

Yes, please confirm your numbers. Average loss of more than 9 lbs per week for 16 weeks sounds like science fiction.