My mum did it for about 8 months and lost a good amount of weight (I don't know the specific amount, I think it was about 3 stone) but as soon as she had any real food, she put on weight so it kind of ties you to the programme and you see the effects of every single venture outside of their food. That's not worth it, if you ask me.

She said she wouldn't have been able to continue eating their food as it all had the same kind of flavour/texture and she gags whenever she thinks about it now!

That's just her experience, of course.

If your desire if that HUGE, then the best thing you can do is eat healthy food, drink lots of water, exercise portion control, increase your movement and, most of all, have patience and perseverance!

Remember it works if you make a lifestyle change and not a quick fix. Take every day as it comes and consider success as a day of good eating and exercise rather than what the scale says because you may have weeks of no loss before a big drop. I typically have this and can have weeks of no loss then 5lbs fall off at once.

You may not be at goal by 'xmas13' but you'll be on your way.

Good luck!

I did Go Lower which is basically the same thing. For a month I ate the pre packaged food and lost 9lbs which was great but thinking back to the food makes me gag, the same flavour for every single meal and barely any carbs. Plus I don't think I actually learned anything about nutrition as I was just chucking a meal in the micro and getting on with it. The soups for lunch were the worst. A lot of money too!

It would probably be far cheaper to take a day out and bulk cook soups/stews/casseroles/meat-in-a-sauce/lasagne and portioning them off into tubs for your freezer and working out the calories per portion. That way you are controlling your portions, you've actually made the food yourself and there's no contract!

Best of luck!