Slim & Save or Exante for VLCD

[TildaTurnip]

I need to lose 3 stones as quickly as possible. Has anyone had experience of either of these? Thank you!

How about joining the low carb boot camp thread? It’s 5 weeks and people have lost 10lb or even up to a stone on previous ones.

Then you can carry on with it. I was reading one of the previous ones - someone started in September and lost 4.5 stone by the following March.

I’ll answer the question you actually asked 😏

I’m on exante at the moment - just the shakes though as the meals and bars ime are rank. The shakes range from “ok” to lovely.

I’m losing about 3lb a week having 2 shakes and one meal a day.

I tried exante last year and didn't like the taste of a lot of the things. My sister did Cambridge plan, which was more expensive so tried some of her stuff, changed to it and lost 4 stne in about 3.5 months. After the first 3-4 days found it easy to stick to and tasted much less artificial than exante. Think it cost around £50 per week though. Definitely worth it but not cheap. Managed to keep the weight off until I got pregnant this year, and haven't put much on while pregnant.
Haven't tried the other diet you mentioned though.

Thank you. I know I could do SW or low carb etc bit I need to lose this as quickly as possible. I did Cambridge before having children and it worked well but exante and s&s are cheaper so wondered if they were ok but it sounds like Cambridge make the nicer tasting stuff!

I did Exante, I’m not a fan of the shakes but like the bars, pancakes and a few of the meals, enough to keep it interesting anyway.
It worked, but you do need to have a strategy for when you come off it so that the weight doesn’t just go back on.

I do worry about the end of the programme and putting weight back on. I’ve joined Cambridge and hoping that the support of the lady who sells it will help!

I had a lot of support doing Cambridge and they step you down slowly after losing the weight, reintroduced one meal of real food every week or two? It was definitely easier to adjust back to normal eating than I expected

Oh that’s good to know. I worry that as soon as any real food comes back in that I’ll pile weight on!

I did Cambridge for 2 weeks before all this madness kicked off and was well on the way to losing the stone that I've been trying to lose for the past six years. I had lost 10 lb the first week and then another three the second week and I was going to go on and capitalise on that and get down to what I was when I got married 20 years ago. Then all this coronavirus business happened and I have been trying to maintain ever since but it's been hard. I keep meaning to get back on the shakes and lose the extra weight but the first 3 days are very difficult and I haven't made it through them yet.

I briefly tried Slim and Save but I found the products horrible and not any in way filling.

Exante is cheaper and the shakes taste better, plus I’m in ketosis so I’m not hungry at all.

I previously lost three stone on Cambridge in ten weeks, then went on to lose another 1.5 stones with Slimming World. I did regain the weight but it was nothing to do with the plan - I have (formally diagnosed) binge eating disorder, my professional life took a huge nosedive and I took comfort in food in an extreme way.

I have two friends who lost several stones with VLCD and have kept the weight off for 5+ years while eating normally - one has had two kids in that time.

I lost around two and a half stone in around three months on exante a few years ago - I used the shakes and some of the bars. I liked to make the vanilla and toffee ones with hot water and coffee so they were like lattes!
I found it really easy but then I started having problems with bowel movements and my hair thinned noticeably. I definitely would've lost more weight but I just couldn't deal with the side effects.
If you don't get the side effects, I think exante would work for you OP.

Why not try intermittant fasting. 5:2 is just one version of it. You could do 4:3 too. So basically you eat normally for 4 / 5days of the week and eat 500 cals for the remaining 2/3 days. It could give you a fast turnaround and there are loads of resources online.

Thank you for all your comments. A Cambridge consultant got back to me on Sunday and delivered products that evening so I have just finished day 3. I felt tired yesterday but surprisingly ok today. Obviously because I’m so greedy I am hungry and craving junk and lots of it but I don’t feel dreadful!