AIBU to consider doing Lighter Life? Need to do something drastic!

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AIBU to do lighter life or something similar? I have name changed for this as I am so ashamed by how I have let myself get. I don't actually know how much I weigh now as I haven't weighed myself in so long but I would guess I probably need to loose around 10 stone if not more.

I have tried diets such as slimming world and weight watchers but the results just arn't quick enough and I fall back into the same bad habits.

Has anyone done lighter life before? How hard is it really? I've read all the forums etc and I am so close to signing up. Everyone has said to wait till after christmas as it will be too hard around christmas and I agree but part of me feels if I start now, by christmas I could be a stone or two lighter!

AIBU?

I just wanted to throw in my thoughts. I've done most diets, inclduing Cambridge (like lighter life but without the group work), Paul Mckenna workshop, the chocolate course (cannot recall name of it) and have always put the weight back on. I am 3 months into LL and have lost 4 stone so far. I researched it beforehand and it was not a decision I took lightly as it is costly and extreme. I decided it was cheaper and less risky than surgery, which a the weight I was may have been an option.

The group work helps as you start to understand why you eat. Once you have lost the weight you then can do the route to management programme which can last upto about 6 months I think where you do learn what you should eat and continue with the group work. Our counsellor then recommends going once a month for a drop in to get weighed and catch up on how it is going.

They seem to have had a shift in how the management stuff works and use measuring cups to help with portion size etc. At our group we had a talk from a nutritionist who mentioned a book called "perfect portions" or something like that and these diet plates that show you how much pasta etc you need. I guess anyone could use those to help with portion control etc

Most fat people know what they should eat, but need the emotional help to deal with why they eat. I've seen nutritionists and dieticians etc in the past but would still eat junk when tired/stressed etc. I am hoping LL will help me work out the reasons for this so I can make the changes-but I have to accept that the changes are for the rest of my life not just for the few months I am on LL. This is why I have started (and nearly finished) "couch to 5k"-I've recognised I need to get moving. But, I have to manage this myself and realise that I am always going to have to watch what I eat and the feelings behind this.

Chants I'm amazed you can do C25K on only 500-600 calories a day. I'm sorry - I don't mean to be negative - it's perfectly understandable why people go for extreme rapid weight loss. But I do worry that the starvation aspect of the LL plan is not sensible. The CBT stuff all sounds very good. (Though, if it is so good at addressing the why, how come so many LL people put it all back on and more so quickly?)

We know, we really do, what we need to do. And oddly enough, it's a whole lot less drastic than most of the stuff we're prepared to try. We need to exercise far more, drink more water, bring portions down to moderate sizes, ditch the junk and give our bodies proper nutrition so they stop craving and having sugar swings. We all know this. Why we don't act on it is the real puzzle for me.

What is going on? I'd love to know. Might start a post on this in the weight loss forums...

It's not starvation, it's a fully functional survival pack of nutrients including fat and protein used against starvation in conjunction with carb/fat energy packs in emergency situations and areas of sustained food insecurity.

In my case, I am using the carb/fat energy packs that are liberally attached all over me:) I have a lot of energy left even after walking an average 13000 steps a day plus swimming and doing Wii Sports EA active a couple of times a week each. The couch to 5K would just about use the extra up nicely I think from having read it. I especially like the way you can do each jog in that as slooooooooowly as you need. I'm tempted to have a go soon! Need to ask my rheumatologist about my hip first I guess.

From the research i did, fewer people put it all back on with VLCD combined with behavioural therapy than do with other methods. But it's still a lot who do. About 75% at 5 years. It's just not as freaky a failure rate as over 95% for other methods at 5 years post program.

Exercising more, drinking more water, eating controlled portions are all dealt with next on LL, after abstinence, with lots of pre-work going on in the abstinence phase.

Racingheart-I am quite suprised myself that I am managing C25k! I am strangely enjoying it as well. I am not going to be running 5k by the end-I reckon more like 4k in 30 mins, but i am 4 runs away from finishing it and will carry on running afterwards. I think I am like Merryberry in using 20 odd years of fat that I have managed to store up.

I'm looking at weight loss as a total life change opportunity and failure potentially means fewer years of healthy life to enjoy my family and see my son grow up...so I have lots of reasons to ensure that LL works for me and that I lose the weight, keep it off and get fitter.

in Paul Mckenna's book (i think) he mentions the proportion of people on diets who go on to regain the weight and I think the women who wrote the book about chocolate (still cannot recall name of it) do too. The diet industry is made up of making money out of people's failure to keep weight off and for every one person who keeps the weight off, there are probably loads more who put it back on again.

I know people on LL who've lost the weight and kept off and others who have not-and I know people on many other diets who have done exactly the same. There is no easy solution to getting the weight off and staying that way and I guess we all have to try and find what will work best for us in terms of what our heads need, our bodies need and our lifestyle (and budgets) can manage

Chants, I agree. There's no one way that works for all.

Merry you sound fantastic. You're an advert for the stuff if you've that much energy!

a friend of mine recently completed 32 weeks on lighter life and lost 6 stone -she is now in the phase of reintroducing food

she has been eating food for 3 weeks now and has gone off plan dramatically 4 times now

I can't see her keeping the weight off :(

Poor thing, she must be feeling grim right now. I hope she can work past her trigger points and get somewhere with this. Chants, 1/10 chance stay slim with other diets for 5 years, 1/4 with LL. It's improved odds. Good luck:)

I haven't read the whole thread but....

I did LL over Christmas. It was a actually easy. I didn't have to think or choose! Lost about 4 stone (had already lost 2) and over the next 2 years regained 1. I'm pregnant now and weight is climbing, but I'll do something similar again. The "group" counselling was just 2 of us and really effective. Just talking about food issues helped enormously. It dealt with the shame surrounding overeating which stopped me doing it simply.

It cost £70 per week which was horribly expensive. I was absolutely desperate though. My weight was getting out of control and I didn't know what else to do. I'd seen a friend have amazing results (she later developed an eating disorder tho...). Ultimately I think LL is massively overpriced but a meal replacement diet worked well for me and I'll do it to lose baby weight. Should only take a month or two. But find someone to talk to. Whether you are paying a counsellor or have a friend who you can talk honestly with (my sister for me - no food issues but lots of grace and support) I think that's the key to dealing with the root causes of addiction. As long as you are hiding it you feed the cycle of overeating and rewarding yourself with food.

For £70/ week you could probably hire a private dietician!

I would recommend the Dukan diet - it is a crash diet so you loose weight quickly (I have lost over two stone in two months), but it takes you through the science of it and it takes you through going back to normal eating again. I still have a stone to loose but DH has lost two stone and is so far maintaining his weight on the consolidation phase (which is 5 days for every pound lost)

From what I have heard from friends and my own experience, because VLCDs are so successful, there is a tendency to think, at the end "Well I've gone without for a while so I can indulge as I can always go back on CD / LL whatever to knock the weight off again" - hence the weight starts to creep back on and then it takes massive motivation to restart.

Paul McKenna is not a diet, it is a mindshift re food and if you follow it to the letter it works.

The principles are laughably simple - eat like a thin person - so:

Eat when you are hungry - not when you are stressed / bored / unhappy / happy

Eat what you want - not diet food or what you think you should eat

Eat slowly and consciously - not in front of tv, cramming food in quickly in case someone sees you

Stop when you are full - don't keep going to clear your plate / go back for another pack of crisps etc

But that isn't going to work for people like me with stones to lose. That's great for maintaining or losing a few pounds. Eating what I fancy when I'm hungry won't shift 8 stone.

It will Mary - just very slowly

Yes, and then before you know it, all motivation has gone. And motivation is the key in all of this.

GML - I would have thought actually that if you're very overweight (e.g. several stones) the weight loss would actually be faster, at least to start with, than it would be for someone with a few pounds to lose? I guess you know best what works and doesn't work for you though!

i have namechanged to post this as i don't want to be id in RL but i'm a reg.

In answer to your question, i would say you are most certainly NOT being unreasonable in wanting to do LL or something similar. As someone who spent over a decade being 12 stone overweight, i can really really understand that this sort of weight brings huge emotional problems and i felt pretty desperate most of the time.

I think the important question, though, is whether doing LL or something similar will have the result that you want, (which i presume) is to lose weight and keep it off.

The only way to do this long term is to mend the destructive relationship you have with food.

You say in your post "I have tried diets such as slimming world and weight watchers but the results just arn't quick enough and I fall back into the same bad habits".

How is LL going to stop you falling back into these bad habits??

For several years i ran a post weight-loss support group in the London area and i was always surprised by the number of LL member who would walk through our door until i found out that the lady who ran the local LL group was suggesting that they come- because she didn't know what else to suggest to help them.

These were people who had been though their programme and had received their group support, but it hadn't resolved the underlying issues.

Be really honest with yourself: Do you think you know how to cope with life without using food as a crutch?? If not, that is where to start.

I've now been slim for ten plus years-i never weigh myself and don't think about food very much. I certainly don't have good and bad foods or foods that call out to me from the fridge any more. This is becuase food isn't a crutch for me anymore, it is just food.

Please, please don't sell yourself short by letting the weight loss industry con you into thinking if you just change the food then you will magically change into being someone who can cope with life without food issues.

Sorry for the very long post and if i come across as being bossy, my heart went out to you when i read your post and i wanted to help. I wish you happiness and freedom

Thank you thinandsane. What diet did you follow to loose weight in the end?

Great post thinandsane [hsmile]

I had to get some weight off ds, and have been using less meat, more veg, no butter, weighing bread, potatoes, rice and pasta, changing to brown rice, upping the broccoli, no chocolate, peanut butter or crisps in the house, and since mid August he has lost 7 kg and more importantly, is keeping it off.

I have a major disagreement with the dietician in that they think it's OK to feed him stuff with aspartame and diet products - my take is that if I can't identify what goes into an ingredient, the product won't get in my trolley; and I will not feed him aspartame.

I don't care if he only loses 500g per week, as he is 16 and growing still, but as long as the general trend is downwards, then fine.

All this has cost is an investment in some of those oil sprays mixed with water, and an increase in my veg bill. We still eat the same recipes, but tightly portion controlled and with the fat taken out. If he's hungry he gets more veg and apples. I've also started feeding him baked beans on marmite toast in the mornings with milk to drink, and that is filling him up for longer, so no munchies at break.

Thinandsane - your post is so encouraging. I want to know how you changed your attitude to food. What helped you to overcome using food as a prop and comfort?

That's what I haven't overcome so far. I know I overeat and comfort eat. I don't really know why, and have no willpower or desire to stop, though I am fed up of being so big and getting bigger.

I know 4 people who have done LL, one who has done Cambridge.

They have all lost from 3.5 stone to 7.

They have all, without exception put the weight back on, plus extra.

I think these drastic diets do not address the root of the issue, and the women I know that have done them have had months of anti-social, boring lives whilst on them.

I know you send you've tried slimming world and other eating plants - but I've lost 3 stone 8 pounds in 6 months, which is a healthy rate. Too fast it goes back on. Unrealistic meals (like shakes and so on) don't translate to lasting life style changes. Be realistic - its taken you a life time to get the size you are (I know - I've been there) so give yourself a year or two to get it off and then keep it off. [hsmile]

oh and fantastic post thinandsane - I whole heartedly agree. And now i'm off to snack on a fatfree yoghurt and fruit...

racingheart "I know I overeat and comfort eat. I don't really know why, and have no willpower or desire to stop, though I am fed up of being so big and getting bigger."

This is me to a tee - I hate struggling with my weight, it makes me feel miserable, but put chocolate / crisps / biscuits in front of me and I eat it full well knowing that it will only add to my problems.

I've got about 6 or 7 stone to lose

I wouldn't do LL or SF just because I think it will be near impossible to keep that weight off once I started eating real food again.

I am trying the Harcombe plan, but am only a few hours into it and already feel a) hungry and b) miserable. It does warn that you will feel rough for the first few days, as you can't have sugar, caffeine, wheat. And I think I am addicted to all 3.

There is conflicting advice left, right and centre, and people making lots of money out of keeping people fat.

I've done Paul McKenna and lost a stone in a month which was pretty good (but put it all back on and more) as I hadn't really changed my eating habits. I love his advice as it is simple and not a diet, but then I forgot to eat slowly and monitor how full I was, and went back to scoffing like a pig! So all the weight crept back on.

I have depression and have always used food as a comfort- and that is the thing that is difficult to change.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.