to ask how many people kept weight off after a VLC diet?

[hairbrushbedhair]

I'm a complete yoyo dieter myself. Have you had a fast weight loss and managed to keep the weight off after?

I'm thinking of doing a vlcd (cambridge?) for about a month and then swapping onto SW or WW once I've got going. Bad idea?

VCLDs do not mess your metabolism up. If they did, then how come I'm losing weight with my own system even faster than I did three years ago with Cambridge.

I lost 52lbs in 12 weeks on Cambridge and kept it off easily until I fell pregnant and craved full fat coke.

I'm now into my 7th month at sw and am 1 stone 3lbs lighter.

There is no evidence that the faster you lose it the faster you'll regain it, if you don't overeat you won't regain.

I want to lose another 1.5 stone and am seriously toying with the idea of Cambridge again as I'll be at target by Christmas whereas on sw it'll probably be next summer.

I find on sw I cheat more as it's very easy to overeat and slip into bad habits whereas on Cambridge you stick to the shakes and know exactly where you are.

The long term effectiveness is measured 5 years later
and the 5-10 year evidence of VLCDs is not great

The 5-10 year data for any diet is not great! If you don't sort out your issues with food of course you'll put it back on.

I think the problem with all diets is that there is an end point when you reach your goal weight. People then, naturally, think woohoo diet done successfully and go back to whatever they did pre-diet. I've done it plenty of times. Personally I prefer the idea of clean eating. The weight comes off as a side effect of eating much better and there isn't an end point as weight loss isn't the primary goal. It is slower than VLCD or WW but it is also a total change in lifestyle and approach to food generally.

that is why I like 5:2
the weight loss is a side effect, not the goal

5:2 is not recommended if you are a binge eater as it can trigger binge then starve cycle.

I'd imagine that vlcd may create similar binge eating responses.

I agree ivykaty's post (at the start of the thread) is the way to go if your relationship with food involves any kind of binge starve cycle.

The long term effectiveness is measured 5 years later
and the 5-10 year evidence of VLCDs is not great

Very few studies have looked at 5-10 year evidence for any kind of diet so you, my dear, clearly don't do science, and are talking shit.

Oh where to start with you ... but actually, why bother! It's too easy and you are too lacking in knowledge.

I don't know anything about Cambridge or 5:2 or anything like that. I've lost six stone fairly slowly over the last few years by eating a diet low in complex carbs (potatoes, rice, bread, pasta etc) but high in other veggies, with small amounts of meat and dairy.

Everyone's different, but I have to do some exercise (mostly 10-30 mins walking per day) if I want to lose weight.

Like most people I go off-diet occasionally (birthday cake, christmas pudding, hard day at work which leads to chips and cheese). I try to take a sensible approach to these things: enjoy carbs like they're my last meal, but then tomorrow is another day.

As long as I don't eat complex carbs more than three days in a row (and no more than once or twice a month) it doesn't impact on my appetite or my weight. I find I'm much less hungry in general when I'm not eating complex carbs. What works for me might not work for everyone, but it might work for some other people.

The bottom line is that losing weight and keeping it off means changing how you eat FOREVER so you have to find things you enjoy eating that work with your metabolism. I'm happiest eating steak with cream and peppercorn sauce, and as long as I don't eat it with chips or croquettes or any other form of potato, I keep losing weight.

You need to figure out what works for you. When you find it, it will work.

I did Cambridge. I. Lost 7st. I put 9st back on. Currently lost 5st4lbs with slimming world. At least another! St to go. Really hoping to keep it off this time.

Sorry for typos, bit drunk!

Well done Sheep

Not sure what I did to upset damnbamboo
but there are cohort studies a-plenty (including the one I've been in for 18 years) that track such things

VLCD does not work long term

I did Cambridge years ago leading up to my thirtieth birthday, lost tons of weight and felt great on it, but once I hit my birthday with all the eating and drinking, especially drinking, it slowly came back.

I think as a weight loss kickstarter it can be fine, I'm going to start a vlcd diet very soon to reverse my early stage diabetes, would be interested in Degustibus regime too, just watched a fascinating lecture from Canadian doctors on the success of vlcd diets in reversing diabetes, it's on youtube, will try and find link if anyone interested

Jason Fung how to reverse diabetes naturally, and another on the two myths about diabetes

Cohort studies are some of the weakest types of data to hand! They are bottom of tier (just one above case-studies and cross-sectional) in terms of their usefulness. They simply don't tell you an awful lot when looking at one method versus another.
RCTs and meta-analyses are the ones to look for and for those, data is good!

p.s. no diet has good data long term if it's cohort studies you're looking at!

I did LighterLife. Lost almost three stone in four months. Put it all back on (and more).

sorry, talkinpeas, telling people that diets don't work and that a diet that works 'every time' clearly doesn't is mumsnet blasphemy.

anyone who actually 'does science' would have a more coherent argument than 'you are talking shit'.

life is too short.

I did LighterLife. Lost almost three stone in four months. Put it all back on (and more)

Yes, but why was that? What did you eat to regain all the weight (and more). If you reverted to the way you were, then ...

Same with bariatric surgery. You melt down mars bars and double cream and suck that back (I know people that have done this), then it's not going to work.

The cohort study I'm on is nothing to do with weight loss - I am side data - its tracking my kids
BUT
myself and thousands of other families have done food diaries, worn activity monitors, had blood tests, bone scans, allergy injections, lung tests, you name it

and the feedback we are given every couple of years picks up on eating habits

any diet that does not teach you how to maintain is doomed to lead to weight gain

*any diet that does not teach you how to maintain is doomed to lead to weight gain

Completely agree! But the weight regain then is due to lack of proper maintenance, not because the weight was lost using a VLCD. WE know very very little about weight maintenance, but what we do know from RCTs that with appropriate food reintroduction, it is no less (or more) successful than standard daily -500kcal weight reduction!

Weight loss and weight maintenance are two entirely different kettles of fish and not to be conflated.

I don't understand your earlier post, why are you referring to a prospective cohort study you are on, if it's nothing to do with VLCDs?