Brand new shiny VLCD thread...LighterLife, Cambridge etc

[Cheesyslice]

New thread as the old one is now bursting at the seams.

Absolutely MrsMiles, for the first month I avoided any eating out invitations but now I'm doing well and know I can go straight back on it I'm ok with eating low carb for the occasion (or carbing it up if I want a drink!), as you say, life is too short. Also I still have a lot of weight to lose and can't put my life on hold for that long!

Ah, should I avoid alcohol ?

Hadn't even thought about that but there may well be wine

I'm trying fb now, there's a swap and sell group for Exante. Only meal I like is Chilli so far. Feeling quite hungry. Miss my spaghetti Bolognese But lost 10kg in 5 weeks.

I read you could die if you drank while in ketosis. No idea if it's true but have some carbs just in case. I've only drunk once since starting exante, had carbs for lunch and dinner and am alive to tell the tale! Have a wedding to go to next weekend, will do the same, also I think it helps you not get so drunk so quickly.

Great news on the swap page spec, hope you find someone who can exchange.

Hi there!

Gearing myself to start exante tomorrow! Planning to use it to loose initial 2st and see where I go from there. I've tried it before but fallen off of the wagon feeling it had to be until I lost all of the weight I need to use but coming at it from a new perspective now.

And it feels like spring here in London too! Some amazing progress on here- well down everyone!

Totally fell off the diet today by eating choc :(

Therein, tomorrow is another day! Draw a line under it.

Today I've eaten a roast dinner and apple pie but haven't eaten anything else all day and didn't go overboard so feel like damage control worked ok. Tomorrow is another lunch out, and so is Tuesday! Let's hope I can keep up the will power.

Dh just brought me a cuppa and a bar, thinking about whether I really want the bar.

Hi, I'm new...

Checking in at 11st12, and day one of Exante. I've put on and lost this weight a couple of times with WW and MFP, and it's now time (once again) to shift it. Feeling motivated and not too scared about ketosis.

As I'm only 5'2, I'd like to get to 9st 7. Less would be great, but in all previous diets I've never got below 9st 7 and have been happy at that weight.

As a newbie, I've a few questions which I hope you vipers can help me with :)

I've got a weekend away in about 3 weeks time, and don't want to tell people that I'm doing Exante / VLCD. I'll be away Friday lunchtime to Sunday lunchtime, so was hoping I could eat sensible amounts of proper food and then get straight back on the Exante on the Sunday evening. Anyone done this? How big an impact did it have?

Also, I've bought bars exclusively as I'm a very picky eater. Looking at the carbs, it looks like I'll be on 60g carbs a day. Is that too much?! Will I reach ketosis at that level?

Finally, if I wanted to substitute an Exante bar for a "meal" would two boiled eggs be ok? From what I can work out it looks like they would be within carbs / calories. Is that enough? (I know some of the nutrients would be missing, but I'm not to worried about that as pretty sure my daily nutrient count pre-diet isn't perfect either!).

Thanks all - off to drink some water :)

Yep, back to it today MrsMiles. Thanks for the encouragement. Strangely the chocolate exante shake didn't taste as good as dairy milk, but as that's how I got myself into this fat mess I need to get over that!

Good luck onetwoorthree. I'm not sure about shopping other food in for shakes. There's a list on the exante website of acceptable foods for total plus and low carb week, so that might be a good guide of what you can and can't have.

Thanks. Had my first exante bar this morning and it made me feel sick. I think it was the highly concentrated vitamin content. Not looking forward to the next meal. Fingers crossed my body gets used to the bars quickly!!

I'm finding Exante a lot harder than Cambridge. I really miss having the spaghetti Bolognese and I'm hungry a lot. With Cambridge I didn't used to be. Wish I could effort it. Might look into doing both at the same time and using the bars from Exante and spaghetti Bolognese from Cambridge, at least I'll save a little bit.

Feel like I killed the thread!!

Anyway, I've nearly finished two days. Yesterday was hard, particularly last night. Today seems to have been a bit easier. Not particularly hungry, altho have the brain fog and lacked motivation at work today (that might be more to do with school hols than diet tho!). Hoping for full ketosis effects - including a spring in my step - tomorrow.

Onwards, and ehm, downwards :)

One two or three, keep going you will feel better soon.

I've had three days off plan but actually Sunday and Monday only ate one meal each day as I wasn't hungry so hope I haven't put on too much. Have had two exante meals today and a small lunch at a friends which MFP says was about 350 calories so still well under 1000 today.

I am back on total plus 100% as of tomorrow and am picnicking with friends so plan to take my salad (veg for the day) with balsamic and a bar for the picnic.

I am finding the bars a bit sickly lately, sometimes have to eat then in two sittings so maybe little and often is better.

I saw my ever scathing mother today who started on about sil (who we saw on Monday) who apparently has lost lots of weight before starting a new job, she apparently has gone too far and looks ill. I just smiled and said good for sil, she looked really great and seemed really happy with her new job.

Does anyone know how Exante Pizza works? Apparently it comes with tomato sauce but is that all I'm allowed? No toppings?

I've got some exante pizzas.

We don't like them but I'm happy to send you a spare one if you want to try them?

You bake the base in the oven and then make the tomato sauce up with warm water and microwave it before spreading it on the cooked base.

I found them quite soggy even when I cooked them for longer than it said but then I like thin crust Italian pizzas. I also could not stomach the sauce as it smelt like the vlcd tomato soup which I can't stand.

Officially you can't have anything else on it if you're on total solution, but I'm on total plus so added a few bits of low calorie veg.

It has some great reviews on the exante website so obviously it is liked, just not by me lol but I am picky!

I'm put off by the pizzas. I'm a fussy bugger, I wish I could have some of the savoury packs as the shakes can get a bit boring but I have real issues with textures (always have, even as a baby) and the porridge nearly made me gag. I tried DP's carbonara but that was a no-go and even the pancakes have a horrible whey-protein-esque aftertaste. I have ten packs of them as well! I bought some carb-free Walden Farms pancake syrup though so hopefully that helps.

I'm getting some pizza as part of a swap, that's why i wanted to check. Hate most of the meals tbh, really miss Cambridge. Wish I was rich

I'm seeing a Cambridge consultant tomorrow, hoping to start the diet Wednesday with my husband.
I'm very excited but nervous at the same time. I need to lose about half my body weight
Hope I'm ok to join this thread.

Hi Loki, good luck!

I took a swan dive off the wagon this weekend, back onto three packs a day tomorrow

Welcome Loki. I'm pretty new too, although am doing Exante not Cambridge. The bars have bored me massively so have been substituting for LCHF alternatives. Naughty!! Just finished my first week. Official weigh in tomorrow am.

How was weigh in OneTwoOrThree?

I've got two days under my belt and I'm down 4.2lbs already

Hello.

I'm considering a vlcd and have had a quick scan through the thread but haven't read it all, sorry.

I have 51lbs to lose, and have tried and failed at various other diets. I seem to get to 10lbs, stall and then lose the will to carry on. The weight has always comeback plus more, so I need something that will work relatively quickly, and get me beyond 10lbs. I think that if I get the weight off I will find it easier to keep it off.
Losing the weight and feeling better has become a bit of an all consuming thought. I am not a good Cook at all, and find the thinking about what to eat constantly is very draining and as a result, when I diet I tend to eat the same meal day in day out.
No sure ifi'm mad to be considering a VLCD and kidding myself.
When I decide to start a diet I can be very strict and stick with it but it's always the so we progrest up to 10lbs and then stalling that is the really tricky thing for me.

Is a vlcd suitable for someone with

Hashimotos, which is an autoimmune underactive thyroid condition
Lactose intolerance. I can have a small amount of dairy in the form of a dash of milk in about 3 cups of tea a day.

Thanks so much in advance for any help or advice. And congrats to all of you my who have successfully lost weight. Beyond 10lbs for me feels like the holy grail at the moment, but so many of you have managed it so hoping I can also.

I wouldn't want to confirm anything on the basis of your thyroid condition, that would need to come from your GP but I know that the Cambridge Diet offers lactose free shake packs. Most other VLCD shakes contain milk powder so may not be suitable.