Lighter Life -- anyone else doing it? thinking about it? done it? knows someone whos doneit?

[knakered]

started 2 weeks ago have lost 10lb really pleased...3rd week wigh in on Tues...they promise that is when you loose your first stone...so fingers crossed i have lost 4lb since last week...would be interested in others experiences

How do you handle just having liquid? Are you weak and dizzy?

I had a friend who started this a few years ago and she was miserable and soon gave up. I also vaguely know someone who lost 5stone and seemed as happy as Larry the whole time.

I'm just starting week 8. Have lost 2 stone 1lb .

I only really like the soups (I'm too bleepin' cold to have milkshakes!) and do find that I get a bit light-headed, especially if I stand up too soon. I'm not the least bit weak, however, I've actually started going to the gym regularly as I now have tons of energy! And dd is benefiting hugely from not having a worn-out apathetic mummy any more!

I'm still hungry at times and then need a lot of willpower, despite being in ketosis, but yep, I'd say it's really good.

I am worried about attaining my goal and then eating properly again (ie that the weight will just pile back on), as I have to say I find the counselling a bit shite - our woman wants to link everything to some kind of childhood trauma, whereas for me I know darn well that the problem is I love my food and lots of it!

But I did it because I needed to lose at least a stone very quickly in order to have an operation, so it has worked well in that respect. Once I've done foundation I'm planning to do low-carbing, as it worked for me pre-DD, it was just that in the last 3 years I never seemed to have the time/energy to get back to doing it, now I feel like I can, iyswim.

I think my only bugbear is that I have lost hardly any weight off my middle, which is where I carry it all post-DD, it's all gone from my shoulders, back and, weirdly, my calves (which I never thought were that big, but now my boots are swimming on me!). I suppose my last stone to lose must be entirely my spare tyre...

DH is also doing it - he's a week behind me and has lost 2st 11lb (tch! bleddy men!!). I've gone from a big size 18 to a size 14 (wearing skinny jeans!) and DH has gone from size 40 keks to a 34, so he's well pleased (as am I, as he's no longer snoring like a hog at night and falling asleep durng the day!).

Hope this helps - good luck for your Tuesday weigh in!

Three of my friends did it - but they have all put some weight back on. One has returned to previous size. I was a bit worried about them during the diet - as their skin an hair looked awful. But they soon recovered!

Three of my friends did it - but they have all put some weight back on. One has returned to previous size. I was a bit worried about them during the diet - as their skin an hair looked awful. But they soon recovered!

I'm doing it - week 5 i think.... really worried about how i'll maintain at the end of it though... have good days and bad days... today my legs feel like lead and am very down... other days I am full of energy. wierd!

Have lost 1 and a half stone in 5 weeks so am on target to get to my healthy bmi weight within the 100 days - which is a huge relief! deffo going to do the management bit as a lot of people I have spoken to who are returners didnt do that bit so am hopeful that doing this bit of LL might actually pay off. Aznerak has recently lost quite a bit on LL to, she is usually around on these threads....

I started this time last year and managed to lose 5 stone in 5 months. My ambition was size 12 jeans and i still fit into them( I'm 5"70 Made great pals who meet up every month for (shock horror) a meal- we've all kept it off.

well done shreksprincessfiona! Thats good to hear that you are maintaining 1 yr on. I am only 5"1 so maintaining 8 stone something feels like a huge deal!

Hi there

Here i am mrspink27!!

I have lost 8 stone on LL. I started mid Sept and went into management at the end of February. I am on week 8 of management now and generally, it is going well. I am maintaining where I got to (from a size24/26 to size 10/12 trousers and 12/14 top) so I am over the moon!

Good luck and keep it up everyone!

Hi im thinking of doing lighter life how much does it cost or does it vary from area to area.Thanks in advance.

It costs £66 per week for your foodpacks, counselling sessions, support and other misc items you get (incl DVDs, gym ball, books etc)

It sounds a lot but when you are not eating or drinking anything, it is amazing how much you save!

If you have any other questions, ask away.

How do you do Lighter Life if you go out?

what if you get invited to a wedding? or out to Sunday lunch? or even just for a drink in pub?

How do you manage? Or do you have to tell everyone what you're doing?

I only told close friends and family until I'd lost so much weight that it was obvious.

Going to the pub - that was easy. Just ordered sparkling water and if anyone asked, said I was driving or on antibiotics etc where you can't drink alcohol.

IT is all down to how much you want it to work. You can always make excuses - on a detox, tummy ache etc. It isn't just liquids - there are cereal type bars too.

Going out in the evening - have a soup before going out, a hot choc when you get in and just make an excuse when out as to why you are not eating.

I didn't have a problem with it but I know its more tricky for some people

How much did you all lose in your first week?

I'm asking cos I'm into week 2 of Herbal Life diet (protein shakes and 1 healthy meal). I feel loads better, more energy etc BUT not lost a single pound which has made me feel really fed up and mad and lost my motivation. I was hoping that for all the effort I put in and £125, I might have lost 3/4lbs in the first week.

I did it - and managed to hardly tell anyone altho you will need to say good bye to your social life! I avoided meals out and had soda water in the pub, black coffee/peppermint tea, etc round friends houses. I went from 12st2lb to 9st (I'm 5'2'') in three months.

But I also put a fair bit of the weight back on. In a year I put nearly 2 stone back on, then got pregnant - so who knows now!?

Does it work? Whilst you're doing it yes. Of course it does, you're not eating! But least 50% of people drop out before the initial three months are over. The 'counselling' was a pile of poo, perhaps I should have questioned the fact that my counsellor was fat! (TBH I wanted to lose the weight so much, I think I'd have ignored anything that didn't add up...) You have to be 100% dedicated to it - you really won't eat anything for 3 months....

Because I didn't like my counsellor (who basically was only after your £££), I didn't do the maintainence plan. Perhaps I'd have kept it all off it I had....?

So would I do it again? No. Even though I'll probably be my starting weight or more after I give birth, I would never do LL again. Not even with a different counsellor. It was wonderful whilst I was in that weight loss high, but for me not eating is not going to help me lose the weight in the long term. It taught me nothing about portion control, healthy eating or exercise (too shattered to exercise on 500 cal a day or less).

Conclusion: For me it was a short term fix that only worked in the short term.

But if you're going to do it (and I realise how hard is it to resist "lose three stone in three months"), good luck! Drink lots of water and be prepared that the hard work starts once LL is over!

Opps - I forgot to add, be prepared to need the toilet at VERY short notice! (I don't mean for a week either). Wish someone had warned me about this....

Thanks aznerak.So can you really maintain the weight loss or will you have to diet for the rest of your life.

Ultimately, as far as I am concerned, I will always have to battle with my weight and be careful for ever more.

However, now I have got to a sensible weight (I was nearly 19 stone and now weigh just over 10 and a half!), it is for me a case of maintaining a sensible exercise plan, coupled with smaller portions and general healthy eating.

I believe it is a mind set. Too many people do LL to shed the pounds and then assume they can go back to "normal". But "normal" was what led them to being overweight in the first place.

I have an excellent counsellor and this has helped me greatly in changing the way I look at food. I got fat because I like food and am greedy! I now don't have to finish the rest of the pud, or eat the rest of the slab of cheese....I stop when I am full and appreciate it. I prefer being slim and chucking some food in the bin to treating myself as the bin, hoovering it up and returning to the person I hated being and seeing in the mirror.

Its different strokes for different folks, but for me, LL has worked.

I read somewhere that 90% of people that do these diets put the weight back on within two years.

And what they don't tell you is that crash diets like lighter life absolutely screw with your metabolism. So if you found it hard to lose weight by conventional means before, you will find it impossible now.

My mum did lighter life last year and she has regained a lot of the weight again, and is finding it impossible to lose it with ww, and keep crash dieting simply isn't the answer.

I think the quality of your counsellor is key to succeeding with LL - ours is very good, but she's not always there and her locum is utterly useless. The DVDs are pretty pants, I could live without them!

I questioned them before I started about metabolism change, wannabe, and they were adamant that it was a myth - the DVDs also say that it reduces your metabolism, but it would reduce anyway as you lose weight, so it's not a massive issue.

I have to confess, I'm concerned about what will happen when I return to food, but what I've learnt about portion control and why I eat what I eat when I do will hopefully stand me in good stead. Thing is, I know all about healthy eating, as do most of us, let's face it. It's just putting it into practice!

I'll hold my hand up first and say that i'm a slimming world devotee

However we have two women at our group who did LL and then joined SW afterwards. The first women lost 8 stone but has then put on weight most weeks for the last 6 weeks she has been at SW even though she says she is following the plan 100%.

Second women lost 2stone after 6 weeks but was then hospitalised for malnutrition - this was due to lack of nutrients rather than low weight as she still has 4 stone to lose.

Both women have horror stories re rushing to the toilet and bizzarly their hair fell out in clumps.

My friend lost a lot of weight with LL about 5 1/2 stone. She loved it as nothing else had worked for her before. Adn she has kept the weight off, I think it's been a couple of years now.

But I don't think she's learnt anything much about food and how to eat.
She eats a lot for a few weeks or so then she does the powders (as she calls them) for a week to lose it.

I suppose it works for her and she's so happy with her life now, but I do worry that she'll put the weight on again.

I know 3 people who have done ll and put all the weight back on again..Also I have a qustion for the devotees, how do you stop your skin sagging losing weight v quickly and not excercising? I have lost weight over the years after pregnancy with good old fashioned healthy eating and exeersise and I have a litle baggy skin so how does it not happen? genuine question

I asked my friend this as I couldn't see how she wouldn't end up with lots of sagging. She hasn't really, and she said it's because of the amount of water you have to drink. She drank 4 litres a day. Her skin is not saggy, I mean it's not tight and toned, but if she'd have done a bit of exercise it would have made a difference too.

I can hardly drink half a cup of water a day and I wonder if that's why it looks like it does.

ooh interesting as I have an irritable bladder and have to MAKE myself drink anything and couldnt possibly drink 4 litres . I am lucky if I manage 1.5.. Could that really be the reason??/?/!!!??//?.

I thought diets made you drink water to stop hunger pangs?