Very Low Calorie Diets - has anyone tried one? What did you think?

[SpeccieSeccie]

I'm considering going on a VLCD to shift my weight. I'm just so fed up of being this way partly because I've gained weight alarmingly fast and am not able to wear about 80 percent of the clothes in my wardrobe. I need to lose two and a half stone.

The VCLD I'm looking into (LighterLife, Cambridge Diet) are quite expensive so I want to make sure I'm doing the right thing. My biggest concern though is that I absolutely hate being really hungry, can't keep it up and then get miserable and go straight back to eating, when if I'd done a less hardcore diet I might have stuck at it. On the other hand, if the VLCD gets quite quick results, I might find it such a boost that I stick at it.

Any one got experiences to share? All advice welcome!

Hi...no experience of the plans you've mentioned, but I have just done the Anna Richardson 2 week body blitz and lost 7lbs (have been steadily losing weight since ds was born but had to do a final big push to lose the last 10lbs).

She's got a website and a book, but essentially you cut out all booze, sugar, dairy & wheat, and have no carbs after 6pm. It is quite tough but not as hard as you'd imagine - use non dairy milk for breakfast and make porridge, then lunch and dinner were a combination of soups, stir fry, or lots of lean meat / fish with plenty of veg and salad. I snacked on fruit or nuts during the day and drank lots of water.

It is not a long term plan but it does get you motivated in the start, and I have found that I am sticking to the principles of it whilst gradually introducing the foods I cut out to start. I also noticed how great my skin looked to am keen to stick with a long term healthy eating plan now.

Oh, and I walk everywhere which definitely helps too. Good Luck!

Hi,

Have you heard of the UpDayDownDayDiet? It's a diet where you alternate between one day very low cal followed by a day of normal eating.

I've just started it but I've been reading lots of success stories. I personally can't do day after day of watching everything that I eat so it's working out perfectly for me, and apparently it takes 72 hours of continued low cal eating for your metabolism to slow down, so with this diet it doesn't slow down cos it's just 24hrs of low cal at a time.

Wow, thanks for the responses. (Inzidoodle - losing 6 stone, that's fantastic!)

I know that sensible eating and exercise are really, truly the only way to sorting this out and ultimate happiness. But I think I also need a big boost back into the realm of my normal weight and I think sticking to a diet is going to essential to that. I'm properly overweight now and need to sort it.

I am off to look up Anna R and UpDown now.

only thing which works for me is low carbing...and you arent hungry and you get a result quickly!

3BlondBoys - Tell me about results, do you really see results quickly? I'm quite attracted to the cutting out diets like detoxdiva suggests, as there's straightforward rules and I can follow them.

well it works for me....8lbs in 11 days!

threeblondboys

when you say lowcarbing, is this as drastic as atkins? or do you mean cutting out bad carbs like cake whitebread white pasta biscuits sweets etc?

what do you eat in a typical day?

There's a thread on here somewhere of custardos which explains better. Custardos blog is what I've followed so far

but yes, cutting out bread and rice, pasta etc. And eating lower carb foods moderately. Eating lots of meat, fish, cheese, some eggs. Veg low in carbs etc

have tone this before and maintained it for 2 years untill last pregnancy