Maintenance/putting weight on?

I just wrote a nice long thread and it got eaten by the dark depths of the Internet!

I've decided to take the plung with Exante. I will be starting on 4th May due to being in the middle of a big move right now. I'm really excited about starting to finally tackle a life long problem and get to actually enjoy my 20's!

Most people have been supportive, except a friend who is a nurse. She used jargon but basically told me that once I start eating again I will put weight on - even eating a dieter's diet. I do understand about the reintroduction of food and have carefully thought about this diet, done some research, read personal reviews and success stories, learnt about side effects but this one really bothers me. Can anyone shed some light?

I think its a load of mush
I have tried all types of dieting (I'm in my 40's) and I have put weight on, including the "healthy cutting down diet" (which I didn't lose much weight on anyway)
this Ketogenic diet may break some of the bad habits & triggers I have with food, as really, it can only ever be YOU that gets to that goal and then doesn't follow through eating properly for your height/ activity afterwards
unfortunately it really is down to :-
what you put in your gob vs what will end up sitting on your hips

and I really now believe that eating carbs makes you crave more-so you have to be careful

If you follow the exante way, you will lose weight (slowly if you don't do any exercise) and its really not been that difficult for me (my 10th week) and I hardly ever lost much on slimming world, and all I do for exercise is about an hours walk a day

But your Head has to be inthe right place

If you go straight back to eating how you did before then she is absolutely right, you will put weight back on.

However, it IS possible to maintain at a lower weight once you have shed the lbs.

If you read through the success stories on the sections here related to the longer-established VLCDs, especially CD, LL and LT, you will start to see a pattern emerging. If you read through their re-starter threads it gets even stronger!

The trick seems to be the way you reintroduce food when you are at or near goal, and the way you look at it after that.

It seems that those who do a proper, staged refeed and introduce food gradually starting with protein and greens and gradually building up to everything else seem to have a much higher rate of maintenance success than those who don't. Most of the long-term maintainers, even if they are no longer following a particular "diet", seem to weigh themselves regularly and jump on any increases pretty much as soon as they happen.

Personally I am looking at my future in 2 stages.

Stage 1 is now, where I am doing exante and losing weight quickly.

Stage 2 will begin as I get to (or possibly even near) my goal - this is where I will need to seriously evaluate my eating patterns as I reintroduce food and make sure they are healthy.

I've said it before, I think it's entirely possible that I may never be able to have a "normal" relationship with food again. For the rest of my life I will need to be aware of what and how much I eat. I don't see this as a major problem cos I have all the time I need now to get my head in the right place to be able to do that.

I can only echo what my esteemed friends have said.

Also, as you lose weight, your metabolism lowers too - that's nothing to do with dieting ruining your metabolism, it's because you then become less physically big and therefore have a lower energy requirement. Effectively, you become more fuel efficient.

So what would previously be a 'diet', if you were, say, my weight, could be well over your fuel quota if you were, say, Yam or Maggie's weight. It's quite simple physics really, but a point which often missed.

I also wonder what the naysayers are trying to suggest - never to diet again? not even try?

We also have a friend who's a nurse (touché!) who lost 3st with WW over the course of years, and another 6 on LL over the course of months who's the biggest flagwaver we know for this sort of thing.

Out of all the types of diet on the market, VLCDs have been the most heavily researched over the past 30-40 years. Ultimately all diets 'fail' if you don't work with them.

Hello littleminds,
Welcome in.

The answers to your question have been answered above.
And in a nutshell, all of us are here because we have put more fuel into ourselves than what was required to keep our vehicle ticking over. The result? We stored the excess fuel and instead of using it up we have just kept adding to it again and again and again.
A VCLD is a safe and effective way of using up this excess fuel, and takes us back to where we need to be.

Then if we start the process again without alteration then pretty soon we will back to where we don't want to be.

Now we also need to take into consideration that after a period of using our stored fuel to survive, if we suddenly fill up again without thought, then our bodies will be so shocked by this sudden input it will be confused and try to hold onto everything (sudden weight gain) which is why proper refeeding is essential. It allows the body time to adjust carefully by gradually introducing food from specific groups in a proven order so as to not overwhelm.

I am sure that your friend who is the nurse, only has your best interests at heart, but with respect, is she really qualified to comment? I was a nurse but until I researched VCLD's for myself prior to my personal journey, I had the same opinion myself. I remember a couple of years ago when someone I knew was doing Lighterlife, I am now ashamed to say but I ignorantly held the opinion "Once they finish it will all go back on with interest."

Love Myr xxx

HI, I too will be starting on Exante, i plan to start on Tuesday 27th April. I had hoped to have started a few weeks ago however my finances were not upto it so I am about to place my order for delivery Monday, ready for Tues am. I am not sure whether to buy the variety pack:shakes,soups and bars or to go for the monthly bumper pack of shakes. Any hints or tips welcome guys. I can't wait as all my clothes are tight I feel uncomfortable and have booked my hair appt for end of the month to treat myself. Good Luck to you littleminds.

Magggie, I was curious to see you'd said losing weight the Exante way is slow if you dont do any exercise. In what way do you mean? Its a VLCD at the end of the day and surely the weight loss would be of a similar rate to LT, CD, LL etc. Ive done CD and LT and now changing to Exante as I cant get to my LT appointments at all and dont want to slow my weight loss by being on Exante!

yes,friend is super qualified to make notes, Hi Sam.
f

I find through my own experience that the week that I didn't do much in the region of exercise I only lost 2lbs

it may be the same for all of the vlcd, you may know more than me on that, as this is my first vlcd

I know that if I put the effort in, I can lose as much as 4lbs in a week
plus the natural endorphins you get from the exercise takes your mind off food

like I say, I am not leaping around doing really massive exercise, just a walk for an hour a day
splitting it up during the day doesn't seem to have an effect either

Well on CD my losses were between 2-5lbs a week and I found that it depended on the amount of water I drank per day. I found if I drank 2 litres, I lost 2lbs, 3litres for 3lbs etc etc... I struggled with exercise on VLCDs as I felt quite dizzy but Im on my feet most of the day anyway. 2lbs a week is a great weight loss for me anyway, on conventional diets it was a massive achievement if I lost 1lbs a week!!!

princess-of-power said:

Well on CD my losses were between 2-5lbs a week and I found that it depended on the amount of water I drank per day. I found if I drank 2 litres, I lost 2lbs, 3litres for 3lbs etc etc... I struggled with exercise on VLCDs as I felt quite dizzy but Im on my feet most of the day anyway. 2lbs a week is a great weight loss for me anyway, on conventional diets it was a massive achievement if I lost 1lbs a week!!!

Click to expand...

Ah you see- I have a sedentary job
I am paid not to move

so I have to stick the exercise in
interestig theory about the water though....

Yambabe said:

If you go straight back to eating how you did before then she is absolutely right, you will put weight back on.

However, it IS possible to maintain at a lower weight once you have shed the lbs.

If you read through the success stories on the sections here related to the longer-established VLCDs, especially CD, LL and LT, you will start to see a pattern emerging. If you read through their re-starter threads it gets even stronger!

The trick seems to be the way you reintroduce food when you are at or near goal, and the way you look at it after that.

It seems that those who do a proper, staged refeed and introduce food gradually starting with protein and greens and gradually building up to everything else seem to have a much higher rate of maintenance success than those who don't. Most of the long-term maintainers, even if they are no longer following a particular "diet", seem to weigh themselves regularly and jump on any increases pretty much as soon as they happen.

Personally I am looking at my future in 2 stages.

Stage 1 is now, where I am doing exante and losing weight quickly.

Stage 2 will begin as I get to (or possibly even near) my goal - this is where I will need to seriously evaluate my eating patterns as I reintroduce food and make sure they are healthy.

I've said it before, I think it's entirely possible that I may never be able to have a "normal" relationship with food again. For the rest of my life I will need to be aware of what and how much I eat. I don't see this as a major problem cos I have all the time I need now to get my head in the right place to be able to do that.

Click to expand...

Yep, I'd say this is pretty spot on!

i'm planning on watching my weight for the forseeable future now, i just like it too much and in all fairness...i'm greedy...i will have to consciously think about what i put in my mouth for the rest of my life, cos it could be so easy to put everything i've lost back on, even though I'm not at goal, and have a few stone to go before I reach my personal goal, I think about what things will be like 'after the diet' and its scary, I think that eating makes me want to eat more...last time I did a VLCD I lost 5 stones, when i started exante (just a year after finishing CD) I had put 3 of the 5 I lost back on (in just a year!!) I didn't go thru a refeed or maintanence or even think about what I was doing, I just decided to stop, and that was it, I went right back to eating what I had pre - CD, even when my stomach was screaming for me to stop, I kept eating, until eventually it was as stretched as ever and consequently I needed more to fill me up...

Bascially, if you go from a VLCD to eating what you were eating before starting, you will regain most if not all of the weight you have lost, you have to change your lifestyle and the way you think about food also, its a fuel source...thats all, only have what you need to keep your body running and you'll do fine! xx

with you j, think it is very reasonable price and far less than normal on food.
Still a stone to go, but for me the scale doesnt move without exercise, I sit a lot at the pooter, interspersed with fairly heavy work for a girl, I have good arms, and utterly horribly squidgy middles and bum, then good legs. Calories, and not moving the middle bits. Attacking both now.