Today's Daily Mail

Dying to be Thin, article on Lighter Life see link

Dying to be thin: The diet craze sweeping Britain that allows you just 500 calories a day | Mail Online

Wow. Kinda scares me hehe.

My aunt had heart problems and a lot of pain coz of her eh.. reuma (english word???)... her GP couldn't link it to CD and said they were problems normally linked to obese people... He always referred a lot of people to CD so he was convinced it was not connected. My aunt had to stop CD from 1 day on another to take meds for it all... she reassured me this weekend but reading stuff like that really kinda scares me:$ I don't want to get sick.. I'm 21..

Brrrrr

Dragonfly said:

Dying to be Thin, article on Lighter Life see link
Dying to be thin: The diet craze sweeping Britain that allows you just 500 calories a day | Mail Online

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Oh dear, doesn't put a very good light on Lighterlife or other VLCDs, but then the coroners verdict in above link's story was an open verdict.
A leading obesity expert was unequivocal: he blamed the victim's death on her rapid ten-stone weight loss which, he said, reduced the lean tissue in her heart, stating 'Studies show semi-starvation diets deplete the protein and muscle of internal organs, resulting in an increase of heart arrhythmias among obese people following them.'
My doctor was informed when l started CD SS and l have followed the diet for 10 weeks. As yet i have suffered NO ill effects and feel better than i have in years. Glad l commited to CD, no regrets.

What a TOTALLY unbias, misinformed piece of supposed journalism.
I've done this diet and lost a lot of weight and did not suffer many side effects. I did lose a tiny bit of hair and I did get low blood pressure, but compared to being Morbidly Obese, spotty, high blood pressure, the strain on my heart, internal organs and joints, shortness of breath and not to mention the mental turmoil of being so overweight, I know I would rather be here having lost a bit of hair (not even a noticable amount, a few extra hairs on my hairbrush!) but being 6 stone lighter.

Not once in that article did the mention those of us who are now happy for the first time in our lives. Us of who now aren't so obese we are shortening our lives, those of us who have fulfilled dreams they never thought possible.

I think with any diet there attracts negativity. I feel imensely sorry for the lady who died family, but years of being overwieght may have meant she could've died at any time through a heartattack or other common illness of being obese.
As for the lady who devolped anorexia, again, she could have been on WW or a supposed conventional diet and devolped the illness. I was reading a story about a lady who wanted to lose 5 stone for her wedding, followed slimming world and ended up losing 9 stone as she devolped an eating disorder.

I think this is scaremongering of the worst kind, as never in the article to they point out the benefits.

Please do not let this dissuade you from following the diet. All I'd like to say, is be sensible. If you start being ill, or experience any side effects you are worried about, STOP. See your doctor, follow a higher calorie plann, such as 820, 1000 etc.

I know what I'm doing after reading this article......

Making myself a lovely bowl of Oriental Chilli Soup as it's lunchtime!!! x x x

Interesting, although I don't usually heed a word I read in the Daily Mail! I have noticed my eyesight detoriating recently. I never wore glasses before, and had to get distance ones about a year ago (long before I went on the diet so it was happening anyway) but in the past couple of months, on the diet, I have noticed it getting slightly worse and am considering another eye test. Now I was told by the optician that this was going to happen anyway and I don't know if I can blame the diet. It may have speeded it up slightly but I had already been told, PRE-DIET, that I would need glasses full time at some time in the future.

At the end of the day it has to be a personal choice I suppose. There could well be truth in these health risks, but the risks of being obese are far greater. I was on the brink of being diagnosed as being diabetic before I went on this diet, along with other health problems.

And at 3lbs a week, that could hardly be described as a dangerous pace of loss.

Maybe peeps with a lot to lose might consider one of the higher plans like SS+ or 810, or peeps near the goal could switch up? But I do think at the end of the day, the health risks of being obese are far greater.

Thanks for posting the article.

IS it possible that the lady who died of a heart problem was actually born with that defect or otherwise actually developed it when she was very heavy? Kind of tells people "it's better to stay morbidly obese than to lose weight quickly".

Surely on that thinking Obesity Surgery is dangerous!? I mean you can only eat a little bit on that and then your sick right!?

B x

I've lost 6 stone and its taken me a year. I've not had any negative problems except my tummy rumbling at times and a bit of hair thinning, which after a recent hair cut is now thick again. I've been more than happy on this diet.

Maybe peeps with a lot to lose might consider one of the higher plans like SS+ or 810, or peeps near the goal could switch up? But I do think at the end of the day, the health risks of being obese are far greater.
I sort of agree with that. I'm sorry the girl died, but 10 stone in 6 mths is way too fast even for a vlcd. she should have had a meal added really?
Its ashame so few positive stories reach the press.

OMG - really scary and i have to agree with a lot of what was said. It does make you obessed about food and shakes and calories and if you eat anything you IMMEDIATLEY gain weight. These are the reasons i don't think about when i want to quit.

However, it has given me back a great deal - my figure, my enjoyment of life, getting into old clothes!! its a trade off i suppose and the key to it all is to eat properly when you stop the diet.

not good reading though!

i have had quite a few stomach cramps since starting this prog, but not every week, 3 times in 6 weeks and when they do happen I am completely out of it, can't move, can't eat and just have to go to bed. I don't know whether this is diet related or body just getting used to very low calories, but I know it doesn't feel good and I hate it.

I lost 8 1/2 stone using the Cambridge Diet in just under 10 months in 2006. Two years later my weight is still within 7 lbs of my target weight. I eat healthily but VERY differently from the way I used to eat before I began the diet to ensure I maintain my loss. If I went back to eating the way I did before I started the diet I know that I would put the weight back on again - guaranteed! There is no 'cure' for being overweight .. not even a VLCD can do that if you don't change your eating habits for the rest of your life.

My hair is strong and healthy and I hardly ever get ill - not even a cold. However, I have had to start wearing glasses to read or use the computer in the past year or so .. but then at 52 years old I suspect I would have had to anyway.

I accept that VLCDs do have potential side-effects, maybe even health risks, but like with all things in life you have weigh up the pros and cons and make an informed decision. I know that I'm glad I made the choice I did

Malteaser said:

i have had quite a few stomach cramps since starting this prog, but not every week, 3 times in 6 weeks and when they do happen I am completely out of it, can't move, can't eat and just have to go to bed. I don't know whether this is diet related or body just getting used to very low calories, but I know it doesn't feel good and I hate it.

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You should really consult your CDC and GP about this!! It doesn't sound good?

Have you been going to the toilet regularly? (if you know what I mean)

Perhaps try fibre 89 if not...?

GL!

xx

Nibbles said:

A leading obesity expert was unequivocal: he blamed the victim's death on her rapid ten-stone weight loss which, he said, reduced the lean tissue in her heart, stating 'Studies show semi-starvation diets deplete the protein and muscle of internal organs, resulting in an increase of heart arrhythmias among obese people following them.'

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John Garrow has been saying this for more than 20 years, and he and Dr Howard will never agree on vlcds. But those "semi-starvation diets (which) deplete the protein and muscle of internal organs" were not vlcds.

And the article could have quoted other studies - on nutritionally-balanced, total food replacement diets like CD - which show that fat free mass is not depleted down to (at least) BMI 25.

There will always be detractors, but CD is still here, after 25 years, helping people to lose weight quickly and safely, before tackling the really hard bit - maintenance.

Sensationalism sells newspapers.

It is quite scary, but then that's why they've done it.

The way I see it is, CD is a short term solution for the long term. I only started out at 2 & half stone over weight, but without CD that could have escalated majorly!

I finally feel I've got control of my weight, without it having control over me.
I don't let the diet rule my life & if I plan to have a day off then I don't beat myself up about it.

This diet has been fantastic for me & if you weigh up the risks of being overweight to being healthy, then to me there is no contest....

Typical Daily Mail scaremongering trash if you ask me.
Lets report on the 1 or 2 people who it went wrong for, for UNKNOWN reasons, and not mention a thing about the thousands or people who have beneifited from it.

Ive said it before, Ill say it again - you CANNOT be 23stone and "...never had any health problems before". Being 23stone IS A HEALTH PROBLEM! Being that heavy for that long does damage to your insides, which is still in effect even after you lose the weight - it takes time for the body to heal.

Yes, 10 stone in 6months (or whatever it was) is a bit extreme, but if you are that heavy to begin with, then you are going to lose rapidly.


At the end of the day, being obese makes any other type of problem worse, and I would rather get stronger glasses and be slim and healthy, than be obese and die at 60 from heart failure.

pete10141748 said:

Typical Daily Mail scaremongering trash if you ask me.

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+1

Can't stand the bloody paper, are they short on immigration stories this morning or something?

LOL Pete, I saw your response on the web page it made me chuckle...

23 Stone and no health problems? I think not!

I agree with you completely, I think it is scaremongering of the worst kind...the uniformed kind.

Byebye bingo wings said:

LOL Pete, I saw your response on the web page it made me chuckle...

23 Stone and no health problems? I think not!

I agree with you completely, I think it is scaremongering of the worst kind...the uniformed kind.

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On the contrary, the Daily Mail are no more or less informed than any other newspaper, they just choose to take rather bias views on every subject they cover. It's rather sad really, but such is their readership.

I tend to respect people less that read it sorry to offend any Mail readers lol

So she replaced one addiction (overeating) with another (undereating).

I bet her home-made diet was not anywhere near 100% nutritionally complete - I know how hard this is to do - see my VLCD diet thread in my signature.

I would have failed for sure on any other (non-VLCD) diet and the extra weight would have been the death of me anyway at some point.

I really think there are some dirty tricks going on when the Daily Mail (who regularly runs ads for the companies behind Slimmers World and Weight Watchers) runs biased and unethical stories like this.

The unfortunate death case had an open verdict, but they had to find a "expert" that said it was definately down to LighterLife. How does that work?

What a load of codswallop!!!!!!

My uncle had a heart murmur and he did not find out til he had tests later on in life!!

Obese is the worst health problem ever as we all know, as we all keep being told by doctors and the media...So now what we are doing is wrong..how bloody ridiculous!!