Next Installment ...

So .... to continue ....
I've been thinking since my last entry - about those slimming clubs and trying to remember the names of them. I mean there were the usual suspects .... That first one I joined was a 'Slimming Magazine' club. I was a member of one of those at least twice, probably more times. I did 'Slimmer', 'Slimming World' of course - this was a favourite. I even moved to a house in 1997 which had one of these going on three times a week on the other side of the road!! I should probably add that I didn't know this when we bought it but hey! .. It adds to the story ;o). There was 'WeightWatchers' of course - only the once for that one I think. I can't believe that's all there've been - it seems like more.
Then of course there were all the inbetweeners, those diets we read/hear about as being THE answer. Let's see how many I can remember .... Mao Clinic, Scarsdale, Plain old calorie counting, F Plan, Cabbage Soup, Negative Calorie, Low Fat, What were those biscuits you used to be able to buy in the chemists? Probably the very first meal replacement system - donkey's years ago ... hmmmm ...... with the help of Mr Google I've just 'remembered' they were called 'Limits'! Atkins, You Are What You Eat, Carol Vorderman, Nerys & India's Idiot Proof, Low GI/GL, FatLoss4Idiots, Cambridge, Food Doctor, Bikini (HAH!!), Carb Curfew, Diet Chef .... I KNOW there are more than this but it's a fair selection. If you can think of it - I've more than likely been on it, including total starvation - and most probably more than once.

I EVEN!! And I still can't believe I let myself fall for it .... paid £76 for some pink patch thingymajigs that I had to stick on myself every day. There were going to make all my fat magically disappear don't you know!! They didn't ..... funny that :o)

In my defense I feel compelled to add that these came with a money back guarantee. I carefully photocopied everything pertaining to that and kept it. When they (incredibly surprisingly!) didn't work I sent all this off claiming my refund AND!!??!! ........................................................ Sorry to disappoint you but I got it - refunded onto my credit card - no questions asked..... I still could have kicked myself for falling for the hype though!

So what got rid of the weight this time? ... Lipotrim.

Now I'm not here to extol the virtues of Lipotrim - or any other VLCD for that matter (Very Low Calorie Diet - in case you don't know, though I can't imagine if you're interested in reading this, that you don't already know that ;o) ) because there's one thing that all of these diets, regimes or whatever you want to call them have in common .... they work.

It's an undisputed fact that every single weight loss regime that's out there will work .... us yo-yo-ers are living proof of that after all, - we can lose weight - we're forever proving that. What we suck at (on the whole) is keeping the damn stuff off!!

And that's where I'm going to be different this time.

One thing a VLCD does do is gives you the complete break from food which gives you a rather unique opportunity to break certain ties/habits, whatever you want to call them, and to examine your relationship with food bringing into your conscious awareness areas which may need some 'work'.

You realise how often you would put something in your mouth out of pure habit. Taste everything you're preparing, scrape the last spoonful from the pan/dish/plate and eat it. TFR (Total Food Replacement) forces you to stop doing this because you can't have ANYTHING besides the allowed nutrition packs and permitted drinks.

I WOULD say though that being forced to stop it is great. Whilst NOT doing it you think you've cracked it and never need to do it again and you're right you don't NEED to. You will though ***sigh***. These 'habits' creep back in alarmingly quickly and it can be disappointing to realise that actually changing those things permanently is going to take incredible vigilance and a lot of hard work.

In actual fact TFR is the easiest part. I found it quite enjoyable. I didn't have to think about food for me, didn't have to spend any time preparing, cooking and had very few dishes to wash. My husband (God love him) lived on ready meals most of the time, though during the 15 weeks I did TFR I did cook several times. I had the whole family (and there's lots!) round for at least 2 meals that I can remember right now and had nothing myself. I had Mother's Day and my birthday in there and never broke the diet ONCE. We even went away for 5 days and I stuck to it. I always accompanied my huband for meals - I just didn't eat. I'd either just have black coffee or sparkling water or I'd take one of the flapjacks (fondly and more accurately renamed carpet tiles after tasting them) and have that. If questioned I would say that I had a medical condition (weeeell obesity IS a medical condition ;o) ) and that this was the only way I could take my nutrition at the moment. I have to say the Lipotrim packaging, unlike say - Cambridge for instance, lends itself to the belief that they wouldn't be consumed by choice.

I was never questioned further, well think about it - who is going to want to embarrass you - or themselves for that matter by digging for more information?

So I completed 15 weeks of TFR 2 weeks of re-feeding, where you gradually reintroduce food in a controlled way so's not to pile weight back on and I'm currently in my 11th week of maintenance. I'm not finding maintenance particularly easy which is one of the reasons why I thought this 'blogging' business might help.

Not that I can imagine anyone will be interested in reading it, but nevertheless if it keeps me accountable that's got to help.

I'm also a member of a weight loss support forum at http://www.minimins.co.uk/ which has kept me sane throughout my entire journey. I still keep a diary on there, again for accountability and also to let those still on TFR see that you CAN maintain. It might not necessarily be easy but it can be done. This is a fear many people have because we've all heard the horror stories of the weight piling back on after one of THESE diets.

****NEWSFLASH****
THE WEIGHT PILES BACK ON WHEN YOU STOP ANY DIET IF YOU GO BACK TO EATING THE WAY YOU WERE BEFORE!!!
****END OF NEWSFLASH****

I also subscibe to a fabulous inspirational newsletter which arrives in my inbox like clockwork every Saturday at http://www.nowillpowerequired.co.uk/ there is a full archive of all of Mike's previous newletters there too. Brilliant reading.

Well - even though I don't think anyone's reading this yet I don't want to make entries too long & put anyone off so I'm going to leave it there for now .....

See ya soon x