2 people in my office have been on this Lighter Life diet since October 2008. Both now look like completely different people! It is utterly bizarre how much they have changed (especially the bloke, who’s head now looks massively too big for his body) in such a short time.
Interesting article on it here – http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/diet/lighter_life_diet.htm

I’ve seen people do the Atkins, F-Plan, Slimfast et al, but nothing that has transformed people in such a dramatic way.

Just hope they are enjoying the constipation, diarrhoea, dry, loose, saggy skin, gout, gallstones and cardiac disturbances that apparently may go along with this kind of thing!

Anyone here on it, or know people on it?

I saw this in a Sunday newspaper a few weeks ago. The guy had lost an astonishing amount of weight in a short period.

That really can’t be good for you long term, can it?

I know someone who was on this diet. Big fella, must have been well over 20 stone but tall with it so he didn’t look that bad.

He lost an incredible amount of weight very quicky.
The he stopped it. (well I guess you can’t survive on it forever) And the weight is slowly going back on again.

Now, I’ve been very fat in the past. I did Weightwatchers and lost over 4.5 stone but in the last few years I’ve let it slip a bit (Working away didn’t help much…) but WW teach you about healthy eating, changing your eating habit permenantly. So I’ve decided that I’m gonna get thinner again (Well, thinner-ish – I’ll never be thin. Don’t wanna be!)
I couldn’t survive on that diet, or the Atkins, I just exercise too much. Not enough fuel!

Short term is incredible.. long term, who knows.. My boss, who is one of the dieters says she feels better than she ever has. Just getting back onto “proper” food now. Just hope she kept all the old clothes, just in case!

“Every week, you also attend group sessions with a qualified Lighter Life counsellor.”, or as we call them the franchise owner.

Aye,
That diet sounds like it really depends on how effective the counselling is at tackling the root cause of the weight gain in the first place. Otherwise it’s just an extreme crash diet by the sounds of it.

Couple of my friends did it recently.
They stuck to it pretty rigorously and also took up more exercise.
Pretty dramatic weight loss from both of them – 4.5 stone from the woman.

She looked a little gaunt towards the end of it, but looked great a week later after she returned to a normal diet. The weight is staying off so far.

She did get gallstones though 😯 , but despite that another female friend (who happens to be a doctor) was so impressed that she is doing it now – and has lost two stone already.

A sensitive colleague just emailed me this pic.

its not ‘in rocket science is it 🙄 the weight is bound to come off rapidly if you are surviving on 500 calories a day

Actually there is a little more to it than that.

The diet aims to keep you in a state of ketosis so only certain foods are allowed. And you have to avoid anything containing citric acid which means your selection of drinks is pretty limited.

The councelling to change food habits can only be a good thing.

I was very successful with the South Beach a couple of years ago.
It focuses on carbs and sugar.

Worked well, and I lost the weight I wanted, and quicly. Then I stopped.
Needless to say I then proceeded to put it all back on again.
This winter was supposed to be loosing it again thru exercise and a balanced regime, but I havn’t been well enough for long enough to get into a routine 🙁

It still essentially boils down to calories in versus calories out though dosn’t it?

i’ve lost 3-4lbs over 1.5 weeks through sensible eating and exercise. who’d have thought it?

I think I’d need counselling not to go nuts living on snack bars, soup and mousses!

I lost 5.5 stone in weight through eating less crap and working my arse off in the gym, not faffing around with fad diets 😉

only thing thats ever worked for me is progressively cutting off calories.

Started with eliminating excess fat form the diet (i.e. i now fry absolutely nothing, just plonk it on the griddle with no oil)

Then cut out carbs untill i started to lose some weight. Works out at about half the carb portion i’d normaly eat equates to about 2lb of weightloss a week.

See I think carbs are part of a balanced diet. But maybe that explains my lack of weight loss!

Carbs are a part of a balanced diet.
Problem is the stored fat in our bodies has carbs in them, so by breaking these down and getting the body to process that FIRST !
Then you re-introduce good carbs which your body uses rather than stores.

Things like brown pasta, instead of bleeched yellow stuff.
Brown rice is more natural than white, easy cook stuff.

Where I grew up loads of men were stick thin as they lived on vodka and cheap wine. Never ill, walking to the shop every few hours (exercise done then), no food indulgance in the evening, plenty of liquid intaken. Hell of a diet. And if you add amphetamines, the results are even better.

I know a couple of people who’ve done it and they’ve stayed pretty much the same weight since finishing.

IMO it seems great for the comfort/boredom eaters and people who delude themselves about what they’re eating because the likes of WW and counting calories just won’t work when they “treat” themselves several times a day. By completely cutting off any kind of normal food and drink for a couple of months it seems to reset their eating habits properly and they ease back in to regular food at much smaller portions and with the right stuff.

Eating less and exercising more is sound advice and perfectly adequate for most people though. Anything more drastic is only for people with a real problem with food that needs addressing.

righty:

its not ‘in rocket science is it [:roll:] the weight is bound to come off rapidly if you are surviving on 500 calories a day

500 calories?!? Well at least I can have breakfast.

I lost 5.5 stone in weight through eating less crap and working my arse off in the gym, not faffing around with fad diets

well there’s the problem you see. Fundamentally, a lot of fat people are greedy, lazy buggers.

Spot on Samuri.

Why are people surprised that when they stop the diet they put the weight back on. Its almost funny how stupid people are when it comes to diets. They wont face up to the responsibility they have and blame anything and anyone other than themselves. Then look for help / support / quick fix anywhere but themselves.

Fix them mentally then they will be OK. Bit like druggies and drinkers.

Jesus check you lot on your high horses as usual.

Actually the lassie that I know who is doing it has struggled with her weight for ages. She is sticking very well to the diet and still managing to go to the gym several times a week, despite having no energy due to the diet and running about a hospital all day (she’s a consultant).

I wouldn’t call her lazy.

Her weight had crept up gradually over a decade partially as a symptom of depression. She had already started to address it (through normal diet and exercise) before she started the LighterLife diet, but she was only losing a pound or two a month. Her logic is that it is easy enough to maintain her weight – so if she can drop a decent chunk off using the diet then she can maintain a lower weight.

I think she’s doing well and I’m pretty proud of her.

Why dont you take her mountain biking. Get fit, have fun and feel good for it. That will sort depresion and weight in one go.

Why dont you take her mountain biking. Get fit, have fun and feel good for it. That will sort depresion and weight in one go.

Well she came on our snowboarding holiday this year. And in fact we’re going for a session at Xscape tomorrow.

But I only live with her for part of the week while I’m up in Edinburgh for work. Weekends I spend with my wife in Northumberland.

So I’m not around to take her to Glentress (in fact I haven’t had time to get out on a bike myself for six months!).

And to be honest I don’t think she is currently fit enough to enjoy it much anyway – I’d rather help her concentrate on exercise she enjoys.

but she was only losing a pound or two a month

A LOT more sensible and healther than a virtual starvation diet. And probably more sustainable as well.

I put on weight because I love nice food. I don’t eat crap (fast) food ever, but life’s too short to miss out on rhubarb crumble.
🙂

Anyone else think that MTBing isn’t the best way to lose weight anyway, as its easy to over eat as it makes you bloody hungry.

I know one girl who gave up MTB (and she was bloody good) and switched to road riding as she got pissed off with the weight gain caused by it.

A LOT more sensible and healther than a virtual starvation diet. And probably more sustainable as well.

LighterLife (and similar diets) are not supposed to be sustainable though. They are not on-going lifestyle choices. You’re not supposed to live on soups and mousses for the rest of your life. They are just kick starts that help people get to where they want to be.

If you’re steadily losing a pound a month then that’s lovely, sensible and sustainable – but if you’re five stone overweight then you’re looking at nearly SIX years to get to your target weight.

I put on weight because I love nice food. I don’t eat crap (fast) food ever, but life’s too short to miss out on rhubarb crumble.

She never eats crap or fast food either. She loves cooking and cooks pretty much everything from scratch with fresh ingredients. Not being able to cook has probably been the hardest part of this diet for her.

Trimix – Member
Spot on Samuri.

Why are people surprised that when they stop the diet they put the weight back on. Its almost funny how stupid people are when it comes to diets. They wont face up to the responsibility they have and blame anything and anyone other than themselves. Then look for help / support / quick fix anywhere but themselves.

Fix them mentally then they will be OK. Bit like druggies and drinkers.

Which is kind of what this thread is about – ie. not a quick fix. Did you follow the link in my original post? No? Too lazy? 😉

I think its mainly portion control that’s the issue – I often make what could be seen to be a very healthy dinner, cooked from scratch with fresh everything, but my platefuls are generally 2-3x the size of what you get in a posh restaurant. I get wanging headaches due to long times between eating (due to lifes complexities) and end up so hungry I’ll wolf down a 3x normal meal in 10 mins, then feel bloated for 3 hours. Somehow it’s taken years to notice this, but having stopped making massive platefuls I now get hungry of an evening – cant win!

coffee king,

i have exactly the same problem.

only solution i found (abeit temporary) was not to eat much other than soup and protein shakes (came to about 1800 calories a day, bowl of cereal, 80g of protein mix, 3 tins of soup) for 3-4 days a month. Shrinks your stomach, then you can just concentrate on not eating unless you feel empty (thus not letting it expand again.

coffeeking: yep, same problem with her (and me to a lesser extent).

I recommend trying http://www.tescotracker.com for a week.

Basically you use the website to record what you’re eating (including quantities). It can be quite an eyeopener to see how it stacks up against your daily allowances (I was eating waaay too much salt).

She never eats crap or fast food either. She loves cooking and cooks pretty much everything from scratch with fresh ingredients. Not being able to cook has probably been the hardest part of this diet for her.

So why do it? Quick fix? Miserable for months?
So what if it takes 6 years?

I guess its six months of pain and eating boring shit, compared to 6 years.

+1 for potion control

I also used to starve myself and then wolf down a LOT of food in ten mins (although to be fair, i’m not fat at all anyways), but as I am going to alpe d’huez in july, its time to get down to my racing weight.

My advice: Drop the portion sizes, eat slower (v. important – it takes a little time for your brain to realise you’re full) and continue exercising daily.

You’re stomach does however shrink over doing this, and whenever I eat my mum’s food, I struggle with the portion size nowadays.

Theres no such thing as quick fixes, hard work and determination is the only way in my eyes

So why do it? Quick fix? Miserable for months?
So what if it takes 6 years?

She’ll probably do it for the recommended 16 weeks. If she carries on at her current rate she’ll lose 3 stone or more.

That’s a big step forward and losing that weight will help her confidence and allow her to be more active.

What’s wrong with a “quick fix” if it works?

That’s an awful lot of money to spend each week though isn’t it?

So what if it takes 6 years?

Also, she is a woman. She’s single. In six years she’ll be forty.
She sees her weight as an obstacle to finding love and happiness.