[ImizHAM]

Hello everyone, I was searching google looking for help with my VLCD and this site keeps poping up. I was wondering if anyone is doing the medically supervised VLCD? I have been doing it for about 3 weeks now, and I am looking for a litte support outside of my partner, she is currently on slim fast. I go to group meetings every tuesday but i don't really connect with the people there, and wanted to see if anyone had any advice about there success or attempt on this diet

[DietVet]

^It's a very low calorie diet.

(I'm not doing one, but I wish you the best!)

okay, i had a fairly long post here but this stupid site kicked me out and it's all gone.

i'll try again some other time.

[geoblewis]

I'm curious about this as well. I'm a type 2 diabetic and have about 130 lbs left to lose. I've already lost 60 lbs, but it's getting more and more difficult as I get older. I really don't want to have surgery only to be put on this sort of diet. I'd rather do the diet on my own. But first I'd love to hear all about it.

I was just going to put together a diet for myself, based on a ketogenic ratio and supplementing with vitamins. I thought I might try it for a few weeks at a time then go back to balanced eating (which I do normally now) to maintain for a few more weeks, continuing this cycle till I reach goal.

okay, here we go again, lol.

i'm on a VLCD diet - doctor monitored, which it MUST be for your own safety! - with my dr's blessing. i have to lose +/- 100lbs total or i'm looking at a hip replacement if the impending diabetes or my whacked-out blood pressure don't get me first .... and i'm only 45!

i've lost 100lbs (110 the first time, 90 the second) twice before and both times i deliberately packed it all on again as fast as i could.

i don't like being slim. there are things they don't tell you about losing a lot of weight.

first off, losing a crapload of weight doesn't mean life goes on the same but you hop and skip joyfully into the sunshine. everybody in society has a role, and each role comes with certain coping skills.

i will say it, i clean up REAL well - i look *good* when i'm down to size. but i cannot function - i have asperger's and i find it difficult to function in society as it is, but as a "Fat chick", i can get away with stuff. oh, she's just eccentric. yeah, she dresses a little wierd but she's nice once you get to know her. yeppers, a whole lotta woman but man, she knows her way around a computer, that's for sure!

when i was small, i didn't get that - guys who never even gave me the time of day in all the months i lived in the apartment complex suddenly wanted to take me out for drinks - and they did not accept "no" in any form.

the first time, i ended up getting roofie-raped at a social gathering. it wasn't exactly a "party" - it was just a bunch of ppl "hanging out" in someone's basement. i was teetotal, so there's no way i was drunk - but suddenly i blacked out and the next thing i knew, i was waking up the next morning in bed with someone i'd never seen in my life. things got violent (i vaguely remember kicking him in the face and i might've broken his nose) but my boyfriend of the time blamed it all on me - i shouldnt' have gone there "looking the way you do". i said what, i'm sorry, my (just above knee length) skirt was too short? my long-sleeved blouse shouldn't have been white? what? kicked him to the kerb and ate myself up sixty pounds in three months, finished the job the rest of the way a couple months after that.

the second time, my (different) boyfriend became abusively jealous - he wouldn't allow me to go out if i was wearing certain clothing (such as anything that showed knees or collarbones); had to know who i was talking to, what we talked about, why they were calling; would go to my job (cashier at a coffee shop in the mall) and sit outside in the food court watching me like a hawk, only to give me the third degree if i made the mistake of joining him for lunch - "who was that guy? why were you smiling at him?" "oh, i'm sorry, i should spit in my customer's face, is what you're saying?"

in addition, ppl i thought were friend were no longer friends - now i'm being accused of coming onto their husbands or trying to make them look bad or whatever. guys i'd always been cordial with suddenly couldn't remember the colour of my eyes but figured they might be B-cup.

if one grows up big, one learns coping skills - these skills are not the same as the skills learned by the "jock", the "prom queen", the "science nerd", or even the "skinny guy". you can't get away with behaviours as a skinny chick that you could as a fat chick.

if you've never been slim, then i strongly suggest counselling - it'll make things so much easier to learn how to cope with the unexpected emotional cost.

Originally Posted by geoblewis

I'm curious about this as well. I'm a type 2 diabetic and have about 130 lbs left to lose. I've already lost 60 lbs, but it's getting more and more difficult as I get older. I really don't want to have surgery only to be put on this sort of diet. I'd rather do the diet on my own. But first I'd love to hear all about it.

I was just going to put together a diet for myself, based on a ketogenic ratio and supplementing with vitamins. I thought I might try it for a few weeks at a time then go back to balanced eating (which I do normally now) to maintain for a few more weeks, continuing this cycle till I reach goal.

dunno about that ketogenic ratio - but the diet i was put on way back when was simple: 750cal/day plus unlimited tossed salad.

free foods include stuff like: beef consommé, mushrooms, onions, lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, cucumber, tomato, whatever else you'd find in a tossed salad (obviously not the dressing, the bacon bits, egg, etc).

i use FitSmart Fibre35 shakes when i'm feeling lazy or uninspired but otherwise, it's staggering what you can fit in under 250 cal!

example:

soup: mushroom soup made by sauteeing mushrooms and onion in balsamic vinegar (no oil or butter), then deglazing using PC Blue Menu beef no-salt-added consommé (free food)

salad: mixed field greens, tomato, onion, celery, mushroom, sweet red pepper, drizzled with balsamic vinegar (i really love the stuff!) (free food)

10 asparagus spears (free food)

13 large shrimp sauteed in (you guessed it!) balsamic vinegar (else you can steam them and squeeze lemon juice over them) - 80cal

1c blueberries - 80cal

1/2c sliced strawberries - 25cal

tetley's pear/lychee flavoured green tea (black, no sweetening) - free food.

not exactly starvation rations, is it?

i use sparkpeople's nutrition tracker to help me plan things out in advance and i eat something every three hours.

MAKE SURE you are weighing in at the dr's or the dietitian every week and getting your blood and iron tested regularly - every 4wks at least although in your case you might be like me and need them done biweekly.

okay, new problem - i have to use a timer now or i forget to eat.

looks like i've hit the point where hunger cues have shut down.

[geoblewis]

Threenorms, thank you so much for sharing so much of your experience. I hope that as time progresses and you get closer to a weight that you can live joyfully at that the people in your life are prepared to receive you with dignity and respect. And if they don't, I will happily come over there and help you kick their @$$!!!!

I'm actually already on board with getting myself mentally and emotionally prepared to thin. Have been eliminating toxic people from my life and have replaced them with a team of friends who are actually my allies in my efforts to get healthy.

I didn't realize the VLCD has so many freebies! Cool! What is the purpose of going into the doctor to get blood tests so often? And all those freebies aren't calorie-free. Why are they freebies?

they're freebies because

a) the amount you would have to eat to do any damage to your diet measures somewhere in the "crapload" range. i dunno about you, but 1c cabbage is about all i can handle of THAT.

b) the benefits found in those foods far outweigh any caloric hit to the diet.

my next blood test is in six weeks - they monitor all my nutrient levels, my cholesterol, iron, potassium, vitK, etc. i also do a pee test where they check for signs that my kidneys are being damaged because of my stupidly wonky blood pressure. the first test results came in last week and for the first time since i developed toxemia when i was pregnant six years ago, they came back utterly clean - zero protein! woohoo!

that means i don't have to take the blood pressure pills even though my bp's swinging all over the map (last time was 160/100) - i hate them because they're great when my pressure shoots up but my pressure also drops down to normal range (which for me used to be 100/50 to 110/60) and then the meds push it down far too low and i end up on the floor.

[geoblewis]

Thanks again! You're awesome for answering my questions.

So, you're 5'3" and get 750 calories. I'm 5'11". Do they factor in the difference in height? My RMR is going to be higher than yours. Or if we're obese, then it probably doesn't matter at first since the point is to lose the weight.

What did your rate of loss look like? Did you find that you'd lose in chunks (like 10% of your weight) and then plateau for a bit, or was it fairly steady?

I've got an appointment with my doctor in two weeks and we're going to talk about VLCD. I have no desire to do the gastric bipass thing, but I see the benefits of cutting calories. But I'm a type 2 diabetic and I am having a tough time managing my blood sugar as well as my blood pressure lately. Hoping a big drop in weight will improve all that for me.

absolutely, yes, you have to factor in weight. 750 for you would be, like, 400 for me.

in other words, guaranteed fail. maybe even on the epic scale of fail.

if your doctor doens't have first-hand knowledge, get him to refer you to a dietitian (there's one at my dr's clinic and they work in conjunction).

wouldn't worry so much about the restricted calories: what else is bypass or lapband or other such surgical interventions but enforced VLCD, eh?

the loss is definitely not linear.

typically, it goes like this:

week one: lose a crapload (my week one, i lost 8-1/2lbs this time, last time i lost 10lb, the first time i lost nothing for three weeks then plummeted 15lbs). you'll know this is happening because you're peeing like a racehorse.

week two: lose some (this time around, i lost 2-1/2lbs)

week three: lose a wee bit

week four: lose nothing or even gain a little

week five: take it from the top.

get the dr to do a *complete* blood workup and urine test - you need those for baseline numbers in order to detect malnutrition. my next blood test isn't for six weeks - if there's a concern, though, it'd be every 2 - 4 weeks. my blood test this time around even included pregnancy (which i categorically am not) and if he could've, he'd've had them check my prostate, too (which, me being female....!)!

[artsyklaire]

**WARNING** Very long run on sentences!

Hi name is Claire,
I am just coming on here today to discuss Very Low-Calorie Diets (VLCD) and my experience.

I am on a VLCD of 600 calories per day. I am a 28 yrs. old female with a start weight of 256. My height is 5’7”. I started four weeks ago and have lost 24 lbs. (I am 232.4 lbs. now).

I was doing a lot of research about VLCDs for a long time and consulted my doctor (who does have a license in nutrition). My goal is to lose 100 pounds by July of 2017. I decided on a VLCD because I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), so I get my period once or twice a year, facial hair, and I am unable to lose weight. I have tried regular diets with a calorie range of about 15-1800 kcal. I eat pretty well and have been tracking my food for a couple of years now and I stopped drinking soda 2.5 years ago.

Nothing would work so I consulted my doctor about a VLCD. She said it could work and warned me of all the possible setbacks. But after years of eating healthy and changing my lifestyle and still not reaching my goal weight, I had to do something drastic that did not involve surgery.

I also feel that these diets are for obese to morbidly obese people. And I do think they are sustainable for a short period of time. I don’t plan on eating like this forever but it is easy for me (then again I do have a strong will). I haven’t had any cravings, I do have random thoughts of food but I don’t consider them like a desire. I mostly think that diets are a mental game and you literally have to interrogate yourself when you’re about to do something you shouldn’t. I have not felt dizzy or hungry yet. I have so much fat on me that I don’t even think my body knows what I am doing. I do walk for 30 minutes per day and some strength exercises.

How do I plan on keeping off the weight? Well, I plan on eating for my weight that I will be which is 150 lbs. If I did my BMR calculations correctly (weight divided by 2.2 then times 30), my maintenance calories should be around 2000. However, I plan to eat around 1800. From 600 to 1800 I will be having a feast! Oh I do cheat on Saturdays by upping one of my meals by 200 calories so on Saturdays I eat about 800-900 calories, just to get my metabolism moving. I also plan on exercising more but more like walking/hiking and climbing. I don’t like the gym or conventional fitness routines (they are boring).

So if you’re literally carrying the weight of another healthy human being why can’t you go on a VLCD? I always see comments bashing anything under 1500 so I thought I would give my experience with it.

Sorry for the novel I just wrote.

C