Hi Everyone!

I've been browsing this forum for a few days now and wanted to finally post and introduce myself.

My best friend is getting married in October. I'm 31 years old, single/never been married and I'm wasting my life by being so unhealthy and unhappy. Her wedding is a huge motivator for me. It's giving me a goal. She's getting married on the beach at a resort in Florida. I want to enjoy that time and participate and not have my weight hold me back.

I started a new weightloss journey this past October. I used Pinterest to find healthy meals I could prepare and my fitness pal to log my calories. To be honest its been really difficult and I've gotten off track. I get mad at myself because I think if I could have just kept going as strong as I did in the beginning I'd be further along by now. The upside is that I have a better understanding of nutrition and calorie intake.

I'm in the process of joining a medically monitored very low calorie diet that uses protein shakes and snacks.

At this point I need something that is quick and doesn't need meal planning and choices. I understand that I will have to introduce food back into my life and I will, the healthy way.

I've been overweight for so long. I remember being 120 lbs in 6th grade and 204 my freshman year of high school. It has just increased over the years and I found myself looking down at the scale and it reading at 340. I was shocked!

If anyone else is doing a vlcd with protein shakes, I would love to hear how you are doing.

Thank you and I wish you all well!

Hi Kerri and welcome! I understand the difficulty of staying on track all too well. Your friends wedding is a great start to your changes. Sometimes we need to motivation of our weight no longer holding us back.

My problem is that I forget that I'm so overweight... For the last five years I've lived a moderately active life, living on a farm, and forget that I'm packing around all of this extra weight. Shopping reminds me of this lovely issue...

I don't have any experiences with vlcd or protein shakes. I've seen them mentioned on other posts. You might want to poke around the different forum groups.

Thanks!

I too forget how big I am sometimes, then I'll look in a full length mirror or go to buy clothes and I get a wake up call.

I will say, the past couple of years I have started to feel the physical awareness more and more.

No vlcd or protein shakes here. I'm trying to learn to eat properly so that I don't have to go off a diet and possibly regain weight. Not saying that that happens to everyone, but for me, I'd restrict calories, then return to "normal" eating and regain every pound lost, and then some. We each have to do what works for us individually. There is no one weight loss answer, considering that we are all different. Welcome, and best of luck in your weight loss journey.

I try to focus on eating Low calorie high protein food. I eat lots of tuna, and Chicken . Weight loss is so slow for me. I can not exercise like I really need to. I have a bad back and feet. I hope to see some change in that the more weight I get off.

I think mine is only an LCD? It's generally under 1200 calories per day, but I think the *V* cutoff is closer to 500? (I don't know, that's apparently what HCG is. Maybe a diet can be VLC without being that low?)

The one I'm on has 3 purchased meals/snacks per day, one of them with 2 cups of veggies, plus a dinner of 6-8 oz lean meat + 2 more cups of veggies. It's really low carbohydrate, with the goal of getting into ketosis (where the body uses burned fat for energy more than sugar), but it's also really focused on getting enough protein. The veggie list is long, but doesn't include everything--no winter squashes or potatoes of any kind, no peas.

I like it, because it has four stages, and the fourth stage lasts *forever*. (And you get back the orange vegetables by then. ) Honestly, I'm not sure if it has better long-term maintenance stats than any other diet, but I like that it comes with a ready-made plan for after the major losses, you know? It at least acknowledges the need for maintenance, which is something I look for in a plan.

Hi! I am on a VLCD. I have been on it since Dec 11th, the last day i had real food *sigh*. 0 cheating and as of today I am down 66lbs from 360->294.

I only have the special shakes and special soups though, no bars.. so jealous!

Hiya...

I am doing my best on VLC with smoothies...In the past was successfull on Slim Fast shakes..thru the years now... using fruits and some veggies that I love ,,trying to keep my calories 800 or less..

Good luck and looking forward on heaing about your progress!!

Keri and good luck to you on your VLCD journey. I don't think that I could do VLCD because I get quite miserable if I let myself get hungry, and I need the satisfaction of chewing real food. You are doing very well so far. Congratulations!

Hi...Am not new..but was hoping if we can share on efforts on this thread to see how everyone is doing. I started 700 calories today.. Its a must do list for me since I can not exercise much due of very bad sciatica pain. I will see my medical doctor next week and am sure she will agree on my plan. Let's share our efforts here to be accountable...weigh in for me is on Wednesday...

This morning had..1/2 c orginal fiber one cereal w 1/2 milk and 1/2 a banana.

Will check in later on... WE CAN DO THIS!!!

Ouch... To those with pain, I hope that your symptoms improve soon. I have osteoarthritis, and some of my worst flare-ups caused me to be immobile for a couple of weeks. Thankfully, they've not been as severe since I started exercising more regularly and watching what I eat.

Lunch... 4 sardines in water , 2 c. sliced green peppers..

Dinner...will be 1 sweet itallian sauage, 2 c. sliced green peppers.

If I control myself during dinner..and stayed within my low calories...I will be good!!

I love sardines Liliann. Keep going with those.

I eat them every day.

They are very, very good for you.

Thanks Ian...I will..had brought 10 cans of sardines and tuna..it will be my daily lunch staples now.Friday for dinner is fresh salmon steak.

Thursday calories..759