Me and the Lighterlife plan – 8 days to go

 

Ello,

 

I guess first I better introduce myself. My name is Guy (surprise!) and I’m a 28 year old bloke from Essex. The purpose of this blog is to chart my progress on the Lighterlife diet plan. I’ve been inspired by many other blogs which I will link off to on the right hand side as soon as I figure out how to do it! I guess my hope is that someone out there will read this one day and be inspired to finally make the changes they know they need to make, much like myself.

 

I’ll get the ugly stuff out of the way. I’m a Geoff Lardburger. What I mean by that is 6ft tall and weighing in at a whopping 21 stone and 10lbs. Although I have a big frame and (I guess) carry the weight (most people seem surprised when I tell them how much I weigh) it’s time to stop hiding behind the big boned defence. To be honest, that defence was wearing a bit thin when I hit 18 stone (on my wedding day) 4 years ago. I’ve been yo yo dieting ever since. Atkins, Weight Watchers, Cabbage soup, low carb, low fat, high fat, calorie counting…. The list goes on and on. Some were reasonably successful and some were a disaster. The most I ever lost on any one diet was about 30lbs and it’s all come back and more! That kind of loss (over a period of months) is just not enough to keep me motivated. I decided if I’m going to get serious, I need to do something drastic. Something that will help me avoid temptation and give me serious results, fast!

 

After a bit of research I came across the Lighterlife plan. This kid of diet is what’s called a VLCD (very low calorie diet). It’s not the only one out there but Lighterlife does have some other aspects that interest me. Actually, I take that back, not interesting, necessary. This isn’t something you can buy online. You have to complete a medical questionnaire and have it signed off by a doctor. You then have to return to get your Blood pressure and pulse checked every 28 days or LL won’t let you continue on the plan. So, what’s involved I don’t hear you ask. Well, the basic premise is simple. You don’t eat. Seriously, nothing. You totally abstain from food for as long as you feel is necessary to reach your goal weight. LL provides you with nutritionally complete food packs in the form of Shakes, soups and (later on) bars. Four of these a day means 530 calories. That’s your lot for the day. Plus you have to drink plenty of water. If it sounds extreme at first, I guess it is. However, there are more than enough calories for my body to function in the stored fat. Or so I hope. After foundation/abstinence (8 weeks on Lighterlife for men, 14 for women). there is development. Development is essentially foundation with a different name. You can stay on the developers plan until you reach you goal. After developers comes a management programme where you slowly reintroduce different food types over a 3 month period. I think you’ll find that most people who had tried this and put the weight back on didn’t go through this process. Everyone has an opinion about this sort of thing but, once you research it, you can find very real stories of very real people and I gotta tell ya, this diet works. I was very cynical at first but just visit the forums at lighterlifecommunity.co.uk and you’ll find a list of success stories as long as your arm (you have to register to gain access to the ‘before and after’ forum). These kinds of independent forums are a god send in my view. Mainly because you get to read about the good AND the bad.

 

So, what’s the downside apart from not being able to drink (Beer *sob*) or eat anything? Well, there are some obvious issues (socialising etc) but the one bit that puts people off is the cost. There’s no getting around it, £66 a week. Sounds like a lot but, working in the city (London) I’m probably shifting at least £40 a week on lunches. I figure that, plus the inevitable reduction in my family’s weekly shop will more than cover the cost.  Why so expensive? This comes back to the ‘necessary’ aspect I was talking about earlier. Counselling. Lighterlife involves same sex group discussion every week where you try to understand your relationship with food. Why you eat, what your triggers are and how you can better understand why you over eat and what you can do to stop it for life. This is why the abstinence is so important. You cut out food completely so you don’t have to think about it. No shopping, no meals to plan, no calories to count etc. As cynical as I am about this kind of thing, the behavioural aspect of my weight problem is something I’ve never addressed. I just have to look in the mirror to know that I have a problem. I guess the old chestnut applies here. The first step is admitting you have a problem……

 

Man this post is long one. They won’t all be this long I promise! So, how do you get started? Find your local LLC (Lighterlife counsellor) on the LL website and go along to an info session. There you watch a cheesy DVD, get weighed have a chat and pick up your medical forms (along with some other info). There’s no hard sell (which anyone who knows me knows that I hate hard sells with a passion) which was refreshing. After that, A quick trip to the docs to sign the form (he charged me 15 quid so I could address my weight problem if you can believe it, the NHS isn’t even paying!) then drop the form back with your counsellor and await confirmation. I’ve just had my confirmation email and the next gents group in my area is starting on the 27^th. Just one week away! So, I’ve made some pretty big steps for me. Going to the info session and the docs was both embarrassing and hard but I’m hoping this shows my determination to make a go of it.

 

I think that’s enough for now. I’ll be posting more very soon about targets and last suppers (aka Guy’s whirlwind tour of take aways) very soon.

 

8 days to go!

 

G

 

P.S. Please feel free to comment. Thanks!