Route to management here I come

I have decided that I will start the route to management phase of my lighter life diet after my next weigh in tomorrow.
I have lost over 4 stones so far in 12 weeks and am still a bit short of the ideal weight for my height but I need to consolidate the weight loss I have acheived so far.
So I am now looking forward to a real meal once a day for the next 3 weeks.
I do not know if I will still lose weight on this route to management stage but I hope I do lose a bit more.
I plan to keep a bit of a food diary here of what I eat.
I think I would have found this helpful myself but there seems to be a bit of secrecy about what you can eat on route to management. I do not know why.
So final weigh in of the abstinence stage of my lighter life tomorrow. I will post as soon as I get home from the meeting.

Back from a week in France on Lighter Life diet

Well, I will never do that again. I Stuck completely to the diet and look to have lost a further 6 lbs. But.. A french holiday without food is very trying indeed.
Whenever we go over food is an integral part of the break. So everywhere we went I saw food, thought about food, was tempted by food, etc.
I'm through it now. I cannot wait till the next weigh in on monday to see how things have gone.

A big milestone for me

Well I got weighed and have now lost 4 stones in the 10 weeks.
More importantly my BMI is now below 30. In fact it is 29.7 something. I am no longer obese - just overweight. Fantastic.
So My resolve to stick with the lighter life while on holiday in france is complete. I will not cheat. When I get back it will mean fewer weeks to my goal weight.
I had a look at the lighter life management books this week and it looks really good. I am looking forward to that stage which will be very soon.
More blogging when I get back from france

very low calorie weight loss systems

Lighter life is one of those very low calorie weight loss systems (also called very low calorie diets). The amount of calories I eat each day is about 550. Not very much for a six foot tall guy I know. But the thing is that the diet is working for me so why should I worry.

The thing about very low calorie weight loss systems is that there is a lot of hearsay about the negative impact of the diet. My friends have said

• I will lose muscle
• I will put it all back on at the end
• It will be bad for my long term health
• very low calorie diets are not natural
• and so on

I am doing so well on the diet that I do not want to stop at the moment but there is a nagging in the back of my mind about it all.

Official weigh in tomorrow - hope to have lost 6 lbs this week

Decision made about my lighter life holiday

I have now decided not to relax the lighter life diet I am on while on holiday in France. I think this is the harder choice but means that my ultimate goal of losing the weight will come faster.

My lighter life counsellor reckoned I would lose 2 weeks of weight loss by not follwing for the 6 days I am away.

So onwards and upwards. I think my unofficial weigh in tomorrow (On my own scales) will show 5 or 6 lbs weight loss this week but I can't wait for monday's official weigh in.

Drinking on the lighter life diet

It turns out I have been depriving myself of some drinks that I can have on the lighter life diet. I can have black tea including earl grey. This may not sound too great to you but for me it is a few more new flavours I can introduce.

The lighter life food packs are fine but it can get a bit boring in the flavour department. So new flavours to enjoy.

Someone asked me why I am keeping a blog about my lighter life journey. Well the main reason is to keep me on it! It is one of the network of strategies I am using to keep me on the straight and narrow. The whole business of writing down what is happening to me on this diet seems to help me focus on staying with it.
This week I have swayed from stopping immediately to keeping going to my ideal weight - no question. The act of keeping myself and anyone reading the lighter life blog is helping my resolve as I find the abstinence thing very hard.

The most dissappointing day so far on lighter life

Well
I got weighed tonight and the result is a loss of only 3 lbs. I cannot understand that but the counsellor says you get weeks like that. Well that still does not make up for it.
I have not cheated by an ounce. Hmmm.
So total weight loss in the last 9 weeks. 3 stones 8 lbs.
I will persevere and see what happens next week

People are noticing my weight loss at last

OK at last people are noticing my weight loss. At church this morning 3 people remarked on how well I was looking and were amazed at my weight loss.
At last - i was beginning to think my lighter life diet was in my imagination apart from the fact that I have been hungry for 9 weeks.
9 week weigh in tomorrow - can't wait

Looks like a good week this week

I have been weighing myself daily - a bit of an obsession - and I think I will lose 5-7 lbs this week. You would think that after nearly 9 weeks I would not be so focused on the numbers but I am. I think it is because my weight is back to what it was more than 20 years ago. Another stone and it will be back to 30 years ago.
There is no doubt the lighter life diet works for me although I do find it very hard. I feel sure I will be able to maintain this when I finish but we'll see. I intend to keep blogging when the main lighter life diet is ended so that It keeps me on the straight and narrow

Exercise and my lighter life diet

My Lighter Life counsellor has said that I shouldn't overdo the exercise while I am on the lighter life diet. But this week I have worked 70 hours and my job is physically demanding. So it is like a daily work out, particularly this week. I am hoping that this will give me the benefit of a little extra weight loss this week.
I have had a few dizzy moments which is apparently because my blood pressure has reduced because of the diet - My body is getting used to the new blood pressure level.
I am almost decided now to take a weeks break for easter while I'm on holiday in France. I will have three lighter life food packs and one carefully chosen meal. Of course thinking this and doing it is not the same. I cannot contemplate being in france and missing on the fantastic food. I may just decide day by day.
When I come back from holiday I will be straight back on the lighter life diet until I decide that I hve lost enough weight.
Does anyone else on this diet think like this? Let me know

The Madness of my lighter life diet

I missed yesterday as I forgot my laptop when coming home from work.
Anyway I was reflecting on this diet and realised that in many ways it is madness.
There is no other way I could lose this much weight in 2 months. I haven't eaten food for 2 months. I haven't done exercise for 2 months - Although my work is quite physical anyway.
If you look at it logically I shouldn't be doing this diet as it goes against standard thoughts about how to diet.
And yet my doctor is letting me do it, Me family think it is amazing how the weight is falling off me, and somehow I have got it into my head that this is it - decision made - no cheating - no turning back - just get on with it!
Madness but I love it.
My weight on my own scales this morning was a huge landmark 15stones 13lbs. The first time I have seen a 15 on scales for over 20 years. I am still deciding how long to stay on this diet.

The first big reaction to my lighter life diet

Tonight I met someone who hasn't seen me since I started the lighter life diet on the 6 th January. She was absolutely stunned and speechless which was very funny and enjoyable.
I did not think I had changed that much but obviously I have. That'll keep me going now for another week at least. Will weigh myself tomorrow morning just to check - its a bit of an addiction.

First 8 weeks of lighter life diet completed

I have got weighed tonight and have lost another 5 lbs. So that's 3 stones 5 lb in 8 weeks. I am delighted with that.
I am now on the development phase of the diet which means I stick with the same eating regime until I am happy with my weight. Then I go into lighter life management phase where I can start eating food again. I can't wait but I will.
I cannot imagine losing this amount of weight any other way and I know that I will stick with it. I have made my decision and that's it.
More tomorrow.

Lighter life leaves me with too much spare time

Because I love food - buying, preparing and cooking I have found that I have too much time on my hands. It only takes me a few moments to mix up my soups and shakes so then the hour or so I usually take to make dinner is spare time. So this is an unexpected 'benefit' of the lighter life diet.
Every sunday while I'm dreaming of roast dinners I sort out my garden. It has never been so ready for spring. My seeds are all sown on time and ready to grow.
I can't wait to be eating all veg I am planning to grow at the end of this diet.
I have not eaten regular food now for 55 days and I am feeling it. I still cannot decide how long to stick with it. My lighter life weigh in is tomorrow and I will look for some guidance at the meeting as to what I should shoot for as regards weight loss.
My scales said 16stones 2 lb first thing this morning but that was just an early morning blip. But I know that soon the scales will be saying 15 something and then 14 something. amazing really.

the effect of the lighter life diet on me

After nearly 8 weeks of being on the lighter life diet I have decided to record what is going on with me and the diet.
I will record my weight regularly on here and talk you through how I am coping with the diet.
So today the first of march I think I weigh about 16 stones 7 lbs. My last official weigh in last monday had me at 16 stone 11 lbs.
My scales do not always agree with the posh ones at lighter life so I am never quite sure what it is. My initial weight was 19 stone 11 lbs so I have lost 3 stone up to last monday. I think that is fantastic, brilliant, and very encouraging.

Once I have worked out this blogging system I will include links and suscribe info. Please bookmark me until then and keep reading. I hope to post daily
kenj