The longest I've ever been on a strict diet was about 9 months. I did amazingly, even though during that time I had a holiday and Christmas. I lost over ten stone and looked and felt amazing. I was wearing a size 14-16 clothes (a size I hadn't been since reaching adulthood); but suddenly I couldn't do it any more and I started picking - and once I started I really couldn't stop. I think the trouble was that I had been on a complete meal replacement diet for all that time. Three packs a day, 8 glasses of water, and one week in four I could have a small amount of tuna or chicken with some salad. I have never experienced compulsion to eat, the way I did then. I didn't care what I ate, and I remember cooking some food and being so impatient that I ate it when it was still frozen in the middle. I was completely out of control. I had also been experiencing stomach pains of indescribable agony since Christmas (my meltdown happened at Easter). I went to the doctors and was immediately referred to a&e,it turned out I had gallstones, and one had got trapped in the opening of my pancreas,blocking it and causing pancreatitis. I was in a bit of a state apparently. Now I have no gall bladder , and no wish to experience pain like that again! Now there is a warning on the Cambridge Diet literature that it can cause gall stones so I'm obviously not the only one to suffer.
Although that diet was quite easy to stick to as it was so clear cut, took food out of the equation completely, and most of all had huge weight losses week after week, it's clearly not good for you. Apart from the frozen food madness and near death pancreatitis experience, I lost a lot of hair - at least 50%. It also costs £50 a week.
I'm convinced that Slimming World is the way to go. No food is banned. You have syns every day so if you really want something you can have it, but syns are like currency and you become unbelievably frugal with them.However there are low syn versions of almost everything. I went shopping yesterday and bought some velvet crunch crisps (haven't tried them yet but I've heard they're lovely) which are 4 syns a bag, whereas Walkers are 9 syns. Snack a Jacks are only 4.5 syns too, so it's possible to satisfy a crisp craving without wasting precious syns. Another amazing discovery I've made is Mikado biscuits. Biscuits were my biggest problem. I LOVED them and could easily eat a packet in one go. Unfortunately they're incredibly high in syns - a Malted Milk (my favourite) contains 2, a Jaffa Cake 2.5, a Digestive is 3.5 for a small one,and a Shortbread finger is 5!! Mikado biscuits are little biscuit sticks covered in chocolate (I bought milk choc and Daim,but there is also dark choc, white choc and hazelnut)They contain just half a syn each!!!They're tiny - you're not getting anything amazing, but they feel like such a treat. I had four last night andlook forward to having some more tonight IF I stick to the 777 challenge and drink 7 glasses of water and eat 7 speed foods though. There's an incentive!
I'm sorry for rambling but to sum up...
Why do people give up diets? I think it's all down to sustainability, which is why I really hope Slimming World will be different.
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