http://www.newlifestylediet.com/
I’m thinking about trying this diet. I’ve done similar ones in the past and in fact, I just did a liquid diet for a few weeks. I went to a wonderful bariatric physician in Cary, NC (if you live in the area and want to know more, write to me and I’ll send you a link to his website) but I can’t afford to go anymore. It was a full liquid diet where I ate no real food.
Before you judge me and think I’m just trying to take the easy way to losing weight, and before you tell me “it takes diet and exercise” you need to know that I’ve already tried that. I have a pretty serious hypothyroid problem. That means I have a metabolism that loves to make me fat. I have to work twice as hard for half the results. Before I lost my job in January 2009 I was going to a doctor every couple of months to get my blood checked, and the doctor would adjust my medication accordingly. When I lost my job, I lost my insurance. And as a result, I gained a lot of weight fairly quickly. That might have been partially due to the fact that I was pretty stressed out all the time. And guess what else happens when you gain weight? You have to buy new clothes. Talk about getting kicked when you’re down. I couldn’t afford insurance, medication, or new clothes.
The worst part is that I actually lost over 100 pounds several years ago. I did it on the LA Weight Loss program from 2004 to 2007. It took me about 2 years to lose the weight and then I kept it off for quite a long time. The way I kept it off was that I just didn’t give up. If I had a weekend where I totally went off plan, I would just go back on plan as soon as possible. I would allow myself “cheats.” For example, if I knew I was going to go someplace where I would pig out, such as the NC State Fair, I would just meticulously stay on my plan all week and then let myself be bad at the fair.
Anyway, losing my insurance last year led to me gaining back a LOT of weight. As a result, I tried a lot of different diets last year, including Weight Watchers, The Flat Belly Diet, and the Fat Smash Diet. I would just go back to LA Weight Loss but their centers closed in my area and I wouldn’t be able to afford it anyway.
In February 2010 I started going to the bariatric physician. I decided to try it because he’s a legitimate doctor with a great reputation. He charged a fairly low rate to do a complete blood count, along with thyroid and blood sugar tests. And it was an annual charge. It includes ongoing testing throughout the year. He had three diets to choose from – full fast (liquid only, weekly doctor visits), modified fast (liquid, one meal/day, biweekly doctor visits) and another diet where you just go to the doctor once/month but you eat regular food. I chose the full fast because I wanted to get some weight off quickly. It was $145/week. It was great! I didn’t have to think about food. It actually didn’t cost me that much money because I wasn’t going to the grocery store or out to eat. But somehow in the past few weeks I just haven’t been able to afford it. And I’m starting to gain back the 30 pounds I lost from February to the beginning of April.
I immediately tried Weight Watchers again. I can’t afford the meetings, but I still have the materials from last summer when I signed up for their program. I always have the same problem with Weight Watchers. It works for me for about two days. And then I just start eating whatever I want. I don’t know why it happens. It just doesn’t work for me. I think it’s because it takes a lot of meal preparation and planning, and ever since I got married it’s been harder to do that. My husband works from home, which means all food in the kitchen is fair game. And before you think that I must have a horrible husband who eats all my food, please know that I am married to one of the sweetest people who God has ever put on this planet. He loves me dearly and would never hurt me intentionally. The way I shop completely changed after I got married, but that’s another blog post.
Anyway, I need to lose weight. I’d like to lose about 70 pounds. When I first started at the bariatric physician in February, I found out that I was pre-diabetic, which really scared me. I lost enough weight that my blood sugar is now within normal limits and I am no longer pre-diabetic. But that could quickly change if I gain weight again. I also used to have a big problem with snoring, and that also seems to have gone away with the weight loss. At least I think it’s gotten better, given the fact that I’m no longer awakened in the middle of the night by my husband’s elbow.
As much as I would like Weight Watchers or the Fat Smash Diet to work for me, I know that I need to continue doing some kind of diet where I can lose weight fast. Once I lose another 40 pounds, I can then try another plan like Weight Watchers to start losing weight more slowly. People who don’t have thyroid problems don’t understand. I need something that will work quickly. I think the reason that plans like Weight Watchers don’t work for me is that I lose weight so slowly. I’m about 30 pounds over my comfortable weight right now.
A lot of people believe, because we’ve been told for years, that if you lose weight too quickly your metabolism will slow down. I’ve read countless studies and articles and proclaim that to be a fallacy. True, it’s hard for most people to stick with a very low calorie diet (or, VLCD, as it’s known in cyberspace), which is why they gain weight back. But it takes a certain amount of calories for your body to maintain its current weight, and it doesn’t matter if you were on a liquid diet to get to that weight. That’s all I can say about it. I don’t have any good references to back this up right now and it’s late and I don’t feel like looking them up – besides that, I’m watching Betty White on SNL as I write this, so I’m a tiny bit distracted. She’s a hoot!
Anyway, in 2008 I tried a popular plan called Medifast. It’s a lot like the New Lifestyle Diet but it uses soy protein instead of whey protein. Soy is very bad for you.
I know it’s touted as a miracle food, but it’s not true. It’s especially bad for people with thyroid problems. That’s probably why my thyroid problem was much worse after I ended the Medifast plan. I gained all of my weight back, plus about 50 pounds. Medifast actually does have some products that use whey, but most of them are soy. I lost probably 20 pounds in 6 weeks on the program, but I had gained it all back within about 2 months.
The full liquid diet I was on at my bariatric physician recently was all whey protein. It was great. I didn’t have to think about food and I lost weight quickly, which increased my willingness to stay on plan. But I can’t afford it anymore. So, online I found the New Lifestyle Diet. It’s about half the price of my full liquid diet, uses only whey protein, and promises better results than Medifast.
If you’ve used the New Lifestyle Diet, please write a comment! If you have a good success story I will even post it on my blog – send me pictures! As of right now, I’m not even part of their affiliate program so I’m NOT MAKING ANY MONEY talking about the program. This is really only so I can decide whether or not I want to try this program. The website has some success stories on their site but I can’t find any good forums that talk about it. I usually go to 3fatchicks.com to glean information about a new diet plan I want to try. But I can’t even find anything there. 
Again – please write to me if you have any info. If I decide to invest in this program, I will blog about my progress.
– Suzy
