Lighterlife. Deters Drastic Dieting Diaries

OK, so the progress has been charted!
One and a quarter stones gone in 4 weeks.
Remember Big Woman? She lost 2 stones in six weeks. Well, with 2 weeks to go to get to the six weeks mark it means i'd have to lose 5.5 pounds per week. Thats not going to happen, obviously. But if i can lose another 3lbs for each of those two weeks, i'll be happy. If it takes eight weeks to lose two stones, so what! Is it better for my skin for it to come off slower? I am guessing that it is. Elasticity. I wish i still had the same capacity for that as when i was fifteen!

The first woman that dropped out of our group, in the second week, has joined the Cambridge Diet, on my recommendation. She ceased doing the LL because she couldn't bear the tastes of the packs. On phoning her a week or so ago, it also transpired that lack of funds was also a factor, and so she was definately not coming back to LL.

To compare, LL is £66 per week including 2 hours of group counselling. CD is £35 per week. LL provide three packs per day, plus one bar per day. CD provide three packs per day, and if you want four, you buy the extra 7 packs for the week in addition to the £35. Each CD bar is approx £1.65, i think (but i could be wrong). So at an extra £11.50 that makes CD come out to £46 for the packs and no counselling. Not everyone wants the counselling.

CD does state that their agents are counsellors. What they mean by this is that because they have done the diet themselves they will give 'counselling and advice' style counselling to assist you on your weight loss journey while you are using CD. However, whenthe aforementioned woman went to CD, she told me, she just picked up the packs and left. She was delighted with that. So it could be that more counselling was on offer if she wanted it, but she may not have wanted to take that up. She did tell me, when giving reasons for quitting LL, "the counselling was...mmmm, well......." . She wouldn't finish her sentence, but judging by the noise that she made, it sounded like she wasn't interested. I do know, though, that some CD counsellors around the country do much more that simply give out the packs.

Although i referred the woman to the Cambridge Diet, i won't be making a habit of it. She was a single mum and finances were definately a factor for her. I couldn't stand by and not let her know that i knew of a cheaper alternative that would give the same results. I told her and i am glad that i told her. As far as i know, the other members of our LL group do not know of CD's existence. I won't be telling them.

Tonight i happened to look out of the front window to check the sky as i have an important day tomorrow. I saw a car parked on the double yellows outside the house across the road and wondered what that was all about. Then my neighbour appeared at the door and gleefully took the Dominos pizza bag from the guy walking up his drive. I sighed. They have normal lives. I don't at the moment. I wouldn't normally order a pizza to be delivered anyway, but i have done that in the past, and especially so, when i had a partner and we occasionally fancied a lazy evening in. I was thin then. I'm not now. And now i can't do it, even if i wanted to. I sigh again.

I have made special arrangements with my LL counsellor this week. Instead of the usual seven bars per week and twenty one liquid packs, this week i have had nine bars and nineteen packs. When i asked her for them, i thought that she might talk me out of it, because LL say only have one bar per day (and perhaps they'll only guarantee that you'll lose 3 stones in 14 weeks if you do exactly as they say). But my counsellor did say yes quite easily.

Tomorrow you see, i am going to my own graduation ceremony to collect my MSc. I'm driving to london fairly early in the morning. The i shall be meeting others for a buffet lunch and then have the afternoon in a very long ceremony, followed by a drive back home again. All in all, i'll leave the house at about 9am and return at about 9pm. During that day there will be no way that i want to make up shakes or soups. Especailly since other people with me will be eating food. So tomorrow i shall have three bars instead of any shakes or soups. It will be interesting to see whether and by how much it affects my weight loss.

The friend who is travelling down with me has two children. One is five and has just started school. The other is three and goes to nursery once per week. For years my friend has been rearing the little-ones day and night, with token help from her hubby, after he returns from his nine to five of an evening. It is only now that my friend feels able to occasionally do normal things again. Remeber the day that we went to the Health Farm? That was her first day EVER without them.