Hi MLucky .

I realize you only want to speak with people doing the diet and I'm not one of them, but I hope you wont mind me jumping in on the rather interesting discussion that your thread has generated .

For people who only have 10-20 lbs to lose, like MLucky (and me), it often does tend to be the "fad" diets that sort of get our excess weight off and back to our preferred maintenance weight. We'll then stay at that weight for a while and then the scale might creep up again 5 or 10 lbs because we got busy or lazy or started eating too much cuz we moved in with a guy or went on vacation or something, and then we realize we put on some weight and go on some little diet to get the weight off. The cycle continues as we maintain for a good while and then might put on a few again etc..and this will no doubt happen to you too as you hit your maintenance weight. At 39, I can say this has always been my pattern at least (til I put on all my excess weight on my ticker except 9 lbs of it while pregnant). And it worked great over the years. I largely maintained a healthy weight, and when things got out of hand for one reason or another and I went up 1 or 2 sizes, I woke up and got it off. So generally we dont really need a lifestyle change because our lifestyle is already geared around maintaining a relatively reasonable weight. Now sure, MLucky you're normal "maintenance" diet with the slim fast and then the unhealthy meal at night coupled with some unhealthy snacks is not great. But its how a lot of 22 year olds tend to eat. Hopefully now that you're getting on in years (he he) and out of your teens, you'll start to focus more on a healthy nutritious diet that consists of lots of fruits and veggies and other healthy foods.

Hello titan . This is the fact about The Diet, you are definitely taking in less calories and it sounds like much less carbs. There is no way you are losing weight without this, as if deli meat combined with walnuts somehow causes you to lose 11 lbs in 11 days. No, cutting out all the "Vitamin" Water (which has about 150 calories per drink) and stopping eating when full (meaning before you've consumed too many calories) is what's causing the weight loss. There is no magic in deli meats with walnuts. I think that's all that some of the members wanted you to know. There's no mystery to losing weight on less calories, and less carbs are known to take off tons of water and fat too. Just recognize you can lose your weight on this diet or just by monitoring your calorie intake and eating a nice healthy satiating amount, but less than before and with healthier foods.

The bottom line is that if a structured diet like this is what it takes for you MLucky, then I really can't see the harm at all and I think you're doing a great job on it. Keep us posted!

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