A lot of my friends in the UK are having great success with a diet which replaces meals with drinks, soups and nutritional bars ..they attend weekly classes to be weighed and replenish supplies and offer each other moral support .....

I know its not the sensible way to diet but for some it seems to work ...is there a version of this here in Switzerland .....I have contacted the company they are using but they only operate in the UK ..not sure if I am allowed to mention the name here ?

Thanks

I find this one works the best for me:

lol.........alcohol just gives me the munchies !!! and drinking three times a day might just lose me my job ......but thanks for the suggestion ...

Migros does soups (very yuk!!) and shakes that you mix with milk. Pity that you have to spend at least CHF 17 on a big pack to try it out.

Gerlinea does pre-made shakes and the caramel is yummy. Unfortunately, you have to order it online since Coop no longer stocks it. I lost 8 kgs in around 3 months with Gerlinea skakes for breakfast and noodle soups or rice for lunch, with a small dinner. I still crave it now

These diets are great for convenience but there is not much variety in the products.

Sorry, I can't help you here, but I wonder a bit if a diet without fiber works well?

Is this an 18 calories whisky?

I think the idea is that it isn't a total diet: Rather, the user has one or two solid meals a day - preferably containing all the food groups, including fibre, and takes the rest in liquid form.

It's still not as good as a sensible, reduced fat, balanced diet, but I'm a fat *******, so it's no good taking my advice!

Dougals Suggestion is manufactored from Water, Yeast, and Barley.

Same ingredients as bread, just using a larger amount of water during the manufacturing. As Water does not contain calories, and ca. 100 liter is used for 1 bottle of whisky, Just compare how many calories you get, if you eat the amount of bread, made by 100 liters of water. In addition Bread may have been made by other additonal ingredients like Eggs, Milk, Sesame Seeds etc. which all contain additonal calories, so Dougals' Breakfast is indeed on the right track

Regards,

Doc.

Assuming that a pure whisky diet is not possible due to a slight constitution might I suggest that there is still a simpler and cheaper way to the same end than buying some special diet products: maths.

Basically when you subscribe to one of these programmes what you are paying for is for them to count calories for you. Why not just count them yourself. Get a little scale and weigh stuff before you eat it. Figure out how many calories is in each thing you are going to eat before you eat it, and then decide whether it fits your diet or not.

There are plenty of online calculators to help you figure out what your daily target should be. I use this one:

http://caloriecount.about.com

Red Bull for breakfast is great if you think of losing some kilos

The only diet that works in my opinion is one that can be maintained for life. Eat less, eat healthy and get your ass moving. I need to work on all three myself but have had some success.

Drinks, soups and nutritional bars doesn't sound like a sustainable recipe over the long run. I think Dakman's right but easier said than done and it takes will power which is where maybe peer support groups come in. Have you tried these folks:
http://gcms.weightwatchers.com/WWI_C...x?Page=1064412

If you follow Dougal's excellent régime you may need another support group:
http://www.aa-europe.net/countries/switzerland.htm

Yes, it is tough to do because results don't come as fast as on a fad diet but changing your eating habits to something sustainable has long term benefits but it is very difficult (trust me I still eat way more food than I should). Fad diets are not the answer, they only work for short term weight loss,

Seriously, instead of all that processed stuff like nutritional supplements and replacements with God knows what in them why not make your own soups? A basic soup isn't that difficult - onions, carrots, stock and whatever fresh chunky vegetables you fancy - you'll find it will keep the hunger pangs at bay.You can even add pearl barley or pulses for extra protein. In other words give yourself a real meal, low on calories. You can make it in batches and keep it in the fridge/freezer so when you come home you have a hot meal, ready in minutes.

I would only consider this a heathly alternative with MSG free stock.

Soup is my nightly meal Fruit for breakfast and hot meal for lunch.

Vege soup does make you fart though, so not recommended for work lunches, plus it always spills on the way for me.

To change eating habits and keep it off, try the internet for information on Metabolic Balance... this works, I have been living accordingly for over 5 years. Fantastic and you get into all the healthy foods. It takes a while, but once you have it, you won't go back... AND you can sin on this as well, so it is something you can incorporate into every day life.

Good luck!

Darkman is totally right. If you go on a fad diet you will only pile on the pounds after you stop (and are likely to end up bigger than you started).

You need to train your body and mind to be healthier.

I go for a home made fruit smoothie for breakfast, moderate lunch (normally sandwich and small salad) and a healthy dinner (like steamed chicken and veg, or soup).

Make sure your portion is not too big. If its not on your plate you cant eat it!!

Exercise if vital. For most people, staying trim is hard work so dont expect there to be a miracle cure!!

Oh I almost forgot - once you reach your target weight/shape/size, allow yourself one 'naughty' day a week. This helps keep your motabolism going fast.

Hi Joolie,
Be careful of yo-yo dieting!

1. Every time we loose weight and then re-gain it, we end up having a higher % fat tissue and a lower % muscle mass than before the diet period. That is, for the same weight, we are <<fatter>>. Only exception is in case the regain of weight is happening in combination with (intensive) exercise.
2. There are people who become resistant to weight loss. This happens because the resting metabolic rate is decreased if the caloric restriction is too sever during the dieting period (that's why there is a recommended lower limit to the amount of daily caloric restriction of 10% of starting value).

I've looked for a good link but the only thing I get is scientific papers => not much use in this context....

Therefore: it is better, as mentioned by others here, not to diet but change habits ...

I agree with all of you who have warned against fad diets. If you lose more that 1 pound (0.5 kg) per week there is a strong possibility that you will be on a yo-yo diet and put the weight back on again before long.

Your body needs to adjust to reduced food intake, including your stomach contracting. If you lose a lot of weight quickly, you will always be feeling hungry, and therefore risk over eating and putting the weight back on.

A very serious warning for anyone tempted to purchase slimming pills or the like over the internet. DON'T.

You could easily end up with banned drugs or some very nasty products. I saw an investigation on BBC the other day. Some products included Amphetamines, brick dust or rats droppings.

I hate complicated stuff -diet/exercise regimes, meal replacements - so my advice is to eat high-fibre foods (wholemeal bread, rice and pasta, lots of fruit,
vegetable soups. baked potatoes etc) all filling stuff so you don't get hunger pangs. Keep off sweets, biccies, too much extra fat (butter, salami) and go for a brisk walk every afternoon to keep the metabolism ticking over.

Simple and it works.

Well at home and with a glass of wine next to the computer , I did a few calculations on the energy efficiency of the human body.
It is generally accepted that, of the 2300 calories we need in a day, we use 60% of the energy for the basic metabolism (heart beat, respiration, keeping the body temperature), 30% for activities (moving, working, thinking) and 10% for digestion of the foodstuff. The excess above 2300 is stored as fat. This opens for a few interesting observations:
Increased physical activity will work only on the 30% of the daily expenditure. One hour at the gym will do very little for you on the overall daily energy expenditure (as it works only on the 30% of the total). Just as well to park oneself in front of the TV…honest, I'm not kidding!

Why not look for a strategy that addresses the 60% of the basic metabolism? Now, much of the basic metabolism aims at keeping us warm (I know, I’m just trying to keep it simple!). The metabolic reactions that help regulate body temperature will increase if we are in a cold environment, jut to keep us warm, or decrease if the environment is warm. On the other hand, we will also radiate heat if absolutely still, this is heat generated by chemical reactions in the body that aim at keeping us alive. Laboratory experiments have shown that in a warm environment (hot room or hot bath etc, no physical activity) we loose around 20 calories/hour as heat in order to avoid overheating. In a somewhat colder environment we will loose about 80 calories/hour (no physical activity).
Now, think of the situation hot bedroom and thick, Swiss style duvet.

In the one case (hot bedroom and duvet), the body uses up 20 Calories per hour for the 8 hours of sleep, or a total of around 160 Calories during the night. In the other case (thin covers, cool room) the body uses up the more natural 80 Calories per hour of sleep for those 8 hours or 640 Calories during the night. The difference of these two situations appears to be 480 Calories per night.
A pound of fat contains 3500 calories. Simple maths will tell you that you can loose a pound of fat every week if you put that duvet away, open the bedroom window and go to sleep!
Have a good night's sleep!