Congrats. i could stand to lose 8kg but find it a struggle. MyFitnessPal reckons I need 1300 cals and I struggle to survive on that - I find I need 1500 cals min/day.

A couple of my friends did the diet where you only have 500 calories a day. I don't know how they did it and I can't see how it can be good for yoou but they both lost tons of weight. What do you think about it?

Yeah I've had a couple of friends do the Lighter Life(?) diet.
I have no clue how they did it, but they had regular doctor check ups while they were doing it.
Certainly worked.

Thing is, I'm not calorie counting. Daktari said Mediterranean diet with as little fat as possible, sat fat 3g or less per day which I've been sticking to, but my calories are around 1500 a day. If I drop the calories then I haven't got the energy to exercise and I need the exercise to keep the weight coming off.

Almost everyone I know is all about the calories and sugar content of things, but I head straight for the sat fat content every time. Seems to be working

I think it all depends on how active you are, and what sort of sugars you're taking on board.

1500 calories per day sounds like a sensible diet. Fat is a much denser source of calories than most things, so every mouthful contains more calories. Reducing fat means you can eat the same size meal while still reducing calories. Just look at the difference between full-fat and low-fat fromage frais.

Of course, that only works if you've actually been eating high fat food. I've been on a low fat diet ever since my mum decided we needed to be healthy back when I was about 10, and I've naturally stuck with it. Except for the odd pork pie

Low fat products can be useful, but in many cases something claimed as being low fat will have much more sugar. Marketing and poor education lead many to believe that a low fat diet is the best way to lose weight, what a load of BS!

I'm led to believe it depends how quickly you're going to burn up that quick release sugar. If you're not at all active, then you'll just store it instead, and get fat.

The worst examples are ready-made foods, where the low-fat part is marketed as a "healthy heart" benefit rather than low-calorie. Likewise, some foods are marketed as "no added sugar" but are still very high in sugar and / or fat. Breakfast cereals are the worst offenders.

Obviously if you remove fat from a recipe, then you either have a smaller portion or you have to increase the quantity of the other ingredients. That inevitably increases the sugar, starch or protein content. The alternative is to replace the fat with water, which in most cases would be a disaster. In pretty much every case though, the end result will have fewer calories.

Well, weight loss has been confirmed at 27kg since Feb 1st. Daktari is happy (nay impressed) with my progress and has sent the referral request to the "consultant surgeon in all thing biliary" today *happy dance* now just have to hope the letter doesn't take too long to come.

Do you think you might have chosen to lose weight if it wasn't for the surgery? I guess that's good motivation.

No, I wouldn't have chosen to until it became a necessity. I can say this after 15 years of catagorical failure to lose weight.

Well I really admire that you have done so well. Hoping to lose a couple of stone myself so will keep you posted. So far I'm swimming 3 times a week and trying to eat less fatty foods. Generally my diet is quite healthy so let's see what the uptake on exercise will do.

We've also been doing this step counting thing at work all summer. I'm averaging about 12,000 a day when at work but usually a lot less at weekends. Did about 8,000 Saturday and somehow managed 21,000 Sunday (was 'pottering' about doing housework and tidying up lol).

A school mate won £50k on Deal Or No Deal (broadcast) on Tuesday.

Lets hope they are a close mate