Update to previous review. (Lighter Life)

Member Name: EdBray

Product:	Lighter Life
Date:	07/02/08 (1607 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to manage, after a couple of weeks becomes second nature.

Disadvantages: Need close access to toilet facilities.

Update to my review below, as I have had some comments regarding the review as not being enough about the product, hopefully this will address this..

I was advised to try the Lighter Life program by my doctor and found my local Lighter Life Counsellor by searching on the internet.

After an initial meeting with the Counsellor, I was given a form for the doctor to sign and told that I could start on the program when the form had been completed and signed by the doctor.

The 28 food packs supplied cost £66 a week and I add a couple of additional optional extras such as a box of Savoury Drinks (similar to chicken stock powder) at £6 and also some water flavouring at £9, having tried both water flavourings I prefer the fruits of the forest flavour rather than the citrus flavoured version.

So the total I pay is £81 a week. This is a major saving over what my previous weekly food bill would have been.

Initially I tried a selection of soups, shakes and bars (I cut the bars in half and tried two flavours a day, I threw the halves of the ones I couldn't eat away) until I settled on the ones I liked, and I now have a choice of 3 bars, Raspberry and Cranberry, Peanut and Fruit, and I alternate between three soups, mushroom, vegetable and chicken. Was not over keen on the shakes so do not bother with them.

Occasionally I add a savoury drink to the soup to bulk it out a bit and change the flavour to give slightly more variations.

The soups are easy to make and I am assisted in this by the use of a cheap stick blender, if you use the shaker supplied, with hot liquids it is likely to blow open. I use 200mls of water to make up the mushroom and chicken soups, but use 250mls for the vegetable soup. I also add about 6 drops of Tabasco sauce to the vegetable soup to spice it up a bit.

There are plenty of varieties of shakes, soups and meal bars to suit every taste, and I am sure most people will be able to find some flavours to suit them. It is important though, that regardless of what soup or shake you choose, you consume them within 15 minutes. Some of the vitamins are activated when mixed with water but only have a short lifespan (this is not the case with the meal bars).

I use a 5ltr bottle of Buxton water a day(about £10 a week) and add 3.5 heaped teaspoons of flavouring to each bottle.

I quite enjoy the weekly counselling session and find it very supportive, this for the men is on a Monday evening between 6 and 7 and as it is a small group (6 people at the moment) we all feel comfortable with each other and can talk a bit more colloquially and can be less inhibited with no women present.

As I previously stated, I am pleased with the product, it does what the literature says, although I do feel that the counselling sessions help.

edit 27th Feb 08
Just completed week eight, total loss 63lbs (4.5 stone) so far. Still on the diet and still feeling great, there is a noticeable difference in my shape and I have lost over 8" from around my stomach.

Summary: Addition to my previous review, concentrating on the product.