One app that’s growing in popularity is Noom, which markets itself as “the last weight-loss app you’ll ever need”.��

The Noom website says its “Healthy Weight program empowers participants to achieve and maintain a healthy weight through lifestyle intervention”.

But is it a diet? Does it work? And is it worth it? Two ����Vlog staffers share their experiences.

What is Noom?

Noom is an app-based wellbeing and weight-loss program that uses “science and personalisation” to help you lose weight. It claims to offer its users insights into their eating habits and provide knowledge that allows them to make permanent changes.��

Its Noom Mood offering (not currently available in Australia) is a program that aims to help users understand stress and manage it better.��

How does Noom work?

When you sign up to Noom you are asked to answer a series of questions (more than 70 when we signed up). These include things you’d expect (weight, height, age, sex and your weight-loss goals) as well as questions about your motivations for losing weight, information about your family history for conditions like diabetes and cholesterol, eating habits (do you watch TV or scroll on your phone while eating, do you snack and if so when?), and behavioural questions, such as what you see as the barriers to losing weight.��It uses this information to provide a prediction on when you will achieve your goal and then sets a daily calorie goal.��

Once signed up, users are encouraged to track their weight daily, record what they eat in the app and read daily lessons to help develop their knowledge of nutrition and the psychology of weight loss. It also offers support through generic Noom Guides, one-on-one coaching and a Noom community. It stresses the fact that it uses psychological insights to help users achieve their goals and promotes its innovation and technology as central to its success.��

Noom also prompts physical activity by giving you a daily step goal which starts small and increases automatically, though you can also set this manually. In order for it to track steps, users are asked to allow it to access data from other apps on your phone (for example, fitness trackers).��

The one-on-one coaching garners mixed reviews. Some users report finding it helpful while others complain that their interactions are formulaic and impersonal. The company also significantly scaled back its coaching staff in 2022.��

What foods can you eat?

Noom makes a lot of the fact that you can eat or drink pretty much anything and that no foods are forbidden. Instead, it categorises foods as belonging to either the orange, yellow or green categories, which are based on calorie density.�� (When Noom began, the orange classification was red. However, in 2022 they changed this after receiving criticism that the red classification implied the foods were somehow dangerous and off-limits).��

Foods classified as “orange” include things like desserts and it’s suggested you eat fewer of these, but you don’t have to give them up altogether. Instead you’re told they should make up about 25% or less of your calorie intake. Yellow foods include things like eggs and avocados and you’re told these should make up about 45% of your daily diet. Green foods include vegetables, whole grains and non-fat dairy products and you’re advised these should form at least 30% of your diet.��It’s stressed that none of these foods are either good or bad and that the classifications should be taken as a portion guide.��

An example of a typical day’s eating while using Noom might include porridge with fruit for breakfast, a salad with tuna for lunch and some chicken breast and vegetables for dinner, as well as snacks like fruit or low-fat yoghurt. Of course you can also eat sweets or other more calorie-dense foods, as long as they fit within your calorie budget. That budget will vary depending on your age, gender, starting weight and other factors, such as how active you are.��

How much does Noom cost?

You won’t easily find this information on the Noom website (it is there, but we had to dig), and most attempts to get a price require the user to answer dozens of questions before the price will be revealed.��

When we signed up in July 2020, a four-month plan cost A$159 and it was the same when we checked again in late 2022. Users could also choose a two-month plan for $129, six months for $199, eight months for $219 or 12 months for $249. You can also just download the app for free and use it to track calories, but you won’t get access to the features that set Noom apart from other food-logging apps, such as the daily curriculum and logging.��

Cancelling your subscription on the app is relatively straightforward. It can be done through your smartphone’s subscription settings or you can send a message to your Noom guides or coach saying “CANCEL” and then you’ll be sent a link automatically that allows you to end the subscription.�� 

What are Noom coins?

Noom coins are earned by completing the tasks assigned by the program, whether it’s logging your meals, recording your weight or completing your lessons. Noom says that they’re working on linking these to prizes and rewards, but at the time of writing they are simply linked to weight loss, with Noom claiming that, on average, “Noomers lose one pound for every five Noom Coins they earn”.��

Noom vs WW/WeightWatchers

The WW (formerly Weight Watchers) app is an alternative to Noom. It’s similar in that it also offers reading to help you understand food and nutrition, allows you to track what you eat (using the WW points plan), your exercise, lets you record your weight and also offers coaching via a chat function.��

The coaching is available via the app or website and gives paying subscribers answers to questions on what to eat, how to maintain motivation, as well as clarification on the points system, among other things.��  

Rather than simply tracking calories as you do with Noom, WW gives food a points value based on its full nutritional value, including added sugars, fibre, protein, saturated fats, etc. Once you fill in the basic information about your age, height, weight and goal weight you get a daily points budget and a weekly budget, described as a “little extra cushion” to use throughout the week.��

The program also provides a list of ZeroPoint foods which are foods you can eat without logging. Helpfully, the app also provides suggestions of what to choose when eating out at restaurants and recipes to cook at home. Noom also offers recipe suggestions.�� 

Both apps claim to be scientifically proven and to be something more than a simple calorie tracker. Both promote their use of technology, both promote the fact they give users a personalised plan, both have a community aspect and both offer some kind of personalised support.��

In terms of pricing, WW’s offering is clear and a lot easier to find than Noom’s. There are three tiers – Core, Premium and Personal Coaching.��

The Core offering includes tracking through the app, a members’ social community, recipe builder and barcode scanner, syncing to your smart scales and fitness devices and program downloads like meal plans and guides. It costs $42.50 per month ($255 for seven months at the time of writing, with a one month free offer) vs Noom’s offering of six months for $199 or eight months for $219. This plan appears to be most similar to Noom in terms of what it offers its users.��

WW’s premium offering includes everything in the Core plan along with potential eligibility for health fund rebates, weekly workshops with WW coaches and weekly wellness check-ins with a WW Coach for accountability. If you sign up to four months on the Premium plan, you’ll pay $81.95 per month.

As well as the Core and Premium options, WW also offers a personal coaching plan. This includes everything in the Premium offering (other than the weekly workshops) as well as personalised weekly action plans, personalised skills training and one-to-one coaching at a time that suits you. The Personal Coaching plan costs $109.50/month if you sign up for one month, $99.50/month if you sign up for three months and $89.50/month for a six-month plan.

Cancelling your subscription to WW is done through your smartphone’s subscriptions settings.

Marg: ‘It worked for me’

I’m as fond of a chocolate biscuit or a hot chip as the next person, but I realised I’d taken it a little far when my doctor warned me that if I didn’t get my weight under control I’d be putting my health at risk.��

In all honesty, it wasn’t the first time I’d heard such warnings, but my problem was that I didn’t actually know where to start. Sure, I knew the theory – eat less, move more – but putting it into practice felt more difficult than it should have. I made vague attempts to eat better, but without a clear plan my resolve failed again and again.

Then I found Noom (or rather, they found me, via targeted Facebook advertising, which accurately picked me as a prime candidate). With a sense that I could at least give it a try – and encouraged by the 2016 University of Sydney study that ranked it first among the weight-loss apps it reviewed – I signed up.��

Does Noom work?

For me, yes. I lost 15kg in the first six months after I began using the app in mid 2020. After the initial weight loss I kept losing weight and a year later was down a further five kilograms for a total of 20kg lost. More than two years on I’m still maintaining, though have noticed some old habits creeping back so have signed up for a new two-month plan on Noom in the hope it will help reinforce the lessons I learned the first time around to help me to continue to maintain my weight.��

I’ve also kept up the physical activity the program encouraged, running regularly and attending boot camp once a week, as well as aiming for 10,000 steps each day. The lessons I learned with Noom have made me more mindful of the choices and have definitely assisted me in maintaining a healthy weight.��

Using the app

The way you use the app – logging foods and weigh-ins being the primary functions – was simple enough. The food library you could choose from was lacking in Australian products, which was somewhat annoying at times. I make most of my meals from scratch so this wasn’t a huge issue, but I’d imagine if you bought a lot of processed foods or regularly ate out it might be more of an irritation.

Noom also features a daily curriculum of lessons to help you understand the patterns of behaviour that lead to weight gain and weight loss and you’re encouraged to give the curriculum 10 minutes a day (In 2020 all the lessons were in article format but in 2022 they had made many of them available as audio lessons, too). There are also quizzes and other activities (journalling, for example) linked to the reading.�� 

It’s one of the things that sets Noom apart from other food logging apps but Noom’s big sell is that it provides personalised coaching. This is promoted as an important point of difference and your coach – aka, goal specialist – is assigned to you to help keep you motivated and working towards your “big picture” goal, something you set early on in the process.��

The coach

During my first go at Noom in 2020 my coach introduced himself early on as my “goal specialist”. I found his support useful in providing reassurance when I experienced frustration with the inevitable ups and downs of weight loss. He also asked some interesting questions that made me think about what I was learning and answered questions I had about some of the things I noticed about the process. I found his input to be a useful balance of the practical and more abstract.��

In 2022/23 the coaching had changed and rather than an individual who I met straight away, my initial interactions were with the anonymous “Noom guides” which may or may not have been a real person – it was hard to tell. However, I was able to eventually connect with a coach who I was introduced to by name, but I had to specifically request it. In this aspect, Noom definitely felt less valuable compared to 2020.

The community had changed too. In 2020 I was assigned a group where I could talk to other Noom users who are at a similar point in their subscription. The benefit of this feature was a bit hit and miss for me as I felt I was already getting lots of support from family and my coach.��

In 2022/23 the community, called Noom Circles, was more like a social network where I could sign up to chat to other Noom users about subjects related to my interests – such as maintenance, movement, and recipes, which were among my picks. This was of limited value and I rarely checked the content in this part of the app.

Overall verdict 

Noom is a tool and like any tool it will only work if you use it. A shiny new spanner won’t fix a leaky tap if it just sits in the tool box and Noom is the same – you still need to do the work.��

Having said that, it certainly helped me and while it might not be the right fit for everyone, I think it’s worth a go. I’ve not only lost weight, I’ve also begun exercising and gone from being horrifyingly sedentary to running and working out several times a week.��

Signing up for a second time was a different experience because the app had changed quite a bit and the coaching was less of a feature than the first time. However, it has been useful to revisit the lessons that helped the first time I did Noom and made maintenance more achievable.

Rachel: ‘Noom wasn’t for me’

I’d become so overwhelmed by conflicting information about what was a healthy way of eating – keto, paleo, low carb, high protein, low sugar, Mediterranean, intermittent fasting – that I was looking for something to clear up my confusion.��

What really appealed to me about the program is that it was marketed as not a diet, but a lifestyle, and you had real life coaches to help you along. But both of these claims I found somewhat dubious.

I don’t know what their definition of a diet is, but Noom asks you to track calories and weigh yourself. That tastes like a diet to me.

Noom’s colour-coded food categories were initially helpful, and the kind of re-education I needed. By recording my food I could see how much of my calorie intake was taken up by ‘green’ (eat plenty), ‘yellow’ (eat moderately) or ‘red’ (eat little of).��

In hindsight, and as I’ve read more about diet culture, I now wonder if food should really be triggering a red flag alert. Is that the type of relationship I want to have with food? There must have been others who felt the same way, as the app has now changed its ‘red’ food category to ‘orange’ – so clearly those foods are only moderately ‘dangerous’ now.

The coach

I was so excited to have access to a real live person who would help support me. But something felt a little lifeless about her. Her questions, comments and responses were all so perfectly composed, and so devoid of typos, regular human imperfections and personality that I googled “Are Noom coaches real?” 

I do believe Noom users are assigned a real person as their coach, but I also believe there’s a liberal dose of artificial intelligence being employed to automate a good part of their job.

I understood why a tech company would create a system that would ‘scale’ easily and not rely purely on human power, but a little bit of love for it died the day I began to wonder how real my coach was.

The curriculum

What really made Noom stand apart was its daily reading material. It probably only took around 10–15 minutes, but as time went on, it began to feel like a burden. It was a lot of information, with references to scientific studies and quizzes at every stage to make sure you understood.��

I was impressed with the section where they attempted to educate you on how to critically assess a ‘scientific’ claim, which included considering who paid for the study. It was ‘very ����Vlog’, as we say around these parts.��

And while all this may sound incredibly dry, they’ve put in a lot of effort to make it entertaining. Maybe too much effort. The style they’ve gone for is irreverence on steroids, and I found myself rolling my eyes after the second week. Maybe I’m just a grumpy Gen-Xer, but it seriously grated. I began by diligently consuming every piece of information, transitioned to scanning by about week four, and then started skipping the reading altogether.

There was a fair amount of Noom lingo that confused me at times. The coaches were called Goal Specialists, and early on I had to create what they called “Your Big Picture (YBP)”, and a “Super Goal”. I recall not fully understanding what these were supposed to be, entering something to fulfil the task, but then there was no record of what those were anywhere in the app. Weeks later Noom would refer to my YBP and my Super Goal, and ask me to reflect on how I was working towards them, but I couldn’t remember what they were.��

Using the app

The app had a Daily Tasks list that helped you keep track of your tasks and see at a glance what you had completed – log your meals; weigh in; walk X thousand steps (you set your own target); and more. You’d think this was a good thing, and helpful. And it was – initially. But after a while it started to weigh on me (no pun intended) when I hadn’t completed something. I already had a home ‘to do’ list, and a work ‘to do’ list, and now I had a Noom ‘to do’ list. It started to become YET ANOTHER THING I had to attend to. Just another example of all the things I wasn’t completing.

The most surprising thing about Noom was how easy it was to leave. I fully expected the gym membership treatment. You know… “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave”. Not so. I wrote to my coach to let them know that the program didn’t suit me and I’d like to cancel when the initial period is over. I’m thinking the AI picked up on the word “cancel”, and I got a System Generated Message: “Looks like you no longer want to continue with your recurring Noom subscription – we’re sorry to see you go! Just click on this link and you’ll be able to turn off auto-renew on the program yourself.” Easiest experience quitting something I’ve ever had.

Overall verdict

After just two and a half months on Noom, I decided I was done. I don’t recall if I lost weight, which suggests I probably didn’t. But granted, I was not a dedicated student.

If you’re looking to lose weight without severely restricting one food group or type, the hours you eat, or your calories, I believe Noom has a lot to offer. It will probably be a slow burn, but that’s more sustainable and better for you than rapid weight loss anyway. But you’ll need to have the time, interest and energy for a lot of reading, quizzes, and interaction with the community. One might argue you could do Noom without all that, but then you’d just be logging food and weighing in, which is no different to so many other free apps out there. Noom wasn’t for me, but to be fair, I’m beginning to think dieting isn’t for me.

The post Weight-loss app Noom – does it work? appeared first on ����Vlog.

On this page:

• Recharge Bar

So when unhealthy eating habits started to creep into my daily life again I decided to get my health back on track and, having seen ads for Jenny Craig’s latest plan – Rapid Results Max – I was curious to try it out.

So, for one week I followed the weight-loss plan. Here’s how it went.

Getting started

You can sign up at Jenny Craig centres nationwide, or online. For convenience, and because we’re still living through a pandemic, I chose to sign up via the website.��

Jenny Craig has three plans to choose from – Simple, Essential and Rapid Results Max. After entering my details, I was recommended the 7000kJ Rapid Results Max plan for $185 per week (although there are often discounts applied).��

You also have to become a member to get access to the Rapid Results Max plan, although when I joined they were offering a free 12-week trial membership.

What is the Rapid Results Max plan?

The plan includes a full week of , breakfasts, lunches and dinners, plus access to a personal coach. It also requires you to stick to an intermittent fasting regime in which you can only eat during a 10-hour period.��

When choosing my meals for the week, I was pleased to find I had four menu options to choose from. I could also swap up to five items to suit my taste (extra costs may apply to some swaps).��

But I was a little surprised to learn I also needed to buy a selection of fresh food to supplement my meals for the week (in my case, this included 18 cups of salad, 14 pieces of fruit, 13 fat serves and more).��

This was an extra expense I wasn’t expecting, but it did mean I had access to fresh, not frozen, foods all week. I also needed to spend a fair bit of time consulting Jenny Craig’s Grocery Guide to work out what exactly I should shop for.

Dietary requirements

Jenny Craig offers a full vegetarian menu, but it doesn’t currently have any vegan or gluten-free options. It also states “our menus are not suitable to accommodate your needs for Coeliac Disease”.

Delivery

After placing my order, a centre representative texted me to arrange a delivery time that was convenient to me. Two days later, my order arrived.��

Everything came in a big silver box and was nicely chilled with an ice pack inside. There wasn’t any information included in the box, so I had to log back into the website to print out my menu for the week and organise the meals into breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Now all I had to do was buy my fresh produce and I was ready to start my week on Jenny Craig.

Recharge Bar

I started each day with the Recharge Bar, which Jenny Craig claims is “specially formulated to be high in fat to support your 14-hour rejuvenation period”.��

It’s essentially a fancy muesli bar with nuts and honey, and although it was tasty, it was a bit sweet for my liking first thing in the morning.

Breakfast

Because I was usually still full from my Recharge Bar, I wouldn’t have breakfast until mid morning.�� But I generally enjoyed the options available – omelette, corn fritters, ham and egg muffin – as they were similar to what I’d normally choose for myself.��

Two of the seven options were cereal based (tropical twist muesli and malty grain), which were perfectly fine, but not to my taste, as I’m not really a fan of breakfast cereals.

Lunch

Despite working from home during my week on Jenny Craig, I didn’t have much time to make lunch from scratch, so I appreciated the convenience of the ready meals.��

But the portion sizes were quite small – Day 4’s Spinach & Fetta Roll was just 100g, for example. The plan does say you need to bulk up your meals with the fresh produce you’ve bought (on Day 4, that meant adding two slices of wholegrain bread, two fat serves, one boiled egg and two cups of salad to my lunch menu), but because I was often short on time I generally skipped this.

This won’t be an issue for everyone, but it did mean I still felt hungry.

Snacks

These came from the extra groceries I bought, and were mostly fresh pieces of fruit, or crispbread with reduced-fat cheese.

Dinner

As with the lunches, you’re expected to bulk up your dinners with serves of salad or vegetables that you’ve bought and prepared yourself. Unlike my experience with the lunches, I actually had the time to make these in the evening, so I found it easy to follow the suggested menu.��

That said, to stick to my “10-hour nourishment period” I ended up eating dinner quite early at about 5.30pm (I’m an early riser, so needed to accommodate). This was earlier than my family’s usual dinner time, and it felt a bit isolating not only to eat a different meal from them, but also to eat at a different time.��

As for the supplied meals themselves, I was really quite happy with the selection, which included curry, pasta, crumbed fish and wedges, and even a beef pie. I wouldn’t say any were a particular standout, but they were all enjoyable enough, and I could see myself eating them again if I were to continue on the plan.��

So did it work?

At the end of the week I definitely felt like a healthier version of myself and I did lose weight so, in my opinion, the Rapid Results Max plan does work. But whether or not I could stick to it for longer than one week is up for debate.��

I can definitely see the benefit in mixing the frozen foods from Jenny Craig with the fresh fruit, veg and snacks that you’ve bought yourself – it helps guarantee freshness and you get to choose the foods you like.��

But throughout the week I kept thinking I would have preferred the convenience of having all meals, snacks, fruit and veg supplied so I didn’t have to cook (microwaving aside) or think about portion sizes and calories. Or, alternatively, I could have simply made what I wanted from scratch and tracked the calories.

I also struggled a little with the 14:10 intermittent fasting rules, particularly as they meant I had dinner earlier than my family. But if I were to continue with the plan, I think I could slowly adjust those times (i.e. have breakfast later) to align them better with my family mealtimes.��

So although I would recommend Jenny Craig Rapid Results Max, I’d suggest you ask yourself what you’re looking for in a weight-loss plan before signing up.��

The post Jenny Craig Rapid Results Max review appeared first on ����Vlog.

On this page:

• My verdict
• Getting started 
• Placing the order 
• �ٱ�������������
• ���ٴǰ���������
• Lunch
• Dinner
• How convenient is Lite n' Easy?

I wasn’t looking to lose weight but I knew I needed a bit of a reset and wasn’t sure where to start. I’d heard about the pros and cons of Noom but I didn’t want to have to track calories (or read a daily curriculum of articles).

I’d seen numerous TV ads for Lite n’ Easy and was drawn to the convenience of having calorie-controlled meals pre-prepared for you. For me, it was a literal no-brainer, so within a few days I became one of the thousands of people around Australia using Lite n’ Easy.��

Of course, I’m a sample size of one – the experience I had may not be the same as the next person’s, and I won’t assume it’s indicative. Plus, I was only on it for a week, so I can’t vouch for what it’s like if you’re on it for longer.

But if you’re contemplating using Lite n’ Easy, here’s an insight into what to expect.

My verdict

Overall, I was impressed with my Lite n’ Easy experience. Whether you’re looking to lose weight or want the convenience of ready-made meals, the fact you don’t have to think about what you’re eating for a week is very appealing.��

And if I wanted to lose weight, then I think it could really help to kick-start the process. It takes away the need to count calories, and the additional cost on top of my family’s usual grocery bill would be an incentive for me to stick with it until I saw some results.��

I can see myself ordering from Lite n’ Easy again – most likely their fresh or frozen dinners rather than a weekly meal plan. But even if I don’t, I feel I’ve learnt something from my week on Lite n’ Easy that I can benefit from going forward. Particularly in relation to the amount of food I serve up for myself, and how much – or indeed little – I need to feel satisfied. So for that, it was worth it.

Getting started 

Lite n’ Easy has a selection of plans to choose from including Jump Start (a two-week program to kick start your weight loss journey) and various 1200-, 1500- and 1800-calorie plans.��

I wasn’t sure what meal plan to order, so I entered my details into their website tool – gender, age, weight, height, exercise routine, and whether my goal was weight loss or convenience (I chose convenience).

I was recommended a seven-day, 1800-calorie plan, which is the number of calories I’d be limited to on an average day. That’s about 7530kJ, for those who prefer to think in metric. (The average Australian adult consumes about 8700kJ per day).�� 

Then I set up an account with my address and credit card details and made note of the delivery day for my area. I liked that there were no joining fees and that you only pay for what you want – you don’t have to agree to regular weekly or fortnightly orders.

Placing the order 

Having selected my plan, I could either accept the preselected “most popular” options, or choose my own.��

There were two choices to pick from each day for breakfast and three for lunch, and more than 50 different options for dinner.��

I was generally pleased with the choices on offer. For breakfast I steered towards meals with eggs as I prefer those over toast with spread or muesli. I chose lunches based on what I fancied for the week, and for dinners I chose a mix of fresh and frozen dinners – including the southern chicken with sweet potato wedges dish I’d seen on Lite n’ Easy’s latest TV ads. Afterall, if it’s good enough for MasterChef’s Khanh Ong and Diana Chan…

Dietary requirements and food allergies

Lite n’ Easy offers a full vegetarian menu as well as some gluten- and dairy-free options, but they make it clear that their meals are “not suitable for those with coeliac disease or food allergies”.

However, the website provides a detailed list of ingredients for each meal, along with allergen details for each food, so depending on your requirements you may still find plenty of options to choose from.

Rachel’s story: ‘It took me a while to work out what I could and couldn’t eat’ 

In 2016, ����Vlog food editor Rachel Clemons spent a week following a 1200-calorie plan with Lite n’ Easy. She shares her experience of selecting meals that catered to her food allergies.��

“Placing my order was a little complicated as I have a few food allergies. But I figured their comprehensive list of ingredients and allergens for each meal would help me navigate my way around the menu and select food that suited.��

“However, it took me a while to work out what I could and couldn’t eat. Because I wasn’t choosing between brands I buy on a regular basis, I had to check the ingredients lists for each type of bread, cereal, salad dressing, cracker and cake. This was rather arduous, although I imagine it would get faster each week once you became familiar with the options.�� 

“I was pleasantly surprised to find I was able to select seven breakfasts and lunches from the menu that catered to my allergies, and there was only one snack that I wouldn’t be able to eat. I’m not sure if I’d have the same experience each week, as you can’t go off-menu and request the same snack every day of the week, for example.��

For the dinners, I selected seven meals from a list of about 50 options. I had to check the ingredients lists for these too, but it was a straightforward process.

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I was more than a little excited about receiving my delivery – a whole week of food that I haven’t had to menu plan, shop for, prep or cook – what luxury! 

There’s no set time frame for deliveries (their website says day orders should arrive no later than 5pm). My order arrived at around 8am when I was in the middle of getting my son and myself ready for the day, so I left the two large polystyrene eskies in the kitchen to unpack later.��

Two hours later I was pleased to find the contents were still perfectly chilled, in part due to the block of dry ice wrapped in plastic at the bottom. But you will need to be extra careful when removing your items as dry ice can burn your skin. The packaging has several warning labels cautioning ‘do not touch’ and ‘leave dry ice in esky to dissolve’.

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The bags are all clearly marked with the day (one to seven), the meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner or snack) and where you need to store the food (fridge or freezer).��

I hadn’t really considered the quantity – my fridge was already heaving from a recent grocery shop for the family – and it quickly became apparent that I’d struggle to make all the Lite n’ Easy bags fit.��

It took a bit of reorganising, but I managed to squeeze them into one large shelf in the fridge, and haphazardly across all three drawers in my freezer (by playing a game of Tetris trying to fit the bags in between various other packets of frozen veg, portioned mince and ice cream).��

It meant I’d have to spend some time each day digging around to find what I needed from the freezer, but I do that most nights anyway when I’m looking for that rogue packet of chicken thighs to defrost.

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At the end of every day there was a certain amount of leftover packaging, and for some meals it was quite substantial.

According to the Lite n’ Easy website, all of its dinner trays, plastic bowls and other hard plastics can be recycled kerbside. They’ll also collect your clean plastic shopping and day bags to be recycled and collect your esky to be reused (if it’s in good condition) or recycled.��

Breakfast

For the most part the breakfast options I’d chosen weren’t dissimilar to what I’d normally eat – avocado on toast, poached eggs or an omelette – and there was just enough variety so that mornings didn’t feel entirely repetitive.��

Four of the five breakfasts also included a serve of cereal, but as someone who doesn’t really enjoy cereal I didn’t eat it. For the same calories I would have preferred a larger portion of the main meal.��

Lunch

Lunches were more of a revelation. I’d previously fallen into a rut of having dinner-sized leftovers or work-day ‘treats’ of takeaway ramen or larger than life sandwiches. So when I saw the portion size of my lunches I feared some hunger pangs. But my meals – which included a vegie pizza, wraps, a chicken burger and even a curry – were all filling.��

Snacks

Each day there was also a small snack, which included choc and nut mix, vanilla yoghurt with yoghurt sprinkles and an apple crumble, and two serves of fruit daily, including at least one fresh item such as an apple, mandarin, kiwifruit or orange, paired with a packaged fruit cup.��

If that wasn’t enough to tide me over till dinner, I had the option to pick from a selection of additional snacks at any point – such as an English fruit muffin, choc nut bar or packet of cheese and crackers. But I never felt the need to.

Dinner

Sometimes I feel overwhelmed with the mental load of planning, shopping and cooking dinners for the whole family. So outside of picking and choosing my dinner options, I was thrilled with the convenience of mindlessly grabbing something from the fridge or freezer for myself. (Yes, my family had to fend for themselves during my week on Lite n’ Easy.) 

I was pleasantly surprised by how substantial the portion sizes seemed, and comfortably full after finishing each meal. The dinners were a mixture of fresh and frozen – and though I didn’t have high hopes, they were all enjoyable. I wouldn’t go as far as to say any were particularly delicious, but they were all meals I’d happily order and eat again. The vegetables in the two fresh dinners in particular were plentiful, vibrant in colour and still quite crisp after microwaving.��

However, by the end of the week the novelty of being able to eat just minutes after I’d taken the box out of the freezer had worn off. I missed the flexibility of cooking what I wanted, when I wanted, and family mealtimes felt a bit off when we weren’t eating the same dinner.

What I found

Most days the options I selected had some form of bread – sliced for toasting, a roll for lunch or flat bread for a wrap – and in most cases it was always multigrain or full of seeds, which I enjoyed.��

Overall the one thing that struck me was the portion sizes. The bread rolls for lunch are of the rather diminutive ‘dinner roll’ proportions, where I’d normally buy a much larger roll from the bakery. And most of the snack serves were around 25g, much smaller than what I’d normally serve myself. Regardless, each day I felt pretty satisfied with the quantity of food I ate.

Another thing that stood out was the quantity of fresh produce. The week had a decent variety of fresh roasted pumpkin, spinach, tomato and salad leaves on offer the first two days – my first two lunches were a vegie pizza and a chargrilled chicken burger and salad, for example. The rest of the week was a bit more limited – mostly tomato, with a serving of spinach or pre-sliced cucumber on different days.��

Obviously any fresh items need to remain edible and appealing over a whole week. However, a larger amount and wider variety of salad ingredients wouldn’t have gone astray or done much to alter the daily calorie limit.

Lack of flexibility

Even though I never felt hungry, there were days when I craved something off-menu such as a chocolate brownie from my local cafe for afternoon tea, some Korean black bean noodles for dinner or maybe even a glass of wine after a long day.

Ordinarily, if I was counting calories I could make adjustments for the odd treat, so I really struggled with the lack of flexibility while sticking to the breakfast, lunch and dinner calorie plan.

But I knew it was only for a week, so I was able to stick it out without cheating – and in the weeks since I’ve noticed I don’t treat myself as much as I used to.

How convenient is Lite n’ Easy?

There’s no denying that Lite n’ Easy is incredibly convenient. For a whole week I didn’t have to meal-plan, shop, cook or even think about food for myself. I pretty much just had to eat, which I can manage rather well. And I think it’s this convenience I was most looking forward to experiencing.��

But realistically this convenience wasn’t something I could benefit from in the long term, as I knew I couldn’t make my partner and young son fend for themselves forever. Not to mention the enjoyment I get trying out new recipes and cooking a meal we can all eat together.��

I can see how handy it would be if I lived on my own or if every member of my household was using it – not least how much time it would free up.��

Would I recommend it?

Overall yes. Especially if you want the convenience of not having to think about your meals, or to stick to a calorie plan and reset your ideas around portion sizes.

The fact that you’re not locked into regular orders is also appealing. While I don’t feel the need to have every meal of every day catered to, I like that I can restock my fridge or freezer with tasty meals to enjoy when I’m too tired or can’t be bothered to make something from scratch.��

The post A week eating Lite n’ Easy appeared first on ����Vlog.

On this page:

• Do weight-loss pills work?
•  Analysing the active ingredients
• Government approved? Don't bet on it
• The dangers of buying diet pills online

With alarming stats such as this, it’s no wonder so many of us are turning to over-the-counter help in the form of weight-loss pills.

The pills that claim to make you slim and trim are an integral part of Australia’s billion-dollar weight-loss industry.��

So we took a closer look at a selection of diet pills and checked out the ingredients that reportedly give these products their fat-busting properties.

People who are considering using weight-loss supplements should talk with their doctor to discuss these products’ potential benefits and risks, especially if they have an underlying health condition.

Claims vs reality

You’ve seen the ads – you know, the ones that say “I lost eight kilograms with this product!” or “Yes, I want my body to absorb less fat!” 

They can be pretty convincing, especially when supported by “scientific evidence” and amazing “testimonials”, complete with before and after shots.

Such dramatic testimonials used to come with the fine print that these people are “exceptional” and that “individual results may vary”. But in 2005, the law changed so that testimonials and photos must be of typical cases.��

Yet on the testimonial pages of some websites, many cases still seem exceptional. If you look at the fine print, it’s often explained that their results are due to a lot more than taking product X, such as changes in diet and levels of physical activity.

Do weight-loss pills work?

You’ll typically find that weight-loss pills are designed to be used in conjunction with an energy-controlled diet and regular exercise. But isn’t that what we’re trying to avoid by taking the pills in the first place? 

So we took a closer look at the literature around the most common active ingredients. Several systematic reviews have concluded that, at best, more research is needed before any conclusions can be drawn.��

Multiple ingredients

Complicating the interpretation of many studies is that most weight-loss supplements contain multiple ingredients. This makes it difficult to isolate the effects of each ingredient or how they interact with each other.

Overall, the current evidence for the effectiveness and safety of these products is pretty sketchy.��

The truth is that these products may or may not assist with weight loss. But whatever their impact, it seems that we can’t escape actually doing the hard yards, such as changing our diets or getting more exercise, if we want to see results.

 Analysing the active ingredients

Weight-loss pills tend to contain a mix of herbs and vitamins, and often stimulants such as caffeine, which can result in high blood pressure and heart palpitations.��

Herbs contain many chemicals, the presence and concentration of which can vary according to the source and the preparation. And in most of these weight-loss pills, ingredients are only individually tested for safety, despite the fact that they may interact with one another or with other medications in ways that may be less safe.

Here we look at some of the most common ingredients in weight-loss pills, what they claim to do, and whether there’s any evidence they’re effective.��

Government approved? Don’t bet on it

If you think weight-loss pills are evaluated for safety and efficacy the way prescription medicines are, think again.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is the body that’s been charged with regulating complementary medicines. In Australia, all complementary and alternative medicines – such as weight-loss pills – need to be entered on the .��

On this register, there are two types of products: “registered goods” and “listed goods”. It’s important to know the difference.

Registered goods 

These are medicines (identified by an AUST R number) that are considered high risk. They’re evaluated by the TGA for quality, safety and efficacy before being released onto the market.

Listed goods

These are medicines (identified by an AUST L number) that are considered lower risk. They must only contain ingredients that have had their safety and quality approved for use in listed products, but they aren’t evaluated for efficacy.

In 2008, there were about 100 times more listed weight-loss products than registered products – today there are probably even more.

Manufacturers can apply for a listing by just filling in an online form and paying a fee. About one in five (20%) products are randomly audited to make sure they meet standards. Manufacturers also have to hold a file of evidence to prove that their products work. However, based on the literature we looked at, we suspect their “proof” is pretty underwhelming.��

Recalled slimming products

There have been product recalls in the past in Australia that bring into question the regulation around listed weight-loss aids.��

Weight-loss chocolate

A few years ago, weight-loss chocolate bars were pulled from sale as they contained an unlisted ingredient – the prescription drug sibutramine. Once a leading prescription weight-loss medicine, sibutramine was withdrawn from the Australian market after being associated with cardiac events such as non-fatal heart attack and stroke.

Latin Seed

In another worrying event, the heavily advertised Latin Seed was withdrawn for containing poisonous yellow oleander instead of candle nut, as the label claimed. Yellow oleander can cause a variety of symptoms from diarrhoea to heart damage.

These events may be unusual, but the fact that they do happen makes it difficult to see how the TGA can consider these products “low risk”.

The dangers of buying diet pills online

Weight-loss supplements containing sibutramine and Latin Seed are readily available online. We noticed that many of these online products don’t always state the actual concentrations of their ingredients in their online listings, which could make taking them risky.��

The listed content of ingredients in supplements can also be inaccurate. One 2015 US study found the actual content of a number of botanical supplements varied widely from what was listed on the label. For example, yohimbine was found to vary from between 23% and 147% from what the label said the products contained.��

The TGA recommends that consumers exercise extreme caution when buying any medicines or supplements from overseas online retailers, as they’re not regulated by the TGA and may contain harmful, dangerous or banned ingredients.

The post Do weight loss pills help you lose weight? appeared first on ����Vlog.

On this page:

• What people like about Lite n' Easy
• What people don't like
• Is Lite n' Easy healthy?
• Can you keep the weight off?
• How much does it cost, and other FAQ

In 2016 we surveyed 454 Lite n’ Easy customers about their experiences, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. Most of our survey respondents lost weight using Lite n’ Easy, and many even said that losing the weight was, well, easy.

But some respondents to our survey were put off by the lack of variety in the food, the cost, the amount of packaging, and the lack of success they had losing weight.

With many people trying to avoid the supermarket, meal delivery services like Lite n’ Easy are getting a boost. We take a look to help you decide if this one’s for you.

The Lite n’ Easy program explained

It’s no magic bullet. Lite n’ Easy works on the evidence-based notion that energy (calorie/kilojoule) restriction helps to achieve weight loss.

Before starting Lite n’ Easy you’re asked whether your goal is weight loss, health or convenience. Then you fill in a short questionnaire which asks your age, gender, height, current weight and how much exercise you do, and Lite n’ Easy then recommends one of three different meal plans – 1200, 1500 or 1800 calories per day (5021, 6276 or 7531 kilojoules) based on your answers.��

If your goal is weight loss, you can also choose the Jump Start program for your first two weeks. This consists of five days of normal meals and two ‘fasting’ days, where the breakfast and morning snack are removed.

Maryl-Ann Marshall, accredited practising dietitian (APD) and Lite n’ Easy spokesperson told us, “The meal plans are developed by our team of dietitians to help customers lose about 0.5–1kg per week on average.”

Essentially this means reducing your daily energy intake by at least 2000 kilojoules (about 500 calories) compared to what you usually eat when your weight is stable. And while you could attempt to stick to a recommended daily calorie target yourself, most people don’t have a clue what that looks like.

According to Clare Collins, professor of nutrition and dietetics at the University of Newcastle, that’s where a pre-prepared meal plan can help.

“Even when people want to follow a low-energy diet for weight loss, it can be very difficult to visualise what the daily kilojoule intake target actually looks like in terms of meals. Also people may not know how to prepare meals consistent with a lower energy intake.��

“Even after just a week on Lite n’ Easy they will have a better understanding of both portion sizes and what healthy eating ‘looks like’ in terms of meals.”

What people like about Lite n’ Easy

Convenience

Of the Lite n’ Easy customers we surveyed, 68% said they were using it to lose weight but 73% said they use it because it’s convenient and healthy. And the convenience of Lite n’ Easy seems to be a crucial feature.

“Our customers tell us this convenience of not having to evaluate what foods are healthy or what to prepare every day for every meal is critical to achieving their goals,” says Marshall.

Collins agrees, saying that having energy-controlled meal plans delivered to your door “takes away the need for meal-by-meal self-monitoring”.

“You won’t have to look at other food. And you won’t have to think about the kilojoules you’ll eat, as you already know based on what got delivered,” she says.

Melanie McGrice, APD, thinks convenience is integral to Lite n’ Easy’s success, as it takes away the planning from someone who’s confused.��

“It saves people a lot of time, which can be a huge relief,” she adds. “Finding the time to plan meals for the week, think about what the kilojoules look like, do the shopping and prepare balanced meals is a big challenge when you’re busy.”

It’s probably no surprise then that 69% of the Lite n’ Easy customers we surveyed say they found it easy to lose weight.

“I think the Lite n’ Easy service is convenient more than anything else. It’s easy and you don’t have to think about what you are eating, there are no dishes to do and as a single person this is important,” a survey respondent tells us.

Portion control

One of the biggest learnings people gained from using Lite n’ Easy seems to be portion control.

As one survey respondent explains, “While I was on Lite n’ Easy I learnt about portion size and what portions we should actually be eating. I found this very helpful information to continue with after I stopped using it.”

“The food is great and easy to prepare and more than anything it teaches portion control,” says another.

In fact, of the Lite n’ Easy customers surveyed who’d lost weight, 70% felt that a key reason for this was the smaller portion sizes.

Interestingly, the smaller portions don’t necessarily mean you’ll suffer from hunger pangs. When we asked about this in our survey, 79% of Lite n’ Easy customers said they weren’t constantly hungry, significantly more than the 8% who said they were. And only 5% of previous customers stopped using Lite n’ Easy because they didn’t get enough food and had to buy other food.

“Weight loss isn’t going to be easy. I did feel hungry but not constantly and the longer I follow the program the more I adjust to the smaller portions (a key factor of weight gain for me has been enlarged portion sizes). The program has really surprised me as I did not expect it to be as useful as it’s been,” one respondent remarks.

What people don’t like

Using Lite n’ Easy isn’t all smooth sailing. Various challenges and gripes were raised by our survey respondents and Lite n’ Easy customers who commented on our survey posts on social media.��

Lack of variety

There are 55+ dinners on the Lite n’ Easy menu and these remain fairly static, but breakfast and lunch options change on a weekly basis and between seasons. Despite this, the most common reason for stopping Lite n’ Easy – selected by 39% of previous customers from a diverse range of options – was being bored with the food/not having enough variety. “Very convenient – but after a while so boring. Ended up stopping as I was wasting so much food. Not even the kids would eat the desserts in the end,” says one respondent.

Cost

The second-most common reason for stopping Lite n’ Easy, selected by 35% of previous customers, was that they found it expensive or not value for money. As one survey respondent explains, “Lite n’ Easy was good for helping with weight loss; it just became too expensive to keep using it on an ongoing basis.” 

For some, Lite n’ Easy might be great value for money. If you live on your own and tend to buy lunch each day at work, for example, $21.71 for three meals might be significantly less than you’d normally spend in a day on food. And there’s no waste and no extras to go stale in the pantry.

But if you’re spending this money on top of a weekly grocery bill for the family, it can add up.

And while the dinners – which are a mixture of frozen and fresh chilled – may cost less than what you’d pay for a takeaway meal or dinner out, you can buy cheaper alternatives from the supermarket.��

See more about prices.

Not always home

If you travel a lot – whether for work or pleasure – it can all start to unravel. 71% of Lite n’ Easy customers who travelled said it was challenging sticking to the program when away.

Packaging

The amount of wrapping and packaging of food was a concern for 52% of Lite n’ Easy customers.��

Since the survey was conducted, Lite n’ Easy has started offering the option for customers to return their empty shopping and day bags to be recycled by leaving them in their empty esky.

Hard when doing it alone

If you’re using Lite n’ Easy, but your partner isn’t, it can be harder to keep to the plan. Among Lite n’ Easy customers who had partners, the majority (83%) said it was easier to stick to it because their partners used it too.

Lack of success

Not everyone has success using the service. Of the previous customers we surveyed, 17% say they stopped using Lite n’ Easy because they felt they didn’t lose any/enough weight on it.

“I was disappointed with Lite n’ Easy. Despite keeping to the regimen, I did not lose any significant amount of weight. For me Lite n’ Easy was too difficult for no results,” says one.

Is Lite n’ Easy healthy?

Losing and maintaining weight successfully isn’t just about restricting energy intake. Ideally it should also be about getting essential nutrients by eating the recommended serves of healthy food as set out in the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating, and making permanent positive changes to your eating habits.

Marshall tells ����Vlog that Lite n’ Easy meal plans are based around the Australian Dietary Guidelines, which is good news given that 42% of our survey respondents say they used it to stop unhealthy eating habits.

“I have used Lite n’ Easy over many years during times of illness and now to learn healthy eating. I wanted to focus on healthy eating, more than just thinking about food as a restrictive diet,” a survey respondent explains. “It is amazing to learn what portion size is correct for me and to add more fruit and vegetables to my day.”

“Our dietitians translate the Australian Dietary Guidelines into simple nutritional parameters that are used by our chefs to create a variety of great-tasting meals,” says Marshall. All three calorie plans provide at a minimum the recommended five serves of vegetables and two serves of fruit per day (on average over a week), she says.

Considering that more than 96% of Australians aren’t eating the recommended daily amount of vegetables – on average we’re eating just 2.7 serves – following such a meal plan would improve at least that aspect of most people’s diet considerably.

“Lite n’ Easy isn’t just a weight-loss solution. Especially in these times, we’re seeing even more customers start just for the healthy convenience,” adds Marshall.

Can you keep the weight off?

Losing weight is one thing, but keeping that weight off can be an even bigger challenge, particularly in the long term.

We asked previous customers if they were successful in keeping off the extra kilos after stopping Lite n’ Easy and found 36% said their weight has remained (fairly) stable, 14% weren’t sure, and 10% lost further weight after stopping Lite n’ Easy.��

But 40% told us they gained weight after stopping Lite n’ Easy.

One survey respondent tells us, “I was able to lose weight on Lite n’ Easy and maintain it for some time, however I then started eating unhealthily again and gained weight.”

“Lite n’ Easy is an expensive temporary fix. You need to buy it for the rest of your life to stay thin and they offer no education on nutrition to assist you [in] maintaining a healthy lifestyle after you finish using it. It’s a quick fix and an easy way out,” says another.

How to maintain a balanced diet when you stop Lite n’ Easy

Take note of any new healthy eating habits

“Take note of what is different compared to the meals delivered, what aspects can you incorporate to make healthy eating habits sustainable and enjoyable,” says Collins. “Three regular meals a day. Bigger portions of vegetables, for example.” 

McGrice adds: “Try and follow the meal spacing going forward – e.g. three main meals and portioned snacks in between – and keep up the routine.” 

Maintain portion sizes (and use smaller crockery)

“Take note of the Lite n’ Easy portion sizes and the crockery it fits into, then serve up food on the same sized crockery when you stop,” suggests McGrice.

‘Wean’ yourself off gradually

“Buy the dinners only,” suggests Collins, “but make them last for two weeks rather than one, and cook every other night using the same principles.”

Plan your meals

“When you stop Lite n’ Easy, the time you previously spent on the computer placing your orders can now be spent planning meals,” suggests McGrice.

Make an appointment with an Accredited Practising Dietitian

“Lite n’ Easy can help you lose weight. But it doesn’t deal with underlying issues,” says McGrice, which could be emotional or environmental.��

“You’ll need to work on behaviour change so that when you come off it you’re ready to maintain. It would only take a couple of consultations to discuss what you’ve learnt, what worked and didn’t work, and strategies for going forward.” 

How to DIY and create your own diet

are based on the Australian Dietary Guidelines and let you calculate your daily energy needs, your daily nutrient requirements and your average recommended number of serves of food from the following five food groups:

• Vegetables and legume/beans
• Fruit
• Grain (cereal) foods, mostly wholegrain and/or high cereal fibre varieties
• Lean meat and poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts and seeds and legumes/beans
• Milk, yoghurt, cheese and/or alternatives (mostly reduced fat)

How much does it cost, and other FAQ

The FAQ section on Lite n’ Easy’s website covers a comprehensive range of topics, but some questions are asked time and again on online forums and product review sites.

A particularly timely one is about contactless delivery. Like most food delivery businesses, Lite n’ Easy has introduced a new contactless delivery procedure. Customers can leave their empty esky outside their door and the driver will pick it up and replace it with the new esky.��

Lite n’ Easy recommends having someone else in the household help you bring the esky inside, but the delivery driver can still offer this service if required. They’ll follow new protocols including sanitising their hands before and after entering your home.

Here are answers to a few of the other common questions.

About our survey

Our online survey was sent to Voice Your Choice members and promoted through our social media channels. It was in field from 14 to 25 September 2016.

A total of 454 past and present Lite n’ Easy customers completed our survey. 106 (23%) were current users – of those, 24 were first-time users and 82 had stopped but then returned. In the article we refer to this group as ‘Lite n’ Easy customers’. 348 (77%) had used it in the past but weren’t using it now.��

In the article, ‘previous customers’ refers collectively to the 82 respondents who had stopped then returned to Lite n’ Easy and the 348 respondents who’d used it in the past but weren’t using it now.

The post Does Lite n’ Easy work? appeared first on ����Vlog.

On this page:

• Very low energy diet (VLED)
• Xenical
• Saxenda
• Duromine
• Topamax
• Contrave
• Cost comparison

If this is you, consider getting help from your GP. There are two main options they can help you with:

• Very low energy diet or meal replacement programs (such as Optifast, Optislim, KicStart and Tony Ferguson).
• Medication (such as Xenical, Saxenda and Duromine).

It’s not a substitute for a healthy lifestyle, and there are no guarantees of weight loss, but medical weight-loss options can be a useful extra tool to help people manage their weight. But they don’t come cheap – you’re looking at upwards of $100 a month for medication and $300 for meal replacements.��

Very low energy diet (VLED)

A very low energy diet (usually called a very low calorie diet, or VLCD, on packaging) is one that replaces all your meals with specially formulated meal-replacement products, including shakes, soups and snack bars.

VLEDs are very well-studied compared with other weight-loss products, and have been used in clinical settings for more than 40 years.

Cost

Some of the main brands include Optifast, Optislim, KicStart and Tony Ferguson from pharmacies, and will cost you about $7.50–10.50 a day (though you’ll save money on other food). Isagenix is a more expensive version available for about $500 a month.

How do they work?

The products are low in carbohydrate, which helps keep the hunger pangs at bay, while also causing a mild state of ketosis, where the body burns fat as fuel.

A VLED is defined as up to 3350kJ a day. This sort of program generally lasts eight to 16 weeks (although it can be longer) with weight loss of 1.5–2.5 kg a week – and should be supervised by a doctor or dietitian.��

Meal-replacement foods for a VLED typically provide 2000–2500 kJ a day when you have three, as recommended. You can add certain other foods, particularly vegetables. The strict version of the diet is only short term, but the individual products can be used indefinitely, replacing one or even two meals a day.

Are they nutritious?

The products include added vitamins, minerals and other nutrients to help you meet your daily requirements.��

But a 2016 Australian analysis of eight such diets found that none met all daily nutrient requirements for either men or women in any age group.

Protein, in particular, was too low for most people, with the exception of younger, smaller women. Yet protein is likely to help you preserve muscle when you lose weight. The study authors noted that adding pure (whey) protein powder to the shakes, including two cups of low-energy vegetables, and in some cases adding some oil each day, will help people meet their nutritional needs without adding too much energy.

Side-effects

There are possible side-effects from VLEDs, mostly resulting from the decreased energy intake – sensitivity to cold, dry skin, temporary rash, temporary hair loss, low blood pressure, dizziness, fatigue, diarrhoea, constipation, muscle cramps, irritability, gallstones and menstrual disturbances.

Medication

Saxenda (liguratide), Xenical (orlistat), Duromine (phentermine) and Contrave (naltrexone/bupropion) are the only medicines approved for weight loss in Australia – and none are government-subsidised on the pharmaceutical benefits scheme (PBS) so you’ll have to pay full price.

Doctors can prescribe these for people with a BMI over 30, or people with a BMI of 27–30 and weight-related conditions such as pre-diabetes, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or sleep apnoea.��

Studies have found that typical weight loss is about 3–5kg, although results vary widely and can be greater than this or have no effect. Apart from weight loss, there may be other health improvements, including blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

It’s best to think of these medicines as tools to help you lose weight through a reduced-energy diet and exercise plan.

Xenical

Xenical (the brand name for orlistat) works in your stomach and intestine by stopping your body absorbing as much as 30% of the fat you eat, helping with weight loss.��

It helps you lose weight when used in combination with a reduced-fat diet and exercise program. You take Xenical when you’re eating fatty food, so you’ll usually take a capsule with each of your three main meals a day (unless you know the meal you’re eating contains no fat).

When you’re using the drug, a really fatty meal can have you rushing for the toilet. Unpleasant side effects include oily bowel movements and seepage, flatulence, faecal incontinence, diarrhoea and abdominal pain. For that reason, you must limit the fat you eat in a day to less than 12g in each meal, and no more than 40g a day. To put that in context, a McDonalds Big Mac contains 28g of fat and a medium fries contains 15g – so it can add up pretty quickly. On the other hand, if you simply replace fat with sugar, you won’t lose much weight.

Apart from the gastrointestinal side-effects above, other potential effects include reduced vitamin absorption (you should take a vitamin supplement), headache and kidney stones.

Xenical is available over the counter for about $100 a month (if taken three times a day).

Saxenda

Saxenda (liraglutide) is based on a human hormone that suppresses appetite, and you inject it yourself daily. It’s prescription only, and is not subsidised by the PBS – it costs up to $400 a month by private prescription.

The main side effects are nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and constipation. Less common, but more serious, side-effects include hypoglycaemia (especially for people taking diabetes medication), pancreatitis, gallbladder disease, renal failure and suicidal thoughts.

Some people also have a strong aversion to needles and may not want to inject themselves every day.

At almost $5000 a year for an average weight loss of about 5–6kg, the cost versus benefit needs to be weighed carefully.

Duromine

Duromine (phentermine) is an amphetamine-like drug that helps with weight loss by suppressing appetite. It’s not on the PBS, and costs about $100–140 a month, depending on the strength of the dose.

Like all amphetamines, phentermine’s side effects include tachycardia (rapid heart beat), palpitations, insomnia, anxiety and raised blood pressure.

Topamax

In the US, phentermine is available in combination with anti-epilepsy drug topiramate (Topamax and generic), which also works as an appetite suppressant.��

Topamax is prescription only (off label) and costs $16 a month (plus cost of phentermine).

The weight loss with the combination drug, known as Qsymia, is greater than with phentermine alone.

Side-effects are relatively rare, but some are potentially serious, and include headaches, palpitations, insomnia, paresthesia (tingling, numbness, pins and needles), depression and suicidal thoughts, birth defects, and serious kidney and eye problems. An Australian study of 103 people had 61 drop out, including 41 because they couldn’t tolerate the side-effects.

Qsymia was rejected in Europe due to safety concerns – in particular the cardiovascular and mental health effects. The combination hasn’t been approved by the TGA for weight loss in Australia. Although the individual drugs may be prescribed ‘off label’ by a doctor and taken together when other treatments have failed or are unsuitable, the TGA has warned about the serious risks of using topiramate for weight loss.

Contrave

Contrave (naltrexone hydrochloride and bupropion hydrochloride) is a combination of bupropion, an antidepressant, and naltrexone, a drug often used to help people overcome opioid and alcohol dependency. Together they work to suppress appetite and reduce cravings for certain types of food. The drug was approved for weight loss by the TGA in 2019, but has been available overseas for more than five years.

Studies have found that using Contrave, in combination with a calorie-controlled diet and exercise, can increase weight loss by about 4.4kg on average, or almost five percent of total body weight. Your doctor will monitor your progress and, if you haven’t lost at least five percent of your body weight in 16 weeks, will probably stop the treatment.

The most common side effects are nausea or vomiting, dizziness, changed taste of food, insomnia, constipation or diarrhoea, headache and dry mouth. Serious side effects include a risk of seizure, which is higher in certain people; suicidal thoughts or actions; allergic reactions; and increased blood pressure or heart rate. It’s not suitable for people taking certain medications or supplements, which your doctor should ask about.

It’s not currently subsidised by the PBS, and costs about $240 a month for the full dose.

Cost comparison

The post Medical weight loss treatments that work appeared first on ����Vlog.

Getting slimmer while your wallet grows fatter sounds appealing – and these are some of the claims made by Isagenix, one of the latest diet and lifestyle programs to hit our shores.

But just how effective is the Isagenix way of life? We take a closer look at the hype.��

What is Isagenix?

Isagenix is a US-based company that was founded by Jim and Kathy Coover in 2002 and operates in seventeen countries worldwide. It develops and produces products that it says assist with “nutritional cleansing” which can result in “greater health, well-being and weight loss”.

In a nutshell, the products are a variety of whey protein shakes, bars, snacks and herbal supplements, which promise to help you lose weight. They also now produce ‘nutritional shakes’ for kids and have expanded into the essential oil market.��

Rather than using traditional forms of advertising, Isagenix uses multi-level marketing (MLM), which relies on participants to set up distribution networks among friends, and the company pays commissions based on sales by the participants.

The Australia and New Zealand arm of the business launched in 2007, and local associate websites feature enthusiastic Aussies giving testimonials on their weight loss and financial gains. (Even Australian Olympian Jana Pittman has spruiked the wonders of the program.)

How much does it cost?

It depends on which ‘program’ you choose.��

The nine-day weight-loss program, with products to “kick-start your weight-loss journey by gently cleansing and nourishing your body”, retails for $265, while a 30-day program is $504.��

The cleansing drink component is also available on its own for $60 and “designed to be used as an aid to gently assist ridding the body of impurities during intermittent fasting” (or “Cleanse Days”, as they like to call them).��

There’s also a variety of products and product combinations on sale that retail from $36 for a single product to $1043 for the ‘Ultimate Pack’, which includes the “30-Day Weight Loss System along with extra items to try and share with your friends, family and new customers”.

If participants choose to take up a subscription arrangement they receive a discount and go on a monthly direct debit.

How does it work? 

Both the nine- and 30-day cleanse programs consist of shake days and cleanse days (Isagenix recommends completing at least two shake days before a cleanse day, and no more than two cleanse days per week).

On a shake day, you replace two meals with Isagenix shakes and eat a 400-600 calorie meal for the third. You can also eat two healthy, balanced snacks.��

On a cleanse day, you replace all meals with four Isagenix ‘Cleanse for Life’ liquids, plus up to six Isagenix approved snacks.��

You can also take Isagenix supplements during shake and cleanse days.

Does Isagenix work?

There’s no shortage of people happy to sing the praises of the program. When we asked people to contact us with their Isagenix experiences many said they’d lost weight and had never felt better.

However, according to Accredited Practising Dietitian and Nutritionist, Dr Alan Barclay this has more to do with weight loss than anything unique to Isagenix. “People often feel euphoric when they consume low-kilojoule meal replacements, due to the rapid weight loss. Losing weight can provide you with the sensation of having more energy – because you have less weight to carry around. It’s very subjective though.”

The other claim is that the program provides “nutritional cleansing” and can “gently rid the body of any potentially harmful impurities”.��

Barclay says this is also likely due to the weight loss and that: “There is no evidence to support detox diets. Our bodies naturally detoxify daily.”

And despite the testimonials by many who have used the program to achieve significant weight loss – Isagenix’s previous Australia General Manager Angus Love has said in a television interview that the average weight loss on the program is approximately 3.2 kilos.��

Cheaper alternatives just as effective

Dr Tim Crowe, accredited practising dietitian, says the cost of the products is high, particularly in comparison with real food and similar supplements available in chemists and supermarkets.

“There’s nothing new here,” he says. “It’s a supplement diet that is basically very low calorie (VLCD) and these have been around for years.”

A similar product such as Optifast would work equally well for significantly less money, says Barclay.��

“You can buy a month’s supply of Optifast for around $150 per month. This would achieve approximately the same weight loss as Isagenix and you would feel equally good.”

According to Barclay the main difference with the Isagenix products compared to similar meal replacements is the inclusion of the herbal supplements, but he says there’s little evidence these assist with weight loss.��

“It’s the replacement of two to three meals with the shakes that makes you lose weight – the supplements are just window dressings.”

Both our experts also said that while VLCD meal replacements can work very well in the short term, they can be difficult to sustain long term for weight reduction.

How does Isagenix compare to similar products?

We compared the nutritional information of Isagenix to five similar VLCD products.

Complete meal replacement

Of the six products we looked at, only four were suitable as a complete meal replacement: 

• Isagenix IsaLean Shake Creamy French Vanilla
• Optislim VLCD Meal Replacement Shake Vanilla, 
• Fatblaster Weight Loss Shake Vanilla 30% less Sugar (only when made with skim milk)
• Optifast VLCD Shake Vanilla

Gluten free

Three of the products we looked at are gluten free:

• Isagenix IsaLean Shake Creamy French Vanilla 
• Fatblaster Weight Loss Shake Vanilla 30% less Sugar
• Optifast VLCD Shake Vanilla

Country of Origin

The Fatblaster and both Optislim products list Australia as their country of origin. Isagenix and Herbalife list the USA, while the Optifast product doesn’t state the country of origin.��

The dangers of MLM ‘experts’ 

Multi-level marketing (MLM) relies on peer-to-peer recommendations, which can be a powerful sales tool – but what happens when the person selling to you is also providing health advice? 

At ����Vlog we were contacted by many people with concerns about health advice being provided by Isagenix sellers on social media, with some saying they were told the program would help with conditions as diverse as asthma, anxiety and insomnia.

Fiona McMillan says she tried Isagenix for a while and despite losing weight quit the program after seeing dodgy health advice provided by what she called the “pushers” on support pages on social media.��

McMillan, who is a medical scientist, says she was very concerned by the many sellers providing health advice to others who complained of feeling nauseous or breaking out in a rash after using the product, despite having no qualifications.��

“Any time someone mentioned any type of rash, comments would appear such as ‘that’s just a niacin rush’, ‘nothing to worry about’, ‘I can’t wait till I have one of those’ – all without knowledge of the user’s prior medical history, or what said rash actually looked like. In my opinion, these blind consults are very dangerous.”

Katherine Vickers from Queensland says she had a health professional try to sell her the products. The physiotherapist she was seeing for a back problem suggested she use Isagenix to lose weight and “change her life”. Says Katherine, “I told him I wasn’t interested but despite that he keeps emailing me all the information and doing the hard sell.”

When ����Vlog contacted Isagenix Australia, a spokesperson said that the company prohibits ‘associates’ (who are independent contractors) from providing false or misleading information about the products or business opportunities and that it routinely monitors improper claims as well as providing training sessions.��

“We do not authorise any medical claims or advice with respect to our products,” says the spokesperson.

Sophia’s story: “It struck me as dangerous”

Sophia* from Sydney has been using Isagenix for a couple of months after seeing friends on Facebook posting selfies of their weight loss, with ‘cryptic’ references to doing a ‘cleanse’ and asking friends to message them for more info.

Sophia says despite knowing this was a classic marketing strategy she was still interested because they were people she knew. She and her husband signed up and after a month he’d lost 10 kilos and she’d lost 5kg, but quickly plateaued.

Once she was signed up by her friend she says she was put on the ‘autoship’ program where her credit card was automatically charged each month, and she was given an account so she could sell the product herself, if she wanted to.

While Sophia said she wasn’t interested in selling, she became concerned when she was added to a couple of closed Facebook groups – one offering ‘support’ and one for sales and marketing. It was in these groups she says she witnessed firsthand the level of obsession people have with the products.��

“As every person who is signed up then has their own business, the person at the top is very keen to get everyone below them selling, because that money flows upwards.”

As a result she says the groups were full of salespeople doling out health advice with no qualifications. From pregnant or breastfeeding women complaining about hunger and being encouraged to persevere, to another participant dropping down from an already low body weight by another nine kilos and being cheered on by the group.

“At what point do ethics come into the sales and marketing? These people are selling ‘health’ products without any kind of health or nutritional knowledge. It struck me as dangerous,” she says.

However, she says any criticism falls on deaf ears within these groups. “It’s impossible to say anything negative about Isagenix to the ‘Clan’ because they’re all so obsessively patriotic to it, there’s almost no point in bringing things up.”

Despite this, as far as the weight-loss program is concerned Sophia said it was easy to follow although she and her partner plan to transition back onto ‘normal’ food soon.

But she’s under no illusion about the program. “Isagenix doesn’t work because it has discovered the exact ingredients, potions or pills that make you lose weight. It works because it forces you to eat less. And after spending $400 on a starter pack, you won’t be too quick to throw it away.”

*name changed.

Can you really make money selling Isagenix?

Despite the shiny, happy people in the promotional material making up to $171k a month, the harsher financial reality is that the majority of members who ‘share’ the product with family and friends will make “less than $500 a year”.

A spokesperson from Isagenix Australia says, “Most of our business builders supplement their incomes with a few thousand dollars per year. Only a small percentage earn a full-time income; the vast majority purchase for their own use or sell only to their family and friends.”

Despite this, there are plenty of Isagenix ‘fans’ keen to sell, sell, sell on social media. Nikalene Riddle, who runs the healthy eating Facebook group Skinnymixers, says she’s been ‘bombarded’ with Isagenix sellers.��

“What I dislike about this product and their sellers is they don’t post publicly about it, they private message my members,” she says.��

“They use this method because they know that advertising in my group is strictly forbidden, and if they promoted such a ridiculous product in a healthy eating group they would have hundreds of people calling them out. So instead they pick off people one by one until someone bites.”

So why get with the Isagenix program?

Despite the high cost of the products combined with the slim chance of making a load of money, there’s no denying some people love the program and all it entails.��

Isagenix told us that in one 30-day period approximately 5771 members purchased products in Australia and New Zealand. But why is that?

While our experts agree that meal replacement programs do work well short term for weight loss and many people contacted us with stories of their weight loss success, why do people buy the costly Isagenix products when similar products could be bought for half the price elsewhere?

Former Isagenix customer Megan Moulton says that the power of the social media groups and the communities can be the magic bullet for hardcore fans. “You can become a celebrity within the Isagenix community. Social media can make you feel special and affirmed, and the more you post the more important you can feel. Some people really seem to need that.”

Isagenix for kids

In 2019 Isagenix added “IsaKids Super Smoothies” to their range, which claim to be nutritional supplements for children over the age of four that are high in milk protein and touted as a snack alternative “without the nasty added sugar”.��

On the surface they may seem relatively harmless, but we think they’re setting children up for a lifetime of familiarity with the product and dieting. And at $53 a pop for a pack of just 14 serves, it is better value to give your kids a snack of unsweetened yoghurt or a glass of milk with a piece of fresh fruit or vegie sticks.��

A nutritious balanced diet based on a variety of foods from each of the five food groups should provide children with all of the nutrients they need and set the foundation of healthy eating habits – without the need for MLM dieting schemes.��

And if you think that your child might not be getting all of the nutrients they need, speak to your family doctor or an accredited practising dietitian, not an Isagenix rep.

Isagenix Essential Oils

Essential oils sold through MLM are increasingly popular and in 2018 Isagenix jumped on the bandwagon launching a line of essential oils to “help customers meet a range of health and wellness needs, from relieving stress to supporting weight wellness journeys”.��

They suggest using these oils on the skin (recommended with a carrier oil), in a diffuser or by adding some oils to liquid on shake and cleanse days.

However, there’s very little information around the safety and efficacy of most essential oils, and NSW Poisons Information Centre does not recommend ingesting essential oils or even using them on your skin without a carrier oil (which dilutes essential oils before they’re applied to the skin)

Can You Use Essential Oils for Weight Loss?

There is scarce scientific evidence that essential oils can assist with weight loss, while the consumption and use of some oils can cause skin and mucosal irritation, burns, nausea, vomiting, seizures, allergic reactions and even organ failure.

Poisons centres and government health departments often have information about essential oils and the risks. Western Australia’s Department of Health’s fact sheet states “essential oils are not safe to consume and can cause significant poisoning even if small amounts are ingested”.�� 

It is worth checking or getting a second opinion from a pharmacist, doctor or health expert with a special interest in complementary medicine before using essential oils.

The post Does Isagenix really work for weight loss? appeared first on ����Vlog.

The drug is sold under the brand name Saxenda for weight loss (and is also sold in a lower dose as Victoza for the treatment of type-2 diabetes).

But how effective is it? And is it worth the high monthly cost and potential side effects?

How does Saxenda work?

Saxenda is a self-injectable prescription medication that’s similar to the human hormone (GLP-1), which regulates hunger. It works by helping to suppress your appetite, which can lead to you consuming fewer calories.

It can be prescribed to people with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more, or people with a BMI of 27–29 with weight-related conditions, such as prediabetes, type-2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or sleep apnoea.��

How much does Saxenda cost? 

Saxenda costs about $400 a month by private prescription. It’s not subsidised by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).

How effective is Saxenda?

In a large 56-week study sponsored by the manufacturer, three in five people (63.2%) taking the drug – in combination with a reduced-energy diet and increased exercise – lost at least five per cent of their body weight, and one in three (33.1%) lost more than 10%.��

The patients had an average starting weight of about 106kg, and lost an average of 8.4kg over the time. There were other health improvements, including blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

A group of patients who received only lifestyle-modification advice (ie, without taking Saxenda) lost 2.8kg on average.

Should I take it?

Talk to your doctor about whether or not it’s suitable for you.��

However, given its cost of more than $5000 a year for an average weight loss of about 5–6kg more than lifestyle counselling alone, you also need to weigh up the cost versus benefits.

For more information, NPS MedicineWise has a detailed .

What are the side effects?

The main side effects of taking Saxenda are: 

• nausea
• ���dz����پ��Բ���
• diarrhoea
• constipation.��

Less common, but more serious, side effects include: 

• hypoglycaemia (especially for people taking diabetes medication)
• pancreatitis
• gallbladder disease
• thyroid tumours
• renal (kidney) impairment
• depression
• suicidal thoughts.

What other medicines help with weight loss?

Your main options for weight loss medications in Australia are Xenical (orlistat), Duromine (phentermine) and Contrave (naltrexone hydrochloride and bupropion hydrochloride).

Xenical (orlistat) 

Works in your stomach and intestine by preventing your body from absorbing some of the fat you eat, helping you to lose weight.��

Some dietary modification may be needed – if you eat too much fat, you may suffer side effects such as oily bowel movements and seepage, flatulence, faecal incontinence, diarrhoea and abdominal pain.��

Xenical is available over the counter for about $120 a month (if taken three times a day).��

Duromine (phentermine) 

This is an amphetamine-like drug that helps with weight loss by suppressing appetite.��

Side effects

Phentermine side effects include tachycardia (rapid heart beat), palpitations, insomnia, anxiety and elevated blood pressure. It’s not on the PBS, and costs about $100–140 per month.

Qsymia (phentermine and topiramate)

In the US, phentermine is also available in combination with anti-epilepsy drug topiramate (Topamax and generic), which also works as an appetite suppressant.��

The weight loss in the combination drug, known as Qsymia, is greater than with phentermine alone.��

Side effects

Side effects are relatively rare, but some are potentially serious, and include headaches, palpitations, insomnia, paresthesia (tingling, numbness, pins and needles), depression and suicidal thoughts. An Australian study of 103 people had 61 drop out, including 41 because they couldn’t tolerate the side effects.

Qsymia was rejected in Europe due to safety concerns – in particular the cardiovascular and mental-health effects.��

The combination hasn’t been approved by the TGA for weight loss in Australia, although the individual drugs may be prescribed ‘off label’ by a doctor (ie, for a use that isn’t included in the approved product information document).

Contrave (naltrexone hydrochloride and bupropion hydrochloride)

Contrave is a relative newcomer on the market, having been approved for weight loss by the TGA in 2019.��

It’s a combination of two medications, one an antidepressant and the other used to treat addiction. These work together in the brain to suppress hunger signals.��

Side effects

Some common side effects include nausea and vomiting, constipation, diarrhoea and dizziness. More serious side effects such as seizures, liver damage, high blood pressure, hypoglycaemia, manic episodes and visual problems may also occur.��

It is not on the PBS and is available with a prescription for about $240 per month.

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On this page:

• ����Vlog verdict
• What is a ketogenic diet?
• What can you eat on the keto diet?
• Does the keto diet work?
• Is the keto diet safe?
• Tips for sustainable weight loss

To answer these questions – and with the added incentive of losing some extra pudge around the middle – I tried out the keto diet for two weeks.

����Vlog verdict

While the ketogenic diet may be an appropriate short-term solution under strict supervision for some, and it can result in weight loss, it could lead to serious health complications over time.

Going on the ketogenic diet made me realise I still held onto the belief that fats are the enemy. But good fats are vital for optimal health, so I’ll be keeping the olive oil dressings and lashings of avocado in my diet, while definitely eating less bacon.

What is a ketogenic diet?

The ketogenic diet was developed as a treatment for epilepsy in 1924 by Dr Russell Wilder at the Mayo Clinic. Research has found the diet to be effective in reducing the frequency and severity of seizures in patients with severe epilepsy, but many people, including Hollywood’s A-list, have adopted the extreme diet for quick weight loss.

The keto diet involves eating very small amounts of carbohydrates, medium amounts of protein, and getting most of your daily kilojoules from fats. Carbohydrates are the body’s preferred source of energy.��

When we starve the body of carbs, ketone bodies (or ketones) are produced by the liver from fat, and used as fuel for the brain and body. So on a ketogenic diet, ketones replace carbs as the body’s main energy source, meaning it runs almost entirely on stored fat.

Ketones are also produced when your total kilojoule intake is low, because when you run short of stored energy your body will burn stored fat instead, resulting in weight loss. This process is referred to as being in the ‘state of ketosis’.

What the expert thinks

According to Professor Clare Collins, an accredited practising dietitian and spokesperson for the Dietitians Association of Australia, there’s a whole range of dietary approaches that come under that ‘ketogenic diet banner’.��

“The classical ketogenic diet has a ratio of 4g of fat to 1g of combined carbohydrates and protein. So basically it’s 85 to 90% fat, [which] isn’t a palatable or exciting diet, as you can imagine, due to the massive restriction in types and quantities of foods that contain carbohydrates, including breads and cereals, fruit, some vegetables and even dairy products.”

Professor Collins stresses that “the ketogenic diet should not be considered flippantly as something that anybody and everybody should be following. The individual needs to be under the supervision of a doctor and dietitian and be monitored for side effects, particularly if they’re on medications.”

What can you eat on the keto diet?

The keto diet limits carbohydrates to just 20–50g a day. A single slice of bread typically has 15g of carbohydrates, so you can imagine how restrictive this form of eating can be.

The diet – or popular adaptations of it that you’ll find in books and on the internet – suggests consuming high volumes of animal products (so vegans and vegetarians may find this diet very difficult to follow) with a variety of the following foods:

What’s in my trolley?

I fire up Uber Eats more than my stovetop, so this diet was a drastic change for me. Keto requires a lot of planning and preparation, which may be a deterrent for some.��

On day one I did a massive food shop, drawing inspiration from I found online. My trolley was filled with meat (so much meat), cheese, butter and high-fat dairy – basically a lot of foods I don’t normally allow myself.��

I also bought loads of the ‘allowed’ vegetables and fruits as nutrient deficiencies can occur on diets that are too restrictive. I also picked up a multivitamin supplement.

The kilojoule-counter app helped me track how many carbohydrates I was consuming and kept my kilojoule intake in check.��

But the biggest challenge of this diet was the lack of variety – and the enticing allure of carbs at every turn. I was ready to throw in the towel on day four when a cafe owner refused to make me a bacon and egg roll without the roll. “What am I meant to eat?” I blubbered. In fact, studies in keto diets have found attrition rates are one of the highest challenges of the diet.

When starting the keto diet, people also report initially getting the ‘keto flu’ from eliminating carbs from the diet, with symptoms such as headaches, fatigue, brain fogginess and nausea. I didn’t experience any major issues and actually felt quite sprightly (besides my aforementioned meltdown) during my first week on the high-fat diet.

Does the keto diet work?

After imagining I’d have a Biggest Loser-type reveal, after two weeks on the diet I was disappointed to find I’d only lost 1.5kg. But I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of hunger I experienced. For example, if I started the day with bacon and eggs, I wouldn’t get hungry again till the afternoon, whereas my typical instant oats breakfast leaves me ravenous by 11am.

A 2008 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition compared a medium-carbohydrate, high-protein diet with a low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet and found that after four to six weeks the 17 subjects lost significantly more weight and were than the medium-carbohydrate diet.��

However, according to another study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, in the long term (more than one year).

Is the keto diet safe?

The most common side effect of the diet is constipation as a result of cutting out vital sources of fibre in the diet – fruits, vegetables, beans and grains. Lack of fibre can also increase the risk of bowel cancer and heart disease in the long term. I negated this by drinking lots of water, eating plenty of the high-fibre ‘allowed’ vegetables and taking a fibre supplement.

Other possible side effects of long-term adherence to the diet include:

• raised cholesterol levels
• renal stones
• poor growth (in children)
• reductions in bone density
• altered immune function
• altered liver function
• nutrient deficiencies.

Although little research has been done specifically around the diet’s long-term effects, some studies suggest there are health benefits in following such a strict low-carbohydrate diet, such as its ability to and . But more research on humans is needed and, as Professor Collins warns, this diet is used in medical nutrition therapy as a short-term test diet for specific medical conditions such as epilepsy and should only be used medically under the supervision of experts.

Professor Jennie Brand-Miller, professor of human nutrition at the University of Sydney says, “There’s not a lot in the scientific literature to judge [the health effects of the keto diet]. On the basis of current science, I wouldn’t recommend it. Several observational studies suggest this diet [actually] increases mortality, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.”

For more information on how the ketogenic diet can help treat epilepsy, visit .

Tips for sustainable weight loss

If you’re looking for a sustainable weight-loss solution, Professor Collins says visiting your GP should be your first port of call.

“They will measure your blood pressure, blood lipids and blood glucose, and potentially look at kidney function and liver function,” she says. “You should ask to be referred to a dietitian as well.”

Your GP and dietitian will then assess your current state of health, weigh up the positives and negatives of different weight-loss regimes and recommend the appropriate one for you.

Rather than letting fad diets deprive your body of essential nutrients, simple lifestyle changes can help you not only lose weight, but also maintain it in the long term.

• Go slow and steady – aim to lose 0.5–1kg a week. Any more than that and you’re probably losing water and muscle, not fat.
• Avoid high-glycemic index foods (sugary treats and highly-processed foods) – “They stimulate insulin secretion and drive fat deposition and they aren’t as satiating,” says Professor Brand-Miller.
• Fill up on fruit and veg – they’re bursting with phytonutrients and an analysis of three weight-loss studies of more than 130,000 adults found those who increased their intake of high-fibre, low-GI fruit and vegetables (your leafy greens over your stodgy potatoes) were more likely to lose or maintain weight.
• Drink plenty of water – sometimes when you feel hungry, you’re actually dehydrated, so keep a water bottle nearby to keep you hydrated during the day.
• Up your exercise – according to a US study called the , 90% of people who’ve lost an average of 30kg and kept it off for over five years exercise for an average of one hour a day.
• Start the day with a healthy breakfast – that same study found 78% of respondents eat breakfast every day.
• Watch your portions – eating from smaller plates can help keep portion sizes in check. A US study found that switching from a 10-inch to a 12-inch dinner plate (equivalent to switching from a 25cm to 30cm plate) caused people to consume 22% more kilojoules during a meal.
• Experiment with herbs and spices – you don’t need sugary dressings or sauces to add flavour. Try lemon, chilli, garlic, herbs and spices for heaps of flavour without adding kilojoules.
• Cut back on ultra-processed foods and drinks – healthy wholegrain carbs are not the enemy, but junk food certainly is, says Professor Collins. “In Australia, one third of our total daily kilojoule intake comes from ‘discretionary choices’.” Always being prepared with healthy snacks is a great way to stop you from going to the vending machine mid-afternoon.

The post What is a ketogenic diet? appeared first on ����Vlog.

On this page:

• What is a DEXA scan?
• What to expect from a DEXA scan session
• Pros and cons of DEXA scans

But before embarking on any kind of ‘get healthy’ regime, it’s always a good idea to get a picture of exactly where your body measurements are at so you can calculate and track the changes you want to make.

While scales can calculate your weight (and some can also estimate body fat) our ����Vlog tests show that they are often far from accurate.

Body Weight Mass Index calculators are easily available online and can be a useful guide. However, they don’t always provide the full picture and in some cases can be quite misleading as the BMI can’t distinguish between muscle and fat.

What is a DEXA scan?

Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scans, also called DXA scans, are an enhanced form of X-ray technology. These scans are often referred to as the “gold standard” for body composition measurements and provide data on:

• weight
• body fat
• muscle mass
• bone density.

DEXA is a non-invasive medical test that involves exposing the body to a small dose of ionizing radiation in order to produce pictures of what’s happening inside of the body.

Not only can DEXA measure what your body fat percentage is, it can also clearly show where it’s located, which is particularly useful when it comes to what’s called visceral fat. Unlike the squishy subcutaneous fat which tends to collect on the thighs, bottom and arms, visceral fat is stored in the abdominal cavity and wraps itself around organs such as the pancreas, liver and intestines. Unlike subcutaneous fat, in some cases it can be hard to see externally, so you may not know it’s there.

Carrying a high amount of visceral fat is dangerous as it can lead to glucose intolerance and type 2 diabetes. It can also increase the risk of heart disease, breast cancer, colorectal cancer and Alzheimer’s.

The appeal of these scans is understandable – as well as providing the bigger picture, DEXA also makes you face the truth. There’s no holding in your stomach when you are measuring up or leaving one foot off the bathroom scales.

As DEXA scans become better known, there are plenty of operators popping up around the country offering scans to consumers in gyms, clinics and even via personal trainers. And while the data can provide a really good insight – the devil is in the detail and how those results are explained.

What to expect from a DEXA scan session

I booked an appointment with a large clinic in the Sydney CBD. The cost for a 30-minute session was $160, which includes the scan itself and a review afterwards with an accredited exercise physiologist. As I make my way in for my appointment I can’t help but feel a little trepidation – will a lifetime of active exercise avoidance and a love of pasta and wine expose me, once and for all?

I’m taken into a room where a consultant collects the basic details before I hop up on the table for the scan. The scan itself is very simple – it’s done fully clothed and only takes a few minutes.

The scanner moves around your body compiling a full picture of your skeletal structure, muscle and body fat. I watch the screen attached to the ceiling as it slowly fills in the layers of my body imaging, revealing bones, teeth, brain, muscles and fat. It also picks up any metal in the body so my dental implant and wedding ring make an appearance.

While the images are cool to watch, the subsequent report can seem a little overwhelming as reams of numbers and percentages appear. Fortunately, the session I booked comes with an expert who reveals how to interpret these numbers. Andrew, an accredited exercise physiologist, goes through my data carefully to explain not only what the figures mean but their context in terms of my age, gender and racial background.

Using some good data (yay for muscle mass) and some not-so-good data (not so yay for body fat), he was able to provide me with advice on what kind of lifestyle changes can improve and optimise my health, as well as what I should focus on in the future.

We also went through my current diet and exercise regime and Andrew made suggestions on what I could change to improve some of my results. His advice was sensible, evidence-based and advocated a slow and steady approach, along with some guidance on the best balance of macros (macronutrients consisting of carbs, protein and fat) in terms of diet and suggestions for some easy options for increasing activity levels too.

He also recommended a follow-up scan to see if the new regime is having an effect (an excellent motivator) in about eight weeks’ time.

Pros and cons of DEXA scans

Would I do it again? Unlike scales or measuring tapes, the DEXA cannot be argued with, and while not cheap, it can provide an excellent motivator to track changes if you do want to embark on a diet or fitness regime. However, if you’re going to spend the money, make sure the provider you use has the expertise to provide useful information and make sense of the numbers.

DEXA downsides:

• It’s expensive – my session cost $160, which included the session with the expert and the printouts. Other places we have seen charge as little as $50 for a session but may not be as comprehensive.
• To see progress you will need a follow-up appointment, which can cost you again – though the clinic I attended offered a package of up to three sessions at a discount.
• It relies heavily on interpretation. The session I attended was thorough and provided a good explanation of the results by an expert. However, a scan alone won’t be much value if it isn’t explained.

DEXA upsides:

• The data is accurate and gives you the full picture of your body composition. A good consultant can help to interpret the data and make suggestions on changes to diet and exercise.
• It can be a great motivator – with such accurate data you can track exactly what has changed in great detail with a follow-up scan.
• It’s quick and very easy to do. Apart from taking off your shoes and lying down it’s the easiest weight-check you may ever do.

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