Does anyone have any experience of Very Low Calorie Diets? I am thinking of using one to get rid of a couple of stone of Tamoxifen weight gain as nothing else seems to shift it. I am nearly 3 years past WLE and radiotherapy and been on Tamoxifen since diagnosis. I have no other health issues.
Thanks and Happy New Year to all,
LooLoo
Hi there,
Sorry but my advice is to steer clear of very low calorie diets as they won’t provide everything that your body needs to stay fit & healthy. Instead just eat healthy balanced meals but smaller portions & try and exercise as much as possible. After surviving the onslaught of BC you don’t want to put your body under any unnecessary strain by starving it of important vitamins & minerals and yes even fat (our bodies still require a certain amount of fat in order to function properly). Sorry if this isn’t the advice you were looking for but good luck anyway with the weight loss as there are better ways of achieving this without going on a VLCD.
lbx157
Hi there LooLoo
Thought you might be interested in a couple of our publications and our DVD on this subject.
I’ve given here the link to the page where these can be ordered. I hope you find them helpful:
Diet and Breast Cancer factsheet:
www2.breastcancercare.org.uk/publications/health-wellbeing/diet-breast-cancer-bcc98
Eating well, etc, DVD:
Best wishes.
Louise
Facilitator
Thank you both for the info. and your comments.
Best Wishes
LooLoo
Sorry to state the obvious, but much better to stick to portion control and increase your exercise levels. Lots of long walks is the cheapest form of exercise and easy on the joints too.
My son is a Personal Trainer and would advise you to steer clear of faddy diets.
Apparently some people who get bad side effects are allowed to try a half dose of tamoxifen, 10mg daily instead of the usual 20mg, it might be worth asking the oncologist about this possibility, would it help reduce the tendency for weight gain and would it still protect you enough cancer-wise, as you have done three years already? “A couple of stone” is worth shifting, as that’s enough to give you other health issues in the long term. Unless you were a beanpole type to start with, of course!
It’s surprising how even little changes can add up, eg simply not having butter or biscuits in the house, having lo-cal squash or water instead of “full-fat” (the real thing) fizz, walking to the second-nearest shop when you’re caught short for a pint of milk, not buying chocolate at the garage and learning to have a skinny latte without the cupcake 
But I also wouldn’t go ultra low, it’s much better to rake up the exercise even a little than to wind down the food.