You are doing great. As for that woman at work, even the medical profession now say that a VLCD diet is good for kick starting a diet when you have a lot of weight to lose. It gives you all the vitamins and minerals alongside only 600 calories, although you may need to add a multi-vitamin. Don't let friends, family and colleagues put you off. I told one friend and she reacted as if I said I was going to chew dog poop to lose weight. However, I have now lost over two stone and catching up quickly to her weight. She's carrying a couple of extra stone but I had over 6 to lose. In the past 10 weeks or so I've managed to lose a third of that. Many people lose more than me on Total Solution but I'm really happy with my loss so far.
The first week on Total Solution can be hard. At times I felt weak, emotional and occasionally nauseous and I was just about gnawing my arm off so I can completely understand how you feel. Athough everyone is different I found having a shake in the morning, a bar at lunchtime, a soup or meal like Pasta Carbonara at night with lots of water in between. I'd also have a coke zero (before they added citric acid) or a Dr Pepper Zero (currently £2 for 6 cans in Tesco) mid afternoon or in the evening. I drink sparkling water a lot of the time because it feels more of a treat. I buy the supermarket budget brand at 20p or less and refill a 500ml bottle and I always have water with my bar.
Also if you feel really hungry and craving something and you know you are going to give in, have another Exante product instead of the cheese etc. After a rocky start when I was eating everything including, pickles, cheese, spoonsful of tartare and horseradish sauce, and basically anything in a jar in the fridge door, I learned the hard way. So have four Exante instead of three that day. It doesn't bump you out of ketosis and you feel much better for it. If you are drinking a lot of water it should curb some of your hunger, but maybe not the cravings. With your job, if you are active a lot of the time you are probably burning more calories than most of us. The time it takes to get into ketosis is the worst, which is why the first week is hard. Once you have Ketosis working in your favour, are eating your Exante and drinking loads of water you actually feel better not just physically but emotionally. It's like a diet zen zone.
You'll be looking at yourself in a couple of months and thinking "wow, my clothes are really loose".
You can do it. You will do it. I hope it goes really well for you.
