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Heya nannon,
No, it's not forever.....though it has felt like it on one or two occasions! Seeing as you lose at least 1 stone every month if you stick to the diet, it's actually a relatively quick programme. Of course, it depends on how much you've got to lose. The initial part is 3 months long, (hence why Lighterlife won't take clients without 3 or more stone to lose) after that you can keep going for as long as you like until you reach your target weight.
Lighterlife provides a counselling programme - not optional, ESSENTIAL. You learn to look at your relationship with food, you learn why you ate, you learn about food in terms of an "addictive substance" and you learn how to deal with things in a different way, without food. When you return to food, you have all these tools to take with you, and food is introduced gradually, so for the 12 week management programme, Lighterlife will be helping you to notice how different types of food affect your mood/skin/weight etc....You're not alone in this, you still get the counselling once a week, you still have foodpacks, although the number of these reduces as you advance in management, until you are on full food, no shakes.
By that point, you will have learned enough about yourself and your relationship with food, that you will be able to look at food in a very very different way. You can keep the weight off, I have seen it.