New and about to start low calorie liquid diet

[Lordy48]

First week finished and my blood sugar has dropped to nearly a normal range and I’ve lost 12lb - good start!

 

[lamby]

Hi!
I was diagnosed with diabetes last summer. I am morbidly obese and very aware my lifestyle has caused this so wasn’t a big surprise! I was started on Metformin and changed my diet, managed to loose 15kg, however Metformin and me didn’t turn out to be friends. I had really bad gastrointestinal issues with it, even on the slow release one. So the nurse told me to stop it before Christmas. I am now about to start the very low calorie liquid diet that can put diabetes into remission, after being referred by my gp. It’s 12 weeks of only shakes and soups provided by them, 4 a day, and then after slowly reintroducing food. I am aware this isn’t going to be easy or a quick fix but I am very determined to give it a go. Has anyone else done this diet or in the process of doing it? There’s plenty information online about the study (DiRect), but I’m just trying to see if there’s any patients feed back about their experiences on it? I’m planning to share my experiences while I am on it - sure their will be plenty of rants but hopefully some positive feed back about the changes and feeling better. Would love to hear about anyone’s experiences on it. Thanks!

Hi,
I am new to this I was diagnosed in Nov 2020 with type 2 diabetes, but I started on the exante shakes and soups end of Jan 21 and have lost a stone so far. I found it from Professor Roy Taylor's research. It does work so far but its not easy in the beginning i was very hungry and I will have to introduce food again soon. I was on metformin and had to go onto the slow release as I had bad tummy probs too, I have found the slow release metformin has brought my BG levels down more. I got the one month supply from exante and you get all different types of meal replacements so it keeps it interesting. Hope it works for you good luck.

 

[Pomers]

Just about to start on the very low calorie diet as expounded by Prof Taylor in his book and as I see discussed above.

I looked at all the shake suppliers and, with my partner's help, chose New You with a £30 starter pack. I see though that @ColinUK will receive a nice discount if I sign up to Exante; I'm happy to do that. I did look at Exante (along with Slim n Save, KeeDiet) but they only seemed competitive price wise with the intro diabetes discount (for which I have their code).

Is there any view on whether Exante is a better product or just personal choice.

I have discussed my hope to reverse my diabetes with my doctor but was a bit saddened that he knew nothing about Prof Roy Taylors work/results and a rapid weight loss diet.

And finally any useful pointers for when I start this 'diet' next week after a visit to the surgery 4th May for an official 'HbA1C' test. I'm aware I will feel very hungry over the first couple of days. I'm planning on having 3 shakes a day plus a very low cal homemade vegetable soup.

Cheers, Ian

 

[ColinUK]

Hi Ian.
Honestly I think it’s purely personal preference. And exante isn’t easy. I need to get back on top of my diet (in the truest sense of the word) again as I pushed the boundaries so much that I’ve redrawn the map completely lol

 

[Lordy48]

Just about to start on the very low calorie diet as expounded by Prof Taylor in his book and as I see discussed above.

I looked at all the shake suppliers and, with my partner's help, chose New You with a £30 starter pack. I see though that @ColinUK will receive a nice discount if I sign up to Exante; I'm happy to do that. I did look at Exante (along with Slim n Save, KeeDiet) but they only seemed competitive price wise with the intro diabetes discount (for which I have their code).

Is there any view on whether Exante is a better product or just personal choice.

I have discussed my hope to reverse my diabetes with my doctor but was a bit saddened that he knew nothing about Prof Roy Taylors work/results and a rapid weight loss diet.

And finally any useful pointers for when I start this 'diet' next week after a visit to the surgery 4th May for an official 'HbA1C' test. I'm aware I will feel very hungry over the first couple of days. I'm planning on having 3 shakes a day plus a very low cal homemade vegetable soup.

Cheers, Ian

I’ve just finished week 8 on the Counter Weight programme now. It’s 4 shakes or soups a day. My first week I was very tired, hungry and generally quite irritable. But it passed quickly, I then got a surge in energy and I felt much better. I’m not sure how the other meal replacement plans are, I can only share my experience on the one I’m on. I need to drink 2.5 litres at least a day of water, diluted juice is allowed if sugar free. I also need to take fibogel as the shakes can make you constipated which I have experienced, but the fibogel sorted it. That’s all the physical side effects I had. Mentally it’s been a bit tougher, super market shopping and living with someone who still eats food is hard! I’ve really missed eating. But I don’t feel hungry on my shakes at all now. In 8 weeks I’ve lost 19kg / 3 stone 2lb, my blood glucose readings are now totally normal - they range between 5 and 8.5. My blurry vision is gone, the tingling in my feet stopped. After 12 weeks they start me slowly on food reintroduction, adding a 400 calorie meal for 2 weeks, then increasing it till I’m on 3 a day. I would highly recommend this form of treatment, I was lucky my GP offered it to me the first day I was diagnosed and I jumped at the chance. The dietician I’ve had has been really supportive and helpful. Good luck!

 

[Ditto]

I'm feeling really jealous. How come you get all that help and free stuff and I get zilch! It shouldn't be allowed! Why does one surgery give out help and another absolutely nothing. All I got was a nasty woman doctor telling me explicitly how I was going to die and sooner rather than later. I've been living in fear and denial ever since. I'm very pleased for you really. 🙂 Still jealous though. 😉

PS: From liver not from type 2, that's too slow to get me no doubt ... the irony!

 

[Lordy48]

I'm feeling really jealous. How come you get all that help and free stuff and I get zilch! It shouldn't be allowed! Why does one surgery give out help and another absolutely nothing. All I got was a nasty woman doctor telling me explicitly how I was going to die and sooner rather than later. I've been living in fear and denial ever since. I'm very pleased for you really. 🙂 Still jealous though. 😉

PS: From liver not from type 2, that's too slow to get me no doubt ... the irony

Thats terrible! They should be supportive and encouraging to you and try to help! It seems to be different health boards have different takes on it. I’m in a fb group for people doing counter weight and it seems that here in scotland it’s being offered free of charge and fully supported, but some of the other people doing it in England have only been given a discount to buy the items themselves or they are just fully paying for it themselves. Counter weight do have a full team of dieticians and support staff if you do want to do it yourself but it’s not cheap, it’s £10 a day for the shakes and soups. When I went to the GP I had a student doctor so I don’t know if maybe she had learned about the study at university recently and that’s why she offered me it? Because my mum had been diagnosed with diabetes after me and the doctor hasn’t suggested this plan to her at all, just firing her on medication. I don’t know if it’s an age thing - I’m 36 and my mums 58. But there’s people of that age and older on the fb group page doing it. It seems to be a bit of a lottery on who your doctor is and what they know or think of it. It’s a real shame because I’ve had such good results on it and feel so much better, it could benefit so many more people. Hopefully in the future they do offer it more and can help more people. I’d go back and have a rant at that doctor - get your stomping shoes on lol

 

[Ditto]

Lol. 🙂 I probably wouldn't stick to it anyways, I can't seem to stick to anything. It would have been nice to have been offered some help though. I've not been to the docs since, I'm still sulking! They want me to have a camera down and will no doubt be asking me to have more scans, they can go tickle. I'll shuffle off without all that hassle I think.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Glad to hear you’ve had such positive results @Lordy48

Well done for sticking with it when it got tough.

Hope the reintroduction of food goes well. 🙂

 

[Pomers]

So I'm into first week of shakes diet. Do I keep to this shake diet 6-800 cals per day until I lose the ~15kg then move onto Mediterranean or low carb diet available here. I'm eating (drinking!) 3 'New You' shakes/porridge and one fresh veg soup a day currently.

 

[Deleted member 21371]

Eight weeks is the program, then introduce a healthy balanced diet.
I reversed my diabetes successfully, so I didn't need to eat low carb.
Indeed, that was why I did it, I didn't want to be forced to limit my options, especially when I'm out.
Generally I eat Mediterranean, but McDonald's, Pizza Hut or the chippy work if I'm pushed.

 

[Ditto]

Kudos to anybody that can stick to that liquid diet, spent £40 and can't do it. I really have tried, believe me. Never mind, back to trying to do low carb, but good luck to all.

 

[Lordy48]

So I'm into first week of shakes diet. Do I keep to this shake diet 6-800 cals per day until I lose the ~15kg then move onto Mediterranean or low carb diet available here. I'm eating (drinking!) 3 'New You' shakes/porridge and one fresh veg soup a day currently.

The way my programme works is I drop 2 shakes and have a 400 calorie meal for 2 weeks, so still 800 calories for those 2 weeks. Then another shake is dropped and I have 2 x 400 calorie meals for 2 weeks and finally 3 x 400 calorie meals. The dietician said they will then slowly increase my calories until my weight loss slows to 1 or 2 lb a week as I’m currently loosing 4-5lb a week, but if you didn’t have more weight to loose they’d increase the calories till your weight stayed stable. The NHS dietician will monitor me for 2 years as their aim is to help you keep the weight off and stay in remission, which I currently am in. But they have also warned me I’ll be surprised how full I feel when I start eating again so might be worth while slowly introducing food rather than jumping back in with 3 meals a day. It’s all about moderation, a sensible healthy diet afterwards should be fine. It’s a tough diet to follow, but worth it if you can stick to it. Good luck!

 

[Lordy48]

Time for an update. I've finished my 12 weeks on meal replacement and on my 1st week of food reintroduction. So happy to eat again! But surprised how much less I can eat, which isn't a bad thing. I've lost 4 stone 6lb or 28 kg and got my first HbA1C results back today and they were 37 - big change from them being over 90 when I was first diagnosed! To be classed as being in remission I need to have my bloods checked again in 3 and 6 months when my diet has been built back up to normal and have readings under 42. But so far so good, really pleased and I feel so much better over all. Would definitely recommend doing this type of treatment to anyone.

 

[Christy]

@Lordy48 that's fantastic! You must be delighted! Good luck with the next part of your regime.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Thanks for the update @Lordy48

Wow! how fantastic for you. Congratulations on your brilliant progress 🙂

 

[Ditto]

Good grief how did you do it? @Lordy48 Were you completely liquid diet? No solids at all? I have to do it, but keep putting it off and still pigging, it's always going to be tomorrow till there are no more tomorrows.

Well done.

 

[Eddy Edson]

Time for an update. I've finished my 12 weeks on meal replacement and on my 1st week of food reintroduction. So happy to eat again! But surprised how much less I can eat, which isn't a bad thing. I've lost 4 stone 6lb or 28 kg and got my first HbA1C results back today and they were 37 - big change from them being over 90 when I was first diagnosed! To be classed as being in remission I need to have my bloods checked again in 3 and 6 months when my diet has been built back up to normal and have readings under 42. But so far so good, really pleased and I feel so much better over all. Would definitely recommend doing this type of treatment to anyone.

Triffic - well done!

 

[Lordy48]

@Lordy48 that's fantastic! You must be delighted! Good luck with the next part of your regime.

Thank you, I am really pleased I didn’t expect results this good. I feel so much better so it’s been totally worth it!

 

[Lordy48]

Good grief how did you do it? @Lordy48 Were you completely liquid diet? No solids at all? I have to do it, but keep putting it off and still pigging, it's always going to be tomorrow till there are no more tomorrows.

Well done.

Yes liquid only for 12 weeks, it’s a programme called Counterweight, I was put on it by my GP. It’s not easy, there’s been really tough moments where I’ve missed food a lot. But it’s made sit back and look at how I eat, usually through boredom or stress and not actual hunger. My snacking was shocking. I managed to stick to it because I was very determined, plus I started to feel so much better and when the weight started coming off it encouraged me to keep going. Plus the shakes and soups were surprisingly tasty which helped. I also joined a Facebook group of other people on the programme and they were a great support and motivation. As I said it’s not easy but I would recommend it so much, it’s only 12 weeks and it’s amazing how much better you feel.