Newcastle Diet diary (to keep me doing it!)

[cockburn]

Good start! Obviously you have to work out your own strategies for changing eating behaviour long term, but fwiw these are thjngs which have worked for me for the last 3 1/2 years or so:

- Sleep. If you don't get enough sleep yr bod will make you eat more & the resulting fat build up is risky abdominal fat. My biggest issue - I'm a c**p sleeper!

- Exercise. Not while losing weight but for long-term avoiding weight regain. Yr bod will want to make you put the weight back on & you will probably need to increase activity to burn the resulting excess calories. I burn 400-500 cals per day from walking & I think it has been essential for keeping weight off. Also, moderate exercise seems to kill appetite quite often, for some reason.

- No treats - wean off thinking you need them! The idea of rewarding yrself with rubbish food for healthy behaviour makes zero sense & it's just yr sneaky bod trying to subvert you once again 🙂

- Fibre fills.

- The Internet wisdom that carbs are somehow more fattening than calories from fats or protein is just wrong. Numerous studies & experiments in recent years have toasted this idea.

If you're interested in delving more into recent work on metabolism, hunger, etc, besides Roy Taylor's book I recommend "Burn" by Herman Pontzer and "The Hungry Brain" by Stephen Guyenet. Also publications and lectures by the great Kevin Hall, lead obesity researcher at the US National Institutes for Health.

this is such a useful reply Eddy - thank you. I keep coming back to it.

 

[Deleted member 21371]

The weight loss plateau is normal.
You have burnt through the easy sources of stored energy, mostly stored in water, then you start on the real body fat, so weight change plateaus, then starts to fall again, possibly at a slower rate.

 

[Windy]

Sounds like you're doing really well @cockburn, keep it going.
Your meals sound delicious, I'm jealous!
I know it's not very exciting, but can you buy a pill organising box with the days of the week on so you don't forget to take your metformin? I only take three pills a day, but I used to forget sometimes. The pill box was about £4 from Amazon, or they do them in the chemists. I fill it up at the start of the week and haven't forgotten yet. Though I did have to get up at midnight to take my ramipril as I'd forgotten to take it at a reasonable time in the evening!

 

[cockburn]

Sounds like you're doing really well @cockburn, keep it going.
Your meals sound delicious, I'm jealous!
I know it's not very exciting, but can you buy a pill organising box with the days of the week on so you don't forget to take your metformin? I only take three pills a day, but I used to forget sometimes. The pill box was about £4 from Amazon, or they do them in the chemists. I fill it up at the start of the week and haven't forgotten yet. Though I did have to get up at midnight to take my ramipril as I'd forgotten to take it at a reasonable time in the evening!

unfortunately, I have an extremely large one - I think it might be for partially sighted people - but still forget. I will go back to posters everywhere.

 

[cockburn]

Week 5. Started the week 12 stone 5lb, ended it 12 stone 4lb.
Rereading Professor Taylor today, I noticed the average weight loss in the first 8 weeks was 15kg. I am on week 5 of 8 and have lost 4kg. I'm not sure where averages get me. Surely so much relies on starting weight, gender, and age - but it is a bit disappointing anyway to be bottom of the class. I'm going to do the plan as designed, introducing meals at week 9, but stage 2 will take longer for me (a year rather than four weeks at this rate). Would it be better to go to stage three for, say, three months and then do stages one and two again?
On the upside, my wardrobe has come back to me just in time for Summer. Trousers I barely remember now do up.

 

[Kreator]

Week 5. Started the week 12 stone 5lb, ended it 12 stone 4lb.
Rereading Professor Taylor today, I noticed the average weight loss in the first 8 weeks was 15kg. I am on week 5 of 8 and have lost 4kg. I'm not sure where averages get me. Surely so much relies on starting weight, gender, and age - but it is a bit disappointing anyway to be bottom of the class. I'm going to do the plan as designed, introducing meals at week 9, but stage 2 will take longer for me (a year rather than four weeks at this rate). Would it be better to go to stage three for, say, three months and then do stages one and two again?
On the upside, my wardrobe has come back to me just in time for Summer. Trousers I barely remember now do up.

So for me, it took 12 weeks on 800 Cals a day to get to 15Kg loss...

I remember seeing conflicting 8 weeks / 12 weeks info at the time myself, but kept going - once I'd completed 12 weeks, I was reminded that you can still lose weight eating food...

For me, food re-introduction from week 13 was still 2 shakes per day for 2 weeks, along with 'new normal' food, then fully food based at 16 weeks in from start...

So, you're doing great - just keep at it - some weeks will show a greater loss than others...

Keep the momentum and the inspiration, as any weight loss (no matter how much per week) should be enough to keep you going... 😉

 

[cockburn]

So for me, it took 12 weeks on 800 Cals a day to get to 15Kg loss...

I remember seeing conflicting 8 weeks / 12 weeks info at the time myself, but kept going - once I'd completed 12 weeks, I was reminded that you can still lose weight eating food...

For me, food re-introduction from week 13 was still 2 shakes per day for 2 weeks, along with 'new normal' food, then fully food based at 16 weeks in from start...

So, you're doing great - just keep at it - some weeks will show a greater loss than others...

Keep the momentum and the inspiration, as any weight loss (no matter how much per week) should be enough to keep you going... 😉

I'll have to sellotape four more rows to the bottom of my chart! Thank you @Kreator. I think the Newcastle team did a few different variations of the programme so perhaps I have conflated two. 12 weeks sounds more likely for me. I will reread your posts to see if you introduced more exercise after week 8 or just at week 13.

 

[ColinUK]

Firstly congrats on what you've already lost as that's great progress!

I'm also on the Exante shakes with some bars thrown in when I don't have time to mix a shake or it's just not convenient for me to have a drink with me.
I've done it before and I'd say make it work for you. If you need to stick in Stage 1 or 2 for longer than the 'official' guidance suggests then do that. Clearly it's not a long term way of eating but as a short term weight loss regime it's phenomenal.

I'll dig out my thread and link to it here so you've got another set of experiences to learn from but you're doing brilliantly!

Weight loss ups and downs - 800 Calorie - Newcastle

Diagnosed last week. In a rather unsatisfactory manner. (See my Bit of a Shock) thread in Newbies. I’ve been 16st something for a while now and I know I really needed to shift at least three stone... worth noting that max weight over the last four years has been recorded at 17 1/2 stone. Just...

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