• Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
  • We seem to be having technical difficulties with new user accounts. If you are trying to register please check your Spam or Junk folder for your confirmation email. If you still haven't received a confirmation email, please reach out to our support inbox: support.forum@diabetes.org.uk

Newcastle Diet - Lets Go!!!

Weekender said:
No alcohol or refined carbs for 34 days. The first two weeks I had a serious attempt at less than 1200 calories (soups + salads), then had a go at healthy eating + exercise. This didn't really work out as exercise resulted in compensatory eating and I was kicked out of keto / gluconeogenesis.

Fasting bloods were back to being high on week 3, so I used a bit more will power on time restricted eating - nothing between 7pm and 1pm to no effect. Horrible 'flu started in week 5 (ongoing) and fasting became less of a priority.

Fasting bloods depressingly high week 5 and 6 despite weight reducing. I have now stopped measurement first thing in the morning when I was getting 7.3 - 7.5. I now wait till before I eat at lunch time when I get 5.3 - 5.4

So I have concluded neither 'a few weeks fasting to reset' or calorie restriction / time restricted eating worked on blood sugars. Next week I have 10 hours travel to and from my new job, so I'll put the thing on hold. Hopefully I won't resume drinking alcohol though, so some success

Weight Kg

View attachment 33771
Fasting Bloods
View attachment 33772
Click to expand...
Those readings are all pretty well the same as they are within the permitted accuracy of blood glucose monitors. Many find they suffer from morning readings being higher than the rest of the day for before meal readings as the liver releases glucose in the absence of food to give you energy for the your organs to function.
 
Week 8 Update
  • Lost 3.4 lbs
  • Total weight lost is 29.3 lbs
  • BMI down to 21.4
  • Average fasting level - 5.1 (range of 4.8 to 5.4)
Another good week, fasting levels seem to have settled down, 3 of the last 4 weeks have been 5.1. Weirdly I didn't feel that excited to be able to add in an evening meal, think it's been so long that I've just adapted to this diet and got used to not having to prepare any food.

I'm traveling all next week so decided to extend the diet and having my first evening meal tonight (day 5 of this week) as I'm not taking any shakes with me and will just have to eat smaller amounts (will take some snack bars I got from Keediet with the shakes) but it's going to be difficult to manage. Also got to manage food on a 12 hour flight somehow so I expect to slip a little.

Overall feeling great, slimmed down, sleeping better and really happy I went on it as soon as I could. Weirdly I've started feeling really hungry in the later afternoons this week, I think mentally I had getting through to 8 weeks in my head and now I'm past it my body wants some proper food. Going to start with simple meals so going to with fish and veg tonight and I'll start cooking proper meals when I'm back.
 
CurlyWurly said:
Week 8 Update
  • Lost 3.4 lbs
  • Total weight lost is 29.3 lbs
  • BMI down to 21.4
  • Average fasting level - 5.1 (range of 4.8 to 5.4)
Another good week, fasting levels seem to have settled down, 3 of the last 4 weeks have been 5.1. Weirdly I didn't feel that excited to be able to add in an evening meal, think it's been so long that I've just adapted to this diet and got used to not having to prepare any food.

I'm traveling all next week so decided to extend the diet and having my first evening meal tonight (day 5 of this week) as I'm not taking any shakes with me and will just have to eat smaller amounts (will take some snack bars I got from Keediet with the shakes) but it's going to be difficult to manage. Also got to manage food on a 12 hour flight somehow so I expect to slip a little.

Overall feeling great, slimmed down, sleeping better and really happy I went on it as soon as I could. Weirdly I've started feeling really hungry in the later afternoons this week, I think mentally I had getting through to 8 weeks in my head and now I'm past it my body wants some proper food. Going to start with simple meals so going to with fish and veg tonight and I'll start cooking proper meals when I'm back.
Click to expand...
Hey, I'm on week 2 of the diet. So encouraging to see that your fasting level is so low! Gives me a little extra motiviation to power thru this. Unfortunately I'm also a much, much higher BMI than you so its gonna be a longer journey for me.
 
Trenton Tony said:
Hey, I'm on week 2 of the diet. So encouraging to see that your fasting level is so low! Gives me a little extra motiviation to power thru this. Unfortunately I'm also a much, much higher BMI than you so its gonna be a longer journey for me.
Click to expand...

Good luck with it, how are you finding it so far? I don't think your BMI matters so much, lots of people have reported good results using it so fingers crossed it works for you.
 
Week 9 Update
  • Lost 0.3 lbs
  • Total weight lost is 29.6 lbs
  • BMI stayed at 21.4
  • Average fasting level - 5 (range of 4.7 to 5.2)
Another good week, carried on with 3 shakes a day for 4 days as I've been away this week then had some simple evening meals like fish, chicken etc. I did have 1 reading of 5.8 which I didn't include as I'd spend half the night awake with the kids so don't think it was a true level but would still have left the average as 5.1.

I think the readings for this week where I've been away will be more interesting as I didn't have any shakes for 5 days.
 
Week 10 Update
  • Lost 0.2 lbs
  • Total weight lost is 29.8 lbs
  • BMI went down 0.1 to 21.3
  • Average fasting level - 4.8 (range of 4.4 to 5.2)
Really happy with this week, was away for 5 days including two 11 hour flights and actually had my lowest weekly fasting average. Didn't have a single shake for 5 days but tried to be conservative on what I ate and managed to survive without any alcohol and just drank diet coke/coke zero instead. Steps averaged the same but were skewed by 2 really big days. Was nice to eat some proper food, generally just avoided carbs where possible but had a few bites here and there. Very hard to avoid on a long distance flight, feels strange compared to before when I would have eaten it all without even thinking about it.

Going to stick with 2 shakes for the next 2-3 days to balance out last week then increase it to 2 meals a day but looking forward to finishing up now.
 
Great stuff @CurlyWurly

Sounds like you are nearing the point where you can think about transitioning back to reintroducing real foods, and developing a new longer term way of eating that can maintain the amazing progress you have made <3
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
Great stuff @CurlyWurly

Sounds like you are nearing the point where you can think about transitioning back to reintroducing real foods, and developing a new longer term way of eating that can maintain the amazing progress you have made <3
Click to expand...

Thanks, yeah I should be on 1 shake and 2 meals a day starting today but got a few surplus shakes to use up. Despite reading up on food for the last few weeks actually feels a bit nerve racking to move on to normal meals, nice and simple when it's just the shakes.

Probably just be eating meat and fish with veg for a bit and experiment with a few options and see how I react.

Just came across this bakery which does low carb sourdough (https://lowcarbsourdough.co.uk/), the company behind it are quite large and supply to others in the catering industry. They said they're starting to see demand for it (https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/news/ma...nches-low-carb-sourdough-range/699123.article) so hopefully we'll see that expand a bit more into other products. I love sourdough so this looks great for me, will order in a couple of weeks and report back.
 
Week 11 Update
  • Lost 4.1 lbs
  • Total weight lost is 33.9 lbs
  • BMI went down 0.6 to 20.7
  • Average fasting level - 4.9 (range of 4.5 to 5.2)
Weight loss picked up again this week after staying constant the last 2 weeks. Had 2 shakes a day just to use them up, now down to the final 7 shakes plus got 3 meal bars. I love boxing and never dreamed I could be at light welterweight, I was staggered when I got to 150 let alone 140. Also means I reached the 15KG suggested by Professor Taylor.

Ended up buying some ready cooked rotisserie chicken from the supermarket and had wraps 3 days running for tea. Found some at Tesco that are only 3.7 grams of carbs (https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/308478994), they taste a little cardboardy but once you fill them up they're fine.

Constipation is still unreal, went 4-5 days without going and had to use some microlax and spent most of the day in the bathroom but still doesn't feel great. Hoping going to 1 shake a day will help and drinking a lot more water and trying to get more veg in. I think I must have been really dehydrated which accounted for the weight loss so back on the Fybogel for the final week.

Starting to think more about meals going forwards, ordered some low carb sourdough and porridge and also got a load of low carb pasta in. Looking forward to finishing up now, it's my wife's birthday this week so going for a proper breakfast at the weekend. Probably have some carbs but little treat after 12 weeks is much needed.
 
Last edited:
So nice to be able to eat some normal food, when I was just having the evening meal I couldn't be bothered to order much in or cook too much but now it's 2 meals re-discovering how nice it is to cook again. Mostly been having meat salads and trying out some different carb breads. Looking forward to getting breakfast back on the menu next week.
 
Week 12 Update - All Done
  • Lost 0.8 lbs
  • Total weight lost is 34.7 lbs
  • BMI went down 0.1 to 20.6
  • Average fasting level - 5 (range of 4.7 to 5.4)
And like that it was over, 12 weeks complete. Thought I'd put on some weight as been trying to drink a lot more water to help with the constipation and definitely felt a bit flabbier round the middle so very happy with the week and final result. Had 1 shake left over so had that on Monday and now trying to sort out some proper food and get into a good routine and hopefully get my digestion back to normal now. I realise looking back that I must have been quite dehydrated but feeling a lot better now.

Got some keto granola and porridge in so going to start on that tomorrow, aiming to have a nice quiet month and just enjoy being able to eat a bit more calories wise. Even though I didn't feel hungry on the shakes it's nice to at least sit down with the family and enjoy mealtimes again.

Got my HBA1C booked in for 2 weeks time, really curious to see the results of it.

Will do a final summary post soon with all the stats.
 
Hi CurlyWurly I've really enjoyed your posts and am very interested in your progress. Would love an update.
 
Myob said:
Hi CurlyWurly I've really enjoyed your posts and am very interested in your progress. Would love an update.
Click to expand...

Hey @Myob - how are you? Sorry been meaning to come back on here and post an update but just got sidelined. I always wanted this thread to include post progress updates as I found lots of people finished their diets then disappeared and I was always interested in what happened after.

Everything has been going great, I highly recommend the Newcastle diet to anyone thinking about it. Not much fun to start but apart from a bit of constipation it's not too bad and it really does work. Gives you a nice turbo start that would otherwise take far longer to achieve the same results.

Put a bit more info below and will make sure I update this more regularly

Weight
At my heaviest I was 183lbs in summer 2024, when I started the diet I was 174lbs and ended up at 139lbs so bang on the 35lbs Professor Taylor suggests is needed for remission. Since then I've lost further weight and am down to 122lbs but think I've actually lost too much now and I believe it might be causing me some issues. People also say I'm starting to look a bit gaunt and frail so I need to be manage it and get to a comfortable level especially as I'm only 41. My bodyfat is 10% and BMI is 18.1.

HBA1C
  • August 2024 - average of 74 (3 tests done in 1 month while they were diagnosing me)
  • November 2024 - before starting Newcastle diet but being a bit more careful about what I ate, cut out rice and pasta etc which took me down to 50
  • March 2025 - just after Newcastle diet finished I was 33
  • May 2025 - 31
I recently received a message from my surgery saying there's been some issues with the HBA1C machines so want everyone to re-take their tests as a precaution and this is booked in for a couple of weeks time.

Fasting Levels
  • January - 5.1
  • February - 5
  • March - 4.9
  • April - 4.7
  • May - 4.9
  • June - 5.2
  • July 5.2
This is where I think the weight loss might have been too much, for no reason at all despite the diet staying the same my fasting levels have been slowly ticking up. Work and life have been a bit stressful but I don't think that alone could cause it.

Diet
I've been walking on average around 12K steps a day as my only exercise and keeping to a low carb diet (20-40 grams a day) but I think combined with the weight loss my body has adjusted and just shut down. I've read that you can lose too much weight and muscle (I'm pretty weak now) and your body goes into survival mode which can cause it to tick back up again. It used to be a shock if my fasting level was above 5 now it's never below it so curious to see my HBA1C results in a few weeks.

I have been eating a few too many of those low carb snack bars more recently but I'm not sure that alone would cause this especially as I've tested on them and they don't spike me. Going to continue with the low carb diet as normal but eat a little more and try and get 2 x weights sessions in a week and see how that helps but with school holidays probably won't be able to get a proper routine going until September. I think I'll look to try out a CGM then as well.

Overall
Generally though I can't complain, weight gone and even my new clothes are looking baggy and even though my levels are higher they're still just about in the non diabetic range. Just need to stick with the plan and make some adjustments and see what works for me.

Will post more regular updates but if anyone has any questions then do shout - I'll also post a list of the things I'm eating as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top