VLCD using meal replacements...

[laurenmay]

Hi everyone,

I think I've possibly tried and tested most of the diets out there, from weight watchers to slimming world, no carbs to the grapefruit diet, juice diets, slim fast... But the only thing that's ever worked for me, and by worked I mean allowed me to lose a lot of weight quickly and keep it all off too, is a VLCD...

As a rule I tend to eat under 1100 calories a day, I know this is under the recommended daily amount for a woman losing weight, but trust me - I've tried a lot of different daily calorie amounts, and always stayed the same or gained when I ate anything over 1200 calories a day.. It may be that I'm only short (5ft 3ins) so my body doesn't require a great number of calories. Anyway...

As I was saying, I eat below 1100 calories a day, and attend the gym doing high intensity cardio workouts and weight training four times a week. But I always allow myself one cheat evening a week! Usually its a Friday, and by the time 5pm hits, the diet is bye-bye for the night & I eat whatever the hell I like.. (more often than not its a hefty Chinese and a tub of Ben and Jerry's!)... But I always make sure I get straight back to my diet regime Saturday morning.

Having the one cheat evening a week helps keep me on track, because it's something to look forward to and dieting never seems that difficult the other six days knowing that I have my cheat evening to look forward to also I think because eating a VLCD regularly lowers metabolism after a little while and can put the body into starvation mode, having the one indulgent evening a week helps 'shock' the body, and tricks it so it doesn't think it's being starved and therefore doesn't go into starvation mode & doesn't lower metabolism rates..

Some people may criticise my beliefs in this form of dieting and how I chose to lose weight & maintain my weight.. and I honestly don't mind, as everybody is entitled to their own opinion on what's right or wrong, healthy or unhealthy or what works and doesn't!..

All I know, is this lifestyle has before helped me drop from 13st 7lbs to 9st 7lbs, which is an ideal weight for my short frame and also helped me keep the weight off too!

Although, the past four months I've had a lazy phase, meaning I've skipped gym workouts several times and hand on my heart ate nothing but absolute fat filled junk food non stop! and with doing so have gained over two stone and plummeted up to 12st! so as of tomorrow, I'm back on my version of the VLCD diet which will include a meal replacement shake for breakfast and lunch (both 151 calories each) as I'm busy with work so won't have time to prepare food.

Wish me luck! x

 

[Starlight]

So what does your VLCD involve? What do you have and how many kcals a day?

 

[laurenmay]

Well today I've planned out..

• One serving of Pro-Trim meal replacement shake for breakfast - 151 calories.
• 22g bag of sour cream and Chive Snackajacks as a mid morning snack - 92 calories
• One serving of Pro-Trim meal replacement shake for lunch - 151 calories.
• Alpen chocolate nut cereal bar as an afternoon snack - 123 calories.
• Bottle of Lucozade lite cherry flavour to take to the gym - 50 calories.
• 2 wild Alaskan salmon fillets with 2 laughing cow light soft cheese triangles for dinner (I don't like vegetables) - 290 calories.
• weight watchers Banoffee dessert - 172 calories
• options Belgian hot chocolate - 40 calories
Total for the day is 1067..

and because there's a lot of protein involved, the meal replacement shakes are low carb & high protein too, then I don't feel hungry either

 

[KatherineK]

Good luck!

I am also on a VLCD using all meal replacement shakes. No solid food at all. I am a T2 diabetic, so am doing this with my GP support. It's true what you say, it certainly shifts the pounds and quickly. My WI day is a Monday, last week I lost 12lb, this week already I have lost 10lb. That is a dramatic weight loss, and I am really not sure what my GP is going to say Monday. Hopefully he will continue to support me, as a plateau has to come soon.

Sorry for hijacking your diary a little, I really only posted to wish you lots and lots of luck.

 

[weasey]

laurenmay - A VLCD is officially 800 calories or less so what you are doing is a LCD whilst in ketosis. Not that it matters - just thought I'd say!

I don't know the food values of a number of the things on your food diary but the things I would check are:

Make sure you are having at least 50g of protein every day - I think you probably are given the salmon but I'm not sure what protein is in your meal replacement shakes.
Check that you are having a maximum of 60g of carbs a day to keep you in ketosis (bit worried about the weight watchers dessert as it could be carb loaded)
Avoid citric acid unless you know that it doesn't knock you out of ketosis (worried about the Lucozade)
Take a multivitamin to make sure you are getting the other nutrients you need (I would suggest a pregnancy one as they don't contain vitamin A and you'll be getting vitamin A in your MRP shakes - too much vitamin A is actually quite bad for you)

 

[weasey]

Good luck!

I am also on a VLCD using all meal replacement shakes. No solid food at all. I am a T2 diabetic, so am doing this with my GP support. It's true what you say, it certainly shifts the pounds and quickly. My WI day is a Monday, last week I lost 12lb, this week already I have lost 10lb. That is a dramatic weight loss, and I am really not sure what my GP is going to say Monday. Hopefully he will continue to support me, as a plateau has to come soon.

Sorry for hijacking your diary a little, I really only posted to wish you lots and lots of luck.

I'm T2 diabetic too. Before I started my VLCD I was on 4 metformin and my medication had just been put up with the addition of another tablet. Make sure you are keeping an eye on your blood sugar level as mine dropped rapidly and within 2.5 weeks I was off all blood sugar medication. I am now 8 months in and have lost over 8.5 stone. Only 6 lbs to go to goal and then I have to be really careful reintroducing food and looking at its affect on my blood sugar. Did you see the study which came out in June last year looking at the affect of a 600 calorie a day diet on T2 diabetes? Really encouraging results. Good luck!

Also, have you considered Slim and Save? It's a VLCD where you can eat certain vegetables and it has packs which are meals (such as spag bol) - the weight loss is the same as other VLCDs. Not sure I could survive on just shakes!

 

[laurenmay]

laurenmay - A VLCD is officially 800 calories or less so what you are doing is a LCD whilst in ketosis. Not that it matters - just thought I'd say!

I don't know the food values of a number of the things on your food diary but the things I would check are:

Make sure you are having at least 50g of protein every day - I think you probably are given the salmon but I'm not sure what protein is in your meal replacement shakes.
Check that you are having a maximum of 60g of carbs a day to keep you in ketosis (bit worried about the weight watchers dessert as it could be carb loaded)
Avoid citric acid unless you know that it doesn't knock you out of ketosis (worried about the Lucozade)
Take a multivitamin to make sure you are getting the other nutrients you need (I would suggest a pregnancy one as they don't contain vitamin A and you'll be getting vitamin A in your MRP shakes - too much vitamin A is actually quite bad for you)

Hello well the meal replacement shakes are ones I buy from the gym, and packed full of protein and low carb.. Their basically protein shakes but in the form of meal replacement meaning their very low calories.

I don't even understand what this ketosis business is? All I know is eating this way is what works for me & is what gets the weight shifting

 

[KatherineK]

I'm T2 diabetic too. Before I started my VLCD I was on 4 metformin and my medication had just been put up with the addition of another tablet. Make sure you are keeping an eye on your blood sugar level as mine dropped rapidly and within 2.5 weeks I was off all blood sugar medication. I am now 8 months in and have lost over 8.5 stone. Only 6 lbs to go to goal and then I have to be really careful reintroducing food and looking at its affect on my blood sugar. Did you see the study which came out in June last year looking at the affect of a 600 calorie a day diet on T2 diabetes? Really encouraging results. Good luck!

Also, have you considered Slim and Save? It's a VLCD where you can eat certain vegetables and it has packs which are meals (such as spag bol) - the weight loss is the same as other VLCDs. Not sure I could survive on just shakes!

Hi again

The diet is from a study carried out at the University of Newcastle, and hence named the Newcastle diet. The idea is to rid all visceral fat from around the organs, especially the pancreas. The study showed that 12 and then 18 months later 7 of the eleven who participated in the study, all returned to non diabetic levels. My levels after just two weeks are now normal. The remaining 6 weeks of the diet is to shed as much excess fat as possible, to again boost the pancreas's chances.

I am on 2x Metformin daily, I want to stay on at least one, as long as possible as they give valuable protection to the heart. I spoke with S&S today (aren't they lovely helpful people)? They say the only problem I may have is a deficiency in sodium, but advised me how I could keep my sodium levels up.

Today I had a sneaky peak on the scales <blush> and am .4 away from a normal BMI. That is down to the weight loss, so am really greatful to S&S.

3x shakes a day only, really isn't so bad. I have no hunger between, I have been in ketosis a long time, as I did Atkins induction before S&S so manage just three shake relatively easily. Can't wait for real food though.

 

[weasey]

Hi again

The diet is from a study carried out at the University of Newcastle, and hence named the Newcastle diet. The idea is to rid all visceral fat from around the organs, especially the pancreas. The study showed that 12 and then 18 months later 7 of the eleven who participated in the study, all returned to non diabetic levels. My levels after just two weeks are now normal. The remaining 6 weeks of the diet is to shed as much excess fat as possible, to again boost the pancreas's chances.

I am on 2x Metformin daily, I want to stay on at least one, as long as possible as they give valuable protection to the heart. I spoke with S&S today (aren't they lovely helpful people)? They say the only problem I may have is a deficiency in sodium, but advised me how I could keep my sodium levels up.

Today I had a sneaky peak on the scales <blush> and am .4 away from a normal BMI. That is down to the weight loss, so am really greatful to S&S.

3x shakes a day only, really isn't so bad. I have no hunger between, I have been in ketosis a long time, as I did Atkins induction before S&S so manage just three shake relatively easily. Can't wait for real food though.

Yes - I know about the Newcastle study - it's one of the main reasons I started doing this. It came out last June and I started in July. You need to have 4 packs or add protein. It's not about hunger - ketosis supressess hunger so you are unlikely to feel hungry - it's about not getting muscle wastage. You need to look after yourself. Also, keep an eye on your blood sugar levels - if they drop you will be hurting yourself by continuing to take metformin. Yesterday I got my results of my long term blood sugar test and it was 5.2%! Imagine adding a metformin to that!

.4 away from a normal BMI is fantastic!!!

 

[KatherineK]

Yes - I know about the Newcastle study - it's one of the main reasons I started doing this. It came out last June and I started in July. You need to have 4 packs or add protein. It's not about hunger - ketosis supressess hunger so you are unlikely to feel hungry - it's about not getting muscle wastage. You need to look after yourself. Also, keep an eye on your blood sugar levels - if they drop you will be hurting yourself by continuing to take metformin. Yesterday I got my results of my long term blood sugar test and it was 5.2%! Imagine adding a metformin to that!

.4 away from a normal BMI is fantastic!!!

I spoke to S&S yesterday, they say 3 shakes is fine, but to be very careful of sodium deficiency. They advised water flavouring so I bought a couple. I had 3.8 BG today, but I think that may have been a bad strip. My BG's are always in the 4's or very low 5's. I am going stop one Metformin next week. I just need to see my GP first. I hit my healthy BMI today.

I may have to ease off S&S soon, as my weight loss is too heavy, to carry on for much longer if it doesn't plateau soon. If I have to stop S&S then my re-feed will be two shakes and a meal for a while, then two meals and one shake. I will then stick to that to maintain. If I gain then I will do S&S for a while just to keep right.

A 5.2 HbA1c is amazing. I am due mine at the end of this month, so it will be interesting to see what has happened, but it will have dropped by a good bit.

Brilliant work, keep going, we can beat diabetes and weight increase.