I dont want to breach any rules here by naming brand names if that’s not allowed. Its just I have been sticking rigidly to the diet by using diet replacement shakes rather than real food. I have been carefully weighing out carrots and hummous to top out my remaining 200 calories, but in 5 days I have lost absolutely nothing off my waist. Because I am out travelling such a lot for my job, being able to take shakes with me is much more convenient than cooking my own food but I was wondering if it’s possible that the shakes I am using have too many carbohydrates in. Are some brands better than others, or are all the meal replacement shakes with around 200 calories in acceptable?
I don’t want to give up because I’ve been finding this relatively easy and I really need to lose my abdominal fat and come out of pre-diabetic status but I’m not sure if this is working for me.
Any advice gratefully received.
Thanks

Hi Hargis
Not sure I’m going to be any help here, but I wanted to welcome you to the BSD clan. Can’t say I’m very savvy about the shakes, but could you perhaps eat a breakfast and evening meal and just use a shake for lunch? I’m asking as I suspect that it is the carb content of the shakes that may be the problem and by just using them for lunch, you’d have a better shot at controlling your carb intake. The other thing to consider, is if you are consuming enough fat, as this is important on the BSD. It really does seem that not all calories are equal, so the source of the calorie matters.
Good luck and hope you see some positive progress soon.

Michael Mosley mentions them in the book – how you can use them in the BSD. The topic is covered on pages 128-129 and gives some guidelines to help. I have a sachet in my bag in case my work schedule dictates that I can’t get to a proper meal.

cheers
Libby

Thank you so much Libby and SunnyB for your replies.
I’m big on following rules so I have been slavishly following Michael Mosley’s guidance on pages 128 / 129 as to how to use shakes, but unfortunately he doesnt specify what shakes. But maybe it doesn’t matter (though I would be interested Libby to know where you got your sachets as I have been using those pre-prepared in bottles) because today I weighed myself again and have lost 2 kg and 1/2 inch of my waist! Why do we do this to ourselves? And how can our bodies fluctuate so much??
So today I am feeling so much more positive, though with Easter approaching I am also going to take up Sunny B’s suggestion and eat real food over the Easter period and hopefully the combination will keep me going in the right direction.
Thank you both for spurring me on.

Hey Hargsi
Big congrats on the long awaited result – bet you’re really chuffed. Let us know how you get on over Easter, it will be interesting to see if al diet less reliant on shakes works for you.
Have a good Easter break – and not too many choccies!

Hi Hargsi
Pleased to see it’s starting to work for you.
As mentioned, check the total carb contents of your 2 shakes and the other food that you would normally eat in a day.
You need the carb content to be around or below 50g to get the best out of the diet although I worry that you may not be eating enough fat. Are you keeping an eye on that too ?

Hi everyone
Today was my second weekly weigh-in and I’m now finding myself getting more and more interested in the debate between using only shakes or eating real food.
In the first week I had 3 shakes per day plus the 200 calorie top up of good, fibrous veg. Using these particular shakes I was having around 63 g of carbs per day plus whatever was in the veg. In my first week I lost 2kg and 1 1/2 inches off my waist. As I only need to lose 10 kg I was really pleased with this, though more importantly I needed to lose around 7 inches off my waist (I’m a real apple shape!)
The second week included Easter which gave me more time to go for long walks and to introduce real food into my diet. In this second week I have lost 1kg and 1/2 and inch off my waist. Not nearly as exciting although I do realise that water could have accounted for a lot of my weight loss in the first week.
So on the face of it, the shakes win, however as you always lose more in the first week I intend going back to the shake only regime for this next week which should provide a more reliable comparison.
It’s all going the right way but what really counts is the blood sugar levels and I haven’t checked those yet. As a pre-diabetic trying to head things off at the pass, I was keen to monitor this, but my doctor did not approve of my going on this diet (gave all the reasons that Michael Mosley said she would) and told me that there was absolutely no point checking my blood sugar as this would not tell me anything. And so I need to wait until November for my annual check-up unless I invest in a blood sugar monitor myself.
Have other pre-diabetics found this useful?
Until next week folks with the update on the meals versus shakes experiment.
Hargsi

Hargsi

Well done for losing the weight. I think it’s always better to have ‘real’ food rather than meal replacements, because that’s how you re-tune your appetite.

Like you, I’m pre-diabetic (officially diabetic on the first reading!) as I found out from using hubby’s monitor. I’m still checking my blood sugar one a week. It’s going down but still too high. If you are losing weight and feeling good, you probably don’t need to monitor, but if you don’t have easy access to a monitor, it would probably be useful to buy one.

Pam1954

The only worry I would have about using shakes is the amount of fat they contain.
Being low carb is all very well but if there isn’t enough fat in there to satisfy the bodies fuel needs you may struggle.
Of course you could really up the fat in your “proper” meal but I think it’s best to have it gradually through the day to help your digestion and take away those carb cravings.

Hi Bill1954
As you say, the shakes themselves are low in fat. Each one only has 1.3g of fat so in total that is 4g per day. However I make up for it when I have my daily portion of humous which gives me 16g. Thankfully I am not a natural carb eater anyway so tend not to crave them. I am much more of a caveman (cavewoman), preferring meat, fish and cheese. In my opinion bread is only there to stop your ham falling on the floor! 😉 however I am keen to see this through to the end and I want to limit my opportunities to slip.
I will see how I get on this week and will bear in mind the advice about possibly beginning to crave carbs. I also take on board what Pam1954 says about retuning my stomach. Hopefully as long as I am aware of the pitfalls I can make the appropriate changes. And of course, if I don’t make much headway in my experimental third week then I may change my approach again.
I think it is this experimental approach which is keeping me focused at the moment. I had better watch out when the novelty wears off!

Hargsi,
I started with Shakes, 3 first week plus veg soups, 2 for part of second week and then one towards the end of that week. I then went onto real food as soon as I knew I was fine with 800 a day. I used the powders – Slender Shake from Boots – 30g plus 250ml skimmed milk – 205cals per meal. I was losing weight, but nothing from my waist. I then realised the carbs were high and since it was skimmed milk – no fat either. I changed to Oatwell powder which is lower in carbs and higher in protein. I used skimmed milk again, but it probably would have worked better with full fat milk. I did try a couple of the body builder made up drinks, but they were awful so I moved onto real food full time.
If I were starting again, I would just take a couple more days before starting to get the fridge and freezer full of soups plus full fat Greek yoghurts, humus etc. That works just we well. When I was organised and I commuted to London I used to take my own soup (frozen) into the office, plus fruit. It would be a little defrosted by lunchtime, so it went into the microwave for 20 mins – instant meal full of goodness. When I was disorganised – it was the nearest sandwich shop plus cake and skinny lates – thus the weight issues :-(.