Hello ! This is my first day (proper) on the BSD. I’ve been having a transition period for a week or so where I have been changing my habits ready for the big push…
I’ve decided to follow Prof Taylor and Leans advice and follow the 800 Cal VLCD. I don’t have diabetes, but I do have Hypertension, so have spoken to my nurse, and am going to monitor my BP daily as I want to decrease my dose as the BP normalises. I’ve read all the information on the fantastic work that has been done by Prof Taylor/Lean, and can clearly see that the ‘Counterweight’ program that has been developed works, period. To this end, I will be following my own slightly adapted version that will work for me. It’s no problem at all what I eat/drink during the day, but it is very important to me in the long term for this WOE to work, that I can sit down and have a ‘meal’ with my family in the evening. Also, I have developed some awful eating habits, namely bingeing, so I have thought long and hard about what is going to work for me. I really need a very clear and prescriptive WOE that means I don’t have to create recipes, I can just have what I’m allowed and that’s it. I know it sounds really cold and prescriptive, but I just feel like I want to follow a regular ready made meal plan where I don’t have to prepare food, such as the Newcastle study.
So, I will be having the following each day –

Breakfast – Slimfast porridge (100 Cals)
Lunch – Slimfast ready made shake (200 Cals)
Early Evening – Slimfast ready made shake (200 Cals)
Dinner – Weightwatchers ready made meal (300 Cals) – On a bed of spinach leaves to get some fibre

3 litres of water a day
No alcohol

Total of 800 Cals

I’m going to follow this plan to the letter for 12 weeks, and then follow a transition period of increasing my calories as advocated by the Counterpoint study.

I’m well aware that pre-packaged products contain sugar, and I should be avoiding those, BUT its really important that I follow a very prescriptive eating plan to develop life long eating changes. The VLCD makes NO mention of decreasing Carbs.
My scientific mind tells me that the above will work, the numerous studies are more than proof enough !

I’d be very interested to hear your views, as I know my plan differs from that advocated here, but I’ve read enough case studies to see that a liquid diet works, although in my case I’ve added a small meal to keep things (my family life) normal. Otherwise, if I have another shake at dinner, then I just know I will crash and burn….

Have a great day.

Hi Salty and welcome. Whatever works best for you is okay. Although just 2 points, the slimfast porridge might contain artificial sweetners which dont help dieters, they fool the body into thinking it is getting something sweet and then craving when it doesn’t hit the spot. You can buy a pot from Lakeland (and other places) which you put in oats and milk (or water) stick it in the microwave for 2 mins and voila you have porridge just dont add anything sweet.

2ndly, as a long time fan (ex fan) or WW I would suggest that the ready meals are going to be very small portion wise, even as a small woman I didn’t find them enough. Use them yes, but dont be afraid to add a big pile of very low calories veg like spinach or cabbage to pad it out, even if it adds 20 or 50 calories to your overall intake. Good luck, you seem to have a plan.

Hi Sunshine girl !

That’s great advice thankyou !. I’m going to continually ‘tweak’ what I’m eating, so initially I’ll stay on what I posted earlier for 8 weeks, just to let new habits form. After that, I’m going to replace the two shakes with a homemade salad or similar. Switching off to having to make meals seems to be working for me, simply eat/drink what I’m allowed, no more, no less. Simple.
Great advice regarding the vegetables, I’m going to add either spinach or cabbage at every meal to add fibre and bulk.
At the end of the day, 8 weeks is not that long for amazing results !!

Hi Seadog, I would probably be a little concerned about some vitamin or mineral lacks over 12 weeks of such a restrictive diet, in that there is so little variety, so would probably suggest you take a multivitamin/mineral tablet every couple of days as well, as suggested by MM. After a few weeks on Slimfast you may feel like some variety anyway, in which case it would be relatively easy to mimic the same structure for the breakfast and the two shakes with a lower sugar/carb, bio-live additions for the gut biome, higher fibre/fat version and different flavourings which is what I would do. Just measure out any ingredients so you are sure it is still 800 calories. There are many potential additions to porridge that make it really satisfying and simple to prepare. Good luck with your plan and keep us posted with how it goes.