I was wondering if anyone had started off with shakes, Dr Mosley talks about the study groups using shakes as it’s more controlled and suggests that I could do that, even if it’s only for the first few weeks.

I wondered what brands people had used, which they thought were better and whether they worked for them??

Thanks,

HairyD

Welcome on board.
I started with Shakes for 10 days. I was not doing it through a doctor and bought the ones I could get in Boots the Chemist in the UK. The first week although I lost weight, but not as much as others were and nothing off of my waist. I used it for 3 meal replacements a day and had a veggie meal (stir-fry or soup) in the evening. It made it easy to adjust to the 800 cals and I was sure I was not eating too much.
What I had not noticed was that the replacement meal shakes were quite high in carbs – which was why the no change in waist measurements. The following week I found one with higher protein content and lower carbs, oat based and carried on for a few days. I then dropped to one replacement meal (breakfast), soup for lunch and a cooked meal in the evening. By the third week I was cooking everything and ditched the replacement meals.
It seemed a good way to start – simple and avoids temptations of adding to the plate, but beware – most shakes are high in carbs – I was getting 90g carbs a day from them and then add on soup or stir-fry as well and I was over 100g carbs. Not surprising the weight loss was slow and most important that nothing was coming off of my waist.
Do have a good look at the nutrition breakdown of the Shakes and ensure they are not high carb as that will not help you adjust.
The 4 weeks menu section at the end is probably the best way to start and be ‘safe’ in what you are eating. If I ever have to start again, I won’t use Shakes. I will take a little more time to plan ahead, look at my normal cooking and plan and adjust that. Get a lot of good soups in the freezer – they are much more filling, and less in carbs than the Shakes.
Good luck getting started!

I’m using Scitec Nutrition 100% Whey Protein Pro and it’s got 1.4g carb per 30g scoop. My favourite flavour is Chocolate Hazelnut. Replacing two meals a day with that is no ordeal. I mix it up with 250ml Alpro Unsweetened Almond Milk and while that has 0.1g carb per 100ml, it has also got 0.4g fibre. So that’s -0.8g net carbs for the 250ml of milk. And that comes up to 250 calories.

Now you’ve got me doing the math, I see that’s working out at nearly zero-carb for the shake. 1.4g + (-0.8g) = 0.6g Net carbs

Hmm, that gives me more wriggle room than I thought. On 800 calories a day, 5% of my energy coming from carbs means I’ve a daily limit of 10g net carbs – 5% of 800 being 40 and 4 calories per gram of carbohydrate giving me the 10g. And that last meal can be 300 calories. Do-able! With no snacks, though.

(That 5% figure seems to be the threshold to achieve ketosis – another story. I understand that is not a direct aim of this program.)

OK, that’s the plan. Two protein shakes to replace meals and 10g net carbs from as wide a range of low-carb veg as I like.

I’m starting Week 3 today. I’ve halved my Lantus dosage and my bolus shots of insulin are a fraction of what they had been. In fact, my daily total is significantly less than what I was taking to effectively cover one meal. And my glucose readings are finally on target – consistently.

Thank you guys for your take on this. I was looking at the boots site to see what they had to offer, and like you said most of them were high in carbs.

I have a naughty habit of overfilling my plate, and making myself stupidly stuffed, so thought a shake would be harder to ‘overdo’…

Plus my husband is away a lot with work, and I thought if I can tell him to just have a few shakes during the day then go to nandos for chicken and salad for tea, I’ve more chance of him doing it! 🙂

Thank you, I’ll do some prep work and have the cupboards and fridge ‘de-cluttered’ by Friday ready for hubby getting home, then we can aim to start next week! 😀

Thanks,
HairyD

Hi HairyD,
the best thing for an overfull plate is a smaller plate! Seriously it does work. Start today so you are used to picking up that plate next week. I have been using smaller plates since I started and your brain soon accepts that is a portion.
Could you persuade your husband to take flask of 200 ml full fat milk (134 cals, 9g carbs) and a wide necked flask of soup (120-200 cals)! Greek yogurt (150g) plus fresh berries mixed through would also fill him and be around the 200 cals, but under 15g carbs.
Anyhow – have fun planning the menus – it is part of the learning for your future as this is al about making a real change to how we live not just losing weight, but keeping it off.
Looking forward to seeing more posts as you progress.