Hi all
I started the fast 800 about 2 years ago. Good results to begin with. Blood sugar down to Pre -diabetic and lost 2 stone. Over time the weight crept back on and started seriously +3 months ago but very little impact this time.
I have been very disciplined – I am doing high intensity gym 5 days a weak, no alcohol, fast 800 shake for breakfast, shake for lunch, healthy meal for supper – very rarely over 800 calories – lost 1 kg and can’t get my blood sugar down. I need to loose c. 20kg
Any suggestions as to why it isn’t working this time? or suggestion as to what else I could do ?
Thank you very much

Hi Johnny E, I have done some reading on the shakes and while they appear to be low carb, low sugar and around 200 cals I really think our bodies need real food. On reading the nutrition details I noted they count carbs, fibre and sugar as 3 separate items. Added together they make 14.8 g carbs per shake or 29 g per day and then whatever else you eat. Im not sure if you can deduct the fibre content as some people believe the fibre is a good form of carbs. But I will quote from Dr Mosleys site –

“We encourage a colourful, wholefood Mediterranean-style diet, rich in fibre, protein, vegetables and healthy fats. It’s one of the best ways to lose weight to improve your health and forms the basis of The Fast 800 online programme.”

He also says

“While I don’t think shakes should be used as a frequent replacement for a well-balanced meal, this is a convenient alternative to the processed foods we often turn to when we are stressed or when fresh food is not easy to access.”

So maybe using the shakes so frequently is not giving your body the variety of nutrients it needs. As far as shakes go these are the best ones to use but only as fill in when you cant get something real.

Can I also say when I started this diet nearly 6 years ago my BG fell dramatically in around 2 to 3 weeks and has stayed good ever since but I dont eat carbs (hardly) at all now. I have now started TRE and have had a further reduction in BG and been able to reduce my insulin injections even further.

Crikey, that sounds like a tough regime Johnny! I don’t know why you’re not losing weight, but have you done 3 months on 2 meal replacement shakes a day? Is that how you lost weight and lowered your blood sugar two years ago?

Hi JohnnyE,
I’ve some thoughts on what might be going on — — first, ditch the shakes and replace them with eggs for breakfast (small omelette with a bit of cheese, scrambled, egg mini muffin with bacon or ham), salad and a good quality protein for lunch (tuna, chicken, ham, beef plus lettuce, endive, arugula, a few veg like peppers, cabbage, a few cherry tomatoes, avocado, olive oil dressing) and then protein and above-ground green veg for dinner (go wild on chard, collards, kale etc — all good with a bit of grass-fed butter).
This will get your sugary refined-carb numbers way way down within about three days. My personal experience is that shakes are just too refined, easy carbs, causing quicker-than-desirable sugar spikes and thus the accompanying insulin spike which we definitely don’t want.
Secondly, there is something weird about heavy exercise while following this diet and it must have something to do with the body’s desperate desire to protect us in the face of true famine (also to maintain “stasis”) — the more I exercised hard (and I’m a bit of an exercise fanatic) the SLOWER my weight loss!
I found that an hour of gentler exercise per day (heart rate 120-135) was BETTER than an hour or more of all-out aerobics (135-150 BPM) — the gentle exercise SPEEDED UP the weight loss. The hard exercise almost STOPPED it.
This would be a fascinating study — I know I am not the only one in this forum in the last five years who has commented on this — it is common and counter-intuitive. For those of us who have used exercise to control our weight for all our lives it is an eye-opener!
So, gently, start again.
Ditch the shakes, try to get your carbs right down, seriously, 30 grams or less per day for a few days (add back in bit by bit and see how you go — you WILL 😀 eat carbs again), gentle exercise. It’s likely going to get your blood sugar down very fast and insulin down and you will start to lose weight again.
Let us know how you get on!
Best wishes for a better outcome,
Julia