Shake diets

[jay clock]

I stopped the diet at the beginning of December, only to start again mid January having gone a bit overboard on chocolate and beer over Christmas and New Year.

sort of says it all. The diet you were on was not sustainable and as soon as you went off it, you binged on rubbish. At least with Weight Watchers you are on a healthy balanced diet.

And if you reduce to 810 a day whether balanced diet or shakes, you are going too low in my view.

A good diet is one you can stick to and changes your habits for life. That is never going to happen on shakes

 

[Riverman]

You have to remember that those prices are for your weekly shop. When we started we were on 7 products per day. GF 3 me 4. That comes to £13.30 a day and £93.10 for the week for the 2 of us. That sounds a lot but we didn't have to buy anything else. No veg, bread, milk, eggs, meat or anything. The shakes, soups, porridges contain all the vitamins and minerals you need. As you go up the steps you reduce the number of products you have so your cost to Cambridge goes down.

We used to spend over £100 per week on our weekly shop then extra through the week so £93.10 is a saving.

Are you absolutely sure that you're just supposed to drink the shakes? The guide from the Slim4him one I was on stressed that the shakes should be combined with healthy snacks, there was a comprehensive list of foods, a little like the points weight watchers points system. And that's not forgetting the evening meal.

Two of us, weekly food bill around £40. Not dieting, not overweight. Maybe we just eat less?

That's pretty good. Do you eat much convenience food on that? £20 a week each is quite good going though.

edit: I see you're on four shakes a day. It sounds to me like they've just spread out the shakes over more meals, 4 instead of 2. Makes sense to stick to five smeall meals a day instead of three larger ones, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be eating anything else.

 

[guitarpete247]

Are you absolutely sure that you're just supposed to drink the shakes? The guide from the Slim4him one I was on stressed that the shakes should be combined with healthy snacks, there was a comprehensive list of foods, a little like the points weight watchers points system. And that's not forgetting the evening meal.

The Cambridge diet is a VLCD (Very Low Calorie Diet) to start with. We were on Sole Source which is around 500 cals and all you have are the 3 (women) 4 (men) shakes + 2.25l of water. After day 3 you are into ketosis so don't feel hungry. Sole Source+ is the only 3 shakes plus 1 small meal in the evening 80g of green veg or salad and a protein. We had 3 weeks on Sole Source, 3 on SS+ (610 cals) and then moved up to step 2 (810 cals) for another 2 weeks. All this time you are in ketosis so don't feel hungry.
Next we move to step 3, 2 shakes (products) and 3 meals and out of ketosis and 1000 cals.
I feel well and I'm not craving food like I thought I would.
You say say shakes but there are porridges, soups, bars, ready made shakes and powdered shakes. I like the Cappuccino powdered shake, with a little crushed ice when I get home from work. It tastes like a Frappé.

 

[Ghost Donkey]

I think one of the main benefits of these diets is to force a degree of structure into eating patterns. Whilst many people on here may laugh at that given how easy they find it themselves, the degree of obesity in this country is testament that it's not as easy as some people think.

This is a very important point. One of the problems is the poor support and nutritional advice available from the NHS. It is possible to loose weight, without exercising, eating well.I'll use my wife as an example here. She's not obese but has MS and is forced to use a wheelchair most of the day. As she is not active through her condition she has struggled to maintain her weight. She recently embarked on an MS specific diet aimed at cutting out food which many people are intolerant to as well as having a food tolerance test on herself. The aim of the diet is to slow down the progress of the MS. As an aside to this she has lost a lot of weight and feels better in herself. She doesn't go hungry but only eats fresh fish, limited amounts of lean meat, and lots of vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds. I'm not suggesting following the same diet but it is possible to loose weight when immobile given the correct nutritional advice. Unfortunately the NHS seems to have a single approach to weight loss. I have a former colleague whose partner is morbidly obese, to big to do much exercise and suffers from sleep apnia and diabetes. The low fat diet is unfortunately not working for him and they are looking at surgery as a last resort. They don't have much else for him.

The shakes are nasty. They main contain nutrients but you can get these from foods which are low in calories/fats/carbs whichever you may be counting. They also mess around with hormonal responses to foods which is one of the problems people suffer from when they are dangerously obese (I'm not suggesting this is the case with you).. Don't take my word for it, do a little research while you're on line.

 

[smutchin]

You say say shakes but there are porridges, soups, bars, ready made shakes and powdered shakes. I like the Cappuccino powdered shake, with a little crushed ice when I get home from work. It tastes like a Frappé.

Sounds delicious.

d.

 

[Riverman]

Gotta say BMI is a bit silly. I'm 75kg now and ~173cm tall but still overweight. Anyone know a good set of callipers I could buy to get a more accurate measure? I don't exactly look fat anymore! Maybe still a little around the neck, which just doesn't want to shift sadly.

Counting in kilos really does put things into perspective as I used to cycle tour a bit and used grumbled about any extra weight I was carrying, like an extra 500g for a thicker sleeping bag.

Body weight change of ~88kg to 75kg makes that look laughable now.

 

[smutchin]

Gotta say BMI is a bit silly. I'm 75kg now and ~173cm tall but still overweight.

You're marginally overweight, according to a technical definition of "overweight" on a scale that's based on a rudimentary formula that doesn't by any means take into account all factors influencing body weight. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you.

d.

 

[User269]

Alcohol No point trying to lose weight if you drink.

Calories per unit;
Spirit 50
Wine 75
Beer 100
Per bottle (750ml) Spirit 1500
Wine 550 – 600

So, with my 3 bottles of whisky a day that's an extra 4500 calories. No wonder I've a bit of a stomach, Wernickes Encephalophathy, hepatic & renal failure, peripheral neuritis, clinical depression, short term memory loss, posting on cycling forums, short term memory loss, lack of concen.............................

 

[Ghost Donkey]

Gotta say BMI is a bit silly. I'm 75kg now and ~173cm tall but still overweight. Anyone know a good set of callipers I could buy to get a more accurate measure? I don't exactly look fat anymore! Maybe still a little around the neck, which just doesn't want to shift sadly.

Counting in kilos really does put things into perspective as I used to cycle tour a bit and used grumbled about any extra weight I was carrying, like an extra 500g for a thicker sleeping bag.

Body weight change of ~88kg to 75kg makes that look laughable now.

BMI is a bit of a joke if you're not "medium build" and various forms of fat measurement can be a bit inconsistent. I'm 170cm 70 KG and while not overweight it's at the higher end of OK in the BMI scale. When I weighed 75KG my stomach muscles were showing at the top of my stomach which is a good indication of leanness. According to the BMI calculator on the NHS website 72.3KG would see me as overweight and at risk.

I bought some "Medical callipers" from amazon (I have no way of knowing if these are accurate or whether I am following the instructions correctly) measure me at 10% body fat using the instructions which came with them. Various websites using different combinations of body parts measured using different algorithams had me between 9 and 15% body fat. Expensive scales at the gym at work which uses an electric current through hands and feet had me at 12% body fat and our £30 bathroom scales which does a foot only electric shock body fat test has me at 22% body fat. The US marine corps body measurement algorithm has me at over 30% body fat, which I'd dispute. I've got no idea where I'm at but lean enough for a sort of six pack and I don't weigh 90KG any more which is the main thing.

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

BMI is a bit of a joke if you're not "medium build" and various forms of fat measurement can be a bit inconsistent. I'm 170cm 70 KG and while not overweight it's at the higher end of OK in the BMI scale. When I weighed 75KG my stomach muscles were showing at the top of my stomach which is a good indication of leanness. According to the BMI calculator on the NHS website 72.3KG would see me as overweight and at risk.

I bought some "Medical callipers" from amazon (I have no way of knowing if these are accurate or whether I am following the instructions correctly) measure me at 10% body fat using the instructions which came with them. Various websites using different combinations of body parts measured using different algorithams had me between 9 and 15% body fat. Expensive scales at the gym at work which uses an electric current through hands and feet had me at 12% body fat and our £30 bathroom scales which does a foot only electric shock body fat test has me at 22% body fat. The US marine corps body measurement algorithm has me at over 30% body fat, which I'd dispute. I've got no idea where I'm at but lean enough for a sort of six pack and I don't weigh 90KG any more which is the main thing.

Yeah BMI can't count for muscle which often throws perfectly fit and healthy people into obese categories. Although even on wii fit/ BF% scales and the like, as inaccurate as they can be/are a good guide is there for progress. The starting number you get from either is the number you will remember and gauge progress on.

I like looking in the mirror personally,although I often don't like whats looking back. Think, Donnie Darko with less fur

Crude but somewhat relevant,yet not exact.

 

[ColinJ]

I like looking in the mirror personally,although I often don't like whats looking back. Think, Donnie Darko with less fur

Donnie Darko didn't have any fur!


Damn - I'm closer to the 35% than any of the others now, and that fits in with the amount of weight I've put on.

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Donnie Darko didn't have any fur!

Damn - I'm closer to the 35% than any of the others now, and that fits in with the amount of weight I've put on.

I realised that too late

 

[jay clock]

Mr 30% appears to have an extra 3kg of underpant content

 

[Riverman]

Kinda screwed up the shake diet by having 4 pints of Zubr lager tonight. Not a bad lager to be honest. Pretty good compared to Carlsberg etc, quite smooth, 6% and only £1 for a 50cl bottle in some places. Bargain!

Just wonder how much of an effect this is going to have on my weight now. Need to get back on the bike but this is the perfect time of year for that. Nights getting longer, it getting warmer and all that.

 

[vickster]

At least you're still avoiding solids