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Counter Weight-plus

Hibby65

Well-Known Member
Messages
60
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Other
Had my annual Diabetic checkup today and it was suggested that l consider the Counter Weight-plus Programme as a kickstart to weight loss and a New healthier diet / lifestyle.

It’s NHS Lothian in Scotland that told me about it

Anyone any experience of this program?
 
From a Google, it's basically the Newcastle Diet i.e a restricted calorie diet. I've no idea if this one uses shakes or real food.
 
Counterweight plus is the NHS application of the Newcastle diet. It's primarily shakes from an oddly founded company registered in Wales...they are very bad at answering requests for information and have little to no social media presence.
@Hibby65 what are you currently eating?
 
Currently eating all the wrong stuff, been on low carb, Atkins, Scottish Slimmers, diets l’ve made up myself. Typical yo-yo dieter.
 
Hibby65 said:
Currently eating all the wrong stuff, been on low carb, Atkins, Scottish Slimmers, diets l’ve made up myself. Typical yo-yo dieter.
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Personally I'd give very low carb another go and try not to fall off the wagon for a month before starving myself with shakes..
Meat , eggs, fish, green veg, cheese. Cream in coffee and tea. After 30 days you should be lighter and have overcome most addiction issues. What's a month for health?
 
Hi did the Low Carb diet about a year and a half ago and quite enjoyed it (got sick of eggs near the end of my stint) ended up with an ambulance trip to hospital with gallbladder problems - then sepsis then kidney failures. Docs told me to stop the low carb diet as they felt it did not help and possibly contributed to my initial gallbladder problem. Must admit I wasnt going to argue took me a good couple of months to recover. Mind you lost about 1 1/2 stones in the space of 2 weeks.
 
You have had a rough time, @Hibby65 . Have you had your gallbladder removed?

I used the prototype to the Counterweight method 8 years ago, when it was still in the experimental phase. I achieved a weightloss of 49k, over a few months, though some of that found me again. I did achieve non-diabetes blood glucose readings within the first week, and have managed to maintain those, apart from a few months last year when I needed steroid medication for another condition.
It wasn’t difficult to adhere to the meal replacements. I did not feel hungry after the first two days, and felt well and alert with lots of energy.
The most difficult part was the social situations. They usually involve food, and although my nearest and dearest were supportive of what I was doing, it is amazing how many people seem to want you to conform to the eating of junk food at buffets. So, I would suggest being careful about who you choose to tell about your diet.

Something really important, that was not mentioned to me, is that you should include some green veg and a spoonful of oil to the diet. This prevents gallstones developing. Though that may not be applicable if you have no gall bladder.

Also, as the calorie restriction phase is for a relatively short period, it is important to have a follow on eating plan. This will be for life. Counterweight, (aka Newcastle diet) is by no means a quick fix. If you go back to old eating habits you will regain weight.
I wish you success.
 
Doubt it was your low carb diet that caused the gall bladder problem in the first place.


This just popped up on my twitter feed... spooky..
 
Cheers everyone, no because I developed sepsis the gallbladder wasn’t removed. Eventually got over it all but took a year to get the all clear. Any thanks for taking the time to reply your support is appreciated
 
Hibby65 said:
Cheers everyone, no because I developed sepsis the gallbladder wasn’t removed. Eventually got over it all but took a year to get the all clear. Any thanks for taking the time to reply your support is appreciated
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As you still have gallbladder it would be wise to include some oil in your diet.
https://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/understanding-gallstones-prevention

You might want to discuss with the doc who recommended the Counterweight regime.
Not trying to persuade you to do an alternative, just passing on info I learnt too late.
 
I am on week 5 of the counterweight program using optifast I’ve had to do 4 weeks at the higher calorie stage while waiting for confirmation off the diabetic eye consultant that I could do the first most intensive stage (due to surgery for retinopathy). During the first 4 weeks my blood sugars have dropped to the point that oral medication has gone and I’m hardly using apidra (fast acting)plus lantus has gone down to just 6 units at night. Yesterday the decision by the hospital was made to drop lantus altogether. I’ve lost 15lbs in the 4 weeks.
 
Well done, @tifftuff91 . What do you intend to do at the end regarding diet?
 
I’d second @bulkbiker that low carb doesn’t cause gallbladder issues, but that low fat does. However once you already have stones then eating fats can stir it all up. Low fat means the gallbladder isn’t used as much and bile sits there as sludge turning into stones.

Fats cause contraction in the bladder to eject the bile. If there’s stones already in there they can get squashed and jammed against or in ducts etc causing the pain and possibly in bad cases infections etc.

Sadly many drs seem to mistake an aggravation of symptoms as the cause of them.

Low carb doesn’t have to mean eating a lot of fat, especially if you are wearing a decent supply. It may mean just not avoiding everyday fats. Eg ditch low fat milk, spreads and yogurt etc for full fat and have a little oil and butter for cooking. It might be worth one last, gentle fat, shot at this before a drastic program. Unless of course you feel something drastic is what you need.

Good luck on the program if you do go that way but make sure there’s a plan in place for what comes next as this is just a starting a point not the lifelong continuation
 
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Counterweight totally depends on someone gettiing enough surport to enable them to control what they eat after the 8 (or upto 12 weeks) of shakes, hence before doing it check what the long term surport package is.
 
Pipp said:
Well done, @tifftuff91 . What do you intend to do at the end regarding diet?
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According to the dietician they support you for a total of 2 years so once you’re ready to reintroduce food they help with that. I’m pretty certain I’ll never be able to eat exactly what I want unless I start some sort of extreme sport or marathon running but just to be normalish will do me
 
Great, as long as the support is not telling you to eat healthy carbs with every meal, Eatwell plate sort of advice.

Having in the past followed the Newcastle diet without any follow on advice from the medical professionals supporting me through the meal replacement phase, I would suggest you have a read around the forums, and make your own mind up on eating plan for your future. Also, at the end of the very low calorie / meal replacement phase continue to monitor and record your blood glucose levels and what you have eaten, so that you will have evidence of how certain foods are having an effect. Low carb is my recommendation.
Best of luck with it all.
 
Hi Hibby, I'm on day 21 of Counterweight, in Grampian. Wondered how you are finding it?
 
All the evidence is that low fat diets and yoyo dieting are the main factors in developing gallstones. It made sense once I thought about it, as you produce bile and store it to digest fat so swinging between loads of fat then almost none for days/weeks means you produce bile in anticipation of the next fatty meal then have to store that bile for long periods of time.
But by then I'd been on a low fat diet for over a year, and lost weight but developed gallstones.
Low carb with extra fat might add to pain, etc. after the stones are present, as you'd struggle with fat until the stones are removed, but I don't see why they'd cause the problem.

I would avoid any ultra low calorie diet nowadays as none of them are sustainable and they do not retrain you to eat a sensible diet afterwards. Quite how they think that it can be a kickstarter to a new healthier lifestyle I don't know!

I've been low carb for 17 months now, and barring any future overwhelming cravings/being silly I think I can maintain this.
 


Hi Hibby, generally speaking, yes I definitely agree with what Pipp had said: you've got to include veggies (the nutrient-densed low-carb ones) in your carb counting (like leafy greens, cabbage, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, spinach, etc), and nuts like plain almonds (even if just about 10 pieces a day), if you're on low-carb.
 
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