• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

starting newcastle diet on 2nd jan

Well today is offically my last day on the NS diet - I cannot actually believe I have (nearly!!) done the eight weeks!!

I will post my final weight loss tomorrow after I have weighed in, but so far I have lost one stone ten pounds, halved my meds and maintain BG at around 5 :D

Thank you to everyone who has posted on here - your support has kept me going. Big thanks to you Geordie for setting up the thread and well done on your weightloss and more importantly your excellent BG results. :clap:

I was going to start a lower carb regime tomorrow but have decided to continue on a slightly modified NS diet until I reach my goal weight - this time it will be all about the weightloss lol !! I will continue shaking at breakfast and lunch and have my veg in the evening, but will add a portion of protein to my evening veg rather than having another shake and will add, for example, some soy/oyster sauce to my stir "steams". I will not add oil etc as i have got quite used to my fat free veg! I will also be having milk in my tea again - yeah!!!

If no-one objects I will still read posts on here and post sometimes even though my eight weeks are up as hopefully it will help motivate me to reach my goal weight.
 
thank you for the encouraging posts :) Day 2..all is going well...apart from waking and my sugars being 12.5..I have no idea why they go up when I wake...but they seem to come down later on?
oh well..keep on going !
 
Beancounter - Well done and congrats. Please do keep posting as being exactly halfway through I am very interested to know what you are eating and how it is affecting your BG.

Hilsonpills - You maybe suffering from something called the Dawn Phenomenon. Google it.
 
hi all thanks for the comments its appreciated
Lets all try and maintain and improve our outcomes, i know i still have a way to go to hit my target weight but i'll get there for sure.
Hils my lums dont reek after i stopped taking metfartin lol
 
big gym sesh tonight back at it hard, i have noticed over past couple of weeks that as i havent been hitting it as hard as normal due to cold etc my bgs have risen slightly, i mean from 4.5 upto 5-5.5 so that tells me that the gym is a must for me personally.
What is noticeable though is that i have dramatically changed shape and look much more defined, ive probably shrank in size but improved my defintion massively. My bulk was obviously layers of fat that i presumed was muscle. I feel i now look much better, im looking at losing another stone and a half but my training partner says itll be too much so im gonna aim for 14 stone and if i can get down to 13 1/2 without looking unwell then i might give it a go but in reality i think i ll try and stay around the 14 stone mark, that way i'll look and feel good and the diabetes will be under control.
when i look back to the pictures i took at the start then look at them now the change is amazing, I look half the size i was lol
Im going to stick with the slimfast tbh its so easy to do and it takes all the thinking out of eating at work, yes undoubtedly i'll have days were i go mad, dont we all, but the secret is the next day forget about it and dont repeat it.
 
thakns Immis, that migh be he case with Dawn Phenomenon, sounds plausible...I migh try and get hold of some vinegar capsules and see how that works out.
Still seeing much better sugar readings than pre newcastle diet...still higher than Id love them to be, but going the right way.
One thing I have noticed is the absense of appetite ! Seems that I forget to be hungry...yay!
 
Hilsonpills - I suffered from the Dawn Phenomenon as well. The only thing I can say is it does get better further into the diet.

Well mine has, apart from a couple of glitches last week, but even then no higher than 5.4
 
My name is beancounter and I am a dawn phenomenon-er!! It doesn't go much above 5.5 though ie last night it was 4.9 at 11pm, 4.3 at 3 am (cat woke me up!!) and 5.3 first thing.
 
hi all
i think we all suffer a bit from dawn phenomenom but i ve found exercise def helps.

Went to gym tonight in a base layer skin tight top, never in a million years would i have worn this lol but now i feel i can , young lad came over and asked what i do to get shoulders like mine lol, i said eat like a pig, get diabetes think you look muscular then have an ephinay and start the newcastle diet, lose a load of fat and hey presto theres the real shoulders lol

Feeling very good at minute neeed to keep it up but i dont know if anyone else thinks like me......

I still think in my mind that im as fat as i was eight weeks ago, i know im not but i need to train my mind to realise that i do look different and better. I think that this is a fundemental issue with 'fat' people who lose weight, body image, i can see how it would be so easy to slip back into bad old ways i sometimes feel i need constant affirmation that i have lost weight, even though i can look in mirror and see it or step on scales. How do you solve this problem, any help would be greatly appreciated. I have been 'fat' not 'big' for twenty years i hope it doesnt take twenty years to change my mind.....
 
Well Geordie90,

I have been watching your post since it started, and you have given me the inspiration to have a go at the Newcastle diet myself. I can see that you have shown a lot of commitment to the diet and exercise regime and should be extremely proud of yourself for seeing it through to the end, and also inspiring others as well as me with your matter of fact and down to earth posts to at least think about or even do it.

I am currently trying to get the optifast shakes on prescription from my GP, who is more than happy to support me by giving me weekly check ups etc, but as he cannot find the optifast shakes in his prescription manuals he is looking into getting them for me. If he can't (this might be helpful to anyone else) I have seen on the Lloyd's pharmacy website that they have on offer optislim shakes at 85p each, buy 100 sachets and they are 75p each.

I only found out I was type 2 in August last year, my first readings came back at 9.8 and my second readings after 3 months came back at 5.8, so I can see I have it relatively under control as I now only have one 500mg Metformin a day after starting on two. I have found that If my blood sugar is a bit high then a good 20-30 minute walk soon lowers it. I think I have been lucky to have hopefully caught it quite early on and feel that with some of the lifestyle changes I have already made, going on the diet and starting at the Gym will sort me out.

As soon as my GP lets me know if he can get the optifast or not then I will get cracking with the diet, hopefully in the next few days, and I will hopefully get a few tips as I go along from everyone else that's been interested in your post's.

Thanks again to you Geordie90 and hope you keep posting!
 
ivenoidea thanks for the kind comments
Its good that your doctor is supporting you i think its very pertinent in the current climate and i think once they hold the purse strings for treatments a diet regime may be the favoured option.
Im sure once you start the diet and lose a bit of weight that youll come off the metformin too, i stopped all mine and i was on 4 x 500mg per day before i started the diet.
The posts on here give some flavour of what its like but in reality its not that hard and the results are quick which is a good motivator.
I hope on here ive passed on some observations that i have experienced during the course of the diet, obviously everyone is diffeent and some disagree with what ive posted, each to their own but my experiences have been nothing but positive.
Give it a try its only eight weeks and im sure you ll have a similar outcome to most of the others on here, keep posting and lets us know how your getting on.
 
ivenoidea - I'm currently doing my Newcastle diet using the Optislim shakes. I got them from Lloyds. Just bear in mind, when I went to buy them the other day for my 2nd months supply a lot of them were sold out. When I called Lloyds to see when they were getting more, I was told that Lloyds have stopped buying them and will now be selling the Celebrity Slim Shakes instead. Their stock gets updates I think as the stores send their supplies back into them and I have been buying them up as and when I see them. I've got all mine now so you want to be quick and grab them while you can.

ps stay away from lemon cheesecake, choc mint and any of the soups. The rest are actually quite nice.
 
Hi I was one of the people who went on the diet towards the end of last year. I lost over 2 stone and my fasting BG fell to 5.2 ...from 7.1. I stooped metaformin for a while. But During the last 3 months my weight and BG crept up (+ 1 stone and BG 6.7)....but ti is soley due to pigging out on bread etc and those bad carbs However....I am now exercising and back on the diet and my BG is falling.
My conclusions are
1. BG is directly affected by carbs (my weakness)...ohh what a surprise!!!
2. My weight although higher is now more controllable and I will control it an keep my BG down through diet
3. My insulin sensitivity has changed to the better...and I am able to control it more easily by linking what I eat to my BG...I know its very obvious but sometime we forget that. I am only on 500mg Met a day...so will see how I get on the next week or so to see if this can be stopped..
4. My GP and nurse have been very supportive.
5. Whilst I am taking small amounts of met ..it is lower than I wa staking before, and little reflux issues now and only taking medication for that sporadically, also my liver and cholesterol counts are much lower....


OK i know alot of people have been critics; about the diet....but it did work for me in the short term and even afterwards I have an improvement my weight is lower (and hopefully will fall again), my BG is more controllable and I am now aware of the linkage of carbs BG...it gave me the incentive to take control and do something. I have to take issue with the words starvation...actually the consultant that I contacted told me to take 1200 calories a day...as i was exercising every day...I took the shakes but it is very important no to rely on those but to have big salads and veggies with at least two meals...I didn't count the calorie shut stuck to diet and it worked and didn't feel at all at risk ...sadie form the initial start of the detox due to caffeine withdrawal I felt fine.

So I intend to drop some more weight, and come off the met and control my BG through diet......

I hope this is of some help
 
Really helpful, Ernie - cheers :D you have confirmed for me that I will have to watch my carb intake, probably forever.

I have just finished my eight weeks, but have not resumed "normal" eating yet - I am still having the shakes at breakfast and lunch and am having my veg for dinner but am adding in some protein. Tonight I had stir steam veg (with some soy sauce - bliss!!) and a piece of poached salmon. I am also having my beloved cups of tea with milk again :thumbup:

I have not managed to come off my meds - still taking the metformin :( I am hoping that if I keep going I can reduce or even stop that as i too am hoping that once I have lost some more weight, the diet and exercise alone will control my BG.
 
Little update, started the NC diet Monday...levels have steadily fallen from 17 ish, tonight lowest ever for me at 8.4 :D
I added in a small short walk...as I noticed geordie did a lot of exercise, wasnt sure such a small amount of exercise would help any but it looks like it did !
one question...Im using the exante meals replacements..soups & shakes..in the box were also meal replacement bars..same calories..lower sugars, not a lot of carbs..has anyone used bars yet, or did you all stick to the soups & shakes?
 
hi all
Thakns for posting ernie100 at least you now recognise what you need to do to resolve your slightly high bg's a short spell back on the diet will kick start you.
I had a 4.6 this morning which linked to a 4.9 yday morninig im happy with it is now even more obvious to me that exercise is crucial my bgs crept up every so slightly over last couple of weeks as i hadnt been able to get to gym as much as i was. Benn back at it properly this week and the results speak for themselves.
Hills exercise from what i can see plays an integral part in the regime, a short walk or any form of exercise is a bonus, remember every journey starts with the first step, i know its a cliche but its very true, dont set your bar too high as that is sure to lead to dissappointment, set achievable goals, then once you attain them, reset the goal, make it challenging but not impossible, dont expect to look like arnold after a month, maybe a month and a half lol.
I reached the big four O two years ago and i made a pact with my self to do something every year till im 50, im looking at the yourkshire three peaks this year, did the national last year, but a big achievement i have forgotten about is this diet, completing it is an achievement in itself.
If i can give any tips is when your on the diet, look on how you will adapt your diet when your finished the diet, low carb appears to be the way forward and there are plenty of posts that can help you iut.
Good luck all keep it going and i tell you what you feel bloody great at the end, finally getting back to my old self, none of the mood swings, anger, frustration, low self esteem, depression.
 
Just a quick question....has anyone completed this diet and gone to their GP, had tests and then be told they are no longer diabetic? How will we know if we're cured?

I started my diet on 1st Feb, so I'm half way through and I've currently lost 24.5 lbs. I'm loving all the comments coming my way regarding my weight and change in shape.

Already counting down the days until Friday 30th!! There is a fillet steak with my name all over it!! I may even treat myself and have a desert. I've been thinking alot about what I'll be eating post diet. My current thinking is to be good and eat like a saint during the week. Perhaps a slightly modified version of this diet. But weekends I am planning on relaxing my rules. Be nice to be able to go to a cafe for breakfast and perhaps have a traditional roast on a sunday. I'm hoping by going to the gym 3-4 times a week and a round of golf here and there, that is workable.
 
Sadly, Crouchingpeeky, diabetes still cannot be "cured". It can be reversed and controlled, but until the scientists come up with something, we are all diabetic for life.

If you go back completely to your old ways of eating and drinking, your blood glucose levels will surely but steadily creep back upwards. You seem to be thinking about a very sensible approach to 'post-Newcastle' - eat sensibly. not too many carbs, most of the time, and have occasional treats. Doesn't mean you can never have chips or pizza - just not very often, and in smaller portions than the whole pizza I used to eat! :shock: :oops: :lol:

As for fry-ups and roast dinners - have a look at Viv's Modified Atkins Diet under "Sticky Threads". This is a good basic list of low- or no-carbohydrate foods. Use it as a base, and add in Low GI carbs until you reach the daily level you want to eat. Grazer manages fine on 100g - 150g of carb per day. Carbs affect me badly re weight gain, so I try to stick to around 30g per day (sometimes about 50g or even 70g :oops: , but I try to keep lower). Other people (like Sid Bonkers) manage perfectly well by just eating less and only having small portions of carb.

You will have to be aware of your blood glucose levels all your life from now on, and I suggest that you keep testing, maybe one day a week, just to be sure you're not slipping up. It's all too easy! so keep an eye on things.

You've done brilliantly so far - keep up the good work!

Viv 8)
 
thanks for your kind words geordie ;) Im gong to try and get a short walk in every day with my overweight pooch...so even he will benefit !
I tried one of the exante meal replacement bars yesterday...was verrrry yummy..and my bg went down nicely so not effects it seems. anyone else try meal replacement bars instead of soups & shakes? maybe it ought to be reserved for a day when im super missing munchy food?
 
Back
Top