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Steady now. Not every diabetic has a big waistline and an obesity problem. Digesting food actually helps to kick start the metabolism. This is why breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Not just the energy intake but a wake up call for the body. Cut the calories too much and you could potentially trigger catabolism and a lowering of the metabolism which could lead to sluggishness.Way too low for what specifically? The whole point is that the people who need the results this type of diet provide are walking around with a waistline full of calories. No one is going to starve here - a pound of human fat has over 3k calories in it. Eliminate carbs and sugars and your body has a plentiful supply it will happily tuck into. Make sure you are getting balance and all the vits and minerals you need via the 800 cal intake plus supplements and there is no danger in an 8 week period (provided you are certified medically fit to undertake dieting).
As for relying on exercise you would have to get into serious intense exercise to make the necessary calorie difference. I used to run 60km a week and play league squash. But it would take 30km to burn a single pound of fat. At the time I had no fat on me because I also managed my diet to maintain a race fitness. But most people who need waistline results can't exercise at anywhere near the intensity needed to make a fraction of the difference simple dieting will. Exercise is good but diet is king.
And who is suggesting anyone should live on 800 calories forever? nobody is - LITERALLY NOBODY. It amazes me how many people are prepared to slate an approach without first a) bothering to understand what that approach proposes b) giving it a go first rather than just running it through an irrelevance algorithm and spouting what first comes to mind.
What does the 'worst case' have to do with the newcastle diet? Seriously we're not talking 100 calories a day on a desert island for 2 months. We're talking about a balanced plan that has been worked out by medical professionals - designed specifically to emulate a record of success.
My personal experience of actually doing the diet is that I have lost over 2 stone in 6 weeks. The advice in Michael Moseleys book, re: food, is excellent. I've attempted low carbing before and had significant weight loss. But the guidance coupled with the scientific explanations in the book give me a guide to just how much weight I probably need to lose and an easy way of doing it. Literally easy - well at least compared to not losing the weight and gradually being 'progressed' onto medication and then ultimately insulin injections.
Be careful when and how you assess how you feel. First few days I was thinking about food a lot. By day three I felt really ill, literally incapable of doing anything. I think this was a sugar come down - literally like breaking an addiction. That lasted 24 hours then I felt great.
After the first week I didn't feel hungry and I wasn't really missing food. The weight was melting away and I could really see and feel a difference. With the exception of 1 week where I was away most of the week I have lost lots of weight each week.
So an early assessment of how the diet worked for me would have been a mistake. If I was to assess now I'd say literally one or two bad days out of 42 is nothing. But it's true energy levels drop. I just tried lifting some weights this morning and managed about one third of my usual set. In the first week my mental acuity dropped and I noticed I was making the odd poor judgement about what to say and when. But that lasted about a week.
There's no doubt this diet wont be for everyone, it requires mental discipline and 8 weeks is a commitment. but I'm yet to read comments from anyone who has stuck at it and not lost huge amounts of weight and been glad they did the diet.
I have to agree with @zand that these diets, even in the short term, are not suitable for everyone. I went on one for at least 2 months and only lost about 7lb. However it wasn't lack of discipline that made me stop but the fact that it made me ill because my metabolism slowed to the extent that my body was literally shutting down and my doctor told me to start eating properly again therefore I, for one, am not glad that I tried this diet!There's no doubt this diet wont be for everyone, it requires mental discipline and 8 weeks is a commitment. but I'm yet to read comments from anyone who has stuck at it and not lost huge amounts of weight and been glad they did the diet.
My understanding from @Jamrox 's original post was that she is seeking support, encouragement and advice.
Seems to me that this is turning into another 'my diet is better that your diet scrap'. Shame!
Do you think the 5:2 diet is better ?
This actually isn't the main thing to consider. The main thing to consider is that what has been created is a model - from the results of morbidly obese people a theory has been constructed and then tested. Their results on a diet signposted an opportunity for type 2 diabetics. And as a model - it makes results transferable - they aren't just available to morbidly obese people.
This is not specifically a Newcastle diet issue and it makes perfect sense - because if you are carrying excess body fat it means that you are consuming excess calories for your lifestyle and needs and if you go back to those excesses post diet you will gain weight again. This is true of any diet.
Here is why Yo-Yo dieting typically happens: If you think of motivation as a direction. We are motivated to take action either to move away from a problem or towards a goal. Otherwsie we wouldn't take action. With dieting it usually starts as an 'Away From' motivation - a health scare, looking at a picture of oneself, a comment from someone else etc. etc.
And that's great because people are usually proactive about moving away from problems once identified. But as the weight loss continues so the source of the motivation - the problem - shrinks. This continues to the point where there is no longer any motivation.
Now because people use food as a crutch for all manner of emotional issues and because those behaviours are wired in with years of practice, as soon as the focus problem has gone old behaviours take up residence again. There are plenty of environmental triggers to invite them right back in. This is more of an issue in the processed high sugar food environment we currently live in - because it takes very little at all to drastically tip the balance.
So to sustain motivation the source of the motivation needs to split as soon as success is achieved. We can continue to remind ourselves of what we moved away from - but the impact of that is less when it's no longer looming so large as a current problem - so as well we need to have something to move towards.
Most diets show people how to lose the weight - and that's great whilst they have a motivating problem to move away from. But the big issue is sustaining motivation once that problem has receded - what to do when he weight has shifted. but is this a diet or a lifestyle issue?
For some people, for whom food is a big part of coping with lifes difficulties, diets will be a massive struggle anyway - unless they have a seismic shift in their values. Which again is something a diet doesn't provide.
So I'm not suggesting the Newcastle / 8WBS diets are a panacea, far from it. But I think if we recognise that as diets they are a small part of the bigger picture then it's worth a) giving them a chance and b) taking an honest look at what else is in that bigger picture.
For me that means being impeccably honest with myself (I find it easy to lie to myself) about how closely I have followed the diet. And recognising just how bad my sugar intake was over the last decade - how I personally contributed to my own current circumstances rather than how my genes or metabolism may have predisposed me. So far I've lost a good amount of weight, my fasting blood sugars are lower but still too high (I'll use this forum to investigate ideal ranges). And they might not get as low as I would like. But with the evidence presented in this diet at least I know what represents a fully congruent attempt on my part. And if I commit to that, whether it's for 8 weeks or 16 weeks or 6 months following up on the 5:2 diet, at least I'll be able to look myself in the eye and know I really did try before surrendering to a pharmaceutical solution.
Read what you've just written and then think about whether that actually makes you qualified to be offering advice? I mean seriously "I've been failing for decades, I know just what you need!"
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