How to lose your “covid-weight” quickly, simply, and easily.

It’s science based, straight forward and it works.

Three years ago I was diagnosed with liver disease, my doctor told me he would give me pills when necessary and then surgery if required.

“To hell with that” I thought.

I took myself off and researched the disease, which is a condition brought on by excess consumption of food/alcohol. In my case it was food.

Too much fruit, protein and carbs eaten repeatedly – as prescribed by every gym routine in the world – had kept my insulin levels elevated throughout the day over a period of many years.

All I really needed to do to reverse the weight gain was break the constant eating so that my body could exit storage-mode and use up some of the stored fat in my liver and body.

Pretty simple? Amazingly so.

My so-called Winter Diet

A fledgling diet design

I first adapted a plant-strong style diet. I kept to plant-based, low fat only, with one small piece of meat per week and the occasional hunk of whole food carb if needed.

I went from 15st down to 13st 10lbs in just three weeks. And then my weight plateaued.

I hit what I now refer to as my insulin resistance zone. Where even if I’m at a calorie deficit and eating regularly I still can’t shift any weight.

I hit the research papers again and realised I needed to extend the periods without food in order to push insulin production down even further.

So, I decided on a one-meal-a-day diet which shifted weight even further.

An endocrinologist friend then told me I’d basically designed the same protocol as Professor Roy Taylor at Newcastle University, one of the leading diabetes research clinics in the world.

The Newcastle Diet

I read his papers and watched his videos and was thrilled to find that his work was based on actual science and not business-as-usual health guidelines that don’t work from central government and lobby groups.

His protocol called for a daily reduction in calories, as mine did, but used a combination of packet meals and one bigger meal in the day for a total of 600–800 calories.

His work had also been proven in the largest diabetes reversal study ever conducted. It was incredibly successful. It reverses type-2 diabetes in less than three months.

I’ve since been into the department and was thrilled to find they also do not take commercial funding and keep their advice science-based rather than commercial.

So, here’s the protocol:

2–3 shakes/packet meals a day.

1 vegetable snack.

1 larger vegetable based meal in the evening.

Drink water regularly.

Once you hit your target weight reduce your food intake to roughly 3/4 of what you normally eat.

You do not do it forever. It is done to achieve a healthy weight and reverse disease. And it works. When I went back to my doctor after my winter diet phase all my scores were normal again.

He said:

“I’d have 80% fewer patients if everyone did this.”

I then went back and reduced my weight further to make myself bullet-proof. For the first time since my early 20s I then maintained a healthy BMI.

That’s it.

You can read the full guidance here:

Is it easy?

Yes and no.

Yes, it’s easy to lose weight quickly on this very low calorie diet (VLCD).

No, it’s not always easy because of two things:

• Food monotony
• Jumping in too early.

I’ve found that warming the body and mind up to it using either a plant-strong diet or intermittent fasting for a week or two really helps.

I also find that noticing when the inner voices kick in about monotony, often it’s just mental chatter. So just relax with it. Or drink a glass of water. You don’t have to act on the thoughts.

And I allow one cheat meal a week.

Then I simply remind myself that the diet is temporary. It has a goal.

I finally reached 12st 5lbs after about eight weeks total. It was the easiest weight loss I’ve ever done and for the most part I’ve kept it off.

When it’s crept up again over holidays, I just do another week and it’s back to normal.

Now after the initial lockdown period where me and the kids baked like mad (put on weight) then had confirmed covid (put on weight) and then five weeks of sedentary post-viral fatigue (yep, you guessed it, more weight) it’s time to lose it again.

I was 14st 10lbs two days ago (!!!) and I’m going to get back down to the 12s again.

This will help with any covid-19 recurrence and also mean I look better, sleep better reduce all-cause mortality and disease risk, and don’t need to buy a new wardrobe.

If you try it yourself please do let me know how you get on. I’d love to hear.

If you watch Roy’s initial video on the findings you’ll also know more about your own health than most physicians.

Happy weight loss!