Patients have shared their weight loss triumphs on the NHS’ gruelling “soups and shakes” diet, while a major study finds the 800-calorie regime can reverse diabetes in a third of sufferers.
A 47-year-old man described the diet as “100 per cent life-changing”, helping him lose 18kg in just four months – a transformation that allowed him to come off his diabetes medication.
Eight years later, the patient is still diabetes-free. Another follower of the plan lost 10 kilos, which allowed her to reverse her diabetes in six months.
However, it’s not all success stories: the latest data shows that only one in 10 people who try the diet manage to stick to it.
Some of those who struggled to stick to the plan told MailOnline they gained even more weight once the diet was over.
Community worker Faraza Anderson took the most unflattering photo of herself imaginable, left. Six months later she had lost weight and her type 2 diabetes was in remission. Her weight dropped from 65kg to 75kg.
One person who has had success is Marie Laing, from Frome in Somerset.
She told BBC Radio Somerset she lost more than 3st on the diet after other options had failed.
“My GP suggested I try this after trying other things on my own and not being successful, and I’m really grateful,” she said.
‘This remission program is not a diet, it’s a lifestyle change. You’ll learn about your body, how foods affect you, why you have food cravings, how you should exercise… and it won’t stop you from eating anything.
“It’s improved my ability to exercise and be able to be with my kids and my family, and get out and do things that I enjoy.”
Mrs Laing added: “It’s not easy, but it’s worth it to get your life back.”
One Briton with a novel way to combat the gruelling nature of dieting is community worker Faraza Anderson.
Ms Anderson, 43, used selfies of her “bloated” face and stomach as motivation to stick with the diet.
And it appears to have worked, as the 43-year-old patient went into remission from diabetes just six months later.
Mrs Anderson, from Edgbaston in Birmingham, weighed 12st 4lb at the start of the diet but now weighs just 10st.
She said: ‘The photo I saved on my phone was one I would normally delete straight away.
“But it inspired me because I would have done absolutely anything to reverse my type 2 diabetes and avoid having to take medication for a serious illness.”
“I’m really happy to no longer have diabetes.”
Another success story is that of Kieran Ball, 47, from Morpeth in Northumberland, who previously told this website the diet helped him lose more than 30kg and put his diabetes into remission.
The man, then 47, said that even eight years after stopping the diet, he no longer needs to take medication for his condition.
Father-of-two Mr Ball took part in the original trial of the diet and said it had changed his life 100 per cent.
Kieran Ball, 47, from Morpeth in Northumberland, started the diabetes remission clinical trial in 2014 and has been in remission for eight years.
Her battle with type 2 diabetes began in September 2013 after she was diagnosed during a routine blood test while receiving treatment in hospital for kidney stones.
He then joined the trial of what would become the soup and shake diet a year later, and thanked his two sons for encouraging him to participate.
The original trial lasted just four months, and Mr Ball described the initial seven weeks of low-calorie meal replacements as “horrendous”.
“I slept a lot and separated from my family when they were eating,” he said.
However, he said getting through this period allowed him to begin to see the impact he was having.
“My body kicked in and I saw the benefits, which changed my mindset,” she said.
By the end of the four-month diet, Mr Ball had lost 3-7 pounds (22 kg).
And a year later, her blood sugar levels were within the normal range and her diabetes was confirmed to be in remission.
Although Mr Ball said his weight has increased slightly in the intervening years, he is still in remission from diabetes eight years later.
“It’s amazing that everything I experienced so many years ago is still benefiting me today,” she said.
‘It has completely changed my way of thinking and eating. I don’t deny myself anything, but I listen to my body now. If it tells me I’m feeling full, I do something about it, I don’t keep eating at all costs.
“The study has also been positive for my family. By supporting me, they are healthier because of the changes we have made at home, so there have been domino effects.”
Under this regimen, participants are fed a low-calorie, nutrient-rich diet of soups and shakes, totaling about 800 calories per day, for 12 to 20 weeks.
They also receive support from a nurse or dietitian to reintroduce healthy foods and maintain weight loss, while medications for type 2 diabetes and blood pressure are stopped if deemed safe.
Previous studies, led by the late Dr. Michael Mosely, found that half of people with type 2 diabetes can reverse the disease if they follow the plan, as long as they maintain their weight.
But not all patients found the soup and shake diet to be successful in the long term.
Lynne Lewis, 70, from Pontypool, south Wales, is one of those for whom the benefits of the diet were fleeting.
She was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2009 and began the diet in 2015 after suffering from diabetes-related cataracts and poor circulation in her toes, which can be a precursor to nerve damage and amputation.
But after eight weeks of dieting, her blood sugar levels had dropped and she was enjoying success.
“I was a size 22 and then I went down to a size 12,” she said. “I was able to get off metformin completely,” she recalled.
Then, in 2018, everything changed with the death of her beloved husband John.
“The pain made everything go out the window,” she said.
Lynne Lewis regained the weight she lost on a low-calorie diet after her husband died
Lynne Lewis with her husband Thomas John Lewis circa 2012
While dealing with the loss of a loved one, she gained weight again and her blood sugar levels entered the diabetic range again.
“I’m now a size 16, have high blood sugar and am back on diabetes medication,” she said.
“If my husband hadn’t died, maybe I would have been able to move on. But it’s entirely my fault.”
This comes as the first analysis of the NHS’s rollout of the soup and shake diet found that a third of diabetes patients who followed the diet for a year lost weight and saw their symptoms disappear.
Experts said this shows that obesity can be tackled “head on” through lifestyle changes alone, leading to “life-changing benefits” for patients.
However, only 12 percent of those who embarked on the brutal diet managed to maintain it for a full year.
This means that, in total, only 3 percent of patients who tried the diet actually achieved the desired result.
In May, NHS chief Amanda Pritchard announced a £13m expansion of the scheme as part of a radical NHS initiative to tackle obesity and related diseases.
Costing around £1,100 per person, it has been offered to more than 25,000 people since its launch in 2020 and another 50,000 are expected to sign up in England over the next five years.
Adults are eligible if they have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes within the past six years and have a body mass index above 27, or above 25 if they are from ethnic minority groups.
In 2021/22, nearly 4.3 million people had diabetes and a further 850,000 people have diabetes and don’t know it, which is worrying because untreated type 2 diabetes can lead to complications such as heart disease and stroke.
Approximately 5 million people in the UK are living with diabetes, of whom approximately 850,000 are unaware they have the condition.
A recent report from Diabetes UK suggests there has been a staggering 39 per cent rise in type 2 diabetes in people under 40, a trend that has been attributed to rising levels of obesity.
There is no cure for diabetes-related neuropathy, but medications are available to combat the symptoms it causes.
Problems with the nerves that help detect pain in the feet are one reason diabetics are advised to check their feet frequently, as they may not feel wounds that can become dangerously infected.
