Is it safe for obese patients on dialysis to lose weight using Optifast?

Participants will be prescribed a low calorie diet for 12 weeks using Optifast following the Optifast Very Low Calorie Diet Program, except the diet will be altered to meet the participant’s increased protein requirements (1.2g/kg/day) and fluid restrictions. Participants will be required to consume each day: • 3 of the Optifast products (shake, soup, dessert and/or bar) • A serve of lean meat/fish/chicken if required to provide additional protein to meet requirements • 2 cups of low potassium low starch vegetables • One teaspoon oil Participants will be reviewed by the Nephrologist at a minimum once every 4 weeks in clinic, and monitored by the dietitian and/or Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) Coordinator (in clinic or the dialysis centre) to collect data weekly for the first two weeks, and then fortnightly for the remainder of the study, to monitor safety measures and assess progress including ideal body weight. Each assessment/data collection point will take approximately 20-30 minutes. Reported compliance of the diet is recorded at each data collection point based on the participants self-reporting, and categorised in to one of the three following categories: daily compliance; alteration to prescribed diet (e.g. excluding one element); Non-compliance (e.g. eating non-prescribed food/drink). Participants who report altered or non-compliance will have follow with the renal dietitian (Principal Investigator) to discuss barriers to compliance.