Hello guys and girls,
I need to ask a favour of you…right…erm…(this is where a Men In Black style memory eraser would come in handy!)…I need you to forget my last few posts about eating healthily and exercising and my determination to stick to it because I gave up.
Hold up….I didn’t fall off the wagon this time (I know that’s what you were thinking ;-)), I just realised that the weight I was losing (or lack of) did not justify the time and effort I spent putting into it and that it would be better as a weight mainetance plan (with a couple of hundred more calories of course) than a weight loss plan. Anyway, I panicked. I had spent the best part of the month trying to adjust to a healthy lifestyle and apart from my glowing skin (which I think was actually down to taking a daily vitamin tablet), I was not seeing any benefits.
So what should I do? I know what the ‘easiest’ way to lose weight is and I know what has worked in the past but do I revisit it when I have failed so badly at it before? And what about all the things I didn’t like about it? Of course I am talking about the Cambridge Weight Plan – you may remember me discussing it in my list of failed diets.
As soon as the thought entered my mind I could not help but Google it and start reading success stories. About half an hour (and some before and after photos later) I was convinced that this was the only way I could lose a reasonable amount of weight. Aren’t I an easy sell?
The next morning I contacted some local Cambridge Weight Plan consultants and within half an hour I had made an appointment to see someone for the same day.
My new consultant is absolutely lovely. There was nothing wrong with the one I had when I first attempted the diet but the one I have now is a lot more approachable and treats you more like a friend which is always going to be a positive thing. She went through the plan with me and I filled out the paperwork.
A couple of things have changed since I first went on it – firstly the packaging has been revamped. As for the other things I’m not actually sure if they have changed or that I just didn’t remember them from the first time around! There are a few more products and I don’t remember there being so many steps to the plan which is actually a huge positive and I really like the way that they try and re-educate you about food so that you don’t go back to your old eating habits.
The first step is called ‘Sole Source’ and consists of having 3 sachets a day (this is what I did the first time around). However, as my BMI is over 40, my consultant recommended I start off on Step 2 (also known as ‘810’ – reflective of your daily intake of calories). This involves having the three sachets but also a 230 calorie meal and you have a milk allowance (which you can also fully or part subsitute for low fat yoghurt if milk isn’t your thing or if, like me, you want to use yoghurt in your cooking). For the 230 calorie meal, you are given a list of proteins you can choose from and also a list of certain vegetables. You can mix and match as long as you don’t go over the weight it gives you – as some foods are different weights – you may need to either use half the amount of 2 or start calculating percentages!). So far I have made a Quorn, basil and mushroom stirfry (never again), chickpea and kale soup (not bad), chick pea and kale patties with a raita (not bad), chick pea, mushroom and spring onion broth (best out of the lot) and as it’s pancake day today, I have attempted to make a savoury pancake from chickpeas and 1 egg with some coriander, mint and other seasonings to also serve with a cucumber raita later. At the moment it looks more like scrambled egg but it’s all about the taste…right?! And if you’re thinking I must look and feel like a walking chickpea right now, you are correct!
You need to drink bucket loads of water on the Cambridge Weight Plan, no matter what step you are on. I thought I was really good in drinking 2 litres a day but my consultant told me that I should be drinking 4 litres on this plan….how do I have time for that?! Well I’ve just had to make time, one encouraging reason is that apparently the more water you drink…the more you shrink! Also the sachets and other products are so concentrated in minerals that you most likely aren’t used to having that the sudden influx could cause side effects such as nausea and diarrhoea so it’s best that you have a glass of water before you consume the shake and loads afterwards so that the minerals are diluted and easier on your system.
I’m not going to bore you with my first and second day too much – mainly because they felt like the longest days of my life! Neither am I going to sugar-coat the info you need to know – days 1 to 3 are HARD! You are hungry, you don’t have energy, I kept feeling dizzy (another dieter told me it was likely that I had gone into ketosis already which is notorious for lowering bloody pressure – hence the dizziness) and I just felt impatient more than anything.
What I will say to you is that it’s not the end of the world and if you can get through those three hard days, you will really reap the rewards. Some people find day 4 tough too but I felt a lot better by then and had more energy and less dizziness. My body is also getting used to the reduced calorie intake and I barely notice any hunger pangs even if I do get them (I am on day 6 at the moment) and I feel so much more lighter and energetic, I just cannot weight until my weigh in tomorrow to see what the results are!
One thing I do find hard is planning for going out and about and it is really beneficial if you can plan your meals and shakes ahead. It’s not just a case of mixing your shake and taking it out with you as you have to consume each shake within 15 mins of mixing it otherwise it loses the nutrients. Luckily I have a shaker left over from my Celebrity Slim days which I can use but I think the Cambridge guys sell their own too.
I also try and make my meals the night before and pack them into an insulated Bento Box in the morning. I’ve also saved a couple of family-sized Innocent juice bottles which hold 1.35 litres and fill one up with water and a 1 litre flask up with tea.
I have also invested in an amazing little gadget called a Fitbit, I absolutely love it! It tracks your activity (calories burned, steps walked, number of flights of stairs climbed) and also tracks your sleep…this was a huge shock for me as I found that despite being in bed for 9 hours, I’m never actually asleep for more than 5 so I’ve been sleep-deprived all this time without realising it!!
You can also sync it up to your computer, download the corresponding app on your phone and log your water and calorie intake and it provides you with some pretty funky little graphs. I am living by this thing at the moment!
I will put up some pictures of all the little things that I’m finding really useful at the moment when I let you know my weigh in results tomorrow – keep your fingers crossed for me!
Ciao x
dietfiendz 