Has anyone tried the Cambridge diet?

[mamaofboyzz]

Hi thinking of try the Cambridge diet, has anyone done it and lost weight? It all seems a little expensive too me but considering trying as a desperate measure. I've currently been eating much healthier and moving more but not much results. Any experiences appreciated

[FutureMrsTempah]

I did to kick start weight loss pre conception, and I lost nearly 3 stone relatively quickly. Obviously stopped when I fell pregnant. I'm now 1 stone heavier than my lightest weight pre pregnancy, but that's still 2 stone below my heaviest!

[mamaofboyzz]

@FutureMrsTempah ahh brilliant! A success story then! Did you find it hard to stick to? And did the meals satisfy your hunger?

[melissasummerfield]

I did it, and after the initial week found it quite easy to stick to, losing a stone a month for about 5 months, then fell pregnant and put it all back on

One thing i would say is that it gave me gallstones to the point where im in agony when they move, surgery is now planned to remove my gallbladder. If you google vlcd and gallstones theres lots of evidence.

Also you will struggle to poo and have stinky breath

[FutureMrsTempah]

It was a few years ago now, but from memory it was quite easy to stick to. The shakes and bars are yummy (soups less so!) I didn't have issues with pooing and no one mentioned stinky breath (im a teacher so if I did have bad breath one of the little darlings would say!)

[mamaofboyzz]

@melissasummerfield that's not good that it causes gall stones! I certainly don't want them the pain is meant to be horrific! I struggle to poo already so that's also not a good thing for me! I liked the idea of the meals just to add water etc as my life is so hectic so would be easy to grab etc. I want to loose my post children weight so ideally loosing 3 stone. Maybe I could try for one month then hopefully I will have the motivation to carry on with healthy food and exercise once I've started to loose some weight. Thanks for sharing guys x

[DaisyDando]

I did it and it’s fine if you do it properly. I was a bit on and off with it but lost a significant amount of weight quickly. I’m only posting because I put it back on pretty quickly too and just wanted to say that because I don’t think it’s uncommon. That said, I’m pretty rubbish at dieting and you might not be!

[Stroan]

I did it twice, both times to lose enough weight to get pregnant and it worked. The range of products now is much better and I found it easier when I could have bars rather than soups and shakes.

It's expensive though, I doubt I'll be able to afford it with two kids in nursery.

I also didn't keep the weight off due to pregnancy, I would say that the people who do seem to keep the weight off long term are the ones who follow all the steps to reintroduce food and are fairly strict once eating again. It's low carb so if you introduce large volumes of carbs again, it's probably inevitable that you'll put weight on!

[BendydickCuminsnatch]

Yes, did it for 4 weeks and lost 6lbs. Which was disappointing given I did it 100% right and lots of people would lose 4lb in one week. But it always takes way more for me to lose weight compared to others.
I kept it off and now just cut out sugar entirely which is life changing more than just weight. CWP was expensive and didn’t help that my consultant was obese, so not that inspiring... but it was good for a kick start.

[BendydickCuminsnatch]

By the way the savoury products were alright but I absolutely love shit such as pot noodles. The sweet stuff wasn’t great except the apple porridge. Never did a shake. They products are basically made of maltodextrin and additives whereas I prefer to eat whole foods and meals with as few ingredients as poss. So that didn’t sit well with me.

[mamaofboyzz]

@BendydickCuminsnatch I am the same it takes me sooo long to loose weight but I can put it on so quickly. I think I'm going to use it as a kick start then come off it because I'm concerned about the ingredients and lack of nutrients. X

[PoptartPoptart]

I did it twice - first time I lost 3 stone in 3 months. I put it all back on.
Second time was harder to stick to, but I managed to lose (the same) 3 stone.
It all went back on again
It is not a sustainable way of living and it is all too easy to go back to bad habits.
It also gave me gallstones and even now, (years later) I suffer with digestive issues such as incredibly painful trapped wind and sickness if I even slightly over indulge.
I understand the appeal of such rapid weight loss but losing weight with healthy food and exercise is a far healthier and sustainable way of living. Easier said than done though!

[BlueJava]

A word of warning from me - I did the Cambridge diet. I lost just over 5 stone and went down to 168lb (I am 5'5") pretty quickly. I felt amazing. I started to return to real food - on their recommended program, but I started to get migraines.

The migraines became very debilitating - it was awful, so bad I nearly lost my job. They got worse and worse and I ended up on prevention drugs and had to take them permanently for over 5 years, putting weight back on and feeling very sick in the process. The whole thing seemed to be related to my stomach and ability to process any "heavy carb" food. I couldn't work out what had gone wrong and tried drugs and elimination diets etc. etc.

I now believe (10 years later) that I have somehow damaged my ability to process real food and get constipated very easily, when that happens I often get migraines. It's only very recently I have started to get over this using a new migraine prevent device daily (Cefaly) and also adjusting my diet to be high protein, low carb. I asked my neurologist if it could be linked to Cambridge he said there hadn't been enough studies done to prove anything like that, but it was entirely feasible.

I don't tell you all this because I think you shouldn't do it - I know how awful being overweight can be - but please think really carefully.

[SauvingnonBlanketyBlanc]

I did the stage which was 2 shakes and a v small protein meal and actually fainted one day,it wasnt for me.

[mamaofboyzz]

@BlueJava that's awful! I suffer from really bad migraines already have been on medication for over ten years so i really don't need anything interfering with that. I can imagine how it ruins the bodies ability to process food it actually sounds quite dangerous. I don't think I will bother with it will just continue with the healthy eating and exercise! Plus that's the much cheaper option as I think it can be quite costly.

Thanks for sharing your experiences every one!

[BlueJava]

By the way @mamaofboyzz I have started the Fast800 - highly recommend it. It has helped my migraines as well as it "moves" things through due to the high veg content! (Don't want to give TMI there!)

[BlueJava]

@mamaofboyzz also - don't want to hijack your weightloss thread I should have said read up on Cefaly Dual (I am not promoting it I promise but it has really helped me!)

Have a look at the Migraine Trust: www.migrainetrust.org/living-with-migraine/treatments/external-trigeminal-nerve-stimulation/ I have Cefaly Dual and it has changed my life (although not back to completely normality! If you want to pm me feel free.

[userabcname]

I have two relatives who tried this diet - both ended up in terrible pain with gallstones and ended up having surgery to remove their gallbladders. One lost quite a lot of weight but put it all back on plus more when she came off it.

[mamaofboyzz]

@BlueJava I've just looked it looks amazing. I am willing to try anything as recently when I have had a migraine it's been lasting for 5-6 days! Thankyou so much for telling me about it, I'm going to order!

[BlueJava]

@mamaofboyzz so I have the Cefaly Dual. My advice is to don't go in for the full session on full intensity - build up to it.
Put it on (as instructed) then press once for "acute" when you have a migraine. If you want to prevent press twice. Do this prevent setting each night. Once it's run a few minutes on prevent you press again and this stops the intensity ramping up any higher. I have stuck with it - took a little while to get the hang of it, now 3 (almost 4) months in it has given me my life back! It doesn't work for everyoe - but I was diagnosed chronic, hence the permanent prevention drugs. Good luck, I hope it works for you. There is a Cefaly users group on facebook too, search "cefaly users' group" I am on there.