DIY Cambridge diet without the price tag.

[WedTheBed]

Has anyone done it? I can’t be paying £320 a month for packs of cup soup and ‘add boiling water’ spagbol.

I’ve decided to DIY it, I’ve brought some boxes of cup soups, some slimfast bars for treats, replacement shakes to replace breakfast (I don’t eat breakfast anyway so a shake is better than nothing), and I’ve also brought some calorie controlled Tesco microwave meals.

I plan to have a shake for breakfast, a cup of soup for lunch, a low-cal micro meal for dinner with one or two snacks when I feel I need it between meals.

I added up the calories for the above but with only one snack and it was about 700 calories, so I added another snack to try and get to 800 calories.. I’m only planning on doing super super low calories for a couple of weeks to kickstart the weight loss, and as a bit of motivation.

but I have 8 weeks to shed some weight before I’m at my ultimate wedding dress fitting deadline. So I want to lose weight quickly, I know it’s not the healthiest diet - but it’s not a forever thing for me and I’ll replace the shakes and low calorie ready meals for home cooked healthy foods after the wedding! So please don’t judge me… I’m desperate!

would anyone like to join me on a weekly weigh in? I feel like I might stay motivated if I’m doing it with someone else!

The fast 800 is a better option as it's based on real foods - you can do 12 weeks of their online programme and support for £129. I'm going to sign up for it as I've put loads of weight on recently and need a short sharp route back to better eating. Otherwise get some of the recipe books from Amazon and do it that way - it's far healthier than any of these god awful chemical meal replacements.

Good luck with it.

@Bluebells1970 i brought the fast 800 book but with two children and a partner who is very thin and definitely won’t be eating the same diet meals as me, I find it hard to keep up with it, with the cooking different meals in the evening and having to weight and scan things to work out the calories is unrealistic for my lifestyle at the moment. I’d love to do it, I just don’t have the discipline or time😫

perhaps it’s something I’ll look more into later on in the process! But I need something that easy to stick to and quick to begin with 😄

I’m kind of doing my own thing roughly based around fast 800. I’m keeping my carbs low but also my protein high. I usually have overnight oats, only 30g oats but 3 teaspoons of chia, I’ll have a protein shake for lunch and then a low cal evening meal. For the evenings I usually have eggs, tofu or fish (as I can’t eat meat) with some veggies. I keep my carbs under 70 but preferably under 50 if I can help it. I’m also drinking a lot of water.

I find using my fitness pal really handy as I can track everything, I’m religious about inputting everything that I eat.

I am counting calories at the moment, not as low as you but I get it. One thing I will say is that I dont have breakfast and a few years ago in an effort to lose weight I added that meal but actually gained for a few weeks, I was told as long as I was under calories it wouldnt make a difference when I ate but when I cut breakfast and used those calories at lunch time instead the weight came off. I think I was mostly bloating but now I stick to my normal no breakfast lifestyle.

I am on 1500 calories and 6lb down in 2 weeks and expecting it to slow to 1-2lb per week in the coming weeks. I am not good with cup soups but Aldi chicken noodle canned soup is super low calories and very tasty if you can get it

(also for dress fitting, 1 alcoholic drink makes me bloat and gain inches for 24 hours so monitor what your body does with different foods and drinks. My wedding dress fit perfectly but when I tried it 3 days before the wedding it wouldnt do up due to bloating and then on the evening before if fit again)

I'm also doing Fast 800 as want to lose a stone quickly for an event that I've put on after going on HRT. I'm not using any recipes in the book, or cooking separate meals for my family, but I am following low carb, high protein, intermittent fasting as per the advice of the Fast 800 advice.

A typical day:

7:30am: sparkling water with apple cider vinegar, coffee with 100 ml Plenish unsweetened almond milk

10,000 steps (dog walk)

Noon: 40g Purition cocoa meal replacement (it's the best brand I've found in terms of no massively nasty ingredients and it's super filling) blended with 200ml Plenish almond milk, 1 X frozen strawberry, 1 X stick of celery and 50g of full fat Greek yoghurt & ice.

4pm: cup of miso soup.

Dinner, 6/7pm: Protein (beef mince with veg/fish/chicken etc. or whatever I make for my family). I skip the carbs, and have a green salad and lots of veg instead.

I've lost 5lbs so far (day 6), and feel I can keep it going until I reach my goal. I will probably keep it up long term, doing 5:2 or 6:1, in order to maintain. I have done intermittent fasting and mostly low carb for the past five years, but never had almond milk before or done 800 calories per day. The Plenish brand (Amazon) is the best brand I've found. I've also never done meal replacement shakes before, but found they are super convenient and take my mind off food/snacking.

Hope you find something that works for you!

Just to add, I never weigh or calculate the calories in veg, but try to avoid starchy veg like parsnips. I just pick them out if my family have them. I only scan/weigh the protein I consume in the evening, and don't worry if I exceed 800 cals by a bit..

If you need the rigidity I would list 3 ideas for breakfast/lunch/dinner, and you are only allowed to pick from those. Snack on veg only: carrots, Cucumber or maybe raspberries.

Look up Kee Diet as a cheaper alternative OR just do Keto. Ebay also sell the foods if you search VLCD. I think you can get a week for £35 or thereabouts.

Keto will give you the same results if you can last the first week and get into Ketosis but its easier on you. You can still eat food and not rely on shakes and snack bars. That type if diet is not meant for longer term.