Cambridge Weight Plan - anyone on it or about to start it and want to support each other?

[NickNacks]

I have my first appointment with my consultant booked for three weeks time. I've done lots of research and prepping and just wondered if anyone else was in the same position? I could do with the support!

Evening all, on day four now. And I'm FREEZING. Another ketosis symptom, or just shitty weather?!

Thanks plum I blame the weather joey

Well, a bit of crap evening last night, had a work event and without thinking had a sandwich before I went then managed to eat half a dozen little canapés and then a chocolate fondant and ice cream WTAF - I don't even like eat puddings normally and can't remember the last time I ate anything chocolate. Someone handed it to me, and instead of just putting it back on a tray or table I are my way through it. the only silver lining to the whole evening was I drank water the whole time.

Anywho onward and upward, lots of water today and forget about it!!!

Not sure about it being the weather, I am sitting in an office that is about 23 degrees, and my hands are frozen, they have been for weeks. Spending the evenings with a hot water bottle which is making sleeping easier - cannot sleep when cold!!!

I guess we all have different challenges. Work social functions must be so hard plum. This weekend is going to be a disaster. Mothers Day meal Saturday and I think dc want to cook me heart shaped eggs on toast on Sunday. I have been good all week so it shouldn't be too bad.
Just waiting now for my scales) to record a 12 something figure. I am so close.

Sorry I haven't updated for a couple of weeks, just been so busy.

Just had my week 8 weigh in and lost 4.4lb. My total is now 29.2lb. Feeling very pleased and lost of people are starting to notice now, it's a definite boost to my motivation!

How is everyone else doing today?

I all, well weigh in this morning and 2 pounds off, so thats 15 in total. Quite happy - its lovely when people notice Nick, very motivational!!! I am on a three week count down and would love another 10/12 pounds off before then - Ideally sitting at 10.7 would make me so happy. Also bought a couple of tops in a medium so pleased!!!!!!

Hope everyone has a good weekend!!

Grest losses everyone. I was 13 on the nose on my unforgiving new ww scales today so can't quite get 12 something I wanted. Was going to the gym but my sciatica has reaered it's ugly head so painkillers, bath and bed are in order I think.
have a great weekend.

Had my first WI. Lost 6lbs and several inches.

Hello hello, some great losses well done! I'm now down 15.7 lbs in 24 days and it feels great .

Have added in a little bit of chicken in the evenings as its 4th week on exante, and didn't end up going out for dinner but had a glass of champagne at home to celebrate finishing a big project. Still down after that though! So all is well.

Hello! Plum recommended this thread to me :)

I've started exante today total solution, would love to be down to 9- 9.6 stone by the end of July from my current weight of 13.1 :( very depressing seeing that on the scales I've being avoiding the little bastard for a while
Piled on the weight after I had my two children over the last 3 years but am determined to be happy by summer.

Can I ask is it best to weigh yourself daily or weekly? I think I might get too hung up doing it daily but don't know if I've got the strength to hold out for once a week.

Grrr, want to be down to 9-9.7 by the end of JUNE. Serves me right for not pre-viewing...

Welcome pay. Well I had my meal out Saturday but was violently sick Sunday. Not sure whst is was. Going to be a bit more sensible and only add in food gradually.

Hi all, Pay, glad you found us!

Today has been the most boring day on the planet, the high point has been discovering that the Exante tomato and basil soup has been made consumable by doubling the water, adding mixed herbs, salt and pepper, and vigorous whisking, so pleased as I had 6 packs, that I was struggling to face, at least I know I can actually eat them, will never order again, but this way they will not end up in the bin!

Bad luck Brown, however I spoke to someone a few weeks ago who lost 7 stones on this, and kept it all off, she was on it for five months and then followeed the maintenance programme religiously, she said that even now, after a big weekend she will go back on it for a couple of days to recover. Said that going straight and eating normally is the fastest way to feel very sick! Must be something in that, I followed Rosemary Connely, about 20 years ago and then had a weekend away, first night ship shop chips and for the whole night head was down loo! Hope you feel better soon!

Xx

Great positive messages to be read here. You are all doing so well. I had a chat with my counsellor today so I'm hoping to ring her tomorrow and ask if I can start in the next couple of days and make an order. I can only meet on Friday's and that's the one day she can't really meet so I'm hoping to do it remotely? Do people always meet their counsellor or does anyone do it without hand holding?

Thanks for the welcomes, was planning a tomato soup for tomorrow Plum, feeling slightly worried now. Not found it too bad so far, I've liked the shakes I've had and the bars and really liked the veg soup so had that again for dinner.
Been having a read back over the thread, and mini is right, you are doing well, very inspiring! though sorry to hear you weren't well Brown.
Right I'm feeling pretty hungry so going to go to bed early tonight I think and ignore my tummy

Hi mini, I am on Exante and its on line so no counselling. Just the support on here!

Pay, it was odd, I eat anything, hence the need to loose weight, but the tomato soup was "different"! Let me know how you get on! I find going to bed a huge help, more sleep no scooby snacking - win win!!

Hi Plumstone, I guess I'm being daft as I have read of Exante a lot on this thread but don't quite understand. Are they Cambridge or different people? Different drinks/ foods?

Thank you ladies. I feel fine now.
I am on exante too. The products are similar to Cambridge I believe. However, as plum says you just buy the products online so you do not have the support of a counsellor.
Opted for exante as I believe it is much cheaper than Cambridge although there are others on here who prefer the Cambridge products.
Hope that makes sense. Really need to go to bed.

Hi Mini, they are basically the same concept - initially you have three packs a day for (in my case) 12 weeks, this can be a combination of shakes, food packs or bars along with (again this is me - 4 litres of water a day) I am slowly cutting out caffeine, was at 6/7 cups a day, but now down to 2.

I weigh three times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday - but only record the weight on a Friday. I measure waist, hips and chest once a month and make a note of these.

There is no counselling which I prefer, I know I need to loose weight, I know I eat too much. I am not an emotional eater or snacker, just large portions three times a day, and an aversion to exercise - This I am liking as it trains you to eat less. Every three weeks you add in an additional 200 calories a day (can be done with food, however I add an additional bar). Exercise I am walking more to and from work. I want to build into my life on a permanent basis not a 12 week gym program which will have a definite start and stop date - done this before and at the end of 12 weeks looked great, however after that I blobbed out!!!

The exante website usually has offers e.g.. 100 items for £85, which for me is one months food for a lot less than I would usually pay for it. Delivery is next day and so far no complaints.

I cannot comment on any other VLCD apart from LL which I know someone who lost a lot of weight with and also got very thin hair. a few years later she has never regained but her hair has never recovered. So far touch wood, I have had no side effects other than body shrinkage! I vaguely remember my mum buying the Cambridge stuff donkey's years ago but doing nothing with it!!

I am no expert but hope this helps!!!

I need to order some products this evening so my lady can bring them with her tomorrow. Do people prefer the shakes ow the soups ?? Are they hard to make? Any advice welcome.

Hello ladies, thanks for your input, it was very helpful. I've been thinking about this all day and I've decided to try out Exante for now, for a while on my own. One reason was costing. I've ordered a months worth of meals and shakes off Exante for £80 and my one week with Cambridge was just up to £50. Also, I'm not good at being weighed by someone else. I know I'm overweight, I know I want to do something about it. Pep talks, however well meant, stress me out. So I'll see how I get on ....

mini you will be awesome!!!!!!

Remember weigh once a week, first thing in the morning, naked, after the loo!! Always make sure the scales are in the same place.

Also take a measurement of waist, hips and chest - sometimes it helps to see these numbers shrinking.

Lots of water like four litres helps with hunger, and my skin is not nearly as dry - win win!!

I am also known to go to bed early and watch TV from their - the kitchen is downstairs and I am a lazy cow - the 8 hours sleep I am getting is awesome!!!!

xx

Mini, a month is what I ordered, I'm hoping it goes well and I'll order more, if you struggle at first there's nothing to stop you doing Cambridge but I've just started Exante on Sunday so we can egg each other on :) I prefer the shakes & bars but I did slimfast before so maybe it's because I'm used to that more. I've also got a few exante chocolate puddings which I'm saving for the weekends as my treats, hoping they taste good!

Plum, had the tomato soup, it's utterly utterly gross :( I had it for breakfast (didn't want to dread dinner so saved my shake for tonight) I had to pinch my nose and down it when it cooled. Not looking forward to doing that again, I thought it was like really watered down flour with tomato flavouring. Have you had the Thai soup? I'm going to try that one tomorrow, fingers crossed.

Really struggling today, feeling very hungry and some one at work brought in a cake she baked, diet sabotaging cow! (She's not she's actually lovely but it took sooooo much will power not to have any!)
So can I ask what are your coping strategies when temptation is right under your nose? I went out for a walk and just kept on the water but it was hard, day 3 for me hoping ketosis kicks in tomorrow!

Hello, I've just arrived, from PayAttentionNigel's thread.

I started Exante yesterday and have 4 stone to lose - the result of ill health and comfort eating. I am really hoping this works to kickstart my weightloss and in particular get rid of my belly/visceral fat. I've never carried weight around my middle before, but it's really piled on over the last year and I know that's really not good at all.

I've lost 4 stone before and kept it off for about 18 months, until I had an injury that left me on crutches for months, then I gave up and gradually put it all back on over the following three years. So, I do know how to eat right for weightloss and maintenance, but I felt I needed to take food out of the equation for a while, in an attempt to break the comfort eating habit.

I have two problems this time around. The first is that I am unable to exercise. Last time I lost two stone with diet alone, then started HIIT training, walking and using Jillian Michaels dvds and found the exercise made the biggest difference to my body shape, despite stalling the actual weightloss. I am also on beta-blockers, which are known for stalling/stopping weightloss and even causing weightgain in some people. I'm on a very low dose though, so hoping it won't be too much of an issue for me.

Hoping to do this until I've lost a couple of stones and then move onto something a bit more sustainable long-term. Would love to do full on low carb, but being vegetarian makes that a little more tricky, especially as I still can't stand long enough to cook anything fancy.

I've been ok with it so far, but am not really enjoying any of the meals. I find the shakes have a funny aftertaste, but are much better if I put in loads of icecubes and blitz them in the blender.

Had pasta carbonara tonight and I really didn't like it. I read online that's it's cheesy and creamy, but all I could smell and taste was the ham flavouring and having been veggie for 34 years, I struggled to get past that. In the end I smothered it in rocksalt and black pepper, which disguised the flavour enough for me to get it down.

I just read that the tomato soup is not good either. I'm planning to add tobasco sauce to that, as per the recommendations on the website and hope that will help - if not it will be more rocksalt and black pepper.

I have two initial goals:

1. 1 stone off before my PIL's Golden Wedding celebrations at the beginning of April. (Which will be interesting, as it's afternoon tea/cakes at a stately home. )

1. 2 stone off by the end of May, when we are going on our annual trip to a music festival.

Oh - and I have some scales being delivered tomorrow, as dd somehow managed to smash my old ones a while ago, so I have weighed myself on the Wii fit for now. I was considering not buying any, but think I definitely need to see the scales going down for motivation - it really helped last time.

Hi veg! Glad to see you over. I think the exante food will take a little getting used too, good tip on the Tabasco though! Right I'm off to bed again to try and ignore my grumbling tum. Day four tomorrow, might weigh myself, can't decide if it's a good thing or not, will make a decision in the morning :)