Cambridge/Exante/Slimfast 2021

[YourWurstNightmare]

New thread combining all the VLC shake diets: Cambridge, Exante, Lighterlife, Slimfast, etc. Everyone is welcome.

If you have any underlying health conditions, please check with your GP first (as I did).

I'm doing Slimfast (two shakes and one healthy meal a day). I use the premade shakes, because I actually like them! They are currently on sale here: www.amazon.co.uk/SlimFast-Replacement-Shake-Chunky-Chocolate/dp/B010PM6XO4/?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

I noticed Amazon is selling Lighterlife products now, too, if that helps anyone: www.amazon.co.uk/stores/page/DCB0D716-63B4-4265-8862-CF4AEEE9FEF9?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

My goals:

• Get two stone off quickly, then swap to less restrictive healthy/calorie controlled eating.
• Do 30 minutes of exercise (walking, jogging, lifting weights, whatever) a day.

Would love to share tips and motivate each other as we go!

@CJDoxon hot flushes are gone! What a difference.
My suger jumped after Saturday but there must be enough of some other hormones which are still balancing it that my sleep feels restful. I woke up only once last night!

In my experience this regime is worth even to get better sleep!
I am on 2 day 2 Metformin which must be making some difference but not drastic IMHO.
Low carbing and low calories impact sugar level. I can't say which one more long term but LC with regular meals are very hard for me. I don't know if I could be on 800-900 cal/day if I was making my own meals for the whole day. I think if someone else cooked them it would be easier.

I totally agree getting to 800 - 900 cals on your own pretty tricky without having to be very very careful - am hopeful that once we have lost the requisite amount of weight that it will be possible to go up to a more normal amount and that it will be a case of keeping it balanced.

Perhaps the better sleep is due to weight loss rather than the amount of sugar? Said she jumping in to something she knows absolutely nothing about.... Good luck today - am looking forward to my Thai noodles already ....ish

I saw on another thread on FB a comment from a woman who after 12 weeks of 800 cal went on 1200, and not a calorie more and she was still loosing weight, she started from being 6 st overweight so that's a different story altogether because I am 1.6 stone until I am BMI 25.
My DD is calorie counting so I have her on hand as she is stayin on around 1200 cal/day due to her height of just 5 ft, I am a bit taller than her and I am hoping to do similar to her. She is T1 diabetic and needs carbs in her meals, still moderate amount but I would require much less I think. I would worry about it in 9 weeks time
Last night was sleepless but it doesn't bother me, I'll catch up tonight. I listened to a lot of my newest Audible book and it eventually put me to sleep.
Sugars are lower and I am again losing weight I put on due to my Saturday overeating and that was far too much.
I can see that Exante was stalling me due to 20 g of carbs in each meal, other products are low carb and I had some Pulsin and Purition last 2 days. I will be sticking with them for now.
I will think sell Exante or give it to a friend if she wants it.

Well - weigh in wednesday if anyone still playing these days....? I am 2.9 kilos down have got in to my ten 10 year old "thin" jeans - not my "thinnest" pair but heading in the right direction. Now also fit the dress I bought from cos 3 years ago which I thought would look nice if only I lost weight. Turns out it doesn't really. Can't have everything I suppose. How is everyone else doing? @Fere @ItWasTheBestOfTimes@MerryGoRoundBrain@457mm@TheWitchersWife@MyVisionsComeFromSoup@dixiedo@lockdownrainbow@LumpSatAlone@GranolaHolmes@Campervan69

Well done on another good loss. My weigh day is Monday and I had lost 3lb. So total is 3st 6lb off so far. My losses are definitely settling down now after some really big numbers the first 4 weeks. I lost the same this week as I did last week despite massively upping my exercise due to the school run which takes an hour round trip pushing a buggy with a 1 year old in and 4 year old on a buggy board part of the way. I felt a bit ill some days last week after the 2 hours of walking, but think I'm getting used to it again now. I have a shake before we set off to give me a boost. My goal coat that I wore pre DC now buttons but it still a good 2 stone off fitting properly, 8 weeks ago I could barely get my arms in it. Hoping to keep on track until June half term when we have a U.K. hol booked, hopefully I will be at or near to goal by then.

@CJDoxon I’ve had a tough few days with DS and decided to put off the shakes on until he was back at school. Today is day 1, fingers crossed for a decent loss in week one, just to keep me going.

I can say with certainty that low carb shakes are my way forward. I am hoping that others will consider Pulsin and Purition because if you are staying on low calories and stalling the reason may be that you are pre-diabetic without realising it.
I ordered 3x500 g bags of vegan Purition this morning.
To flavour Pulsin I am adding some Splenda. I am also drinking every day 1x Exante Burst and 2xSlender sip.
I haven't looked into any other products at the moment. Sticking with what works for me for now.
I had a 2 egg omelette with some butter last night, it was very tasty :)

Hey everyone. I am doing alright, although my losses are really slow (I think!) - like 1.5lbs per week which is less that a kilo. I try to stay focused, but there are weeks that I struggle with staying positive and motivated as I feel like I need to be losing more for the calories intake I have (step 2 Cambridge). Anyway, I guess it is piling up, but will take much longer than I hoped. I thought I would be at my 3 stone goal by Easter while I am not even at 2 stone yet (almost there, 26 lbs so far). So I think that would mean at least another 6 weeks for me...

@ItWasTheBestOfTimes I think you are becoming the poster child of this chain :-) - congratulations on all that you are doing and presumably are becoming. I bet you will meet your June hotel goal - hurrah for you

@MerryGoRoundBrain hows today going? I comptletely agree that you have to get your head in the right place to do this otherwise its a completely miserable experience - hope the last couple of days have got you back on track and also that school has been a success.

@475 - actually as long as its going down I wouldnt worry as slow weight loss is meant to be better isnt it? Well done for your perserverance - 2 stone isnt nothing is it? So keep at it.

@Fere - really good to see that you are on top of the whole diabetes thing. By a strange quirk am doing something diabetes related for work and as a non medical person its a complicated space so thank you for your comments as others will find them useful and good to hear about the omlette too!!
I'm beginning to sound like some sort of over-hyped motivational speaker - hmm it's not a good online look. BUT find it really helpful to hear how others are doing so thank you for replying

Slightly worried that we haven't heard from @LumpSatAlone (how are you?). .... But perhaps I am scaring people off being the Cambridge diet equivalent of Jane Fonda or Joe Wicks or a combination of both. Terrifying thought.

@CJDoxon thank you! Day 2 today, I can’t wait for the keto-kick, as I call it. That boost of energy and clarity of thought that only a VLCD brings on
I’m just making dinner for the rest of the family and this part is proving tough but never mind, onwards and downwards as they say.

forgot to check in - 2lbs down this week, so a total loss of 55 lbs (39 on shakes) and a BMI of 27.4 .

I was looking at some old photos earlier in the week, and 25 years ago I was the same weight/size as I am now (albeit a different shape) which is a bit gobsmacking.

Interesting about low carb shakes - I'm conscious that mine are very sweet (Slim and Save, shakes only, can't be doing with the "food" ones) and that I should probably do something about changing that before I start back on food. Has anyone tried/investigated Huel? I keep seeing adverts popping up on my SM feeds, and wondered if anyone had any thoughts. Its a tricky one to ask about IRL, as this kind of diet is very much frowned upon to start off with (as I'm sure we've all heard from people "just eat less/move more, that's all you need to do"), and I'm not sure if these other types of shakes cause as much controversy, or if it's just they tend to be used to replace 1/2 meals a day (and if it's breakfast + lunch, it's not so obvious to other people ifswim) rather than as a total meal replacement?

And the rowing, I've now rowed a total of 305km, I have noticeable biceps, there are some triceps coming (and the bingo wings are slowly shrinking) and the belly is still going down (also what is there is dropping lower, so it's tucking away in my jeans a bit better ).

Also having taken some advice from the S&B ladies, my new skin regime means that I have obvious cheekbones, jawbones, and much less turkey neck! Had some lovely compliments earlier in the week from work colleagues I haven't seen for a month, which was also a boost.

Huel has oats in and is quite high carb and calorie.

@MyVisionsComeFromSoup can I jump in and ask about your skin care regime please?

I've lost 21lbs with 70lbs more to go.
I'm just going to order a rowing machine too. I have massively fat arms, I hate them more than my huge belly.
I feel like I have turned a corner with my weight loss, you sound like you are a few months ahead.

I've lost a stone in the last 23 days. It's something I never thought I would be able to achieve, to get to the weight I was at last time 20 years ago and to be able to cook meals low in carbs which are vegan too! There's so much choice of high protein low carb products nowadays that we don't have to live only on beans.
And the Spring is coming

[quote FlatEarthling]@MyVisionsComeFromSoup can I jump in and ask about your skin care regime please?

I've lost 21lbs with 70lbs more to go.
I'm just going to order a rowing machine too. I have massively fat arms, I hate them more than my huge belly.
I feel like I have turned a corner with my weight loss, you sound like you are a few months ahead. [/quote]
Hi Flat - before I was a "bung on some moisturiser when I remember" kind of person; now every morning I use a micro-current device (which was stupidly expensive, but was highly recommended by the S&B board) with aloe vera gel, wash the gel off in the shower, then cleanse with a hot cloth cleanser, followed by vitamin C serum and moisturiser. I'm using Boots No 7 eye cream (not convinced that's actually doing much, but I had it in the drawer), but what does work is a caffeine roll on thing for under eye bags and black smudges.

Then evening is hot cloth cleanser, retinol and moisturiser.

I'm not wearing much make up these days (don't have many zoom meetings thankfully), but I've followed some Youtube advice about eyebrow shaping for hooded eyes, which lifts my eyes a bit as well.

The main improver though is the micro-current thing, I really didn't expect it to work as well as it has done - so much so I didn't bother with "before" photos! But it was on offer, and I figured I could probably sell it on if I didn't like it, but, No, definitely keeping it .

@Fere

I've lost a stone in the last 23 days. It's something I never thought I would be able to achieve, to get to the weight I was at last time 20 years ago and to be able to cook meals low in carbs which are vegan too! There's so much choice of high protein low carb products nowadays that we don't have to live only on beans. And the Spring is coming

what a brilliant achievement!

thanks Orangeblossom, I'll need to give that some thought then

Thanks @MyVisionsComeFromSoup

I'm going to investigate the Beauty Board and see what they say.

I feel like a new me is around the corner ( under the flab)

Keep up the good work!

I'm liking the Puritan strawberry one recently.

Argh it keeps changing it to 'Puritan" Puritan I mean. Only thing is they are quite expensive, but I like that they are a bit more natural than some of them.

@Namechangesensitivemoney I am buying 3 packets and then there's some discount. I also managed to get last few packets of their porridge. I think now they discontinued them.
I also like the fact that they are made of seeds and natural ingredients.

Thank you @YourWurstNightmareI still can't believe I was able to achieve it. I am not there yet but can see that my clothes are very lose. I am hoping not to do any clothes shopping before late Spring.
My dd has some stuff she is getting rid of and I will be benefiting from her weight loss

I'm so excited - I'm seeing DD2 tomorrow for the first time in 7 months, and I wanted to be able to wear the size 12 jeans I bought - and I fit in them!!!!!! They need a little bit of loosening up, so I'm wearing them today for a bit, but this time last year I was bursting out of size 20 jeans, and now here I am in a size 12 .

Not much to report re weight loss (haven't been sticking properly to the shakes), but my body shape is changing weekly due to the rowing - I calculated yesterday I've rowed from Lands End to Birmingham, so another couple of months and I'll have made it all the way to John O'Groats . Bingo wings are shrinking, and although I'm going to have some loose skin, I don't think it's going to be too bad. Belly is still there (although a bit less), I'm going to have to do crunches or something for that (I hate crunches).

How is everyone else getting on?

@MyVisionsComeFromSoup That's amazing!
I'm thrilled for you. Let us know how you get on.

I'm thinking of starting VCLD. Still unsure but I enjoy reading your updates.
I'm going to use my rowing machine over Easter too. It's been making me feel a bit queasy so I'm going to try it later in the day

Enjoy your day out!

Goodness me @MyVisionsComeFromSoup - that’s truly amazing. Well done on everything. Am sure your DD will be super impressed! I certainly am. Am trugging along behind you. Am 2.9 stone down from January but hitting a bit of a plateau now (mainly because I have been drinking a glass of whiskey now and again (.. never touched the stuff before in my life but it’s better than wine and and you can mix it with water ....) and then I have crisps or something similarly crappy (🙄). I still have a about a stone to go. Am aiming to stars swimming next week when the pools open which will help with my wobbly tummy ..... enjoy your day - and congrats again

@FlatEarthling - have a go - it is tedious but see above from @myvisions. Worth it!