Tips for surviving Cambridge...

[Starlit_Cazza]

...following on from Lily's post on You know you are on Cambridge when... I thought it might be handy to start a thread on your tips for surviving Cambridge. I will start off with a few of mine, please feel free to add to it, but please make sure that all tips are within the Cambridge guidelines - this is not a list of how to cheat at Cambridge, it is practical survival tips that will hopefully help newbies and oldies alike!

So...

1. Drink. Be it water, tea (any), black coffee, water flavourings or milk if you are on SS+ or a higher plan, get that fluid in you. It really does make a difference!

2. Vary your drinks. Water can get very boring very quickly, I find different flavoured teas keep water interesting for me!

3. Plan your weekends. A lot of people find weekends very hard. My answer to that is make sure you are so busy at weekends you don't have time to dwell. Go to the cinema, plan day trips (I can highly recommend the zoo or somewhere else that will take you all day), make plans to visit understanding friends and relatives, or plan to go for a nice long walk. My last few weekends have consisted of a trip away to understanding friends, martial arts event and friends and a whole morning at soft play with my sister and the kids, and today I took my daughter to the historic dockyard to see the "pirate ships".

4. If you have a family to feed, plan it in advance. I am a single mum to a 5 year old, and am now at the point where I am comfortable to cook for her and watch her eat without issue. But early on I made sure she had hot school dinners and would make her a packed lunch to have at the childminders after school, then fed her stuff she loved but I don't like at weekends!

5. Find a hobby! Yes I know this isn't practical for everyone, but it works for me. I started Choi Kwang Do on week 5 of this diet. I am now training 3 nights a week for 3-4 hours and I absolutely love it. It helps that I seem to have joined a close knit but welcoming community, I have made new friends, and I have been invited to various social events as a result. But even if you don't have the time or energy for something like that, maybe find something at appeals to you.

6. Netflix. Total lifesaver and a bargain at £5.99 a month (first month free!)

7. Dulcolax. Or Senna. Or whatever works for you. Constipation seems unavoidable on this diet. Do not let it get too bad. Try and deal with it as it arises, then look at something like Cambridge fibre or psyllium husks to keep things moving...

Can anyone else add any?

[CrazyDiamond]

- sweeteners (tablet form) can turn a skanky herbal tea into something quite nice any satisfying!

- if you need to, plan a break in, like when I went on holiday, plan a day you will stop and the day you will start again and stick to it to cause minimal harm. I think it gives you something to look forward to if you are in it for the long hail and helps avoid falling off the wagon!

- keep a diary, talk rubbish if you want, it really helps if you know there's people watching!

- hot showers and baths - something nice to do when you are perhaps thinking about food!

- REMEMBER its not forever! An every time you cheat you are just prolonging the agony as it were!

[Starlit_Cazza]

Yup my blog has really helped keep me focused, and I get stupidly excited when I see lots of people have read it!

- Buy an electric blanket, especially if you are single and starting this diet in winter! Couldn't be without mine now!

- Ice cube bags/trays! I love my shakes blended with ice, makes them lovely and thick and more filling in my opinion. I have ice cube bags I bought from tesco filling about half my freezer hehe.