A fantastic weight loss solution or a temporary fix??

[Soon to be yummy mummy]

Help me!!

Im feeling very down and very lost and need some advice!

If I tell you a quick bit of background info.... I lost nearly 5 stone on CD SS back in 2010 and piled it all bk on (and more) after eating like a complete pig for a year.

I;m now back to lose it all again and get to goal and stay there... but I'm losing my way a little and need some advice.

At week 3 (this time) I went to the doctor with stomach pains and kidney aches and was told to come off CD and onto a calorie controlled, low carb high protein diet. I was excited at the thought of this as I was looking forward to eating again - I've done this for a week and realised WHY I chose CD in the first place....

Im going bk to my doctor tomorrow and asking if i can go bk to CD and be monitored. I just cant get on with low carbing/making food choices. Im only getting about 780 calories in anyway as cant make good food choices so end up not eating anything :-(

So that cant be good for me as will mean Im not getting essential vitamins and minerals. The doctor I saw that told me to get off CD was a real advert for "healthy eating and just eat less, move more..." so wasnt very sympathetic towards CD, but another one I spoke with briefly to give me my blood results mentioned that my problems on SS might be down to me not drinking enough and leaving too long between packs, so if Im really careful with that Im hoping he'll let me bk on it - or at least on SS+/810.... Im going to see the second (more sympathetic doctor tomorrow).

Why I'm posting is, because - I now KNOW I WANT to CD as it works for me and I dont feel ready to make food choices without making bad ones and spoiling all my hard work - BUT the problem is that, in the past week I've read so much conflicting research/reports info on VLCD that I dont know what to do for the best!!

Im just really worried that if i cant make food choices NOW after only 3-4weeks on it, how Im going to cope when i get to goal to maintain??

Do you worry about maintenance and just gaining it all back?? I know loads of people who have.... will we never be able to eat "normally" after CD??

Im worried my body will be used to 500cals and will just gain if i try to eat any more at maintenance??

are we mucking up our metabolism doing this diet?? theres SO much to think about isnt there.

I've ate fairly low carb, (but not ketosis low), low cal and lots of fruit and veg this week and STS so far. but i just feel tired. I felt much better and healthier on CD - except for the kidney ache.

Oh what to do. :-(

I will go bk to doctors tomorrow and see what he says. Really in turmoil. its like something in my mind has "clicked" and is ready to lose weight, its just knowing what to eat to do it safely yet quickly. xx

Any advice greatly appreciated!! xx

 

[coops]

Hello, I can't advise as I'm only at week 3 myself but I really sympathise with you. I can't comment on the reasons why you're needing to see a dr either, so I don't know how helpful this post will be really!
What I can say is the reasons why I chose Cambridge. I am also very BAD at food choice, that's why the whole no-food thing appealed to start with. Then after speaking with my CWPC about all the steps, I'm hoping that once I'm happy with my weight/size then this will be the part that reprograms my head into making good food choices in the future. I'm hoping that I will never eat properly again! Considering my version of proper eating got me into this mess in the first place!
Hope you get the happy outcome you deserve x

 

[Yolande]

Hey im only on week 4 of CD so cant really give advice...But its the same with any diet if you go back to eating how you were you will pick it up again.. thats why CD has the steps to maintain to introduce carbs and food back in slowly,the only way you can gain fat back is by over eating. Hitting your goal and learning to maintain it will be the hardest part of this diet i think, but i think its just about training our minds again and not letting food control us. I dont want to be on a diet my whole life i want to enjoy the odd naughty food like everyone else but keep it balanced and im hoping the steps teach me to do this. But i needed to be seperated from food altogether thats why this plan works for me. I hope you get the answer you want from your doctor tomorrow and i wish you luck on what ever you do. Just remember like you said you gained the weight back by "eating like a pig all year" so yeah i have read alot about people on vlcd that pick it all up again but i have also read just as many things about people who have maintained. At the end of the day it is down to us to stay at a weight we are happy with =D

 

[Daisy65]

I have read a few articles on the web and I think that the latest research shows that whilst very low cal diets and yo-yo dieting do reduce your metabolism this is only temporary. The reason why we pile on weight after is that we eat the same amount as we did before. Your calorie needs of course reduce if you lose weight. I put on 3 stones last year but I reckon I was eating about 3000-3500 calls a day! You can add muscle through exercise. I have been yo-yo dieting for over 30 years and a lot of the time was eating less than 600 cals a day and i still lose wait on 1500 cals per day and I still have some muscle left!

 

[fat_2_fabulous]

Ok, I done the Cambridge 5 years ago and ended up having an eating disorder, I was in and out of hosp seeing psychiatrists and was given the label of having a mental health disorder....however it doesn't have to be like that? I'm better now and in a whole new place and I'm actually back on it. It is vital you do maintenance. Since the Cambridge I've put on 2 stone. And that only within last yr and half when I met my fella. I done slimming world at one point and lost a bit of weight but I'm too lazy for them diets. Do not let these thoughts take too much time up. It's a short time in ur life and if you do it right it's the best diet in the world xxx

 

[Lily]

At week 3 (this time) I went to the doctor with stomach pains and kidney aches and was told to come off CD and onto a calorie controlled, low carb high protein diet. I was excited at the thought of this as I was looking forward to eating again - I've done this for a week and realised WHY I chose CD in the first place....

Im going bk to my doctor tomorrow and asking if i can go bk to CD and be monitored. I just cant get on with low carbing/making food choices. Im only getting about 780 calories in anyway as cant make good food choices so end up not eating anything :-(

So that cant be good for me as will mean Im not getting essential vitamins and minerals. The doctor I saw that told me to get off CD was a real advert for "healthy eating and just eat less, move more..." so wasnt very sympathetic towards CD, but another one I spoke with briefly to give me my blood results mentioned that my problems on SS might be down to me not drinking enough and leaving too long between packs, so if Im really careful with that Im hoping he'll let me bk on it - or at least on SS+/810.... Im going to see the second (more sympathetic doctor tomorrow).

Okay, you've got me intrigued. You were getting stomach pains and kidney aches, and the doctor you saw immediately put it down to the fact you were doing Cambridge?

Grrr. What lazy doctoring. Did the doctor offer any explanation as to what it was about Cambridge that could be causing your symptoms? Because what intrigued me most was the idea that you should come off Cambridge and on to a low carb high protein diet... If he was thinking that your stomach aches and kidney pains were due to Cambridge, why would he recommend a diet that would keep you in ketosis?

Were the stomach pains due to constipation then? Because switching to a low carb diet wouldn't fix that. You need fibre (and considerably more fibre than you'd get in a plateful of broccoli - and any more than a plateful of broccoli would end up being too high in carbs). And the kidney pains - are you sure it was your kidneys? High protein would be the very worst diet to put you on if there was anything wrong with your kidneys (so somehow I doubt that those blood tests revealed that there was a problem with your kidneys).

My guess (but of course, it really is a guess) is that all of your discomfort was a result of constipation. It's worth noting that lots of us get funny aches and pains along the way as we lose fat (kind of feels like your flesh is bruised, sometimes). So... if you want to go back on a VLCD, don't let yourself get constipated. Add Fibre 89 to your shakes and make sure you drink plenty of water at well spaced intervals. Spacing of your shake packets is less important, IMHO, but a steady intake of water is vital.

Why not give 810 a go for a week or two? Research has shown that the amount of weight loss on a VLCD is almost exactly the same, regardless of whether you take in 450 calories or 800 calories. It's just that some of us find it easier to leave food out of the equation (I'm one of those people).

And finally - the Cambridge Diet is one of the most tested diets in the world. It's extreme but it isn't dangerous. Certainly not as dangerous as weight loss surgery, that's for sure. Cambridge isn't intended to be used forever - it's intended to get you to a place where you can get your head around what you'll need to do to maintain. But that's true of all diets.

You need a goal beyond the goal of losing weight, you see. What's your goal for when you've lost all your excess pounds? What will that allow you to do that you can't do now? I think that's the trick to maintenance - losing weight isn't the end of the road. It's just a crossroads - you can choose to go back the way you came and pile all the weight back on. Or... you can choose a new destination.

Dare to dream.

 

[Broadstairsgirl]

I agree whole heartedly with what Lily has to say above. Most people who are overweight have a damaged relationship with food. I use food to comfort me when I'm sad, distract myself when I'm stressed and also to punish myself when I'm down. I have realised these things over the 4 weeks in which I've been doing this diet. Distancing myself from food and my destructive use of it has given me the opportunity to have a good think about it and come to terms with some home truths.

I also had quite a revelation the other night. Normal people don't eat like I did. In order for me to eat like normal people I will essentially have to be on a 'diet' for the rest of my life but with more calories....only it's not a diet....it's showing restraint and being mindful of your body's needs.

It's very easy for people who have never been overweight to recommend healthy eating - it's great if you have a few pounds to lose. For those of us who have a few stone to lose it's different - it's not just a physical problem, there are emotional issues that need to be looked at, take the time to concentrate on them and maybe the physical problems will be easier to tackle.....

Take some time to think about whether you are ready for this, make your decision and go for it.

 

[Soon to be yummy mummy]

Thank you so much girlies!!

You've only reiterated what I already knew but its helped it sink in!

To Lily,
The first doctor I saw (who wanted me to come off CD and cal count) didnt want me in ketosis, just wanted me to low carb.. but not low enough to be in ketosis xx I didnt explain that well enough - sorry.

I was seeing a doctor who was clearly already against CD, had never been overweight and just didnt understand my damaged relationship with food.

In regards to my tummy pains - they were a horrible aching/burning pain like I had when I had gall stones, almost unbearably uncomfortable - definitely not constipation.... and I havent had them at all since I've been cal counting and not CD'ing....

BUT, I've been back to the doctors and asked to see another doctor, and I explained everything to her.. why I want to do CD over any other diet, that i just cant make good food choices and thats why I'm fat... that I need time out from eating/cooking/making food choices to allow me to re-learn HOW to eat healthily, restrain myself and make good food choices and obviously because it comes off so fast on CD.

She also explained, that eating low cal DOES affect your metabolism - but yes, that it would only be temporary. and adding exercise later on would help increase it again! Phew!

So unfounded worries!

I understood already, that if I came off CD at the end and ate like I did before then obviosuly I was going to get fat again - this is certainly true of all diets and quite glaringly obvious. But my real worry was that, if I got to goal on 500cals a day and then tried to maintain at say, a generally healthy 1500cal, would I keep gaining. But she said no. I might gain a few lbs initially but my body would adjust. She also said I could add exercise in to increase my metabolism and I would probably even lose at 1500cals then, so would need to increase further cals to balance the exercise and maintain.

She confirmed that maintenance would be the hardest bit - but pointed out, that I was showing that I was afraid of failing before even TRYING to succeed! good point.

I have now made an informed decision to go bk on CD SS, and (new!) doctor is going to monitor any aches, pains, blood pressure, sugar levels and blood tests! She explained that the first doctor should have released that my liver enzymes WOULD be elevated on CD as my body is in ketosis and my liver is working hard to break down fats and get used to my body using body fat for energy instead of any carbs I would normally be eating.

She also said abdominal pains COULD be a few things, just general cramp (i suffer with that in my legs too on CD, so it makes sense that I could be getting it in other areas too!) the constipation./trapped wind and it could be a form of carb wirthdrawal - she explained it like "cold turkey" pains from carbs - especially if my diet was high in carbs before - which it definitely was!

She looked back at my kidney results and didn't seem too concerned by them - she just said to ensure I drink plenty of water EVERY day and that if I wasnt exercising I shouldnt need much over 3l, but not under 2l - so between 2-3l every day.

I think alot of my pains ARE constipation/trapped wind too as Im not regular at the best of times, so messing around with my diet isnt helping.

I also think that some days I was drinking TOO much water and others I wasnt drinking enough, resulting in an inbalance of my electrolytes. SO what I've learnt is to be careful with this diet and to be consistant!

Space my packs out equally, dont take any strong painkillers (!) - learnt that the hard way!, drink at least 2l of water but not really any need for more than 3l - and drink this EVERY day not just some! Stop weighing daily and de-motivating myself! and just make a decision and STICK TO IT! Indecisiveness will get me nowhere!

How do the rest of you stop constipation?? Im going to take a laxative today when I go bk on to CD SS to get rid of anything that might have built up (TMI i know! sorry!) and then take a spoonful of the CD fibre stuff with every shake - hope this helps.

My decision is to go back on Cambridge Diet until I get to goal and THEN I will re-assess everything and work hard to keep it off.

I have accepted that I will need to watch what I eat for the rest of my life and I am happy with that! If I dont... I will only end up back at the beginning - or wose, even fatter than before!

So thank you girls! I hope you are successful on your plans and thank you so much for making my brain listen to something it already knew! lol!

I think my main problem was it got hard around week 4 so I ran... my own fault, my own decision and now I need to re-focus and start again!

Thanks again xx

My weight loss so far:
Week One - CD SS -12lbs
Week two - CD SS some days, a SS+ every other day -5lbs loss
Week three - as above -4lbs (TOM and heavily constipated)
Week four - started cal counting and eating some carbs, so put 3lbs water and carb weight back on intially, but then lost it over the week
so showed a STS overall.

Week 5 - here's to week 5!