are doctors sympathetic to cambridge diet

[minime100]

Hi,
I have been doing cambridge for 6 weeks, and have had fab weight loss (41lbs). My mother is really impressed with the results i have had and wants to give it a go. Her BMI is 55. I spoke to my CDC tonight and she said that mum will have to get doc's permission to start the diet, which I understand, as she is pretty overweight. I just wanted to know if anyone else had to get doc's permission, and if they are OK about giving it. Please reply!!!

 

[kazz]

Hiya, it really really depends on the doctor hun, some will be all for it, others will be dead set against it. If your mum is going to see the doc ask your CDC for some back up info (such as nutrition etc) to take along just in case they are a bit iffy about it. My doc dint know much about VLCDs and when I wanted to join LL he tried to turn me off it and eventually signed the form...but then I did CD anyway! I saw another doc in the surgery a few weeks ago and she was very interested in the diet and wanted to research it so she could recommend it to other patients....some docs will charge for the time it takes to do the consent, others wont...your mum really wont know until she sees her own!

And well done on the fab loss by the way!

 

[minime100]

Thanks Kaz. My cdc did give me booklet for mum's doctor, so I hope they go for it. Without sounding smug, I think this diet is so easy cos it takes food out of the equation completely, unlike other reduced food diets. That would suit my mum, cos her binging is reaching epic proportions.

 

[kazz]

Yep CD is fab if you can get your head into it properly....wish I could again, but I just cant so have opted for WW for a while!!

Once your in ketosis and drinking plenty of water CD is ace and you can feel kinda fantastic and smgug when people around you are stuffing their faces!

 

[canaryellow]

Hi Minime,

Hubby and I both had to get the Dr to sign the forms, as we are both on medication, plus we both had a BMI over 40
Our Dr was fine about it, and wished us well.. we have to go back in a few weeks, just for a MOT lol to make sure our bodies are doing all that they should.. My Dr didnt ask for a charge, however i think this can depend from different surgeries, so best to ask upfront..
Good luck.. x

 

[That's_So_Fetch]

It will defo depend on your GP. When i saw my GP earlier this year about going on LL he almost made me cry because he would even let me explain why i needed the diet. He was dead set on me not doing it and made me feel like crap.

I changed my GP a few months later and then when i went to him about CD i found him to be so much more understanding and sympathetic. I do have a health problem and i take meds so i had to get my GPs permission. My CDC posted me a form for my GP to sign and an info booklet for him to read. I also tried to explain the diet to him and why i thought i needed to do it and he was lovely. We agreed that i could do it if i saw him every month just for a general check up and if i had any problems i would have to stop the diet or progress onto the higher cal stages of the diet like 1200.

Be sure to provide info for your GP and explain why you think you need to do it.

Good Luck xx

 

[*Sarah*]

my Dr refussed to sign my form, and gave me a (very) long lecture saying the diet was a quick fix, and that our brain wouldn't understand the weight loss because the weight loss happens so fast & because of this u will binge eat, she also went on about how everyone thought the diet was discovered at Cambridge uni & thats the only reason people do it! she specialises in Obesity & womens health and was dead against it, i suggested i try it for a two week trial basis just to kick start the weight loss but she wasn't having any of it, i had tears in my eyes trying to convince her.

i've known her for years and totally respect her medical oppinion but we've all seen the results, medically maybe it isn't the best but when you've tried everything else then i think the DR should let u do it.

as my BMI was 42 i lost the 2% following a low cal diet & started CD as soon as i got it below 40.

let us know the outcome

 

[Meneither]

I told my doctor i was on cambridge and that i had lost 7lbs since starting (5 days) and said be carefull remeber rome wasnt built in a day.

Me.

 

[girlygirl]

my Dr refussed to sign my form, and gave me a (very) long lecture saying the diet was a quick fix, and that our brain wouldn't understand the weight loss because the weight loss happens so fast & because of this u will binge eat, she also went on about how everyone thought the diet was discovered at Cambridge uni & thats the only reason people do it! she specialises in Obesity & womens health and was dead against it, i suggested i try it for a two week trial basis just to kick start the weight loss but she wasn't having any of it, i had tears in my eyes trying to convince her.

i've known her for years and totally respect her medical oppinion but we've all seen the results, medically maybe it isn't the best but when you've tried everything else then i think the DR should let u do it.

as my BMI was 42 i lost the 2% following a low cal diet & started CD as soon as i got it below 40.

let us know the outcome

i completely understand why some GPs and health workers are against VLCDs. They form their opinion from long-term results, not short-term, and they tend to believe -as most of us secretly do - that eating less and more healthily, plus exercising, is the real key to losing the weight and keeping it off.

But we want results right now. We find it easier to do without regular food than to eat smaller, carefully controlled portions.

I often have doubts about how 'healthy' it is to SS - this worries me.

We have no access to studies that would show just how many VLCD-ers remain at goal, or anywhere near it, afterwards.

In theory we should lose all our surplus weight in a matter of months, but many of us slip, binge, restart, slip, binge, restart... endlessly. GPs would obviously regard this as unhealthy and unhelpful in the longer term. But all we as slimmers seem to care about is fast weight loss, which is addictive. How many people here have tried 'healthy eating' after VLCD, joined WW or SW or whatever, then given up after a month of no loss at all or even (horrors) a substantial gain? This seems to be a very common experience. And what do such peeps do? Eventually they all creep back to SS-ing, only to find that they just can't do it any more. So you lose and regain the same stone or half-stone, over and over.

I've been on CD far longer than I thought I'd be, and I have two stones yet to lose. I've been trying to lose them for several months now. I just can't live without real food, and the skimpy amount allowed on AAM doesn't do it! 790 is better, but still the extra food allowance is meagre.

I don't know what the longterm solution is! I just feel at times that living on foodpacks etc for long periods is not the true way forward, but since I find sensible eating almost impossible at times, I'm stuck with meal replacements.

How do others feel?

 

[*Sarah*]

i agree sensible eating is impossible for me too, i just can't do it, unless i move to a desert island where these delicious foods aren't available.

I would do anything not to crave food, CD has done that for me for the short term, but I’m still the same person I was before starting CD, I worry about what is going to happen once I reach goal and the battle with food begins again :cry:

Would be good to hear from someone who has lost & remained at their goal weight

 

[Anne-Marie]

I had no problem with Gp - I didn't need to get anything signed but asked the practice nurse for advice as I was a bit unsure that CD was a good idea. She was really encouraging. Within a couple of weeks i felt more energetic than I had for years ! Losing excess weight can only be a GOOD THING !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[girlygirl]

I had no problem with Gp - I didn't need to get anything signed but asked the practice nurse for advice as I was a bit unsure that CD was a good idea. She was really encouraging. Within a couple of weeks i felt more energetic than I had for years ! Losing excess weight can only be a GOOD THING !!!!!!!!!!!!

Hiya.

I have to say that how we lose the weight matters, too.

Years back total fasting was in fashion. Plain water or fruit juice was all one lived on, often for days at a time - and longer. Recently the big 'juicing' fad brought those days back to me. You lose a ton of weight, very fast. Nowadays everyone 'detoxes' on herbal mixtures or fruit juice or only fruit/veg or whatever. It could be argued that such a limited diet does not promote healthy weight loss.

When I VLCD I am trusting the manufacturers' information, their research, and the feedback I get from others. I have to do so because the only information I can find, on or offline, about the longterm success of a VLCD or any other diet is that between 95-98% of dieters regain all their lost weight, plus more, within, say, a year.

I've done this myself, several times, so I believe those gloomy statistics.

I hope that I am not doing myself harm by choosing to spend long periods in ketosis, and severely limiting calories. I've lost half of my body weight and I dearly want to avoid regaining this time around.

What I would just love, to be honest, is to be able to eat normal food in moderate amounts, get to a reasonable goal weight, go mad on goodies now and again, and just get on with life.

Everyone on this Board - and all the others - seems totally obsessed with eating/not eating/being thrilled at SS-ing/being miserable at 'failing' to SS/etc. There are days when all I can think about is food!

I think there is a great danger, when VLCD-ing, of becoming hooked and coming to believe that you can't lose weight any other way. I know it works, and works spectacularly well, but does that mean we need to live this way forever?

I started out my VLCD journey thinking, only a few months...

 

[*Sarah*]

This is so true girlygirl, we all know the statistics however the rapid weight loss is far to appealing and you do feel great whilst on CD, its whether we can stick to our fantastic goal weight once we go back to normal eating.