Claire's maintenance diary

[mrsaxlrose]

Some adice please

Hi Claire
I have only just found out about the JUDDD diet and have been reading your fantastic posts.
I have lost a stone on the first 2 weeks of CD but last week didn't loose anything (didn't cheat). My cdc thinks its because I only have another stone too get to goal.
Because I was so fed up not loosing anything this week I have been on a 2 day binge!!!!
I would love to try the JUDDD but would be interested to know what calorie combination between days did you find worked best.
Also did you cut down on carbs.
Hope you dont mind me asking
Many thanks,
Linda x

 

[clairejen]

Hi Linda, I'm delighted to be asked about the diet, it has suited me so well I can't understand why so few here seem to stick with it. Possibly because the losses are fairly slow, but what's the hurry, I'd rather take a month or two more and be able to keep it off. I can really sympathise with your situation, nothing worse than starving yourself to no avail.

I did CD too, and lost what I wanted but started to put it back on again afterwards. I'd had trouble losing before that, my body seemed to get used to any diet I tried and just stopped losing. That's why JUDDD seemed the answer for me. I've always had three DDs (M,W,F) and 4 UDs per week, that way it never changes week to week. When I started the diet I had about 500 calories on a DD, there's a calculator on the JUDDD site which helps you work out your requirements. I did find the UDs could get out of hand if I wasn't careful, and it is quite common to get a plateau for a couple of weeks, but you can either tweak the diet a bit or just grit your teeth and get through it. Aside from that I like it better than any other diet I have tried, and I am still doing it for maintenance but with UDs about 1000-1200 cals which I don't count too carefully.

On DDs you can't have many carbs because the calories are so low. Some people use meal replacements, I didn't because I don't like them and wanted real food. So I tended to eat salads, soups, strawberries (when in season) and lean protein. Small treats like low calorie ice-cream make it more fun. Some people tweak the UDs by avoiding too many carbs but the idea is you learn normal eating on UDs so it is not good to make them too low.

Any other questions just give me a shout. There's a big JUDDD community on traineo too if you want to read other experiences, I'm a bit of a lone voice here.

 

[mrsaxlrose]

Many thanks for your reply Claire. I am going to give this diet a go next week.
I am grateful for your offer of advice and I will gladly take you up on that.
Linda x

 

[clairejen]

UDs about 1000-1200 cals which I don't count too carefully.

Oops, I meant DDs of course, UDs are unconstrained.

 

[clairejen]

Oh dear, I gained this week, a quarter of a pound. Not much but a gain is a gain, better watch out.

 

[rowanx2]

Hi claire, interesting diet.
Will check out the site you mentioned.
for someone like myself who might not surface out of bed till tea time, this approach sounds doable for me.
sounds like calorie cyling but with wider extremes - but I can see it working for those with unorthodox timescales like myself, also i do like to cheat and a cheat when youre on the same 'up' calories everyday is harder to fix, but can see if you had a downday afterwards, it's all evening itself out over the week.
Interesting - will definately check it out.

 

[clairejen]

Hi Rowan, you may well find this diet suits you, it certainly does fit my lifestyle. And it isn't a diet that leaves you stranded when you reach goal, you just increase the DDs to maintenance level and carry on as before. It is supposed to help your health too, which has got to be a plus, it was having my bp rise which scared me into dieting in the first place. You're right about the cheating, you can eat whatever you like on UDs. although I have heard of people regularly managing to eat 3500 calories each UD which meant their 500 cal DDs just kept them stable!

I've got my weight back to 9st7lbs, the slight gain has been knocked on the head. Currently thinking to go down a few more pounds in the hope my thighs will reduce, never works like that irl, it always goes from somewhere irrelevant like fingers.

 

[Lynn8124]

Hi Claire. Just re-read your diary. Wow, fair play to you. You have found a way of eating that's prefect for you, that's totally excellent.

 

[clairejen]

Thanks Lyn, the more I chat on minimins the more I realise that people vary enormously in how they eat and live, then we work through any number of diets trying to find the ideal one. And each time we fail we feel guilty, but we shouldn't because we just haven't found the right one yet. I have no doubts that this is the one for me.

 

[clairejen]

No progress on the weight loss front, but I must confess I haven't been trying. No gain either so I can't complain. There's not so much incentive to lose when the scales are OK and clothes fit. No doubt the urge will hit me as summer approaches, until then nine and a half stone will do me fine.

 

[clairejen]

Just realised I haven't been keeping up here at all. I've been very busy with preparations for the show I'm directing. Weightwise there has been a bit of variation, a rogue pound crept on somehow and then two weeks ago I gained another couple of pounds from somewhere. So I've been a bit stricter and now those two have gone, still got the first one to fight off. I'd like to see everything well under control before I go on holiday, hopefully slightly under target so I don't have the holiday gain to deal with when I get home.