Completed Cambridge Diet Once, Restarting for Sometime!!

[leoaamro]

Hey there
I've been on cambridge sole source diet for 2 weeks now (started the second time!) and losing a steady 2.2kgs a week. (when i started first, I lost 8 kgs in 11 days, gained 1.5 back in 2 months and started again now!)

I am 178 cms, weighing 78.5 kgs. Though my target weight is 72 @22.5 BMI, I am planning to stop at 75 kgs.

I want to understand whats the best refeeding plan once I stop, as I dont want to gain back whatever I've lost!
I've been asked to be on a refeeding plan for 4 more weeks and I am not convinced with that much time period and I am not getting much information on the subject.

Thanks alot for the help!
Regards

 

[leoaamro]

no one?

 

[Tessieg1]

Hiya, unfortunately I've not reached that stage yet, so am unable to assist. Wouldn't it be best to have a chat with your CDC and see what they suggest?
Good luck on your weight loss.

 

[Lily]

I agree with Tessieg that it'd be best to talk this over with your Cambridge Weight Plan Counsellor. Not sure why you aren't getting much help, but your Counsellor should've given you a book with all the steps in it. Ask for it, next time you see him/her. It's all well explained in the book, even if your Counsellor's not being very clear.

Anyway...

At 78kg and a height of 1.78m, you've got a BMI of 24.78 now and should no longer be on SS anyway. You need to move up to the 810 calorie plan while you're getting down to 75kg. You can stay on 810 until you reach 75kg if you like. Then you move up to the 1000 cal plan, the 1200 calorie plan, then the 1500 calorie plan (and beyond if you're one of the lucky ones!) until you reach the level of calories for you that allow you to maintain.

It's best to go up the steps this way (allow a couple of weeks for each increase in calories) to gradually ease yourself into a normal, healthy eating pattern.

Good luck!

 

[Becky1983]

Hi there,

as you are reaching a BMi of 25 or a stone within it you should be looking at going up the steps, sole sourse plus, 810, 1000,1200,1500etc. You can spend 1-2 weeks at each step until you maintain for a few weeks. Once you arte maintaining you know this is what you need to be doing to achieve weight management, There is a structured stepwise re-introduction od food. Dont worry about it but discuss it with your Counsellor. Its what they are there for Good Luck and let me know if you have any specific questions. x

 

[great things]

all this kg and cm is confusing

stick with ss til you are ready to move up then just follow the proper CD steps up as described above. you might, if you haven't already at a higher leve of food, want to introduce some exercise at a higher intensity to help with staying the same weight.

 

[leoaamro]

Hey there...
Thanks for the replies..the reason I was asking about ending the diet is because I was planning to do
so without taking CD sachets. I have reached 74 Kg's now and planned to start refeeding around 2 weeks back. My target weight as per my Counsellor is 71.7Kgs. Thought I will try to lose the remaining during refeeding. I din't get any book or such when I started, I got a chart, its as follows:

Week 1
3 CD (breakfast, lunch and dinner) with dinner having a side plate of grilled chicken or two eggs and green salad

Week 2
2 CD (breakfast and lunch) with lunch having the above mentioned side plate and dinner having a bigger side plate

Week 3
2 CD (breakfast and lunch) with the above mentioned lunch and dinner, but dinner including 4-6oz of rice/pasta

Week 4
Same as week 3 but including fruits in dinner

As my job involves being in the car the whole time, and I cant vary my lunch much, so in the past 13 days of refeeding, i did the following:
2 CD's (breakfast and lunch) with dinner as green salad and 2 eggs or 2 oz grilled chicken or just plain 2oz tuna salad with salt and lime. I am not sure how many calories that totals to though. But to keep my weight loss steady I walked between 5 - 7 kms, 4 - 5 days a week, roughly around 300-400 cals of burning there.

Any easy cooking "carb" food advice for the next 2 weeks? As keeping track of the cals consumed is an issue. Also is it compulsory to have the lunch also, as I am unable to help it due to the nature of my job
I am also planning to continue walking 7 kms each day to lose 1.8 - 2.2 kgs a week, as I am very close!
Thanks alot!

 

[leoaamro]

also note, that I was not informed of the 810 cal or 1000 cal plan by my Counsellor, is it through cambridge food sachets only or our own side plates?

 

[Lily]

Hmm. Sounds like your counsellor is doing her own thing there. Or maybe (and this has only just occurred to me) you're not doing the UK version of Cambridge?

2 oz of chicken / tuna? That's odd. I haven't got the book to hand, but I'm sure you should be having a lot more than that!

As for having lunch - well, there's no need to have lunch at lunchtime, if you see what I mean. If you haven't got time then, you could always have a meal in the evening.

Where are you, hun? Are you doing a non-UK version of Cambridge?

 

[leoaamro]

thanks for the reply, lily
Iam in Dubai and yes its a non-uk version of the diet..
Though I am pushing hard to lose the rest of the weight (2-2.5kgs) during refeeding but guess its slowing down...lets see, my weight is varying between 73.8 to 74.9 during the day...

 

[Lily]

Aha, that makes sense...

I think then that I'd stick to the advice your Counsellor gave you - more or less. Maybe rather than having lunch, you could have a bigger dinner? No reason why not, as far as I can see. Or you could perhaps have eggs for breakfast (or chicken, LOL - why not?), have a just a shake for lunch, then have dinner.

Well done on almost getting to target - you've done really well!

 

[Becky1983]

From what I gather The Cambridge Diet is the diet wherever in the world you are, therefore the steps should be the same. I can check this with cambridge if you like.

I would speak to your counsellor and ask them to put you throught the refeeding with her support. Also there is books for each step that you should get a copy of, ask your counsellor for these as they have meal ideas in them. You should spend 1-2 weeks at each step until your weight maintains for several weeks. x

 

[Becky1983]

Sorry just realised, so just to clarify are you no longer seeing your CD counsellor? Are you now using the CD sachets at all?

Do you want to know what the 810 and 100kcal steps are. With these steps you will not be in ketosis but should still lose. Although some people do drop into ketosis on the 810. x

 

[leoaamro]

thanks for the replies - becky and lily

I followed my councellor, but i still dont feel the need to increase my calories as Iam 2-3 kgs away from my target of 22.5 BMI, so iam having carbs in small amounts for dinner, but not really reaching the targer as per my chart (mentioned above).

I am still using cambridge sachets for 2 of my meals, but I am not able to have sachet + greens & protein in one meal - feel too full for that.

So this is my last week of refeeding and I am aiming to lose still, and then maybe increase calories for the next 4 weeks without the sachets and I need help in that part as I don't know how to track the calories.

thanks alot

 

[enlightenme2]

From what I gather The Cambridge Diet is the diet wherever in the world you are, therefore the steps should be the same. I can check this with cambridge if you like.

I would speak to your counsellor and ask them to put you throught the refeeding with her support. Also there is books for each step that you should get a copy of, ask your counsellor for these as they have meal ideas in them. You should spend 1-2 weeks at each step until your weight maintains for several weeks. x

Not really Becky, I live in France and the CD counsellor here doesn't propose SS or SS+, no matter how heavy you are, you are at 900cals day min with 3 packs and a meal, then 1200 and then 1500 eventually phasing out the CD sachets. Letting you know from a non-UK country. In the US the packs have more calories too.

 

[leoaamro]

hey there...
Now that I have come near the end of the diet, I am just scared of putting all the weight back..I just wish I stay at what I end, but with each meal my weight fluctuates quite alot. I am so obsessed with checking my weight throughout the day, that its disappointing seeing a rise. Like the other day I reached 73kgs and then I had a "not so heavy" carb meal and I am back to 75kgs for good and slowly losing again.Its scary that its fluctuating this bad!! I mean, in a worse case scenario, if I go back to bad eating habits, will I gain the weight as I did the first time (as I read that somewhere but unconvincing) or just all back? Very very disturbed!

 

[Lily]

Your weight will fluctuate a lot during the day. Mine can vary up to as much as 8lbs (3.5 kg) during the day. Most people (when they tell you what they weigh) go by their first thing in the morning, haven't-had-anything-to-eat-or-drink, butt-naked weight. And so should you! You can only make proper comparisons on a day to day basis, not hour to hour!

As for tracking calories, can you lay your hands on a good calorie counter reference book? Something like: http://www.amazon.com/CalorieKing-C...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1289156291&sr=1-1

That's all you really need to start tracking calories. You should be able to maintain your weight on around 1900 calories per day but if you've been dieting for a while, you might have to work up to that. Do 1200 a day for a week or two, then, if you're not gaining weight, 1300 for the next week, etc. until you reach a level of calories that works for you.

 

[leoaamro]

thanks alot lily...refeeding's over...reached 72.8kgs
Ate a good meal, couldn't help standing on the scales though.....won't think of that weight anymore..

planning to have 2 days after the weekend as no/low carb,high protein days and rest of the days as normal but smaller portion diet and reduce my 5-7kms walks 6 days a week to 3-5kms 5 days a week..

I think the reason I gained weight in the first place, is my hatred towards wasting food...ending up in stuffing myself just so that food's not wasted! Plus yeah I ate alot too otherwise :$

thanks once again

 

[Lily]

Sounds like a good plan. And you can always tweak it a bit to fit around whatever else is going on in your life.

Congratulations again on making it to goal!

 

[Becky1983]

I am sorry to be a pain but you see the cambridge steps are there to help with all of these things you are concernced about, gradually increasing your calories, removing the CD sachets slowly then introducing more foods. This is why your CD counsellor should have been helping you.

Are you still wanting to lose more weight now? If so what plan would you like info on the 810 or 1000? I have put a bit of info below, if you want to know more about exact quantities and whats allowedI cn PM you that. I think you should be doing the 1000kcal now.

810 is 3 shakes a day, a 200kcal meal and 200mls of milk. The meal is white and green but tiny. like 1/2 chicken breast and 3 tablespoons of veg.

The 1000, still involves 2cd meals.
Breakfast- a cd sachet, plus a
breakfast option (eg. 2 shredded wheat, 40g no added sugar musli),plus 284mls of skimmed milk
and 150kcals of fruit
or the fruit can be eaten during the day

Lunch cd sachet and a small green leafy salad.

Dinner- 460 kcal meal.

If you want any more info let me know. With weighing yourself you should really try to keep it to once or twice per week. You really cant go on weighing yourself after each meal etc.. I used to do it in the past and then beat myself up. As it has been said before it is normal to get a weight increase throughout the day. I am sure you will do fab and keep the weight off. Your CD counsellor should offer to keep weighing you once you are at target. So use their support.

Good Luck and well done on your progress so far. x