Hi, new here and a few questions :)

[nails]

Hi everyone
I've been reading through the site and forum (was referred from mn) and really feel the diet is for me. I'm prepared (well as prepared as I can be!) for it to be hard but I really want to lose this weight as it's affecting me to the point that I don't want to go out sometimes. I was always a size 12 before children but now I'm a size 18 and just don't feel like 'me'.
The thing that worries me is the maintainence, will I ever be able to go back to tea and toast for breakfast? Will I ever be able to have a takeaway once a week? I do know that it's a huge lifestyle change and if I slip back into my old ways the weight will go back on but what do you all eat on the maintainance? Oh and wine, I do love my wine! I know I won't be able to have it on the diet but afterwards??? I suppose things are ok in moderation but never having embarked on anything like this before I just feel a bit overwhelmed by it all. If I was to lose my weight doing this diet would I be able to maintain it by counting my points as in Weight Watchers, or is there a special ongoing maintainence diet for CD?
All that aside, the results sound absolutely fantastic and reading through all these posts has been really inspirational. You all seem to have had such success on it.
Sorry for so many questions, I just need to get my head around it all.
Look forward to hearing from you.

 

[icemoose]

Hiya Nails

After the diet it is all about moderation and not abstination and hence of course you can have wine, toast and a take away!! You just need to have less than you are having at present.

If you were always a size 12 before the kids then you know how to eat to stay slim and hence you just need to jump on the diet, trim down the weight and then go back to your original eating habits and maybe get a little more active as the years do slow down your metabolism.

Anyway you sound really positive and this diet works in a big way so I urge you to jump on and you won't believe the results.

Go for it!

Mike

 

[nails]

Thanks Mike, the more I read the more I get fired up to do something! Wooohooo for wine afterwards! Joking aside I really think this is for me, thank you for your words of encouragement, I've got my friends wedding in 2 weeks so I will aim to start after that .
Look forward to chatting more to everyone

 

[icemoose]

My two bits of advice are to stick to the diet first time, most people agree the first time is the golden time and hence once you start please don't stop until you reach goal weight otherwise the journey will be a bumpy one and much harder.

The 2nd is to drink water, it is the key to the diet and don't underestimate just how important it is to weight loss and feeling good when on the diet.

Look forward to watching your losses and welcome to the boards.

Mike

 

[nails]

Thanks Mike
I do drink a fair bit of water now but will obviously have to up it. Very determind about this and I really hope to see some great results.
Thanks for your welcome

 

[missymoo]

Hi Nails

It really is a diet that gets great results. Loads of supportive people here so once you get started you will have lots of help and inspiration.

 

[nails]

Thanks missymoo, really looking forward to it. Well done on your loss.

 

[Sambucca]

Hi Nails

welcome to the forum. The Cambridge Diet is fantastic but you need iron willpower to stick to it. You must not cheat, not even once as it is so hard to get back onto the wagon.

There are maintenance stages to go through once you have lost your weight to prevent you piling it back on.

Once you have worked your way up through the steps you should be able to eat normally again around 2000 cals a day with the odd treat thrown in. It helps to be as active as possible as well.

Good luck with your weight loss journey. Why not start a diet diary, it really helps me to put my thoughts down and keeps me on the straight and narrow.

 

[sophie2324]

Hi,
i personally will be moving to SW once i have finished CD because it fits my lifestyle very well. Glad to see your well motivated xx

 

[nails]

Hi wannalose8stone and sophie2324
Thanks for your replies. You're both doing so well! I can lack on the willpower front but if I see a good bulk of it coming off that will egg me on.
Do you have a rough idea how long the maintenance stages last?
Look forward to seeing you around here soon, I plan on starting after my friends wedding which is in a couple of weeks.

 

[Sambucca]

You are advised to do a couple of weeks on each stage of maintenance, but I think you can hurry through them if necessary.

Its to prevent a sudden regain of weight as your glycogen stores fill back up after the diet.

I personally intend to put more effort in to the maintenance phase than the weight loss phase. In some respects losing weight is the easy bit. The hard bit will be not losing control once I am allowed food again.

Hope that helps.

 

[nails]

Hi wannalose8stone
Thanks, I know what you mean about keeping it off, I have lost weight with WW before and got down to 8st 11lbs and did have trouble keeping it off although I did keep myself in check to a certain extent, I did feel I'd gone too low and settled around 10st. I gained around 5 stone during my pregnancies and just finding it really hard to shift, although I have lost a bit I just can't seem to do it and think I need a strict regime to get it off.
Thanks for your help

 

[nails]

Meant to say as well, I've just been looking through the inspiration slide show and I'm amazed at how fantastic everyone has done and in such a short space of time as well. I will definately get some before and after pics taken.