Would it make a difference?

[Jambro]

Hi everyone, and Happy Easter!!
Just a quick question,I am on wk3 of SS and have so far lost 13lb.I have not really posted because this is my umpteenth re start and didnt want to shout about it in case I only lasted a day again!!!
Anyway, I wanted to know if having 200ml of semi skimmed milk would make that much difference to my weight lose instead of skimmed?
Ive not bothered with the milk up til now, but have decided it will help with water intake as I struggle getting enough in.
Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Lily]

Well...

There are 74 calories in 200ml of skimmed milk. And 98 calories in 200ml of semi-skimmed milk. So we're looking at a HUGE difference in calories (that was a joke, by the way ) between the two. A whole 24 calories. Can't see it making much difference to your weight loss then.

Ah, I hear you say, but will it give me the munchies - does semi-skimmed contain more carbs?

Nope. It contains less carbs - albeit only a tiny amount less.

Let's put it this way, I have been known to drink semi-skimmed milk and not worry about it too much.

 

[Jambro]

WOW!! all those extra calories.....mmm what should I do???!!!
Semi skimmed makes your tea and coffee look more drinkable as well, not like dishwater!!
Thanks for that Lily xx

 

[Lily]

Cambridge is full of, let's call them, eccentricities. Like, for example, there are rather a lot of carbs in cottage cheese, but it's okay to have on SS+ - but it isn't okay to have leeks on SS+ even though they're actually lower in carbs per 100g.

I'm sure the decision to say it must be skimmed milk comes from the notion that fat is bad, and the less of it you have, the better, surely. But anyone who's done Atkins or a similar low carb plan knows that fat isn't the enemy. Milk's a funny one in that even full fat milk doesn't actually contain much fat - it's 4% fat.

There have been some odd 'wrong turns' in what nutritional experts have deemed to be good and not so good for us over the last 50 years or so. But I'll climb off my soapbox before I get too boring...

It goes without saying that Cambridge works best if you do exactly what it says in the book. It would be wrong of me to suggest otherwise. But - and this is my opinion and definitely not Cambridge's - if it takes a tiny tweak here and there to make it work for you, and you're as informed about the risks as you can be, I think it's better to make that tiny tweak.

When I first did Cambridge back in 2007, I remember reading on the official Cambridge website about some woman who'd lost oodles of weight doing Cambridge. But she had a tweak - and that was to have a square of chocolate every night. I remember being shocked, LOL - to find that on the Cambridge official website, of all places. But I've mellowed over the years.

I'm not recommending that you do that, by the way. But it does demonstrate that even Cambridge have acknowledged (in the past, at least) that you might need to do what works for you.

 

[Lily]

Although... :hmm:

Yeah, I probably do need to add this.

If tweaking the diet, even in a tiny almost inconsequential way, makes you feel like you're cheating - don't do it.

Some of us (and that's included me in the past) find that if we do something that some part of our brain deems to be 'cheating', we're in danger of falling off the wagon. And that's definitely not worth the tweak.

 

[Poppysparkle]

Lily, that's exactly my point. I am a little tempted to have skimmed milk in a cup of tea. I hate black tea, but can drink it with sweetener rather than my level teaspoon of sugar, it just doesn't taste the same without milk. I only drank black coffee during and after LL, as milk in drinks tasted vile. However, after my c section three a half months ago when the nurse asked if I wanted a cup of tea, I said "ooh, yes!" and that is all I drank since. Missing it now. I have a drop of skimmed milk as I don't like it milky, and I've thought of having this, but I am on SS and I think I might feel like I'm cheating - slippery slope and all that. Or, it just might make this diet all the easier....hmmmm.

 

[cherylxx]

i have between 3 and 5 cups of tea every day and in each one i have skimmed milk.
ive tried drinking black tea and :jelous:, no way, and i dont drink coffee at all.
i feel no guilt whatsoever and cetainly dont class it as cheating.
the way i see it is that if i were to have 200mls and 4 shakes that would be ss+.
i have 3 shakes and around 100-125mls skimmed milk so im kinda doing an ss with a smidgeon of a +
if it helps me stay on track it has to be worth it.

 

[Quick&Painful]

Hi, not sure if I'm too late, but here's my opinion;
I usually stick to skimmed (but I would have it normally, in cereal and coffee). However, whilst on ss and visiting friends etc, they only ever have semi. And yes, I do have a splash in my coffee, and it has yet to hurt. Not quite sure about 200mls, but if the odd cup of tea with semi skimmed milk gets you through then do it.

Best of luck. X