My Cambridge Diet Journey

I have been off my diet for a few days. This had been planned all along, as I had a big birthday to celebrate on Thursday 25th. I haven't been completely awful, just a bit naughty. Posh chinese restaurant on Saturday night was lush

Back on track today. Have been good all day, started to feel hungry late afternoon, but I just kept drinking more water (and peeing more water).

I wonder if my body will let me sleep tonight, as I am back to square one again? We'll see.

Younger sister has started the CD today too - hopefully we'll both be slim and gorgeous by easter!

Have spent the day in bed with terrible cramp. Didn't feel like eating anything, just had a breakfast shake (heated) and then a little water throughout the day. TOTM means I'm retaining water too - just perfect for my weigh in at 7.30!

Went along anyway and I've lost 3.25lbs - not bad and still on target for my average of 4lbs per week.

Back to work tomorrow.

Got ready for work today and pulled on a blouse that used to be a little 'clingy' around the middle! Not any more! I'm still big, but I can certainly feel that I have more room in my clothes. It feels great and has spurred me on to keep going! No one has noticed that I've lost weight yet - hopefully by the end of the week this might change.

I'm 40 on Thursday. All of my family are coming down from Scotland at the weekend and we are going to a posh restaurant on Saturday. I have always known that I would be eating that day. At the moment I'm torn between eating all day, or just waiting until the meal on the evening. I think I'll wait, just in case I get an upset stomach after not eating for so long. Of course, I'll be cooking most of the weekend for my family, lovely smelling foods like bacon (yum) so I'll really have to be strong.

Well, almost 2 weeks, I can hardly believe it.

Slept better last night, but dreamt of eating! I really didn't think I was that bothered, but subconsciously, I must be!

Went for a walk around the farm today with OH and number 2 son. Lovely day for it, cloudless, but cold.

I have tried to drink much more water today, must keep it going.

I'll be curious to see if I've lost very much on Tuesday - I'm aiming to lose an average of 4lbs per week to hit my target weight by the end of March. Anything less may be a bit more of a disappointment.

Well I managed to see the day through without cheating. I managed to hang on yesterday and not cheat. In fact, I didn't feel hungry at all and waited until I was home and ate about 5 ish. Normally I would have been starving! I don't know if this had a knock on effect to my digestive system as I felt ill when in bed that night. Sore stomach.

Today I haven't drunk nearly enough water. I tend to do a lot of running around at the weekend, and just didn't get a chance. In the afternoon I spent some time with Evee, grooming the field out of her mane must burn quite a few calories

My counsellor rang to see how I was getting on. She rings at least once a week to see if I've had any problems - so far so good.

Everyone around me is eating chips - I've warned them that they must make sure that any leftovers go straight into the bin. Roll on tomorrow.

Nightmare! I've forgotten to bring my soup to work

Fortunately, I'm not starving yet, and plan to finish at 4.00pm today, so I'll try and be good until I get home.

Did well again - thank goodness. Although, I seem to be a little more tempted when looking at the food that the kids are having for tea. Just a quick pang of longing, and then I tell myself no, you're doing well, keep at it. I'm also getting into the habit of telling the boys to either eat it or bin it, in order to remove the temptation!

Felt a bit hungry again at 9.00pm, but had to watch CBB before going to bed (how sad?)! Also told myself that I will be slimmer than Jade - although probably no where near as slim as Shilpa.

Haven't 'been' to the loo for a number of days. Will add some psyllium husks to my soup at lunchtime.

Here comes the weekend, or as we know it 'carry out weekend'. Hardest two days of the week. Lets see how I manage.

Another good day. No more hunger cravings at bedtime, which makes things a bit easier. Mornings, I'm forcing down my shake, just to kick start my metabolism, but to be honest I don't really feel like it. I'm also sleeping a lot better.

I don't think I drank enough water - so must try harder to drink more on Day 8.

I saw my counseller last Wednesday as a favour, her usual sessions are Mondays or Tuesdays, hence the 6 day weigh in.

I have lost 9 and one quarter pounds - yeee haaa I am dead chuffed, especially as my fabby new digi scales only showed a loss of about 7 - 8 lbs. So, a good first week.

Today I have not felt hungry at all. I slept pretty well last night too - all good I had my last shake at 12.30 and my last drink of water at about 3.00, just to help my weigh in at 7.30 along. I have just had a lovely chick and mush soup, but to be honest, didn't feel hungry, only a bit thirsty.

Long may it continue....

Another sleepless night. I believe that this is one of the side effects. Fortunately, I don't feel too knackered today.

I bought some digi scales today and as far as I can see I've lost 8lbs! I'm not sure how these scales will compare to my counsellor's but I'll weigh myself before I go tomorrow night and I'll have a better idea.

I've found that when I try to mix the soup in the blender, it ends up with a frothy head (disgusting). So, I bought one of those little cappucino whisks, and it manages to deal with the lumps without giving the horrible froth (ironic as it sounds). Happy days.

Worked from home today as the school roof has blown off and no 2 son was told not to go in. After work no 2 son and I walked into the town, picked up some groceries (and new scales) and walked back again. May even go for a swim tonight, see if I can get wear myself out sufficiently well to actually sleep tonight. Every little helps!

Some poor woman has died due to drinking too much water!

link to BBC news

I especially like the last paragraph:

"If you are going to the toilet more than once every two hours or so that might be too much, especially if your urine is clear, she says, but adds that drinking too much water is unusual."

Unless you are of course on the CD!!!!

Why is it that the majority of tv shows have the most gorgeous food in shot at some point or another? I was never conscious of it before. I've taken to covering my eyes, because I really feel tempted!

Nearing the end of day 4 and all is well. I've not strayed, have been a wee bit tempted, but stuck to it. Spicy tomato soup for lunch, not so nice. One to avoid next week.

Felt tired this morning, but full of energy this afternoon, which was great.

Half way through my first week (and its a weekend) and so far so good

Its early, but I just can't sleep!

Had a good day yesterday, no major hurdles. Felt the onset of a slight headache mid afternoon, but took a paracetamol and was fine.

Went swimming in the evening whilst OH took boys to play badmington. I managed 30 lengths! I could have gone on longer, so was quite pleased. Now I'm wondering if I did too much. When I got home I started to feel hungry and didn't really want to drink anymore (so that I don't get up throught the night to go to the loo). So, I went to bed. I lay in bed and lay in bed and could not get to sleep - my stomach was rumbling a lot too. OH came to bed at about 1.30, I was wide awake. I managed to dose until about 7.30 and had to get up.

Another thing I have noticed (could be in my head of course) is that my skin has become itchy. This happened when I did the Atkins diet too. I kind of try to imagine that its the fat burning off

Busy day ahead of me - will try to ride in the afternoon (got two lovely horses). I need to plan my day around access to toilets (or a secluded bush where necessary!). May update my blog later.

Initially I had thought of doing the Lighter Life diet - my husbands friend has had outstanding results by losing 7 stone!!! in a matter of a few months. How fantastic is that? I could only find one counsellor in the area, and could I really justify the £66 per week? I'm one of those people who likes to know what she's getting into, so I researched and read blogs till they were coming out of my ears. The more blogs I read, the more I knew that I wanted to follow a VLCD (Very Low Calorie Diet). The more blogs I read on the Lighter Life, the more I discovered that people were switching to the Cambridge Diet (same diet, but less expensive).

Got in touch with several counsellors in my area and met up with Julie on Wednesday night. First weigh in - 13st 3lbs. I would like to lose about 3.5 - 4 stone. I honestly cannot imagine me being 9.5 stone. I'm not one of those people who can every remember being a small size, so this really would be fantastic (and probably a bit strange).

I've read so many other blogs that have been really motivational and inspirational, that I thought I would attempt to give something back by writing my own. Hopefully, I'll stick at it!

Yesterday was my first day on the diet. I've done the Atkins before and kind of know to expect some headeaches during the first couple of days - so far I haven't had any! I have never been a good drinker, so the thought of drinking 3 litres of water every day has been a worry. I kept a little 5 bar gate tally on a post it note yesterday. Everytime I drank one of those .25 litre plastic cups of water, I added a bar. I managed to down about 2.5 litres yesterday and have bought a bottle of water on my way in to the office today. This has had the adverse affect of making me run to the toilet about twice every hour. Our loos or on the floor below, so I really can't leave it to the last minute (otherwise there will be a trail on the floor!).

Yesterday I had the banana shake for breakfast (don't usually do breakfast, so I had to force it down). Pleasant shake, with no minging aftertaste. Hubby even commented that it smelled nice! Lunch was the chicken and mushroom soup. I added a little cold water to try and make it into a paste first and then added the hot water. I don't have a blender in the office, but have bought a mini cappucino blender, which I'll keep at work. The soup was still a bit lumpy, but perfectly edible and quite tasty. Teatime I tried to make a toffee and walnut muffin - didn't turn out particularly well, I guess this will just be trial and error. Started to get hungry at 9.00pm, but didn't want to drink anymore, so just went to bed. I managed to make the kids tea without feeling the need to eat any of it, which was actually quite restrained for me.

I wonder how I'll get on today. So far, chocolate shake for breakfast. No headache, tummy has started to rumble and I've filled it with some more water. Fingers crossed for the rest of the day!