I dropped four dress sizes in four months
After giving up on diets, one mum finds success with the Cambridge Diet
35-year-old mother of four, Lisa Karatzia put weight on during her first couple of pregnancies, a situation that was exacerbated by the medical condition PCOS (of which weight gain is one of the main symptoms). Over a period of 10 years, she consulted a dietician and tried various diets including slimming world, but never managed to lose more than five kilos over a three-month period, so gave up. After confessing to having had enough of dieting, she decided to give Cambridge a go. Now, 17 weeks later, she has lost 24.7kg (falling from 84.7kg to 60kg) and has fallen from a dress size 20 to a size 12. Her BMI has dropped from 33 (obese) to a healthy 23. This is how she fared:
Day 1
Although I knew that this day would eventually have to come, only now that it’s arrived am I actually looking forward to shedding all those extra pounds in time to lie on the beach this summer in a size 12 bathing costume (after four kids, I think a bikini is a bit much to expect).
My Cambridge counsellor, Maria, visited me this morning with the nutritious drinks that I will drink three times a day for at least a month. All I have to do is stick to it – it sounds a bit too easy… A friend asked me what my last meal was. When I mentioned it was black eyed peas, I realised that it should have been fish and chips! Maybe not as a diet of high carbohydrate and fats only makes the first week even harder.
Current weight: 84.7kg
Target weight: 60kg
Day 4
I am over the three-day period, at which point dieters are often at their lowest ebb. It WAS NOT easy. A urine test has shown that I am officially in ketosis (my body has started using its own body fat as energy). I feel a lot better today and although my tummy is rumbling a bit I feel a lot more energetic and have begun to feel less bloated. The weekend is going to be a challenge but I have managed to cook a meal every night for the past three days for my family.
End of Week 1
It’s official, I have lost 3.5kg in one week. I am really pleased with myself and although I could feel the difference it’s only now that I have stood on the scales that I feel this week has been worth it. Seeing other people eating, even watching TV ads advertising food, has been difficult but those 3.5kg are gone and I am determined not to let them come back. I am adding a small meal once a day consisting of chicken or fish or cottage cheese plus green veg or green salad – that’s as well as the three Cambridge nutritious drinks. The shakes and soups are tasty (in flavours such as Cappuccino, Choc Mint, Butterscotch). Week 2 will also enable me to make my shake into a mousse desert after my small meal – chocolate mousse, things are definitely looking up.
Current weight: 81.2kg
End of Week 2
I’ve lost another 2kg, a total of 5.5kg in 2 weeks! I don’t feel hungry, my sweet cravings have gone and I feel and look better. My councillor is really pleased with my progress although I seem to be retaining liquid since I am not drinking the 2.5 litres of water a day that I should be. This week I am entitled to a Cambridge chocolate bar to replace one of my drinks in addition to the small meal of vegetables or green salad (no tomatoes) and protein (chicken, cottage cheese or fish).
Current weight: 79.2kg
1 Month (week 4)
I feel great and I really mean it! A total loss of 8kg in four weeks – it hasn’t been easy but where there’s a will, there is definitely a way. I had a dinner party for friends this weekend and made a chocolate dessert but managed to resist and while everyone was scoffing cake, I munched away on my Cambridge chocolate bar without even feeling envious. People have now started to notice the difference and I can’t wait to go and spend a small fortune on clothes for me, for a change. Clothes are, in fact, my only problem at the moment – they are all rather baggy on me and I look ridiculous.
Current weight: 76.7kg
Week 8
A total loss of 12kg in eight weeks! Apart from the Easter celebrations and its associated eating, I did extremely well and even managed to stay in ketosis, that is until I had some roast pork (unintentionally) and ruined it. I then went back onto sole source (no meals at all only the shakes and soups) for three days and got back on track. Staying in ketosis is certainly a lot easier than slipping out of it and mentally having to get back into the routine of sole source again. I was hoping to lose more than 12kg in eight weeks but my councillor seems pleased. Everyone now notices, friends even say I could stop now – they must be joking!
Current weight: 72.5kg
Week 11
I have lost exactly 16kg and dropped from a size 20 to a size 15 (if it existed since a 16 is too big). Although I know I am lot lighter, I still think I have a long way to go. Maybe having a weight problem for so many years stops me from seeing the new, slimmer me. My most serious problem is not having any clothes that really fit me properly; after all I can’t go shopping every week – my spending spree starts as soon as the scales hit 60kg. The bath towel now wraps around me all the way! The kids like their new mum and my husband now wants me to stop, saying that the new me is just right. But I won’t be satisfied until my BMI goes down to healthy 23, after all I don’t want to ever have to worry about being overweight again!
Current weight: 68.7kg
Week 15
The scales I used to hate so much I have now learnt to love! The digital number shows I’ve lost almost 21kg. I still can’t believe it, and I literally mean it, people do a double take if I haven’t seen them in a while. The weight is slower to fall off now since there isn’t much left to go. Surprisingly enough a few friends have commented that I seem shorter, I wonder if that’s possible? I got my wedding dress out of storage to put some lavender in to keep the moths away and was tempted into trying it on (a size 14). It actually fit even if it was a bit tight round the bust – I was so happy I could have cried, but left that to my four-year-old son instead, he thought I was going to marry someone else!
Current weight: 64kg
Week 17
The day has finally arrived that I can breathe a sigh of relief; I have reached my target weight of 60kg and feel like a different person (apart from looking like one!). Happy, ecstatic, elated are just a few words to describe my feelings, but most of all I FEEL healthy, all thanks to Cambridge. This is not a wonder diet, and as with all diets you have to work at it, but it’s quick, packed with all the vitamins you need and easy to follow. My self confidence has gone up 100 per cent, but the icing on the cake was when I sent my mum a picture by email and she texted me back asking ‘who’s that in the picture?’ I can safely say that after my wedding day and the kid’s births, the day my final transformation – courtesy of Toni & Guy, Ilia Georgiou and Marks and Spencer (Acropolis) – took place is probably the happiest since then. But without my councillor Maria and Cambridge this would never have happened. For those of you who are voicing apprehension and ‘bet she puts it back on’ you must be kidding – never ever again, goodbye obesity, hello the new me! I’ve even been to the swimming pool in my new, size 12 costume.
Current weight: 60kg
WHAT IS THE CAMBRIDGE DIET
The Cambridge Diet is a low-calorie weight loss plan developed in 1970 by Dr. Alan Howard at Cambridge University, England as a way for obese people to lose weight in time for vital oeprations. It was first used exclusively in weight loss clinics, and then launched as a commercial product in the United States in 1980. The Cambridge company says it has helped over 15 million people lose weight.
The diet formula is intended to harness “the excellent weight loss properties of starvation”,
while providing enough protein to protect lean tissue, the right level of carbohydrate to promote a mild ketosis (the body’s fasting mode, in which it burns body fat) and eliminate a sense of hunger, and the right levels of vitamins, minerals, trace elements and essential fatty acids to maintain good health. The meals are intended to combine all necessary food groups to satisfy a body’s nutritional needs, in order to allow a person to stop craving foods and overeating.
The company recommends eating only three of their pre-packaged meals a day (a total of 500 calories or less), for the fastest weight loss, or combining their meals with some regular food for more gradual weight loss. The food consists of nutrition bars, shakes, soups, or formulas. Cambridge also recommends at least eight glasses of water a day.
The diet discourages alcohol, chewing gum, and high-energy exercises while on this diet.
After achieving the desired weight loss, those on the Cambridge Diet are then recommended to re-introduce calories gradually over a six-week period, when a healthy eating regime can be established, staying at a daily intake of 1,500 calories. The company counters criticism that weight will return as soon as the diet itself is over by saying that those who have followed it have learnt that large amounts of food are not necessary every day.
At any point, dieters who find they have gained a few unwanted kilos can go back to the Cambridge products to help shift them.
Cambridge Diet products are only available through approved counsellors, often successful dieters themselves.
To find the nearest counsellor to you in Cyprus, tel: 70004505 www.slimmerlife.com.cy
