Is the Cambridge diet hard or easy?

[icemoose]

Is the cup half full or empty?

If you think the diet is going to be hard then guess what? If you think you are going to be hungry, tired and have no energy then what you perceive you will project.

If you look at the diet negatively then you will get down as the packs aren't as nice as "real food", you are hard done by as everyone else is eating, you can't have anything apart from the damn water, and the packs get boring, and you have no energy, and terrible breath, and generally feel bloody awful.

You could also look at it that you are empowered as you are in total control of yourself, you could take pride in that self control, you could enjoy the packs as they taste good, you could realise you aren't really physically hungry because of the ketosis, the bad breath is actually the by product of losing fat and therefore a good thing! you are in smaller clothes and looking great, you are getting compliments from all angles and you might just live longer and enjoy life more.

It really is how you look at it that makes the diet "hard" or "easy". If you do the diet with a big smile on your face and enjoy the fact you are going to achieve a great thing then you can't help but enjoy it.

So before you decide that tomorrow is going to be hard on the diet, what if you decided tomorrow was going to be easy? and then Friday was even easier and by the weekend it would be so easy it required no effort at all to burn fat?

 

[cah-ching]

As far as I'm concerned the diet is as hard as you want it to be or as easy as you want it to be. It is a state of mind.

I haven't succeeded because I mess about too much and navel gaze.

 

[icemoose]

Absolutely cah ching, if you make a decision to love the diet and the results then you will.

No different than I have decided today that I hate doing expenses forms for work and hence I haven't done them!! Until 20 minute ago when I decided it might be fun to do them as I will get some money back I am owed and can spend it on some holiday clothes and just did them in 5 minutes while listening to the sports news on the radio.

All in the mind....

 

[Time4ME]

FIRST TIME
Hated it, resented the whole thing, tho it was LL the 100 abstainence seemed like a prison sentence.... Wanted to eat, resented others for eating, wouldnt go out, then tried to cheat the diet....
THE REST IS HISTORY!

THIS TIME
I love it! I love the water, green T, black T, the packs, the bars, I love feeling in control, I love that its my choice to do this... I am enjoying it to the point that I have embraced the whole thing in its entireity....
I wish I could send some of this to others -but you cant - your either in it or your not, there's no half measures here at all xxx

 

[Kitteh]

the first time around.. i found it sooooo hard.. to me.. it was the hardest diet in the world.. and i could see everyone else getting thinner around me.. and i just wasnt.. hence putting on like.. 4 stone..
but this time.. its been sooo easy.. easier than SW.. and easier than WW.. (for me).. its all about frame of mind.. if your in the right place.. you know.. last time i didnt want it enough.. this time i want it sooooo much.. As mike said.. its how you look at it.. if you look negativly at it.. then it will be hard.. but if you take it in your stride.. then its fine..

x x x

 

[to lose long trek]

The diet is not hard > the diet is easy but what is not is coming to terms with your own approach to it. You do have to want what it will bring you, if you remain faithful to the plan. You have to want it more than you want to remain out of control with your weight, out of control with your food choices, out of control with your portion control, and out of control with your nutrional needs. The diet will allow you a period of separation from choosing those things that put you out of control, the diet will allow you time to reflect on why it all went wrong to lead you to this course of action. The diet will allow you time to learn more about what your body needs to function well.
I personally have found the diet easy because of all of these things, and I am hoping to do a great deal more in working out which foods are my real friends, and which foods are only clingons. I lost a great deal of weight with Lighter Life, and then without going into the management phase, returned to my comfort zone. I put back the 4 stone that I had taken off and increased this further to the point at which I started the Cambridge Diet a whopping 17 stone + at the beginning of the year. It is all very well to take off weight but if you dont learn from the experience it becomes a huge waste of effort. I have finally realised that the relationship with food HAS to change in the long term.
I am obviously not at this point yet but I am hoping with the guidance of my very able CDC I may follow the path that will stop me yoyoing in and out of diets. I have to come to terms with myself and use food as a fuel mostly; to enjoy it - go OCCASIONALLY beyond but not be just plain daft. What I do have to consider is what alternatives I can put in place that will help me through with my emotional needs. I have always used food and in particular sweets to deal with all of my emotional highs and lows. I have to go forward without those as a crutch and find something else which will be more beneficial. At the moment for example I am dealing with something by coming on here and talking about my personal issues in a way that just MAY help someone else AS WELL AS ME to look forward in a positive way.
If you have read this all the way through and not given up on me ..... I thank you. We all use the forum in different ways ........

 

[Starlight]

I think a lot of what everyone has said is true for every diet. I definitely agree with CC... so much of our success/failure is down to our frame of mind as we approach it

 

[KD]

I found it the easiest and the hardest diet I've ever done. Wish 'my frame of mind' burnt calories. The amount it moves, I'd be skinny regardless of what I ate.

 

[Gemma1986]

I found it hard 1st couple of days then it got easier x

 

[Lisa Marie]

Like everyone else has said if you're in the right frame of mind then it's easy. I want this to be my one & only time of doing CD so I'm in it 100%. I'm finding it easy but there have been days when I've struggled (and there will be more to come no doubt) but I just think of that end result and it keeps me on track.

 

[alyssiawilliams2009]

I have been on the diet lost two stones then put some back on so back on 100% and I also go to the gym between three to four times a week and the counsellors are so motivating my counsellor is excellent

 

[Ivy]

I completely disagree. The diet IS actually hard - even the booklet states that it is. Because you are changing a way of eating - albeit for a short period of time - to get the best results from it.

As a CDC i know that it is not strictly a frame of mind for some of my clients. There can be a whole host of things - illness, not suiting their lives, finances - that make the diet stressful and as much as i can help - i kinda think to say the diet - particularly a VLCD is easy and a frame of mind is actually not the case - otherwise there would be no fat people - because no one wants to be fat. end of.

my 10 cent.

Ivy

 

[Jaguarxk8]

I agree also that it is state of mind. I am in my second week and feeling much more focused on the end picture. The concern i am starting to feel is- will i put the weight straight back on once i am off the sole source programme and the stabilisation and maintenance phase?

I appreciate that my eating habits need to change in the longer term and am very prepared to make serious lifestyle changes to ensure this. However I do love my food and if i choose to have an unhealthy meal occasionally- will i put the weight back on straight away?

 

[KD]

I completely disagree. The diet IS actually hard - even the booklet states that it is. Because you are changing a way of eating - albeit for a short period of time - to get the best results from it.

Oh, I missed this Ivy I think it very much depends on what you are comparing it with. I found CD easier than WW or SW, but admittedly harder than continuing with my old ways.

As a CDC i know that it is not strictly a frame of mind for some of my clients. There can be a whole host of things - illness, not suiting their lives, finances -

But there's a difference between easy and impossible. No, the diet doesn't suit everyone.

Is it easy for me to play Moonlight sonata on the piano...yeah...difficult if I didn't have fingers or didn't own a piano

- particularly a VLCD is easy and a frame of mind is actually not the case - otherwise there would be no fat people - because no one wants to be fat. end of.

I don't agree with that. I think many people are quite happy being overweight and the lifestyle that goes with it.

You could say 'there would be no fat people' if a VLCD was easy, but you could say that about any diet. If a VLCD was too hard for them, why wouldn't they do another diet or healthy eating/exercise?

I know why people don't, and why I didn't in the past, but it was nothing to do with how hard or easy a VLCD is as there are other choices.

I appreciate that my eating habits need to change in the longer term and am very prepared to make serious lifestyle changes to ensure this. However I do love my food and if i choose to have an unhealthy meal occasionally- will i put the weight back on straight away?

Nope