Before you start The Cambridge Weight Plan, or Cambridge Diet as it’s colloquially known you need to be given the all clear from your doctor.
Once you get the go ahead, the process begins by connecting with a Cambridge Weight Plan (CWP) consultant.
CWP consultants aren’t nutritionists or dietitians (although they might also be that), but rather they’re people who’ve undergone specific CWP training. And all of them have first hand experience of using the products.
The products are at the heart of the Cambridge Weight Plan. Mostly you’ll be drinking shakes (3-4 per day at the beginning), then, as you move through the steps you’ll begin adding in a low-cal breakfast and reducing your shakes to 2.
After a while you’ll introduce a lunch and dinner, eventually reducing your shake intake to just 1 per day.
We interviewed two women who followed the Cambridge Diet to see if it really works.
You can read their stories below …
Marika Milios lost 41kgs on the Cambridge Diet
Why Marika decided to do the Cambridge Diet
At a routine check up when Marika was 24 weeks pregnant, the doctor couldn’t find a heartbeat. “My placenta had died, stopping the nutrients and blood supply to our baby. I was induced the very next day and gave birth to a stillborn, we had lost our son.”
Once Marika and her husband were ready to start trying for a family again, it dawned on her that she needed to be the optimum weight to carry a child successfully.
“My husband was doing everything he could to improve his health, and I wanted to give him the same respect that he gave me to start a family. That’s when I decided to start on the Cambridge Weight Plan.”
Did you have any concerns before starting the Cambridge Diet?
“When I went to my consultation with the Cambridge Weight Plan, the consultant explained everything in immense detail. I wasn’t nervous at all and I had faith that the diet would work. I had tried so many other plans to lose weight previously, but nothing had worked for me. I saw such amazing results from the start with Cambridge Weight Plan, so I continued with the plan until I reached my target weight.”
Did you find it easy?
“The Cambridge Weight Plan is very easy and convenient. Everything is already done for you, which means I didn’t have to cook or meal prep. The only time I slightly went off track on the diet was when my husband and I went overseas. I took a six weeks supply of Cambridge Weight Plan products with me to help me stay on the diet. I still let myself try the cuisines in different countries, as the plan is flexible and allows you to also have real food but even so, I had still lost weight when I got back home.”
Did you achieve your weight loss goal?
“In around five months, I had lost 41kgs and we are so excited that I am now 26 weeks pregnant.”
“In around five months, I had lost 41kgs” Miraka Milios
Were there any other surprise benefits?
“Before doing Cambridge Weight Plan, I hadn’t gone shopping in years. When I did buy clothes, I bought them off the rack in large sizes and never tried them on. I would make excuses not to go to social events because I was so insecure about my weight.”
“After losing the weight, I’m so much more confident. I’m now able to try clothes on without the anxiety I used have when I went shopping. I also now look forward to attending social events, losing weight has had such a positive impact on my social life.”
Do you have any tips for people who want to try it?
“Cambridge Weight Plan offers one-on-one weekly consultations to support someone through their weight loss and help you develop good eating habits. Once you reach your target weight, you need to be able to go back to normal eating and encompass all the good habits that you pick up along the way whilst on the program.”
“It also has different products such as water flavourings that you can make into lollies. That’s a trick for somebody who prefers to sit on the couch and watch TV late at night and snack. The lollies have almost no calories which means you can trick the brain into thinking that you’re having a snack, whilst still maintaining your diet. Weight loss is a mind game. Once your mind is on track, your body will follow.”
Will you continue on the Cambridge Diet in the future?
“When I give birth and finish breast feeding, and if my body doesn’t go back to where I want it to be, I will jump back onto the program. That way, I can encourage good behaviours and healthy eating for my children as well.”
Amy Jones did The Cambridge Weight Plan because she wanted to lose weight fast
“I knew someone who had lost a lot of weight on Cambridge before her wedding. I’d tried lots of different methods of losing weight over the years – calorie counting, high protein diets, exercising regularly, even a juice fast.”
“I’d lose a couple of kilos each time and then plateau pretty quickly and give up because I wasn’t seeing results fast enough for my liking. I knew that Cambridge worked quickly for other people, and it took all the decision-making out of food for me.”
“All I had to do was open a shake packet and mix it with water, no deliberating over what to cook for dinner or reaching for junk food that had no prep time involved. With Cambridge, it’s so easy.”
How did you feel about only drinking meal replacement shakes?
“My partner was a little concerned that I’d be living on just 600 calories a day at the start, but I had a friend who’d done it and had spoken to other people who’d been successful, so that removed a lot of doubt or scepticism for me.”
“The first week was really tough because all I was having were three shakes a day, amounting to about 600 calories. I still drank a cup of coffee between breakfast and lunch and between lunch and dinner to tide me over.”
“I tried to put off my breakfast shake for as long as possible (until about 10am), so the full feeling would last me a bit longer). The following week, I was just desperately wanted to be able to actually chew something. So I started having a Cambridge shake in the morning, a Cambridge bar (like a protein bar) in the afternoon and on some evenings I’d have a little bit of roast chicken with steamed broccoli. And that was pretty much what I stuck to for four months and that’s how I went from 74kg to 56kg.”
Did you ever feel like you were missing out?
“Never. The results I was seeing were so quick and pretty addictive! I used to join my mates at the pub and drink water and eat my Cambridge bar. For the first time in a long time, I felt really good about myself and enjoyed going out because I could get dressed up in clothes that looked nice, rather than feeling fat and frumpy.”
“The more weight I lost, and the more I got into a routine, the easier it became to keep it up. Seeing the number on the scales drop so much each week was really reaffirming and made it so much easier to stick to.”
Amy Jones lost 18kg following the Cambridge Weight Plan
What were the down sides?
“Unfortunately, the results of my weight loss were short-lived. I had to make a mercy dash to the UK to help out with my grandparents who had been taken ill. While I was there, I started eating lollies and junk food again. I guess it was a combination of comfort eating and being a bit blasé about watching my weight now that I was slim.”
“When I came back to Australia I continued slipping back into those old habits. The tricky thing is that you don’t actually pile all the weight back on in one week, so it creeps up on you. I fell into the trap of thinking, ‘Oh, well I ate burgers and pizza and sweets this week and I’ve only put on 100g, so that’s ok. No big deal.’
“I think if I had stuck with Cambridge and moved into the maintenance phase and actually learned about how to keep the weight off and eat real food (not just shakes and bars), I might have had more long-term success.
“I naively thought that once I started to put a little bit back on I could always just do a few days on the shakes and get rid of it easily again. Only, once you’ve deprived yourself for months on end and then had a taste of what you’ve been missing out on, it feels so much harder to go back to depriving yourself again. I also fell pregnant (once I’d already reached my start weight of 74kg) and gained another 20kg. While I was breastfeeding, I went back down to 75kg, but since returning to work my weight has just shot back up to around 80kg (so I’m currently the biggest I’ve ever been while not pregnant).
What tips do you have for people who want to try it?
“Stick with the program all the way through. I didn’t, and that was my downfall.”
