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Cambridge diet: 1:1 Weight loss plan – How it works and the facts you need to know – Cambridgeshire Live

Posted: July 2, 2020 at 4:45 am

After months spent in lockdown - many of us have become all too friendly with Mr Fridge.

That, teamed with moving less and sitting more has meant some people are looking for ways to shed those extra pounds.

The 1:1 Diet otherwise known as The Cambridge Weight Plan replaces meals with shakes, soups and bars to help people cut and control calories.

But critics say it's not always the healthiest or most sustainable way to lose weight.

So we have separated the fact from the fiction to give you a comprehensive guide to the Cambridge diet.

Other popular NHS diets include Slimming World, Weight Watchers, The F Plan and The South Beach Diet.

The 1:1 diet is a meal replacement diet formally known as The Cambridge Weight Plan.

In 2019, the Cambridge Weight Plan had a rebrand under the new name of the 1:1 diet. It does the same thing, but the brand says the new name emphasises the one-to-one relationship between dieter and consultant.

In terms of food and what you can eat it means swapping out normal meals for shakes, soups, porridges and snack bars.

These are designed to fulfil all of your daily nutritional requirements, while cutting out hundreds of calories.

By following its strict rules, it claims it can help dieters lose up to a stone a month.

There are a total of six variations of the plan, ranging from 440 to 1,500 calories a day, depending on factors such as your starting weight and weight-loss goals.

Step one, or 'Sole Source', is the most austere, asking dieters to cut out all 'normal' daily foods and solely eat from Cambridge Weight Plan's own-brand, low-calorie range of products, along with 2.5 litres of water.

Later stages - like step six, or 'Maintenance' - are more flexible, allowing room for some meals, interspersed with a few meal-replacements.

So, you start at step one, and then slowly introduce solid foods as you begin to shed weight.

The idea is that you eat so few calories that your body is forced into a state of 'ketosis' where it starts to burn fat stores as a survival method.

The Cambridge Diet claims to be safe and healthy to follow, but some experts and nutritionists say they do not recommend diets restricted to under 600 calories per day.

Max Bridger, a personal trainer from LDN Muscle (ldnmuscle.com), says: "It's not something I would recommend to any of my clients.

Sure, eating under 500 calories for 12 weeks will make you drop weight fast, but you'll also lose a lot of muscle too - so don't expect an athletic, toned physique at the end."

Due to the highly-restrictive nature of the diet, critics also say it does not equip dieters for long-term weight-loss.

"Don't expect to keep the weight off when you return to normal eating," says Bridger. "You may put the weight you lost while on the Cambridge Weight Plan back on, once finished and returned to your normal lifestyle, as your metabolism will likely have adapted to the restricted calories by slowing down.

"Ketosis is a state not many people will realistically achieve either," he continues. "As well as being very tough to achieve, ketosis is easy to lose, and comes with side effects like bad breath, digestive discomfort, nausea and even hair thinning in some cases."

The bottom line, Bridger says, is that extreme weight-loss plans are not something every day people should really utilise, as there is nothing to prevent rebound weight gain.

"If you do opt for something like the Cambridge Diet, you certainly do not need to spend money on very expensive foods and shakes to help you eat the bare minimum calories to function," he adds.

Before making any extreme changes to your diet, you should always speak to your GP to discuss any potential concerns or side effects.

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Cambridge diet: 1:1 Weight loss plan - How it works and the facts you need to know - Cambridgeshire Live


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