DAY 29!!!!!!

Wow! I can't even believe it! I am actually on day 29 of my diet. Time is flying by and I am very happy with the changes I am seeing. All my shirts are getting very loose on me and I got in to a pair of pants today that I haven't felt comfortable wearing in over a year and a half. All together a good day. My husband Andy is 5 days behind me and he is doing remarkably well. He will be weighing in tomorrow so I'm looking forward to seeing his numbers. His tummy has melted away and he feels so much better.

For the most part, I have maintained the majority of my weight loss from 16 years ago. I can fluctuate as much as 15 or even 20 pounds, but never more then that and as soon as I notice, I get right back to Cambridge and get rid of it ASAP. The first week in Feb, before my emergency gall bladder removal, I had lost 8 lbs of my holiday weight gain. Then I ended up in the ER getting my zombie gall bladder removed. I regained that 8 lbs and then some because I was SO hungry afterwards. Well..that weight is a distant memory now, gone and forgotten. I am now on track for reaching my ultimate goal. I'm still not weighing because I will know when I get there and weighing messes with my head big time. Ignorance is bliss whilst losing weight!

DAY #1!

Hello blog readers! Today is the day I start getting myself back on track from my major holiday detour. I am now normally a very consistent and careful eater. Nothing like my days of the past when I ate mindlessly, not realizing how everything I was putting in my mouth was causing me so many health problems and serious limitations not to mention over 120 lbs of excess body fat. For some reason, I kind of went off the rails the past month with all the holiday foods. I can't believe how awful I feel! Bloated, sluggish, foggy headed, depressed. All of it. Blah!! So this morning I got on the scale and took a picture of the number without actually looking at it. I didn't want to start off my holiday recovery plan by feeling bad. I'll look at it in a few weeks after I've lost and then be happy at seeing what I've accomplished! Brilliant, right?

In a few more days it will be 2017. If you are wanting to set a goal of weight loss, why wait another 5 days to do it? Start now with me and we can go in to the New Year already feeling better then we do now. Go to www.cambridgediet.org and place your order. If you already have your supply ready to go, start now if you can. If you are obligated to New Year celebrating, then be ready to hit the ground running come Jan 1st. With commitment and consistency, you can reach your weight loss goal early in the year and then have the rest of it to enjoy the results.

Fall=Pumpkin!

This time of year it seems like everything is pumpkin flavored...and I'm ok with that! You don't need to feel left out if you are following your Cambridge Diet Plan. Just add 1 or 2 T of pure pumpkin puree (not pie filling) to your Cambridge shake along with some pumpkin pie spices and you will have a delicious festive Fall pumpkin shake! At only 5 cal per T, it is the perfect nutritive flavor enhancer. Try it in the FFL Eggnog or any of the Vanilla flavors. The Original 330 Horchatta with Tonalin CLA would be fantastic too! For something special, top with a T of fat free whipped topping and a sprinkle of cinnamon. SO GOOD!

FALL GIVEAWAY! Win a free month of Cambridge

Yes...I am giving away a FREE month's supply of Cambridge Diet! Your choice of either 5 flavors of the Original 330 Shakes, or 6 flavors of the FFL Shakes, Soups, or Oats. You must go to my website and click on the link that will take you to the info on how to enter. This is NOT a company giveaway. I am making this offer myself so please do not contact the company or any other Distributor regarding it. The deadline is September 30th so only 11 more days to enter.  Hurry and get qualified! Go to www.cambridgediet.org today!

We Are The Champions!

With the Olympics in full swing we are all impressed with the physical and mental strength of these exceptional athletes. They can seem super human, but we are all made out of the same stuff. The only difference is in the unwavering commitment and focus on a goal. We may not be aspiring to a gold medal and representing our country, but we are aspiring to something just as great in our own life and the lives of the people who love us. Committing to putting your health as your #1 priority can seem selfish when you have other people depending on you like family and friends, but in reality the most unselfish thing you could ever do for them is to be as healthy and happy as you can be. Just like being part of an Olympic team. If one member loses their drive, the whole team suffers. Don't let your team down! Start working towards your goal like it was your job!

Hello Future You!

When you visualize your future self, say..1 year from now..what do you see? Do you see yourself as you are now, or do you see the healthier, slimmer, happier version of you? The you that is more active and engaged in life. The you that feels good in your clothes. The you that feels limitless in your choices and opportunities. What do you see? You first need to believe in your ability to change and transform yourself and your life before it can become your reality. Visualize the person you want to be and keep it forefront in your mind. We tend to gravitate towards what we focus our attention on. Stop dwelling on regrets and guilt and start putting your energy and focus towards positive progressive action! Cambridge Diet can be your stepping stone to your future self. Contact me today and let's get started!

We Gain Weight One Bite At A Time

Which Comes First?

It always interests me how the same person can have very different experiences doing the exact same diet at different times. The only thing that changes is the person's mind.

Typically, when we begin any diet, the first thing we do is clean out all the food that may distract us or tempt us. We purge the kitchen (as much as the family will allow) and try to clear the calendar of events where food will be the center focus. We plan our necessary grocery shopping trips and try to avoid those places we may have previously stopped for fast food etc. We structure our environment as best as we can to set ourselves up for success, but we completely forget that while purging the external world of distractions, it is our mind that is the control room of our behavior.

Just as a person purges their living space of distractions, replacing them with healthy alternatives, we need to purge our minds of negative distracting thoughts, replacing them with positive, forward thinking, progressively determined thoughts.

We can't always control our environment, but we can control our reaction to it and that is one of the keys to a successful weight loss, and just as important, a successful maintenance.

A Hopeful Message

I want to give some hope to those who are striving to reach their weight loss goal. Most of us have a history of dieting and gaining, then dieting and gaining again, over and over. We end up having so little faith in our ability to really change.Deep down we believe that our weight loss will never be more then a temporary blip and we will go right back to our old ways and gain it all over again. As a lifelong out of control compulsive eater, I never believed I could ever be anything different. The process of transitioning out of that was long and slow, but for the past 8 years I have felt it was no longer a part of me. The memories and thoughts will always be there, but the physical ability is not and the self abusive behavior that fueled it is dead. I know that we have all been told that addicts will always have to see themselves as someone in danger of relapse if they let their guard down, but even though there are so many similarities among the various kids of addictions, I have learned that food addiction is possible to transition out of permanently with time and desire. Eventually your body chemistry changes and you just lose the sensation of reward that food is now giving you. It's just isn't there. This is how I have experienced it anyway. As I said, it was a slow process and not without some backsliding and do-overs, but I now find myself free of any food related compulsions. It's been long enough now that I no longer fear it is in me to ever go back.

So I guess this is my wish for each of you here.. be hopeful that the work you are doing now is bringing you to a place of healing and recovery that CAN be permanent.

Anniversary and Birthday

Today is my 4th anniversary of marriage to my loving husband, Andy. I will be forever grateful for when this old cowboy viewed my profile on Match.com. We ended up meeting when we never would have otherwise. He began proposing to me on our first date. Either he was crazy, or insightful.

This month I also turn 57. The same age my sister turned right before her death 2 years ago. I can't comprehend being at the end of my life as she was the month of her 57th birthday. I'm just getting started! But as we know, none of us are guaranteed another day or hour.

Some people say, Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die. But what they don't think about is how much quality of life is lost by living irresponsibly. Life in an unhealthy struggling body is not ideal. I know. I lived in one for 20 years. I told my self it was bad genes, but that was a lie. For some people the option of a healthy body is not in their hands. But for most it is completely a matter of choice. We can be mindful of the choices we make that impact our health and that offer us an active fulfilled experience during our turn on Earth, or we can be careless and pay the price.

Day 16 of Sole Source (SS)

I decided back on the 15th to get back on SS to lose some weight that I had been accumulating since my vacation back in Oct. My husband and I went down south to the Florida Keys and I was in vacation mode. I pretty much ate whatever he did and while that has no effect on him, for me it was probably more then twice what I would normally consume.  With that and the holidays, I got kind of lax in my dietary habits and some weight had crept on while I was looking the other way. My pants were tight and that's my signal for getting my act together. So, along with a great group of people on my Support Board, ( http://members5.boardhost.com/pam140/ ) I jumped on the SS train and I've been going strong!

I made the decision not to weigh when I started. I didn't want a number to mess with my head and I figured it really didn't matter anyway. In fact, I have not weighed at all! Yes, 16 days and I have absolutely no idea how much I've lost or what I weigh. I'm feeling kind of free because of it! No judge and jury staring up at me from the scale every morning. No number in my head telling me how I should feel about myself and if I was going to have a good day or a bad one. I am stresslessly going about my days knowing that I am doing everything I can possibly do to allow my body to lose the weight. It's a different approach, especially for me since I tend to be a meticulous chart keeper.

About a  year and a half ago I had set a goal to get back to my high school weight by my 56th birthday. Well..I didn't get there.  Now my 57th is just 19 days away. I won't make that goal in 19 days, but I'm determined I will be on my way there!

All Or Nothing

I think "all or nothing" thinking is something most of us can relate to. Trying to figure out what's at the core of it may be different for each person, but it will be the reason for failure for all. No one can be perfect and fortunately,no one needs to be. I learned that the key to succeeding was to get honest with myself and acknowledge the fact that my "all or nothing" thinking was self sabotage. On some level, I was looking for a reason to judge myself and then give up. Instead of taking responsibility for my actions and working to overcome my weaknesses, I used them as an excuse to not keep going.

It went against a lifetime of negative self talk and low self esteem for me to not give up on myself and my diet. I had a few episodes during my weight loss where I lost all control and had a full out binge. I hated myself for it and it fueled my belief that I was hopeless. I recognized the truth that this was my pattern, trying, self sabotaging, hating myself, and giving up. Not too productive! No wonder I never got anywhere.

This time I was determined not to repeat old behaviors. This is what I did when I went off track. Once I became aware of what I was doing, and sometimes that happened after a few bites, or sometimes it didn't happen until the kitchen was empty, I would take a moment and make an effort NOT to begin the emotional self flogging, I would forgive myself, brush off the crumbs, tell myself it never happened and then continue on as if it hadn't. I would have my next scheduled Cambridge meal and continue on. Some may call this denial, but in reality it was a method of healing for me. I was gradually breaking those dysfunctional behaviors and habits, my "all or nothing" thinking.

You are on a journey and it will have twists and turns. Just keep moving forward and see everything as a positive learning experience. No successful person ever practiced perfectionism or "all or nothing" thinking. They practice resiliency.

Starting Sole Source Today

I made the decision to jump back on SS for a while to lose the extra pounds I've gained since Oct. We went on vacation and then we had the holidays...well...no explanation needed. My pants are tight and fortunately I have my beloved Cambridge to come to my rescue once again! I just had my first shake for the day, the one I call my "Favorite Blend". I take one full container of 330 Rich Chocolate and mix it in a big Tupperware bowel with a container of 330 Original Dutch Chocolate. This gives me the creamy thick texture of the Rich shake along with the deeper chocolate taste of the Dutch. I add about 1/4 cup of cocoa powder and mix it all together. Voila! Perfection! To make it even more dreamy, I keep a jar of brewed decaf coffee in the fridge and use that along with a couple of ice cubes in place of the water. Now we're talkin'!

So I figure I'm going to give it a couple of weeks and then decide if I want to start adding food back to my diet. I'm looking forward to that wonderful feeling of lightness and clarity that being in ketosis gives. This will be fun!
Cheers!

Did You Know I Have A Facebook Page?

I've posted the link to my Support Board on here before (I think?) but here is is again just in case.

 http://members5.boardhost.com/pam140/ . Please feel free to join in on the conversations there or start one of your own.

What I haven't mentioned is that I also have a Facebook page where I share interesting articles, thoughts, insights, success stories, all sorts of fun facebooky kind of stuff. So go check it out at

 https://www.facebook.com/PamTurnerCambridge/ .

Comment or just post and say "Hi". Be sure to share my page.

Customer Success Story!

This is my customer, Mary Gilmour, who lost 45 pounds! She submitted her story to Cambridge Diet USA and was chosen for the Jan Newsletter that is sent to all Distributors and customers on the emailing list. For her story Cambridge will pay her either $250 cash, or $300 in free product, her choice! Congratulations Mary. You look amazing!

Diet Fatigue

One of the things I remember about my weight loss experience with Cambridge is something I called "diet fatigue". It kicked in towards the end of the second month of my diet. I had already had a great deal of success. I had lost over 30 pounds my first month so there was plenty of reason to feel motivated! I was happy with my Cambridge products, not having any hunger, wonderful energy and all in all, I felt great...physically. Mentally was another story. This was not an issue with missing food. I know that's what it probably sounds like, but actually it was just an overwhelming impatience for the weight loss period to be over. By mid way through my 120 pound loss, I felt like it was dragging on forever! This was obviously not the case since I had dieted for many months before on other programs like Weight Watchers with only a moderate weight loss result. Here I was only 2 months in and had already lost over 40 pounds! For some reason, the rapid weight loss made me want to wave a magic wand and be at my goal. I had a taste of what was to come in my new life and I wanted it NOW!

I started getting sloppy. A nibble of this, a bite of that, some hot air popcorn at night...before I knew it, my weight loss had stalled. I was perplexed since I wasn't consciously sabotaging my diet. If someone had asked me, I would have sworn I was sticking to my plan 100%. I really was in denial. It was my daughter that pointed out  what I was doing and I realized that even though I had thought I had conquered my food issues by that time (totally unrealistic!) I was in fact still playing the same games I had always played with other diets in the past. Self sabotage is a hard thing to admit. It is easy to blame everyone and everything for our failures, but ultimately our weight problems are from the choices we make. I had to learn to pay attention to that little voice telling me that I deserved something extra, or that this little bit won't hurt. Worse was the old behavior of making impulsive decisions and seeing what I could get away with. None of these behaviors display the self control I thought I had. I also think that at some level I may have been a little scared of how my life was changing. I made no sense, but it didn't have to.

If you have experienced your own diet fatigue and feel like you may quit.. or like me.. be self sabotaging, this is your wake up call! When we say this is about "persistence, not perfection", it's really true! Losing weight is not for wimps. It challenges us on so many levels, both physically and emotionally. Getting our bodies healthy and in shape is one thing, but you have to get your mental health in line as well. One supports the other and when one is struggling, the other will follow. Starting a diet is easy. Finishing is something else. That finish line is there waiting for you. Don't let something as unimportant as boredom or frustration get in your way and keep you from what you want most.

Here's A Question

Would You Rather Be Covered In Sweat At The Gym, Or Covered With Clothes At The Beach?

As someone that lives about 15 minutes from the beach, this is a pertinent question.  One of the nice things about the beaches here in my part of Florida is that people do not seem to be nearly as body self conscience as the beaches I grew up with on the West coast of Southern Calif. Here, with the large population of retirees, you will see all sizes, shapes, and ages strolling and enjoying the sun and surf in their swimsuits and shorts. I LOVE that!

 Everyone should feel free to enjoy life the same as anyone else does without worry of judgement or hurtful stares or comments. It makes me kind of sad though when I'm at the beach and I do see someone that is overweight and wearing too much clothing with the purpose to cover their body out of shame or embarrassment. I know that feeling. I know how hot and miserable they are. I wish I had a magic wand.  I could tap them with it and take away all those negative thoughts and feelings and free them to enjoy the sun and the water unencumbered.

Unfortunately, we do live in a society that make judgments and can be cruel and demeaning to people with weight issues. It's wrong, but it's our current reality. It can be hard to put yourself out in the world to face ridicule, but you can't let the small minds of others ruin your determination to improve your health and increase your happiness.

Making the effort now to lose the weight and get in shape can be your magic wand. Summer is right around the corner. There is still time to make some progress towards being more comfortable for that light summer clothing we all love to wear. Heavy winter stuff will soon be back in storage so no more hiding!

Best Single Serve Blender (in my opinion)

I often get asked what kind of blender I use for mixing my Cambridge shakes. I have been using the same one for over 10 years now...well...not this exact same one, but I've bought the same one a few times . This is a blender that you can find at pretty much every home goods store or department store in their kitchen and dining departments. It may have a different brand name on it, but they are all exactly the same. I have found that Walmart has the best price so I always get mine there. It's usually around $29 and it will be the hardest working appliance in your kitchen if you are SSing. This thing obliterates ice cubes and gives you a wonderfully smooth thick shake! Find it here:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/24685825?wmlspartner=wlpa&adid=22222222227018188708&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=40345209272&wl4=&wl5=pla&wl6=78310858232&veh=sem

Rapid Weight Loss, Good or Bad?

There has been a long standing belief that rapid weight loss was harmful and that dieters should aim for no more then 1 to 2 pounds per week. For someone that may have more then 20 pounds to lose, that can look pretty bleak.  If you have 100 or 200 or more, you're looking at a year or two of constant adherence to a restricted eating plan. Since most diets are not made for enjoyment, this is unrealistic. The typical dieter can stay focused on a restricted eating plan for a month or two, but certainly not years! Along with that is the belief that rapid weight loss leads to rapid regain. An example of unproven theory accepted as fact.

15 years ago when weight loss surgery started to become more common, the expected rate of weight loss kind of flew in the face of the previous recommended loss of  1 or 2 pounds per week. Patients were expected to lose 5 or 10 times that much. Why was it suddenly ok for a body to drop weight quickly? What was different?

Fast forward to the ever popular reality (?) TV shows that feature obese cast members and their trainers who miraculously transform them in to weight loss machines, sometimes losing well in to the double digits in their weekly weigh ins.

So in spite of these contradictions, we were still being advised the same old tired thing...aim for 1 to 2 pounds per week. Anything beyond that was deemed "unsafe". Like most theories that are never proven, but repeated enough over the years for people to assume they are fact, this directive never had any foundation to stand on. It's true that for most people to lose weight rapidly, it requires extreme caloric restriction and that usually means nutritional deficiencies.  THAT can be potentially harmful. The body needs nutrients to thrive and survive. Going several months on say, 500 calories of conventional food would be unwise since it would be nearly impossible to consume what your body needs. The typical dieter would soon grow weary of so little food and feeling so weak and would have a good possibility of rebounding right back to the old eating habits that originally made them obese. So in reality, it is not the rate of fat being burned for energy that is the problem, it is depriving your body of nutritional building blocks to maintain good health. Now that makes sense.

Unfortunately, in the case of weight loss patients who rapidly lose large amounts of weight quickly through not only caloric deprivation, but also nutritional deprivation, it can leave them vulnerable to long term consequences related to nutritional deficiencies.  They are burning not just fat for energy, but muscle and other lean tissues. The fact that a good majority of them end up gaining the weight back suggest that the body is hard wired to survive and will demand nutrition. Old eating habits creep back in along with the drive to compensate for what's lacking in the diet. Patients learn to override the surgery by stretching out the stomach again. They may have lost weight rapidly, but gaining the weight back has nothing to do with how fast they lost the weight.

There is a light shining on this subject now. Recently there has been research that has proven the rate of loss has no bearing on any fat regained after the dieter goes off their plan. In other words, slow loss does not mean long term maintenance. Finally!  You can read the actual results here:

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587(14)70200-1/abstract

The research that was done during the development of Cambridge all those years ago by a team of scientists and doctors in the UK, proved that when fed complete balanced nutrition, the body was able to lose the excess fat rapidly with no damage done to lean tissues. This is key to the safety of rapid weight loss and long term maintenance. In spite of these findings, Cambridge was still looked at with suspicion in it's early years because it went against that old 1 to 2 pounds per week idea. People were losing an average of 4 to 7 + pounds per week on less then 400 calories a day while remaining perfectly healthy. We were still subjected to all sorts of doom and gloom predictions by people who knew nothing about the diet, including media doctors who never even read the label.

The new research that has been done studied controlled groups of dieters. One group was put on a very low calorie diet that resulted in rapid weight loss, while the other was given one to follow that gave 1 to 2 pounds per week. The goal was to determine if rapid weight loss resulted in more regaining of weight post diet, along with any other health consequences. What was found was that while the 2 groups both lost weight in the allotted time, the rapid group had lost much more. Both groups some time later were then evaluated for regain. Both in fact, did regain approximately the same percentage of the weight back, but the rapid group, because they had experienced far more weight loss initially, were still way ahead of the other group. In other words, if rapid group A lost 30 pounds, while slow group B only lost 5, and both gained back 4, it is easy to see that a rapid weight loss is desirable when done safely. On top of that the rapid group was far more motivated to remain healthy and in control of their diet due to a significant life style change.

Cambridge has been proven over time to be the best option for safe rapid weight loss. Given the choice to lose 1 pound per week on a conventional diet, or possibly 7 on Cambridge... the choice is obvious. All those old theories of the body going in to "starvation mode" or the metabolism slowing down or the nay-sayers predicting you will gain it all back because you lost if fast have been proven false. It's time to embrace the idea that the most beneficial way to lose the weight is as quickly as possible as long as your body is being fed completely as it is on Cambridge. Obesity is a killer and the sooner you leave it behind, the better for your long term health.