The 1:1 Diet – What “Back to Basics” Means for Me

Going back to basics with The 1:1 Diet

I have talked about my weight loss journey quite a bit before. You can read about it here and here, if you missed it.

The short version of the story is that, after initially losing 3st with Cambridge Weight Plan in 2012, in order to be eligible for NHS funding for IVF (you can read about my IVF journey here, too), and maintaining until I fell pregnant with the twins in 2015, I ended up back on plan last year. With 6st to lose.

It happens to the best of us… right?

When I lost that 3st in 2012, I fully intended to keep it off. But obviously weight gain is inevitable when you’re pregnant with twins and, it turns out, breastfeeding twins is hungry business! Plus, a whole bunch of other excuses for why I spent most of 2016 to October 2018 eating anything I could get my hands on and doing zero exercise… So, in October 2018, I found myself heavier than I’d ever been, with twins that were no longer babies, so the “baby weight” excuse wasn’t really working for me anymore.

I knew Cambridge Weight Plan worked for me, so I went back to that (and became a Consultant myself along the way) and I lost 4st in 5 months (thanks, Christmas…), including losing 2st 1lb in my 60 day challange before my birthday in March.

Since then… I’ve mostly maintained.

And maintaining is brilliant, because it’s often the hardest part of the weight loss journey. But maintaining is less brilliant when you still want to lose 2st. It’s not that I haven’t been on plan since March. I just haven’t been focused and I’ve allowed bad habits to creep back in.

So it’s time to go back to basics!

I often tell my clients that if they start to feel like they’re struggling on plan, they should go back to basics. We all know that when we start a new diet and we’re super motivated and we stay 100% on plan, the results are amazing. And then, somewhere along the way, maybe we lose a little bit of that motivation. Or we think we know what we’re doing and maybe having a little bit of something we fancy won’t do too much harm… Usually, when we think the plan isn’t working as well for us as it used to, what’s really happening is that we’re not working as hard at the plan as we used to… If you kinda do it, it kinda works…. if you really do it, it really works.

So now that I’ve decided it’s time to get serious about losing that last 2st, I’m really doing it.

For me, going back to basics on The 1:1 Diet means Step 1B

I originally lost weight on Step 1A, which is 3 products a day. But I find that 4 products a day works a bit better for me these days, which means that I’m more likely to stick to it. It means less of a gap between products, so less chance for me to feel like I need to eat something off plan. Step 2 can be great for that, too. But I find that Step 1 works better for me. Your consultant will be able to discuss what step might be best for you.

A back to basics day on The 1:1 Diet looks like this for me:

• A 1:1 Diet product every 4 hours from 8am
• 1 pint water every 2hours from 8am

By the end of the day, I’ll have had my 4 products and around 3.5 litres of water. I struggle with my water intake. Sometimes I drink loads and then, other days, I’ll get to 3pm and realise I haven’t had any water since I woke up. So when I’m going back to basics, I use an app to keep track of my water intake and set reminders for every 2 hours, to make sure that I drink enough throughout the day.

I try to vary my products as much as I can.

Don’t get me wrong, if you’re in love with one product, you can have 3 or 4 of those a day and that’s absolutely fine. I have a couple of clients who do exactly that, and it works brilliantly for them. But I get bored. One of the things I love about The 1:1 Diet is that we have such a wide range of products. It means that I can have a variety of different products and not get bored – which I would then use as an excuse to fall off track.

I genuinely love several of our products and enjoy most of the others enough to eat them regularly without complaining. I can only think of 2 or 3 that I don’t enjoy and never eat.

And I blog!

Obviously, going back to basics, for most people, doesn’t have to include blogging. But I find that writing things down, and publishing it for other people to read, really helps keep me on track. Accountability works. It just does. So, if you’re going back to basics on The 1:1 Diet or any other weight loss plan, I would recommend that you find someone to be accountable to.

For most people, that will probably be their Consultant and that’s great – that’s what we’re here for. I tell my clients all the time that I am always at the other end of the phone between weigh ins. The support offered by your Consultant does not end when your appointment with them does.

But if you need a little extra accountability, that’s fine, too. Find yourself a diet buddy and check in every day to make sure you’re both staying on track. Or post on social media. I promise you – when you tell the world (or your little corner of it, anyway) that you’re going to do something, it really helps to keep you focused. When I did my 2st in 60 Days challenge, I really didn’t want to go online on my birthday and tell everyone that I’d failed. Holding myself accountable during that challenge is what helped me achieve that goal.

And it will help me this time too.

So I’m going to be blogging about my weight loss journey a bit more often and keeping you all updated with my progress.

If you’re on your own weight loss journey – whatever plan you’re following – I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.