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.
This article was originally published on July 1 but has been updated to include advice from 1:1 Diet specialists.
Before making any extreme changes to your diet, you should always speak to your GP to discuss any potential concerns or side effects.
What is the Cambridge Weight plan 1:1 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.
How does the 1:1 Weight Plan work?
There are a total of six variations of the plan, ranging from 600 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.
Mark Gilbert, BSc, RNutr, CISSN, Nutritionist at The 1:1 Diet by Cambridge Weight Plan said: "Whilst many of our dieters will go into ketosis, this is not by any means the main premise of the diet- only one aspect of it.
"We do not proactively talk about ketosis as a major part of how the diet works. There is a detailed page on our website on how the diet works: https://www.one2onediet.com/how-it-works"
How much does it cost?
A spokeperson for the 1:1 Diet said: "We have recently undergone a cost analysis which show that our diet is actually less expensive than the cost of the average person's grocery bill.
"On average, those on plan will only pay around £2.93 per meal."
What are the side effects? What the experts and critics say?
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."
However Mark Gilbert, Nutritionist for the 1:1 Diet says this is not the case.
He said: "Data from our studies and others that use similar types of products and levels of calories do not support Mr Bridger's statement."
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.
However Mr Gilbert says trained consultants have helped 'hundreds of thousands' of people lose weight using the plan, he said: "This is applicable to all calorie-restricted diets – of course if you return to your prior eating behaviour, you'll regain weight.
"This is why our trained consultants coach their clients to change behaviours and use several other clinically supported strategies to maintain weight loss.
"Also, it is an unavoidable, physiological fact that calorie restriction causes adaptations in the metabolism.
"We have not only helped hundreds of thousands of people lose weight over the last 35 years but our published research shows that people lose a minimum of 10 kilograms (almost two stone) over eight to 12 weeks on our diet.
"As referenced earlier, it has been shown to reverse diabetes in two large trials and reverse pre-diabetes in a trial of over 2,000 subjects.
"Additionally, most of those subjects were able to come off one or all of their medications. It has also been shown to reduce risk factors for heart and vascular disease, improve symptoms of osteoarthritis, improve sleep apnoea, reduce blood pressure and have other benefits.
"The 1:1 Diet by Cambridge Weight Plan is suitable for many different lifestyles – not just those needing to lose a large amount of weight. As demonstrated here: https://www.one2onediet.com/how-it-works/whos-it-for"
Before making any extreme changes to your diet, you should always speak to your GP to discuss any potential concerns or side effects.
A nutritionist's advice
Nutritionist, Mr Gilbert said: "T here is no evidence that our diet is less healthy than other weight loss programmes.
"In fact, dozens of peer-reviewed scientific controlled trials show that The 1:1 Diet plan is a healthy and effective way to lose weight, and maintain that weight loss.
"In terms of sustainability, unlike the vast majority of diets and programmes out there, our studies are at least a year long (many only last a few weeks).
"For instance, in our study here, The 1:1 Diet subjects lost 10kg (placebo lost 1kg) after one year. At the end of two years The 1:1 Diet group retained 7.6kg of weight loss.
"In our DROPLET Study here, six months after the end of the intervention, three times more (45%) subjects retained 10% weight loss vs usual care. 62% of subjects also continued on The 1:1 Diet products, at their own expense, after the trial ended.
"In our long-term weight-loss maintenance in obese patients with knee osteoarthritis: a randomized trial, after having lost over 10 kilos on our products, patients only regained about one kilo over the following three years."
"I would challenge anyone to find a more impressive body of long-term data on any diet intervention."
Cambridge Weight Loss Diet Plan
Source: https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/cambridge-diet-11-weight-loss-18517059
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