Nettie De Jongh
Nettie before
Diet and exercise…both these words ignite and provoke really very negative emotions in my mind. Add to this my life-long perception that all mirrors as well as photographs are actually like a 3x magnifying glass, and definitely not a true reflection of my personal body image...therefore it is definitely not surprising that I gradually started gaining weight soon after entering adulthood!
As a teenager and varsity student there were still lots of opportunities for daily “incidental” exercises …walking from res to classes and back, running up and down six floors when the lifts were down, walking three or four kilometres to buy myself an ice cream or a milkshake…And of course those days there were no planning involved in preparing the meals. Three well balanced meals were always ready, on time, and eaten before 18.30.
So, as a student I never had to lose more than two to four kilograms…
However, since entering the work force, getting married and starting to study after-hours for my honours, masters and finally my doctoral degrees, and especially after giving birth to our two sons and opening my own educational psychology practice and a learning centre for Maths and English, I gradually gained more and more weight, whilst unsuccessfully trying many, MANY diets, losing some, but gaining more and more…the kilograms just kept piling up and up, until at the end of March 2011, I realised with a shock that I now weighed a whopping 68% more than on the day of our marriage!!
My health started to really become a concern, I often were exhausted, my knees and my back were giving me endless problems and even uncomfortable nights, I hated walking further than absolutely necessary, always looked for the nearest parking spot at shops and avoided shopping malls where the shops were far apart...
At this stage I realised that I really had to lose weight for health reasons, however, I still just couldn’t get myself to start with any weight loss plan.
The final straw for me was when I had to fly to Cape Town and was given a seat with a seat belt that was actually slightly smaller than the others...and I had to ask for an extension…!
This incident was indeed by far singularly the most humiliating and embarrassing moment of my entire life…and it didn’t even let me feel better that I didn’t need the extension on the trip back two days later!
Back in Johannesburg, I met Judy, a good friend, for breakfast at a fancy restaurant. I told her about my family’s planned holiday to Mozambique over Easter, and our trip to Paris and Venice on route to our Mediterranean cruise at the end of May. I also happened to mention that I really wish I could lose at least 10 % of my body weight before this cruise. This was when she told me about another friend who lost a lot of weight by following the Cambridge Diet Plan. She mentioned that in stage one, normal food are substituted for Cambridge soup/shakes/bars. This sounded promising, and I asked her to e-mail me the details of this diet immediately.
Well, I believe that all of these incidents as well as my Cambridge counsellor, Anna Chernenkova, were sent to me through Divine Intervention.
When I received the e-mail on the Friday, I studied the website, and chose Anna whilst praying for this diet to work. I even “bargained” with the Lord, saying that if Anna answered me before the Monday evening, it would be the sign that Cambridge and Anna were the right diet combination for me…well, within 20 minutes I had an e-mail back from Anna, saying that she would phone me the next morning to discuss Cambridge. And at 10.00 on Saturday, I got my first call from her.
If that was not a clear sign that Cambridge was meant for me, nothing else would be!
Anna was accommodating, but firm about me needing to get my health checked by my family doctor before seeing me at 18.00 on that Monday…
From day one Anna was the perfect counsellor for me…empathetic, understanding, motivating, supportive, and never pushy, never pretending to be better or a know-it-all, always interested in me as a person, making me feel very special and valued, and regularly sending e-mails with tips or words of encouragement.
In short, I regard Monday, 28 March 2011, as the start of my new life…in the 7 weeks before our cruise I lost 20 kilograms, which was much, much more than my initial goal for this time.
The interesting thing about the Cambridge Diet Plan, and especially of stage one, where you eat/drink only the Cambridge meals, is that I never crave the carbohydrates (which in the past I ALWAYS did), after the second day of sole source I was never hungry, I only had a headache for about 2 hours on day one of sole source, and even now if I do crave something, it is for salads, fruits or homemade soup!
In Mozambique on our family holiday I never went off the Cambridge sole source, even though I prepared the usual, delicious, non-diet food for my family…not even “tasting” one little chip or biltong!!
Whilst in Paris for five days, as well as on our 12 day cruise, it was really too difficult to stay on the Cambridge diet…but I mostly stuck to the fresh vegetables, fruits, soups, fish and chicken…with every night a fresh bread roll, and the occasional desert, too…but I tried to walk more…even going back to choosing the stairs rather than the lifts!
And on this trip I even lost 200 grams!
I have since lost almost 9 more kilograms and am more energetic, enthusiastic and healthy.
I have just embarked on my second round of sole source, as I hope to reach my final goal by the end of September 2011!
Nettie De Jongh
