I lost 4st in 4 months using the 1:1 method – my friends branded me ‘boring'… but that wasn't the worst part

The Sun

26-06-2025

RELYING on takeaways after having twins saw 43-year-old Maria Simpson's weight balloon.
But a chance meeting saw her life – and her body – undergo a dramatic transformation.
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LOOKING back at pictures of the 16-year-old me, you would never imagine I would one day hit 19st with a BMI that made me 'morbidly obese'.
After following what was initially a pretty brutal, calorie-restricting diet plan, I feel like a new woman - but there's one thing I wish I'd known before I started.
Resetting my eating habits and mindset could completely transform my health, happiness, and energy, if I persevered.
Thanks to the 1:1 diet – alternatively known as the Cambridge Diet – I've shed a total of 4st.
With summer approaching, calorie-controlled diets like the 1:1 are popular with those wanting to slim down quickly ahead of their holidays, with more than 5,000 videos posted to TikTok.
At 5ft 8in and 10st, I was a tall, slim teen who didn't have to think much about what I was eating.
Although I lived in Corby, Northants., I came from a Serbian family where the dining table was the heart of our home.
But I was still slender when I met my husband, maintenance manager Chris, also 43, at school when we were both 16.
When I got my first job aged 18, at a call centre, I developed a love for cooking.
Over two years, my weight went from 10st to 13st, so I went to Weight Watchers and fought hard to get the extra pounds off.
By 21, I was down to 10.5st, but then Chris and I moved in together and I started a spiral of yo-yo dieting, where my weight gradually increased each time.
There wasn't a diet I didn't try – from Slimming World to the watercress soup diet, where you basically just eat watercress and stock.
I even bought slimming pills from eBay, which I now know can be incredibly dangerous.
Chris, who is 5ft 10in and naturally slim, proposed when I was 26 and I was desperate to be slimmer for the wedding. I ran every morning and even started working out with a personal trainer.
But despite this – and gruesome breakfasts of low-fat cottage cheese – I only shed 2st.
I was 13.5st when I married Chris, aged 27, and immediately came off the pill, eager to have children.
But, having quit my pre-wedding diet, I soon swelled in size to 15st. My neck was huge and I struggled to pull clothes over my head.
Terrified, I went to my GP and demanded blood tests.
There wasn't a diet I didn't try – from Slimming World to the watercress soup diet, where you basically just eat watercress and stock
I thought I had a breakthrough when it turned out I had an underactive thyroid.
I was put on the drug thyroxine to stabilise it, but despite this, I remained the same weight.
It took me three years to fall pregnant naturally with my twins, Sophia and Caine, now 13.
Pregnancy, and especially twin pregnancy, didn't love my body and my weight shot up to 19st.
I'm not sure what dress size I was, but I was still wearing maternity leggings when the twins were four.
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I felt heavy, tired and gross. I would sit at baby groups and stare at the glamorous mums, conscious I was sweating from every pore, feeling like a big fat lump.
And motherhood, while amazing, was exhausting. Deep in the trenches, Chris and I would grab the kids' leftovers or treat ourselves to takeaways. I tricked myself into believing I was getting the healthy version of things, but I wasn't.
'Push through it'
At 33, I fulfilled a lifelong ambition of training to be a nail technician. I loved the work, but at the salon the other trainees were a decade younger and all slim.
'I'm the old, fat one,' I'd cry to Chris as he reassured me he loved me as I was. But it was also a turning point, because at a beauty convention in Birmingham I met Jacqui Lewis, a 1:1 diet coach.
Initially I was sceptical, as I had tried every diet under the sun, but she was persistent.
Jacqui explained that the 1:1 diet was a meal replacement plan, with constant support from a personal consultant. The daily calorie limit was 800, with each replacement meal worth 200 each.
The 5 best exercises to lose weight
By Lucy Gornall, personal trainer and health journalist
EXERCISE can be intimidating and hard to devote yourself to. So how do you find the right workout for you?
As a PT and fitness journalist, I've tried everything.
I've taken part in endless fitness competitions, marathons and I maintain a regime of runs, strength training and Pilates.
Fitness is so entrenched in my life, I stick to it even at Christmas!
The key is finding an activity you love that can become a habit.
My top five forms of exercise, especially if you're trying to lose weight, are:
Walking
Running
Pilates
High-intensity interval training (HIIT)
Strength training
For four months from July 2016, I had a pleasant-tasting banana shake for breakfast, vanilla shake for lunch and a 200-calorie dinner such as chicken salad, tuna steak with green beans, or omelette with salad. I'd also have a 200-calorie chocolate protein bar, taking my daily calorie total up to 800.
There are more than 40 different products to choose from, but back then I just wanted to keep it simple.
Tea and coffee was unlimited and that was important, as I needed my coffee to get me through the day. You were allowed 50ml of skimmed milk a day on top, so that went in the coffee.
The 1:1 diet cost me £50 per week and Jacqui would come to weigh me every fortnight at my house. I'll be honest. It wasn't easy immediately.
On day two, I started thinking obsessively about Domino's pizza, and on day three, I felt so hungry. Then I remembered all the red wine I wouldn't be allowed to drink again.
'Push through it,' I thought, as Chris and the kids continued to eat their own, normal meals.
Now I eat between 1,500 and 1,800 calories a day and it's always healthy, fresh food – a blend of vegetables, fibre and protein
And I'm so glad I did, because by day four, I woke up feeling like a new woman. And eight weeks later I could pass the Indian takeaway without salivating.
Amazingly, I lost 2st in two months and my clothes were getting looser. However, not everyone was supportive. One acquaintance berated me for not boozing.
'You're boring now,' she moaned. What she didn't realise was that for years and years I had been sad inside.
Over the next eight weeks I lost another 2st, taking only one night off to celebrate mine and Chris' seventh wedding anniversary at an italian restaurant.
It was an amazing feeling. I hadn't been so slim since my teens. You might think I would feel peckish, but astonishingly I didn't.
After four months, my eating habits had effectively been reset. I had lost 4st, my brain felt clearer and my energy was restored.
Now I eat between 1,500 and 1,800 calories a day and it's always healthy, fresh food – a blend of vegetables, fibre and protein. If my plate's not colourful, I'm not happy. Before it had one hue: beige.
Occasionally, for example after Christmas when I'll indulg e in festive food, I'll go back on the plan. But it's not a permanent fixture of my life.
I've also embraced exercise, something I didn't do before. I love going to the gym where I'll do a little cardio and then weight training, and going for long walks with my family.
My weight has never affected how Chris has been with me – he's loved me at every size, as cheesy as that sounds.
I did ask him when I first lost weight if he preferred the 'new me' and he said: 'I've always thought you're beautiful, but what I like most since you've lost weight is that you're more confident.'
The plan proved so successful I now weigh 11st 11lb and wear a size 12. I get compliments from people about how I look, but it's not really about that. It's about feeling healthier and happier.
And I enjoyed taking part so much that I became a 1:1 consultant, advising people on how to do it. There's nothing more fulfilling than seeing someone who swears blind it's impossible to lose weight actually do it.
A decade ago I thought I would be big and unhappy forever. Now I'm proof that if I can do it, anyone can.
MARIA'S DIET BEFORE:
Breakfast: Coffee with full-fat milk, two sugars, white toast and butter.
Lunch: Cheese sandwich or panini, with a share-size bag of crisps.
Snacks: Snickers – one or two bars a day.
Dinner: Pizza or Indian takeaway.
Drinks: Red wine at the weekend.
MARIA'S DIET AFTER:
Breakfast: Two boiled eggs.
Lunch: Vegetable soup, or salad with eggs or chicken.
Snacks: None.
Dinner: Grilled chicken or beef with roasted vegetables.
Drinks: 3 to 4 litres of water, two coffees with skimmed milk.
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