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My name is Rebecca, and I have two young children with cystic fibrosis.  My daughter is 9 years old, and my son is 7 years old.  They have both already been through more in their short lives than I have in 30 years.  They are true heroes and they are my inspiration to keep going.  The strength they find to carry on and keep smiling absolutely amazes me.

Cystic fibrosis is a life-threatening disease, with a current life expectancy of just 34 years.  CF is a genetic condition which causes the body to produce too much mucus.  That mucus is thick, sticky and salty, and it damages the body's vital organs; most dangerously, the lungs.  The mucus clogs the lungs and causes chest infections, which scar the lungs irreparably.

My son is only 7 years old, and already, for the past three years, his chest x-rays have been showing chronic, irreversible changes caused by his CF genes, thickening the tubes in the bases of his lungs and causing them to collapse.  Last year, my 9 year old daughter's x-rays started showing the same devastating, irreversible changes in her lungs too, and after a rough year, she had to undergo an operation in March 2012 to fit a gastrostomy button in her stomach to pump milk feed directly into her stomach overnight while she sleeps, to help her gain weight.

Every single day, both my children have to endure chest physiotherapy sessions at least twice, and sometimes as many as four times a day.  They also require regular inhalers, nebulisers, and a huge cocktail of medications.  They both take around 16 drugs each per day, but thanks to them needing multiple doses of most medications, they actually take over 30 doses of medications every single day.  And that's on a good day.  That can go up to almost 50 doses when they are unwell.

47% of people born with CF won't live past their 18th birthday, and the cure that all CF parents have been desperately hoping for is now seeming further away than ever.  The CF Trust is short of £6 million to complete it's gene therapy trials.  And if they don't get the money by the autumn, all their years of work and research will be lost forever.

I don't want my children to die.  I particularly don't want them to before they even reach adulthood.  A life expectancy of 34 years is scary enough, let alone struggling to reach teenage years.

So, in order to try and battle their nemesis on their behalf, I am trying to battle one of my own: FOOD.

It's ironic, really, because of their CF, my children have to work hard to maintain a good weight, and my daughter in particular is failing at this at the moment.  I, on the other hand, have been on and off diets since the tender age of 5.

I have tried almost every diet going, dietitian-sanctioned eating plans, magazine diets, Weightwatchers and Slimming World.  I attempted to do a similar thing in 2007, using Slimming World, and I got my weight down from 29 stone 6 lbs, to 26 stone 13 lbs over the course of 6 months.  And I raised £333 for the CF Trust.

But then life threw us a few curve balls, and dieting took a back seat for a few years.

But now, I'm back, and I'm on a mission!!!  I am one determined woman.

Because I've found my nemesis' nemesis.

The Cambridge Weight Plan. (www.cambridgeweightplan.com)

I started the plan on 23rd May, and so far I have lost over 11 stone!

I wanted to wait a while before talking about it, firstly to make sure that the diet was actually going to work for me, and that I was actually going to be able to stick to it; and secondly, to get back below 26 stone 13 lbs, because I had already been sponsored to reach that amount.

But now, as I said, I'm back, and I'm on a mission to keep on battling my nemesis, while battling my childrens' nemesis at the same time.

Let me assure you, the journey has been tough so far, getting used to eating just three sachets of Cambridge food per day, with a very small meal in the evening.  I have learned how to cope with hunger, and I have broken so very, very many bad habits over the past months.

Here are my stats so far:

Start weight: 28 stone 4 lbs*
(*I was actually probably heavier than this at first, but I was incorrectly weighed for my first two weigh ins)
Week 1: 27 stone 0 lbs* - A loss of 1 stone 4 lbs.
(*I was probably heavier than this, due to being incorrectly weighed again)
Week 2: 27 stone 1.5 lbs - 1st accurate weigh in with new consultant
Week 3: 26 stone 10 lbs - A loss of 5.5 lbs
Week 4: 26 stone 3.5 lbs - A loss of 6.5 lbs
Week 5: 25 stone 12.5 lbs - A loss of 5 lbs
Week 6: 25 stone 8 lbs - A loss of 4.5 lbs
Week 7: 25 stone 5.5 lbs - A loss of 2.5 lbs
Week 8: 24 stone 12 lbs - A loss of 7.5 lbs
Week 9: 24 stone 5 lbs - A loss of 7 lbs
Week 10: 24 stone 3 lbs - A loss of 2 lbs
Week 11: On holiday - but still sticking to the plan!
Week 12: 23 stone 7.5 lbs - A loss of 9.5 lbs
Week 13: 23 stone 4.5 lbs - A loss of 3 lbs
Week 14: 23 stone - A loss of 4.5 lbs
Week 15: 22 stone 8.5 lbs - A loss of 5.5 lbs
Week 16: 22 stone 6.5 lbs - A loss of 2 lbs
Week 17: 22 stone 3 lbs - A loss of 3.5 lbs
Week 18: 21 stone 10.5 lbs - A loss of 6.5 lbs
Week 19: 21 stone 10 lbs - A loss of 0.5 lb
Week 20: 21 stone 4.5 lbs - A loss of 5.5 lbs
Week 21: 21 stone 3.5 lbs - A loss of 1 lb
Week 22: 20 stone 7.5 lbs - A loss of 10 lbs
Week 23: 20 stone 6.5 lbs - A loss of 1 lb
Week 24: 20 stone 2.5 lbs - A loss of 4 lbs
Week 25: 19 stone 12 lbs - A loss of 4.5 lbs
Week 26: 19 stone 6 lbs - A loss of 6 lbs
Week 27: On holiday, and on the plan
Week 28: 18 stone 12.5 lbs - A loss of 7.5 lbs
Week 29: 18 stone 10 lbs - A loss of 2.5 lbs
Week 30: 18 stone 8 lbs - A loss of 2 lbs
Week 31: 18 stone 0.5 lbs - A loss of 7.5 lbs
Week 32: 18 stone 9.5 lbs - A gain of 9 lbs (Christmas treats!)
Week 33: 17 stone 12.5 lbs - A loss of 11 lbs
Week 34: 17 stone 11 lbs - A loss of 1.5 lbs
Week 35: 18 stone 3.5 lbs - A gain of 6.5 lbs (Birthday treats!)
Week 36: 17 stone 11 lbs - A loss of 6.5 lbs
Week 37: 17 stone 4.5 lbs - A loss of 6.5 lbs
Week 38: 17 stone 6.5 lbs - A gain of 2 lbs (BAD week!)
Week 39: 17 stone 3.5 lbs - A loss of 3 lbs
Week 40: 16 stone 11 lbs - A loss of 6.5 lbs

I took a bit of a break from the plan for a couple of months, while supporting my daughter through her operation, and my son through a nasty chest infection, and while going through some family issues, but through it all, I kept going to see my Cambridge consultant, and maintained my weight pretty well.

I'm now ready for what I'm calling THE FINAL PUSH ... Shifting the last 3 stones or so, to get to a healthy weight.

So ... at the start of THE FINAL PUSH, I weighed in at:

Start Weight: 17 st 0.5 lbs - I'd gained 3 1/2 lbs during my break
Week 1: 16 st 8.5 lbs - A loss of 6 lbs

You can make a one off donation to encourage me to keep going on my diet, or you can sponsor me £ for lb and pay up every so often.  Either way, the CF Trust needs your dosh!

I have been keeping a weight loss blog since starting the diet, and if you'd like to read it, please visit http://cambridgedieter2011.blogspot.com

So get donating, people! :o)

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