Finally after all this time I have lost some pounds. Wooohooohooohooo!!

Bye for now!

Congratulations...How long did you have to wait?

2 pounds down, myself...Carrot

Seems like forever (I'm not a very patient) about a month and it all came off at once. I reduced my carbs slightly (40 per day) and added some of the nutrients suggested and started using the treadmill I finally got for about 50 minutes a day. I believe I have broken the logg jam and expect to see things moving a a more consistent rate in the future. (For my keyboard to God's computer screen)

Glad to hear you made some progress. Feels great doesn't it?
Have a great day

JudyAh....

Congrats, again. Which nutrients are you referring?

Forgive the redundent question if I've already asked you, but do you subtract fiber grams from carb totals?

I, too, am an impatient person. Once I looked at the total time and total weight loss together, it looked pretty decent.

I was so disappointed that the new SP book was delayed till the Fall, that I started reading other LP books. I'm trying to be a consciencious(?spelling) reader rather than a panicky one. I hope to gather helpful suggestions and not jump from one plan to another. So far, I'm still impressed with the balance of the SP WOL and don't plan to venture too far a field.

Tired the Ginger Chicken recipe fron the SP cookbook. hmmm... hmmm ..... good!

Enjoy that treadmill.

Carrot

Hi Carrot,

Yes I do subtract them.(Fiber) I take a pretty complete multi and addrd Chromium picolonate, Fish oil, chromium gft, Q10 enzyme. I also added fiber tabs to my daily routine. 80 + onces of water and some food.

I'm not venturing to far afield myself. I want to get down a little faster than no pounds in one month. I am using all the same concepts as SP and I am adjusting for my body and my metabolism.

Got to get to work

Hi Carrot and Judy,

Congratulations to you both!

I also finally broke my plateau and am moving down again. I read Protein Power and have started to incorporate some of those concepts. I've been logging everything at fitday.com, plus on a DietPower trial version, and I've discovered my carbs are averaging about 122/day (100 after subtracting fiber). That's too high even for SP! So I'm trying to reduce them down to somewhere between PP and SP.

One thing that's tricky with cutting carbs much lower is in getting enough fiber. I'm already having a little bit of trouble with the C word. What fiber tabs are you using, Judy? Do they help? How about the fish oil?

Sharon

Hi Perk,

I'm into reading other LC books, especially since I'm going to have to wait for DR.S's new book till the fall. I'll pick up PP and give it a read.

I've been having trouble with the big "C", myself. It is better since I've started using Benefiber and taking magnesium(250mg) and lots of water.

Where did you find a trial of DietPower? Is it easier to use than FitDay?


Happy Hump day...........carrot

Hi Carrot,

Go to www.dietpower.com. You can download a trial version. It lasts for 15 days, and then you have to pay $49 if you want to continue using it.

I'm almost at the end of my trial period, and I like it better than fitday. It gives more information, including a daily calorie budget that it adjusts each day based on your metabolic rate, or the rate at which you're losing weight. I've been weighing myself every morning, and it gives me a daily calorie budget. I can even "bank" calories that I don't use. Unfortunately, right now I have a negative balance in my bank account, but my planned weight loss rate is probably too ambitious (nearly 2 lbs/week), so my daily calorie budget is rather low and it's hard to keep within it.

One of the big features it has that fitday does not is a nutritional calculator for recipes. That's been helpful for me because I cook a lot from scratch.

Good luck!

Sharon

Hi Sharon -

Just wanted to comment on the calorie thing w/ diet power. I tried it too but wasn't too keen on the calorie limitation aspect. I don't know how they figure out what your calories should be but I suspect its based on a pound of fat being 3500 calories, therefore to losetwo pounds you need to eat 7000 calories less than your metabolic needs. One of the reasons that low-carb plans work is because they recognize that not all calories are created equal...in other words the body burns calories differently depending on the source (carb, fat, protein). You may want to reconsider following the calorie limitation too strictly. Under PP, you should be eating a minimum of 10-12x body weight to meet basic metabolic needs.

This is entirely my opinion - take it for what its worth (generally not much )

Lisa

Weight will fluctuate on a daily basis for all sorts of reasons. It's near impossible to gain a few pounds of fat overnight. The fluctuations are from the amount of water your fat cells are holding on to.

Here is a post from a member who objectively records her weight on a daily basis:

Do you really expect your progress to be all losses?

lisaf is right. With LC generally an increase of calories from fat will keep things moving along nicely. Too few calories and your body will go into starvation mode and try to hang on to its energy reserves.

But, I am not the Schwarzbein expert here, lisaf is!

Karen

Expert hunh?? Maybe only insofar as not entirely following the plan for almost a year makes you an expert

Karen - you are right of course (as always) and Schwarzbein doesn't limit calories, just carbs. My reading would be that she would probably feel that a limited calorie diet would be dangerous for the metabolism, and not allow it to heal from years of yo-yo dieting and eating damaged fats and carbs.

Sharon - I don't want to discourage you from following any kind of plan that is working for you. However, if you should find your weigh loss stalling, a surprising solution may be to increase your caloric intake by adding fat, protein and allowed carbs. Good luck - everyone needs to find their own way to make this work!

Lisa

Hi Everyone,

it is a beautiful spring morning here in northern California.

One thing that's tricky with cutting carbs much lower is in getting enough fiber. I'm already having a little bit of trouble with the C word. What fiber tabs are you using, Judy? Do they help? How about the fish oil?

I am using a fiber tablet (a generic of Fiber Con) Yes it works for me. I take 3 at night after my last meal (sometime before bedtime) I use these because the idea of drinking some the fiber supplements makes me want to gag. I like to take them earlier so I am not up to much at night in the water closet.
I am taking a omega 3 fish oil concentrate 1000mg.

I am sticking to a very simple menu plan. I don't have a lot oftime to cook and prepare, so I grill and steam and microwave. I must say I am eating a better quality of food than I have for years. a typical meal for me is

Grilled protien
microwaveved green veges with butter
Salad with creamy SP dressing
1 ry-krisp with butter
32 oz. water

Snack: nuts

This goes for breakfast too. I find I really enjoy spinach with bacon and eggs.

Part of the reason I stick to this formula I have going is because I am terrified of trying something that will set off a carb binge. I can do what I'm doing for a long time and not get bored. I know the day will come when I want something new and different. Having the taste buds of a five year old I find this most frustrating. The things on my like list are far less than the things on my do not like list. Most of the things on my like list are the WRONG things.

Have a great day

Yes, I have found the daily calorie budget in DietPower to be too low -- that's why my bank balance is about 4000 calories in the hole right now! Mostly, I'm just trying to stay within the carb and protein parameters. It has helped to log every little thing that goes into my mouth; when I started doing it, I was surprised at how high my carbs were even though it seemed to me I had cut them almost completely out of my diet. Of course, I think SP is higher carbs than most of the other plans because you don't have to count most veggies.

Lisaf, I think you are right about making sure I'm getting enough calories. Several years ago, after the birth of my first child, I went to Weight Watchers and lost 40 pounds in about 5 months. That was probably too much, but I worked really hard at it, and I kept it off for a year until I got pregnant again. Pregnancy is not a good thing for weight maintenance! Anyway, I followed the WW diet (which was high-fiber low-fat at the time) to the letter, except on Saturdays I would eat whatever I wanted and not count or measure anything. I never had a stall -- I consistently lost between 1-2 pounds each week.

Maybe a little bit of "cheating" is not always such a bad thing! But this time, I'm really scared to do it with sugar, so I'm not sure what to cheat with. I've been exceptionally good on this plan, but not perfect. My SP carb budget is 90g/day, and I'm averaging about 100g after subtracting fiber. I'm planning to try about 60g and see what happens.

Sharon

Sharon - you have a great attitude! In time you'll figure out how many carbs you can handle - how much sugar (and what kind). There are very few "perfect" dieters out there and learning how to deal with being imperfect is part of the process.

I guess my point about the calories is: don't sweat it too much! I'm the kind of person who can't handle knowing how many calories I've eaten...unlike an anorexic...knowing seems to make me eat more, even when I'm not hungry (i.e. well I'm allowed 12x my body weight and I've only had 11x so another 150 cals is okay...oh gee, but this peanut butter and apple are 200 cals but that's okay because... AND it just goes on like that)

Lisa

P.S. I SO totally hear you on the pregnancy thing. I sometimes wonder if my second wouldn't have been 10 lbs 10 oz if I had been low-carbing while pregnant.

You are so right about the cheating - sometimes you crave something nameless (you know you want something but you don't know what it is!). I found a low-carb bread which was great for when I craved something, but I found out it is not stocked in the local supermarket any more. I have been eating loads of nuts when I want a snack. They have stopped me craving sweet things and I hope now to cut them right down as I am not losing an ounce, even after three/four weeks.