Hello...I have tried the extreme low carb plans but because of the constipation that I could simply not get rid of, as well as the concern about all of the high fat foods I was eating, I added Fiber One cereal to my morning meal. I was fine until the end of the summer when I started eating more sugar slowly (I AM DEFINITELY INSULIN RESISTANT AND SHOULD AVOID IT AT ALL COST), then all of a sudden I had gained back 10 pounds, all due to the sugar I am sure of (at least, scared to weigh myself). My problem is that generally winter is a bad time for me with depression, etc., and I usually gain back my weight. This winter I want to reverse that trend and in fact lose the rest of this weight that I have been trying years to get off...cycling back and forth.

Question, has anyone tried doing this with lower fat foods and had any success...think I will stick with Fiber 1 for breakfast... It really makes me feel so much better... Also, has anyone had much success totally eliminating sugar, I am a sugarholic and find it very difficult...have used no sugar chocolate on occasion and it has a laxative affect...but no sugar rush!

Hi there,

I don't usually post replies to these kind of questions, but I'll give it a shot.

I see that you have three things listed in your 'your plan' thing, IR/CAD/Low carb. My recommendation is that you find something and stick to it religiously by the book and not try to tweak things. sometimes people set themselves up for failure by trying to take something from here there and everywhere. its part of the reason for my slow success so i understand the desire.

also, fat isnt bad for you. period. its just brainwashing from low fat diet days.

however, if you want low fat alternatives, try reading south beach. they put a lot of emphasis on lower fat things. south beach, however, has (what i would consider) a lot more carbs than other programs. if that would just trigger cravings for you, then just eat the fat. it helps keep you satiated and fills you up and makes everything good.

as for constipation, try eating spinach or psyllium instead of the fiber one cereal. i dont know exactly what is in fiber one, but if it makes you happy to eat it, then you have to live with yourself. if it contributes to slowly adding sugar back in, then cut it out.

personally, i love protein power, i love what it does for me, and i love how i feel when i really truly follow it and stop trying to tweak it.

i hope that helped.

there is nothing wrong with choosing lower fat protein sources while on PP. the ammount of protein is the important part, not where it comes from.

i have totally illimated added sugar. the only sugar i get comes from fruit and veggies. i have found that i am highly addicted to sugar (candy pastries ect) and need to totally elimate them to curb the cravings.

I appreciate your postings. I know that I am trying to tweak and that is because it has to be something that I am able to live with. I agree that the sugar is something that I, too, should totally give up. I KNOW THAT I AM HIGHLY ADDICTED! So addicted that I have candida very bad, so when I consume any, I immediately fill the symptoms...extreme moods and out of control eating. I tried the every other weekend having a sweet with my meal to satisfy the sweet cravings, but eventually I started adding it back regular and here I am 10 pounds up ...

Ok, I will try PP as recommended for a week and see how I do, adding in the Psyllium.

Thanks again!

Well I just had some significant insight into how and why I have been gaining weight and craving sweets. I had given up coffee, but for the last 2-3 weeks I started drinking coffee again. Well, occasionally, I was frequenting the gas stations and getting decaf with the flavored creamers...although adding no sugar. Today I realized that is the culprit, that is actually setting me off...the sugar content of those creamers must be very high... Although I will not totally eliminate the occasional coffee, I will now just use my full fat creamer...

Also, I just had a PP breakfast, 2 egg whites, 2 eggs, 1/4 c. spinach, onion, 1.5 ounces cheese... It was good but felt very bad, don't actually trust that I will lose weight doing this... But, will try this for a week!

For lunch I think I will have tuna salad with mayo and possibly stir fried spinach with onion and possibly some tomato...

Well it helps me to know ahead of time what I will have...takes the thinking out of it... Good Day All...

Dinner will be meat loaf with green beans and tomato...

Snack, if needed will be 1/2 apple and possibly some tuna...or walnuts

this one line says alot....we are , even with the recent carb awareness, very fat phobic in this country and dare say the rest of the world...when we should understand that the good fat is what we subsisted on for millions of years....and did a very good job I might add....it satiates and satisfies for sure ..it is the reason that I think I can handle a LC diet rather than a high carb diet...not near as hungry and dont have those damn cravings..good advice..hang in there...results cant help but happen..

Ok after several days eating this higher fat diet, I must say that I noticed cottagae cheese more on my body. I am not liking this and so I will do away with the cheese and possibly the whole eggs...maybe will go to egg whites instead... Any comments...

I am sorry this is going to sound sort of nasty but, NO ! NO ! NO !
That is just not enough time for a fair assessment. AND PP, while being simple as to the basics, has a LOT of subtle things that are critical to your success, from my following the people on the PPBBS that was the site the Drs. Eades sponsored. (It is down right now, from having been hacked.)

It is my personal opinion, from following a bunch of people on the PPBBS, that you just cannot do PP without having read the book, ACTUALLY you need to read BOTH books since the later book has new information and changes some of the emphasis on a few things, a tweaking by the authors as it were. You also should be told that the diet of the Eades comes both from an extensive search through the relevant scientific literature, (go here to see the bibliography; http://ppwol.suddenlaunch3.com/inde...board=resources) and some over 15 years of clinical practice with people, many with the same problems you have. I also wish you would ask your question on the suddenlaunch board, there are several “veterans” there, several that are “sugar addicts” also, that can help you. Some visit this site also, but not sure where they check in.

About your constipation, if you would have read PP Lifeplan (2nd book), on page 10 and 11 you would have seen the comparison table of a human, a dog and a sheep. Humans compare almost exactly to the dog, a meat eater. So what has happened is, over the some thousands of years that agriculture has been used for food (compared the millions for our genetic development) we have come to expect a certain stool consistency. When in reality that is abnormal for what our bodies are designed to do. A crude way to say it is, “If you eat like cow, then you are going to SH!T like a cow!” (sorry if I offended you)

It was one of the things that it took me a year to adjust to. I now actually LIKE the stools that I have over what I used to have before I did PP. I found that many people had the same problem, by the posts on the hacked board. Here are some helps that they offered. FAT!! You simply have to eat enough fat, it helps lubricate your stools. WATER!! If you do not get enough, your body will draw more out of the stool with the attendant results. And I will add one that I just discovered on my own. I do not salt my food, have not for YEARS! The American diet is deficient in Iodine so it was added to table salt. While Iodine is only used by the thyroid, that gland secretes regulatory hormones that effect LOTS of things elsewhere in your body. I started adding a little powered kelp to my breakfast, less than a fifth of a tea spoon. About three weeks later I noticed a softening of the stool, still would be classed as firm but not as much as before. And I have been sleeping better than I can remember for a very long time.

I am a VERY HARD CORE PP/PPLP follower, so I will apologize if I came over TOO strong.
Larry

I'm with you Larry!!

A week is not long enough to assess anything ... and this is even more true for women whose monthly cycle will affect weight loss and water retention at different times (sometimes good, sometimes bad!).

So read the books and try it for 3 months - you certainly won't regret it (but anyway, what have you got to lose?)

Cheers,

Malcolm

Well actually I have read the first book, twice... However, I do remember after going back and looking at my diaries from that time frame that my depression worsed...and I was not eating enough vegetables...so I had to add more carbs back into my diet... So I have tweaked my diet and added more fiber...also taking Psyllium...and my stools are better. As far as the cellulite increasing on my thighs, I stand by that, and so I am going to eliminate the cheese that I had added back to my diet, and try to stay with the healthy fats (adding 1 T. Cod Liver Oil at breakfast)...although I am not sure eggs are healthy fats...but I am eating those for breakfast anyway...2 whites, 2 yolks...

Also I have noticed that I am extremely fatigued...does anyone know what this is... I am taking the vitamin, potassium, and physlium.

Thanks for your input...I will stick with this through November...

I am going to address all the things you touched upon separately so as to make it easier to read. So here goes;
Ah, but the second book has NEW research behind it, so while the basic diet is the same, there are tweaks that are significant. SO please get the second book Protein Power Lifeplan and read it carefully. I have read it three times and I still have an “Ah-ha! ” moment when I go back into it to look up something and get to reading again.
Here again there is a new approach to the diet in it’s explanation that touched upon this. More than I can go into here, but careful reading will point you at some possible answers.
It took me all of a year to adjust to and become comfortable to what the average high carb eater would consider constipation. I also developed a better technique that works better with my new type of stool. I am of the school of I am an engineer, as you might guess from that, and this is a lot of what engineering is all about.
So, I have found that it works best to;
Push down, relax, push down again, relax and squeeze back up (not sure you will follow that, but it requires sort of retraining some of the muscles so you can use them at the proper time) then push down again. Maybe if I say think like you are a bird going to lay ten eggs at the same sitting (if they actually did ), you can picture what I am saying better. The bird can only push out ONE egg at a time. So in between they relax for the next push. Cod liver oil is OK but not the best according to the Eades. Again this is in PPLP. In PPLP there is a chapter called The Fat of The Land that you must read. The Eades completely refute the anti-fat propaganda that the media spreads. I sort sense a “Fat fear” in some of what you say. BUT you MUST avoid the BAD fats that the Eades talk about.
I suspect that you need to be taking magnesium. The Eades wrote a WHOLE chapter in PPLP on it. As I remember, it may also help the depression as will some specific fats. And magnesium is a laxative.
I also just discovered something that may help you. Iodine. I don’t have time to repeat what I wrote here, so here is the link;
http://ppwol.suddenlaunch3.com/inde...&num=1131763242
I hope to do a post on fats at some time. And finish the one I have on “The Dual Nature of Food”. So I hope you will check in there from time to time, maybe even join in as I know that there are several of the ladies that post there that can help you.
Geeee, I sure wish you would not put on time limits. The BIGGEST thing I see in reading the boards like this is that to be successful, you have to adopt this way of eating as a permanent life style change. All the people that loose weight only to gain it back have only done the diet to lose their weight not to have good health the rest of their life. This is the total thrust of the Eades, and what “sold” me on PP/PPLP.

Regards,
Larry

Thanks again Larry... I am trying to adopt this as a life style, but it also has to fit my lifestyle and that is what I am trying to figure out along the way. Is this something that is doable for me, something that I have no problem living with and maintaining the weight loss.

Although I haven't weighed myself, I can say that I have noticed a difference in the size of my stomach and legs...but I refuse to weigh myself after only 5 days. Weighing myself usually discourages me so I am trying to avoid that. I am going to pick up the second book, hopefully they have it at the library. I'm like most dieters, I have read every diet book out there trying to find a miracle, and I guess this time I'm simply trying to find something that works with my IR, my depression, and my lifestyle...

I look forward to reading more of your posts...THANKS TJ

TJ, just a quick comment. Why weigh yourself at all? It's only a number. Take it from someone for whom that stupid number can ruin a whole week. It ain't worth it.

How about the "jeans-o-meter"? Pick something that's tight on you -- jeans, a belt, a skirt, whatever. Try it on each week to gauge progress.

Who cares how much you weigh? No one knows that number except you and perhaps your doctor. Isn't it much better to BE smaller?

When I first used the PP principles, I dropped inches very quickly. Didn't lose all that much weight in pounds, but I was definitely a lot smaller. Prior to PP, I had been eating precious little protein. Once I started eating more protein, I built muscle and lost fat. Since 5 pounds of muscle is a fraction of the size of 5 pounds of fat, I got smaller quickly.

Trust me. The jeans-o-meter is a much better gauge.

I am coming to the same conclusion Bawdy.
I can fit into 32 inch pants although they
are pretty firm around the waist, but I used
to think I had to be 160 to do that.

At 170 I can still get away with it and I
am not going to obsess about those last
10 lbs. I am just going to keep eating with
my WOE and let the chips fall where they may.

I am confident that the weight will come off
but I am not going to make myself sick worrying
how soon.

Too bad we cannot use the blood lipids as easily as we can weight. In my opinion, that is where the REAL benifit from PP/PPLP is. Here is a plot of my lipids from my annual physicals.



This clearly shows, for me at least, the direct link between excessive carbohyrdates and reduced carbohyrdate consumption. Note that also the LDL mimics the triclyceride number in the last three tests, up - down excursions.

I should add, I estimated that I cut my carb intake to 20% of what it had been and even at that I eat about double the Headonist level. But I am a small old guy, 5'8" and have been sitting at 140 pounds for three years.