Yeah, I saw that too, and saw that he said they completely removed the DAG oil reference for the UK version of the book since DAG oil is not available there.

I gained back a pound today despite only having 2 shakes and a meal yesterday, so my net - for my 10th day on the plan, is down one pound and zero inches.

I just don't want people pointing fingers at me and saying "You would have lost tons more if only you had taken the DAG oil too!"

I know of a very notable bio-ident doctor in the Palm Springs area. I drove up to him once. Pretty pricey though and I don't think he accepts insurance. I've also seen things about an NP in San Diego and I was thinking of going to her, not sure about her status on bio-ident stuff though she does prescribe armour thyroid.

Which part of S. CA do you live in? This is like bio-ident central here. Especially I imagine up around LA.

Darn, ever have those "oops" moments? I had to be up at 6 AM for work this morning and I was getting hungry and yearning for some bacon, so I decided to make breakfast my meal today and have some bacon and eggs. It tasted as good as I'd hoped too.

And then I remembered that I am supposed to go to cocktail party this afternoon at the home of a woman who a fantastic cook, and I had planned to make the finger food there my meal of the day! Ooops.

Debbie, I think it's so easy to slip up when you've had bad news on the scale. But at least you had a low carb breakfast!

I had bad news yesterday and today on the scale. I didn't count yesterday's because today is my 1 week weigh-in, but today was even worse. It gave me 176.5===that's back up to just one lb. below where I started. Now, granted, if I weigh an hour later, not having eaten, I usually get a lower number. I did have my shake and then weighed again and got 176, so my "real" weight could conceivably have been 175.5. Still too high. And I could I do any more rationalizing about the scale??

I did eat some brie on the 2 days my weight went up. Maybe that just confirms what I have suspected for years: that any dairy stalls me. And the amount of cream in my shakes has been increasing steadily during the week.

This week: no cream in shakes unless it's measured.

I also ate 2 meals today. 2 shakes. 2 meals. One was a grilled chicken salad at Zaxby's. We were celebrating birthdays and I didn't touch the cupcakes last night while making them or today while frosting or serving them! I wasn't even tempted, which says a lot for this diet, I think.

Dinner was my fabulous "semi-primal chili." The worst thing in it is chili-beans. But I ate it with homemade coleslaw and sour cream. Yum. I don't think I'll weigh tomorrow.

I'll close this novella with the fact that I'm totally ticked my weight went up because, hormonally speaking, this week of my cycle is the one week where I can count on losing weight. So, go figure.

MamaSara6 - bummer about your scale news.

Interesting comment about the dairy - I keep thinking we're not taking advantage of the fact we can have dairy these first two weeks - and featured it in our dinner tonight (luscious gorgonzola cream sauce that I made - which was also inspired by the Julia Child thread over in General Low Carb). I'll have to watch tomorrow.

I have a question for you and everyone else doing this 6week cure thingy. How is your energy level?

I'm finding it impossible to get on the elliptical or the treadmill in the morning before or after a shake. But in the evening after our one meal? 20minutes is very doable. (I'm totally going from zero - so 20min is good for me)

How is everyone's energy?

This sounds like a very pricey weight-loss plan! There seems to be a ton of weird stuff you need to buy and, here in Germany, I wouldn't be able to get half of it, I'm sure.

Oh well... I think I am going to have to try to do something about DH's expanding middle soon - he put on another two pounds over summer and it is beginning to look unsightly.

I still love him madly of course, but I'd still love him if there was less around the middle, too!

Do you think you can "adapt" it, or is it: do it exactly this way, with all the shakes and stuff, or it won't work?

amanda

Sarah, considering the fact that I've given up the little bit of coffee I was having daily, and a 32 oz. diet coke (that my kids share!) almost daily, I'm doing pretty well energy-wise. I have sleepy periods where I just need a nap, but I'm not dragging all day. I'm not super-energetic, like some tend to be, but it's been surprisingly good.

I kind of wonder if this 2 week shake period is supposed to ease you into the stricter mindset so you can do the meat-weeks which probably produce more weight loss.

Oh, and as I expected, weight was back to starting point A today. But TOM comes tomorrow, so we'll see.

I did too. I caved at the cocktail party. I had vowed I would eat nothing and drink only water while there, but she had so much food! I got there a little latish as I was on call for weekend coverage at work and had been online with work non-stop from 6 AM until 4 PM. The party was 4-7 PM so I managed to change my clothes and get over there about 4:30.

So from the appetizer trays I had two bite-sized hotdog chunks. Then when they served a buffet dinner at 5:30 I had one chicken thigh, and a few small chunks of italian sausage with roasted pepper. Then at 5:45 I got paged with another problem from work and had to go home and logon, and was online with work again until 8:30 PM - so that was *all* I ate. It doesn't seem excessive to me, but the scale was up another *two* pounds today to 294, putting me back up above the weight I've been stalled at for months.

And today I overslept and had to rush out of the house to catch my bus, and didn't even think about making my shakes to bring in my thermos, so here I am without any shakes. I guess I will get breakfast at the deli, but don't see how I can last on just one meal until I get home tonight.

Not to mention that I was moaning a bit about this in a email to a friend who is a nurse, and her reply did not comfort me in the slightest. She wrote:

So that bummed me out too. Can you tell my week is not off to a good start?

My energy level is actually pretty good, but I have noticed one thing. I have arthritis in my knees and at times the knees have gotten so painful I've been reduced to using a cane (though that was after a knee injury).

But when I went strict low carb and totally eliminated wheat/gluten from my diet the keen pain completely vanished. I had no problems at all. But the last two weeks, since I have been on the Cure, the knees have been hurting me more and more and more. I *feel* good, but can barely walk and barely climb up the stairs - not from lack of energy, but from pain the knees, even in the hips as well. I creak around like an old lady, exactly as I did before eliminating wheat/gluten from my diet. Just a couple days ago I was finding myself thinking I might even have to drag out my cane again. Last night the knees were even aching as I was in bed.

So I've been going over what I'm eating on this plan. The LC meals are no different from other meals. The only big difference is the whey protein in the shakes. I've looked at the ingredients but there seems to be no hidden things that might be suspicious. I've had occasional shakes before but not as many or as often as this. But I can't see anything in the shakes that should be causing this.

But I might end up switching early to the all-meat portion to see if the aching and stiffness goes away, as I have no idea what else it could be.

Well not really a ton of weird stuff - unless you consider protein powder "weird" which I guess some may. The DAG oil does seem a little "weird" but it seems it's not required - and is not even mentioned in the UK version of the book. There are a few recommended supplements. But it's not really all the expensive considering you are substituting meals with shakes 3X a day. I mean if you were not having the shakes you would have been spending money on food anyway,so the net cost is probably not that much.

Who knows! Nothing seems to work for me anyway. The shake portion is supposed to help detox your liver. But lots of people seem to do well on LC without following this plan also. It could hardly hurt to just move into weeks 3-4 I would think - which is more like an Atkins induction plan but a little more liberal, allowing some fruit, etc.

That has not been my experience. The 6-week cure has less pricey stuff to buy than most short-term diet plans that I've read about. I already had everything that I needed except potassium tablets and milk thistle (both inexpensive and readily available at my local pharmacy), plus leucine (I purchased 100 g for $14 online from iherb.com and that should last a long time). Since my neighborhood grocery store (Publix) had DAG oil (Enova) in stock, I also purchased a bottle. It was $5.50, which isn't much considering how long 1 T a day will last.

With protein shakes replacing some meals and cutting down on my diet soft drinks, I think that this plan will be less expensive than my normal diet.

wow, debbie your nurse friend has really bought in to the surgery thing. i, too, am a nurse and i don't believe that.
after all, it has been a fairly recent occurrence that obesity is epidemic. therefore it should be somewhat easy to see what has changed....
anyway, we all know peop (online or in the flesh) who've lost weight and manage to maintain....it is possible.

there are those who opt for surgery but it seems to not correct the problem for many...who seem to be able to gain it back; my neighbor had GBS and when i was w her at a local carnival she ate a syrupy elephant ear, asian noodles, ice cream....every time i looked at her she was buying some other carby treat. so, you see, the mind set is still there and she is gaining.

that guy on oprah had it right when he said they'd have to do brain surger to correct his eating problem.

Yeah, I think she has. This is not the first time she has said that bariatric surgery is the only thing that works. She has also said bariatric surgery "cures" diabetes. I don't totally buy that myself, but I have trouble arguing with her "I am a nurse and have read all the details of the medical studies" attitude, since clearly I am *not* a nurse and have not read them all. She has never come right out and told me I should consider having surgery, but she has hinted around at it enough, and I am so *not* interested in mutilating my body that way. But when you have over 100 pounds to lose and you are not seeing any progress on the scales (and when you know you have plateaued for periods lasting YEARS in the past and then ended up gaining it all back and then some every time after a long period in a stall) sometimes it's easy to get discouraged.

Which then plays games with your head. I mean I'm not discouraged in the sense that I want to fall facedown into the carbs. But i really had hopes for this "3 shakes and a meal" plan to just give me a kickstart again, and so far it has not done that and I'm almost done with the 2 weeks of the shakes plan.

Kathy (who is Bawdy Wench here) is one of those chosen by the Eadeses to get an early release copy of the book in exchange for agreeing to be available for interviews. And on the Eades blog she commented that she lost 5 pounds the first week then nothing in weeks 2 and three, and finally lost some again by cutting way back on her fat. And her calories are low too. SO is this really just a low fat/low cal plan?

i'm not saying that there is no success w surgery since there are those on these lc forums who've done it and stayed w eating well.
but the attitude that there is no other way is just silly.

i know you are frustrated and disappointed.
i'm sure you will find a way. soon i hope.

merpig,

1) the knee pain! oww!! I wonder what's up with that? I'm sure you're going over it all in your head about what on earth could cause that. Change in supplements? What's different? Could be an additive in the supplements - or the supplements themselves. I've ended up taking extra potassium (there was already a bunch in my protein powder) as Eades said I might have to. I'm still just figuring this out (we weren't even taking a multi before), so not saying I have any answers - but there are lots of folks around here who know a lot more and have battled with joint pain. I wonder if the TDC would be a great place to ask.
BTW, this might be obvious - but its not just what you've added, but what you've taken away. Maybe you were in the habit of lemon acv water every morning and stopped that - or a specific food you used to eat.
I hate hate hate joint pain. Such a drag for you!! I hope you get this figured out.

2. re: this plan working. I'm trying to remember that the first two weeks is mostly supposed to be helping my liver - which was getting a regular deluge of ibuprofen, alcohol and caffeine. And now it just gets milk thistle and stuff that is good for it. I've now lost 3-6 pounds (6 pounds officially, but like you, the first three were a gimme because of a one day spike before)

BTW, I've been starving and tired on this plan - so I've been tweaking it in the following ways:
a) the book really lays it on about different hormones and what may be out of whack. Mary Dan apparently could only gain weight even after upping her exercise for a year, until she got her hormones tweaked. I'm only worried about my thyroid - and am taking some iodine and it's helping.
b) as mentioned above I've upped my potassium intake. I have felt a noticeable lift out of the fog and in my energy level within 20min-hour of taking more 400 potassium, same thing happened when I took some iodine (now from kelp, but I have iodoral on order).
c) I realized I wasn't getting *nearly* enough carbs. I kept reading that carbs were going down next phase - and we were barely eating any now! Apparently it's supposed to be about 30ECC first two weeks and 20ECC the second two weeks. Adding in way more veggies, taking advantage of the cream and cheese allowed first two weeks, has really helped with energy and hunger.

I hope you get this all figured it out. I'm so proud of you (and all of us!) for trying to take care of ourselves. Hang in there.

Sarah