Hi All,

Not to bore you with my good news, but things in the "Zone" continue to progress. Thanks to my nutrition program, Thanksgiving was a breeze and daily meals are getting easier and easier.

Beginning stats:
Hips 40
Waist 37
Height 62"
Body Fat 36%
Weight 151

Current Stats:
Hips 37
Waist 31
Height 62"
Body Fat 27%
Weight 135

Not too bad for someone who was a bit skeptical about trying the Zone. DH has lost 32 lbs and reduced his body fat from 25 to 20%! Talk about motivation! He is even back to daily exercise. This is a real change from how he used to be. He said that getting rid of those 32 lbs. in his medsection makes doing crunches much easier .

On the downside, I still haven't become totally comfortable with using the eyeball method that Beachfox and Brenda use. I've gotten a little better, but still continue to weigh and measure so that my portions are accurate and I am not tempted to overeat. Portion control has been a HUGE lesson for me so I am still amazed that I can eat controlled portions and NOT get hungry. I think that after doing this for a little while longer, I'll get the hang of eyeballing, but for right now, I still use my scale.

DH is totally impressed with the entire concept. He's been talking to everyone who will listen about how great this new program is for him. He says he just eats what I feed him, do a little exercise and then goes to sleep. When he wakes up, he's smaller than the day before. Hmmm...must be nice to live in such a "simple" world!

Brenda: You asked about my pizza recipe. I just make a crust from scratch using whole grain flour and I roll it REALLY thin. Then I add my pizza sauce (any no sugar sauce would work), mushrooms, onions, green peppers and my homemade pizza sausage that is 50% turkey. The entire pizza is topped with NO fat mozzarella (mixed with a bit of olive oil), parmesan and oregano. The calories are a bit high, but I am REALLY satisfied with 2 nice slices that are 474 calories, 47 g carbs (36%), 37 g pro (33%), 16 g fat (31%). When I run out of my current Italian sausage, I'm going to try my recipe with just turkey. I'll up the fat by adding some olive oil to the recipe (something that is NOT in my current one), but I sure wouldn't want the meat to be dry. IF I get a winner, I'll share the recipe here.

By the way, another poster asked about the protein content in veggies. Because I'm still new, I didn't post my thoughts, but overall I agree with what was said. Since I'm using nutritional software to help calculate my meals, my program DOES count every gram of protein, fat and carbs. I figure that this gives me a little leeway on all those things since I DO understand that eating this way shouldn't be an exact science. I am however, looking forward to less measuring and more eyeballing eventually!

Many blessings,

Donna

I think you're being extremely sensible sticking to the weighing/measuring for the time being Donna. Because if you start eyeballing too early - pretty soon its a dash more here and a slice more there - and you're way up again! Very well done on the effort of you and DH - excellent progress eh! Its really the wellbeing isn't it?

__________________
The fox is wild!



5'3" Maintaining 121-125
Original weight 198 +

Thanks Beachfox! You're so right...first a little bit more here and an extra something there and I'm sure all my good portion control would quickly become a distant memory. I know that you and Brenda have been at this far longer so after reading many of the older postings here, it became obvious that the weighing and measuring would be key to my portion control issues.

By the way, great photos! I would like to post some of ours, but I haven't quite moved into the digital camera age yet. My old Canon 35mm is in the closet gathering dust along with all the extra lenses and doodads. I know the prices for digital cameras keeps coming down, so maybe AFTER the holiday, I'll pick up a cheap one. At least that way, I'll get my feet wet using it. And who knows, some before and after photos would REALLY show our progress!

Yes, the wellbeing IS what this is all about. I'm just surprised that more people aren't 'doing' the Zone. Once you've mastered the basics, it all makes a whole lot of sense. And your body just works so much more efficiently. I'm almost sorry I didn't pay attention more when I first looked at the Zone book back in 1999. Geez...it took me six years to figure out that this is a very well balanced, fact based nutrition program that not only takes off the extra weight, but improves the functioning of my entire body. What more could a person ask?

In my original post, I titled it "Has Anybody Had Success Switching From Atkins to the Zone?" Three months later I can honestly say YES!

Many blessings,

Donna

I guess every body responds differently Donna - but yes, I agree with you - its my personal experience that 'being in the (metabolic) zone' seems to be the key to success for me AND you and I guess Brenda too. I wonder whether its the method or our body types - I must go check your profile - I THINK Brenda is fairly light framed too - been a while since I checked her profile. So pleased you have found your key to success - looking forward to you getting a digi and sharing your pics with us! Best wishes from a very HOT and HUMID downunder!

__________________
The fox is wild!



5'3" Maintaining 121-125
Original weight 198 +