Hi everyone! Just out of curiousity, what type of plan have you developed for yourself as far as eating and weight loss?

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Nicolle
145/120/120 - 5'6"

I use the legal lc veggies to my hearts content. Lots of protein and nuts and seeds, lc fruit when its in season in my yard.. However I have been LC since 3/2000 -mid 2003 so I figured out strict dieting is not 4 me. I maintained my 130's for a few years before going off the deepend and regaining.
I just cant convince myself eatting lots and lots of lc veggies is too much for me personally.

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high weight 207

Current
156/160/136(?) thats where the clothes fit before but time will tell

For me, I do the no limit legal veggies as well. They make me feel full and I am satisfied for a long, long, long time throughout the day. I do not do as strict as some other people do...I usually keep my carbs at around 75 grams a day - being that I do a very strenous workout routine, and the more you exercise, the more carbs you usually can have in your diet (YMMV) But I decided this week - being that it is TOM, I am going to detoxify myself so I am lowering my carbs to around the 30 -40 range...not as strict as induction but strict enough...plus no bread at all this week.

On special occasions, I will usually follow the rules of CAD...seems to really work well if I know something special is coming up, and i never seen the scale go up. Usually, I can maintain or might drop about 1/2 a lb...

So those are the kinds of plans I follow. I also really watch my sodium intake, and I eat pork only once a week.

Sheyla
186/129/105 60.5 inches

I read the book Low Carb Eating for Dummies and took a lot of my information from that. I don't limit my "legal" veggies at all, and I don't limit my fruit that much either. I figure fruits and veggies are not what made me fat in the first place. Other than that, I stick to less than 30 grams of other carbs a day, which includes carbs from eggs, cheese, nuts, seeds, etc. LC Eating for Dummies advocates eating a lot more whole grains than I actually do. My only bread products are the occasional LC tortilla or LC bread (I like Roman Meal's LC bread).

Mary, you said you don't limit your fruit all that much...so how much fruit do you have in a day usually? Has it ever effected your weight loss efforts at all? Some fruits I eat just give me ravenous cravings (for instance - grapes - the junk food of fruit) and others will satisy my taste buds with just one serving - i.e. - strawberries...however, I have oranges in the refrigerator and am trying to figure out what I should do with them being that the dh doesn't like them all that much. I'm doing a strict week - no bread, no fruit - to detoxify my body so that's why they're still there...hmmm...maybe I'll just give them to a friend who isn't on this woe as much as I am...

Sheyla

I eat some kind of fruit just about everyday. Yesterday, I had a container of different kinds of melon off the salad bar, along with about a cup of canteloupe. Today, so far I have had canteloupe and some dried apricots. I would say I usually eat a cup to a cup and a half of fruit each day. If I don't eat some melon or berries, I will have an apple and an orange or something like that. I haven't had that mess with my weight loss so far. If you want to try it, I would say add a serving or two in to your WOE for a week and see what it does for you. If it causes you to cheat or causes weight loss, you can always cut it out again!

I've done a somewhat modified Zone plan since 1998--so long now that I really don't have to put much thought into to what I eat each day. It works for me and I must say that this is the first time in my long career of yo-yo dieting that I've not regained.

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BC
LC Since 1998
Highest Weight 172
Current 104-108

I have heard of the Zone and my mom gave me a book on it one time as well at the Atkins and Protein Power. But people told me about Atkins so that's the only book I ended up reading and doing...guess I'll look into the Zone just to see what it entails...

BC, I see you are at your goal weight of 108. How long did it take for you to get there, and when you were 10 lbs away, how long did it take?

And Mary, I think I'll try your idea of adding a serving or two of fruit into my plan next week to see how that'll go. I enjoy fruit and am sooo glad strawberries are in season 'cuz they are my favorite! But since I do have those oranges, I think I'll add them in and then do a mid-week weigh in to see how I am doing. If I'm up on the scale or holding steady, time to take them out for a little while longer. Thanks for the suggestion!

Sheyla
186/129/105 60.5 inches

Sheyla, my original goal was to get down to the low 120's, since that had been around my college weight and I figured at my age that was as good as it was going to get. If I remember correctly, it took about 8 months to get to that point. The interesting thing was that I continued very slowly to lose, with the last 12-15 pounds taking about 5 months. I've varied generally between 104 and 112 with 108 being an average. Believe me, no one was more astounded than I was to reach a weight without major trauma that I hadn't seen since age 13.

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BC
LC Since 1998
Highest Weight 172
Current 104-108

i'm following the Curve's Lo-Carb Plan. It's been working great for me so far 24 pounds lost since Jan 27, 2004.

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Started Curves and Curves Diet 1/27/04 263/223/130
Left for 3 months...restarting 11.18/2004 246/130

I did the Atkins for 6 months and dropped 55 pounds. But then went on 2 7 day vacations within a month, and got off plan. Since then I cannot get back to Atkins. I am eating LC, but enjoying fruit and veggies, as much as I want. I am also counting calories, 1200 or so a day. This has really helped jump start the loss. I have 33 more pounds to get down to goal.

It sounds like you eat sort of the way I do! I found that Atkins was too restrictive for me, so I read a lot of books about LC eating and made up a plan for myself. It started out just as a modifed Atkins, in that I ate more carbs than he recommended but from the same sources. However, as I read more and more books, I added more and more things in. When I read LC Eating for Dummies, which advocates a whole foods approached to eating, I stopped limiting my green light fruits and vegetables. For me, that has made a big difference. And I figure that it wasn't excess fruits and veggies that made me fat in the first place...it was the fact that I wasn't eating any of them and was instead eating things like chips and crackers and cookies and other refined, processed, sugar-filled things. Anyway, then I read a book about the glycemic index, and now I am cautiously adding some low GI foods into my WOE. I am also giving up some higher GI foods that I didn't know were high GI, like watermelon. So now I call my WOE a modified LC/whole foods/low GI plan, to cover everything that I am doing. I enjoy it, it makes me feel great, and it works for me!

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I'm attempting to do the Body for Life challenge. It's not exactly low-carb, but it is definately reduced carb.

In general, I can't really eat bread or pasta anyway, because I'm gluten intollerant, so its not a big deal.

The thing about BFL is the excercise...not very lengthly, but targeted and effective!

-Buzzy

I do Protein Power. I like the way Drs. Eades explain the scientific theory, also backining it up with anthropology. I am the same way with vegetables, I eat unlimited legal vegetables. I also eat almost any fruit (except bananas), but I have to limit my quanity or my blood sugar will go haywire. I have hypoglycemia. So I may take a slice of apple, then share the rest with a family member, or put it away for the next day.
Howard

After years of trying this and that...mostly low-carb, and trying to learn about nutrition and excercise... I feel as if I have finally figured it out!! Though, I am still doing a reduced carb plan, it's not as low in carbs as I have done in the past. Basically I have calculated an amount of calories on which I can sustain myself healthfully yet also lose weight. I track my food on fitday and make sure to more or less, eat those calories per day (occassionally i'm a little over or a little under.) I try to eat 40% 30% 30% -protein, carbs, fat. I eat 1400 calories per day, I try to do about 1800 on the days I work out--having a high GI carb right before I leave--like a banana or something (this is the only time i eat high GI carbs).

Basically, when you track your food--u just really begin to get it--what's really in food, how many calories things have, what are truly healthy choices. It seems really hard and overwhelming at first but w/i a week, it's easy and like second nature. And I've lost 8 lbs in the last 2 months and am steadily losing every week.

And I'm just really being moderate--careful with the carbs AND careful with the fat, and eating high good proteins (fish, chicken, protein powder smoothies with fruit).

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Gia...


159/145/130...120?