[geoblewis]

Thought I'd pop my head in here for a bit to say hay...I'm not new to 3FC, but am fairly new to WW. Have joined with the online method, have been on it a month and just succeeded in losing five pounds.

Struggled with WW the first two weeks. I was totally going over on points, mostly through eating too much meat. I had been seriously curbing the carbs because I'm type 2 diabetic managing with diet and exercise only. I was eating the extra protein because I was still so hungry, and subsequently going over daily points alotments by 10 points on average. First week I lost half a pound, second week nothing, third week nothing...

Then I saw a show on PBS about controling diabetes through a vegan diet, so I thought I'd try it. It meant I had to increase carbs, but I made sure it was all low GI carbs with lots of fiber. I read a good book on becoming vegetarian, found some products to help me get protein, ate a lot more beans and veggies, and in one week, lost 4.5 lbs.

The big victory for me was finally being able to stick with my points allotment. So much easier to do that when I'm filling up with beans, whole grains and extra fiber. Switching to higher carb intake took me a couple of days to adjust. The first day I experienced a sugar rush because I still ate way too many carbs at one sitting. It messed up my whole day. The next day I learned I still need protein first thing in the morning, so I had an egg white mushroom omelet. Then later, at mid-morning snack time, I could have my bowl of fiber cereal with rice milk.

My toughest times with the points are in the late afternoons/evenings. But eating a hearty protein/low GI/high fiber lunch keeps me going through the afternoons, and in the evening, all I want is a nice multi-textured salad. This week I've been eating baby arugula, spinach and baby mixed greens. Last night, I had a big bowl of it, with olive oil and lemon juice, Greek oregano and avocado. So satisfying that I didn't want anything else.

At first I craved meat, a lot! But after a week of white-knuckling through my cravings, yesterday I caved and had a single slice of hard salami and promptly got a bad stomach ache and felt a little nauseous. No need to go there again!

I've been satiating my lust for meat with a product line by Quorn. It's a soy-free meat substitute and it's really quite good. Very good with the points, way lower in fat than even chicken breast, mild meaty flavor and good texture. I made Quorn tenders and asparagus stirfry for dinner the other night and my kids loved it. And they are meat-loving teenage boys, so that's saying something.

With all my success this week, I'm still hesitant with getting excited about it all. I originally lost 48 lbs by cutting out all processed foods and refined carbs, but in the last two years I hit the mother of all plateaus, then proceeded to gain and lose the same 20 pounds. Now I'm down by 5, and I don't think I'll be at peace with my success until I get back down to my all-time low and muscle past that. The day I break 300 lbs I will breath a huge sigh of relief and accept my success with joy.

[Sheena41]

Sounds like you might have found the right combination that works for you. I would love to do more vegetarian dishes but I am not an adventurous eater. I do try to keep my carbs as high fiber ones and do not eat much red meat most weeks.

[geoblewis]

Not an adventurous eater...I like that Sheena! I was raised on a non-traditional American diet because after my parents immigrated to California from Greece, they never ventured toward the typical American food products, so I grew up free from Campbell's soups and Kraft foods, and even General Mills cereals, even though there was a plant practically in my backyard and I smelled Cheerios almost everyday of my childhood. It wasn't until my 20s when I moved away from home and was slowly introduced to that stuff, and then started gaining weight.

I'm fortunate to live in California where the vegetarian lifestyle is really supported. I don't know what that's like in middle America. I see you're from Arkansas. I've been there a few times. I never went into the supermarket when I was there, but I do recall lots and lots and LOTS of batter-fried food at my ex-husband's family reunions.

I don't go way out there with cooking. I like to keep things simple. I'm eating a lot of lentils, black-eyed peas, split peas, etc. I combine that with brown rice, quinoa and whole-grain couscous. And there's always good salads on my table, with lots of leafy greens.

Since I moved back to California, I get to enjoy my mother's garden more, with home grown tomatoes and cucumbers, dandelion and amaranth greens (boiled greens are a big deal at the Greek dinner table), and lots of okra. (Never, ever liked that, except in Arkansas when it was batter fried!) We have really creative farmers' markets here, and my favorite one is the Asian market. That's were I've become adventurous with the veggies.

Never met a veggie I didn't like...except when my mom cooked her okra. I think she went out of her way to make it taste like something slimey. Makes me gag just thinking about it!