Cool, 2Chi. I'm glad you got our of your rut. That must make you feel really good. For me, I get a lot of inspiration from having a good week. It makes me have the feeling that all my hard work is paying off. For this reason it can be very discouraging if I don't have a good weigh-in. But I try to keep my wits about me and not panic. Having said that, has anybody ever re-done the induction phase to give a kick re-start to your diet if you've hit a rut / plateau?
I had my weigh-in this morning and I lost less than a pound. I've been pretty good for the most part, but I know I can do better. I've been taking some things for granted because the weight had been coming off rather easily until last week. I haven't been diligent in weighing my food. Instead, I've been eyeballing it. I have overdone it on my fats. Mostly too much EVOO rather than using pam --- or just grilling my proteins and veggies. I'm going be more strict from now on. I also, for the first time, tried the apple cider vinegar. Up until now I've been using balsamic. The apple cider vinegar wasn't bad. I used my mandolin to slice some cucumbers very thin... almost shaved. I then marinated the cucumber in the vinegar and sprinkled some splenda in. It was pretty good.
I also tried a couple new recipes. Has anybody tried making pizza crust out of cauliflower and egg white? Sounds crazy, but it wasn't bad. It would have been better with cheese and sauce, but instead I kinda made it into a garlic bread. I am also going to try making the riced cauliflower into a rice dish. (Riced cauliflower is the main ingredient in the cauliflower "pizza dough" recipe.
Another thing I've been taking for granted is the exercise. I need to step that up. Until now, the only exercise I've been getting is doing yard work around my house, cleaning the pool, etc. I need to start out just doing some walking on a daily basis.
I've been perusing the other threads on the 3fat chicks site since this thread isn't very active. Unfortunately, 2Chi and I seem to be the only regular contributors.
Last week I actually asked if I could start the prep phase over because I was pissed that I wasnt losing. They told me no. They only let people do that if they gained 3 or more lbs.
Ive never heard of cauliflower rice/pizza. Sounds like too much work for the lazy cook lol.
I actually went back to the gym tonight, since starting. I hope it helps!
I started my own QWL thread about 2 months ago, but no one talks on there either...
I tend to over-react to what I perceive to be a rut, instead of just staying the course. I get on the scale multiple times a day - which can be both good and bad. The good is that it keeps me on track and makes me feel good when I see positive results. The bad is when I get impatient when I don't always get consistent results. I need to realize that my weight loss isn't always going to follow the same pattern. Case in point, this morning I was down 4 pounds from last week. But when I did my official weekly weigh-in yesterday I only was down less than a pound. I must have been retaining water. In any event, I need to stop hitting the panic switch every time I don't see the scale go down. Because of this momentary panic, I was all ready to redo the induction phase to re kick-start my weight loss.
Regarding your attempt to start up another QWC thread, QWC must only be a local company because it seems that the only people who post on here are from South Florida. On the other hand, I see a LOT of people on that "Ideal Protein" diet. I had never even heard of that one before finding this site. Seems like it works, but is SO expensive! Where is the QWC thread you started?
I have not yet started any exercise. I keep on intending to start with some walking, but for one reason or another I have not done it. I suspect that part of the reason why I haven't begun -- other than plain ol' laziness (lol) -- is that the weight has been coming off so far without the exercise. I suspect if that wasn't the case, I'd be more motivated. Having said that, I still want to start walking to see if I can do even better.
By the way the "riced" cauliflower is not hard to make. I am pretty lazy in general. So, If I can do it, you can too! I probably won't make it as a pizza crust again because it requires cheese. But I made some last night just as a rice substitute. I sauteed some garlic and added some salt, pepper and onion powder. I processed it a bit too much so the texture came out more like couscous than rice. But it was really good. I will definitely make this a regular part of my dinners as a side. I want to find a few rice recipes to use with it to give me some variety.
I've been trying to mix things up and try new this week to keep the diet feel less like, well, a diet. Last night I made mini lamb patties seasoned like gyro and made some tzatziki sauce with no-fat Greek yogurt. It turned out really good. My wife said that I can make it again anytime. So, I guess she approved. I was going to make some greek-style rutabaga "potatoes", but I didn't have the time. I'll have to try that later.
I love the taste of the no-fat greek yogurt. It tastes like regular sour cream to me. I am going to try a recipe tonight with it. I bought some salsa verde which I am going to use in a chicken recipe tonight. I will definitely use the yogurt as a sub for sour cream. I might even make some mexican cauliflower "rice".
It seems Im back in a rut. I've been doing cardio and apparently im now retaining water, which is I hear is normal when you start working out again. Something about your muscles retaining the water, but its supposed to be temporary until your body realizes this is going to be an ongoing thing. Its still frustrating though. Im hoping I'll have a big weight drop soon. Im not getting discouraged though... Im just annoyed.
It seems Im back in a rut. I've been doing cardio and apparently im now retaining water, which is I hear is normal when you start working out again. Something about your muscles retaining the water, but its supposed to be temporary until your body realizes this is going to be an ongoing thing. Its still frustrating though. Im hoping I'll have a big weight drop soon. Im not getting discouraged though... Im just annoyed.
For the entire last week, and until this morning, I would have echoed your comments word for word with regard to being in a rut (except for the exercise part... I still need to get going with that). I was down to 354 by this time last week, but then I bounced back up and hovered between 355 and 358 for the rest of the week. After my last "panic" a couple weeks ago, I knew better than to over-react. So, I kept doing what I was doing and sure enough this morning I weighed in at 352. But like you, I was kinda annoyed that the scale wasn't moving in the right direction for the entire week. I started to wonder if some of my new recipes weren't as low calorie / low carb / low fat as I thought. But I didn't change anything. I stayed patient, trusted myself and followed the plan.
Now, I am happy to know that I was not only able to maintain my weight using those recipes, but was actually able to lose a couple pounds. I am sure you will have the same experience with your temporary rut. As annoying as it is for the scale not to budge now, it will feel really good when you get a nice drop on the scale.
I'm glad that the both of us have learned from our experiences and have become more patient when these little speed bumps get in our way, rather than panic that we have hit a wall -- and take drastic action to further reduce calories.
Oh, by the way, I never followed up my my post where I said I might make the chicken with the Mexican cauliflower "rice". I made it on Saturday and it came out amazing. My wife liked it so much that she asked me to make it again on Sunday. It is a little bit time consuming, but I actually enjoyed doing the cooking. I was never really that into cooking before, but I've really gotten into trying to find and/or come up with recipes that fit our diet. Several of the ones I have tried I found on this site.
I should point out that I do not actually go to Quick Weight Loss Center, but just follow a diet that resembles their diet very closely. With that caveat, here goes:
BREAKFAST: 1 egg. 3/4 cup of Fiber One "80" cereal with just enough skim milk to eat the cereal with. I'm sure there is a particular amount of milk that I am supposed to have with it (probably 6 to 8 oz) but I never measure. I know that the approved cereal list is probably "All Bran" and "Shredded Wheat", but there is no way I could eat those. The Fiber One 80 is pretty good -- and only 80 calories for the 3/4 cup. I have to confess that recently I have been foregoing the cereal and milk and only having the egg in an obsessive attempt to lose more weight, but that's just me.
MID MORNING SNACK: At first I was having a fruit as a mid-morning snack, but -- once again -- the obsessive me started trading in the fruit for a protein shake. Since I do not go to Quick Weight Loss, I bought the brand of protein shakes that was closest I could find to the nutritional info on the brand sold by QWL. I buy the Pure Protein frosty chocolate shakes that are pre-made. They're pretty good (if they are really cold).
LUNCH: My lunch is almost always either grilled chicken or fish (8 0z) with some grilled or steamed veggies or a salad. If I get a salad, I usually only get the lettuce and cucumber (I don't like tomato) and ask for the oil and vinegar to put on myself if possible. I put very little olive oil and mostly balsamic vinegar.
MID AFTERNOON SNACK: At first I was having another fruit, but.... well, I'm sure you got the point by now. Now I either have another protein shake or maybe a protein bar. (Again, I buy the Pure Protein brand because I do not go to QWL. My favorite by far is the Chocolate Peanut Butter. Another good thing about the Pure Protein bars is that they are about half the cost of the bars sold by QWL).
DINNER: My dinner is very similar to my lunch, but I can get more creative with the side dishes (i.e. veggies) because I am cooking it myself. Sometimes I have just grilled or sauteed veggies. But sometimes, if I have the time, I'll make more elaborate veggies. For instance, I've discovered some recipes on this site and others where you can take certain veggies and turn them into side dishes as a low-carb substitute. For example, I have made rice dishes out of cauliflower -- and they have been REALLY good! And I never really liked cauliflower before. Just google "cauliflower rice recipe" and you'll find them. Another one I haven't tried yet is Rutabaga french fries.
EVENING SNACK: Since you're only supposed to have one protein bar per day, I try to save it for after dinner so that it is more of a treat. I usually have it about 8:30 or 9:00, assuming I eat dinner at 6:30 or so.
A couple times a week I will allow myself to have certain things that I would not normally have for most of the week. For example, once a week I stop at my local Greek restaurant and get just the gyro meat and tzaziki sauce. Just that will be my lunch. I know its loaded with fat, so that is why I only do it once a week or less. Then usually on the weekend I'll have a dinner which -- while still on my diet -- has a little more calories than my obsessed self normally allows. For example, this past weekend I made a Mexican dish which called for salsa verde to be put on the chicken and regular salsa, onion, and nonfat Greek yogurt (a sub for sour cream) to be put in my Mexican cauliflower "rice" that I served along with the chicken. I'm sure it wasn't a lot of calories. But during the week I typically keep the dinners simple (i.e. grilled chicken or fish with grilled veggies) to minimize the calories.
The above is just a sample of what my diet is like. I like to change it up when I get bored with it and, well, because I'm obsessed. I know I will eventually need to start eating more fruits. But I've never been a big fruit eater before, so its hard to make myself eat them. Plus, something in my head keeps me from wanting to eat them because of the carbs.
joefla70, thank you so much for the info. I actually had signed up with slim4life a few years back but since the supplements made me so sick I quit. I still have all the info and was on plan a which was the 2 proteins 2 veggies 2 carbs plan but I figured the plans had probably changed some since then so that is why I was asking about ya'lls menu as quick weight loss seems to be the same as slim4life. I truly have dieted myself fat and I so need to get this weight off
Hello everyone, I did QWLC in early 2000 and lost 40 lbs in about 2 months with no exercise at all. I wasn't very diligent drinking all the water, but I felt great. I kept the diet plan for years and years, but now I can't find it anywhere. It was on blue paper and had several pages. I want my husband and I to get on it, but we both have high blood pressure, so I'm afraid of being pressured to buy the supplements now. Regardless, I have lost it so I guess I will have to join again and pay the price!
Hello everyone, I did QWLC in early 2000 and lost 40 lbs in about 2 months with no exercise at all. I wasn't very diligent drinking all the water, but I felt great. I kept the diet plan for years and years, but now I can't find it anywhere. It was on blue paper and had several pages. I want my husband and I to get on it, but we both have high blood pressure, so I'm afraid of being pressured to buy the supplements now. Regardless, I have lost it so I guess I will have to join again and pay the price!
Sewuniquelady:
I have been doing the QWLC diet for a few months, but I did not join. I am just following (roughly) the diet plan. At first I was following it to the letter, but then I started doing a lower carb plan. But for the time I was doing it, I lost a bunch of weight -- as you did. I have the diet plan somewhere. If you want, I can find it, scan it, and email it to you. I don't think its necessary for you to go to QWLC just to buy their supplements. I use alternatives that work just fine -- and are a LOT cheaper.
As I posted on this thread earlier, I had the exact same feeling about "being pressured into buying supplements" when I went to LA Weight Loss a few years ago. The diet itself was sound, and it worked. But it quickly became apparent that their agenda for the office visits / weigh-ins was to sell their product first and foremost. That was obviously their business model. They were very pushy in their sales efforts to try to get me to buy more and more supplements. I didn't feel like the person I was meeting with was skilled at diet coaching, and was just there to give me a pep talk to keep with the program and push the product. Like you, the pushy sales tactics really turned me off. Because of that, I stopped going in. So, not only did I not reach my weight loss goal, I put the weight back on -- and then some.
I wasn't sure if QWL was like that too, but my past experience with LA Weight Loss was what kept me from going to QWL. That -- and the fact that I should be able to do it on my own if I put my mind to it. Of course, not having to spend the money to join is a plus.
About two and a half months ago my wife and I started the QWL plan. My wife asked me if I wanted to do the program with her because a few of our friends are on it and have lost a lot of weight. One has lost 70 pounds in about a year. However, because I am now very wary of the motives and sales tactics of weight loss businesses, we did not actually join QWL. Instead, we are just following the weight loss plan (which in reality is not that much different than the plan that I was on with LA Weight Loss).
Of course, we do not have access to the supplements that our friends buy from QWL. But I wasn't concerned about that. I went to the QWL website to research the QWL supplements. I noticed that the QWL supplement bars are $17 for 7 (although I noticed some people post that they can be found cheaper online. That is good to know). I then compared the nutritional info on the QWL bars with "Pure Protein" brand bars which I have used before -- and really liked, and the Pure Protein bars actually compared very well. (They had the same amount of fat, less saturated fat, more protein, more dietary fiber, less carbs and less sugar than the QWL bars). I also use the Pure Protein brand shakes. I get the Pure Protein bars at Walmart for $6.27 for 6 bars -- which comes out to just over $1.00 per bar. The pre-made shakes are a little pricey ($7 for 4 bottles), but the powder (which comes in a tub) is cheaper per serving. If you order from Amazon, they have a greater variety of the Pure Protein bars there. What we did is buy one flavor of bar at the grocery store to see if we liked it before we ordered boxes of them. I only eat the peanut butter one because that is my favorite. My wife likes a few different ones, including the blueberry, strawberry, peanut butter caramel, and the peanut butter.
So far in the two and a half months I have lost about 55 pounds. (I lost about 10 in the first few days during the first stage of the diet). I have not used any carb blockers, hoodia, or EFA supplements (but I do eat a lot of fish, shellfish and other foods that provide EFAs). I did some research online on the carb blockes and hoodia and wasn't swayed that it was necessary. Because the diet has totally changed how I eat -- for the better, I am not really hungry throughout the day. I used to skip breakfast and have a big lunch, and then a big dinner, and then snack late at night. Now, I am eating a breakfast, eating fruit and supplements as snacks between meals and after dinner, and I am never hungry. The biggest obstacle I have to come over with respect to late night snacking is the habit of eating just for the sake of eating while watching TV at night. In the past I would pick up a bag of chips or eat a leftover slice of pizza while I watch TV at night --- when I wasn't even hungry. Now, after having my after-dinner protein bar or shake, I really haven't had the urge to snack.
Let me know if you want me to track down the diet plan. If so, give me your email and I will send it to you.
