I use shakes from mydietshopz in place of buying optifast or other bariatric shakes- they are identical to what my diet dr sold and the conveinience of having them shipped is nice. Started back up today and made a order last night- using what I have on hand until my order arrives.

Hi CajunAnnie and Preppieblonde,
Wishing you both good luck!
I'm on Day 3 of The Simple Diet. Tomorrow it's back to the grocery store for more entrees! I'm a bit hungry but will have some hot sweet & spicy tea with a packet of Sweet n Low and a splash of milk. Love that, it helps fill me up and is nice and calming before bed.

Please keep posting! I really appreciate touching base with people who are on the same plan. We can do it!! Wishing you both well!

Hi CanjunAnnie! I posted a reply to both you and PreppieBlonde, but since it showed up under her original post I wanted to wave hi to you too! We can do it!

Starting the Simple Diet tomorrow. Half way through the book.

I'd just like to add that although I am following the Weight Watchers plan, I bought this book anyway for some good ideas...because I absolutely hate to cook and want simple meal plans/ideas. This book delivered. I eat mainly frozen meals supplemented with fresh veggies/fruits and lots of shakes for quick meals.

I just thought I'd mention this, because especially if you hate to cook like me, you can get some nice ideas. I mean duh, it never even occurred to me I can focus on shakes, etc. while on Weight Watchers. When you talk about prepared shakes, etc. over on the official Weight Watchers site, they reply like you are talking about Frankenfoods and are mostly negative. They just don't get it. You can eat ANY way on Weight Watchers.

Do any of the meal replacements taste good and aren't too expensive? I am using advance health systems. I bought it from my dr. She said it is just for a week. I am on day 4 and can't wait for this week to end. I really don't like the soup. It's powdered and comes out grainy. I was thinking when I go back to other foods maybe I would have a protein bar or shake sometimes, but these ones seem pretty expensive.

Idealshape is pretty reasonable and I love their shakes. The bars are pretty good too.

nashuanutrition.com has many meal replacement products at very reasonable prices. The Ideal Protein forum has a thread that I in which many of the these meal replacement products are reviewed. Their focus is low carb but you need not be bound by IP protocol. Nashua website lists macros of each product.

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/idea...-part-5-a.html

It's so nice to have alternatives to cooking!

wow it`s a good proposal, everybody should do it

I just started doing ITG diet. A friend of mine suggested it, she lost about 40 pounds doing it pretty quickly and kept it off. Has anyone else done it or had success on it? its my first week. Prices are good and I have a coach I can use through email or calling and there's no charge. Just wondering

Hi,

A couple days ago when looking for Medifast success stories (I have a few online friends doing Medifast) I stumbled onto a thread here about The Simple Diet.
I started TSD yesterday and I'm very excited about it. I'm making my own shakes with protein powder but I'm buying frozen meals. I'm trying to keep my frozen entrees pretty low carb, if I eat too many carbs it makes me have crazy cravings and I feel out of control.

I sort of made my own hybrid plan, but the primary source of nutrition is from Ensure (Plus Calories version). The Fibre 1 bars and low sodium V8 are additive to make up for the nutritional areas that Ensure is deficient in (0 fibre in Ensure Plus Calories and not enough potassium).

Breakdown:

Breakfast: 2 Ensure (Plus Calories) and 1 Fibre 1 bar (I never used to eat breakfast);
Lunch: 1 Fibre 1 bar and 1 low sodium V8 drink (I never used to eat lunch);
Supper: 2 Ensure (Plus Calories) and 1 Fibre 1 bar (I used to eat virtually all of my calories at supper -- very, very high caloric meal);
Before bed: 1 low sodium V8 drink;

+ Water throughout the day (sometimes adding Crystal Light).

This plan results in total calories consumed of approximately 1,880 per day. Add +10 calories every Crystal Light consumed (I generally add them to about 2 bottles of water per day, for a total of 1,900 calories).

Overall the plan is well rounded from a micro-nutrient perspective.

I follow this plan 6 days per week. One day per week, I schedule one cheat meal to restimulate my metabolism (i.e., short-term increase in leptin levels) and provide some mental relief from following such a structured plan the rest of the days.

This definitely wouldn't work for everyone, but I actually really enjoy it. I don't have to cook anything (NEVER liked or prioritized cooking) and by taking my mind off of food, I am changing my relationship with it. Now it's about making sure my body is getting the nutrients it needs, rather than eating for the purpose of dealing with emotions. Not having to cook/worry about food also fits well in to my insanely demanding and stressful job (public accounting).