I weigh everyday. And it does not make me have a hissy fit if things arent going well..it simply means no surprises. Sorry I just saw your post about Eating for Life book. I picked my up from Amazon and I love it. Just healthy recipes. The drawback to the book is it does not give nutritional info I had to find that at the site online and you are supposed to eat BETWEEN the portions its gives (the portion sizes are averaged between a man and a woman)..confusing huh..but worth it, I just love the recipes and the little pictures that show you what food products they used.

Here is what I am currently doing. Recording my 1600 calories at Calorie King an online diet site that charges $39 per year. If you sign up please use my name there "fitbabe" and I get a free month. Also use the code New Year for $10 off. Anyway its pretty inexpensive and renewals run $19.00 for 15 months..so it does the calorie work for me. I just plug it in. There is also a wonderful community there. Generally I try to stick to 1500 and bank the extra for the weekend. Its so much easier to stick to 1500 than it is to lo calorie 1200 type diets. I love Calorie Queens..they opened my eyes!

So I am adding my calories and for exercise I am doing the Body for Life for woman plan cus its doable. I bought a space saver weight bench for $89 off Amazon (free shipping) and use weights for upper body..rotate with cardio and use Tamilee webbs buns tape ...
Very very doable. About 30 minutes of weights and rotate with 30 minutes of cardio the next day.


Also I make sure I eat adequate protein or I will lose control simple as that.

I personally think it depends on how much you invest in that number and what that number does to you emotions and determination. I weigh myself every morning but I want to know my body and how it works. I want to see those fluctuations (I'm a statistics person and analyzer). For me, I don't have a clue what I want that end number to be or what it should be. I don't agree with BMI charts so we'll just have to see. However, I have fallen in-love with the calorie queens plan. Since reading their book I've removed my tracker from my signature simply because I don't care what that end number will be. I just know that where I am now is not "it". I'm aiming low and firing away.

All hail the Calorie Queens!

I am curious, how did you decide what to base your daily calories on Carrie..if you dont know your goal?

Before I gained my weight (I gained due to a medication), I was 140-145. Now, that was a flabby, no exercise/untoned 140-145. However, I liked myself (I wore a size 8/10) - I didn't consider myself overweight - just outta shape. The BMI says I should have lost about 15-20 pounds at that weight. I'm 5'0". If I had lost that much weight, I would look like Dolly Parton. I LOVE Dolly but I don't think her extremely top heavy figure is the figure for me even though I'm top heavy. I prefer a more balanced look for myself. So, I'm just going for what I was before the me I am now but I'm working on that "outta shape" part. For now I'm using 135 because the book is based on it.

Questions about the scale are timely! I weighed myself this am; and if anything I'm up a bit . So, this is a point in other programs where I would say "why bother?", especially if I've been giving up some particular food group, or doing some other "diet". But, I know I will lose weight if I continue to eat this way - because I'm definitely eating less than I was before. And, I got back to the gym this week.

It's still a challenge. I'm trying to change from all or nothing thinking. This week I've been great with exercise and eating good foods; but I'm eating a little too much. I need to work on keeping written track of food - I really don't like to write down what I eat. So I'll try to work on that for the next few days (and hopefully not fall behind on some of the other good habits, like the gym )

Does anyone think we should start a new thread - just for people who are following Calorie Queens? Maybe we could add to our list things to motivate us a goal to be one of the most successful threads on this forum - and attract other chicks the Calorie Queen approach!

I weigh pretty regularly, but my "official" weigh-in is Sunday morning. Now...if you're a working lady (away from the home) I have to say....a Sat or Sun morning weigh-in is the way to go. You sleep in a bit later and you have time to let your body....uh....do it's thing and uh....empty out completely If I hop on the scale on a workweek morning when I'm in a rush and headed out the door quickly I am almost ALWAYS higher than my weekend morning weighs. For me personally, Sunday is good because I can push water much more on Saturdays and flush my system out. I just get tired of traipsing past the receptionist's desk for yet another trip to the bathroom if I'm drinking a LOT of water M-F (my kidneys are really efficient and my bladder--not that spacious )

Aimee--yes, the rate of change you see on the scale is going to slow as you approach goal on the Calorie Queens plan. But....you could choose to lower your cals a bit or increase exercise. I think the point they are trying to make though is that this is not a "go on it, then off it when you hit goal weight diet plan"--this is about LIFE. So....if it takes a few extra months, maybe you have to think about why you might be in a rush for those last few pounds. From the perspective of someone with 100+ pounds to lose, I'm not going to sit around and bite my fingernails during those last 10 pounds. Since you are starting with a much lower total weight loss needed, maybe it's more important for you to get the scale down to goal weight and maintain....if so, then just adapt to fit your lifestyle, needs, etc.

Save.... I want to make sure I can find this board later when I can read everything! Looks interesting! But I don't have time to read it now.

Short Intro: I am a WW member. And in 14 weeks I have only lost 3 pounds. What a freaking joke! I am starting to believe that even when you follow the WW plan... it does not truely work. At least it does not work for someone who don't eat. They need to make a diet for people who do not like to eat. Maybe the book you discussed here will help! I am going to call my library and see if they have it. I doubt it, but I am going to try... if not... maybe I can order a copy too.

BBL.... sorry for interupting so rudely. I just wanted to make sure I found this later so I could read all of the posts.

Thank you so much for starting this thread!

I've read only a few of the posts on page 1 of this thread, but immediately, I knew this way of eating was for me. So much so that I went out on my lunch hour and bought the book.

I agree I've failed miserably on every other diet under the sun, either because I was starving, or couldn't deal with the restriction of eating off lists (South Beach, Core, etc.).

I think I could have been successful on WW flexpoints, but like one poster pointed out, their points range is too low and leaves you starving.

The only success I've ever had in my life with weight loss was about three years ago after I bought the book Volumetrics. I don't care for Volumetrics per sey, but there was one paragraph in the book that talked about a weight loss plan a Dr. Weinsier had created where you eat as much fresh fruit and veg as you want and count the calories for more calorie dense foods. This really appealed to me and I allowed myself up to 1500 cals a day, not counting any unsweetened fruit or veg I was eating (so the calories were really more). I was never hungry and lost weight easily on this. Unfortunately I'm a stress eater and when a personal tragedy happened in my life I went off my plan. I have since learned from that experience to deal with stress differently!

Anyway, I do believe that counting calories, yet eating enough to feel satisfied, is important for weight loss. Most calorie counting plans leave you starving.

I am going back on the plan that gave me so much success, and I'm going to start reading the Calorie Queens book as well. I thumbed through it in the bookstore, and just fell in love with it. Down to earth, basic advice, with no scientific mumbo jumbo.

Thank you for starting this thread.

Hi. I'm new here and find this thread very helpful. I'm a detail person, a list maker and counting calories has just always made the most sense to me.
Could you please post a specific link to this book? I'm finding it for sale all over the place with short blurbs about it. But no real quotes from the book or from the authors. Thanks very much. Bi.

Bifocals, try logging into caloriequeens.com for some info. The authors have a website, parts of which still appear to be under construction.

I would go onto amazon.com and search for the book. There are some positive book reviews and a full description of the book. Just type in the title under book search, and it will lead you right to the book. Make sure you go into the paperback, the hardcover is no longer being published.

Hope this helped!

Yay! The Cuisine section used to say "Coming November 2005". Now it says "Coming February 2006" Hopefully that means they are actually going to get that part of the site up and running.

Wormtown...I did ask for a special forum just for Calorie Queens...Suzanne said they would consider it. If you and every one else would write her, then she could share that with those that determine the forums as it would indicate a LOT of interest. BTW you are so right..if you blow it one day..then with this plan you just get back on track. Also Kimmykat started a caloriequeens yahoo group.

Joycelyn..I dont think there ever was a hard cover copy of CQ..think its a typo. I also read and enjoyed Volumetrics..but it didnt quite kick in the way this book has.
I felt the same way you did about the book. I am loathe to buy diet books..but the minute I picked this one up and skimmed it, I knew my life had changed! That simple.

I just read for fun (and cus my library had it) How the Rich Get Thin ..talk about a stupid low calorie diet. BUT it did have a trick to help you over the eating hump. It suggested getting a stopwatch and setting it for 15 minutes. Then when the craving hits..drink a big glass of water and eat some protein and ride the wave till the craving is over.

The way I see it..if I cant stick to 1600 cals I wont on any plan and wont be able to be at that weight..so this has really put it in perspective for me.
The only caveat is..they should have talked more about emotional eating and also the importance of protein.

Anyway I LOOOOOOOVVVVVE the book and it has changed my life.

I am reading Calorie Queens and simply cannot put it down.

I just love it. It's telling me what I already and also instinctively knew about "calories in, calories out" before I fell for the exciting mystique of every new diet under the sun.

Like I said before, I'm eating 1500 baseline calories with unlimited (no counting) use of fresh fruits and vegetables. This was a plan that worked very successfully for me before and something I can do again and live with forever. I got this idea from something I read in Volumetrics, and then later from the Mayo Clinic food pyramid.

In fact, I just grabbed, off the magazine stands in my local supermarket, a wonderful magazine called The Mayo Clinic Plan, explaining their nutritional concepts. Actually, it's worth it for their interesting food pyramid alone (quite different from the USDA food pyramid). The small print says it will be on newstands until 3/27/06, and while I'm not on THEIR plan, I do incorporate some stuff I learned from their plan. Actually I'm on my own plan, just like the Calorie Queens are on THEIR own plan. But we can keep learning from everything.

It's very freeing to eat normally and be able to lose as well. Counting calories bothers me less than following the South Beach or Core food lists did, or looking up calories, fat and fiber to find out what a WW Flex point was, or eating only low carb foods. It was very humbling to finally admit to myself that counting calories was and is the easiest of them all. I mean counting calories isn't sexy, and if your attitude is bad it can be boring...but it works!

I plan on signing up for calorieking in the near future and slimcharm, I'll let you know when I do, so you can get your free extra month.

Just use my name when you sign up at calorie king "fitbabe"..
However, if you sign up in January and use the code NEWYEAR you get $10 off..its a super site. I just signed up for another 15 months ...renewals are even cheaper.
I am also exercising and keeping it simple.

Has anyone made anything from the recipes? What was it and how did it taste?

I loaned my book to my mom and I miss it terribly.