Hi Dali, Hope Jan 1 was a good starting date for you! This way of eating gets easier when all the junk is cut out. Are you grain free as well as wheat free ? Have you tried stevia in your coffee ? Those sugar spikes are going to make it harder for you to lose weight..I took days to recover from Christmas and a single serve of sugar. It really affected my energy levels for days. I don't use any sugar in coffee - just pure cream and it tastes really sweet to me now. Hope you had a good day!

I was down another .2 today so my weight is finally reflected in my ticker again! Now to get back to the 150's! Doing really well but was hoping my good sleep would continue but not last night. Woke up a 3:30 am and never went back to sleep. Ugh! it is going to be a long day.

Billster-Congrats on the 3 lbs!!!! that is great :) Can dh carry a mini cooler with him. Then he could take greek yogurt, some chix, boiled eggs ..really most things. If not how about cut up avocado, berries, beef jerky (?)

Dali-Welcome to the group. Glad you found us! Seems you have come up with an eating plan you can live with. I was still using 1 tsp of sugar in my tea until this week. Now I am using xylitol, tastes pretty good. Still having a serving of sweetened creamer in my coffee too. Haven't been able to give that up but not seeing the no hunger benefits Nora is talking about. So I plan on cutting that out next Monday. I now eat much less than I did before but no way I could go all day without eating yet.

Nora-What type of dark chocolate do you buy? bought some for dh 60% but noticed it has sugar in it. 3 squares would be 20 grams of carbs. he only eats on square each day but still. We tried the 85% but that stuff was horrible! Glad you did so well shopping today, seems you got right back on the wagon :)

Have a great Thursday!!

Something is not going quite right here. 10 days totally wheat free, grain free, additive free. High protein, good fats. I have gained three pounds. I think my servings will have to be cut back drastically. I didn't think my servings were very big, but apparently they are.
Back to the drawing board.
Fortunately, at this point, I am not frustrated, angry and willing to just throw in the towel as I might have in years past. I am taking this on a month-by-month experimental basis, but I would like to finish out this month with a loss, not a gain.

Dali234- I would not worry too much about a gain- I know for myself if TOM is coming I can easily gain 5 lbs then it goes away again. It could also be your body adjusting to good fats, veggies, fruits. I try to always choose lower carb veggies over higher. I eat lots of lettuce, celery, cucumbers, green onions, snap peas (the thin ones not sugar snap peas) asparagus, broccoli, mushrooms and cauliflower. Just keep the same veggie choices as I did on IP. Only twice a week I allow myself to have some higher carb veggies such as- tomatoes, peas, turnip (not purple tops- the big ones), avocado, squash, eggplant and Brussels sprouts, carrots and only about 1 cup. This works for me so I’m not saying it will work for everyone. Fruits again I keep lower carb- grapefruits and berries are my 2 big ones- however I bought a 2lb box of kiwi at Costco and have been eat 2 of those a day. I keep my fruit as a treat or dessert.

Everyone else- Thank you for the tips on ideas for my hubby’s lunch! I am making him come to costco tomorrow to help me find things he will like and can take on the train! I still have some protein bars (Detour and simply bars- both do not have wheat or grains) so he can start taking those too. Again he is doing it for health as he maybe could do with losing 5lbs- unlike the 50 I need to lose.

Costco has at least three varieties of gluten free crackers...it is the only GF product I buy as per the WB book they're not good to eat but I love them with my hummus or with tuna salad. Quinoa salads would be good on the road as you can pair virtually anything with it. Costco sells quinoa as well as a good quinoa cookbook. Congrats Mary and billster on you're weight loss. That's awesome!! I'm going away for a night tomorrow so gonna bring lots of snacks so I have options as most coffee shops have nothing I can eat for breakfast

Hi guys, I'd like to join in!

I have the Wheat Belly book and have finished it. Now I need to get serious about losing the grain.

Welcome! The more of us the better support we can give each other!

Welcome ! You will just love this Way of Eating !

Reread the book. It has a lot of info that only clicks on the second read... :)

Have lost my stubborn 2 pounds !! Wish me luck for the weekend though as I am cooking for my elderly Mum... so have to stay on track. Think I will though :) I had a bit of a craving last night so had strawberries and cream for dessert. Yum!

And I think I am about to go a size smaller. My jeans looks silly/ too loose today !!! :) I do not think the scales are telling the whole story. I am literally shrinking in size all over ! :dizzy:

Nora52- way to go! That's awesome! Never go by the scale (I know I'm bad for over thinking the number it says!) I took my body measurements in Nov when I restarted IP and again when I took the wheat belly lifestyle on. So Monday I'll take them again as my 'official' weight in date. Does it not feel amazing when things start to look silly on you!!!!

Hi,

I'm new to this thread but have been relatively wheat free for 17 years, after discovering I had a wheat intolerance. (And in the last couple of years I've been wheat free.) Having stalled weight-wise I'm looking to tweak my diet. I've been doing a relatively low carb gluten free no plan.

I've read about WB here, as well as on Dr D's blog.

At this point, I still have a few questions. Is there a carb limit for the day? Nora52 mentioned that we should try to have less than 15 carbs per meal.
Are sweet potatoes a no-no? (I presume they are, but wanted to check.) What about fruits? I notice people are eating some of the lower carb ones.

On the blog, Dr D said that wine was okay and that he was going to list other acceptable alcohols at a future date. Did he and are there any?

Any help you can give me would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Dee

Thanks ! The weird thing is that I am losing weight all over ( not just the belly ) and the belly is last to shrink!!

I REALLY want my waist to shrink cos clothes just don't fit.... Hoping my skin shrinks... does the skin always shrink ?


I tried a MIM yesterday and it was awful!! Then I found I had tummy pain and THEN I discovered the label of the cocoa said "may contain Gluten" ... sigh..


Hope everyone had a good day!

Hi Dee, Welcome ! That is awesome that you have been wheat free all those years... You will be able to jump into WB easily as you do not have the opiate like addiction to wheat that others have had to start with.

Do you eat other grains ? They can be nearly as bad as wheat. Corn, barley, rice.. Sweet potatoes would stall weight loss as would too many fruits. Dr D recommends minimal fruit if you want to lose weight. The 'berry' fruits occasionally... but be careful of fruit. Before I did WB - I was doing IR and the fruit had to be very carefully measured and eaten with protein... so I have not eaten much fruit for a long time.

Dr D talks about wine in his new book.. WB CookBook. Red wine , white wine are OK - in moderation of course. Beer is off limits although there are GF beers... Is there one in particular you were thinking of ? I could look it up.

Hope you enjoy this WOE ! I am off to try and bake a decent MIM ! :D

Alright I'm sure confused! lol what is MIM?

I'm a bit down this morning- yesterday AM I was down to 229.5, today up to 232! Ugh! I gained a few pounds over x-mas ok well 7.5! And managed to get most of that off this week by starting WB. I'm not sure if I mess up yesterday or not- had left over stir-fry with maybe 1/2 c of rice (we ate out the night before at a stir-fry place and with my left over’s they decided to pack up with some rice with it) so had that for lunch and I had made chilli for dinner- used ground turkey, lots of veggies and one can of kidney beans for 6 servings. So I'm not sure if it was just too much limited things as I had rice and beans. Whatever at the end of the day its just that- rice and beans not bread bagels takeout foods.

Just a question do any of you take vitamins or supplements?
I have been taking- vit D, Folic Acid (as we have been trying to have a baby), probiotics, vit B complex, Omega 3 complex and digestive enzymes.

Welcome Dee!
As far as I know there is not a carb limit- however I’m pretty new to WB. I try to always choose my veggies with lower carb/ lower sugars then others. As for fruit I eat 1-2 servings a day- normally berries in the AM and sometimes 3-4 times a week another in the evening. The evening one is normally a grapefruit sometimes a banana in a shake. I’m not sure about drinks so I cannot help you there. Do you use gluten free products? Breads pastas etc? If so I would remove them as they are just as bad.
Since you have been wheat free for so long I’m sure you could help most of us with meal ideas etc!

Nora 52,

The rumor I've heard, and it is only a rumor, is that if you lose weight relatively slowly and consume enough healthy fats you stand the best chance of having your skin shrink. Back awhile ago, someone also posted they used something topically to help. Think it might have been shea butter, but I'm not sure.

Also I forgot to add I'm going to TRY and make pizza out of chicken. A woman I work with did Herbal Magic years ago and this was one of her fav foods and kept eating it after she went off plan. Take a chicken breast pound the crap out of it until its thin back for 8 mins- top with all your fav pizza toppings then back until cheese is melted. I also found another recipe on line but you need a food processor for it and mine started on fire a few weeks back (don't ask).
This is the one I found online if anyone is interested!
asy Crispy Pizza Crust

1 packed cup cooked, minced chicken breast
1 cup packed mozzarella, shredded
1 Tbsp parsley, dried
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Process chicken and cheese together. Mixture will resemble a meal/thick, dense crumb consistency.
3. Press chicken/cheese mixture on parchment paper on a cookie sheet.
4. Top with parsley, basil, onion and garlic powder.
5. Bake for 12 minutes.
6. Let cool for five minutes.
7. Top with sauce, cheese, and then toppings.
8. Bake for 6-8 minutes more, or until toppings are melted.
9. Let cool for five minutes.
10. Slice and serve.

Makes an entire 12-14″ pizza.

Nutritional information per 1/8 of pizza, prepared with pepperoni and added cheese and no-sugar pizza sauce: Calories: 180 , Carbohydrates: 1.8 g , Fiber: .2 g, Net Carbohydrates: 1.6 g , Protein: 17.3 g, Fat: 11 g.
Nutritional information per 1/8 of pizza crust only: Calories: 96.9, Carbohydrates: .5 g , Fiber: 0 g, Net Carbohydrates: .5 g , Protein: 11.9 g, Fat: 5g.

Thanks for the information, Billster!

In regard to some stir-fries, one thing to be aware of is that soy sauce is generally NOT gluten free, though you can buy special soy sauce that is. It is also salty, which may cause water retention.

I made sure NOT to use soy sauce it was on the table and husband picked it up and was shocked to see wheat listed... I already knew so just used extra garlic and ginger :)

MIM is a Muffin In a Minute. I used almond flour, egg, milk, and butter and made it savoury with onion . There are lots of various recipes if you Google. I was not that impressed with mine..

Sorry the weight has come up again. Maybe it was the stir fry you had out and adding rice to it. Maybe there was wheat in the sauce ? Did it have carrots ? Carrots are not on the WB list. I saw on another post you have banana smoothies. They are very carby too. WB tries to keep carbs to 15g a meal and 50g for the day... It will take a few days to get your body back to WB after rice etc...Stay strong ! The supplements sound good. I take probiotics when I remember, and a B vitamin. My D is OK so I don't need that..

Well my week one WI was not bad! Down 6 in total (1.5 more then xmas gain is off) and 4 1/4 inches! Im more then ok with this! I know carrots are a no no! Yeah i think the bit of rice did me in but this is a learning process! I cant expect to be perfect with a whole lifestyle change in one week! Ill google the muffins!

Great work to lose that much in a week! Where have you lost the inches ? I am still not losing my waist inches which is annoying me. Hope the rice did not upset you too much. We have to learn as we go how certain foods affect us. Some of us are more sensitive than others.. Did you find any good MIM recipes ? :)

Hey Nora,
No I didn’t find any good MIM recipes as of yet- only looked at a few when I had a bit of downtime at work. Most that I saw require sugar- Which I have cut out of my diet and I hate Stevia and sweeteners- they give me headaches. I ended up making the blueberry banana muffins from the book again last night and remembered the eggs this time! They are so darn good! I don’t mind using a banana in this as I have cut all bananas out but it requires 1 between 12 muffins so its really not that bad!
My inches were- Belly 2, arms 1/4 , calf 1/4 , thigh 3/4 , hips 1, and chest 0. I found it odd that there were none in the chest as every other diet I have done- chest goes first! I’m not over worries about the rice and the end of the day I feel so much better than I have in a LONG time! And I never once found myself feeling deprived or hungry.

Sorry I have been MIA this week. Started feeling sick on Sunday night and have been laid out since. Unfortunately went off WB while sick. Could not stomach the thought of drinking water and the only thing I wanted to eat was chix soup. Finally going to work today but plan on going back on plan today except for a little sugar in my tea as I still can not stomach coffee. Was up a lb. but TOM came on Monday too!

How are you feeling now Mary? I agree is hard to be sick and wheat free. I think I ended up eating yogurt the last time I was sick but really wanted to eat toast. Thank you to whoever mentioned the gourmet girl cooks website. She's got some really good recipes on there and it's a very simple website. She had a good idea to use flaxseed in one of her recipes as opposed to breadcrumbs and I will try the next time I make meatloaf. I am still struggling with sugar cravings but bought some dark chocolate which is better I guess than peanut butter cups. Tomorrow I'm planning on trying to bake a few things so I have some more options. Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

Mary hope you are feeling better!! Being sick can throw everything out of wack!

I made the rye bread from the cook book! Amazing! Hubby is down 9lbs in 12 days!!! Also in 12 days his blood pressure is down to a normal range- this lifestyle clearly works! My scale has not moved at all- not sure what im doing wrong! Stopped eating all fruit unless its a banana split between 12 muffins with a few blueberrys in each muffin. Oh well overall i feel amazing and full of energy! Who knew i would feel the best i ever have in my whole life in just 12 days! This book has really inspired me

Thanks guys I am feeling much better. Back to grain free today. Messed up a little this weekend. My dh and I are not finding the energy everyone talks about. We have both lost some weight, him-9 lbs & me-5 lbs in a little less than 3 weeks. But when we both do something strenuous we feel tired! He was carting wood yesterday and said his legs felt so weak which was not a problem before for him. I may just be still feeling the lingering effects of being sick.

Sparky-I love the gourmetgirl website. have found lots of great things on there.

Billster-Hooray for dh!!! Are you eating enough fat? Believe it or not you need to eat quite a bit of fat to lose weight on lo carb. How is your water intake. At least 64 oz a day?

Yes Mary, lots of water! I have a water bottle at my desk which is 24 oz's and I drink two of those at work and at least another one once I get home. I'm hoping just maybe I'll have a huge belly and a baby in 8 months... might just be! However not getting my hopes up to much. I also have to understand weight loss is not going to be rapid on this diet!

Billster-Keep us posted. :) If you are preggers, I think you will need to up your carbohydrate total for the day so ur not in ketosis. I think those that lose weight quickly totally go into ketosis like the Atkins diet. When I did that years ago I lost 5 lbs in the first week but felt pretty crappy. I will not give up my fruits or veggies this time.

Hi Everyone,

I just started wheat belly a couple weeks ago and I was loosing weight just fine but now i'm going the other way. I haven't even cheated once :( I just finished my period but the scale is up 5 lbs.

Any suggestions? I just don't get it. :(

Oh Mary I'm just hoping that this time might just be it! We have been trying for a few years but the issues lie with me. We have been in contact with adoption and foster agencies but I will look more at that route once I hit 30 until then all I do is hope and wish! Anyways that’s enough of that! The concept behind ideal protein was being in ketosis- yes you lost weight fast but it came back on even faster! Something I’m not willing to do again.

RoxieK- Yeah another Canadian lady! Woot Woot! I’m still very new at this diet and I must say my scale jumps up and down each week! A few things I have noticed that affect me- not enough water, too many muffins, too much fruit and too many higher carb veggies! The first week I did not cook anything from to cook book and lost 7, the second week I made muffins and I was up .5lbs. At the end of the day I feel better than I ever have. Have you taken your measurements? I know from other diets that even with zero weight loss inches went down.

I have my fingers crossed for you....I have a friend who has wanted kids forever and finally met her life partner at age 38 and got married and they started trying right away and unfortunate had problems. They both have deficiencies and instead of spending all the mney on IVF they have decided to go ahead with adoption. It is a very exciting process and she is embracing it and I can't wait to meet the little one. No real point to this but just wanted to send you positive vibes. As for energy Mary I have not felt the energy increase that many on WB experience and am trying to regulate my sleep at the moment so I get eight hours every night and see if that helps my energy levels. If anyone else has a great recipe they have tried recently pls let me know!

Billster - Yes a fellow Canadian :-) I just did my measurements tonight. I did try a few different muffin recipes this week but most ended up being given away becuase I want my friends to see how good things can be without flour. Everyone really enjoyed them :-) I'm guessing water is the issue...i'm bad at getting my water in but I have been trying to get better at it.

Down 5.5 lbs in 3 weeks. Very happy with that. Was sick last week so was eating soup with noodles in it for 3 days and not drinking any water & haven't given up all sugar yet. With that in mind very happy with the results. I could def stay on this WOE for the rest of my life. Don't miss the bread products at all. I would like to lose about 10-15 more lbs. Would like to see that by summer so am on the right track for that.

Sparky- Made this recipe the other night. I love it!

Guiltless Spaghetti


Ingredients (serves 3-4)
1 lb. package of ground turkey or ground beef
3 garlic cloves
1/2 medium sized onion, finely chopped
jar of spaghetti sauce (sugar free) or homemade
1/4 head cauliflower, finely chopped (you can put more cauliflower in the dish if you like, up to 1/2 head)
packaged coleslaw mix

1. Brown ground turkey/beef with garlic and chopped onion in a deep saute pan. Drain

2.Stir in finely chopped cauliflower (you may also add chopped green bell
peppers if you wish) and saute for 5-10 minutes til the cauliflower
picks up a little color.

3. Stir in tomato sauce.

4. Fill a deep pasta bowl with 3/4 cup of shredded coleslaw mix. Top with
a generous scoop of meat marinara.

5. Top with a few pats of butter and parmesan cheese.

It sounds weird but it is oh so good! Got this from the 17 day diet website & modified it for WB.

Mary this sounds pretty good I must say!

One of my 15 minutes or less meals is rice free cabbage rolls! In a pan cook ground beef/ ground turkey (until half way done) then add some dices tomatoes or tomato paste, and cabbage (or coleslaw mix) cook until slaw is soft. It looks gross however tastes just like cabbage rolls! The I add some butter and GF soy sauce.

We have become hooked on the hot flex seed cereal from the book, soooo good! And filling! Have a great weekend all!

Here another good recipe I found for grain free Banana-Walnut Bread. Love this:

Grain-free Banana Walnut Bread
• 1 C almond flour
• 1/3 C coconut flour
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3 TB coconut oil, melted (or butter)
• 3 eggs
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/3 C sweetner
• 1 TB vanilla
• 1/3 c plus 2 TB water
• 1/2 C chopped walnuts (optional)
Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a bread pan with butter or coconut oil. (I used a silicone bread pan, and rubbed it with butter.) Combine almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk to combine completely. In a separate bowl, combine mashed bananas, eggs, coconut oil, syrup, vanilla, and water. Add to dry ingredients and mix until combined, mix in walnuts.

Pour into prepared pan and smooth out on top. Bake at 350 for a total of 40-45 minutes (or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out cleanly), rotating once halfway through baketime. Remove to wire rack to cool, removing from pan after cooling slightly. Serve with butter, whipped cream or cream cheese. (Total carbs about 80 for the loaf, 5g net carbs each for 16 slices.)

Billster-didn't think that hot cereal sounded appetizing at all but now am going to try it. Just get so sick of eggs for breakfast every morning. This week I even took soup two days for breakfast!!

I hear ya Mary..I've dne six months now of protein shakes and very tired of it. I tried the WB recipe from the first book for a hot cereal and it was gross so hopefully the recipe you're talking about is different. I have a one minute muffin a couple of times a week and put diabetic jam on it. If you go on the fast paleo website there is some really yummy muffin recipes. I'm going to try the carrot ones today. Also I googled protein powder ideas for non shakes and got a bunch from the live strong website. There is one that is the protein powder with water and you make a pancake out of it. Simple and fast. I will let you know how the muffins turn out. Since its Sunday morning were having a bacon and egg breakfast which I'm looking forward to. Have a great Sunday everyone!

Sparkygrrl- yes that’s the one I’m talking about! However I had some vanilla extract and 1 c of almond milk and about 10 black berries. Myself and husband love it. I just pumpkin seeds in mine, hubby like sunflower seeds.

Frustrated this week! Weight stayed the same and inches are up ¼- ½ all over my body. So I think I’m retaining some water. TOM should be coming this week unless I get a BFP on the pregnancy test. Hoping for it but not expecting it. I always get myself all worked up that just maybe this time it will be but I’m trying to have a new approach on it so I don’t get myself all excited.

I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. The first week on WB I did not watch my fruit and on average was eating 1c berries or 4 kiwi’s and a grapefruit in the evening and every other day ½ banana. Now I’m really watching my fruits normally about 10 black berries in my flax seed cereal in the morning and I’m at a standstill. Hubby eats fruit all day long and has now lost 19 lbs. Maybe not enough fat. I donno however I feel like a million bucks these days!