Going by my scale here at home, I've lost almost 4 pounds in the first week. I do notice that I eat much less than I used to simply because I've got myself on a schedule and I know I can't just nibble on this or that because of blood sugar! I've played a bit of Wii Sports and I've done my Walk away the pounds DVD once but it's hard to get back into it after all this time. Will try it again today. Since surgery on Feb 6, I've lost 14. I guess it's working. So excited!

:carrot:
:hug:good for you

I haven't read all the posts yet, but I definitely belong here, because I am pre-diabetic as well. I've researched several diets and am settling on Dr. Gott's No Flour No Sugar diet. Seems similar to South Beach in some ways, but I really need to be strict about certain grains and of course sugars.

I'm picking up the book from Borders today. It's definitely my current eating patterns that got me here. Gotta change.

I'm glad I wasn't prescribed to do anything as strict as all that. My dietician says I can have most things within reason. Just watch the portion sizes, switch to whole grains and then I have to stay under my carb allotment. I don't think I could stick to a "no flour/no sugar" diet for the long haul, but I wish you luck!

Looking at my home scale, I'm down 6 pounds, 16 since I had my ovarian surgery. I have this horrible thought of going to the dietician again on May 10 and them telling me I lost way less than I thought. Hopefully, it will be MORE than I thought. *fingers crossed*

I'm finally getting to the point where I'm finding everything tedious. This is usually the time where I quit. I don't have that option this time, but I'm definitely low on motivation. I find myself way low on calories but right at my carb maximum, so then I'm hungry all day. :?: I'm also just now starting to miss certain foods like regular ice cream.

I saw one of those shaved ice machines at Wal-Mart. Of course, the syrups that Wal-Mart sells are out of the question. I wonder if it's possible to make diabetic shaved ice/snow cones. Anyone tried that?

shaved ice cones,? hmm, why not. I have a raspberry syrup from atkins (don't know if its still available, its a couple of years old) that would be suitable. ALso, you can get sugar free freeze pops for treats. if they are not frozen, you could open one and drizzle it on your shaved ice.
I never thought of this, and I have an ice shaver, haven't used it in years tho. Thanks for the idea!

Torani makes some really good sugar-free syrups. They're good in coffee... don't see why they wouldn't be good on shaved ice.

I find that I've had to increase my fat grams to replace the calories I was getting from carbs. To eat both low-carb and low-fat, you'd have to get all your calories from protein and veg! When I tried that, I was SO hungry, and was eating way too few calories. So I increased my fat intake. I feel SO much better, and I'm still losing slowly but steadily. Fat has gotten a bad rap, I think. It's the combo of high fat and high carb that can be so deadly. But when you limit your carbs, you almost HAVE to increase your fats to a degree.

This makes me feel better. My dietician didn't tell me to go "low fat" necessarily, just don't eat super high fat things. She's mostly worried about carbs. However, now they say I have a fatty liver. I don't know if that will change my diet plan or not. I doubt it, since the cornerstone for treating fatty liver is weight loss. Most of my fat comes from no sugar peanut butter. dry roased peanuts or cheese. (string cheese, 2% mozzerella). The peanut items are good fats, right? I know the cheese isn't, but dang it, I need something that "sticks" with me. I'm still having days where I'm "AGH hungry" and I seem to be UP a pound mysteriously today, but we'll see.

I think you could also use olive oil salad dressings and fish oil capsules to increase fats in a healthy way and not change the way you eat a lot.
As said above, make sure you are cutting carbs while you do it, I went lower on carbs kind of slowly, as I found I couldn't stick to low carb at first, especially induction levels. I can now easily stay below 60 g a day, and usually am at 40 g/day and losing weight. I rev down to 30g to lose more weight tho.

I have not read through all of the posts, but I wanted to put my 2 cents in.
I am not (that I am aware) pre-diabetic or diabetic... I was however gestational diabetic. You want to talk about limiting!!!! Not only can you nothave all the foods forbidden in pregnancy, but then you have to cut it even further for the diabetic diet. I was on a slightly differnt plan then you are, but here are some fo the things I did and I didn't want to eat by the end of the day (but I had to to keep my blood sugar levels from plummeting).

Morning (30g carbs):
1 whole wheat english muffin
1 egg
1 slice of low fat cheese
~250 cal (I still do this one because it is filling!)

snack: (15g carbs)
yoplait light yogurt
~100 cal

Lunch (45g carbs)
Smart ones meal (I work full time and quick lunches were a must for me)
Carrots
~250-350 calories

snack: (15g carbs)
1/2 apple or a granola bar (love the quacker chewey)
~100 cal

Dinner (45g carbs)
Chicken breast (boneless/skinless) or some other lean meat like pork loin
salad with a little cheese and crutons and balsamic vinegar
fruit of some sort (look up carbs per portion.. I generally had half a banana I think)
< 500

snack: (15g carbs)
decaf coffee with lowfat creamer (Mmmm french vanilla)
~50 cal

dailey total calories: <1500 I wasn't eating enough and kept loosing wieght while I was preggers (lost like 30 lbs) but as you can see... I was eating ALL DAY LONG... and by the time the evening snack came around all I could stomach was coffee. I am actually trying to eat similarly now. Big thing to remember. Water is your friend and if you can spare 10-15 minutes after breakfast, lunch, and dinner to walk (nothing terribly taxing... I was doing this at 8.5 months preggo) you can help your body process the carbs you have eaten on your big meals