I'm still here, I hope things pick up again! I have a friend of mine who did this and is doing it again a for about 1 month, before her wedding. She did great last time and kept off most of the weight but she didn't do the full transition. I am wanting to do this because of her success. I had twin boys about 16 months ago and needless to say my body is way out of whack (I got to 52" around!!), I also have a 4 y/o DD. I have lots of reasons for adding on the pounds, but would like to get healthy for me and my family! Let them learn healthier eating habits, so they won't need to go what we are going through. I just hope I can go w/out the BLT's, while preparing food for my 3 kids, DH, and my mom! I am planning to do most of my bulk eating at dinner time so my DD sees me eating, plus keep me from eating at night, hopefully anyway. Keep the tips coming. What veggies and fruits do you find most filling and satisfying? Are carrots ok, or are they considered a starch here, I know no corn or potatoes. TIA!
I just found your thread last night... and this sounds pretty interesting. I live in Texas, so I would have to go the long-distance way. Does it really work?
What does the food consist of? It is an alternance of 2 days veggies and 2 days dairy the entire time?
FlaminRed, I know how hard it is to prepare food for others while maintaining this diet. It's especially frustrating seeing my kids waste food when at times I feel like I'm starving in the wilderness and would lick their plates clean if I could. This is why a BLT is not an option. For me, 1 bite, taste or lick leads to more and more. Extreme avoidance is best. And, of course we already talked about, earlier in this thread, the importance of not quitting, not giving up when mistakes happen. At the end of a cheat day, we must say, "What's done is done, I'll start again tomorrow."
Welcome Floprieta! Yes, the entire protocol is 2 and 2, as long as you want to lose weight. I have heard of many AW members who will take breaks and do a mini transition just to maintain the weight loss, and then go back to 2 and 2 when their ambition returns. So, they lose 10 lbs, take a break and relax while carefully watching the scale to make sure it's at least not going up, and then start again and drop another quick 10 lbs, and so on. This way takes longer and the 15 lb loss that AW guarantees doesn't apply obviously, but it's an adapted method for those who have greater challenges than others.
Pardon my stereotyping, but I noticed that the ones who were 100% successful on this program didn't have extraordinary pressures like kids and family eating normally around them. Rather, they were mostly single, independent persons who were able to commit more easily.
The only aspect of the program that continues to stump me is the 12-6 PM timeframe acceptable for food consumption. I would think that it depends upon the individual's sleep cycle, but they (AW) claim it doesn't. To me, it's just numbers on a man-made clock, and I wish I could find some evidentary support for this, but have come up empty so far.
I know I asked this before, but if anyone can find any other scientific resource (other than AW) that supports the philosophy that "...the human body only seeks nutrition between the hours of noon and 6 PM," and that "...beyond those hours any food consumption will be recognized only as low caloric intake forcing the body into starvation mode," thus defeating the primary function of the beads, then please share that information.
Oh, btw, Florprieto, you and I are similar in our height, weight and goals. I made a lofty goal of 130, but I know I'd be hot enough at 160 to go to my class reunion and encourage my ex to chase me again so I can tell him to bite me! Hahahaha...
Accuweight states that exercise not only is unnecessary to be successful on their program, but that it in fact does not aid weight loss.
Does everyone here agree with this notion?
Isn't it a matter of numbers as in calories? We all know that to lose 1 lb, one must create a 3,000 calorie deficit from the base number of calories the individual's body needs just to maintain, based upon height, weight and activity level. For instance, according to my stats, I need somewhere in the vicinity of 2,800 daily calories to maintain my fat butt. The Accuweight diet, followed literally, provides about 500 calories per day, which is why they say that a participant will lose a good pound every other day. Now, a vigorous 15 min walk burns about 100 calories for me.
What if I walked 2x each day and burned 200 of my 500 calories that I consumed? Or, let me get even more extreme with this example since AW is practically as extreme as it gets where diets are concerned. AW recommends that you consume at least half of your allotted food for the day. I did this once on a vegetable day, and my caloric intake was literally 200 calories. What if I took 2, 30 min vigorous walks that day? Wouldn't that completely expend the 200 calories that I consumed?
My point is that I don't see how physical activity, such as aerobic fat burning, wouldn't accelerate weight loss.
You know what, I apologize and have to correct myself. A pound equals 3,500 calories. The same priniple applies in my questions, though. I think that burning calories through exercise should speed up weight loss on AW.
I worked out from day one on the diet. I had to because I was going mountain climbing and needed to try to get into some sort of shape. I do not know if it slowed my loss but I was also the queen of cheats.
Bottom line is that I continued to lose, never to gain. I have been on my own form of transition/maintenance. I got through Thx. and I am still 125 which is 4-5 lbs. less than I was on November 1 so my method seems to be working.
I also agree about the sabotage of family. I decided not to bake Xmas cookies and bought homemade cookies from church for the family. Did I need cookies in the house? No! And of course I had a couple but I got that out of my system and I am over it.
I still have mini goals in mind although I am below my original goal and I will see how it goes the next couple of weeks. I look great and I LOVE that people can't believe the change. That is the best motivator. My next big event is not until February 10. The problem is that my clothes all keep getting too big.
I absolutely agree with your assessment of the diet and calories. I also believe the milk days are important in burning fat. Now I eat yogurt on milk days and go to yoga in the evening so I don't eat after 6. For me to maintain I need to watch what I eat after 6.
Didn't they say doing too much would put you into starvation mode. I know they said not to do heavy weightlifting as we are not getting enough for that type of workout. But regular work out is good to tone the muscles underneath so when we lose the weight we will look good!
I am trying to figure out the best foods to keep me the most satisfied, I know salad taste good and fills you on volume, but I usually end up hungry later, sorta like pasta. Are carrots ok?
Right now I am at 187 at 5'6" hoping to get down to 130ish. Right now I am in the getting prepared mode and have not started yet, hoping to do so very soon! Stay on target and stay positive! Good luck ladies!
I take aerobic and weight classes as on my own I would not do one single push up or sit up! I see a lot of people bust butt in class but they remian the same size.
AW is an extreme short term diet but sets the stage for life changes. I am not sure I buy that starvation mode business but I only needed to lose 25-30 lbs. on my small frame. Perhaps they don't want people at a gym passing out becaue they are consuming 500 calories a day and then get sued.
Hey everyone.
To all the new ones welcome and i am glad you have decided to join. Af for me i have been staying away from this thread because i have been overly guietly. I got down to 134lbs then ganed and went back to 144lbs now i am back down to 137 lbs. I lost motivation along the way big time. I had three days of eating everything and anything and i JUST could not stop. NOw i am better though. I am on my second day of milk.
Sophie's now angel: I dont know if i asked you this before but i am going to ask again because you really motivate me since you have cheated and still are at goal. HOw long did it take you again to lose 30 lbs? I have about 15 more to go and i seem to be failing miserably.
Hi y'all!! Sorry I've been pretty AWOL, but finals time has descended upon me and I'm running on fumes right now. Luckily, it also means that I've been too tired to even think about cheating for the most part. I'm 5 pounds away from goal (I suppose transition, as well) and I can't wait. If I hadn't cheated on Thanksgiving, I really think I would be there by now. Oh well! Life goes on!
Next week, I plan on going back to the gym. I was going to wait until I hit goal, but I think I'm close enough and I really want to tone. I feel very "skinny fat" now.
Get excited, it's almost the weekend!! Have a cheat free rest of the week, everyone
Spread the News
