Well, I've come to a decision. This diet is to restrictive for me to stay 100% clean everyday.
I am now on a modified low-carb/FF diet. I still do the LLC, flax seed oil and supplements because i believe that they are a healthy addition. But i will keep to a low carb (40-70gms ) not counting the cranwater. I don't always feel the need for 2 fruit portions and sometimes I want some oatmeal or SF jello.
I also will be adding in some exercise starting next week.
Good luck to all.
~~~Sil
Now you see why it's only 2 weeks.
It is really restrictive but pretty effective.
I have done the same as you.
I have taken the cran, supps and Ezekiel bread and now I'm just aiming for 1100 moderate carb calories a day.
i can deffiniteley see the strict regime as a seasonal clean out and a healthy way to drop 5-10 pounds if they start to creep back up once I'm at target.
I'm also trying to make everyday exercise just as important as eating well.
I think all in all, Fat Flush principles are a great tool to have in one's arsenal. But perhaps not suited to the lifelong reality of needing variety.
So not to discourage anyone at all from fat Flushing, I lost 19 pounds in 4 weeks doing it and have not regained, and I beleive that my skin quality, cellulite appearance etc have really improved due to the cran. And there are people who can do this WOE for months or years and I'm sure they are really healthy.
Hi Sundrop
I absolutely agree with you on everything that you said. Last night I told my husband about my decision to stop the 100%FF and he agreed that since I am only a few pounds from goal that I can allow some variety in my diet.
But he also commented (and has mentioned in the past few weeks) that this FFing has improved my skin and I look thinner. I can also see a difference in the mirror and how my clothes fit.
So it has been worth it to try FF and I will continue to do some of the things in my diet daily.
I will continue to check in at times, but mostly over at low-carb . You are welcome to post there. They are a very supportive and funny group.
Keep up the great job
~~~Sil
Awwww, is everybody going to leave me? Can't you post here AND in Low Carb? I do.
I also post in the ivillage.com FFP website and it's excellent for information and support. It was there that I learned that it's probably BETTER to add a bit of salt to your daily diet, especially for diabetics like myself. Cutting out all salt apparently makes blood glucose levels go UP, a thing I'm trying to avoid. This is the news I needed to hear to keep me on this woe. I was getting really depressed about the blandness of the diet, even with all the herbs that are allowed. They just can't replace salt. Anyhow, today I'm starting Week 3 of Phase 1. I have decided that I will begin to add one slice of Spelt bread each day (I can't find Ezekial bread so far but one HFS has ordered some in for me).
I weighed myself today and have lost 5 lb in the first two weeks but I've also lost inches where I haven't been able to lose them from before...my big gut...so something is working. I'm feeling really good too so I think I'll stick with it for a few more weeks. I have a wedding coming up in early October for which I'd sure like to be a few more pounds thinner.
I also wondered how long I'd be able to go without salt, let's see
Hubby is pretty happy about the food so far, she loves everything I cooked the last 2 days. And I am not spending more than when I was a vegetarian: special products from the health food store, oat milk, rice milk, chocolate soy milk, and fancy veggies end up being as expensive as meat! So I am happy abou that side of the plan, too.
Linda, if you introduce bread you are no longer in phase 1 but 2. I love speld bread, spelt flour is much yummier than wheat flour, especially the unrefined variety. Dought made with spelt doesn't rise well because it's heavier, but it's yummy!
I plan to stay on Phase 1 for a month and then take it from there. I might keep on it if I manage or move onto a phase 1.5.
Dairy are only allowe on Phase 3, right? Ouch, skipping dairy until I reach my ideal weight! That's tough in Switzerland (That's where I live, dh is Swiss). Oh well, gotta give something up to have results, right?
Elisa welcome to our little group. It sounds like you are on the right track. I'm not a vegetarian so I haven't a clue how to do the program that way, but there are lots of ideas over at ivillage.com.
I guess I am on Phase 2 with the addition of the one slice of bread per day. I'm just going to try it for a week and if I don't lose...or even GAIN...I will go back to Phase 1. I'm drinking extra water to compensate for the bit of salt I'm now using so hopefully I don't bloat up.
Are you able to find cranberry juice in Switzerland? On the other website there are posters from Great Britain who can't seem to find it. Heck, we grow the darned berries right in the valley where I live and I still pay $11 for a jar of the concentrated juice. It lasts for about three days when diluted. I tell myself it's no more expensive than some of the other foods I was eating on a regular basis before FFP. When I first started the plan I bought frozen cranberries and made my own juice. It was pretty good and quite a lot cheaper but I am lazy. lol
Hi Linda, i'm still here, around, not totally fat Flushing anymore but still incorporating many of the principles.
How are you doing?
cranberry juice concentrate is priced like gold isn't it?
I have a bottle here that was 18.00 and it will last me 9 days. I can't wait for the stores to start stocking frozen berries for the holidays!
I am really digging into exercise this week. Wish me luck!
Thanks Linda for the welcome, it's nice to have people to share things with.
I am no longer a vegetariananymore, just a healthy eater (most of the time at least )
I do find cranberry juice in Switzerland, but not the totally unsweetened variety. The one I am using now is from the health food store and it's midldly sweetened with a very low-glycemic index sweetener, agave extract. It's the best I can get right now, if I see that it stops being effective I'll have to start drinking water with apple cider vinegar, yuck! Not looking forward to that. Each bottle of the juice costs about 8.5 dollars and lasts me for 4 days.
I was looking for frozen cranberries to make my own juice but I didn't find them. I found raspberries, blue berries, mixed berries... no cranberries.
Oh well. It's working so far. I just completed my first week and lost 3.7 kilos (about 8 lbs). I never knew I suffered so much from water retention!
Wow, Elisa, that's an incredible weight loss. Good for you. As for the cranberry juice, I don't think it's that common in Europe anyhow. I know some people from UK have posted that they just can't find it anywhere. If what you are doing is working for you, then you may as well stick with it.
I had a bit of a mini-binge on Tuesday. I think I waited too long to have my lunch and then I just kept right on eating...poppy seed kuchen, blueberry pie and then a bowl of ice cream. Luckily my brain finally kicked into gear and I quit and got right back on FFP but I sure gave myself a scare. I will find out tomorrow morning if I totally ruined the week for weight loss.
My biggest problem seems to be forcing myself to exercise. I try to get to the pool three times a week and do a deep water workout on my own there, but land exercises just don't appeal to me. I have this new recumbant bicycle that is sitting in the guest room, facing the small tv but I still can't seem to get inspired to get on it. I know that exercise is a major key to weight loss but I'm such a SLUG! When I read the posts about what everyone is doing I wonder how the heck the can motivate themselves to do that.
Thanks Linda, I am also pretty satisfied about how things are going, when I got on the scale this morning the weight had gone down a little more, about 1 pound, which is "great going"!!!
Yes, the cranberry juice with the mild sweetener has worked for me, but yesterday I actually found the unsweetened one!!! I am so very happy! Because the one I was using was sweetened, I was using only 1/2 cup of berries in my morning smoothie and was eating no fruit at mid-morning, to kind of balance it out. Now I just have to make sure that they always have the juice on stock, as I'll need 3 bottles a week. This one is more expensive, it's almost 13 dollars a bottle, and with 3 bottles a week... well, you do the math. My main worry is that I'll be spending 2 and half months in Italy, from January to mid-March, and I know they won't have it there, so I guess I'll have to drink water with acv, yuck!
So you had a mini-binge... I could never resist sweets if I had any in the house, so I just don't get any (except for my hubby's Kellog's cereal and cocoa powder). But sometimes I'll be giving my daughter something that I really like, like today, when she was eating surimi, which is one of the very few processed foods I adore, and I tell you, it's really hard not to eat the rests! I found that cranwater and visualizing reaching my goals work for me to fight the munchies... did you try that?
I know exercise can be hard to get done at times. I found a new motivation now, I started going power walking with my heart monitor 3 times a week, the twoo days that my daughter is at preeschool and on Sunday. I live in the countryside and it was wonderful to be there, alone, listening to the wind moving the leaves on the trees, and looking at the corn fields around. It was an amazing feeling. I think it was a "runner's high" that feeling of euphoria I had when I got home.
There must be something you like doing. Do that. Find how to include exercise in it. Do you like going window shopping? Walk faster from one store to another, and don't take any public transportation. Do you have a dog? Take it for a longer, faster walk every morning and stop somewhere to play and run around on the way home. Just an idea. I tried many kinds of exercises and I found that I need to feel exergized, powerful and strong at the end of a workout, and so far the only things that do that are strength training, kickboxing and my newly found power walking in nature. I have been trying to get into Pilates, but it's just to slow for me. I'd like to find someone to trade this tape with.
Elisa
Last edited by ElySlimMom; 09-06-2002 at 10:07 AM.
Hi ladies
I thought that I would stop by and see how you are all doing.
Linda, you have shamed me into posting. You are right, I can post more than 2-3 places. It's great motivation and I sure do need that
I'm glad to hear that you are doing so well on FF. I also have a difficult time getting in a regular form of exercise. I tend to count my hours of yard work and i really should be lifting the weights and doing some cardio. That will be my goal for next week.
Welcome to Elisa WOW, 8 pounds in one week is great!!!
You could use the pilates as a form of stretching and relaxation rather than exercise. I want to learn some pilates to do at the end of the day to help me unwind and relax.
I can't wait until Fall when the fresh cranberries will be in the stores. I plan on stocking up big-time!
~~~Sil
137/123/120
I have bought bags of frozen cranberries and made my own juice. It's really easy to do and I think is cheaper than buying ready made although I didn't really do a comparison.
I had another binge day yesterday. WHen I got on the scale and it hadn't budged in a week and no inches were gone either, I decided to give myself a break but I certainly could have made wiser choices. I don't think waffles with butter and syrup qualify as a healthy alternative. Well, I think I got it out of my system and I'm back on track today.
Thanks for all the exercise tips. I don't have a dog and I really don't like walking much. Even though I've lost 35 lb in the past year I'm still very heavy and it really hurts my lower back to walk very far. That's why I prefer the water exercises.
I have a set of weights that I should be using too (also sitting idle in the guest room with the stationary bike) I am going to make a real effort to get more physical. HONEST!
Hey Linda, you know what? I"m trying to phase myself into the "fat Flush"...I also have a wedding in early October, and the low carb is working, but kind of slow...so this week i'm phasing out coffee, next week, i'll go no dairy, and then i think i'll start the official fat flush...that way i'm still giving the low carb it's three weeks, but......
so see, you have a wedding buddy!
WOW, 8 pounds in one week is great!!!
Well, I think I got it out of my system and I'm back on track today.
