For salads I use "Aunt Dotties" Blackberry Vingerette. It has Sodium (40), Carb (6) and Calories (150) for 2 tbls. I know the calories are a little high but I use only 1 tbls for 75 calories. The ladies at my local QWLC said that as long as sodium is <65 it should be fine. This blackberry dressing is great on raw spinach and blueberry salad.

My problem is that on my break for QWL I added walnuts and blue cheese to my salads.... so I gotta break that habit.

I don't worry about the sodium as much as the overall calories and carbs... and to a lesser degree, fat.

When I'm at home, I make my own dressing (which pretty much consists of balsamic vinegar and a minimal amount of EVOO).

At work, I keep a couple of dressings in the fridge:

I use the Ken's Lite Northern Italian Dressing. For 2 Tbs, it has 45 calories, 4.5g fat, 1g carb (sugar). Its higher in sodium (260 mg). But as I said, I don't really care as much about that.

I also use the Newman's Own Lite Balsamic. For 2 Tbs, it has 45 calories, 4.0g fat, 2g carb (sugar). It has a bit more sodium than the Ken's (350 mg).

I went into the center for my 1st weigh-in during induction. I lost 2 pounds, so I am down to 216. Of course they acted like I should be down more since it is the induction period. The problem is it is not going to be a dramic 10 pound loss for me because I have done this diet before and during the course of the last year I DID watch what I eat and I did keep drinking a ton of water. I did not load up on carbs, so I am not going to drop 10 pounds the 1st few days.

I feel like all I do is drink all day. Between the 80 oz of water, the liquid supplement and the 2 QB all I do is drink. But that's alright, my body will get used to it again.

My next weigh-in will be on Saturday which is also the day that I will start back on Plan 4.

For those of you who go to a QWL center when did they do the "turn around" on exercise. I remember when I joined in 2011 they were always saying you don't need to exercise. They actually discouraged it during the 1st few months.

Now the past two times I have been in they have been telling clients to exercise even if all they do is to walk around the block. This is good for me because one of my issues with the plan was that exercise was discouraged. I noticed that even on the official QWLC website they mention exercise and this was not the case in the past.

Thanks for the dressing suggestions! They're officially on my grocery list for today's trip to the store.

I've been one to follow the QWLC recipe book but I think I'm gonna give it a go this time around - any chicken dish recommendations? I'm thinking of doing the sweet n' sour chicken tonight for dinner and then Chinese chicken tomorrow night. I'm trying my best to avoid using their food supplements and still make it fit within plan. I'm thinking that I might just opt for low sodium versions of "cream of" soups and watch the sodium, cal, carb intake with those instead of going to buy supplements from them.

Oddly enough, this time around I'm having a really hard time getting in all my water. I drank water like nobody's business the last time I was on the diet, but getting in the full amount is tough this time. Thinking about making some fruit-infused waters (via pinterest recipes) and seeing it that helps.

So I weighed in this morning and show a 4 pound loss since I started. Now at 214.

Apparently I messed up already. I am plan 4 and had Special K for breakfast. I was informed that Special K has changed it's formula and is no longer on the good foods list. However, Fiber 1 (plain) and sherreaded wheat are allowed. YUCK I dislike both of those.

Great job on your weight loss jp4ga!

I did well staying on plan this weekend. I did have a few problems getting ALL of the food in and have felt bloated from eating so much. I remember this happening last time I started. I just need to get used to the amount of food.

My scale showed a few more pounds dropped over the weekend but I will wait until Wednesday to really claim any additional dropped pounds. Thus far I have dropped 1/2 of the weight I gained when I dropped the plan and had surgery. I seem to be on track to be back at my stopping point by Feb. 1. It will be exciting to me to reach that goal.

I hope everyone else is doing well.

Well its another day. So are so good. Yesterday I thought I would be sick from having to eat so much. I just could not choke down the final bit of protien. Scale stayed the same this morning, but I am good with that.

I didn't even know there was a "plan 4"! The info I have only has 3 plans.

When I started QWL, I did not eat the cereal that they approve. Like you, I could not bring myself to eat either the Fiber One, the All Bran, etc. A friend of mine said that he ate the "Fiber One Eighty" and that it was really good. Although it is not on the approved cereal list, it is only 80 calories per 3/4 cup and 25g of carbs with 10 of those being fiber. (The regular Fiber One is 60 and 25g of carbs with 14 of those being fiber). But the main difference is that the Fiber One 80 tastes MUCH better. They even have a chocolate version of the Fiber One 80 now.

I am having a very good week so far. I have found that the coffee (decaf) is becoming a very good substitute for my snacking. I usually would reach for a handful of almonds in the mid morning or mid afternoon -- which are loaded with calories. But lately I have opted for coffee. Actually, I have kinda become obsessed with it... trying out different brands and flavorings to add. I stopped doing the mixture with the hot cocoa mix. Instead, I bought some of the Torani sugar free flavored syrups and have been adding a little of those in the coffee, along with a little bit of skim milk and stevia. I was a little bit apprehensive about drinking so much coffee because I wasn't sure what effect it would have on my weight loss. But I figured that if its decaf, it should be a problem. So far, so good. I'm already down over a pound from Sunday.

Hello everyone.......

I found this site yesterday while trying to locate information on the three day prep for QWLC I am so excited to see others out there to connect with. I hope this will be a great support system for me to hold me accountable too.

About me...I joined QWLC almost ten years ago. I had success then like many of you, I became pregnant. I stopped the plan but I worked out and watched what I ate. Recently, I had a great weight loss healthy eating (an occasional (cheat) but I worked out 5-6 times a week. I would burn 600-900 calories. Unfortunately life happens, I encountered a lay off and lost a family member. I started taking meds as a result I had a jump in weight. I remembered QWLC and decided to try what I know works for me.

I will be starting my prep either Wednesday or Thursday of this week. My biggest problem will be letting go of sugar but I am ready for this. Any words of wisdom would be appreciated.

Thank you...Continued success to everyone out there. I have been reading the posts and I am inspired to succeed.

193/193/155

Welcome MG and good luck!

I can't help you too much with how to deal with sugar cravings, because sugar is probably the LEAST of my food addiction problems. But I must say that whenever I have a sweet tooth, the protein bars I buy really satisfy it. Also, I have recently started to drink decaf coffee flavored with low calorie flavorings (sugar free creamers, syrup and sweeteners).

If you are located in South Florida anywhere near a D'Lites Emporium, I would strongly recommend their frozen desserts. (I'm not sure if its technically frozen yogurt or ice milk, but its GOOD!). For a 1/2 cup serving the chocolate-based flavors are only 50 calories (2g carbs and 2.5 grams of fat). The vanilla-based flavors also have 50 calories but are higher in carbs, but less in fat (6g carbs and 1.5g fat). I usually opt for the chocolate-based desserts because (1) I tend to prefer the flavors with the chocolate base (snickers, peanut butter), and I am more concerned about the carbs than the fat. but I don't think you can really go wrong either way. They always have several flavors in the machines, but they also have large containers of various flavors in their freezers. I wish that I lived closer to one because I would have it all the time! There is one in Plantation and one in Aventura. I'm not sure what other locations are still left.

Here is the nutrition info: http://www.dlitesemporium.com/nutr.html

I do have a two quick question.

If memory serves me correctly, you can workout but they do not want you to lift weights?

Is it two small oranges or one orange during prep?