I have another Phase I newbie question.

Picture this: I'm at a business meeting where there is a lunch. At the lunch is a salad bar (best choice of the options offered). My choices of dressings are fat free ranch, regular ranch, french, thousand island. I know that all but the regular ranch have sugar in them, but the regular ranch has lots of fat.

So, bottom line, if I'm in a sugar or fat choice situation, with no better choice available, which should I choose.

I've had this happen with a fat or flour choice too.

I usually go for the fat since I know that ridding my body of the sugar addiction is part of the Phase I process. Does Dr. A have any advice on this? I so often find myself in a situation where I have little or no control of the food put in front of me or my food choices, and so any guidance would be good.

Another question...are there any calorie guidelines for the SBD? Roughly how many calories should one be eating per day on Phase I?

Personally, I'd go with fat, anytime. Sugar will give me cravings, which will lead me to eat far more fat over the next three days than the one serving of ranch. Flour will do the same, if it's "enriched" or white flour. Fat I can handle by mitigating my intake the rest of the day. So I'd have steamed broccoli with fresh lemon juice instead of cheese sauce or SmartBalance later that day, etc. Does that make sense?

I know the feeling...those kind of choices hit me daily, too!

Regarding calories, there isn't a specific calorie requirement for SBD that I know of. You definitely do want to stick to serving sizes of most items and keep your calorie intake moderate, but as you work with the plan, you'll figure what you can eat and still lose weight. Servings of nuts and dairy are limited, so that helps reduce your calorie intake, as does the 75 cal per day limit to sweet treats.

You may want to put your daily choices into www.fitday.com in order to figure out how many calories you are consuming.

Thanks Laurie. I have BalanceLog on my Palm which does the same thing as fit day but I can carry it in my purse. Love it! That's why I was asking, so I can tally it all up and figure out if I'm overdoing.

I've spent so much time doing Jenny Craig at 1200 cals a day, I'm not sure I can lose on more calories than that anymore!

Darn those nuts! I just CAN'T control myself around them. I think I'm going to have to decide to cut them out altogether because I can't stop at 15 almonds.

They don't offer oil and vinegar or some other type of Italian dressing or vinagrette?

This may not be feasible for most, but what about bringing lemon wedges in a ziploc bag and using that as your dressing instead? Or ask for extra lemon wedges w/ your ice tea or water?

I'm not a huge fan of dressing, especially the sweet ones like Catalina or French, I opt for the creamy dressings or vinagrettes. I love just fresh lemon juice over my salads w/ some salt and pepper to taste.

Other option (also not always feasible) is to bring your own dressing in a small Tupperware container.

ChinkY I am the same way !! Wow ur the only other person I know who likes it like that!! so far anyway