14 days!

14 Dayssssss!!!!!!!!! Wooohooo! Good For You!

Well I'm not on the challenge, but I have to say that I had a soda yesterday and thought of all of you. First time in 2-3 months! I'm not usually tempted by them, but I just felt like I really needed one yesterday

I've had 4 diet sodas since May 5th. 2 teas and 1 coffee - other than that I've only had water, 8 bottles a day.

Hi thingirl! OMG 34 pounds is awesome!!!! great job! How long did it take you to loose the 34#? Great job on the non carbonated beverage challenge!

I started my diet on May 5th, and by August 5th I was down 30lbs

30lbs in 3 months!

My next official weigh in is this Saturday, but I know I'm at 40lbs lost now - so I can safely say 40lbs in 4 months!

Thanks for the good wishes, giving up pop/tea/coffee etc was rough the first couple of weeks but I am so over it now.

WOW ThinGirl!!! Awesome job! what program do you use? I've made it two weeks without pop, but now I need to give up the flavored iced green tea that I have started to replace the pop with It's lower in calories than pop, but it's still useless points. I am getting in 5-6 bottles of water a day at work, which would equal 10-12 cups; plus 1-2 bottles of tea.

I need to drink unsweetened decaf. tea, which I have been doing when we eat out, now I just need to do that all the time.

I found out I was diabetic on May 1st, saw a dietitian on May 5th who put me on a diet that is good for diabetics. No white flour, no sugar, no salt, low fat - 3 meals a day + 3 snacks. I feel like I'm eating all the time. Also, I do an hour of cardio a day, but when I started I could only do 15 minutes, I've worked up to an hour since.

I drink 8 x 591ml bottles of water a day which is about 20 cups of water. I don't drink soda, teas - just water.

Also, I started taking Alli in July, I averaged 2lbs lost a week, when I started taking Alli it went to 2.5-3 lbs a week.

Hi ThinGirl! We were just talking about Alli recently. Is there anything you can tell us?

Great job! It'd be interesting to hear your perspective on Alli.

I had a green tea with ginseng and honey today. I feel like I need something sweet to get me through my afternoons. I don't know what it is. Green Tea is way better than a snicker and mt dew though, right? Small steps LOL

Well, as you probably know, Alli is the half strength dosage of Xenical, half the strength but apparently 85% as effective. It works in your intestines, it doesn't go into your blood stream or organs like a regular drug.

It prevents you from absorbing 25-30% of the fat you are eating. So if you are having a dinner with 15 grams of fat, you will only absorb around 10 grams!

You can eat more with alli, be a little more generous (ie) I put some parmesan cheese on my wholewheat pasta/sauce now, therefore my meal tastes better, I enjoy it more, I don't feel deprived and I'm more satisfied with what I am eating.

You don't need to take it with low fat meals (ie) my 1.5 gram bowl of cereal for breakfast, it would only prevent me from absorbing .5 of a gram so it's really a waste of a pill. I take them with dinner and lunch only.

Now, the other good thing about Alli is it has some 'Treatment effects' if you go over the fat gram limit. A lot of people are horrified at the thought, but really it's a great insentive to stay on your plan - you don't want orange oil leaking out your butt, right?? so you think twice about binging on quarter pounders with cheese.

Now, say you do binge - well you are going to get the orange oil, but it's your friend, not your enemy as it's the fat coming out of your body that could have gone to your chin or thighs.

I recommend Alli, it helps me stay on plan, it lowers my fat absorption and it takes the fat away if I eat a high fat item.

hmmmmm, orange stuff coming out my butt is my friend!?!?!? lol
Just kidding ThinGirl! I have heard that.........and I also heard that you get explosive direahea if you eat that quarter pounder with cheese! I am sure that mentally you would have to prepare and definately want to stay OP! Those are the same stats (25%-30%) that I have read about. Well I think it is absolutely awesome how well that it is working for you! I'm very excited for you on 34# you have lost! Keep it up!

I've never had the explosive episodes, just the orange oil (remember, it's your friend )

Alli is definitely helping me stay on track. Thanks for the good wishes, my next weigh in is on Saturday, I am hoping to hit the 40lbs lost mark.

Thanks for the info! Sounds like it is working for you then. Great job!!!!!!! Best of luck on your weigh in!

Have you had any negative side effects of reducing your fat that much? I know it's not reducing your fat 100%, but if you are already eating low fat and decreasing it farther that is quite a reduction. I had a ww leader who ate very little fat when she first started the program. Then all her hair fell out, not just some I mean almost all! She started following the WW guidelines more closely and included the healthy fats and her hair slowly came back. She went low fat not non fat on some of her foods as well. So if you are already focusing on lower fat foods, are you noticing any side effects by having the fat reduced farther?

If you are out and McD's or other fast food is your only choice, which is often an issue with me and where we live what do you choose? If you don't take the pill with the meal do you still have issues with orange oil? I can't have salads from fast food places I get sick.

I am really enjoying the benefits of not drinking pop. Not to share TMI, but I probably will.... I was struggling with IBS with diarrhea symptoms. It was effecting me at work, at home, when I was shopping or out and about. I'd eat and have to run, sometimes I didn't make it . It was horrible when that happened at work and I had to go home...luckily there was also a flu bug going around and I could blame it on that. But even if I didn't drink pop with the meal, like breakfast I had problems. And it hurt, it felt like my guts were gonna fall out. I had sort of linked it to drinking fountain pop at restaurants, but didn't realize that drinking it from the bottle or can seemed to be effecting me as well. That didn't seem to be a 1:1 correlation like drinking it at McD's seemed to be. I asked the dr about it and it was so embarrassing. He did some tests and then suggested samples....that's where I drew the line! I quit drinking pop altogether and haven't had a problem at all! I still avoid lettuce b/c that also seems to trigger issues. I eat all my salads without lettuce.

SO not drinking pop is helping me in more than one way! Have a great day everyone!

Hi Misty! A great choice at McD's is the grilled chicken sandwhich, hold the mayo! That is what I will get if I HAVE to eat at McD's. That and a yogurt parfait. Nice, healthy and filling meal