I found an orange juice that is 50% less sugar and sweetened with Pure Via. So I usually have a nice relaxing breakfast on Sunday - so I had eggs, bacon and a mimosa (orange juice and champagne) The juice is from Tropicana called Trop50. I wouldn't have a full cup as the sugar is still high (13 carbs and 10 sugars) but for an occasionally treat - 1/2 cup is not too bad - and I used only 1/4 cup in my mimosa.

cindy

Hi everyone,
I just started the BFC about a week ago and I am already don 6 lbs!! I am super excited because this is the first thing that has worked for me in years. The only problem that I am having is staying within the six servings of carbs. Is anyone else having this problem? I swear that I don't think that I am eating that many carbs but I seem to always be right at 6 servings or one over. Also, has anyone found any good snacks that aren't cheese or nuts? I have been eating sooo much of both. Any input would be great! Thanks!

CCSMOM - congrats on the loss. I looked for the special stuff in the beginning - I couldn't find much where I live. I bought one jar of the preserves and only it every once in a great while. I do buy Truvia or Stevia in the Raw but I also bought bulk xylitol at the natural food store because it was cheaper - does the same thing, just doesn't come in packets. The pasta sauce can be more expensive but you just use a little bit 2-3 tbs. When you open the jar or can, portion out the servings either into an ice cube tray or other little freezeable containers. Once frozen, take them out and put the frozen portions into a bag in the freezer. I have teenagers so it is rare that we are all eating the same thing anyway at dinner. Yes, it takes a little bit more time but it makes it easier for me to make sure that I am eating the proper portion size. I have done this with alfredo sauce, anything where you only use a couple of tbs at a time. Snacks are hard, mostly I eat cheese sticks - you can try slices of turkey, a stalk of celery is 1/0. I find that I want less snacks if I eat a big salad at lunch and dinner - spinach and arugula which are 0/0 and filling. I do make ice cream and if you make it, it's a 0/0. If you order $20 worth of stuff from Joseph's (the sugar free cookie company), they ship for free and they sell the sweetener to make the ice cream. I also make a chocolate whipped cream (my daughter calls it chocolate mousse without the work) but good for a quick chocolate fix - 2c heavy cream, 1tbs vanilla, 3-4tbs cocoa powder, (pick one) 7 pkts Truvia or 2 pkts Stevia with 2tbs xylitol or 7 drops vanilla stevia with 2tbs xylitol. Whip into stiff peaks. Makes 6 -- 1/2 cup servings each one is 0/0. You can do the same the thing but substitute 1c of ricotta cheese for 1c of the heavy cream, add about half the cocoa powder - whip the heavy cream first, then fold everything else in. This is a less sweet version but also 0/0.

I do eat fruit. I eat strawberries - maybe 1/2c with oatmeal once or twice a week. 1/2c is about 6 grams of carbs so with oatmeal that makes breakfast 2servings of carbs. I might eat them with lunch if I have a hamburger and salad - then the strawberries would be the only carb I have because I don't eat a bun with the burger. Sometimes if I had a good day, I might have a carb serving left at the end of the day and will have strawberries then. You could do the same with any kind of berry, I just don't like blueberries or blackberries. Every once in a while, I have eaten 1/2 a banana - this is over on the sugar count of not more than 5 grams at any one time because 1/2 banana is 7 grams of sugar but it is okay periodically. I just watch my sugars for the rest of the day and don't go over 15.

One thing I find works well for me is to plan my meals for the week. I sit down on Sunday and plan out dinner for the week at the very least. I also think about breakfast and lunch. This gives me so time to think about how I am going to fit the carb servings into my day so that I can stay under the 6 servings. Somedays I change my mind when I get up that day but most days it helps.

Thanks Kritter!

Congrats Seboe!! Wow 6 lbs in a wk!

LenaPa-you're awesome! thanks for taking the time to write all those helpful tips! The choc whip cream sounds good. I'm going to try to organize my meals better this week.

This week I'm only down about 1.5 lbs. I say about because it seems as if my scale changes if its moved a little. Anyway, I'm finding that I can go over the 6 servings of carbs very easily but I rarely hit the 15 g of sugar. ?? One of my weaknesses is chips. So I have found chips with a low carb count and I stick to the servings suggestions. I seem to have had chips every day this past week. When I do, I cut carbs elsewhere. Like I wont have bread with my sandwich or burger. However, I still had a small weight loss this wk. Could it be the extra fat in the chips is preventing me from loosing more weight?? The good thing though is that that I'm down 2 inches in my waist in 2 wks! It took me 6 wks on J. C. to do that. All in all I'm pleased!

Hi, I just signed up for this forum. I've been wanting to lose some weight--especially around the belly--and bought a book called the belly fat cure. Looked for a forum for that, but found you instead.

I look forward to getting encouragement from your posts. Thank you for being here.

Hi, everyone,
I'm new to the forum, but excited to read the suggestions of others who have been on this journey longer than I have.
Like Seboe, I'm finding it easy to keep my sugar grams under 16, but it's hard to keep my carb servings to six or less.
Here are some tricks that are working for me:

I highly recommend Coach's Oats from Costco. Zero sugar, and once you've tried this brand, you'll never go back to Quaker, and certainly not back to the instant Quaker packets. I sweeten mine with a packet of approved sweetener and 1 tablespoon of SF jam. If you want it a little richer, to avoid the urge for a mid-morning snack, stir in 1 tablespoon of butter.

Here's another breakfast trick--
Put a frozen, pre-cooked sausage pattie in a cereal bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. Take it out of the microwave, and top with two eggs, salt and pepper. Return to the microwave for one more minute. This is a sausage and eggs breakfast in 1 1/2 minutes. Top with grated cheese if you wish.

One more suggestion:
Start with 1/2 cup of whipped cream cheese, then stir in 1 tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder, and 2-3 packets of approved sweetener. I spread this on one of the high fiber, whole grain tortillas with 12 grams of fiber, and roll it up. This is as good as dessert, and no sugar!

Costco is the best source for fresh blackberries. Less than half the price of regular grocery store blackberries!

I hope these suggestions are helpful!
My husband and I are going on a ten day road trip in a few weeks, so any suggestions for "legal" dining in fast food restaurants would be helpful. I have the book, so that's a good start.
I'm looking forward to learning from the rest of you!

Thanks Linhight for all the tips. Make me want to go out to Costco now.
about the fast food, I would say Burgers-No Buns- protein style. I like In-and-Out, and Taco Bell's Taco's - they are 1/1.

I have a breakfast recipe to share. If you'd like to try a mexican style breakfast dish. They are called Miguitas.

2 Mission yellow corn tortillas-extra thin
2 eggs beaten-add salt & pepper to taste
1Tbls Olive Oil or Vegetable oil ( I prefer VO)
La Victoria Salsa
Sharp chedder/ Monterey Jack
Cotijo cheese (optional)
Jalepenos for more spicy version

Place pan on med-high then add the oil once heated. Cut the 2 tortillas in strips then the strips in half while the oil is heating up. Beat the eags to have them ready, add S&P taste. Place the strips of tortilla in the hot oil and stir occasionally , add S&P to taste. Let them toast (as you would tortilla chips) but not too hard. Turn the heat down then add the eggs. Stir to mix the strips with the eggs as they cook. Toward the end add salsa ( about a tbls or more if you wish) then mix,( add jalapenos if you want a spicier version) then add chedder & Monterey jack( or whatever cheese you prefer). Place on plate then sprinkle some cotijo cheese if you'd like.

This dish has an S/C value of 3/1. I don't worry about the sugar in this much because I rarely reach my 15 gram quota. It's soo good and after eating this I don't get hungry for hours.

One more thing, I realized one thing I had done wrong last wk. I didn't realize that ZEVIA sodas had 10-12 g of carbs. I thought it was 0/0. So I was drinking alot of it! That may have accounted my lack of weight loss last wk. I am being more careful this wk....

Much luck everyone!

CCSMOM ~ Good recipe will have to try that!

I'm wondering if this is stalling my weightloss!!! I have at least 5 a week! It says in the book that its a 0/0!!! I think it might not be good for right now. Ugghhh if thats it I'll be so disappointed!

Here's what almost derailed me last week.
I was at Jack in the Box, and I remembered that iced coffee with cream was a 0/0. I was careful to avoid the flavored coffee drinks, which I am sure are loaded with sugar, so I got an Original Kona Coffee with Cream.
I threw in Xylitol packet and said, "Wow, this is the best coffee ever!"
Then I got to thinking-- this is sweeter than it ought to be, so when I got home I went on line to check. Turns out that Iced Original Kona Coffee from JitB has 27 grams of sugar and 29 carbs. Bummer!

Checking in - It's been about a month since I read the book and started with BFC. I really like the program but have been a little lazy in watching what I eat and counting my s/c values. It shows with the weight, haven't gained any but stopped losing. I find when I write my food down I do much better.

I started the belly fat cure last Friday. It's pretty easy to follow. My waist seems to be shrinking, but I'm not dropping pounds. Any advice? How are other people dropping pounds on this. The book says I should be dropping 10 to 14 in one week. Any truth to this?

I need to put a shortcut on my desktop for this forum because I keep forgetting to check in! I normally use Jorge Cruise's Facebook discussion forum but find the more involved I am in all kinds of things like this, the better I do...and more motivated I am.

First I wanted to share a recipe because someone mentioned they don't use the s/f preserves very often. I was very disappointed in the s/c counts in all the preserves I found, then very happy that someone posted this at the other forum...

Strawberry Jam (1 1/3 carbs and 3/4 gram sugar per tablespoon)
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cups strawberries
1 teaspoon lemon juice didn't add this in but it's 1/3 of a carb, 0 sugar)
1 tablespoon Xylitol
1 packet unflavored gelatin

Puree 1 cup of the strawberries then add the 1/2 cup and blend until you have little chunks (I just puree all of it). Bring the water to a boil, add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 5 minutes. Put in covered container in refrigerator.

This will get firm when chilled so you will need to microwave it slightly in order to spread it on bread or toast.

I need to find out where I'm going wrong. I've been on the BFC since March 12 (I think), and bounce between a 5 and 8 pound loss. Part of it, I know, is falling short on the fiber and water intake. So taking the idea from Jorge's checklist for sugar and carbs for the day, I made up my own and printed off several copies. Mine adds water and fiber, along with walking on my treadmill and other forms of exercise and supplements (so I remember to take the probiotics).

As others have said, the BFC is SO easy to do that I really have to figure out how to make it work for me. Because I have no doubt that this is something I can live with for life. Of course I know for a fact that I will cheat on holidays and special occasions. Even if I throw caution to the wind 24 days a year (2 days a month on average), that's still 341 days a year that I'm being good.

But I'm rambling now. Not enough sleep. LOL...but then I never get enough sleep! I am SO glad to see this forum active. It was pretty discouraging when the former regulars just suddenly stopped posting.

Oops. I did want to mention one more thing. For those who get bored with the beverage options, and think that Zevia is too expensive (which I certainly do!)...

I buy Kool-Aid. The unsweetened packets of the name brand are 0/0. The one store brand I bought had 1 carb per serving so I'll pay the extra .12 cents. I use 1 quart of water rather than 2, and 8 packets of Stevia Balance (1 gram of fiber per pkt for a total of 8!). You get a stronger, fruity flavor and, if there's any bitterness from the Stevia, I haven't noticed it.

I also use some of that for the psyllium husks. If I drink it fast, it's not bad at all, though I have to stir it between gulps. You can also add the dry powder to the vanilla whey shakes for variety there, too.

And I'll be using the cherry and orange flavors in popsicle molds to make some frozen treats later today. Also will be trying the chocolate whey shake with a little cocoa and one of the sweeteners to make fudgecicles.

So I started writing down everything again. This program (not diet) is easy to stick to if you pay attention to labels. Sugar is in everything, before I started keeping track I would think "oh this little bit of _____ won't hurt" but once I started writing the sugar grams down I was amazed at how much sugar I was eating. I am trying to keep the fiber up and that's not an easy one but I look for breads that are low in sugar and high in fiber. The weight loss is pretty slow right now though.

I'm with VickieK - you need to write down everything you eat. I found that when I write it down, it keeps me honest about what I am eating. I can also go back and review good days and bad to see what happened. The weight loss amounts for the week in the book are overly optimistic, maybe they work for men. The most I have lost in a week is 3.5 pounds but most weeks I lose about 2 pounds which is okay. I also try to keep my carb count to one for breakfast and lunch, I usually have two for supper and than one for snack.

Jjaye424 - thanks for the strawberry jam recipe. I don't use the preserves often because the carb count is so high.

I try not to cheat because I find that once I have something with a fairly high sugar content I can be like an alcoholic on a binge. What I try to do is find low sugar substitutes - most days I have some sugar free chocolate, homemade ice cream, etc. Though I find I have lost my taste for some things. I don't like most cookies any more but I made chocolate cake the other week for a cake class and ended up throwing it out after a couple of days because I was eating it and no one else in the house was (yes, I made myself write this down so I would remember why I gained weight this week). I have started finding a few more options in the local grocery stores because our local Giant grocery stores have a fairly decent "organic" or natural section. While not targeted at low sugar/low carb, I have found that this section carries many of the brands that Jorge's book recommends or other brands that are lower in sugar and higher in fiber. Again the price is a little higher but by portioning the stuff and not feeding it to everyone in my family, it doesn't kill the food budget.

Hi All-

Newbie here. I am just starting out as of yesterday. I went and bought the stuff for the Belly Fat drink with the Psyllium Husk and probiotics. I am scared to take it as I am afraid of being at work at having the trots...or the bloated gassy feeling. Has anyone done that drink? Tell the truth, what did it do to your tummy? Did it take awful or gritty? Just want to know what to expect - I am going to do it, I just like to know what I am getting into before I do it. Plus, would you recommend a time of day to do it. And, those who have done it...do you do it everyday or once a week or only in the beginning.

I had trouble yesterday fitting my sugar in because it seemed like most of the choices with sugar were also a counted carb and I portioned those out 2 a piece for B,L and D. Is there anything anyone can recommend to get the sugar in that might be in a snack form that doesn't count as a carb too?

Also, does everyone always stick to 6 meals/snacks per day or do you vary it?

Does anyone have an acceptable or comparable substitute for the ice cream that is in every stinkin' yummy sounding shake drink that is in the book? I would love to make some of those but I am not going to order the Clemmy's. I suppose I can get an ice cream maker but was hoping there was something already pre-packed for me to enjoy right away!

I noticed soo many ppl share they have had higher energy on this plan. I feel like a zombie today and woke up with a terrible headache...just wondering if it may be sugar withdrawal or just a case of a 3 yr old getting me up at 4 am??

I have been following this group for a few days and got through most of the posts in this thread but not all so sorry if these questions are repeats.

-Evi