Hello LowcarbLu-welcome! It was so great to hear your awesome tips. Also it's great that you got through Halloween too! 12 pounds and an inch off your waist is so awesome-good for you!!! I am on day 12 and have lost 10 1/2 so far (only a 1/2 pound this whole week but that's better than having the 1/2 pound on my A**! LOL. Great thoughts on when to use book 2...I haven't read it but I know that Mandkcook was trying to decided between the two books. Good to know!

Karrie-and anyone else reading this---you can do it! i am so excited for you to start on Monday. I am a soda-a-hol-ic and you will be fine! you may have a headache though one day from the chemical withdrawal but its nice to know up front that that is normal so you can prepare and push through it. I actually (without thinking) took a couple of sips of a diet coke yesterday and you know what....it made me feel sick to my stomache because it was so sickening sweet! Hooray...i may be over this diet soda addiction once and for all! I have given soda up for lent for the past 2 years and I don't have a drop because I feel like I am keeping my promise to God. But come Easter Sunday, i say to myself-i'll just have one-just for today,,,,but I am instantly addicted again! I know that's so lame!

Tonight I have a party so I switched my Carbup day-which is supossed to be on Sat to today. So yesterday and tomorrow I will do carb down days to compensate. I've already decided on what carb I will eat... It's funny...everything I consider putting in my mouth i find myself thinking of how great I feel and I ask myself if it is really worth ruining my weight lose. The answer is always no...so I am happy with every small daily victory.

It was nice meeting you LowcarbLu and please keep posting and letting us know how you are doing!
Take care everyone! Happy losing.....Tra

Misty, I started the diet last Friday a week ago and have lost 6.6 pounds in one week. My friend started it this Thursday and lost 2.6 pounds in three days. I think it is a diet a lot of people can do and have success at losing the weight they want to. You do have a headache for a couple of days but hey that is worth losing the weight. I do have more energy now.. It is great just losing 6.6 pounds in one week.

Hi everyone, I'm on Day 7 of the Carb Deplete and I'm glad to have found this helpful forum. I've had headaches, only lost 4-5 lbs - is this normal? It looks like many others have lost quite a bit more the first week. I've done a few low carb "starts" for other diets even within the past 2 months - could this impact week one on this diet? I'm hoping that having 'cheat days' will help me stick to a plan. This is the last of a long string of diets that worked for a while then I added weight when I stopped...

I think you have to follow the plan very carefully. I slipped up a couple of times last week and gained back 2 pounds so I guess until you get through the 8 weeks you have to be really careful. Had my grandkids birthday party and just ate a little more than what I should have and the wrong foods. Good luck on the plan. I started out again this morning on the week one plan so I can lose the 2 pounds I gained. Hopefully I can stick to it this time. Watch out for holiday foods. That is going to be hard for me to do.

Hello aprilblessing, et al...
I am starting week 4 today and lost over a pound last week. I was a little afraid to add those carb-up days to my menu for fear of gaining, but NOPE, I LOST!!!
Due to a major Gala this Saturday, and my wanting to have adult beverages, I have decided to mix things up and go Carb deplete on Mon, Tues. I'll go Baseline on Wed, deplete Thurs and Fri, then Carb Up on Saturday. Not sure if I should Baseline, Carb down, or Carb deplete on Sunday. Guess it'll depend on how much I actually indulge on Saturday!
(My one and only cheat are those darned Cherry/passionfruit Tic Tacs!!! But even a whole container of them is less than 50 calories!!! I can rationalize anything. lol)
Keep up the good work everyone!!!! This IS the hardest time of year to try and lose or maintain your weight, so kudos to everyone for their endeavors!!!

Hello everyone! LowcarbLu that is awesome that you still lost!!! I had a party on Friday (I am on week 3 day 2 right now) and I carbed down the day before and the day after. I have several drinks, a teeny piece of cake and some Irish beef stew that had carrots, peas, corn and potatoes in it-all the high carb no, no's. I gained two pounds even though I ate very little portions (well, except for the alcohol!) LOL. But I expected to gain a little because i indulged but I also knew that i would lose it again. So as of this morning, I lost the two that I gained and lost another pound. SO I am at 11 pounds so far! I feel great and my clothes are really loose. I also have a thing for orange tic-tacs and can not be left alone with an opened package!

I read a few posts back (sorry that I can't see your names when I am posting) but they were talking about a long line of diets that they tried. I felt that way too...so frustrated because I tried so hard and didn't lose so I gave up. But this plan is pretty easy and what impresses me more than the weight that I am losing but how good I feel. I feel healthy and alive and not just "going through the motions" everyday but rather I am living my life and it is not just passing by me. Does that make sense to anyone?

Together we can all support each other and give each other the strength to push through our hard times and challenges-that's why I am so thankful that I found this site. SO thank you everyone for posting and letting us know your challenges, tips and good news!

PS-mandk-did you start yesterday? How are you doing?

Hello! Please stop beating yourself up! You have alot on your plate--I could never have started my first week if I had all that going on! What's another week-just 7 days no big deal! But the more important question is...did you beat your breast cancer? (((((HUGS))))) I know what you mean-I was on steriods for 6 months and had all kinds of problems and gained tons of weight! Are u still on steroids?

*you can't eat oatmeal the first week-it's over 20 carbs so that starts on week 2. I saw that on your list and wanted to bring that to your attention.

Here are some of my tricks because I need to have fast grab meals because I couldn't cook all day long. I didn't see you mention (unless you don't like it) but you can also have 1/2 cup of (full-fat) cottage cheese once a day-that helped me alot. I also bought the perdue cooked chicken strips in honey so when I made a salad of lettuce and cucumber I would have a quick protein (i would also add the broccoli in there and get that out of the way). Sometimes I would cut up a cheese stick and put that in there as well or i would sprinkle a little bit of grated cheese and pepper on it and then did the 1 tsp of oil and vinegar. The perdue strips are really good and again easy because you don't have to cook them. With the eggs, you can have 1 egg and 2 whites, that's what I did. some people made hardboiled eggs too and had one of them as a protein. I would also buy lean/natural turkey breast and roll that with cheese and a smidgen of mustard. I also made tuna with just a little mayo since the first week you eat alot of fat/oil. I will admit although this is NOT on the diet...that if i didn't eat my carbs in the morning, i would feel like crap. SO there were 2 days my first week that I ate a piece of whole grain bread with a little mayo/butter. Remember that the first week the carbs have to be under 20 grams so my bread was only 12g. Also the first week I stopped at McDonalds and had an egg mcmuffin (no meat) and only 1 bun-that totals 14g of carbs. There were some days that I ate eggs twice once for breakfast and sometimes for dinner too-again I needed something that cooked quick. I didn't see anywhere that said we couldn't do that...and it worked for me.

I hope this helps alittle. I hope that your husband is feeling better soon and the surgery goes well. And don't worry about the holidays yet-just take life day by day! Take care!

Karrie...CONGRATULATIONS on beating your breast cancer! What a blessing for you and your family! Let us know also how your husbands surgery went!!!

Yesterday I had a carb up day and was worried that I would gain weight. I treated myself to a McDonald's Big N' Tasty and a diet coke and I didn't gain any weight back! Hooray! I just needed some "comfort" food and was so satisfied and happy when I was done. I guess that's what every diet is about...eating something satisfying and then getting back on.

How is everyone else doing? What are your challenges or tips that help you?

Aprilblessing: I just wanted to make sure we're on the same page here. When you mention 12g carb bread during the Deplete week, you are adding that together to get 20g TOTAL PER DAY, right? I ask, because the meal plans contain around 13g of carbs per day as written...cottage cheese 5g, etc.

When I was depleting, the highest carb count I ever had that week was 18g and the lowest for a day was 12g. I never got to 20g per day. Same for you, or not?

Just wondering. Keep up the good work everyone!!!

OMG...that recipe for "power oats" is horrible, isn't it!!?? That must be what they serve them as "slop" on Big Brother!!!

Hey LowcarbLu. I have never tried the power oats so thanks for letting us know that it is gross. Now i won't waste my time trying it! I just bought my first container of vanilla protein powder yesterday and haven't used it yet.

Ok to answer your questions, on day 2 I felt like crap and had a bad headache that tylenol wasn't taking away so I had a piece of 12g bread. I didn't not eat cottage cheese that day to try to compensate for the extra carbs. I also ate eggs for breakfast and dinner to keep my carbs down (because I didn't see anywhere in the book that said I couldn't but if it does-PLEASE let me know because I do this alot) but did eat my broccoli and spinach. For lunch I had the lettuce and cucumber salad with vinegar/oil with grilled chicken and for another meal between lunch & dinner I had tukey rolled up with a sprinkling of cheese and a little mayo. So I *think* that I was at 18-19grams that day and the day I had the egg McMuffin with one bun and I think that they were my highest days.

*Do you or anyone have any suggestions or what are your thoughts I would like to know because everyone can read the same book and get different things out of it...so I am looking for anything I might have misinterpretted in the book or any tips that you would like to share.

>Also-does anyone use milk for anything? or in your protein shakes? I haven't used or had milk since I started but we can have cheese so I am not sure. And if the answer is yes, do you use full fat or is skim milk ok?

>>ALSO-on the C,B or D days, what is the carb maximum number allowed for each meal on weeks 2-4? Any thoughts anyone?
Thanks everyone for any help you can give me! Have a great day!

I just read a brand new book, "Ultra Fat to Ultra Fit" by Noah Walton. This is not the typical diet/exercise book. The author, a scientist, tells the (sometimes humorous) story of going from an obese couch potato and becoming a competitive triathlete. Although he used an extreme diet to begin, he gives research that explains that diets don't work for most people. Besides the story, there are tips and information about roadblocks people throw at dieters that sabatoge efforts. I highly reccomend the book to teens to adult. I laughed out loud and am going to stop deceiving myself about my weight.

Hi - just brand new - never been on a forum before, so not exactly sure what I'm doing. I am on Day 5 of Week 1 - Carb Deplete. I am finding it a bit painful - probably due to really wanting breads and sweets and fruit and..and ..and....
But I have lost 6.4 lbs so far which even if it is water is a good kick start for me.
I am feeling a bit weak at times - haven't hit the 'shift' she talks about to more energy. Especially when I work out. I have been going to Curves for the last month or so.
Anyway would love to chat with anyone on this journey as well.