Hi everyone,
I have finished my first week I'm down six lbs. four of which were from TO Express. I attend a new franchise and I don't think they are trained very well. When I asked about all food no lites they told me I might get 1 more vegetable to replace the lites. I know this is untrue after reading these boards. They don't have coconut almond lites which I would like to try . I am having trouble planning my meals and several times this week I found myself eating various things at night to make sure I got it all in. I would love some suggestions for planing meals if you have any! How do you figure exchanges for meals that you combine foods to make? like chili! I am currently on Gold with lites. I'm so happy you all are here!
TIA
KelliNC

Hi Kelli - great start!! What your COD said is partially true.
When you do the LAWL without the Lites, you actually get more protein ounces at each serving and one additional vegetable exchange. Yep - that's it! I went from Gold with lites to the Purple plan without lights and basically I get 1 extra veggie and about 6 extra ounces of chicken (the measurements vary depending on your protein of choice). I loved the LA Lite bars (PB was my favorite). But after 6 months, I was pretty much addicted to them and decided I wanted to try an all food plan. It has not been easy, but I'm making it.
Lots of folks (Cassi and Pearl and Holly come to mind, but there are others) are good planners on this thread (I'm not the best). The best thing I can suggest is for you to look at the Daily Menu thread and see what folks have been doing.

How do you figure exchanges for meals that you combine foods to make? A lot of the recipes on the receipe thread have been reviewed by LAWL chefs or centers to get the proper mix of exchanges. If you have a recipe in mind, I would take it to your COD and ask them to verify what it would count as. I'm really not sure if there is some magic to the LAWL program and/if certain food combinations are forbidden. Your COD should know.
When I make chili, I pretty much break it up according to the ingredients I use - 6 oz of cooked turkey breast = 1P on my purple program; 1C cooked kidney beans = 1 protein, tomatoe = 1 veggie...hope this helps.

Thanks for the reply. The example for the chili is helpful. I didn't think about making it like that.
Thanks

Kelli - Welcome and WTG with the loss this week. In the recipe section, I had posted three different chili recipes. Just go to the main dish section and it's on the second page, I think.

As far as the all food plan vs. the lites, they are correct, but what happens is that if you don't do the lites, you move up one plan (just to help you put it in perspective). The different between gold and purple is the one veggie and the protein portions, lke Joni said. One of the good things on the purple plan is that you get two veggie burgers instead of one, which is I like because I could live on the veggie burgers!

If there is something special you are looking for that you don't find in the recipe threads, let us know. Someone here can usually help out.

As far as breaking up the meals, besides our menu thread, try checking the first page or two of your plan book. It gives suggestions for how to break up your foods so that you get everything in. I started by trying those suggestions and then tweaked it to fit my schedule.

Let us know if we can help more!

Welcome to the plan.. Sometimes frustrating, many times extremely rewarding..

My first couple of weeks were incredible as far as the weight loss... But be prepared for those weeks when you don't see any movement at all..

Those are the times when you have to shake up your menu and keep your body guessing about what's coming next..

Also, if your COD didn't mention it, go light on the beef... I didn't realize that, and hit a bit of a wall there for a while.. My COD told me to cut down on the beef and that worked like a charm.. I still have it a couple times a week, but nowhere near as much as I did...

Sometimes it seems like all you're eating is chicken, but be not faint of heart.. There are lots of things you can eat out there...

The cookbook has a lot of really good recipies too...

Thanks,
I will watch the beef. I bought the cookbook today. I'm hoping it will help a little with my planning and keep me from getting bored with my choices.
Kelli

Welcome Kelli! Congratulations on your weightloss so far!

The Clam Chowder recipe is fantastic and so is the creamy chicken caserole. We tried that last night and it was a hit.. I'll admit I did add some lite salt to the recipe, but split between 4 of us, the salt intake was minor..

We've been getting bored with some of our normal "plan" choices, so my NY resolution is to use the cookbook more..

Cheers!