Well, it is quiet here again! Since it's March, I started a new thread for us.

Okay, so I did not do well on my eating today at all. I know it. Wednesday is the first day of a Spring Challenge I am taking part in on Sparkpeople, so I have got to buckle down and support my team. I guess today was my subconscious "last hurrah". My goal for the 10 week challenge is to get to 199, so that is a little over 20 pounds. Definitely possible, but I am going to have to really work hard. At least my exercise is going well!

Hope to hear from some of you this month!


Heather

I had just about given up on this part of the message board! Glad to see someone else is hanging in there.

I got down to 141 this week and am really encouraged! Just seven pounds to go until goal.

That is wonderful! Congratulations!

I am going to weigh today too, to see where I am starting from for the challenge I mentioned. I have to start being relaly careful with my diet and exercise if I want to be successful with this.

Hopefully, a few more people will drop by!
Good to hear from you.
Heather in SC

Hi--I would love to be a part of this thread. I am doing the Sonoma Diet with a few modifications. So far, I am feeling great. I am at 227 today. I am going to France and Italy on Thursday, and feel really inspired to stick as well as I can to the diet (at least I can do portion control) without obsessing.

Amberly

Hello Amberly, it is nice to hear from someone new! We are close in weight, maybe we can be an encouragement to each other. I have been out of town, my son has some health issues and it was time for his specialist visit, so yesterday was not a good eating day at all. Have fun in Europe!

Heather

I've had a little bit of a relapse and was 146 this morning...boo! hiss! Back on the wagon now.

Thinfor5Minutes, we all have setbacks. At least it was only one pound!

I had to weigh in today for my Sparkpeople Challenge, and I have lost two pounds since last week. I also got my exercise in today and I am trying to figure up my exercise minutes for the week.

Heather

I have been with the south beach diet for a little over a year and have lost about 50 lbs. I still have 40 to loose and have hit a frustrating stall (6 months long) and have gained a few pounds back over the past few weeks. Anyway, I was reading about the portion control suggestions and thought that this may be one of the keys to my stall.

I understand the basic concept of portion control, but have always had loads of trouble when it comes to soups and casseroles. Does anyone have any advice for how to actually make this useable?

Thanks in advance.

Hi, vfcookie, I don't know a lot about South Beach. Portion control is always good though. Also, on Sonoma they don't promote the use of artificial sweeteners...that might be something to try.

I lost two pounds this week.

Heather in SC

Hi, Heather,

I talked to you right after you started this diet. I had also bought the book and wanted to try it but never did start. I had lost a few pounds by cutting back but I have gained it all back now. I know that I am going to have to have a structured plan to keep me on track.

How long has it been now since you started this diet and how much have you lost? I need to lose 100+ pounds. Do you have any problems with hunger? My main problem is wanting to snack at night.

I'm going to reread the book.

Debbie in KY

Hm, Debbie, I started it in January, but I have not been on it constantly since then. I got discouraged after three weeks when my weigh in didn't go well, and quit for awhile. I then read the Superfoods Rx book that a person on here named "Glory" wrote about in her success story thread. I have since been sort of combining what I learned from the Superfoods Rx book with the Sonoma outline and principles. But I admit I have not stopped eating things with sugar. Still, I am more doing Sonoma than anything else. I have completely changed my shopping and eating guidelines, lol. It is starting to help my husband as well, and he has lost 7 pounds without doing any kind of diet, just eating the whole-food type items I buy.

If I feel like I really have to snack at night, which is a problem I also have, I try to make it a protein-rich food, like string cheese or almonds. I have told myself even if I eat a lot of almonds (high in fat/calories) it is still better than eating my fill of some kind of junk food. I also started doing the T-Tapp workout on January 28. It focuses more on inch loss than pounds though.

I have lost 15 pounds since I started trying in January. That time period includes the little break I took when I wanted to give up. I am becoming more focused now and hope to lose more. I started a 10 week challenge on the Sparkpeople site and it has helped motivate me.

I still have quite a bit to lose as well, 70 pounds, so I know it can seem daunting. I will look over my Sonoma book too. Maybe you can start over with Wave One. When I did Wave One, I followed it closely, except the first few days I had wine because I misunderstood that part, lol. Still, I lost 9 pounds during the first ten days, so hopefully you can regroup and see some success as well.

Let us know how it goes!

Heather in SC

Hi Heather ....I'm back and would love to be a buddy with you, (and anyone else who wants to join us ) You sound like you are doing really well.

Debbie, I understand the snacking/hunger thing. I have been trying to do this plan for the last 6 months, and finally was able to stick with it. I think the key has been increasing the serotonin in my brain. I've done this (I'll explain it below) for the last month or so, and am amazed at how much my appetite has decreased, and especially my appetite for sugar. I used to eat as much sugar as often as possible, and now I look at something sweet and can honestly say that it makes me sick to my stomach thinking about eating it.

Here's what I've done. Kathleen Desmaisons wrote Potatoes not Prozac and The Sugar Addict's Total Recovery Program. I've tried to do her program in the past, but she's so rigid that I think she does a disservice to her program. I never got beyond the second of seven steps (journaling). This time, I realized that I already do a lot of the program (3 meals a day with adequate amounts of protein) so I skipped to the step that is supposed to increase your serotonin. You take zinc, B vitamin complex, and vitamin C, and then three hours after dinner, eat a potato. The idea is that an insulin surge right before bed will allow you to make serotonin while you sleep. (For more details, you can read her books, or go to her website.) She's very militant about the potato, but I was going to Europe, so trying to find an alternative. (Plus, I feel guilty about turning on the oven every night for an hour to bake a potato--seems like a waste of energy--and I don't like the taste of microwaved ones or potatoes that have been baked four days ago.) Anyway, I found that for me, graham crackers or triscuits or granola bars worked fine. And maybe it's the placebo effect, but like I said, I can't believe the impact on my appetite and desire for sugar.