Seriously!

I've been to my goal and now I'm back.

I just had my lovely baba, who is now 8 weeks and I'm ready to get back onto a new way of eating.

No syns, no calories, no points nothing just healthy eating.

I'm still breastfeeding and am taking it slow.

Right now I've made a few changes.

Switched to high fibre foods!! Two - Three low cal snacks a day!! Plenty of water (2 litres sometimes more bfeeding makes me very thirsty!!) and plenty of fruit!!

Lets see how it works and I'm starting with my 8 minute Tae Bo workout everyday evetually workin up to 30 minutes!!

Join in with whatever NO COUNT PLAN and let's shift some pounds!!

I'm starting on my 50 day plan from today to see how much I can loose. No weigh in till then.

You are very brave. If I didn't weigh for 50 days I am sure I would see a weight gain. Don't want that !! It was because I didn't count calories, didn't weigh, didn't plan ahead that I found myself at 204 pounds, I actually think it was more than that, but I have documented 204 pounds.

Breakfast
Branflakes and skimmed milk
(topped it up with a bit of semi skimmed cos skimmed ran out)
Banana

Snack
WW swiss roll chocolate bar
1 tsp peanut butter spread on 1 cream cracker

Lunch
Brown rice and wholgrain spagetti cooked with
Mixed Vegetables (Carrots, Brocolli, Cauliflower and peas)
Meat

Snack
Tootie Fruities
Air popped popcorn
Grapes

Dinner
Rice and Veggies, no meat.

Snack
1 tsp peanut butter spread on 1 cream cracker, sliced banana on top(This was very yum!)

2-3 litres of water

Excercise

8 minute Tae Bo workout wih Billy Blanks!!

I get so wrapped up in the whole counting thing you know.

And weighing myself drives me mad!! Yes every pound.

Weight loss aint just about the scales!

I have to keep healthy for the baba and still get plenty breastmilk. If i get too weight obessed i know it will harm baby's milk.

I would NEVER be able to get away without counting. No matter what healthy choices I make. I could easily overdo the fruit. lol

If it works for you, more power to you. I firmly believe that everyone should choose the least restrictive plan that works. Keep it as simple as possible, and add restrictions only when you need them.

Personally, I think I must be one of the freaks, because the only plan that has worked more than temporarily is the plan I'm on - and it's pretty complicated. I have to weight daily, or I tend to lose motivation. However, I can't let the number be very important to me, or I get discouraged. I have to count, but instead of calories, I chose an exchange plan, because otherwise I tend to neglect or overeat from entire food groups. I have to limit carbohydrates and make good choices of the carbohydrate-rich foods.

I didn't randomly decide to add these restrictions - it took me 3 decades to learn what works and what doesn't for me. I think that the research has to eventually stop looking for the "best diet," and start looking at why some plans work better for some folks. Maybe eventually there will be diagnostic tests that can help predict a person's best plan - but right now only trial and error is the only avenue. Though it sucks to have to be scientist and lab rat, it's our only choice.

Good luck with your experimemt.

I totally agree with the bolded part.

Keep doing wht you doing girl cos yu've really done a fantastic job from 394 to 325!! Its working!! Amazing!!You need a dancing carot for that

Lots of people lose without counting. Certainly not everyone, but you'll find out soon enough if you need to change things. In the meantime, you're building some good habits. I have found that even now I'm still improving my choices.

I haven't been counting calories either. I've just been changing that way I eat, for example, less carbs, whole grain bread instead of white, less rice, more fruit & veggies, lean protein, etc. I do allow myself a snack once a day of something like low fat frozen yogurt. I do weigh myself every day however, that is one habit I can't seem to break.

on a no counting method.. You are doing great and love your weigh in goal..Keep that monthly basis goal. You will see amamzing results and feeling good about yourself! Good luck !!

I am with ya! I have no desire to count anything I am just going to start my weight loss story by eating better! I am sure the 5 to 7 times a week I eat out are not at all contrubuiting to my weight! lol just kidding I know they are that is why I have decided not to eat out like that anymore I now know I was being very self distrcutive! so I am also going the no counting way I am sure it will work for me since I have horrible eating habits right now and life long success depends on if you can live with the change you have made or not and I plan to live with my change!

Good luck to all!

Sara

I personally don't thinking weighing every day is a habit that needs to be broken. I avoided the scale for close to 15 years. That didn't work out so well. The scale to me *now* is just one more way that I stay in touch with my body. It keeps me AWARE and MINDFUL of the foods that I eat and the choices that I make. To me, it helps in keeping my healthy lifestyle in check. Is it perfect? No of course not. Just one more of the tools in my box.

I weigh every day and it works for me. I know that when I quit weighing it's because I know I'm not doing well and I'm gaining. So for me, I need to weigh daily. The key is to not let the little ups-and-downs discourage me; I don't expect it to go down each day so when I'm up 1.8 pounds overnight, I don't get upset about it. I have had weeks on end when I didn't lose, but if I'm honest it's usually because of my behavior.

At times in the past, the number on the scale has dictated how I felt for the day. If it was down, I was skinny and smart and pretty but if it was up, I must be fat and ugly and a failure. So I definitely understand how some people would not find it helpful to weigh daily. But for me, I need to.

Exactly. And if I should happen to be up, yet I know I've been truly faithful to my plan, I don't let it get to me. If I'm up, and I know "it's my doing", well I take that into account to. Kind of like a little reminder that if I'm not careful - it matters.

I think the reason some diets work better for some than others is solely a compliance issue. If the diet doesn't match either your food preferences or lifestyle, then a person won't be able to comply 100% all of the time, nor stick with it for the long term. And when "off diet", food preferences and lifestyle choices slip back in and weight is regained.

I think the diet industry is pretty self-serving, and all those authors need to add a new "scientific twist" in order to have something new and interesting to those dieters who are looking for the "ultimate diet answer". And all these books sell HOPE not reality -- who DOESN'T want to lose 5 lbs a week, every week? Who DOESN'T want a "permanent weight loss solution"? We buy hope in the form of a book (THIS time it'll be the ONE! The one that WORKS! Painlessly! And it is based on SCIENCE!). And all diets work in the short term because at the end of the day, they result in restricted calories NOT because of some special scientific trick that everyone else has overlooked. And I don't think that more research into why diets don't work well for some and really well for others is largely a waste of time and effort. Especially because I truly think that there is a huge component of the "fat acceptance movement" that feels that their weight issues are not their fault either due to some sort of undefined physiological issue which MUST be investigated which renders calorie restriction ineffective for THEM, or because society and the government markets bad food to which they are hopelessly addicted and are therefore not responsible for their weight issue. I am a firm believer in personal responsibility, and I place the blame for my weight issue firmly on my right hand that holds the fork...

The ONLY way to stop this craziness to to really understand WHAT you need from a food plan that lets you work within your cultural context but still lets you fundamentally CHANGE your lifestyle. I like carbs -- I have a Ukranian background and culturally, there are lots of foods that I don't want to have to eliminate completely. I enjoy summer barbeques. I have an active social life. So, given my background and lifestye, I will NOT be compliant with the Caveman diet (tried it). I will NOT be compliant in the long term with Atkins (tried it), nor South Beach (tried it), nor Dr. Dean Ornish (tried it). I DON'T like being told what to eat every day such as Mary Lou Henners' diet (tried it) nor e diets (tried it). I don't like counting calories. But I HAVE been successful with counting WW points and WW works within my social and cultural context, but lets me change to a healthy lifestyle. Result: compliance and weight loss.

SO, if intuitive eating will work for you, then that is the ABSOLUTE best plan that you can have. Provided it works for YOU and your lifestyle!!!
Kira