Hello fellow Sonoma dieters!

Today is Day 2 for me and it is going really well. I did the Sonoma a while ago and enjoyed it very much. Then I had a precious baby and gained a whooping 50 pounds. I am 6 months post-partum and I need to lose 30 pounds.

I have a few questions for those of you that are more experienced with the diet.

1. How much weight have you lost and how long have you been on the diet? (I need some motivation! )

2. Yesterday I found myself starving pretty much all day. Today hasn't been so bad but I had a very large romaine and spinach salad with shrimp for lunch. I know our portions are supposed to be limited but it also says we can have unlimited salads. Is it ok that my salad was overly big? I mean, it wasn't huge or anything but definitely could not fit on a plate...had to go in big tubberware bowl. Or what if I eat 15 almonds instead of 11?

3. Do we go into ketosis on this diet? I assume we do but I'm not sure.

4. What is the longest we can stay on Wave 1?

5. How many of you drink a glass of wine at dinner? I miss having my wine with my meal. Do you really only do a 4oz. glass? What kind do you drink? I know I can't have it in Wave 1 but it gives me something to look forward to!

Sorry to bombard everyone with questions!

Welcome Camdam. Glad you are here.

I lost all my weight eating the Medieterrean way, which is what Sonoma is based on. The food is the same. Sonoma just has the plate portion control that I didn't use.

I personally don't worry about veggie portions. I didn't get fat eating veggies, but do be mindful of what you put on the veggies. That would be the only thing I would worry about with salads.

The book never mentions ketosis. From what I have read this is not a state we want to get into. People on Atkins will heartily disagree and that is okay, but ketosis is not the aim of the Sonoma nor the Medieterreanean plans. These are not low carb plans.

It is recommended to stay on Wave 1 for 10 days. Wave one is more restictive and by being restrictive for a longer period you run the risk of feeling deprived and binging as well as missing out on important nutrients. The ONLY purpose of Wave 1 is to reduce cravings for surgey things. It is not a recipe for faster weight loss in the long term.

I don't drink so I cannot help you with the wine, but the book I believe only recommends one glass. I don't have it with me but this is addressed in the book.

Good Luck

Welcome camdam. Linda certainly has a lot more experience with Mediterranean eating than I do. The only things I can add are that no, you should not go into ketosis on this diet and that is not a goal of it. I agree with Linda about not extending your time in Wave 1 much beyond the 10 days recommended in the book or you will likely feel deprived and hungry. Those menus also are lower calorie by design to try to get you to see some fast results. I think on page 97 of the book if you have it, she gives some suggestions for how to keep your weight loss going into Wave 2. Many people see it start to slow down and get discouraged. If you don't have the book, let me know and I'll copy it here for you. As for the wine, I do drink the wine. I actually buy the individual serving bottles. It limits my options somewhat but I know exactly what I'm getting. I also live alone so opening entire bottles of wine for just me would be impracticle.

I have not been very serious with this diet in the past but when I do follow it, I do lose weight. However, I have lost more than 50 lbs more than once on other plans. What I have learned is that all diets work. Its just a matter of whether or not you are ready to make the committment.

I just reviewed the book last night, and it said a 6 oz. glass of wine - and only one. I do enjoy my red, dry wines, so am looking forward to Day 11.

I think eating as many of those greens as you want is fine, as long as you measure how much fat you are putting on it. Almonds are way high in fat - if you divide the number of calories among the amount of almonds per serving, you'll be amazed how many calories are packed into one tiny almond. I'd stick to the 11 to play it safe.

I second what everyone else said!

For almonds Blue diamond now makes 100 calorie pack almonds I have been finding in the stores here. I just grab one of those for my afternoon munchie.

Wine, I am in Wave one (or trying to be...more on that in the menu thread....) so I have been off the wine, but may include it anyway. I only drink one glass and that is not going to do any damage I figure with the calorie counts being so low anyway.....