welcome to our little (but growing!) group! I cook..boy do I cook, once you get into the habit and learn, it becomes a snap to put things together. And you will discover tips, tricks and stuff along the way to make it easy. Why are you changing plans? (If I may ask?)

Thanks. I had 2 dogs and the one that is still with me is depressed. It is sad to see a depressed dog. Hope you are surviving the ice storm. I used to live in PA but now live in the south. I don't miss that kind of weather.

Thanks for the welcome.

It's a good question - "why am I changing plans?"

I think the answer is because I've tried to do the things that worked for me in my old life several times in the past few years and I haven't been successful. They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, and I'd like to think I'm not completely nuts yet.

I was very successful losing a lot of weight (most of it permanently) about 5 years ago, but I haven't been able to lose more since I made some big changes to my life (moved to Paris, fell in love & got married, changed jobs). Now I have a much happier and more well-rounded life, and the hard core dieting, calorie counting and mega-intense exercise approach just doesn't work for me for more than a few weeks. And it stresses me out so much to want to be thinner and not arrive, or be totally battling my life, so I started to think that there must be a saner way.

I'm still trying to find it, that saner way. I've been looking into different ways to do things for a while now, and have recently come to realize that it's probably pretty close to "french women don't get fat" or "intuitive eating" or something... But it's really more my own thing in the end.

And I'm definitely early on the learning curve - but happy because I'm excited to learn!

How did you find your way here? How has your experience been?

Petra - sorry to hear about your dog.

Hi!! I am so pleasantly surprised to see we have a group!!

Have you all started?? I haven't started yet. I have the book but this time of year is so busy. We went on vacation last week and I have been "digging out" since then.

I am going to take a look tonight. I have food supplies so I should be able to make it.

I am at a disadvantage because I don't "love" to cook. I will do it and don't mind doing it once I get started (and have all the groceries) but getting started isn't easy, for me.

I tried a sage pork chop recipe in the cookbook that was fantastic.

Petra I am so sorry about your dog. They really do become part of the family. The are pure love!

Gina

I hope you guys will share some of what you're doing here, as I don't have the book and am not following anyone's diet but my own right now. But I'm very open to learning. And I'd like to learn to cook, but that will take time...

I got off track for awhile and am trying to mostly stay on Wave 2 until after the holiday. I figured that was doable right now. After the holiday I'll re-evaluate my sugar issues and decide if I need to go back to wave 1 and detox again.

I made a wild rice, chicken and apple salad. I think it is in one of the books. It is very good but a bit of cooking. Lots of chopping of shallots which have a strong odor and make you cry. For dinner tonight I made that marinated flank steak and some broccoli with a glass of red wine. I found a few recipes here and elsewhere I'm anxious to try. That pumpkin chili recipe looks interesting and everyone was raving about it. I also have some ground turkey in the freezer so that will work well.

where can I find the pumpkin chili recipe? that sounds interesting. I love pumpkin AND chili, and my DH loves chili, hates pumpkin but this might work...

Sorry I have been out of pocket for the past couple of days, and I don't know how much longer I will have the internet. I live in Oklahoma and the power has been out since Monday morning. It came on late last night and they are expected it to snow here again 3-6" this weekend. Needless to say, I have been eating anything we can scrap up at the time. I will be honest, it's been miserable. When the power first came back on last night I spent the night just trying to clean up and get warm. I now feel all "puffy" that I am warm...LOL.

It is nice to see a group here form. I had an opportunity to get the book, but I could not see paying 25.00 for the book. I am infamous for not sticking to a damn thing and I just didn't have the heart to pay that again. I know that I need to commit. (being in the dark leaves a person a lot of time the think!) I spend alot of time not keeping the commitments I make myself. I too try the same things over and over hoping I have the same sucess I see others have. And I have to do what is right by me. I have lost so much "zest" for living due to fad diets that don't work, not sticking to things. I realize that at the end of the day its all calories in v.s. calories out and counting them will more and likely be a part of my plan. At least in so far as it keeps me on track. I never put my needs first. That has to change. It just has too. Its not wrong to care for yourself.

I am rambling....keep warm everyone, I am going to continue to clean up this mess...LOL...

At the top of this forum there are recipes. There is one for the Sonoma diet and one for the Mediterranean diet.

ckatgo-you are right, until you make this committment for yourself, it doesn't really matter what plan you are on. I think there is a way to get the book much cheaper. I forget the website though. There is always the library too. I've been seeing the ice storm on TV. It looks miserable. Keep warm.

Ckatgo: I am the same in that I don't follow through with anything. It is really frustrating and I don't know how to change it. Changing is so hard. It is especially hard when it comes to changing our diets. We live in a small town and there aren't any healthy places to get lunch or dinner. Life happens there are times when I cannot get home for dinner. It is so frustrating. That has thrown me off my diet frequently. As I am writing this I wonder if that is an excuse. I do think it would be better to deal with "going off" without my all-or-nothing thinking. But it is a part of me that I haven't been able to change.

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I think what might help me is to start a challenge. Is anyone up for that? It might make it more fun and it might help us focus daily. My hope is that it will push us into doing it consistenly until success and the confidence that comes with success with help carry us through.

Here is what I am thinking:

• we would check in daily or as often as possible
• we would have a weekly challenge (30 minutes of exercise a day, or trying 2 new recipes this week)
• there would be a question of the day

we would award points to ourselves for everything we did successfully, ie:

One point for:

• drinking 8 glasses of water
• eating only from our sonoma list
• planning our menus for the day
• exercising
• checking in at 3fc and answering the QOTD
• meeting the weekly challenge 5 out of 7 days or more (maybe worth more points.)

At the end of the week we could tally the points and declare our QUEEN OF SONOMA for the week (or KING if any guys join).

What do you think? Is this something that will help anyone else? Are you competitive??

ckatgo, good luck digging out from the storm. It sounds awful.

About commitment, I'm with you. I'm a real starter and stopper, especially with exercise. Dave and i did really well with Sonoma back in Feb., March and April. By May our portions were getting larger and i was eating after dinner again. Don't know why.

We're slowly starting up again, although our portions are still too large. I'll be happy to just stay on Wave 2 successfully through the holidays. Maybe Wave 3!

One thing i love about this way of eating is that I lose my afternoon energy slump. Not sure why that is, but I want to get back to that.

I noticed Amazon has The Sonoma Diet for $1.84. With shipping, it would be under $5. And like Petra mentioned, the library is great--that's where i got my first look at it and at the cookbook.

Gina, I'll join you in a challenge. I won't make queen, maybe lady in waiting?!!

I'm new here but I'd love to join the challenge if that's alright.

ckatgo, I hope you are doing well. It's been terrible outside! I'm north of you and we're still having limbs fall. A tree split in half this morning and landed on my neighbors home. What a way to wake up!

Keep warm

I'll join in the challenge too. I'm particularly trying to work on the exercise thing. I doubt I'll make queen either but it would be a motivator. Who is going to be responsible for the question of the day?

Yeah! We have a challenge!! I think this will be fun. Remember that we are only as strong as our weakest member so do your best!!
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What should we do for our Queen?? Do you think it would be fun to have the Queen be the one to ask the question of the day for the week following her win??

Here is what I am thinking, for example:

The Queen’s daily query: What is the best Christmas present you have ever gotten?
__________________________________________________ _____________
I thought this would be a nice explaination of what we are doing:

You can be the Queen of Sonoma!
This group is open to everyone. The intent behind this challenge is to motivate ourselves so that we can follow through with our goals consistently. Sometimes being accountable to someone other than ourselves can make a difference. We will offer support, ideas, tips, caring and sharing, and motivation. Feel free to post as much or as little as you like. It is YOUR challenge.

Each week you will have your own personal challenge. This will be something you declare at the beginning of each week and will work on and track your progress all week. You can change it every week or continue with the same challenge week after week. We do ask that you report on your plan and progress because it is something we can all learn from. You pick what you want to accomplish or work on for the week (ideas are: controlling weekend/evening eating, negative self-talk, planning menus, exercise, trying new recipes, or any of the 5 items from the daily points, etc.)


Daily points (give yourself one point for each of the following you were successful with)

• drinking 8 glasses of water
• eating only from our Sonoma list
• planning your menus for the day
• exercising for at least 15 minutes
• checking in at 3fc and answering the QOTD
• focused and continued work on your personal challenge
__________________________________________________ _______________
Here is the daily template; you can just fill this out and earn your points. Just copy and paste it. Keep track of your points and at the end of the week you will be the Queen of Sonoma if you have the most points!


Name:
How many points did you earn yesterday?
Tell us something you did right yesterday—give yourself some praise!
What are you doing today to help with your personal challenge?

Queen's answer:

This is an example IF we were already started. Do you want to start tomorrow???

Name: Gina
How many points did you earn yesterday? only two
Tell us something you did right yesterday—give yourself some praise! I prepared a recipe from the Sonoma cookbook before I left for work yesterday. When I got home all I had to do was grill it!
What are you doing today to help with your personal challenge? I will get back on that--I really need to think about it.

Queen's answer: The best present ever was a candle my son got me when he was only 6. So sweet! I also loved it when my husband went all over town getting me something from every store (small small town). He gave me practical things like shoes, night gown, etc.

Have a great day!