weight loss support?

[pooks]

I'm a lifetime member of WW but I never felt "great" on that program.

Years later my husband wanted to do the Zone Diet because so many people at work had raved about it. There were some extreme results -- one woman who had been diagnosed with MS, was on the appropriate drugs, was having to take a nap or rest twice a day at work, etc. went on it, lost weight that she'd been carrying since she was a teenager, and ended up off all meds, and (as my husband said) so "cheerful and high energy she's disgusting." A guy who was a runner ran his fastest time ever -- and he was in his 40s, a time when people aren't expected to be doing that.

So we went on it, loved it, and I did lose a lot of weight and felt good. But like most things, after a couple of years we started wanting the white breads and pastas again "for variety," and eased back into our old habits. (With the Zone, you give up "bad carbs/high glycemic" and eat lots of "good carbs/low glycemic" -- so you're still eating lots of veggies, fruits, etc., but give up most starches.)

Thing is, I felt great on that diet, or way of eating. Sigh. It just seems as if any "change" is destined to fail for me, because eventually I'm going to slide back into bad habits.

Anyway, what I'm really interested in personally is more the "good healthy food and exercise" that some of you have mentioned, rather than a specific diet. I think I'll always be aware of limiting starches and emphasizing good fruits and veggies, though. A lot of the Zone just made sense to me, even though I didn't stick to it.

One thing I found helpful though was to figure out a few good meals and snacks that I liked, and make sure I could always fall back on them in a pinch. When first starting the Zone I was told "don't make it complicated -- pick out a few meals and repeat them a few times if you want, to get into it."

I think that's what I need to do now. Figure out a few meals I really like, buy the right food to prepare them, and just stick to them for a week so I'm not thinking about food all the time.

That's the worst part of any "diet" for me -- I end up thinking about food all the time, because I'm constantly worrying about what we're going to eat, planning it in my head, etc!

[jayjay]

>>> Sigh. It just seems as if any "change" is destined to fail for me, because eventually I'm going to slide back into bad habits.<<<

What I hear here is the very common little saboteur in most of us, which is self doubt and giving our power away to lower impulses. I suffer from the same doubt, but believe there *will* be a time my commitment to better choices becomes the mainstay, even more pleasurable, and eventually giving in to silly carb cravings becomes less fulfilling.

We have to believe in ourselves , for if not, who will

[kjay]

emily in nc: Did you ever hit the nail on the head with your message, ie, it really resonated with me, as I have the very same problem with losing weight. I, too, lost weight with five hours of cycling, but that's a tough thing to do every day, isn't it.

The other time I successfully lost weight in the past few years was to eat mostly protein and veggies, but I forgot which plan I was following (I believe it was the book written by the personal trainer who was on the TV program "Extreme Makeover"). One example of breakfast on this plan was one or two egg whites. Yes, I lost, but it was very difficult to maintain energy with such a small amount of food.

Anyway, I just wanted to respond to your message because your experience and mine are so very similar.