The Beck Diet Solution is not working!

Today I've had 4 oatmeal raisin cookies and ice-cream. Cognitive behaviour...shmognitive behaviour!

The Beck Diet Solution - Frustrated!

I haven't lost any weight on the Beck Diet Solution. It's been two weeks and I'm getting a little tired of the daily exercises. I don't see how putting more food on my plate at each meal for one day and then not eating all the food is going to teach me not to overeat. There is more to overeating than that. This book doesn't seem to address why one overeats or at least I haven't gotten to that chapter yet. Another exercise was to skip lunch one day so I can learn that I can live with hunger. Again, I don't see how this will help me understand why I eat too much. I don't feel like I'm getting to the root of the matter!

The Beck Diet Solution - Thinking like a thin person

I'm one week into The Beck Diet Solution and I've chosen to do this book with Weight Watchers. Again, the premise of this book is to change your behaviour and way of thinking around food. I've done Weight Watchers, I'm sure, a hundred times before and yes, I'm bored with it. I figure If the premise is to think differently about food, it really shouldn't matter what diet I do as it's all in the mind.
According to the book, I must put my reasons for wanting to lose weight on paper and I have to read those reasons to myself several times a day. I am also to put any sabotaging thoughts down on paper and then write a contradicting response to the initial thought and read these as often as required too. Each daily exercise is to get me one step closer to thinking like a thin person. Today I am to differentiate between hunger, desire and cravings by writing down how my stomach feels before, during, immediately after and twenty minutes after each meal. Other examples...Day 10-set a realistic goal and day 33-eliminate emotional eating.
I don't know if I've lost any weight this week. I had family over for dinner last night and I had 9 Weight Watcher points more than I was supposed to yesterday ( that's probably equal to 450 calories) but I did take them out of my weekly reserve so I really haven't gone off the diet.
For those who are not familiar with Weight Watchers, you are allowed "X" amount of points a day depending on your start weight and activity level. Each point is approximately worth 50 calories. I have not actually joined Weight Watchers this time round, but I do have all the booklets from the last time I joined so I am just following the program I did then. If it was supposed to work then, I'm sure it's supposed to work now.

The Flat Belly Diet - Final Results

I've completed 31 out of 32 days of the Flat Belly Diet! By Liz Vaccariello and Cynthia Sass, RD. I've lost an impressive 8 lbs but I have to confess that I cheated the last couple of days. No, I haven't been into the ice-cream again. I actually cheated by repeating the last 2 days of the intitial 4 day "jumpstart" portion of the diet and I'm sure I dropped another 1 or 2 lbs because of it. Well, I'm ready to move on to another diet. I don't think I'd want to do this diet long term. I missed having things like yogurt and eggs but I'd definitely recommend this diet for a month.
Likes - I definitely liked the 4 day "jumpstart" to the diet. I would use the 4 day "jumpstart" again if I had been eating poorly - lots of junk food and I just wanted to feel better. I also really liked the sassy water. Unlike most diets where you feel like you're forcing yourself to drink 8 glasses of water a day, this was very easy to drink. I also liked being able to eat things like olives, peanut butter, nuts and pesto as "MUFA's" (mono-unsaturated fatty acids) are a must with every meal.
Dislikes - The diet consists of 4- 400 calorie meals a day. I just can't lose weight on that many calories. I often cut out a meal and replaced it with a 100 - 150 calorie smoothie containing only milk and frozen fruit. I was also not keen on 6 days of exercise a week. I found this not very doable. Lastly, I was not thrilled with many of the recipes. They just felt like they were lacking something.

Stats for the Flat Belly Diet!
Weight - lost 8 lbs
Bust - lost .75"
Waist - lost 1.5"
Hips - lost 1.5"
BMI - 32.95

Totals to date
Weight - lost 12 lbs
Bust - lost 1.5"
Waist - lost 3"
Hips - lost 2"
Initial BMI was 35.22 - down 2.27 to 32.95

My next diet choice really isn't a diet. It is The Beck Diet Solution By Judith S. Beck, Ph.D. The premise of this book is to teach dieters to control their eating through cognitive behaviour. While completing the exercises in the book, you are to follow any healthy diet of your choice. I have chosen Weight Watchers. Stay posted!

Flat Belly Diet - Struggling

The Flat Belly Diet isn't suiting me as well as I would like. I'm finding it difficult to lose weight on 1600 calories a day. 1600 calories allows me to maintain my weight but not lose. I am also getting tired of the recipes (how many grilled chicken breasts can a girl eat). On a couple of occasions, I have considered ice-cream as one of my 400 calorie meals. What the hell, throw an olive on top and I've got my "MUFA" (mono-unsaturated fatty acid) that I am supposed to have at every meal. I really think "MUFA" should stand for MY UNATTRACTIVE FAT ASS! I have also found it difficult to keep up with 6 days per week of excercise. It does not work well into my schedule. 4 days a week I can handle. I havn't given up completely on this diet. I'm going to give it the full 32 days as required. I believe I have lost about 4 lbs on the diet but most of that is from the initial 4 day jump start portion of the diet.
One thing I've realized over the last couple of months is how strong my cravings are for sweets. I don't seem to stray from my diet over potato chips. It always seems to be something sweet. So my weight loss journey continues!

Flat Belly Diet - 4 Day Anti-Bloat Jumpstart

I started the 4 day anti-bloat jumpstart of the Flat Belly Diet on January 1st and I think I lost about 3 or 4 lbs. I am not sure of my start weight on January 1st as this was the day after New Year's Eve and to say the least, I indulged. I was not willing to get on the scale the morning of January 1st. In fact, I lay awake most of the night with a stomach ache due to the fact that after a month of eating very healthily on the No-Fail Diet , I was unable to tolerate greasy appetizers and pizza. The 4 day anti-bloat jump start is rather calorie restricted - I would guess 1000 calories/ day, possibly less. However, there is also a water concoction that you are to have 8 glasses of per day. You add mint leaves, minced ginger, lemon and cucumber slices to water. It's actually quite refreshing and I found it very easy to drink. It felt a bit like a detox which was well needed after New Year's Eve. I would imagine its rather helpful in aiding digestion as it contains ginger and lemon.
For the rest of the 28 days, I have an issue with having 4 - 400 calorie meals a day. My gut is telling me that I will not lose weight having 1600 calories a day so I sometimes eliminate 1 of the meals.
I have started weighing myself everyday again and this is a big no-no for me. I get discouraged if I go a few days without seeing any results on the scale so I am going to go back to weighing myself every 2 or 3 weeks. Stay posted for my likes, dislikes and results on the Flat Belly Diet!

Flat Belly Diet! By Liz Vaccariello and Cynthia Sass, RD

My Diet Surplus Disorder kicked in again as I had to select a new diet for the month of January…too many diets to choose from. Well, I’ve selected the Flat Belly Diet by Liz Vaccariello with Cynthia Sass, RD. The principal of this diet is to include mono-unsaturated fatty acids at every meal. They like to call these MUFAs. (Add an extra “f” to MUFA and in Italian, this means mold. Not very appetizing!) Anyway, according to the book, research has shown that dieting with MUFAs help eliminate visceral fat more so than dieting without them. Visceral fat is the underlying fat that sits closer to all your organs and is considered more dangerous than surface fat. There is a 4 day anti-bloat jumpstart phase to the diet and this is followed with a 28 day plan.

There are 3 basic rules to the diet:

1. Eat 4 - 400 calorie meals/day
2. Don’t go longer than 4 hours without eating
3. Eat a MUFA at every meal

There is an optional exercise program with this diet that includes brisk walking and interval cardio along with belly and resistance workouts. The exercise plan has you exercising 6 days a week. I find this to be a bit of a pain as it’s not always easy to fit it in everyday. That sums it up in a nutshell!

The No-Fail Diet - Final Results

Today is the last day on the No-Fail Diet by Leslie Beck. I have lost only 4 lbs for the entire month. It's been a struggle trying to get through the holidays on a diet. I was hoping for better results but I can't really blame the diet. I did find the results for the first two weeks disappointing - only a 3 lb weight loss and I stuck to the diet. The last two weeks I've been struggling with temptations and the poor results have been entirely my fault. However, I'm glad I lost 4 lbs this December as usually I gain a few instead.
Likes - the diet is healthy and I did not feel too hungry very often. Initally I was unsure the excercise plan would reap many benefits as it didn't seem too strenuous but after 4 weeks, I can definitely see an improvement in my strength. I went from being unable to do any lady's pushups to being able to do 30.
Dislikes - not many, really. My one beef is having to constantly refer back to the book and flip back and forth between pages on a daily basis i.e. - refering back to serving sizes, charts illustrating # of servings per food group, exercises for the week and pictures of exercises. I'm learning that this seems to be pretty standard for most diet books but it's still rather annoying.

Stats for the No-Fail Diet
Weight - lost 4 lbs
Bust - lost .75"
Waist - lost 1.5"
Hips - lost .5"
BMI - was 35.22 now - 34.47

Would I recommend this diet? Yes. It's healthy and doable!
My next diet is the Flat Belly Diet! by Liz Vaccariello with Cynthia Sass.

The No-Fail diet - Making it through the holidays!

As of December 23rd, I was down 6 lbs. I lost more weight in the 10 days that followed the 2 week "jump-start" portion of the diet which doesn't make a lot of sense to me. However, I'll take whatever weight loss I can get. The last week of December has been a real struggle. December 23rd - work Christmas party, December 25th - family dinner on Christmas day along with ample temptations of chocolate all over the house, December 26th and 27th - difficult to get back into the swing of dieting, December 28th - behaved myself, December 29th - into the chocolates again. I'm hoping my weight loss for January will be the 6 lbs I had taken off as of December 23rd. I'll be pretty happy with that, all things considering!

The No-Fail Diet - Phase 1 results

I've lost 3lbs in 2 weeks on The No-Fail Diet. I was pretty disappointed when I weighed myself yesterday. 3lbs didn't seem like much of a "jump start". I was hoping for a 5 or 6lb weight loss and after moping all day, I caved and ate another ice-cream bar. I didn't even try to convince myself that it counted as a dairy portion.
This morning I woke up and decided to have a different attitute. With the holidays here, most people by the second week of December have gained 3lbs. I fortunately have lost 3lbs. So the struggle continues. I am going to stick with this diet until the end of December. I'll keep you posted!

Yesterday I reached that crazy point. I convinced myself that a Breyers triple chocolate Klondike Bar is in fact a dairy portion. Boy was it good! I don't know why I watch cooking shows when I'm hungry. I'm just asking for punishment. New rule - will only watch such TV shows on a full stomach. I'm back on track today. Nothing like substituting spaghetti with spaghetti squash! Check in on Monday to find out how much weight I've lost on Phase 1-Jump Start on The No-Fail Diet by Leslie Beck.

The No-Fail Diet - Leslie Beck, RD

My first diet choice is The No-Fail Diet by Leslie Beck, RD. This diet has no gimmicks. It’s just common sense. Lots of fruit, vegetables, carbs low on the glycemic index, low fat protein and dairy products. There are four steps to the diet – eat every 3-4 hours, have protein at every meal, watch your portion sizes, and use a food journal to track your food intake.
There are 3 phases to the diet. Phase 1 – jump start your weight loss with fewer carbs. Phase 2 – here you will be until you lose all the weight you wish to. Phase 3 – maintenance.
Exercise includes 4 cardio and 3 strength training workouts per week. I’m not really sure how effective the workouts are. They are far from strenuous. I suppose time will tell.
I’ve been on the diet for 1 week and have not weighed myself since day 1. I'm going to weigh myself once I've been on the diet for 2 weeks. If I don’t see weight loss a couple of days in a row, I become easily unmotivated. Wish me luck!

I suffer from Diet Surplus Disorder!

Yes, I suffer from DSD (Diet Surplus Disorder) or at least that's what I like to call it. Too many diets to choose from...South Beach, Weight Watchers, Atkins, The Grapefruit diet, etc., etc., etc.,. One of my issues with sticking to a diet is that I get bored within a few weeks. So, I have decided to try a new approach. I am going to stick with a diet until I find I'm trying to convince myself that ice cream counts as a dairy portion and then I am going to move onto a new diet. During this torture...I mean process, I'm going to review the diet regularly and give updates on my progress. If anyone would like to join me or has any pointers or words of encouragement, I'd love the support! I have a fair amount of weight to lose (60lbs +) so I'll be on quite a few diets, I'm sure! Here is my selection of diets...

The No-Fail Diet, Leslie Beck, RD
The Flat Belly Diet, Cynthia Sass & Liz Vaccariello
The Beck Diet Solution, Judith Beck
The Biggest Loser 30-Day Jump Start, Cheryl Forberg
The Eat Clean Diet, Tosca Reno
The Devil’s Diet, Anita Lover
The Maker’s Diet, Jordan Rubin (I thought I’d select this diet just in case I need to repent for any sins committed while being on the Devil’s diet)
So You Think You’re Fat & Ugly Diet, Donald Wayne Eaker (Can you tell that my weight has done a number on my self-esteem?)
YOU: On a Diet: The Owner's Manual for Waist Management, Dr. Michael Roizen and Dr. Mehmet Oz
Joy's Life Diet, Joy Bauer

Diet selections are likely to be added and/or changed due to the availability of books or due to crazy anecdotes required by the authors. (i.e.-I will not eat wheatgrass or wrap myself in plastic wrap for weeks - Well, I might consider a few days.)