I have been having such good success with the Zone that my sister has started eating in the Zone, too! We are a family with autoimmune issues - I have MS and my sister has Crohn's. She sent me an email with a couple of questions and I wondered if my more experienced Zone friends could help me with the reponse. Thanks! Here is her email:

I have a couple things that I have questions about and am too embarrassed to put it on the forum. 1.) I am only going #2 every other day and it is actually formed. You know I am use to diarrhea so I may be just more concerned than I should be but I have been feeling bloating since I don’t go every day. 2.) I have noticed that I am losing fat in areas that appear as indentations or concaveness on my butt and tummy. It doesn’t look very attractive(not that the fat did) but you can see the them through my pants in my butt area. I guess this will just encourage me to lose all the fat so it is nice and smoothJ

Christi, hopefully we can help your sister. Congrats on getting her into the Zone!

For question #1, everyone's "patterns" are different. Some people go several times per day, some daily, and some go even less. If she is feeling bloated and constipated, though, this is not a "normal" pattern. A couple of things could be at play. She could be in the phase of releasing her AA stores, which might lead to constipation. This should not last for very long, though. I think she probably needs to increase the amount of water that she is drinking. It takes a lot of water to burn fat, and it is also necessary to drink more water when consuming larger amounts of fiber.

For question #2, unfortunately fat burns off "evenly" despite the fact that it may have deposited "unevenly". So, areas that don't have as much fat layer will probably appear to thin out first (that is one reason why many people notice weight loss in the face first). Tell her to stick with it, and as she continues to have good results, the other areas will continue to shrink down, too.

Thanks, Cranberrycat! I didn't think about the water issue but that makes perfect sense. She never has formed stools (because of her Crohn's) so this is new all around for her. I'll pass along your input on both her comments. She is dedicated to living in the Zone and I'm so proud of her for her efforts.

Thanks again!

Hi Christie,

About your sister's first question, she would benefit from an increase in her fish oil dose. It's also important to for her to drink plenty of water. The following is info about water intake in the Zone (found here: http://www.zonediet.com/GroceryAddi...ault.aspx)

"Secrets to Lose Fat Even Faster on the ZoneFast™ Program

Drink enough water (in ounces) to equal at least 1/2 your weight!

Here are a few suggestions to make water more interesting:

Add a little lime or lemon juice
Dilute one oz. of fruit juice with 8 oz. water
Drink mineral water in glass bottles
If you drink any diet soda or coffee (regular or decaf), then plan to add an equivalent amount of extra water to make up for their diuretic effects."


Some info about fat loss, people tend to lose body fat from areas in the reverse order of how it was put it on. The first area where you originally gain is usually the last area to slim down when you approach your ideal weight.

____________________________________________

sue
Consultant of Zone Labs
Certified Zone Affiliate

Lost 100 lbs 15 yrs ago, off BP meds, thanks to the Zone diet and Zone fish oil. ZoneFast 1-2-3 is the best!

View my Zone Fast 1-2-3 meal photos here:
http://s531.photobucket.com/albums/...3%20Meals/

View my classic Zone meal photos here:
http://s531.photobucket.com/albums/...4/?start=0

Christie, you're welcome! Glad to help out.

As Sue mentioned, she could use an increase in her fish oil dose, as well. I was going to put that in my first post, but I forgot to mention it.

I don't believe that I have ever seen evidence that suggests that fat burns off in reverse order of how it was put on... it may appear that way, but I think it is more of an illusion. If more fat is built up around the abdomen, it is going to take longer for that to disappear, because fat burns off evenly--it is not selective in what areas burn off first. So, areas that don't have as much will "appear" to burn off first, but trust me... fat is burning off all over!

Have a great day!

Hi Everyone,

The fat loss info I posted here is from a Zone article. It's about individual tendencies for gaining/losing excess stored fat. The area where you tend to notice your fat gain first (the tummy for many, hips and thighs for some) will usually be the last area that will totally slim down when you are close to your ideal body fat percentage.

____________________________________________

sue
Consultant of Zone Labs
Certified Zone Affiliate

Lost 100 lbs 15 yrs ago, off BP meds, thanks to the Zone diet and Zone fish oil. ZoneFast 1-2-3 is the best!

View my Zone Fast 1-2-3 meal photos here:
http://s531.photobucket.com/albums/...3%20Meals/

View my classic Zone meal photos here:
http://s531.photobucket.com/albums/...4/?start=0

Where is that zone article located?

Might be the "semantics" that we are using here...the areas of fat that are most dense will be the last to go. But, it would be nice to see exactly what was written on the subject, and what evidence exists to support it.

Thanks!

Thanks so much both Sue and Cranberrycat! I appreciate so much your willingness to take the time to answer my questions. It helps enormously and really shows the level of support and care you bring to the forum. Thanks!

You're welcome Christie. Have a nice weekend. :-)

Sue - the link says "file or directory not found" - any thoughts? I'll also just look on the site and can direct my sister from there, but in case anyone else might benefit from this.

Christie, thanks to you for the compliment! Means a lot to me!

Hi Christie,

It works for me. Since I had posted it in partntheses, you might have accidentally pasted part of that into your browser. Here it is again if you want to retry.

http://www.zonediet.com/GroceryAddi...fault.aspx

The other way to get to that page is to click on the Weight Loss tab above and then click on Grocery Additions.


____________________________________________

sue
Consultant of Zone Labs
Certified Zone Affiliate

Lost 100 lbs 15 yrs ago, off BP meds, thanks to the Zone diet and Zone fish oil. ZoneFast 1-2-3 is the best!

View my Zone Fast 1-2-3 meal photos here:
http://s531.photobucket.com/albums/...3%20Meals/

View my classic Zone meal photos here:
http://s531.photobucket.com/albums/...4/?start=0

Perfect, Sue! Thanks!

Christie, glad you found it. :-)

Where is that zone article located?

Might be the "semantics" that we are using here...the areas of fat that are most dense will be the last to go. But, it would be nice to see exactly what was written on the subject, and what evidence exists to support it.

Thanks!</div>

It was either on this site, or in a "Zone Living" newsletter. Most or all of the articles in the newsletters are also on this site, so you can probably find it here.

____________________________________________

sue
Consultant of Zone Labs
Certified Zone Affiliate

Lost 100 lbs 15 yrs ago, off BP meds, thanks to the Zone diet and Zone fish oil. ZoneFast 1-2-3 is the best!

View my Zone Fast 1-2-3 meal photos here:
http://s531.photobucket.com/albums/...3%20Meals/

View my classic Zone meal photos here:
http://s531.photobucket.com/albums/...4/?start=0

Maybe you could find the article and post the reference, since you are familiar with it?

Sorry Cran, but I wouldn't know where to start. I don't remember what the article was about. If you're intertested in finding it, I think it might have been in an article written by Dave Schreck (not sure). I also think it was incidental info mentioned in the article, not the main subject.

____________________________________________

sue
Consultant of Zone Labs
Certified Zone Affiliate

Lost 100 lbs 15 yrs ago, off BP meds, thanks to the Zone diet and Zone fish oil. ZoneFast 1-2-3 is the best!

View my Zone Fast 1-2-3 meal photos here:
http://s531.photobucket.com/albums/...3%20Meals/

View my classic Zone meal photos here:
http://s531.photobucket.com/albums/...4/?start=0

Hmmm, OK. I am not going to search around for it, but if you come across it, please post it. Again, would be nice to see the evidence that supports your statement. Thanks!