Hi, everyone. My husband, who is doing amazing on The Zone, has inspired me to follow the plan too. I erad the book "A Week in the Zone" and pretty much have my routine meals down. I have been on the plan for over a week. Although I only have a total of about 7 lbs. to loose I have been trying for years. Most of you will tell me to get over it but I have worked out my whole life and have kept my health good so I do not have to take any drugs for heart, blood pressure, cholesterol, etc. The only thing I take are some supplements and Synthroid. I really need some help because yesterday I was 135 lbs. and today I am 136. This is very frustrating as my husband goes down each day even if a few ounces but I went up today. He wants me to stay on it and I do to but need some help and guidance. I have tried for so long to get to my goal of at least 130 lbs. When I saw the scale today I was really upset. I felt like I lost weight but the scale showed different. Again I know it is only a few pounds so is this normal and can someone help me or guide me to whom I can get some proper information as to what I may be doing wrong on this plan.

Hi Carol,

I'll be happy to help. I agree that it's important to stay lean and in the best of health. Your body is still adjusting to the change in eating, so try to be patient and five it a little time. Your comment that you feel as though you've lost weight shows you are entering the Zone. The extra pound could very well be due to a variation in hydration levels from the last time you weighed (wt can change by several pounds either way due to level of hydration). Be sure to drink plenty of water to prevent fluid retention. The current Zone recommendation is to drink a 16 oz glass of water before every meal. Carbohydrate choices are of the utmost importance. Judge your success for now by mental clarity plus lack of hunger 4 hours after a meal. If you have hunger at 4 hours use the hormonal adjustment chart to adjust carbohydrate amounts (http://drsears.com/portals/6/Docume...lchart.pdf ).

Rather than the scale, use the Body Fat Calculator on this site to monitor your fat loss (http://www.zonediet.com/tools/body-...lculator). Dr. Sears recommends to use your calculator stats form 2 weeks after beginning the Zone so give it another week to calculate your baseline. During the first two weeks of the diet you can still be retained fluid, and that will skew your calculator result. The goal will be for your body fat to decrease (if you are still above 22% body fat), and for your LBM to remain stable or to increase.

Since you have a hypothyroid concern (assuming that's why you're taking Synthroid), you might need to practice stricter adherence to Zone principles. I have a lot of experience with hypothyroidism and the Zone. I have hypothyroidism as do several relatives of mine who all follow the Zone diet. We've all been very successful in losing the excess weight and keeping it off for good. A tip, a small number of carbohydrates have changed category from favorable to unfavorable since "A Week In The Zone " was written,. Defer to the most up to date Food Block Guide (http://drsears.com/ArticlePreview/t...ult.aspx).

If you have any questions or would like me to take a look at your meals to suggest whe to fine tune for you needs feel free to post the information here.

Have a nice weekend!

Carol, I am also happy to help.

Can you post a sample of what you might be eating in a given day? Also, it wouldn't hurt to post some stats. You may "think" that you need to lose those 7#, but if you look at your stats, you may see that your bodyfat% is in a healthy range, and you don't always want to drop below that.

If you do have a few pounds to lose, sometimes those last few are absolutely the hardest to lose. Again, posting a sample of what you are eating will help us to see if you can make any improvements in your food choices.

Hi, thank you both for answering me. It has been one month today and I am now at 134 lbs. Ugh, it is so frustrating. Here are my stats as of this writing: Body Fat 26%, Body Fat weight 35, Lean Body Mass 100, indicates I need 11 protein, fat and carbs.
Here is a typical eating day: Breakfast 1/2 cup egg whites (sometimes throw in diced green peppers), serv. turkey sausage or Canadian Bacon, applesauce; Lunch Garden salad (from Wendy's) and put my own 3 oz of turkey on it with slice of swiss cheese, some chic peas and some cut up green peppers, Newman's Vinegerete and red wine dressing (just enough to give the salad some flavor) and an applesauce or mandarin oranges; Snack is some apple slices, Dinner is Morning Star burger with vegatables and piece of fruit; Late night snack is a pear or maybe stick of low fat cheese with piece of small fruit. I am now cutting out some fruit throughout the day and am going to cut out my afternoon snack. I drink at least 60 - 80 oz of water. Lift weights with a trainer 2 x week and try to do a spin class once or twice a week. My main goal is 130 lbs but really want to be at 127 if possible. This has been a long time goal and while my husband has dropped a lot of weight I am struggling. I realize he had a lot more to loose than I as he is reaching about 25 lbs to date but being that I feel I am trying to be strict why is the weight not coming off more. Do you agree I am eating too much and should cut back with the fruits, etc.? Also, I have printed out some other easy receipes such as the cottage cheese with fruit and some slivered almonds for breakfast. Is it okay to eat my breakfast at dinner and mix my meals around? I can only assume I am loosing fat and that takes longer to loose than water weight. Is this correct. Thank you in advance for your input.

Carol

Carol, no guessing needed, use the body fat calculator to monitor pounds of fat lost. Don't skip the afternoon snack. For now, don't eat legumes and cut fruit intake to 1 block of berries a day. You're so close to ideal bodyfat % that you may only lose a pound every month. Keep up the good job.

Sue, thanks for your input.

Carol, also, yes, it's fine to eat a breakfast type of meal for lunch or dinner. All Zone meals will have about the same balance of P, C and F.

Carol, meant to say about the same amount of calories and about the same balance of P, C, and F.