Hi. I'm wondering if there are any Zoners in Minnesota or elsewhere who are looking to find another Zoner to encourage each other through a forum to stick with the Zone and / or lose weight. I've heard that having some support system is an excellent way to reach and maintain weight loss goals and I would like someone who understand the Zone journey as a way of life not a fad diet. I want to be a committed Zoner, have recetnly started the Zone, and have started a food journal. Even when I stray I mark it down to hold myself accountable and try to remember that the next meal I can be right back in the Zone again!

Hi K.! I'm not from MN, but I'm from N. Wisconsin - will I do? :) I'm a huge fan of MN - the arrowhead especially. I'm lucky enough to live within a days drive of either Ely or Grand Marais and get to Duluth for shopping on a regular basis.

I started the Zone diet quite sucessfully last summer and then life got in the way. A food journal and a buddy would have been VERY helpful! I actually registered on this site and because I can't remember the user name I used I've had to reregister with another email addy.

I was able to stick with the eating for a couple of weeks, but I didn't have the time to really investigate new recipes, and food block combos, so I kept eating the same things over and over. Between the boredom and cramped schedule I just fell off the wagon. To make matters worse I own a bakery! Not making excuses here, just the fact that since I bought the bakery I've gained 30 pounds.

Anyway, I'm looking for a fresh start - I love the Zone lifestyle, I just need to get a firm footing and a good handle on the food blocks.

Sherry

Hi, Sherry. Wow, a bakery and the Zone. That is some gumption but good for you. I hear you about life getting in the way but let's encourage each other because eating well and being healthy needs to be a priority. I am using the block system and look to grams when I'm getting any type of packaged food so I see how it fits in the scheme of things and what, if anything, I need to add to it to make it a complete Zone meal. I don't need to do that tons, however, because I'm also trying to eat "clean" meaning non-processed foods whenever possible. I think the place to start is in the grocery store. If one can buy the right healthy food then the tendency to go off for me is less because unhealthy food it just not handy. I don't do tons of recipe cooking but have both the Zone Meals in Minutes and Zone Meals in Seconds books which I think are great resources to take out some of the boredom you are experiencing. Give them a try. Also, just trying different toppings on foods you may eat a lot helps. For example, I often have baked chicken breast and today baked some garlic cloves in the oven with olive oil and I'm going to use that as a spread on the chicken. Also, I rediscovered what's called Cowboy Cavier, which I really like as a topping on the chicken too (much better than paired with chips which I used to do before). It does have a little bit of corn in it, but not much, so I consider this to be treating that "unfavorable" carbohydrate as a condiment, which is ok. I think Zoning it is a lot more work that eating like I used to - just eat out or eat some frozen dinner because there is a lot of cooking, cutting vegggies, etc. but here's what I do. Rather than make specific recipes I typically cook a lot of meat on the weekends, like chicken breast, turkey tenderloins, fish, etc. and then weigh everything out into the blocks I need so it's all sitting in the fridge ready to go. I also get all my fruit and vegetables washed and measured out and put in tupperware containers. Then I just mix and match and pull out already prepared "meals" from the fridge all without doing a big recipe 3 times a day +. This works great for me. I even measure out the cottage cheese this way and usually have been having cottage cheese, almonds, and fruit for breakfast. I am growing to like cottage cheese more as I go. I was a big cereal fan which has been hard to give up. If you're looking for a way to get a good handle on the food blocks I suggest the book A Week in the Zone. It has a section in the back of measurements for various protein, carbs, and fat. I paper clip this section of the book and refer to it when I get my meals ready. It's so handy and contains a lot of the most common things a person might eat. It's a great primer to the block system too. Congrats on your decision to make a fresh start!

-K

Good Morning K.!

Well, you certainly sound like you have a good grasp on the 'block' thing. I need to make a little laminated reference card I can keep on my body for eating out. I've printed out the shopping list and food lists so I'll take that with me into town today to help with the grocery shopping.

How long have you been at this? You sound incredibly organzied! I'm impressed! What you mentioned, about pre-packaging and dividing up of your food is a very good idea. I did that so some extent last summer, but then as my work days got longer and longer (12-14 hours) that kind of thing became near impossible to keep up with. We were open 7 days a week and I didn't have a day off, forget a weekend off, so even simple things like shopping became a run in - run out at 10 or 11pm, tired, hungry. I was not about to begin to try to organize menus or prep food at midnight.

We live in a northwoods tourist area so things are a little slower now - I'm hoping that I can take the next few months to really become ingrained the Zone philosophies so when summer rolls around again the whole thing will be second nature.

I also found a little unused notebook laying around the house yesterday, so that will become my food journal. I know I'm very guilty of food amnesia. I can keep this little pudgy notebook in my purse and just write in it as necessary.

I have the Zone Perfect Meals in Minutes so I'll have to pull that out again this morning and write down a few new recipes to try. I was able to get a couple of the other Zone books thru a library lending program (our local library is tiny)so I'll go back and try to get those again.

Do you use any of the Zone supplements, or do you buy locally?

sherry

Hello Sherry and K!

I am also a neighbor of yours, I live in central Wisconsin!

Looking forward to sharing with both of you. I am sure we share similar obstacles, with our smaller rural towns, it is sometimes a bit more difficult to get things. But, we manage.

I live closer to the Fox Valley: Oshkosh, Appleton, etc. But, it is not a difficult drive to head west, and we have been to Minnesota on occasion. Also, LOVE northern Wisconsin! We live where we live because it reminds me of up north, but we can still be relatively close to the family.

Hi, Sherry and Cranberrycat. Glad to have anyone sharing thoughts on supporting the Zone lifestyle. Sherry, to answer your question I recently started the Zone (December) but have done it one other time before I fell off the wagon. I lost about 30 pounds until I started eating the way I had used to. This time, I realize it's just something I need to stick to because without it all the weight just comes back on. The laminated reference card is a great idea! No, I'm not on any Zone supplements at this time. I figure if I make too many changes all at once it may be overwhelming for me and I want to just get the eating thing to be second nature and then move on from there. Sounds like your schedule was pretty crazy! For me, I just don't feel like cooking every single day and find that if I spend an afternoon on Saturday or Sunday I can actually get most if not all my meals ready for the week, in the fridge and ready to go. Having it preplanned is the only way for me to do it because I'm not a morning person and having to think about what to pack for lunch if it's not all set up would cause me to simply go to work without packing a lunch and then eat out - anything that sounded good! Hope you are both having a great weekend.
-K

Hello K--

I find that the pre-planning works best for me, too. It helps to have an idea of what I want to eat when I go to the grocery store, and then to make some meals ahead of time (mostly the lunches), so I don't have to think about it when I am rushing around in the morning.

The only supplement that I take is the EicoRx fish oil. Or, sometimes I do take a multivitamin, but I haven't been consistent with that.

As long as I have done this, it should be second nature, but it is not always that easy to make good choices when everyone around you is making poor choices (like at work). It can sometimes be tempting to say "just a little bit" or "just this once".

Good morning fellow Zoners!

Well the first 24 hours haven't been without error, but for the most part I'm with the program. I had to go in yesterday to work on some cakes - have I mentioned that we make the best tasting cakes on the planet??? ;) Well, there are always cake tops to be shaved off and buttercream to be cleaned up. Anyway, my transgressions were not too bad. I figure about a 1/4 of a normal slice. I need a way to figure all that into blocks!

Dinner was out of the Zone Meals in Minutes and so was breakfast. K, I took a page out of your book and sliced and diced my grocery order. I chopped the head of califlower and broccoli florets, sliced radishes, pre-baked chicken, ect. - so hopefully that will give me a jump start this week.

Cranberrycat - I know your area well, I'm up in Eagle River.

Well, I need to get on with the day, have a good one both of you!

sherry

How do you handle cravings? I would say my cravings for "bad" carbohydrates has definately decreased but some days at work I still crave sweets from the coffee shop. How can I deal when nothing else sounds good?

Sherry, your portion of cake might not be too bad, especially if you use lots of fat in your recipe. Not an excuse, but if you have to "test", you might want to keep some protein around and count it in as a snack. Eagle River? Beautiful there!

K, if you stop at the coffee shop, perhaps you can take a snack along with you (perhaps a 1/2 zone bar will work).

Hi K,

Keeping your insulin in the Zone will initiate physical and psychological changes that will reduce and even eliminate the cravings. Until then, the best way to handle it is probably to take a "just say no" approach to cravings. Instead try having a Zone snack that you consider to be a little more indulgent, like a Zone bar maybe.