Hi, Everyone... This is my 1st zone day and I just wondered if it's normal to feel worse on day 1?! I have been HUNGRY all day, though I have eaten at the times and amounts suggested and drinking water (have had 10 glasses of 10 oz. as of now!) - and just low energy, sleepy... Now, I do suffer from chronic illnesses that cause these symptoms too, but today has been worse for some reason. Is it just that it takes some time for the body to adjust to the new way of eating? I am also diabetic and on a GOOD note I did not have to take any of my pre-meal insulin today!!!! My blood sugar has been between 104-126 even after eating so I think this is eventually going to get me off my diabetes meds and insulin (here's hoping anyway)! I also need to lose about 150 pounds so I'm encouraged to hear from those of you who have accomplished this. BTW, I'm doing this program upon the recommendation of my doctor (a Naturopath) who feels it will help my lupus (an auto-immune disease that causes pain and inflammation) - so I'm doing this for MANY reasons and just hoping and praying it works... Thanks! Jacki :lol:

Hi Jacki... I've lost 90 pounds in the past year without much trouble so it's definetly achievable :lol: I distinctly remember feeling a little cruddy for a few days but mine was more bloating and headache...everyone is different. Within 4 days I felt tremendously better and certainly wasn't tired. I was never hungry. Are you sure that you're eating correctly? With the quantity of water that you're consuming, this should diminish hunger feelings as well...this leads me to question if in fact you're eating either enough or enough carbs. Can you give us a for instance of what you've consumed at meals and how you've spaced them throughout the day?

Hi, and thanks so much for the reply! 90 lbs. - that's awesome and very encouraging to me! I do believe I did not eat enough yesterday after reviewing my materials a little more. This is kind of confusing at first! Here's what I had yesterday: Breakfast: 1 Zone Bar (as suggested in the video I have) Lunch: Pre-packaged cottage cheese with peaches that were 2.5 grams of fat, 11 of protein, and 21 carbs. I added 3 cashews to get more fat and a tablespoon of protein powder for more protein. I realize now that I needed about 6.5 more grams of fat and 10 more of protein and 9 more carbs! My head was scrambled I think... Okay - then for afternoon snack I had 1/2 a Zone bar. Got REALLY hungry about an hour later so had the other half. Supper: Small piece of pork roast (since I had this left over) - about the size of my palm or a smidge smaller even. About 1 cup of broccoli w/cheese. And about 1/2 cup of rice. Oh and about 1 cup of green beans sauteed in olive oil and soy sauce. Was starving within 2 hours so had a serving of my protein powder with soy milk. Then had another Zone bar as a snack. At bedtime I was hungry AGAIN(!) so I checked my blood sugar, which was at 86 - way too low to go to bed on! So I had to eat something with more carbs to get my sugar to a safer range - I had 1 yogurt with blueberries. Today, I've felt quite a bit better, though I still felt the afternoon "crash"... I had the following today: Breakfast: 2 soy sausage links, 1/2 orange, 3 almonds, 1 Zone bar. (This would be a 3-block meal, right?!!) Lunch: The cottage cheese/fruit package with 6 pecan halves added, a tablespoon of protein powder added, and about 6 Wheat Thins since that was all I could find quickly to add a few more carbs! Supper: Stir fry with steak pieces, red/yellow/green bell peppers, onions, and garlic - all done with some olive oil in the pan. And about 1/4 cup of rice. That's been it so far and I plan to have a Zone bar for a snack in a little while... Does this sound like I'm on the right track?! I need to get more veggies in the house and some salad fixings, etc., tomorrow when I go to the store. I still haven't finished reading the "Week in the Zone" book and I also have the "Omega RX Zone" book that I need to read. So I'm trying to get started on the knowledge I already have but I know I probably need to do more tweaking here and there! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! thanks so much! Jacki :?

I felt terrible on my first day too but something worries me you said "Breakfast: 1 Zone Bar (as suggested in the video I have)" was that sent to you buy Zone Perfect?? Because they are not associated with "The Zone" If you did that might be why you are feeling so bad.There Zone Bars taste like Chalk. "Breakfast: 2 soy sausage links, 1/2 orange, 3 almonds, 1 Zone bar. (This would be a 3-block meal, right?!!) " Hmm...... This looks like its off heres a really good meal thats balanced-3 Soy Sausages,1 1/2 Orange,an 12 almonds Get rid of the zone bars there horrible and a waste of money Do you Have a zone book Like "A week in the Zone" which in the back has alot of info on whats balanced and how to balance it.

This is unwelcome news! I eat these things because they're convenient and I thougnt they were ok...what is out there that is convenient that is balanced correctly?

The ZonePerfect bars work to keep some people in the zone, but not others. You just have to see what works for you. Jacki-you might want to check the Body Fat calculator(go to Drsears.com, then click on zone tools, then the body fat calculator) to make sure you're eating enough blocks per day. That might be why you are getting hungry. I read somewhere if you are significantly overweight (300 pounds) that your activity level actually goes up because carrying the extra weight counts as a form of exercise. Good luck! New2Zone

<This is unwelcome news! I eat these things because they're convenient and I thougnt they were ok...what is out there that is convenient that is balanced correctly??> Also theres High Fructose Corn Syrup in them (forgot to add that) Well heres an idea for ONE WEEK elimnated all Bread,Pastas,Zone Bars then after on week instead of adding zone bars add Balance bars (i believe these are better) and just slowly introduce them.Ether that or just buy some lunch meat and some fruit and some nuts and that will work.

Andrew, Thanks for the info on the Zone bars. They're fearsomely expensive and if they are sabotaging me I'm relieved to let them go. I'll give your idea a whirl...now, any ideas on how to reign in a husband's sweet tooth? He's supposed to be on the Zone, too, but a special occasion (such as the first day of warmer weather) is to be celebrated with ice cream! G.

Annalyza, This sounds kind of gross, and I don't know what made me first try it, but... I can't eat ice cream any more (it doesn't like me), so I found this awesome Soy Delicious that tastes pretty darned good. However, it's not balanced. So I got some and was thinking I would have it as part of a meal, etc. etc. Well, there I was looking for a late night snack, and there was the Soy Delicious, and I thought, well, I'll add enough protein powder to balance it and it'll be great! Well, I started mixing in the vanilla soy protein powder and it was all gloppy and lumpy and I just kept mixing and decided, well, I'm not going to waste it so I'll at least give it a try! And it tasted like cookie dough ice cream!!! The protein powder still was rather lumpy, but all the stirring made it at least wet, and the vanilla clumps tasted like cookie dough! So while I don't eat it every night as my snack, it's still rather high in sugar, I do have this as an occasional special treat and my ice cream is now "Zoned"! :-) Might be hard to do this with a soft serve at the local DQ, but at home it's a great (balanced) taste treat! Hmmm, I wonder how it would taste with the Rocky Road *grin* Robbin

OmegaZone bars work great for many people. They are not unfavorable in conjunction with the diet. The pateneted control released bars have been clinically proven to keep people in the Zone, so try them out for yourself before giving up on them. OmegaZone bars are not to be confused with ZonePerfect bars.

[quote:771630272f="..."] OmegaZone bars work great for many people. They are not unfavorable in conjunction with the diet. The pateneted control released bars have been clinically proven to keep people in the Zone, so try them out for yourself before giving up on them. OmegaZone bars are not to be confused with ZonePerfect bars.[/quote:771630272f] P.S. We use Symmetry bars from Vitamin World. Available retail or on-the-web. Not time released / controlled like the real deal OmegaZone bars, but not nearly as sweet as most everything else out there. In a pinch, like when traveling or on vacation, we like Balance (not Balance Gold), though it is a little less sweet tasting, Balance bars are still a little sweeter than Symmetry bars. And Symmetry bars tend to hold both me and my wife quite well. A box of 15 is about $10.71 (no sales tax in NH.)

[quote:ba3f7cfa8c="angelrob"] This sounds kind of gross, and I don't know what made me first try it, but... ...Well, I started mixing in the vanilla soy protein powder and it was all gloppy and lumpy and I just kept mixing [/quote:ba3f7cfa8c] This sonds like the soy isolate protein powder that I use. I have discovered that if I put some (2oz) lite soy milk in a tall glass and then add the powder on the top and beat it with a flat bladed dinner knife it does eventually mix in. I like to think of it as doing my exercise for the morning! If you want to add more liquid afterwards then do it very gradually. I have had absolutely NO sucess with mixing it into water and just get a very unpalatable glue!! cheers Top