Hi,

Please I need your advise. I have started the zone diet almost two months ago. It worked for me.

I am not really overweight I am just trying to shape up my body. I have never been over weight.

I am petite in nature, and thus in the past couple of years it seems all the fat is going to my belly making me look pregnant.

Now that I am on the zone, I did lose weight, but my belly is still sticking out, and it frustrates me a lot. And I am being very well with the zone diet during weekdays, but on weekends, I behave really bad.

I honestly try to eat as much as I can as I know on monday, I cannot eat pasta, rice, choclates, cakes,candy....so really I am like spending the whole day saturday and sunday eating. Today I woke up with a headache because of the amout of sugar I had last night...

And what happens with me is that I try to indlulge a little, but as soon as I eat something not zone friendly I like transform into an eating machine.

What can I do? Please I do not want to keep like this.

Roula,

First of all - as to getting back "in the/on the Zone" : one of it's beauties is that just as you can [ and most likely will at some points ] fall off - you can just as easily "get back on" - in other words - just resolve to start back up with your next meal, and you're back on. You don't have to go out and rearrange your life of buy special foods or nutrition items - just go back to eating what and when you were for the last 6 weeks. You had an obviously excellent start but that's exactly what it was - a start. You know - you're not going to rebuild Rome in a day !

If you were out riding your bike and fell off is it likely you would immediately abandon bike riding, up and walk away never to set foot on a bike again ? Assuming you were ok I am sure you would simply get back on the bike and continue on. Treat “riding the Zone” the same way.

If you follow the plan for any length of time you will find that it is perfectly normal for life's situations to converge so that you deviate off for a meal here, a day there, or, maybe even a couple of days. Once again - as easy as it can be to "fall off" - it's just as easy to "get back on".

I have been “on the plan” for about 10 years – I wouldn’t be so naïve as to suggest, and I hope you wouldn’t be so naïve as to believe if I did, that I have never strayed off here and there !

Straying off is no big deal … GETTING BACK ON IS.

I want to make it clear that I am and have been for some time, very content with my diet - in fact - I LOVE my diet.

However - there were/are foods that I grew up with, ate ALL THE TIME, and to this day - LOVE and woudl like to consume in limiitless amounts at any opportunity. The fact I would STILL like to gorge myself on them has nothing to do with The Zone Eating Plan or any other failiing to "fill this gaping yearning". It is a "HABIT" - both a physicle and psychological one that will always be with me. It is a form of addiction similar in nature to "alchohol" addiction. ANY activity that you repeat over and over will become "habit forming" and will be difficult to deal with reducing or eliminating.




I am [ not "was" ] addicted to Pizza and bread.

Catch this - I once owned a pizza restaurant ! TRUE

And to give you an idea of just how much I love/loved pizza - For the several years that I owned it I ate virtually nothing but pizza - 7 days a week, morning, noon, night, and in between !

TRUE

Pizza was virtually the "sole culprit" for me going off of the Zone eating plan in the first year or two.

I didn't have much trouble limiting it - but - it was impossible to eliminate it. Now you could argue that there ARE ways to eat pizza and stay "in the Zone" but, you have to remember you are talking about someone who for a number of YEARS ate as much of it as they wanted, anytime they wanted.

IT WAS ALWAYS WITHIN ARM’S REACH [talk about "giving a bull a charge card ! ]

MY WAY of eating pizza - is to eat at least half of a large pie for starters, and within a few hours - the rest.

Eventually I found that LIMITING pizza consumption simply didn't work - in fact - I eventually realized it made it worse.

So - for me I did the smart thing - and don’t' eat it at all.


FOR ME - this works.

Now, a trick I used that helped me immensely in giving up and continuing to leave pizza off of the table was this :

When I would be around pizza and others consuming pizza [ almost always populated by many overweight types] I developed the simple mantra " yes they have the pizza - but I have my health"

Would I trade my health for one, or two, three, slices of pizza ? Would I trade my health for the whole freakin pie ?

Not much of a trade is it ?

So maybe that's something I can leave you with.

E.Wally

ewally@verizon.net

Roula,

I certainly understand how you feel. I am a binge eater as well. I will have been on for a year in two weeks and I have strayed from time to time while on the Zone. However, going on vacation away from home has made it worse. I will be glad to get back to my own home in a week and resume a stricter Zone diet. One thing I have come to understand is that eating the same recipes that I love can bore me. I am trying new recipes from my Zone books to try. Also on the weekends, I try to plan what I am going to eat on the weekends, that way I don't binge. If I do get a craving, I just keep it to a minimum. Also,I allow myself one or two cheat meals on the weekends so that I don't feel deprived. I hope this will give you some ideas as to what to do.

Thank you so much E.wally and Brigitte, your replies already make me feel better about myself.

E.Wally, my problem is I do not have one thing that I cannot live with out like you. I love sushi, ice cream, waffles, cookies, pizza. And it seems to me I will be giving up on a lot of things this way. Especially most of my social activities with my family envolve food. And I hate to go out and not eat you know?

How can I be better at induging once in a while without doing it the extreme way I am right now? Any suggestions?

Brigitte, when you have a cheat meal on weekends do you eat whatever you want, then have the next snack on time etc...? Like if I go to a restaurant I can order a full meal plus a desert, then in a few hours have a snack to balance?

I really appreciate your help guys you have no idea.

Hey Roula,

Well, like I said, I keep it to a minimum. I try and follow Dr. Sears rules about eating out. For example, I like the chinese buffet where I am. I use the plate method in picking things. I like crab and shrimp and I get enough maybe to be my protein for the meal. I never get noodles or rice because they are just like eating gum. So I get vegetables, mostly broccoli. However, if I want desert, I eat a little cream or one of the small square cakes instead of having a lot of vegetables. Then, yes I do have a 1 block zone snack about 4 or 5 hours later.

It's really up to you to pick what you want to eat, but be sensible. As you practice and begin seeing results from the Zone, binge eating will slow down. Eventually, some of those foods will look unappetizing.


As far as the foods you like, here are some tips that I learned to do. Sushi rolls now come without rice, or get sashimi with salad. Of course, I have already said that I have ice cream or cake as part of the cheat meal.

Roula,

OK - we are making progress: we have identified the problem !

I have a background in counseling and "counseling 101" is IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEM [ for the person that has it]

It sounds obvious but often it is not and that is the basic start of why the person is in front of you - and hasn't been able to "sort it out" by themselves.

You realize that - it seems from your response - that the "problem" with "going out of the Zone" is NOT the Zone diet - or any diet. This is a step forward.

We are dealing with "habit/addiction".

Let's deal with it.

I am going to take you at your word that you can stay within the Zone Eating Plan during the week - yes ?

OK - if this is the case then you are making MARVELOUS progress in only 8 weeks !

You are following the Zone about 5/7 of the week which means : over 70% of the time !!!

What is wrong with that ?

From what information I have about your diet - when we go back over 8 weeks ago I will assume it was packed with "processed Carbs" - so that means your biochemistry was in the Zone we are looking for about 0 - 5% of the time.

So - in 8 weeks you have made about a minimum of 65% improvement - What's wrong with that ?

Now - can we assume, correct me if I am wrong, over the weekend you DO NOT BINGE AT EVERY MEAL AND/OR SNACK you put in your mouth?

Can we give you credit for - say - OCCAISIONAL ZONE FOOD CONSUMPTION OR TWO over the weekend ?

I'll say we can.

Let's say you have ONE Zone meal on Saturday and Sunday and One snack.

If this is the case we might not be stretching things to put you "in the Zone" for 6 of 7 days ? Yes ? No ?

Maybe 5 and 3/4 ?

What's wrong with that ?


Ok here's the program for YOU - if you can't follow this let me know right away and we'll adjust.

1.You WILL attempt to follow the Zone guidelines for Meals and Snacks Monday breakfast to Friday bedtime Snack.

PERIOD. {Friday night is NOT "get out of the Zone free night" -period ]

2. You will start out Saturday with a Zone breakfast.
3. Saturday lunch will be a Zone Meal.
4. I'm not concerned with Saturday NIGHT and don't tell me.

5. The Saturday "bedtime snack" will be Zone balanced and you WILL consume one before bed even if it is 3am.

6.Sunday breakfast back to the Zone.

7.Sunday lunch I won't think about - YOU think about it.

8.Same for Sunday dinner.

9.Sunday Snack before bed WILL be consumed - hungry or not and WILL BE Zone balanced.

Will you "sign on" to this schedule ?

Don't commit if you can't - we'll adjust.

************************************

Now - as to the "binge items" you mentioned :

Sushi - I assume that this means predominantly fish based items - yes ?

If NOT primarily the completely "fish centered" items at the sushi bar then MAKE THEM the only thing you binge on from now on.

We may be putting too much protein "down the hole" but it's the lesser of several evils and if you can focus on salmon, mackerel, haddock, catfish, sardines the AMOUNT might be "off the chart" but the ingredients won't be at all.

Try this - while binging at the sushi bar - see if you can "spread it out" to some degree ?

As in - make yourself take a SMALL plateful - smaller than you typically would and make you go back for more. Instead of ONE trip to get what you want now you will need 4 trips.

Pizza : Promise me you will only eat pizza at Uno's Chicago Grill and ONLY their flatbread pizzas that have half the calories of deep-dish ones. Plus, you can add a salad to your pizza for half-price because, according to the menu, “We want you to get some greens in your diet.”

OK - the "give" can't be "all from my side" - on the weekends YOU must "PLAY BALL TOO" - eat all the pizza you want as long as it's at Uno's and it's flatbread - THAT'S REASONABLE.

And since I think I am being more than reasonable here's a couple of minor but potentially great little tips to guide you along while binging on Uno's flatbread pizzas : Eat up to where all the ingredients end - near the outer crust. Don't eat the crust beyond the ingredients. If you can do this let me know and I'll tell you what it is doing for you.

*******If you are allowed to stuff yourself with pizza I'm going to insist on a variety with protein on it somewhere - Uno's offers several with chicken one way or the other - see if one of them appeals to you. ********************

Now - in stuffing yourself with the flatbread pizza if you can cut the PEPPERONI out or avoid one DRIPPING with pepperoni - HUGE PLUS ! [ Very few items IN THE WORLD have more terrible FAT than a tasty pepperoni pizza !

And by the way - I KNOW - I've probably sliced up a couple of thousand pounds of it and eaten it continually while slicing ! [I've also had a heart attack "on the side", THANK YOU, from that habit. ]

Here's a link to an article in which Health Magazine rated the major chains for "nutritional commitment and menu options" - and rated Uno's #1

http://eating.health.com/2008/04/23...o-eat-out/


go to this link RIGHT NOW and follow the links to the various "healthy" restaurants sorted by chains - yes - if you know what you are doing you CAN eat relatively healthy at them - there's even a specific TIP on how to do that :

http://eating.health.com/2008/04/23...staurants/


If you will "sign on" to the above we will deal with your other "binge" items later.

FAIR ENOUGH ?


ONCE AGAIN - DON'T COMMIT IF YOU THINK YOU CAN'T.

If you TRY - I'll try to help you.

If you PLAY GAMES - the game's over.


At the moment, taking you at your word you are "in the Zone" about 80% of the week.

This is a fabulous start for 8 weeks.

We will now take our time to work the 20% "non Zone" time down by a few percent at a time.

This plan is very DOABLE.

E.Wally

ewally@verizon.net

Thank you so much ewally.
Sounds very reasonable.
You are very reasonable person and I like reasonable!
Cheers and wish me luck.

Thanks for the encouragement Brigitte.
You are right I have seen results so far, so its worth trying a little harder.

Roula,

Am very pleased the proposal appeals to you. I KNOW it will work for the time being and move you closer to where you want to be. We'll just keep moving you along a little at a time and be mindful of pausing when needed. That is key to our plan : we might "rest" for a while in the progression to a 7 day Zone Eating Plan but must not "fall back".

You must not take for granted the progress you have already made. You must value that and protect it. It's your "dietary savings account" we are not going to make any withdrawals from for the time being.

We may not make any deposits at times [ progress further] but the last thing we want to do is make a withdrawal.

We are going to establish another "Zone" - a "Zone of Comfort" waystation - a temporary "zone" you can be nutritionally content in on the way to the final destination. When you are ready we'll move on to the next one -and so on, and so on.

One thing that you are approaching that you must be aware of and prepared to deal with - or - more accuratley, prepared to not deal with by being aware of it and ignoring it ! [That should be easy huh ?!! ]

Well ... it might not be :

It's called : "The Weight Loss Barrier"

I've written at length about this in another post. I'ts quite long and I won't "paste" it in here but ask that you go here and read carefully :


http://www.zonediet.com/RESOURCES/F...fault.aspx


Ok - kid - you're off !

To quote Confucious :

"Even the longest of journeys starts with small steps"

Let me know how things go.

E.Wally

ewally@verizon.net