Hi all, it's my first day trying the Zone, it makes sense to me, now let's see if I can do it! I am already hungry and its 9 am :( Althought I have been "dieting" (in the traditional sense) since November, I haven't lost any weight! In fact I had gained 3 pounds, so I have high hopes for the ZONE. What do you think of my menu today? I do want to do this right and it seems it will take some practice to get it right. This morning I had 6 strips of no fat turkey bacon with a slice of tomato, some lettuce on one slice of toasted 12 grain bread, with low fat mayo, seems I may be low on carbs still on that, but I did have one cup of coffee with fat free milk so maybe that kind of counts as a carb block or so? For lunch I have packed 2 cups shredded cabbage, 1/6 cup mandarin orange slices, 3 oz chicken breast, and 1/4 cup chinese fried noodles with sesame ginger dressing to make a salad. The dressing has 9 g of carbs per protion but no fat and a portion is skimpy so I added 2/3 t. olive oil and some vinegar to it. For an afternoon snack I have 1/3 cup fat free cottage cheese and 1/4 cantelope melon. Does any of these sound right so far? Please offer your advise aand opinions, I don't want to be putting all the effort into this and do it WRONG! TIA and greetings to all of you! I am looking forward to participating in this forum, in lurking hte past few days as I read my book (A Week In The Zo :lol: ne) it seems like you are a friendly and helpful bunch. :D

[quote:d7c407054e="baZillionaire"]Hi all, it's my first day trying the Zone, it makes sense to me, now let's see if I can do it! I am already hungry and its 9 am :( Althought I have been "dieting" (in the traditional sense) since November, I haven't lost any weight! In fact I had gained 3 pounds, so I have high hopes for the ZONE. What do you think of my menu today? I do want to do this right and it seems it will take some practice to get it right. [/quote:d7c407054e] Hi, Congrats on choosing the Zone! Here's an analysis of your menu: <<This morning I had 6 strips of no fat turkey bacon [b:d7c407054e](almost 2 P)[/b:d7c407054e] with a slice of tomato, some lettuce [b:d7c407054e] (negilgible C) [/b:d7c407054e] on one slice of toasted 12 grain bread,[b:d7c407054e] (2C)[/b:d7c407054e] with low fat mayo,[b:d7c407054e] ( How much?)[/b:d7c407054e] seems I may be low on carbs still on that, but I did have one cup of coffee with fat free milk so maybe that kind of counts as a carb block or so?>> It's a two block meal which is is lacking fat and has all carbs from unfavorable. It wouldn't be likely to get you into the Zone and would most likely result in hunger. A small amount of milk in your coffee wouldn't count as a carb block. If you were to have 6 to 8 oz of fat free milk it could be counted as 1P (missing fat) and 1C. Also, Zone protein sources are assumed to have about 1.5g fat in each P block. If you choose fat free proteins (like your bacon and milk) you'll have to add more fat than usual to the meal to make up for the missing fat. << For lunch I have packed 2 cups shredded cabbage,[b:d7c407054e] (2/3 C)[/b:d7c407054e] 1/6 cup mandarin orange slices, [b:d7c407054e](1/2C) [/b:d7c407054e] 3 oz chicken breast, [b:d7c407054e] (3P)[/b:d7c407054e] and 1/4 cup chinese fried noodles [b:d7c407054e](at least 1C)[/b:d7c407054e] with sesame ginger dressing to make a salad. The dressing has 9 g of carbs per protion but no fat and a portion is skimpy so I added 2/3 t. olive oil and some vinegar to it. (1C, 2F)>> This meal has 3 P, 3C(depending on actual amount of C in noodles), 2F, so it needs more F. <<For an afternoon snack I have 1/3 cup fat free cottage cheese and 1/4 cantelope melon. This is close to 1P and 1C, but has no fat. Add at least two 1.5 g fat blocks to balance. The Zone guideline in regard to unfavorable carbs is to keep them to no more than 25% of all the carb in a meal. Hope this helps. Sue

Thank You Sue! I can see it will take some experimentation to get this all right. I appreciate your input. Part of my problem in making great meals today and tomorrow is I am leaving town for a week and am trying to use existing foods in my fridge. I hope I am not too far off, and I WILL watch the undesirable carbs too. Once again, thanks for your help. :)

[quote:0d0d0c3e00="baZillionaire"]Thank You Sue! I can see it will take some experimentation to get this all right. I appreciate your input. Part of my problem in making great meals today and tomorrow is I am leaving town for a week and am trying to use existing foods in my fridge. I hope I am not too far off, and I WILL watch the undesirable carbs too. Once again, thanks for your help. :)[/quote:0d0d0c3e00] For good fats, I keep a bag of whole almonds in my desk and also take with me when I travel. Foe good carbs, I stick with apples (2C) and oranges (2C) when I can, if vegetables are not always available, like for breakfast.

[quote:1fbd80ef30="baZillionaire"]Thank You Sue! I can see it will take some experimentation to get this all right. I appreciate your input. Part of my problem in making great meals today and tomorrow is I am leaving town for a week and am trying to use existing foods in my fridge. I hope I am not too far off, and I WILL watch the undesirable carbs too. Once again, thanks for your help. :)[/quote:1fbd80ef30] Hi, You're welcome! I think you're off to a very good start. It takes a little trial and error at first, but you 'll soon fined the Zone lifestyle becoming second nature. Have a fun trip. Sue