:? Okay, here goes. I apologize in advance if this is unacceptably long. When Dr. Sears's first book came out, there was a company called "Envion International" that he recommended that would give you a personal profile and analysis of your Zone nutritional needs based on your personal data. Their report included what your lean body mass was, the percent body fat, your individual protein needs per day, plus a personalized seven day menu/recipe plan based on a questionnaire you filled out about your food likes and dislikes. So far so good, right? Here are my statistics in 1996: Female 100 lb. 5'1" Hips 33" Abdomen 29" (They didn't measure the waist back then) Activity level sedentary The profile indicated I had 78 lb. of lean body mass, 21.1% body fat, 0 excess body fat, and daily requirement of 54 grams of protein. They laid out a food plan of three two-block meals, plus two one-block snacks. At the time I didn't need to lose weight, I just thought the Zone diet was absolutely the healthiest food plan. Cut to present day. I weigh too much -- far too many carbs in the past couple of years, I admit! Following the food plan from 1996, I have already lost four pounds in two weeks, the first few days being water, then slowly losing body fat. I want to lose a total of 20 lb. Given my very tiny frame, is this food plan still viable? It seems fine to me, in fact most days I don't make the eight blocks -- I manage six, seven at the most. I cannot even eat all the food on my personalized eight-block a day regimen! That is just too much food, I sure don't get hungry all day, and I get very sick of eating what seems like constantly. I measure and weigh everything and follow the block requirements to the letter. The only reason I ask is because everyone seems pretty adamant about "most" women not going below 11 Zone blocks a day. Well if I did that I would be eating non-stop, 24 hours a day, even if I COULD stuff it all in, which I have no desire to do. So what do you think? Thanks for tolerating this long missive! Carole p.s. Yes, I'm now taking the OmegaZone fish oils, just in case you are wondering.

Hi, It's not just everyone here who is adamant in regard to the 11 block per day minimum for adults. Dr. Sears began recomending the 11 block minimum sometime after his earliest Zone books were published. That said, I have heard of (and helped) adults who are very petite and have been on 10 blocks a day. It will depend upon your LBM now and your activity of course, but if the calculation results in a recomendation of say, 8 blocks, I still would not personally recommend going below 10 blocks a day. The 6 blocks you are consuming is not enough. BTW, you mentioned waist measurement. The measurements used in the calculations today remain the same as in past years. The abdomen measurement (measuring tape held level at height of belly button) is sometimes referred to as the waist. Sue

Hi Carole, [quote:8c75159c10="carolejonas"]:? Okay, here goes. I apologize in advance if this is unacceptably long. When Dr. Sears's first book came out, there was a company called "Envion International" that he recommended that would give you a personal profile and analysis of your Zone nutritional needs based on your personal data. Their report included what your lean body mass was, the percent body fat, your individual protein needs per day, plus a personalized seven day menu/recipe plan based on a questionnaire you filled out about your food likes and dislikes. So far so good, right? Here are my statistics in 1996: Female 100 lb. 5'1" Hips 33" Abdomen 29" (They didn't measure the waist back then) Activity level sedentary The profile indicated I had 78 lb. of lean body mass, 21.1% body fat, 0 excess body fat, and daily requirement of 54 grams of protein. They laid out a food plan of three two-block meals, plus two one-block snacks. At the time I didn't need to lose weight, I just thought the Zone diet was absolutely the healthiest food plan. Cut to present day. I weigh too much -- far too many carbs in the past couple of years, I admit! Following the food plan from 1996, I have already lost four pounds in two weeks, the first few days being water, then slowly losing body fat. I want to lose a total of 20 lb. Given my very tiny frame, is this food plan still viable? It seems fine to me, in fact most days I don't make the eight blocks -- I manage six, seven at the most. I cannot even eat all the food on my personalized eight-block a day regimen! That is just too much food, I sure don't get hungry all day, and I get very sick of eating what seems like constantly. I measure and weigh everything and follow the block requirements to the letter. The only reason I ask is because everyone seems pretty adamant about "most" women not going below 11 Zone blocks a day. Well if I did that I would be eating non-stop, 24 hours a day, even if I COULD stuff it all in, which I have no desire to do. So what do you think? Thanks for tolerating this long missive! Carole p.s. Yes, I'm now taking the OmegaZone fish oils, just in case you are wondering.[/quote:8c75159c10] They subject you raise is reasonably controversial and has beed discussed often. Sue is a well respected participant here and her viewpoint can certainly be well backed with Dr. Sears quotes. When Anne-Marie first started telling people that 8 blocks was the absolute minimum I was amazed. The quote for 11 blocks for adult minimum seemed absolute. Now I tend to the Anne-Marie viewpoint. petite women fare better on less than 11 blocks. I could back this with direct quotes from Dr. Sears but I think looking behind the theory gives better insight. Caloretic requirement is determined by LBM and activity that is a physical fact (with individual variances) so if sedenary and 154 LBM 11 blocks is perfect many petite woman are less than 100 LBM so on 11 blocks are certain to gain fat if they eat that much. I certainly recomend 11 blocks as the starting point for everyone. I recomend adequate exercise so that people "earn the 11 blocks they should eat. But IMO 11 is not as absolute as many would have you believe. This post is not a licence for everyone to drop below 11. It is for petete women only, and in exceptional circumstances. White Light

Thanks so much for the replies. Now my question is -- does LBM change over time? If I was determined to have a LBM of 78 lb. eight years ago, would that change substantially? I am still *very* sedentary, and my excess weight is strictly fat from indulging in those yummy carbs for about two years. So I know I shouldn't be eating what the "average" size female should eat -- I'm much smaller than the average. That's also why normal dietary calorie counts have never worked for me. Example: I was put on a "diet" when I was eight months pregnant, amounting to 1200 calories a day. No, I wasn't fat, I only gained 26 lb. total! (Long story, don't ask!!) So you can see that "normal" calorie (and block) counts are generally too high for me. My husband, who weighs 240 lb., is on 11-12 blocks a day. This is all I usually manage per day: breakfast 2 blocks lunch 3 blocks informal snack/dinner 1 or 2 blocks (by the end of the day I can't face cooking another meal so it's always something like an uncooked Zone snack) You're probably gasping in horror, but honestly, I can't stuff more food in! What is a person to do? What would be the effect of having too few blocks during the Zone program? I'm not hungry, so going by whether I'm hungry or not won't help. Thanks for your help! Carole

Hi, You asked the result of eating 6 or 7 blocks a day. IMO, for an adult, even for a petite woman, this would be highly detrimantal in the long run. Your are not only starving your body of protein but also of other valuable nutrients needed to remain healthy. At 6 blocks a day, one would be literally starving themself. As I posted previously to you, I wouldn't reccomend going below 10 blocks a day right now, because from the info you have posted, you are carrying a high percentage of your weight from fat, which raises your activity level slightly (1 or 2 blocks) even though you are sedentary. It would benefit you to determine your LBM now. You also asked about LBM changes. Yes, LBM can change. In general, one would not want to see a loss of LBM. This would indicate protein intake is insufficient. Gain in LBM is desireable. As for volume of food, you can easily change volume to make a very manageable size meal by using a variety of carb densities. Sue

[quote:05fd53084b="Slknorr"]Hi, As for volume of food, you can easily change volume to make a very manageable size meal by using a variety of carb densities. Sue[/quote:05fd53084b] For example, black beans, only 1/4 cup equals one block (1 C) of favorable carbs.

:oops: Well, duh, I feel stupid. It didn't even occur to me to stop trying to stuff two cups of misc. vegetables at each meal, and substitute something like beans. I was trying to be *good* and not eat the carbohydrates that got me into a 20 pound gain in two years! But thanks for the idea. I just have to be moderate and careful. So far, so good, I've lost five pounds in less than three weeks. FIrst 2-3 were water, now it's pure fat. Thank you for your great advice. BTW, I discovered that this web site's LBM calculator will not go below 120 lb. for females. Thus it will never advise going below 11 blocks of protein for any woman. I tested it out. By all manual calculations my LBM is 86, so I think that with my "petite" size I'm still in the Zone if I work really hard at eating all eight blocks a day. I promise, Sue, I will do my best! :P Carole

[quote:9d9333a3e3="carolejonas"]:oops: Well, duh, I feel stupid. It didn't even occur to me to stop trying to stuff two cups of misc. vegetables at each meal, and substitute something like beans. I was trying to be *good* and not eat the carbohydrates that got me into a 20 pound gain in two years! But thanks for the idea. I just have to be moderate and careful. So far, so good, I've lost five pounds in less than three weeks. FIrst 2-3 were water, now it's pure fat. Thank you for your great advice. BTW, I discovered that this web site's LBM calculator will not go below 120 lb. for females. Thus it will never advise going below 11 blocks of protein for any woman. I tested it out. By all manual calculations my LBM is 86, so I think that with my "petite" size I'm still in the Zone if I work really hard at eating all eight blocks a day. I promise, Sue, I will do my best! :P Carole[/quote:9d9333a3e3] Hi, Congrats on your progress. I have to disagree about the 8 blocks for you. As I posted to you earlier in this thread, I would not recommend you go less than 10 blocks and I think 8 will be detrimental to your health in the long run. 8 blocks is the usual amount for an elementary age child. I have personally worked with 3 individuals (all of them adults) who are between 4'10 and 4'11, are sedentary, and they do well with 10 blocks. If you plan to stay with 8 blocks I would suggest having your LBM measured and monitored closely to assure you don't lose LBM. Sue

Thanks Sue. I will do this -- as soon as I lose the extra weight I will increase to 10 blocks a day. As it is, I'm not hungry even on 8. Carole

[quote:5ffc565d90="carolejonas"]Thanks Sue. I will do this -- as soon as I lose the extra weight I will increase to 10 blocks a day. As it is, I'm not hungry even on 8. Carole[/quote:5ffc565d90] Hi, In case you're not aware, one should be eating the appropriate number of blocks while they are losing stored fat in the Zone. The Zone is not a calorie based eating plan, but rather one which regulates hormones and also puts the body into a fat burning metabolism. Too few blocks can actually interfere with accomplishing this, and eventually prevent weight loss. Sue

A point to note - eating is a habit. I'm small and I don't really like to eat during the day and I graze teeny bits only. If I'm not careful I'll eat nothing all day and a small dinner and I can be happy on this for months and months (prolly forever). Your body adapts to eating super tiny amounts. This means your metabolism slows to make the most of the highly reduced food intake. But eating under what your body needs for functioning at peak is really the aim - eating too little may have effects not now but in years to come. If you get your body used to eating more then it will adapt to this and speed up after a bit to cope with it. Then you will want to eat more and most importantly get enough nutrients to be healthy in the long term. The only way that I manage to almost eat enough (or almost enough lol) blocks is by using less favourable carbs at each meal, or using beans etc where I have a smaller portion. I also find a 3 block meal usually just a bit too much even using the smaller quantities. When you eat too little you really work against yourself - you don't get enough nutrients.

Me too Maigan, I'm small and I also used to eat very little all day and never ever anything after 6:00 -- I was like that until I hit 50, perfectly happy and steady at 97 lb. Somehow in the past four years my body has really changed and I get ghastly migraines if I don't eat at night, which I really don't like doing. :mrgreen: I also find the three block meals a lot of food, even substituting some "naughty" carbs instead of that mountain of veggies staring back at me. I'm coping with 2 blocks for breakfast, 3 for lunch, cuz my husband and I are home all day so that's our "big" meal, and then a 2 block "snack" for dinner. I know it's not enough but it's the best I can do, honestly. Right now it has been six hours since our lunch and I am not in the least bit hungry. Now I am in the situation of having to force myself to eat a two block snack or meal, again! This really gets discouraging because I don't seem to be "into" eating these days. It has just become a chore and a drudge, even though I am losing weight quite nicely. I also have another problem -- I can't drink plain water. It makes me gag, long story. I'm not fond of herbal teas, so that doesn't leave much of a choice in liquids. I'm doing my best with decaf tea sweetened with Splenda, plus some diet (non-caffeinated) sodas we found that are sweetened with Splenda. Carole