Hi Jo,

Shopping for food tomorrow...sounds like a good plan.   

I didn’t find it difficult to stick to the Zone when I started, but mine was not the typical start to the Zone, mainly because I didn't know that the dietary changes I had made had actually resulted in me eating the Zone diet.   That fact was pointed out to me later, after I'd already lost a substantial amount of weight, by a friend who knew how I'd been eating and also knew about the Zone diet.  My dietary changes 15 years ago were made with health in mind, loosely based on the Mediterranean diet, on changing the types of fats I ate to protect my cardiovascular system, and lastly, on eating protein, carbohydrate and fat together every time I ate in order to control my difficult hypoglycemic symptoms.  I had no weight loss goal.  Long before that I'd given up on ever losing the weight because nothing I had tried had worked, no matter how close I stuck to it.  It's part of my nature to be thorough and put forth my best effort in whatever it is I'm doing, so that probably helped me practice my new plan to its fullest back when I began implementing all the changes to my diet.

Yes, face that fear.  Good for you!  You will likely come up against all sorts of comments, but try not to let that deter you.  If you feel the need to grace a particular comment with a reply could always reply your eating for you health and then kindly and gently point the individual toward a Zone book.

Losing 100 pounds over 2 years is possible, because it was my experience, but everyone is different.  It can be done, but I'm not a fan of putting time limits on things. I think it's good to do the Zone to its fullest and then see how it goes, accepting the rate at which your body releases its excess fat.  Setting definite time frames can be good for some people, but can put others under undue stress, especially when weight loss is involved.  As Dr. Sears has written, you have to work with the set of genes you've been given.  Fortunately the Zone can change the expression of those genes.

I wish you all the best, and please keep us updated.  Have fun with it!