Hey all! Just joined, and began zoning 2 days ago. A little background:

5'2", 130 or so lbs.. Last time I had my body fat calculated I had about 100# lean muscle, the other 30 or so were fat. Wearing about a size 4 pants by US sizing.

Currently more active and athletic than I have ever been.. Participating in crossfit 2x a week (increasing to 3 dec 1) and training for my first half marathon 2-3 other days per week.

I began the zone per my trainer's suggestion because I bottomed out eating inadequate protein.

All of my calculations show 11 blocks... I am wondering what is the general suggestion if I am still (frequently) hungry?

Today I had:

830am: 3 block breakfast (1 bread, 2 egg whites, 1 cheese, 1oz turkey, small apple)

[hungry within 2 hours]

1/2 caf drip coffee with 1 creamer

12pm:3 block lunch (large green salad, 1 tbs dressing, 3oz chicken, small roll)

[hungry within 2-3 hours]

3pm: 2 block snack (balance bar)

[hungry within 1.5 hours]

7pm: 3 block dinner (3oz pork, 2c green beans, 1 c yellow squash)

8pm: cheated with 1/2 or 3/4c chocolate sorbet

9pm: hungry. again.

I calculate this out to be a little under 1600 cals, which is MORE than I was eating prior to starting the zone...

Help?

M,

I pulled this from an earlier post (thanks to Sue and Laurie!) which should be helpful for you:

If you're hungry 4 hours after a meal, you judge the type of hunger you have, "focused hunger" or "unfocused hunger", to determine which adjustment you should make. Focused hunger means you are hungry, and have plenty of energy and good mental focus. Unfocused hunger means you are hungry with one or more hypoglycemic symptom and/or have lack of good mental focus (hypoglycemic symptoms can be one or more of these: sleepy, irritable, unable to concentrate, jittery, faint, spacey, shaky, etc. ). The adjustment for focused hunger is to add 1 C block to each meal. The adjustment for unfocused hunger is to drop 1C block from each meal. If you are having unfocused hunger, in addition to dropping 1 C block at meals, it will also help to use berries for your fruit, to limit fruit to a block or two a day, and not to have too much higher density carb in a meal. "

In addition, you can also check out the "Hormonal Adjustment Diagnostic Chart" on the DrSears.com website:

http://www.drsears.com/Resources/ta...fault.aspx ( <-- copy and paste into your browser's address bar, and scroll to the bottom of the page)

For some, a 3P/2C/4F meal (in place of a 3P/3C/3F meal) keeps us satisfied and resolves the problem of mental fogginess."

To add my two cents - you have come to the right place, M! This forum is great for tweaking and getting support. I'm 3 months in and have received so much benefit from the group here. You can expect several responses to your post and I would suggest taking each one and finding out what is working best for you. It does requires some tweaking but the long term benefits are worth every tweak!

m, You will find the a ton of helpful information at this site. Click on the Tools tab, then click on the Quick Start tab there is a Food Block tab that can help you choose more favorabe choices which will help. Every body is different and you will have to find what works for you. What works for one may not work for another. Remember you want to keep you insulin in a zone, not to high and not to low, good food choices will do that.

The first thing I see is that you shoulc eliminate the bread and add good fat choices, see the Food Block Guide. The other parts of the Zone are OmegaRx and polyphenols.

Stay with it you will find what works for you.

m, here's some more insight in addition to the good advice you've already received here.  Your choice of carbohydrate (bread, rolls, sorbet)  is what's most likely making you hungry, that and the fact that it takes many people 3 or 4 days of eating favorable Zone balanced meals 24/7 to lower insulin into the Zone and begin to feel the benefits.  Back to you carbohydrate choices, they are spiking your blood sugar which increases your production of insulin.  The increased insulin sweeps eth sugar out of your blood stream, and usually takes it a bit lower than you require for you comfort.  This makes you feel hungry.  The hunger signals your body to eat more carbohydrates and then this cycle of spiking and dropping blood sugar begins all over again.  The way to break the cycle and prevent hunger is to eat to maintain stable blood sugar levels.  You can achieve this by following the Zone diet and eating mostly favorable veggies and fruit (berries are best because they have a low glycemic load) for the carbohydrate portion of your meals and snacks.  Changing the bread and sorbet to vegetables and fruit will help you prevent hunger and will also bring down the caloric count.  An 11 block day typically contains around 1200 calories.   


It's very important to add the fat that Tech mentioned because it helps to control the rate of entry of th  carbohydrates into your bloodstream. It's an impportant factor for better control of blood sugar.


Experiment and you'll find what works best for you.  Keeping a food journal is a big help at first.  Good luck! 

 ____________________________________________

sue
Consultant of Zone Labs
Certified Zone Affiliate

Lost 100 lbs 15 yrs ago, off BP meds, thanks to the Zone diet and Zone fish oil.   ZoneFast 1-2-3 is the best!

View my Zone Fast 1-2-3 meal photos here:
http://s531.photobucket.com/albums/...3%20Meals/

View my classic Zone meal photos here:
http://s531.photobucket.com/albums/...4/?start=0