Hello Everyone! I was wondering if I could please get some feedback on what I may be doing right or wrong with the Zone. I used the Zone Classic about 7 years ago. At that time I dropped 20 pounds. The fat literally melted off of me.

Today I am once again following the classic plan and I am not losing anything at all after about 4 1/2 weeks. I am being as strict as possible - measuring every little detail, consuming tons of veggies. I have cut down my fruit over the past two weeks thinking maybe that was the problem.

I am 5'7", 151 pounds, with a BF of 29-30%. It goes up or down daily. LBM 108. 135lbs is the range where I feel comfortable with my build at around 21 -22% bodyfat.

The only big difference between what I do now versus back when I lost weight is I work out a lot more now. I am doing some sort of moderate to heavy excercising 6-7 days a week for a 45 - 70 minutes. I calculated that I need 12 blocks of protein a day.

My typical day looks like this:

Breakfast:
2 egg whites
1 ounce lean turkey meat
1 cup strawberries
3 cups brocolli
one other block of vegg or fruit
9 almonds

Lunch:
Mini Pita pocket
4 oz turkey meat
1/2 bell pepper
1/2 mina pita
guacamole

Dinner:
I often pick a recipe out of the Zone books, but tonight I had:
3 oz baked chicken
2 cups green salad recipe
1 plum
3 cups brocolli

Snacks:
I have a snack in the mornings before my workout and one before bedtime.

1 oz turkey
1/2 cup grapes
3 almonds

By nature I am a huge water drinker so I get about 128oz a day. I will say that I feel better since I've gone back to Zone eating. However I guess I'm just getting discouraged when you try to do something so healthy and you don't see the weight loss benefits. I have not noticed my clothing getting much looser either. Just very slightly.

If anyone has feeback or opinions on my situation I would sure love to hear them! I hope I provided enough information.
Thank you so much for your time!
Angela

Hi Angela,

Increase to 13 blocks, switch to favorable veggies for most or all of you carbohydrates, cut out the pita bread and if you must have fruit, keep it to 1 or 2 blocks of berries daily. Also make sure you add enough monounsaturated fat. Your breakfast proteins are essentially fat free, so you'd eat a minimum of 18 almonds to provide the missing fat that the block system assumes to be in the protein source. Your dinner and snacks are also short on fat.

You can work in those extra 2 blocks as additional snacks or increase a couple of your existing snacks or meals by one more fully balanced block each.

Let us know how it goes. :)

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sue
Consultant of Zone Labs
Certified Zone Affiliate

Angela, I addition to fine tuning your Zone diet, I'd also recommend adding Omega Rx and Sea Health Plus supplementation if you're not doing so already.

Sue thank you so much for your feedback I truly appreciate it! One thing I am confused about are the fat blocks that you mentioned. If I am having a 3 block meal, wouldn't the 9 almonds be 3 blocks of fat? I am more than happy to add some more fat but just want to make sure I'm following what you're saying. I have Mastering the Zone which I refer to all the time. It does appear some things have changed such as how much brocolli makes a block and carrots now being favorable - I wonder if the almonds have changed too - or are you just suggesting I eat more fat per meal?

Thank you so much!!

I will also try the fish oil.

Angela

Cranberrycat answered similar question in another thread: The complete fat block is 3 grams. The protein block assumes that there is 1.5 grams of fat included with the protein, which is why your fat block is only 1.5 grams, and if you eat a fat free protein, then you would double the fat block (to equal 3 grams).

You're welcome Angela! As Bozena explained a balanced block contains 3g F. By design, each added fat blocks in the Block Method contains 1.5g fat, which is half of the 3 grams needed. The other half, another 1.5 grams fat, is assumed to be occurring in the low fat protein block. When your protein is essentially fat free, such as with egg white, deli-style meats and fat free dairy, you'll need to add the rest of the fat needed to provide the full 3 grams of fat to balance each block. The easiest way to accomplish this is to double the number of added fat blocks when you choose fat free protein. You can read more about this in "Mastering the Zone", p. 292, "Why is a fat block only 1.5 grams?"

_________________________________________________

sue
Consultant of Zone Labs
Certified Zone Affiliate

Hi Again Angela,

[quote]
Posted By Sue on 08 Aug 2011 07:27 AM
As Bozena explained a balanced block contains 3g P.

_________________________________________________

sue
Consultant of Zone Labs
Certified Zone Affiliate
[/quote]


Re the above quote, that is a typo. I meant to say 3g fat.

sue