I know that is a lot of exercise, I just love doing it. and here is the kicker I am 68 years old, I don't think that I would ever make the
Olimpics, I think that there must be some kind of age limit.

Bob

Bob, good that you're keeping a food diary as you begin the Zone. It will can be very helpful. Also note in it how you feel 4 hours after meals. That will be a major factor for determining whether you need to make adjustments to meals. Another tip, put your stats into the Body Fat Calculator again after you've been eating Zone meals and snacks for 2 solid weeks. Barry Sears recommends using the 2 week result as your baseline. By the two week mark you will have lost any retained fluid, from your previous way of eating, which could be skewing your initial LBM and fat % results. Maybe stash a snack or two in your gym bag so you'll have a snack on hand next time. The fact you're not hungry shows you're doing well. Hunger suppression is one of the key ways to judge success in the Zone. Keep up the good job!

Hi Robert

68 years old?? You are an exercise machine! Maybe not the Olympics but I am sure you could enter the Masters World Games! I am doing a lot of gardening at the moment as the weather is so nice and I want to prepare the beds for vegetables. Last night I fell into bed as I was so tired from all the weeding, raking etc so hopefully that was good exercise! My body was definetly doing something different.

Sue

I have the book (Mastering The Zone). Appendix B FOOD BLOCKS, is tilling me the best choices, the fair choices, and the poor choices. The way I am reading it, the list of fish choices are poor choices for protein. I thought
fish like, Clams, Haddock, Shrimp, Swardfish, Tuna canned in water, just
to name a few on the list, are good proteins. Are they realy poor choices?

Bob

Hi Robert

I just went and had a look at my Mastering the Zone book. All the fishes are "best choices". If you look at the poor choices above the title "Fish and Seafood" they belong to the previous poor choices for the Meat and Poultry section. You can have all the fishes in that list and treat them as "best choices".

Bob,

Margaret's correct; the poor choices are a sub-section under the Meat and Poultry heading and Fish and Seafood is a new heading. One caution, most fish notorious for being loaded with contamination. Stick with wild caught fish and consume it in moderation.

There have been changes to the food block guide since MTZ was written, most notably an increase the volume of some carbohydrate blocks. Defer to the online Food Block Guide for the most up-to-date info: http://drsears.com/ArticlePreview/t...fault.aspx

Bob,

Another thought, if you don't already do so you might consider splitting up your exercise, say two sessions a day (re the cortisol elevation which occurs after about 45 min of exertion; I mentioned it earlier in the this thread). Here's an example of my amount of weekly exercise, which I make a point to do in 2 or 3 different sessions per day (I'm 59, but this advice applies to any age).

walk/hike for 60 min or more, 6 X wk

75 min strength training session, 3 or 4 X per wk (I support it with Zone snacks)

60 min yoga class, 2 X week

45 min. yoga session at home, 2-3 X wk

35 min vestibular exercise training session at home, daily (7 X per week; it's PT, related to a head/neck injury 4 yrs ago; without it I'm motion sick 24/7)

I include one rest day a week when the only exercise I do is the vestibular PT session.

I put together a schedule that I think will work for my exercise schedule.
I am going to try this for two weeks. I am going to track everything I eat and see what happens. I require 126 grams of protein a week or 18 blocks, so
if I break it up as follows I can fit every thing in. I have also modified my carb block requirement by 1 less blosk per meal. I am doing this because
I am not getting any hungry feelings. I will keep posting my results.

Protein Breakfast Snack Lunch Snack Dinner late Snack Total
Blocks 3 3 3 3 4 2 18
Grams 21 21 21 21 28 14 126


Fat 3 3 3 3 4 2 18
Blocks
Grams 9 9 9 9 12 6 54


Carbs
Blocks 2 2 2 2 3 1 12
Grams 18 18 18 18 27 9 108

Time 7am 9am 11:30am 3:30pm 5:30pm 7pm

workout
schedule X-------X


How does this look ? or am I doing it all wrong ?

Bob

Looks good, Robert. To make the most if it eat a meal or a snack after your workouts.

Thanks. John. Homework time. I will work on this and get back to site. Thanks again!

Sue

Thanks, The time of my exercise is realy from 11:45am to 3:00pm.
This will allow me to get all the meals in on time. It also will
give me a snack after my workout.

I have another question. Is it wrong to look at the end of the day,
and to make sure that the total days input adds up to the total numbers
that I am trying to reach, or is it important to make sure that the each
and every meal and snack have the blocks that are required. This question
might seem confusing so the example is, if I missed the number of proteins
that I was to have at lunch, could I make the correction at dinner.

Bob

Right now I am using the 2 week delivered Zone foods. I think its best given my crazy schedule!
I do worry about when I go back to eating "real foods" though. There is quite a complicated method in knowing
all the grams and such of each block.

Considering it's been my birthday week, I've had a few days of cheats so I cannot say i see any results of weightloss yet. Hopefully
when I am able to do a complete and strict ONE FULL WEEK, i will see some positive change.

Hi,

I am joining this page to, first, thank you for the advice you gave me (Cranberrycat, Margaret Bozena and all). I cut the fruit and the rice cracker I had for snack and "something" is happening. I haven't weighted myself but I feel good, focused and, maybe, leaner...
I just wanted to ask a question about pulses. Do you consider them favourable? Because in my book they are. One block carbs is 60 grams cooked.
John, I have followed the Zone principles for two years and read all the books by Dr.Sears and some Italians and, as long as I am concerned, no, you can't look at the end of the day. The Zone requires the right amount of nutrients ( carbs, proteins and fat in the proportion of 40 30 30 in each meal. It is not a sum of nutrients you can do at the end of the day. Surely Sue will explain better.

Hi monia,

That something you're feeling and describing is the result of your insulin lowering because you cut the fruit and crackers. It's the feeling you have when you're "in the zone". Good job! You'll see pulses referred to as legumes here and in Zone books. Some are more favorable than others. It's best to keep legumes to 1/4 cup(one block)a day, especially for a person with your level of carbohydrate sensitivity (your carbohydrate sensitivity is apparant from reading the experience you just reported here). Here's an up-to-date list of favorable foods: http://drsears.com/ArticlePreview/t...fault.aspx

Yes Sue, you are right. And yesterday I finally found frozen berries in a supermarket. According to the nutritional label is 5,5 grams carbs and 6,2 grams fibers for 100 grams. That shoul mean I could eat how many I want? I followed the indication given in the oToxic Fat of 175 grams per block of carbs.
What is good is that I feel motivated to stay in the Zone again and I had lost this confidence before.
Thanks for all.

Regardless of what the label says it is convenient to count 1/2 cup (fresh or frozen) blueberries or raspberries or 1 cup strawberries as 1 block of carbs. If it is fruit of the forrest etc mix count 1/2 cup or so.

Actually 1 block = 9 grams of carbs. Which means you need to take about 150 grams of your frozen berries. BTW, what fruits are they?

Hi Monia

I was thinking of you when I was gardening the other day! Wondering if you were going to cut the fruit and rice crackers. Good for you! I am happy that you feel like you are in the Zone again. It is a great feeling when you are not craving carbs. Keep up the good work! Great that you found the fruit.

Bozena,

thanks for the exact grams of berries. Actually my English has never been up to the knowledge of the names of all the berries... It is a mixture of many. Cranberries for sure, raspberries and something little and reddish.
I have a garden, too. I grow all the vegetables I eat from spring to autumn. Now I am frozing the last strawberries I have. The only fruit I have, apart from strawberries are figs... very much zone unfriendly

I stopped checking the labels on the frozen berries and use the following conversion: 1 cup = (usually 120-150 g) strawberries, 1/2 cup = (usually 60g) other berries e.g. blueberries, redcurrents, blackberries, mix berries, grapes

After reading labels and converting, for all berries, including mixed berries, except strawberries: I use 2/3 cup = 1 block.

monia,

If you're still not sure how many berries to eat, and you prefer to measure them, you could buy an Americam 1 cup measure an use that.