SEPT. JUDDD/ Alternate Day Diet

[mammapo]

Hi ALL!!!!

Welcome to September JUDDDD!

(also know as Dr. Johnson's Up Day Down Day Diet or The Alternate Day Diet)

The following is quoted from Dr. Johnson's web site.

Quote:
Getting Started

There are two phases: weight loss and maintainance. To lose weight, calorie intake on the “down” day is limited to 20% to 35% of daily calorie requirement, although it is strongly recommended that calories be below 25% when starting a weight loss diet. To maintain weight loss and for optimal health, down day intake is kept at 50% to 60% of calorie needs.

Use the following tool (go to Dr JOhnsons website for this) to calculate the down day calorie requirements. There is a strong tendency for overweight individuals to overestimate the "Activity" level, thereby allowing themselves high calorie allowance on the down day. To avoid this problem, for the first two weeks, you should consume no more than 500 calories on the down day regardless of your activity level.

Please google Dr. Johnsons site to find the Up Day Down Day Calorie Calculator

*This calculator provides an estimate of your calorie requirement so that you can determine your down day calories. The "Normal Calories" shown may be more or less than you actually feel like eating on the up day. The important principle is to adhere to the down day calorie limit as closely as possible. You do not have to eat all the calories shown as "Normal Calories".


Hunger Management

The key to success on the down day is learning what works for you. Remember that you can eat tomorrow. The book will detail useful techniques for down day hunger management.


Diet Stress

Other diets require daily reduction in calorie intake or limit the type of food eaten. This requires intricate meal plans and menus, cooking separate meals, and often more expensive foods. This wastes a lot of time and creates great stress. With the Johnson UpDayDownDay Diet™, you are allowed to eat whatever you want on the up day and your choices are greatly simplified on the down day, markedly reducing stress.


Energy level/mood

We have observed a consistent, measurable dramatic increase in energy level which is noticeable within 7-10 days which peaks around three weeks on the diet. This is consistent with animal studies in calorie restriction. This is a desirable and reinforcing sensation which encourages you to keep going.



The Up Day

On the up day, you can eat anything you want and as much as you want, but do not intentionally over eat.

When starting out, it is important to not concern yourself with up day calorie intake because of the phenomena of diet stress and diet fatigue. Focus on staying under 20-25% on the down day.

Based on animal research, the type of food eaten on the up day is unimportant compared to adhering to the down day calorie limit. This will activate genes (SIRT1) which set in motion the beneficial processes which produce optimal health.

The Down Day

It is important to commit in advance to a certain number of calories on the down day. We strongly suggest 20 – 25% for the first two weeks, but find that 30 - 35% is more tolerable for some people for a prolonged period of dieting. The lower the calories on the down day, the better, but the most important thing is to find a caloric intake you can comply with on ongoing basis.

We strongly suggest using only commercially prepared shakes in the first two weeks. Later, prepared foods with the calorie content marked on them can be eaten.. This is critically important to help guard against the universal tendency to underestimate how much we are eating.

Body Weight

How much you lose depends on several factors, the average in our study was 2.5 pounds per week, more the first week or two.

You should weigh yourself only on the morning after a down day and not more often than once a week or fluctuations will lead to frustration.

Down Day Recipes

It is important to choose a shake which is personally tolerable and satisfying. There are a number on the market including Atkins Advantage, Slim Fast Optima, MetRx. For weight loss diet, it is highly advisable that for the first two weeks, you consume only shakes on the down day.

Delicious, easy, very low calorie recipes are available in the soon to be published book, The Johnson UpDayDownDay Diet™.

What People On The Diet Have To Say
“I will never diet any other way. I lost 30 pounds three years ago which I have kept off without the awful feeling of being on the diet.” – Heidi P.
“There was never a time in my entire life when I wasn’t wheezing from asthma until after being on the diet for two weeks.” – Theresa G.
“I couldn’t walk 50 feet without resting. After three weeks on the diet, I spent all day walking around the shopping mall.” – Ellen M.
“My rheumatoid arthritis got better 31 days after starting the diet.” – Judy L.
For more information, visit Dr. Johnson's website, or read his book,
"The Alternate-Day Diet: Turn on Your 'Skinny Gene,' Shed the Pounds, and Live a Longer and Healthier Life."

[giJ]

Happy September!

(And thanks, Mammapo, for starting us off)

I wanted to continue something from the August thread, but I thought I'd put it here, instead of there....

Originally Posted by mammapo

A) If you're not on LC or LF or some other added restriction, then no food is 'sinful'. In general in life, too much of anything is unhealthy, as is not enough of anything. And moderation is okay. This is a big lesson we have to learn - or we'll always find ourselves on the diet pendulum. Think in terms of 'regular serving size' instead of 'regular food'

B) Ask yourself the underlying reason behind the mentality. What fear or anger or... whatever emotion.. is driving this thought process. Take the time to evaluate what issues have led you to this mentality, and really open yourself to the answers. I have found that doing this has freed me from a lot of my food obsessive/compulsive behaviors and allowed me to embrace A).

C)Allow yourself the treat. Restricting yourself on a UD only makes it another form of DD - and will make this undoable long term. Allow yourself the treat - the body was meant for periods of feast and famine. DDs are famine. UDs are feast. This is okay. What is not okay is days and days of famine in a row or days and days of feast in a row. Your body will adjust.

Once again, I'm not trying to undercut your efforts if you're adding extra restrictions to your diet. Some WOE do indeed have 'sinful' foods etc. I used to be an Atkid hardcore, and then for a while a raw food vegan, so I'm certainly sympathetic to this. The key is to find the WOE that you can live with forever and the mental health that is essential to creating a healthy relationship with the food you do eat.

Yes, yes, yes.

I was trying to figure out what about Misty’s and Kaye’s posts was bothering me (I don’t remember if anyone else is involved, by I remembered the “two servings of banana pudding” part), and that’s it. It’s making food “sinful” and therefore “bad”. Part of JUDDDD, at least for me, is learning that food isn’t bad. Food is necessary. Food in the proper portions is necessary. And those portions change depending on the food, and your body’s need.

I spend DDs wanting “bad” food: cheeseburgers, fries covered in cheese and bacon, and on and on and on.

And then UD comes, and I don’t want any of it. Because I can have any of it. Heck, I can have all of it, as long as I stop when I’m satisfied.

Now, don’t get me wrong. There are some foods that cannot, under any circumstances, enter into my house. Cookies, brownies, cake…. One container still equals one serving. And it may always. Those may be foods that I always go out for, buy in single (normal sized) servings, etc. But that doesn’t make those foods bad. That makes my control around them bad. So I don’t keep them around. But one serving? On an UD? Absolutely!

-- it probably took me about 2 months to get to this point wrt UDs, though. Until then, I would go insane on UDs. Now? Now, I’m fine. So give yourself time, and you will NATURALLY reduce your splurges. But, and this is totally my uneducated/YMMV/I-may-have-no-idea-what-I’m-talking-about opion: that will only happen if you don’t try to restrict too much on UD, so you can get to the “natural” point. (Did that make sense to anyone but me? LOL)

[donia]

I'm ready to start tomorrow. Wednesday will be my first down day (this round, anyway). My plan is to try to eat as few carbs as possible on my down days. I want my calories to come from protein. We'll see how it works.

[Leo41]

Weekly Weigh In

This time, it's 9 days, since I switched my 'weigh in' day from Saturday to Tuesday to try to help control my weekend eating. Alas, it didn't help much as both Sat. and Sun. evolved into UDs (one of them was supposed to be a DD). I'm hoping I'll improve:-)

But the good news is that I'm down 3 lbs!

I don't know if it's helped my loss, but I have recently eliminated both all grains (was having very little but my elimination plan indicated I'm probably gluten intolerant) and dairy.

So I eat almost all whole foods (meat, fish, eggs, veggies) and really focus on getting in enough protein. My difficulty is getting in enough carbs since I'm only getting them from veggies (I'm hypothyroid and supposedly should have 30g a day).

I suspect the loss this time was because I was VERY low carb, and I also ate more calories than I normally would on UDs--which is good because I usually have to restrict calories severely to lose.

Before JUDDD when I followed Protein Power more closely, I found that focusing on getting in enough protein helped me lose, and that seems to be what has helped this time.

[Karenlou]

Hello Judddders! My name is Karen and I'm from the UK. I've had great success in the past both with LC and with JUDDDD but regained weight recently due to some health problems and wanting to get back on track. Found this forum while googling JUDDDD and read about 40 pages of posts! You all sound really nice and friendly.

Had my first DD yesterday and came in at 480 calories. Would have been fewer but my DH was pestering me to eat so I had something to shut him up

Was craving all sorts and looking forward to today - now it's here, I'm not really hungry. I've had some cheesestrings and I'm thinking of walking into town and treating myself to something nice for lunch but I'm not terribly hungry. DH is making spanish omelettes for tea and I've got some lovely Emmenthal cheese to put on top so I'm looking forward to that.

Looking forward to getting to know everyone here x

[dasiey]

Originally Posted by Karenlou

Hello Judddders! My name is Karen and I'm from the UK. I've had great success in the past both with LC and with JUDDDD but regained weight recently due to some health problems and wanting to get back on track. Found this forum while googling JUDDDD and read about 40 pages of posts! You all sound really nice and friendly.

Had my first DD yesterday and came in at 480 calories. Would have been fewer but my DH was pestering me to eat so I had something to shut him up

Was craving all sorts and looking forward to today - now it's here, I'm not really hungry. I've had some cheesestrings and I'm thinking of walking into town and treating myself to something nice for lunch but I'm not terribly hungry. DH is making spanish omelettes for tea and I've got some lovely Emmenthal cheese to put on top so I'm looking forward to that.

Looking forward to getting to know everyone here x

and good luck. I am doing juddd/lc and it seems to be working
I was stalling but now that I added low carb I have started losing again.

[dasiey]

Happy September to all you juddders. My goal for sept Is to lose 2 more pounds.

[mammapo]

Originally Posted by Karenlou

Hello Judddders! My name is Karen and I'm from the UK. I've had great success in the past both with LC and with JUDDDD but regained weight recently due to some health problems and wanting to get back on track. Found this forum while googling JUDDDD and read about 40 pages of posts! You all sound really nice and friendly.

Had my first DD yesterday and came in at 480 calories. Would have been fewer but my DH was pestering me to eat so I had something to shut him up

Was craving all sorts and looking forward to today - now it's here, I'm not really hungry. I've had some cheesestrings and I'm thinking of walking into town and treating myself to something nice for lunch but I'm not terribly hungry. DH is making spanish omelettes for tea and I've got some lovely Emmenthal cheese to put on top so I'm looking forward to that.

Looking forward to getting to know everyone here x

Hullo, Karen!

Oddly enough, I found myself stumbling into a very old UK thread on another board last night and wondering if anyone in the UK still did this... and here you are!!!!

Welcome, and (((hugs))) you'll find we are a VERY supportive bunch.

[mistydisa]

Mammapo and giJ

I get what both of you are saying. Truly. What I was talking about is how, when I'm not "on a diet," I'm perfectly satisfied to stay home and make myself a bowl of cereal for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, etc., but now, on UDs, nothing will do but going out to eat. I'm wanting deep fried chicken tenders dipped in gallons of honey mustard or fettucini smothered in Alfredo sauce, etc. I know we're allowed to have these things on UDs, but first of all, I'm spending entirely too much money on restaurants, and second of all, restaurant portions are so distorted. I'm trying to listen to my body and stop when it tells me to, but when there are still yummy chicken tenders on my plate, my willpower wavers. I'm still pretty much a newbie at this (one month in), so maybe, like giJ said, with time, this'll get better.

I'm curious, does everyone think there's a deep underlying emotion to overeating? Or is it simply a love of food? I've tried to evaluate myself to see what psychological issues were involved. I have seen that food is a comfort to me when I'm sad, and I also turn to food when I'm happy and want to celebrate. Just seems like the simplest answer is "I like food."

I appreciate both of y'all's feedback.

Leo ~ Great job on the loss!

Karen ~

Donia ~ Good luck on your first DD.

[snaggle]

Welcome new Juddders and good luck to all of us in September.
I am up 2 lbs over my siggy low, but after a month and a half of WAY more up days than downs, I am pretty happy to still be here. My goal for september is to get to 149. I am very anxious to break thru to the 140's. We have a vacation in mexico planned with our best friends for early december and I will be so much more comfortable in a bathing suit if I can be down to 140. The friend that is coming with me is doing the flat belly diet, so we have a little competition going. My other friend I was dieting with, is just not into it. She talks a lot about it, but I am convinced that without a specific plan, it is much more difficult. She and I started together in April and I have lost 17 lbs to her 8. She just has no interest in juddd or low carbing.

It is good to have friends and spouses to help with support, but truly this group here is my main support. Thanks everybody.
LETS GET JUDDDING!!!!

[Agee]

Hey there -
Just replying to sub. UD here. This morning the same as last day after DD, which is a minor miracle considering how much I weighed yesterday morning. If you look at my signature you'll see I've been the same weight all week (and this is just week 2) - I'm really hoping that in the coming week I'll see a drop. If I don't I will be seriously discouraged, I have to admit.
Sticking with it -
A

[Ilpirata]

Good morning all! I'm still on my *break* from JUDD doing a strict Atkins Induction to get back into ketosis. My weight still coming in at 195 which is way up from my sig but also where I was bounding around on JUDD so it seems that I am at least maintaining on induction. I'm going to continue what I'm doing for a few weeks and see if I am losing at all or if I'm just maintaining. If I'm just maintaining I will be restarting JUDD.

Happy September everyone!

[kind]

Hi every one. I have been off Judd and in fact any diet.{ But the junk food diet.ha{Really not funny.
I gained 20lbs.I restarted Judd as of today.
DD is going to be 400-or less.
Today I had soup with 2 rice cakes for 190 Cal's.
I'm re reading Judd and this site to help me get going and I hope to stay with it the next 6 months.
I'm also on portion control site and that will help too.
I really need to post and this is my first day of Judd.
I really need help. Seems like i do well for while then I blow it. But not this time.
Any tips?
Kind

[Karenlou]

Thanks for the kind welcome everyone. I think I may be the only person in the uk doing judddd atm! I have posted up on a uk board and will see if anyone responds but looks like this will be my main support forum

I'm enjoying my up day and not dreading dd tomorrow, which is positive. DH and I dragged out the coffee maker he bought me for my birthday and we made cafe creme which was lovely. I see some people on here have suggested to get organised for dd in advance so I've worked out that tomorrow I'm having:

- Alpen light cereal bar - 60 cals
- roasted pepper and tomato soup - 75 cals
- sugar free jello - 10 cals
- pickled beetroot - 40 cals

I have a 100 cal protein shake in reserve if I'm hungry and I'll be drinking peppermint tea.

[snaggle]

welcome back kind! I am curious about the portion control site you mentioned, is it here at lcf?

Kisha- Good luck with induction. My hubby is doing that too. He has not had as much success with juddd as I have, although he also has not been nearly as strict with his down days, and god knows, it isn't like I have been that strict, lol.

Out of curiousity, do you eat at a higher or lower calorie level when doing Atkins straight, or do you even keep track? I tended to eat lots more fatty stuff, and thus, would go pretty high in calories some times. I figure that is why I didn't lose that well.

[Leo41]

Karen-
Yes, I'm a great advocate for planning, and it looks like you have a good plan for your DD. Hot tea really helps me with hunger.

Kisha-
Even if you're not doing JUDDD right now, I hope you'll stay with us and post at least occasionally. After all, you have a lot of JUDDD experience to share

Kind-
I wonder whether your problem is that you try too hard? I check in on the portion control thread at times (since I have to control my portions), and I notice that there you mentioned 400 cal DDs and 1000 cal UDs. That would average to only 700 cal a day. You might initially lose quickly that way, but, just as Dr. J mentions in his book, diet fatigue would soon occur, and you'd be off plan before long. My advice would be to keep your DDs strict and NOT count at all on UDs; just relax and eat until satisfied--but not stuffed. I find that the key to JUDDD for me is keeping DDs at 400 or lower consistently.

Snaggle-
I have the same problem with Atkins--I never actually lose my appetite, and I eat far too much of calorie-dense foods. I've found ProteinPower more helpful. There's no emphasis on fat (although it's assumed you'll consume enough), but the focus on getting in sufficient protein seems to work for me. When I do that, I lose.

[nitenurse]

Just checking in-still really happy about the JUDDD/LC way of living. All of your posts in August were so inspiring and interesting, and I want to thank everyone who posted. I will go back and reread some in August for inspiration.
Good luck to all of us.

[oobladee]

For the good food/bad food discussion:

Most any plan I know of has capacity for abuse (for lack of a better term). I have seen plenty of no carb desserts that in my book are as harmful if eaten in unfettered amounts as the sloppiest gobbiest white sugar pudding dessert anyone could name.

I think we all know that a long list of foods just are not "necessary" to eat, yet we all know most of us are not going to walk away forever (echo effect: ever..ever...ever) - that is a big word.

I think all we can do is our best each day. One person touched upon it: keep it out of the house, that helps!

Progress report: I have been off camping, at the lake, etc. NOT following any particular plan, tho not pigging out. Tried to stick to lots of fruits/veg. I am UP 2# since June when I started.

I am not sure where to go from here. I have no evidence that JUDDDFast 5 combo worked - or did not work. I tend to think that b/c I did reduce cals overall at least trying to do it, it will work.

Hmmm, just thinking out loud and reading posts to help me decide if this WOE could be just that. I seem to not be able to stay in keeping when the least bit of upset, or trip, or??? gets in the way.

[weasel!]

Thanks for starting the Sept. thread, mamapo!

I'm still on vacation -- from dieting as well as from work. Just checking in say hi, and to subscribe to the new thread. See y'all later!

[oobladee]

Missy asked: I'm curious, does everyone think there's a deep underlying emotion to overeating? Or is it simply a love of food? I've tried to evaluate myself to see what psychological issues were involved. I have seen that food is a comfort to me when I'm sad, and I also turn to food when I'm happy and want to celebrate. Just seems like the simplest answer is "I like food."

I think most EVERYONE, fat or thin loves food, so that seems too pat. For overweight/obese people, I think it's a case of limbic hunger gone crazy. Food is far more available than ever befroe in our society. Also, we, with help from the media, have given ourselves "permission" to need food all day long.

I heard a doctor speak on this. he made the example of a mother he was counseling with an obese child. Mom wrote on a survey that she does pack snack bags for her obese child even to go on shopping trips.

Hmmm, I thought, my DD's do that too. Both of their family cars are smeared with food, food wrappers. It made me stop & realize that as a child, I can safely say, NEVER ate in the car. Maybe in the summer at the drive in, like 2x for the summer.

I think we are slaves to food.

[Ilpirata]

Originally Posted by oobladee

Missy asked: I'm curious, does everyone think there's a deep underlying emotion to overeating? Or is it simply a love of food? I've tried to evaluate myself to see what psychological issues were involved. I have seen that food is a comfort to me when I'm sad, and I also turn to food when I'm happy and want to celebrate. Just seems like the simplest answer is "I like food."

I think most EVERYONE, fat or thin loves food, so that seems too pat. For overweight/obese people, I think it's a case of limbic hunger gone crazy. Food is far more available than ever befroe in our society. Also, we, with help from the media, have given ourselves "permission" to need food all day long.

I heard a doctor speak on this. he made the example of a mother he was counseling with an obese child. Mom wrote on a survey that she does pack snack bags for her obese child even to go on shopping trips.

Hmmm, I thought, my DD's do that too. Both of their family cars are smeared with food, food wrappers. It made me stop & realize that as a child, I can safely say, NEVER ate in the car. Maybe in the summer at the drive in, like 2x for the summer.

I think we are slaves to food.

Doctor A actually gives a great explanation in the beginning of his book. Basically its like you said... our genes developed during a time of feast and famine we are programmed to eat whenever food is available. We are programmed to store fat for times when it is not. We evolved when the most readily available foods were meat. Our bodies are simply not made to handle refined carbohydrates. Raw vegetable carbs is all we are built to handle and not in large amounts. Processed food is so delicious cheap and abundant now that indeed we are fighting a losing battle from a biological/evolutionary standpoint.

I think he hits it on the head. If someone has their book they can probably give a better synopsis but thats the jist of it I think (hope)

[mommy_gates]

I'm starting my new way of eating...the JUDD way today....try it a couple of weeks ago...lost 5 lbs in a week...that's crazy...i know it probably won't stay but it did but for 1 lbs..had to go out of town and didn't follow the protocols but now i'm back...and want to be part of your group..

Been peeking through the threads for awhile...it's very interesting and willing to give more than 1 week trial..

I'm also with Kind on the portion control thread...so between those two...should help lots

[mammapo]

Originally Posted by mistydisa

Mammapo and giJ

I get what both of you are saying. Truly. What I was talking about is how, when I'm not "on a diet," I'm perfectly satisfied to stay home and make myself a bowl of cereal for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, etc., but now, on UDs, nothing will do but going out to eat. I'm wanting deep fried chicken tenders dipped in gallons of honey mustard or fettucini smothered in Alfredo sauce, etc. I know we're allowed to have these things on UDs, but first of all, I'm spending entirely too much money on restaurants, and second of all, restaurant portions are so distorted. I'm trying to listen to my body and stop when it tells me to, but when there are still yummy chicken tenders on my plate, my willpower wavers. I'm still pretty much a newbie at this (one month in), so maybe, like giJ said, with time, this'll get better.

I'm curious, does everyone think there's a deep underlying emotion to overeating? Or is it simply a love of food? I've tried to evaluate myself to see what psychological issues were involved. I have seen that food is a comfort to me when I'm sad, and I also turn to food when I'm happy and want to celebrate. Just seems like the simplest answer is "I like food."

I appreciate both of y'all's feedback.

Leo ~ Great job on the loss!

Karen ~

Donia ~ Good luck on your first DD.

I think of it in terms of Medicine/Drug or Culture....

Medicine/DrugSome people use food like any other substance (alcohol, drugs, ciggys) - you get a dopamine hit off of eating, and certain foods (like potatoes and sugar) actually create a rebound-response in your body... just like drugs... which tends to addict certain people. If a person is using food to medicate themselves for sad reasons I tend to think this may be coming into play.




On the other hand, for some people (myself included) there is another option:

Culture To put it frankly, my family heritage and ethnic background center around food. Even religious feasts and practices are (by requirement) obsessed with food. I learned to associate festivity with food, simply by cultural assumption. And this can be expanded to the micro-culture of each family... I say Christmas, you say 'pudding', I say Thanksgiving, you say 'turkey' etc.

The family culture can even contribute to the Medicine/Drugs issue... if you had a family member who rewarded you with food, comforted you with food, or punished you with food, or even a family member who did this to themselves, it's going to have similar consequences as living in a household with any other kind of addict.

This may also be true if you grew up in a time or circumstance of uncertainty about food - "I'd better eat it today because I might not get to tomorrow" really categorized my entire outlook on food until recently when I realized that came from being very hungry at key moments in my childhood and never wanting to feel that way again (any time finances would be stressed, for instance, I'd find myself eating as if I were in danger of to starving forever, even though I wasn't anywhere close).

For some of us, there is a co-dependent relationship with food, simply put. We haven't learned to separate our emotions from food or from portions of food.



Okay, and here's more IMO blahblah....

For you, it's not really about the food.

If it were, you'd be struggling to avoid eating out all the time, or eating crazy stuff at home or....

For you, it's about control. It's about fearing/dreading/resenting the restriction of the next day. It's about asserting your right to control your food. So IMO what you're doing is intentionally (albeit subconciously) gaining control by going out to places where you get to order what you label sinful and eat beyond what your body feels comfortable with. You're literally 'losing control' in order to gain control.

My question is "why?" - Was there a period in your life that you felt that someone/thing/circumstance took control or something else valuable from you? That you had no say over your life or how it went... and if so, in that moment, did you make a judgement to yourself that *nothing* was going to do that to you or take that from you ever again?

I may be off base, but I think if you deal with the reason behind the drive, the drive will subside. Identifying the trigger that's driving you to 'rebel' or 'sin' on your UDs is wayyyyyyy more important to your long term weight-loss and health goals than temporarily finding a coping mechanism to (temprorarily) avoid the trigger.

[homestretch]

**Leo**Three pounds!!!! Wow, what an amazing loss!

**oobladee**For me food always meant a lot more to me than just hunger. I used it as a reward, a way to punish myself and as a way to relieve uncomfortable feelings. I did not get overweight eating big meals with my family or indulging in dessert every day. I gained my weight from binge eating on whatever was handy when I needed to binge. My "needing" to binge was whenever my emotions got really out of control. Many times I ate cereal right out of the box or crackers...it really did not matter. I never kept a lot of junk in the house so I did not have a lot of junk food binges. Sometimes I joke with myself and think that if I was going to gain 50 pounds I could have had fun with it and ate ice cream and chocolate!

I have actually been doing pretty good. I did have a DD yesterday because I ate more than I had planned on Sunday. I go to the doctor tomorrow and I was wondering what thyroid tests to request. I have had some irregular test results in the past and would like to make sure I request the right tests.

[donia]

I think I already know the answer to this, but I'm curious to see what y'all think. So, I've started watching my carbs and calories today but I am having trouble getting in all of the calories. I certainly had no trouble last week when I was eating sugar and flour! Anyway, I really want to be able to eat enough calories so that I won't be as hungry on my down days. Do you think this will sort of even out once I've had a couple of them? You know, that I'll be hungry enough after a down day that it will be easier to eat enough calories?

[Leo41]

Homestretch-

Just asking for a thyroid panel won't be enough because some doctors then only test TSH. Ask your doctor specifically for TSH, free T4, and free
T3. And make sure you get your lab results with the numbers (i.e., a copy of the lab's report) so that if you have one of the many doctors who tell you that you're 'normal,' you can check with us over on the thyroid thread. There are several people there who really know about thyroid. Kisha and I are both hypothyroid, as is Trish, and we've all had sad experiences with clueless doctors.

On food and emotions-

I think if JUDDD brings out negative behaviors regarding food (e.g., tendency to binge on UDs because of the 'deprivation' of DDs) that's a sign that this plan is not good for that person, it seems to me.

My own life has been ruled by food for far too long. I was obese in childhood, and when I see pictures from the past, it seems as though I began gaining weight about the age of 2. I have no memory of every being a 'normal weight.' There's clearly some metabolic disturbance that's genetic (both parents and all my siblings were obese), and back when I was young, medicine wasn't diagnosing insulin resistance or any other metabolic issues that are so familiar today. I ate enormous meals, but never had junk, and rarely had desserts, so I have always been amazingly healthy for my size.

However, becoming obese so young, I developed a distorted relationship to food--e.g., being 'put on' a low cal diet by a doctor when I was about 8 and experiencing deprivation let me to begin to use food to console myself, etc. It's that distorted relationship to food that has plagued me all my life.

JUDDD has really helped me deal with this because I can 'practice' eating normally on UDs--i.e., not eating emotionally--because I've never thought of DDs as "deprivation." To me, DDs represented my personal triumph over food from the very beginning, a very positive experience that is reinforced for me each DD. On UDs, I consider how I would 'like' to eat--for my life, for my health, and I have been making good choices.

That's why I continue on JUDDD--not just for weight loss but because it is helping to heal me psychologically in terms of food issues, too. But everyone doesn't react the same way, so if it's causing negative behaviors for some people, they should evaluate whether it's the right plan for them.

[Ilpirata]

Originally Posted by homestretch

**Leo**Three pounds!!!! Wow, what an amazing loss!

**oobladee**For me food always meant a lot more to me than just hunger. I used it as a reward, a way to punish myself and as a way to relieve uncomfortable feelings. I did not get overweight eating big meals with my family or indulging in dessert every day. I gained my weight from binge eating on whatever was handy when I needed to binge. My "needing" to binge was whenever my emotions got really out of control. Many times I ate cereal right out of the box or crackers...it really did not matter. I never kept a lot of junk in the house so I did not have a lot of junk food binges. Sometimes I joke with myself and think that if I was going to gain 50 pounds I could have had fun with it and ate ice cream and chocolate!

I have actually been doing pretty good. I did have a DD yesterday because I ate more than I had planned on Sunday. I go to the doctor tomorrow and I was wondering what thyroid tests to request. I have had some irregular test results in the past and would like to make sure I request the right tests.

Oops, Leo beat me to the answer... you may also want to request the Antibody tests though those can probably wait. You're definately going to have to specifically demand the Free T3 (Not TOTAL, FREE - yes they're different)

Originally Posted by donia

I think I already know the answer to this, but I'm curious to see what y'all think. So, I've started watching my carbs and calories today but I am having trouble getting in all of the calories. I certainly had no trouble last week when I was eating sugar and flour! Anyway, I really want to be able to eat enough calories so that I won't be as hungry on my down days. Do you think this will sort of even out once I've had a couple of them? You know, that I'll be hungry enough after a down day that it will be easier to eat enough calories?

There is no UD limit that you *must* eat to. Just eat until satisfied not stuffed on UD. I totally get what you're saying about worrying you'll be too hungry tomorrow DD but I think if you follow the eat til satisfied guideline on UD then yes you'll be fine and it should "even out"



O yeah LEO!! WTG on that three pounds. You are truly kicking A$$!

[snaggle]

Donia-- what you are saying is so true. When I eat low carb, I really do not overeat. It is the carbs that get me into trouble every time. This is why I know that even with all the great things about JUDDD that I still need to work on carbs and not make any meals totally carb based. Even though I don't have some of the other issues and side effects that some get from carbs, I still need to really restrict them. That being said, I really am enjoying not having to stay at a 20-30 gram level (or even lower) to lose weight.

Leo--- you are so wise. I just had a huge lightbulb go off when I read what you said about up days being "practice" for regular eating.
I too, have been overweight most of my life and know I have messed up thoughts about food and my relationship to it. I really do look at my up days as a challenge to see if I can eat like I think a "normal person" eats. This plan, more than any other I have tried, has also given me a glimpse into what I hope maintenance will be like. For the last month and a half I really have not been on plan except for usually 2 down days a week. My up days have also been too carby and too frequent. The great news is that I have kept within 2 lbs of the low weight I hit over 5 weeks ago. I really cannot imagine having a stretch of vacations, parties, special events, etc. that could possibly be worse than this has been. I have always been a dieter who gained in the summer and done my best losing in the dead of winter spring, and sept/oct. (always fall apart in november). My hope is that since I have made it thru this stretch relatively intact, weight-wise, I SHOULD do okay in maintenance. I think the difference this summer is that I have always kept doing some down days, even though there were several weeks where I only got in two. As I move back into a more stict juddd, like I did in april and may and june, I really think I should lose again and get to my goal. As I have said before here, my most pathetic claim to fame is that I have never once reached goal in 36 years of dieting.

[mistydisa]

Mammapo ~ Maybe it is all the years of dieting and being so restricted that is making me feel like letting loose so much on UDs. I (along with half of the U.S., it seems) did the fat-free craze years ago. Keep in mind when I say years ago, I mean when I was in 6th grade - high school (I'm 29 now). I have literally struggled with my weight my entire life. I kept myself to a strict 20 grams of fat/day, usually never exceeding 10 grams, though. And this I did BY MYSELF. I heard someone talking on TV one day about how you can lose weight by keeping fat grams below 20 (looking back now, I believe this person may have been referring to saturated fats, but I didn't know the difference back then), so I "made up" my own diet plan around that. I lost weight and felt pretty good about myself back then. I weighed 129 when I graduated. Looking back at pics now, I realize I looked fantastic, but I always felt like I wanted to lose more back then. I was a *gasp* size 7 while all my girlfriends were 2's... Anyway, I can distinctly recall fantasizing--literally FANTASIZING--about all the things I would eat if I could have just one day to eat what I wanted.... I would dream of biscuits and gravy, Big Macs, fries, etc..... I started college, gained weight. Got married when I finished college, gained more weight. I eventually tried Atkins (again, as half of America did, it seems). I lost some, but again, felt super restricted. I know a lot of you are diehard low carbers, and that's great if it feels good to you, but it never did for me.

In 2006, I started taking Phentermine and writing down every single morsel I put in my mouth. I lost 50 lbs. in about 6 months. I went on a cruise and gained 20 back, then got pregnant and gained 55 more. Pregnancy was one of the happiest times in my life because I felt like it was okay to eat what I wanted. I was pregnant and "supposed" to eat a lot and have crazy cravings for chocolate and such. And I never felt like anyone judged me because I was eating. It was a very liberating feeling....

Sorry to ramble, but by typing this, I've realized that this is probably where my issues stem from. I'm going to do some more soul-searching.... On a good note, though, I "practiced" eating to ONLY satisfaction today, and I did great! It feels good to listen to your body!

[fitchick68]

I too have found this site while reading up on Judddd.I have been on it for almost two wks and it's working extremely well for me...in fact I wish I had heard of it sooner!

The UD's acually take away the urge to eat "bad" things because since I can have them...I don't want them!

Hugs to all!