December JUDDD/Alternate Day Diet (We can do hard things...)

[Redeemed]

1999967b4z7e6sa1g.gif AWF went well yesterday. Not that hungry this morning. Have my food packed for the day as I won't get home until around eight o'clock pm. I'm planning five hundred calories tomorrow and another AWF on Tuesday.

Wow, Bill No use worrying about you the next time you disappear! Glad you're back. It will take me some time to go through the videos, but I plan on it when I'm off work.

Have a great day everyone!

[Leo41]

Weekly Weigh In

Down another pound this morning. Although I lose at a glacial pace, it finally shows (everyone comments), and I look a lot better in my clothes (the ones that still fit), so I don't mind the very slow loss.

My challenge is to keep the scale moving down and never up. I know only too well how easy it is to gain, and the enemy is complacency.

[onceNforall]

Congratulations Leo!!!! If I've counted right, doesn't that put you about 1.5lb away from ONEDERLAND? OMG You must be so excited!! Sorry if you're trying not to focus on that right now and just keep plugging away at it. I know you don't like to focus on goals, but I'm excited for you!!

[Leo41]

Thanks, Sherrie--and you're right. I'm trying not to think about getting below 200 because I fear my body will betray me, and I'll experience a gain

But today's weigh in has inspired me to eat even more carefully over the next week. I had planned to eat 'freely' on Christmas Day, and I'll still probably do that, but it won't be any binge or gorging--just enjoying my food.

I also know that regardless of what happens, I'll soon be there, and that's not something I was even thinking about when I began JUDDD just a year ago.

[nitenurse]

Wow-Leo, on your progress. Bill-thanks for proving we can survive surrounded by gourmet food.
I have been given a Christmas gift inasmuch as son#2 has gotten inspired by "Sugar Free Miracle" and will be joining Son#1 & I in lowcarb living over the holidays. He always showed up with some carby stuff I would snitch a little too much. His wife has promised to keep the sugar treats hidden and for herself. She is as thin as a greyhound and can eat anything, bless her heart. She also has enough self discipline to eat just one treat a day. I have enough self discipline to eat one platter of treats a day. lol.
I have made and frozen 1/lowcarb fudge;2/ lowcarb pumpkin custard-minus crust, sugar free apple crisp, and going to make an experimental "Pie" made of cranberries and pecans-all with Splenda and stevia. So even my updays should be without blood sugar crazieness-and son#1 will devour most of it anyway. Also will spare him from getting sick.
I am down a couple pounds this month, still not going to chage post until after Jan 1 to make sure it is real. A little progress sure helps on the DDs.
Good luck to all of us.

[snaggle]

Bill- I am SO jealous. I loved Kevin on top chef and really wanted him to win. I still have the finale saved on my dvr and haven't watched, but seeing the press lately, it is clear to me what happened.
He cooks the kind of food that I would want to eat. Fun, but not fussy.
Atlanta is such an incredible food mecca. What a fun night for you to hook up with your old friend.

Leo- I am so proud of you!!

[Leo41]

Thanks, everyone. I so much appreciate your support.

Nitenurse- I know what you mean about comparing your intake of 'treats' to that of your daughter-in-law. I once worked for a man who was very fit and trim. He explained that he and his wife had no difficulty controlling their weight and eating 'normally.' As he explained it, they always had dessert after dinner. Each week they'd buy ONE pint of Ben and Jerry's. After dinner, they'd each have ONE TABLESPOON of the ice cream for dessert, so the pint lasted them the week

In my 'former life,' I could not only polish off the entire pint easily as one dessert, but I'd be looking for some cookies to go with it

[Redeemed]

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Leo: Congratulations on the one pound!

As for the ice cream. I admit I still have some on UD's. One of the reasons I love JUDDD. Today is a five hundred calorie day. I have some Sara Lee forty five calorie bread and will make three egg sandwiches, using a cup of egg beaters and one egg. I work again until late, so that should hold me. Will try for another AWF again on Tuesday

[Leo41]

Redeemed-

Those egg sandwiches sound delicious--and satisfying.

I'm trying for a DD myself today because I have to change my schedule for Christmas, but I think this is going to turn into a MD. If so, I may do a MD tomorrow instead of an UD because I don't think there's any prohibition in JUDDD about MDs--just not consecutive DDs. I don't want to go into Christmas day from a lot of UDs.

[snaggle]

Speaking of egg sandwiches, etc., my favorite low calorie bread item lately are the "Alternative bagels" I find at walmart. I like the onion. Now, they are not quite like a real new york chewy bagel, but at 110 calories, they are pretty darn good.

Having a really hard time right now with down days. Have yet to pull off a successful one since I returned from vacation. Why, oh why, do all my well meaning suppliers and customers bring so many treats to my store?? I have ZERO willpower, I tell you.
I am scared that by new years I will be up 10 lbs.
Gotta get in control!!!

[EmandM]

Leo - Wow, a tablespoon of ice cream. NCD (no can do over here)! lol I must say my portions are quite normal now, thanks to JUDDD. Now that I know I can have anything on my UD there is no sense of urgency when I am eating. I can't tell you how many Dec 31st were spent eating all of my favourite things that I would never be eating again (har har). Last New Years (started JUDDD in Nov '08) and this New Years I don't need to do that. I enjoy a normal intake like it's any other day (well, ok, there are more treats at a party than a normal day, but you get the picture). That is so liberating for me, it's amazing! Congrats on the weight loss too!

Snaggle - you will lose the weight, you just need to get a few DD's under your belt. It's hard to start them gain after a brief hiatus.

Redeemed - your egg sandwhiches sound delish! Might have to have one today (UD for me).

Nitenurse - how great that your sons are into the sugar free life that you follow. That is great. I had dinner last night with my niece who was 6. She CHOSE a fruit cup over ice cream and veggies over french fries. Her mom said she came by that on her own. My almost 4-year-olds on the other hand ordered french fries with their meal (but didn't eat them) and then ate a tiny bit of ice cream. If only they will be like their cousin! One can hope!

Bill - sounds like you had some adventures! Kudos to you for keeping your eating under control.

Kisha - how are you doing?

Hi to e/e!

[GrammyPat]

Hi everyone! finished a good DD yesterday; gosh knows I sure needed it after my uber UD on Saturday. I was trying new cookie recipes on Saturday and had to taste as I go along....but the DD's are my salvation. Am hoping to get a good UD in today eating only good whole foods and lots of protein. I'm not even hungry yet and I came in at 238 calories for yesterday. This morning will be my strawberry protein smoothie w/flax seed, snack of apple and 75% fat free cheese, lunch will be a spinach salad with some kind of meat, bleu cheese crumbles (did you know a 1/4 c. only has 110 calories?), some bacon and ranch dressing. Then I need an afternoon snack of some protein so I don't go crazy on sweets or food when I get home. So that's the plan....thanks for letting me think "out loud". Is everyone ready for Christmas? Kisha, are you OK Sweetie? Snaggle, sometimes it helps to mentally re-visit the DD's you used to do by seeing yourself do them in the past and reminding yourself how easy it was for you to do them. Our brains think in pictures so create that picture in your mind of you having had a successful DD! Just a thought - You CAN do hard things!!! Leo, you are incredible!!! Like I saw in the Sunday comic strip, the name of the new "for women only laxative" - you go girl! but you go in a good way!

[Leo41]

GrammyPat-

Congratulations--under 300 cal is a great DD! I did a MD of 800 cal yesterday and am trying for another one today to 're-set' my alternation for Christmas without too many UDs. I agree with you in your advice to Snaggle. I've never thought about visualization (which I know is powerful), but when I'm struggling on a DD, it always helps to remind myself that I've done this before and can do it again!

Just recently, I was in bed at the end of an UD and was "hungry"--which I knew was purely psychological, since I'd had plenty of food. I was tempted to get up an eat something because, after all, it was an UD. But then I remembered similar times on DDs when I just went to sleep and waited until the morning to eat. So that's what I did, and just like on a DD, I wasn't really hungry the next morning. The temptation on an UD is to think, "Oh, I'd better eat now because tomorrow is a DD, and I won't be able to eat." My body never tires of trying to induce me into too many calories

[EmandM]

Originally Posted by Leo41

GrammyPat-

The temptation on an UD is to think, "Oh, I'd better eat now because tomorrow is a DD, and I won't be able to eat." My body never tires of trying to induce me into too many calories

Yes! Yes! Yes! I used to do this too, but not anymore. I know I can get through a DD, even when I did really low cal ones (300 calories when I was losing). So I don't overindulge on my UD's anymore. It's even less tempting to do once you are in maintenance and eating more during the DD's.

[EmandM]

PS - I just read that green tea is a natural appetite suppressant. So sip away on your green tea during tough DD's!

[Leo41]

EmandM-

I don't know whether it's an appetite suppressant or not, but I've been drinking green tea almost the entire time I've been on JUDDD, and it's helped me through quite a few DDs. Since I drink it plain, it's a calorie free 'treat.'

My endo suggested that I increase my caffeine to stimulate my metabolism, so I drink black coffee in the mornings (which I love), and hot, green tea the rest of the day. In the worst of the summer, I drank it iced, but I really prefer it hot.

[FrozenSnow85]

Hi all! I'm pretty much a lurker coming out of the shadows to say hello! Originally I was doing a regular low carb plan, but found myself stalling. When I found this thread, I decided to give it a try and I'm happy to say it's broken my stall AND helping me lose an extra pound per week!

[Leo41]

Welcome Frozen Snow Many of us came to JUDDD for the same reason you did--unable to lose any longer on standard low carb.

All-

I was just bored because our thread was not very active (and needed a JUDDD fix), so I Googled and found a site where people are 'doing' JUDDD. What amazed me is that on one of the posts, people were listing their daily calories for the month--and many of them were doing consecutive DDs--sometimes three or more in a row!

I hate that this is being 'advertised' as JUDDD because it is a perversion of Dr. J's plan and will mislead people who are unfamiliar with it.

Do you think that these boards (and plans) tend to attract people with eating disorders? (I say this because I can't imagine wanting to do consecutive DDs unless I had a disorder. I have difficulty doing them one at a time

[EmandM]

Frozen Snow and congrats on the loss. JUDDD is a great plan and the people on this thread are awesome.

Leo - interesting about the green tea. I had two cups today. I have always enjoyed it and it's supposed to be helpful to prevent cancer. How bizarre about the other board (I can't call them JUDDDers since they aren't following the program correctly). I would not want to do consecutive DD's in a row and yes, I think that is a slippery slope to an eating disorder. I read somewhere (I read so much yet I can never remember my sources) that one day of fasting does not affect the metabolism, but more than that does. What has allowed me to follow JUDDD for so long was the UD every other day!

[Redeemed]

Frozen Snow: 651171i085p8my3i.gif I should have called myself frozen snow. We're about to get three days worth of frozen snow here in Minnesota; this on the heels of a recent blizzard. I'm curious at how you selected your screen name. Anyway, welcome aboard!

[nitenurse]

Just wrestled my appetite through a tough DD, kind of high stress and found myself taking in 100 cals almost every couple hours, but finished up with about 700 cals and the appetite finally diminished about 7pm, it's funny how that can change during a day, I probably won't even be hungry in the am. My kids are driving through some really rotten weather, so watching the roads on the computer and talking to them on the cell phone......I always hear my mother saying "eat you'll feel better" in the back of my mind, should have been able to ditch that years ago.
Everyone who is praying for, or singing I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas can just stop!!!!
Anyhow, this group is doing really well for holiday time. Hang in there.

[tami73]

Hello all, Glad to see that everyone is doing ok. I'm sure you're probably used to hearing this but this diet is so cool and easy to stick to. It doesn't even really feel like a diet. I think I may be weighing after 4 DD's rather than every week. I had my 3rd DD yesterday which was quite successful. My UD's tend to be quite huge so I think I will be more careful from now on. I really want to lose another pound or more before Christmas.

Is it really that bad to do 2 DD's in a row? I don't have an eating disorder or anything like that but I just though that getting in 2 DD's before Christmas where I plan to have 2 UD's in a row would be a good idea. I guess I'm just more open to the idea because I've just come from doing the hcg diet which was 500 cals per day every day! What do you think?

[Leo41]

Hi Tami-

The issue about the DDs (and EmandM, you may have read about it from Dr. J either on the website or in his book), is that according to the plan's developer, the body won't react to the low calories so long as it's less than 48 hrs--preferably less than 36. After that, the body reacts negatively by resisting weight loss, retaining water, etc., and although those reactions are temporary, then tend to inhibit weight loss long term. It takes longer on low calories to actually affect the body's metabolism.

I think the theory of hcg is that the supplement you're taking allows you to intake only 500 cal without these negative reactions. But I don't know how you do it because 500 cal daily would send me over the edge, I think

I, too, would like to do consecutive DDs this week because of Christmas, but I'm resisting that temptation because I think it would be negative in the long run. Not that I would 'damage' my body, but I think then I would totally pig out at Christmas. I'm trying for a "medium day" of about 800-900 cal tomorrow rather than an UD to prepare for the Christmas festivities.

Nitenurse-

I hope your kids (and all of us) travel safely for Christmas. We're getting forecasts of 'freezing rain' on Christmas Day, so instead of traveling that morning (as I usually do), I'm going to my sister's on Christmas eve. That means another 'big' meal (last year I did the Eve as a DD). But she's making lobster tails and all kinds of delicious fish that I love, so it will be worth it. I think JUDDD has taught me to eat more moderately, so I'm hoping not to do too much damage.

My major concern is that I'm bringing my cat so that I can stay a couple of days. If you know cats, you know that 1) they hate the car; 2) they hate to leave their 'territory.' This guy (age 5) happens to be extremely social and loves new experiences, so I'm hoping this will turn out OK. It's only a 90 min. trip with good traffic, but my preparations are similar in detail and complexity to the Allies' invasion of Normandy. I'm hoping that caring for him will distract me from eating too much over the holiday.

[Redeemed]

Prayers for travelling mercies for all of us during the holiday season.

I have the day off after working 34 hours in three days and battling winter driving. I'm giving myself an UD instead of planned DD because I think it will be a stress reliever which I really need. No holds barred today - not even going to think about dieting. K - bye.

[FrozenSnow85]

Thank you for all of the warm welcomes! *Feels the love!* Redeemed, I chose FrozenSnow because I LOVE winter. I'm originally from the Adirondack mountains in New York, and we get A LOT of snow there and I miss it being in Eastern Washington, so the screen name remind me of it.

Today is a down day and I am actually looking forward to it, since I am up 2 pounds from yesterdays up day. I'm *trying* to low carb my up days, but it seems I've been eating a lot more carbs on up days than I need. So, the down days give me reprieve.

[Leo41]

Hi Frozen!

Dr. J warns against weighing after UDs. The advice is to weigh ONLY after a DD. I find that weighing more than once a week is also counterproductive because there are more "bounces" with JUDDD than when I was doing standard low carb. I weigh once a week and record that weight to determine my 'trend' over time.

I'm suggesting this to you because if I weigh during the week (or after an UD) and see a 2-3 lb increase, I tend to get really depressed and have difficulty sticking to plan. Those 'increases' actually turn out to be phantom gains with JUDDD because over the past year, I've steadily lost on my 'chart,' so I find it's better not to know about them.

You may be more sane than I am and not bothered by the fluctuations, but I thought I'd share from my admittedly neurotic experience.

Redeemed-
Enjoy your day! In terms of losing weight, I think it's really important to know ourselves (as you obviously do) because sticking to rigidly to "oughts" can result in going off plan completely. This nice thing about JUDDD is its flexibility.

[EmandM]

Originally Posted by Leo41

Hi Tami-

The issue about the DDs (and EmandM, you may have read about it from Dr. J either on the website or in his book), is that according to the plan's developer, the body won't react to the low calories so long as it's less than 48 hrs--preferably less than 36. After that, the body reacts negatively by resisting weight loss, retaining water, etc., and although those reactions are temporary, then tend to inhibit weight loss long term. It takes longer on low calories to actually affect the body's metabolism.

You're right on Leo, as usual.

All - Another thing about doing two DD's in a row is it does set you up for more of a binge (in my experience). I used to eat really low cal and after two days of super low I would be ready to eat anything in my house. If you do two DD's before a huge holiday dinner, you may overeat (more than you would normally) and you may feel quite sick (breaking a two-day almost fast with high cal and high fat foods may shock your body a bit). Of course, it's your decision and your body may be different, just chiming in my .02 cents!

[EmandM]

Originally Posted by Leo41

My major concern is that I'm bringing my cat so that I can stay a couple of days. If you know cats, you know that 1) they hate the car; 2) they hate to leave their 'territory.' This guy (age 5) happens to be extremely social and loves new experiences, so I'm hoping this will turn out OK. It's only a 90 min. trip with good traffic, but my preparations are similar in detail and complexity to the Allies' invasion of Normandy. I'm hoping that caring for him will distract me from eating too much over the holiday.

My parents have 3 cats (I am highly allergic but love these little guys). My kids adore cats, but they get excited and they have a naturally higher pitched voice at this age. From the minute my kids step foot in my parents house the cats are gone! They literally hide the entire time. What's fascinating is within 5 minutes of the girls going for their nap or going to bed for the night, all 3 kitties creep tentatively out of their hiding spots and hang out with the adults for the rest of the night!

[Leo41]

Yes, cats don't care for children. Besides the high-pitched voices, children tend to make sudden movements, and that upsets cats.

When my niece was about 5, she was so distressed that my former cat didn't like her. I tried to explain that she had to sit quietly and let the cat come to her, but the minute the cat got close, she'd lurch out for it, and the cat would vanish, and then she'd get upset that the cat 'hated' her.

[EmandM]

Originally Posted by Leo41

Yes, cats don't care for children. Besides the high-pitched voices, children tend to make sudden movements, and that upsets cats.

When my niece was about 5, she was so distressed that my former cat didn't like her. I tried to explain that she had to sit quietly and let the cat come to her, but the minute the cat got close, she'd lurch out for it, and the cat would vanish, and then she'd get upset that the cat 'hated' her.

Yes, that is exactly what I tell my girls. They have to be slow and quiet. They are very good at it until they get close and then they lurch and squeal and wonder why the cats hiss at them! lol The high pitched voices, sudden movements and lack of impulse control does not help!