PSMF ~~ * JUNE THREAD * ~~

[t0r1]

Good morning everyone! I hope everyone had a good Father's Day! Yesterday was not a good diet day...I made cookies for a bbq and it went down hill from there! I am up a pound today, but I am back to it for the next 4 days. I am hoping to be down to 134 by Friday.

Day 1 - 139
Day 2 - 137
Day 3 - 135.5
Day 4 - 136
Day 5 - 136
Day 6 - 136
Day 7 - 136
Day 8 - 137

My reunion is this weekend so I won't be dieting, but I plan on doing 11 days of psmf starting next Monday. I want to drop some more weight before we go on vacation for the 4th. I figure that it will be okay since I haven't followed the plan strictly for 11 days this time around.

Diva - Glad to hear that your mom is home. It sounds like you will be happy when today is over and you are done with your diet break!

Hazelia - You are definitely on the right track! Keep up the good work.

Linda - How is Callanetics going?

Mary - I am not familiar with Scarsdale, so I can't really comment on whether or not psmf is similar, but from what you mentioned a psmf could include all of what you listed except for the toast and fruit. No carbs at all except for fibrous veggies are allowed on a psmf. I wouldn't do cold cuts b/c they aren't high in protein and the cheese would have to be low fat or fat free. Tuna is good as well as salad with lean meat. I hope that helps!

Today is definitely a Monday, I am tired and sore from my workout yesterday. Thank god for coffee!! Have a great day!

[gibster]

Hi, everyone. Hope you all had a great weekend!

I found myself munching on some of those oriental crackers with peanuts in the middle on Saturday night. And they weren't even all that good. WTH?

Diva - ***stay away from Panera Bread*** I'm sure you're glad to be back on PSMF today!

Tori - I really like doing Callanetics - although I didn't fit it in this weekend like I had planned. I'll be doing an hour tonight after work.

Hazelia - You're doing great! KUTGW!

A busy week ahead for me. But on Saturday morning, I'm driving an hour up to the Michigan lakeshore for a wine festival. I will try to be good


Start 236.8
Week 1 234.6
Week 2 230.4
Week 3 229.6
Week 4 228.4
Week 5 227.8
Week 6 224.6

Sat: 225.2
Mon: 225.4

[Lioness0455]

Good Evening Everybody,
and welcome to all of the newbies.

Mary: Divine Miss M posted a summary of the Rapid Fat Loss Diet in several places; this one comes from the Shake it up Thread over in the Kimkins section:

Rapid Fat Loss Summary

LJ: How old are you? You talk about playing basketball in school and being on academic probation...so I'm just wondering--

Diva: I'm soooo glad to hear that your mom is home and doing okay. Is this the first time you've mentioned PCOS? I don't remember you having said that before. It certainly makes a big difference in how you approach and do a psmf.

Okay...the rest of my comments are going to be directed towards everyone. Even though I'm mainly going to touch on what Diva was talking about. If you don't do well on starchy carbs, you certainly don't have to eat them. In the book, Lyle does say that. That those with "serious" IR need to stick with lower carbs, though he also says that in his experience he hasn't run into anyone who doesn't do "okay" on 100 per day.

50 carbs a day is the minimum to help retain muscle
100 carbs a day is the minimum needed to upregulate thryoid function and leptin levels

That's from the article on his site called How Many Carbohydrates do you Need?

BUT....once you reach maintenance, I don't see why you'd HAVE to upregulate your thyroid, if you're willing to accept maintaining (or need to accept maintaining) at a lower caloric intake. Then again, that doesn't mean you have to eat starchy carbs.

Check out the glycemic index if you guys don't do well on carbs. Think about eating fruit, beans, oatmeal, yogurt and other low-glycemic stuff that doesn't contain gluten. Most folks who have bloating problems on refeeds and diet breaks are sensitive to gluten. All starchy carbs are NOT necessary the same. So also be "careful" that you don't lump them all together.

I agree that "today's" Atkins mentality is too high in calories, and too high in fat for many of us. Look at the posts here, folks stats, and see just how many have reached goal, and how many are returnees and/or have been doing this for years and still not reached their goal weight.

I also don't see a reason to eat HIGH carb at maintenance. Especially if you have serious Insulin Resistance that hasn't corrected itself (PCOS means you won't EVER, so the conclusion you've come to Diva is the right one in my own opinion; a flexible low carb diet is best for you, even at maintenance). My own plan is to stay around 100 to 150, and maybe come up with a type of "exchange" plan, so I don't have to spend the rest of my life "counting" stuff.

I haven't read Good Calories, Bad Calories. Never felt the urge to. Only the blog post by Regina Wilshire saying Paleo man actually ate a diet, comparatively speaking, of 100 carbs a day.

Now also keep in mind, that when we don't eat something for awhile, the body stops making the enzymes necessary to digest whatever it is we've been avoiding. So when you go 12 weeks without eating a lot of fat and/or carbs, the body doesn't have enough enzymes to digest them when we move to maintenance levels.

Lyle's opinion is that it takes 1 to 2 days to up-regulate everything, but my own experience says it takes a bit longer (for me) than that. So just keep that in mind when you guys move into your diet break cuz it's going to affect your weight regain, even if you go from psmf to Atkins.

Today is day 1 for me in my 3rd psmf round. For those who are new, and haven't read all the posts in our first thread, my first round doesn't really count for much cuz I went into it straight from Kimkins without taking a diet break first. bad, Bad, BAD -- I crashed and burned.

For my 2nd round I started at 180.4 pounds, 30.8% body fat. I ended that round at 171 pounds and 29.3% body fat. But there was a lot of messing around within that round trying to "tweak" the diet to fit into my lifestyle. I'm STILL 29.3% body fat so I'm soooo glad that stuck.

I weighed in this morning at 179.8 so I'm just barely under what I weighed when I started round 2. Even though my body fat is 1-1/2% less. It'll be interesting to see just how much weight I drop this week. That will reveal more than where I leveled off during my diet break, since glycogen/water storage can be anywhere from 6 to 12 pounds or even more, seriously distorting the numbers.

[muscles]

hey guys! Checking in real quick.

Tori, yep, alllllll that weight loss was from PSMF. I'm really pleased with it.

Gibster, I do weights, too (i'm a competitive bodybuilder) and throw in cardio a few times a week to keep the momentum up. I keep it light, but right about the time for a refeed I get light headed even walking at 3.0 lol

Weight is down again even after a 36 hour refeed. I was only going to keep it for 24 whole hours, starting Friday night and ending Saturday night, but I was still looking flat and HAD to take the hubby to breakfast for Father's Day!

The scale was up a whole 10 pounds yesterday morning, but dropped off today. Love this PSMF stuff.

[Tootsie]

Would it be OK if I join in here? I’m just starting the PSMF diet and I’m looking for some help and support with it.

I’ve been having trouble trying to get the last 25lbs or so off and in my research, I came across Lyle’s PSMF Diet. I’ve bought and read the book, and I’m now ready to start.

According to the Rapid Fat Loss Diet Calculator, I’m a Category 2, and should be aiming for a protein intake of 150.6g per day.



Day 1: 179.5

[gibster]

Tootsie -

Vickie - Thanks for posting that link to Divine Miss M's posts. I knew she had posted the summary, but for the life of me, I couldn't find it.

[Hazelia]

05/12: 280.5
05/19: 277.5
05/26: 275.5
06/02: 274
06/09: 277 (TOM came and just had a carb loaded weekend)
06/10 Started PSMF
06/13: 269.5
06/14: 267 Free Meal
06/15: 267
06/16: 264.5
06/17: 264.5


Good morning, ladies! Thanks so much for all of your kind words and support. Welcome Tootsie! Best of luck to you on your PSMF journey!

[MLR]

Thanks everyone for the information you have been giving me. I am still reading posts and searching for info. I do have a thyroid problem and feel this is the reason I can't drop any weight this time around. The doctor said she has never seen one that big. It is cancer free and I'm taking meds for it but feel that is the problem.

I thought maybe a different kind of WOE would help this time. Scarsdale was fantastic for me 2 years ago the weight just melted off, then I put on 10 pounds and can't get that off for the life of me.

Is this WOE complicated to figure out. Do you have to count calories, fat intake, carbs etc?

Thanks for any info and help.

[Hazelia]

Mary, you have to count at least your protein grams, and keep the rest of your intake as low fat and low carb as possible. Most fat and all carbs should be "tag-along". You should eat appx between 400-800 cals daily.

[t0r1]

Good morning!

Mary - Hazelia is right, the main focus is protein. I don't find it to be complicated at all once you figure out what your protein requirement is!

Muscles - How long did it take you to drop the weight? Did you do just one round?

Tootsie - Welcome!

Vickie - Good luck with this round!

I am back down to 136 this morning even though I had a small carb binge last night. I am keeping my fingers crossed for 134 by Friday. My big problem is night eating. I try to cut myself off after I eat dinner, but it doesn't always work. Habits are hard to break! I am starting to eat later in the day so I have more calories to eat at night, so I hope that that helps with the problem. Does anyone have similar issues? Any suggestions? Thanks!

[gibster]

Tori - I find that when I get the night-time munchies, it's good to have SF Jello on hand. If that doesn't do the trick, I like to chew on SF gum.

[Tootsie]

Thanks to everyone for the welcome

I have a couple of questions that I hope someone won't mind answering ...

How do you space out your free meals and re-feeds? As I started today, do I need to leave it a week before I do either one, or do I need to do them within the week?

I saw further back in the thread that some of you are eating Greek yoghurt. Are you eating this in place of cottage cheese? If so, could low fat ricotta also be a cc substitute?

[MLR]

Thank you all for posting information. I have been doing alot of reading on line and lots of posts. I may try to do it without buying the book I know there is alot more info in it but I have a stack of books already on lots of diets and hate to buy more.

I appreciate the comments and help. So can a person can lose fast??

[t0r1]

Mary - The less you have to lose the less you will lose quickly. I have about 10 pounds to lose and have lost 3 lbs in a week, but since I have been "stuck" on that number I think that it is actual fat and not water. I strongly recommend that you buy the book...it will answer all of your questions!

Linda - Thanks! I did make some sugar free jello last week. It helped some, I may go get some more.

Tootsie - I am not sure about refeeds and free meals as I haven't done either yet. I mix Greek yogurt with my cottage cheese. I would eat just the yogurt, but don't due to the higher carb count. The Greek yogurt does have lower carbs and higher protein than normal plain yogurt though. Ricotta could be good as long as it was low in fat. My favorite breakfast is cottage cheese, protein powder, cinnamon and flax seed mixed up in my food processor. It comes out smooth and creamy like yogurt and has tons of protein. The protein powder sweetens it up a bit as well.

[Dharma]

Hi there. I've been reading about PSMF for the last week or so, here and on another board, and I've finally decided to buy the e-book today. I actually started the diet on Saturday, but I was too high on calories on Sun and yesterday (1200). In spite of that I've lost 2 1/2 lbs in 3 days.

I was very successful 2 years ago losing 20 lbs eating low carb, 900 calories a day. I ate around 90 grams of protein per day and no more than 20 carbs. However I stayed on the diet for 4 months with no break or free meals at all (didn't know I needed that), and as a consequence my hormones went crazy. I was thrown into 'near' menopause (I'm 50) and had to start using heavy progesterone cream to clear up all the symptoms. Over the next year I gained all the weight back - basically I just ate whatever I wanted.

Since January I've been trying to lose 15 lbs. I've lost ONE. Nothing has really been working. I weight train with a trainer twice a week for an hour - have been for 3 years - but I have to really cut calories it seems to lose anything. I think PSMF with it's built in safeguards is just what I need.

Today is day 4 for me. I've had a headache but not feeling nearly as hungry today so I hope I'm over the hard part. For me, giving up alcohol has been hard. But I know it's the only way I'll lose.

I've got a vacation to Playa del Carmen coming up at the end of July, and some cute swimsuits to fit into, so I'm finally really motivated. I do know I should read the book though and not try to wing it --- so I'm off to buy the book now!

--Lisa--

[t0r1]

Lisa - Welcome! Good thinking in buying the book. It is easy to read and straightforward. Where is Playa del Carmen? Where ever it is, it sounds like good dieting motivation!

[gibster]

Originally Posted by Tootsie

Thanks to everyone for the welcome

I have a couple of questions that I hope someone won't mind answering ...

How do you space out your free meals and re-feeds? As I started today, do I need to leave it a week before I do either one, or do I need to do them within the week?

I saw further back in the thread that some of you are eating Greek yoghurt. Are you eating this in place of cottage cheese? If so, could low fat ricotta also be a cc substitute?

Tootsie - Cat 2's get 1 free meal and 1 refeed per week. (I think) I'm a Cat 3, so I'm not there yet. I believe that Lyle suggests spacing them out - not doing them on consecutive days. It really depends on what works best for you as far as your schedule. You just have to remember that they are not a license to eat everything in sight. The book gives specific guidelines for each break from the RFL regimen. If you don't have the book, at least check out the link that Vickie posted to DivineMissM's PSMF summary.

Lisa - Welcome!

[Dharma]

Thanks for the welcomes.

t0r1 Playa del Carmen is 30 minutes south of Cancun, Mexico. We're staying at an all-inclusive resort. This will be the first trip my DH and I have taken just the two of us for years and years. I'm excited!

Well I've read up to the maintenance chapters. I'm a category 2 as I suspected. I'm really reluctant to do the free meal and 5 hour re-feed each week. Scarey. But I'll give it a shot. I guess I can consider that serving of potatoes on Sunday night a free meal! It didn't seem to hurt any. Thursday I will have my trainer workout so refeed for dinner that night would be appropriate. Then I can have a free meal on weekends. I hope that's not too close together?

[Lioness0455]

Hi everyone,
Thanx for the good wishes...and welcome to all the newbies. This is really super. We just keep growing and growing.

I had a big day at work today, it was grocery day, so I'm pretty tired, but I wanted to take a minute and check in.

My body is literally throwing fits today. Giant fits. It wants to know "where" the carbs are, "where" the calories are. Hungry, hungry, hungry today.

I got off to a sloooow start this morning. Didn't drop much water weight as I did last time, which is a bit ODD since at higher calories and higher carbs before our mini vacation this past weekend, I dropped lots of water weight. But that's the way it goes sometimes I guess. I HOPE it isn't a sign that my body is going to crash and burn again. Yikes.

For the newbies, I'm not doing a "strict" psmf, but a modified version of it. My leptin/thyroid levels crash very quickly and easily -- due to being on a low-fat version of low-carb for over a year with no cheating, breaks, or refeeds. Didn't know any better. My Tanita-like scale says I'm at 29.3% body fat, and even though I "think" I might be higher than that, (actually I KNOW I'm fatter than that), I'm doing this as a Category 2 since I HAVE to do weekly refeeds.

The optimal way to do this is to "space" out your free meals, and/or refeeds, most people do a refeed on Saturday or Sunday, and then take a free meal on Tuesday or Wednesday OR vice versa, (with category 3s using a 2nd free meal to replace the refeed).

But my life never seems to go down that way. Weekends are simply topsy turvey for us, we never know what we are going to do, and since my husband likes to go out to breakfast Saturday mornings I do my refeed (or a more relaxed day) on Saturday, and then take a free meal on Sunday "if" we go to our friend's house for dinner and there are no psmf friendly options available.

I tried to do it various ways on my last diet round; refeeding on Wednesday and taking a free meal on Sunday, but then Saturday life would interfere. We found ourself constantly having to go up north for this or that (we live in the middle of nowhere practically, so if we want something in particular we have to drive a couple of hours). And eating out twice a day or more always causes me to gain weight, even if I'm low carbing those meals.

So I next tried doing my refeed on Sunday, since our friend is basically "into" low or no fat, and all of a sudden STOPPED making simple meals of protein and veggies; she started making all of these high fat deserts and burgers and starchy casseroles and what have you. But trying to refeed was HARD because of the fat and then trying to come home and cram in enough carbs to meet my target within a very short time limit, whatever time I had left by the time we got home.

I found myself taking 2 free meals and a refeed per week which seriously intefered with my results, (or at least, I felt guilty doing it that way and wasn't seeing a whole lot of progress on the scale), so for me, the back-to-back weekends works best.

My take on all of this, is to do it like the book says if at all possible. But if it's not, then come as close to Lyle's recommendations as you can.

Now last diet round, I was a bit TOO relaxed on the weekends, and both days turned out to be "more than" maintenance days. So this time, I'm going to try to do things a bit different. My husband wants me to "let up a bit" on the weekends. And use those days as my free days, (with him), even if I don't feel like I need a full refeed. Okay.

I've been thinking about this, and have come to realization that there's no need (on non-refeed weekends) to go TOOOO overboard with this. Just because we have an ice cream together in the afternoon while running around, after having gone out to breakfast that morning, (I usually order a spanish omelete or bacon and eggs with cottage cheese on the side, no potatoes or bread generally) that doesn't mean I "have" to come home and cook a carby dinner meal too.

So I'm going to be trying some new ways of doing things this time round, to try and speed things up a bit.

Day 1: 179.8
Day 2: 179

[3Diva]

Originally Posted by gibster

<snip>

Diva - ***stay away from Panera Bread*** I'm sure you're glad to be back on PSMF today!

<snip>

Lol. You'll be amused to know that after I posted my confession on Sunday, I took the other loaf of bread, in front of my VERY CONFUSED husband, and dunked it in the toilet and THEN threw it away.

My 2 year old thought this was great, though.

[3Diva]

Hi Tootsie, Hi Dharma!

muscles, am I secretly allowed to hate you for losing all your unwanted weight in just 11 days? Wow. Just kidding... that's great. I hope to be a category 1 someday.

Ok, I am a happy bunny after having hopped back on the PSMF trail.

Day 1: 159.6
Day 2: 158.2
Day 3: 156.8

So as I go into my 3rd day, it appears I'm dropping some water weight (I was up to 162! the day before Day 1... ay yi yi.) I feel GREAT! I am so happy.

Thank you for putting up with my public nervous breakdown. I was doing ok, but not great the first 5 days, but I really started getting "whacked out" towards the end. Thanks for listening to me. It helped to have somewhere to go where others could understand.

This PSMF round I'm adding a Epi/Caffeine/Green Tea Extract stack. So either I'll go psycho and start sorting the spices in my cabinet alphabetically and ironing socks with all my newfound nervous energy OR... I'll be more effectively losing weight. Stacking plus PMS ought to be a hoot.

I'm also skipping my free meal this week, will refeed next Monday.

But BIG NEWS, I finally got my hubby to join in. However, I had to agree to do his Fitday for him (the man wouldn't know a calorie or carb count to save his life, so I took some pity on him). He's going to weigh things and write them down on index cards (for meals away from home), and I'm gradually training him on what to eat and what he can order out where, but he's in!

He lost almost 40 pounds on Atkins and then STALLED out (for a year) and regained about 18 through sloppy eating. He needs to lose about 27-29 overall, I think, since he has all belly fat and some cardiovascular and pre-diabetic test results that I don't like much! I think we have him at 26-28% body fat, so he's a borderline category 3.

Mom's doing really well.

Hazelia continues to kick butt.

It's a good day!

Suzan

[Tootsie]

Well I know that it's only water weight, but I'm 4lbs down already

Day 1: 179.5
Day 2: 175.5

Originally Posted by t0r1

Tootsie - I am not sure about refeeds and free meals as I haven't done either yet. I mix Greek yogurt with my cottage cheese. I would eat just the yogurt, but don't due to the higher carb count. The Greek yogurt does have lower carbs and higher protein than normal plain yogurt though. Ricotta could be good as long as it was low in fat. My favorite breakfast is cottage cheese, protein powder, cinnamon and flax seed mixed up in my food processor. It comes out smooth and creamy like yogurt and has tons of protein. The protein powder sweetens it up a bit as well.

Thanks for the info. Your favourite breakfast sounds great too.

Originally Posted by gibster

Tootsie - Cat 2's get 1 free meal and 1 refeed per week. (I think) I'm a Cat 3, so I'm not there yet. I believe that Lyle suggests spacing them out - not doing them on consecutive days. It really depends on what works best for you as far as your schedule. You just have to remember that they are not a license to eat everything in sight. The book gives specific guidelines for each break from the RFL regimen. If you don't have the book, at least check out the link that Vickie posted to DivineMissM's PSMF summary.

Lisa - Welcome!

Thanks, I have got the book but was a bit unsure as to the best time to start taking them.

Originally Posted by Lioness0455

The optimal way to do this is to "space" out your free meals, and/or refeeds, most people do a refeed on Saturday or Sunday, and then take a free meal on Tuesday or Wednesday OR vice versa, (with category 3s using a 2nd free meal to replace the refeed).

Ah, this is what I was looking for - thanks for the info. Though I also take on board the fact that 'life' can interfere, so I may just have to go with the flow. But for this week, I think that I'll refeed on Saturday and take a free meal on Monday.

[Hazelia]

HAPPY HUMP DAY!

Suzan, please wish your hubby good luck from all of us!!!

Tootsie, congrats on a 4 pound loss, WTG!!!

Everyone else, keep doing great just by sticking it out and keeping us up to date with your progress.

Weight changes in '08
05/12: 280.5
05/19: 277.5
05/26: 275.5
06/02: 274
06/09: 277 (TOM came and just had a carb loaded weekend)
06/10 Started PSMF
06/13: 269.5
06/14: 267 Free Meal
06/15: 267
06/16: 264.5
06/17: 264.5
06/18: 264.5

The inevitible slow down has came so far this week, but at least I'm not surprised. If I kept losing at a rapid clip I probably would have had to go to the doctor LOL. But...it sure would be NICE to get into the 250's by Sunday!!!