PSMF ~~ * JUNE THREAD * ~~

[gibster]

Wow, Tori, that's a loaded question.

I have days like that. The ideal way to deal with it is to not let one meal, or one day, lead to another, and another...... Easier said than done, most of the time. What sometimes works for me is to think about how bad I'll feel in the morning - physically & mentally - if I continue to eat badly. Take my wine-festival weekend, for instance. Even with a planned free meal (day!), I knew I'd pay for it later, so instead of continuing eating off-plan (the "what-the-hell" attitude), I got right back on-plan the next morning. Not to say this was easy, but sometimes you just have to talk yourself into it. Stop and think how frustrated and down on yourself you'll feel before you put one bad carb in your mouth. I think what we all need to do is to try and defeat that "selective memory" thing, i.e., we need to remember our pain.

Planning can help here too. When you're feeling all "on-plan", stop and actually write down strategies to deal with various triggers, be they social situations, sights, smells, tastes, emotions. If you rehearse your plan, you can "fake it 'til you make it".

[nill4me]

Some excellent advisement there gib...i have to agree whole-heartedly. When i think of chocolate, or ice cream, or crackers with cheese....i think "how good did it feel to put those jeans on last week", "how bad will it feel not to be able to do that next week".

Not only that...there are serious health concerns with being overweight like i am...so i think about that as well. I hate doctors and meds, so anything i can do on my own to avoid both of them....i'm on it these days.

I also know that i feel more confident in my everyday life, when things are going well...on and on.

So, am I able to say NO to every hershey's kiss that happens to walk my way? heck no. I just do my best to close my eyes and hope they leave quickly!


Current Numbers:
Week 1: 237 (restart after NOLA fiasco)
Week 2: 225.6
Week 3: 225.8
Mini-Diet Break - 6/5 - 6/9 (daughter's graduation weekend)
Week 4: 224.4
Mini-Diet Break - 6/13 - 6/22 (outer banks vacation)
Week 5: 220.2
6/30: 220.0

20lbs down is insight!!!! I'm hoping by the end of the week I'll be there. (i think i can, i think i can...)

Have a great day everyone.

[t0r1]

Thanks for the responses ladies! I know that planning really helps, so with that in mind I plan on hitting Walmart when we get to our destination later this week and pick up some "on plan" foods as I know there won't be any where we are staying. Thinking about how good it will feel to fit in my clothes does help as well...I need to focus on that more since that is why I need to lose this weight!! Since I already bought my "reward" jeans I need to put in the work in order to wear them.

Lately I have been trying to imagine what my goal body looks like. I find more and more that I want the fitness model look...lean, but not extremely cut. It is a what some people in the fitness/bodybuilding world might call a more soft look, but the body fat of most of those women is most likely below 15%. So if I ever want to get to that point I need to set out some serious goals both short term and long term. That is one of my biggest problems when I start a diet or exercise program...I don't have any specific goals. I have read in many diet books that goals are the most important part of any diet plan. Any thoughts on this??

[Dharma]

Wow Tori - 15% bodyfat??? That's really low, and really hard for a woman to do. I think women who get that low lose their b00bs, too. I guess as an older woman it seems way out of reach..lol. I'm just hoping for 25% eventually. When I lose too much weight my hormones go wacko too, so that's not what I want. But a little definition would be nice!!

Nil4me - almost 20 lbs is awesome!!

Gibster sounds like you had a great weekend.

Tootsie that IS a nice surprise - congrats on being in the 160's.

Lioness I appreciate the info on ketosis. Very thorough. A lot of people think that as long as they're in ketosis it means they're losing weight - but that's not true.

I had my pork loin last night, and some slaw made with FF mayo, then had 2 vodka & diet cokes. So technically it was a free meal. My weight was the same this morning, of course!

My trainer told me this morning that he could tell I'd lost weight!! How cool is that. I've lost 9 lbs, which I would hope would show, but a lot of people don't pay that much attention. It was a nice compiment.

3 more weeks til my diet break. I'm actually pretty scared because I've never been a good maintainer. I need a good plan!!

Day 1: 159
Day 2: 157.5
Day 3: 156.5
Day 4: 156
Day 5: 156
Day 6: 152.6 (new scales)
Day 7: 153 (refeed)
Day 8: 152.6
Day 9: 152.6
Day 10: 152.4 (free meal)
Day 11: 154
Day 12: 151.8
Day 13: 151.4
Day 14: 151.2
Day 15: 150.2 (free meal)
Day 16: 150.2

[nill4me]

i agree with the wowsers on 15% BF. The only way I would EVER get there would be to cut off my arms and legs!!!

I do think that goals are important...if you dont have a goal, how will you ever know that you are finished

[Burning Bacon]

Hey all,
I am in search of shaking things up and have been reading some articles about CKD/TKD, anabolic diets, metabolic diets, and I tell you it's seeming like I am more confused than ever. I tried to get the book by Lyle McDonald, The Ketogenic Diet, but the library doesn't have it. Can anyone tell me what the PSMF is???? I notice from the menu plans, it seems like a low fat diet? I was hoping to find something more like a high fat plan, but also the more I read, if I want to start strength training, it seems a lower fat approach is often recommended. Can anyone help me understand this better? or perhaps recommend something where I won't be hungry all the time but also to have the energy to do strength training.....I know it's a pretty late start to be doing the strength training, but I know I have to start seeing some results as the scale is not moving and neither are the inches.....BTW, I am 55, 5' 2", 146, and post-surgical menopause and on HRT.....a lot of odds against me, but hey, I want to be the best that I can be!!!! Thank you all for any help and suggestions........

[sails92]

Hello Everyone,

I'm new to this forum, but I've been reading a lot of your posts and have been encouraged to join this board. Today is my first day of GNC Whey Protein. I've been low-carbing, but thought to give this a try. I have a very basic eating plan for this first week and then I will modify it if need be, but this week is basically only whey protein shakes, lots of variety of teas, 64oz of water, and my usual supplements (pre-natal multi-vitamin, biotin, calcium, asprin, B-12, iron, flax oil, omega3), so below are my beginning stats.

Day1 - 283.5


Many Blessings to all,
Marilyn

[gibster]

Originally Posted by Burning Bacon

Hey all,
I am in search of shaking things up and have been reading some articles about CKD/TKD, anabolic diets, metabolic diets, and I tell you it's seeming like I am more confused than ever. I tried to get the book by Lyle McDonald, The Ketogenic Diet, but the library doesn't have it. Can anyone tell me what the PSMF is???? <snipped>........

BB -

Google anonymousbodybuilding Rapid Fat Loss Handbook e-book .pdf

This is the 2005 version. Does anyone know what has changed?

[Dharma]

Hi Burning Bacon. Yes, bodybuilding diets can be pretty complicated and most are low fat. I've always been against low fat myself, but after trying high fat, low carb, lower protein for SIX months and not losing anything, I realized I needed a new approach.

Lyle McDonald is the author of the book "The Rapid Fat Loss Handbook" which can be purchased from his website - bodyrecomposition . com
I'm 50 yrs old and have been weight training for 4 years but I haven't seen the results I wanted, and it's because of my diet. I decided out of desperation (Mexico vacation coming up) to try the PSMF. I lose weight very easily on very low calorie, but it messes up my hormones really horribly. This plan has safeguards built in to prevent those hormonal crashes and prevent loss of lean body mass. That's why I chose it: rapid fat loss, preserve lean body mass, keep systems running to prevent metabolic crash. And, he spends a ton of time in the book discussing maintenance, which is my downfall.

I must say I'm sooooo pleased with it. I'm never hungry anymore (hardly) and the free meal and re-feed each week keep me sane. I've lost 9 lbs in 16 days and after the first 3 days it wasn't hard at all. I still get 'enough' fat, and you are supposed to take fish oil supplements to provide the essential fatty acids which is very important.

I too want to be the best I can be and you are NEVER too old!!! Good luck with your decision.

[gibster]

Originally Posted by sails92

Hello Everyone,

I'm new to this forum, but I've been reading a lot of your posts and have been encouraged to join this board. Today is my first day of GNC Whey Protein. I've been low-carbing, but thought to give this a try. I have a very basic eating plan for this first week and then I will modify it if need be, but this week is basically only whey protein shakes, lots of variety of teas, 64oz of water, and my usual supplements (pre-natal multi-vitamin, biotin, calcium, asprin, B-12, iron, flax oil, omega3), so below are my beginning stats.

Day1 - 283.5


Many Blessings to all,
Marilyn

[Lioness0455]

Comparatively speaking, my weekend went extremely well. Did my refeed on Saturday, and kept it on the small side, 200 carbs, then took a free meal on Sunday because I was craving chocolate and the brownies I made for my husband started calling my name, just smelling them wasn't going to work, lol, plus I "always" have ice cream on Sunday night.

I've been really undecided on what I should do. My husband didn't get paid this week, and the guy he's been working for said there are no more contracts lined up for after today, so we were short on funds. I couldn't afford to get the lean meat I need for the coming week. I don't know what all of you are paying for what you're eating, but chicken breast here is something like $17.95 a package, for 4 or 5 large breasts, and I would have needed 4 of them to get me through the next 2 weeks.

So I ended up getting a 10lb bag of chicken leg quarters, some pork chops and pork steaks that were on sale, and a package of Tilapia. Plus two 1-lb chuck steaks that we can share (they were something like over $4 a pound, ouch!) to bbq for Saturday nights.

It'll have to get us through 2 weeks or possibly even more cuz any money that comes in this next week will have to go to the mortgage plus personal loan that will be coming out of our checking account on the 8th. I still have things here, we aren't outta food by no means. Heck, I have a year's supply of Dreamsfield pasta in my basement lol.

I just won't be able to stay strictly psmf anymore. It's getting crazy around here. There's only 2 of us, and it cost us $25 more this week than usual. Even with the higher fat, less costly meats and proteins. I could see it coming for a couple of weeks now, but we were so far able to stay within our budget, due to my habit of buying in bulk and on sale/mark down, plus there was always money coming in.

But now...that's changed.

So I'll be doing something that's in-between PSMF and Atkins. A lower-fat version of Atkins, I guess you would call it. What everyone keeps screaming you can't do lol, so I'll be sticking around here still if you all don't mind. Not completely abandoning psmf, or Lyle's recommendations, but I could NEVER do the type of depletion workouts required to do a true cyclic carb diet.

So I'm just going to do refeeds when needed, and a free meal or more relaxed day as usual on the weekends. Might not NEED the free meal if I'm doing low carb though. I'll have to see.

Beginning Weight this round: 179.8, 29.3% bf
Week 1: 176, 29.3% bf
Week 2: 176.8, 29.1% bf

Day 1: 176.2

Dropped weight this morning even with the brownies and ice cream last night! Plus my body fat percentage is down a bit this week, even though my weight is back up to that stupid set-point! Just goes to show you that the scale isn't a good reflection on what is going on, not at all. My body "wants" to weigh 175, but the fat is still going away. Yeah!!!

[Dharma]

Welcome Marilyn. Glad to have you! I use the Whey Isolate powder from GNC to supplement my protein cause it's so hard to eat 130 grams a day for me! And expensive, as Lioness said.

Lioness please do stay here. You can do your own version and I'm sure it will work great. It sounds reasonable to me!

[gibster]

Vickie, if you stop posting here, we may have to hunt you down like a dog. Please dont go away!

[Lioness0455]

Welcome Burning Bacon and Marilyn,
I'm post menopause myself, 53, also 5ft 2in, and still waaaaay too heavy. High fat Atkins didn't work for me this time around, but I don't know if that has to do with the menopause (several on the board say yes), or my liver because I don't process chemicals very well. I've also personally found fat not to be as filling and satisfying a some claim it is -- for me, higher protein is what does the trick. Not a lot of fat. So I guess it's an individual thing.

I've done Atkins, Protein Power, Kimkins (which didn't stop working, by the way, I just got blasted by low-carbers for doing it when everything hit the fan, plus the safety question made me nervous, so I ran back to Atkins but started gaining the weight I'd lost back), zero-carb, ketogenic ratios, and now this.

There's a cyclic low-carb diet thread in this "other" section, but I think that kind of diet is actually for someone who's been doing weight lifting for awhile. I hear it's HARD to "deplete" otherwise. There's Barry's stuff -- he's into high fat, lower protein, moderate carbs. That thread is in this "other diets" section too, but I can't remember what it's called. Something to do with the 4th of July. July Firecracker or something or other. I don't know if there's anyone on that thread doing strength training.

It takes carbs to fuel weight lifting and strength training, so yeah, you're not going to find a high-fat weight lifting diet. Cycling carbs is the closest you're going to come to that. Amiga pops in here now and then, so she'd be able to point you in a better direction than we all could. As I think, if I remember correctly, that's the kind of diet she does most often.

15% body fat for a woman is very Very VERY lean. There's a thread over on Lyle's forum, the OLD one, bodyrecomposition dot com slash forums, about guessing body fat percentages. It's worth taking a look at. Women didn't start posting their pics until about 6 or 8 pages in, but you can get a good idea of what fat percentages look like on women. You'd be surprised. The 'soft but lean look' is closer to 18-20 or more, depending upon your particular build.

If you go tooo lean, you'll have to stay hungry in order to maintain it.

[Lioness0455]

Thanx guys,

You know...sometimes we can get stuff marked down, that's how i've been doing it up till now, but there hasn't been anything marked down in over a month. And I'm completely out now. Due to my allergies, I can't eat the boneless frozen bagged stuff. I have to have the "natural" kind. Have to hit the market almost right after they mark it down, though, cuz it goes fast.

So maybe a juggling act, lean when I can, and higher fat when I need to, would be a more accurate way to describe what I'm going to try this week.

[gibster]

Barry Groves' plan is called Eat Fat Get Thin - EFGT.

[t0r1]

Vickie, Dharma and Nill - Yeah I know 15% is low for a woman...most athletes are around that number. When I was reading Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle, you do all of these calculations and with my weight at 125 keeping my lean body mass (107) I would be at 15% bodyfat. How attainable it would be for me is questionable. I am currently around 22% per my accu-measure that I have at home. 18% is definitely a more realistic goal. I will just have to see what it takes for me to get there and then re-evaluate. Thanks for your comments!!

Vickie - Wow, I can't believe the cost of chicken in your area!! Where do you live? Food is becoming so expensive...my 1/2 gallon of organic milk is $5 now!

Welcome Marilyn and Burning Bacon!!

[Burning Bacon]

Hey all,
Thank you so very much for all the information regarding my question regarding PSMF. I did check out Lyle's website and have been doing some reading there....Vickie, you were most helpful in knowing we're both having trouble losing weight and trying various things to find the way....just made me feel a whole lot better. Best of luck to you all, and Vickie, hopefully I can find more on what Amiga says about things since I really would like to do the strength training....perhaps I will have to ease off on fat a bit and increase some good carbs......off to read more....thank you again....BB

[sails92]

Thanks all for the warm welcome...I'll post tomorrow my first day results....Also I completed a wonderful workout video called "ripped"...It is a weightlifting strength training video that is simply the best....I borrowed mine from my local library, but I'm sure that it can be purchased on amazon or ebay.

Many Blessings,
Marilyn

[amiga74]

Originally Posted by t0r1

How do any of you deal with thoughts of self-sabotage?

not so much advice but don't be so hard on yourself. i did very well last summer with psmf for about 6 weeks. probably a little too long. but i have issues with food. i am a binge eater. some of it is probably self sabotage. but i did diet for 6 weeks and lost over 15 lbs. however, over the long term, i did not keep it off.
i get into these binge-restrict patterns. that is why i am not doing psmf this time around. i am trying a super slow approach.

but planning really helps, as mentioned. You deserve this, you deserve to succeed for all your effort and hard work.

best of luck!

[gibster]

Time for a new thread ---> PSMF ~~*JULY*~~