I started Chose to Loose last Friday. I was doing low carb (Atkins) for 50 days but was not loosing as much and decided to try Carb cycling.
I gained 3 pounds since and I'm very worry about it. I also feel lack of energy, I had more energy with low carb. Sunday was my fun day- I did not go overboard but did not feel good about it.
I'm not sure if I'm doing this right (yes, I read the book). Today was low carb day: High protein, carbs and veggie for breakfast? I'm to do this every day?
For lunch I had protein (Chicken breast) with low carb tortilla - Was I suppose to have another carb?
For dinner chicken and broccoli with cheese (was cheese OK?)
I had a protein shake for snack. I'm sorry if I seem stupid, I'm just confuse with Atkins and this carb cycling. Any advice?

Mav: I just took a quick look at your diary for today. Just looking at the diary I couldn't tell if you were on a HC or a LC day. This is a "problem." :laugh: Bare with me... I'm going to look at your diary with "diet prision" and "diet framework" glasses... so don't be mad at me right off the bat.

So, there are two ways of looking at it... first off would be the "diet prison" suggestions.

Breakfast, should have been High Carb. This means a portion of protein (2 large eggs is a good size), and a slice of whole grain bread is ideal. Adding veggies is optional... and if you feel like you need the extra bulk I would do so. Technically your creamer would be considered a "fat" and is "not allowed" with breakfast.

Morning snack. should be LC: The protein shake looks good. You are missing veggies, and a healthy fat

Lunch: Should be LC: this means no tortilla "low carb or otherwise". Quantities of chicken and sour cream look good. You are really short on the veggies.

afternoon snack should be LC: looks good... but you are missing protein. On future days that are similar, I'd choose a protein that is lowfat here.

Dinner should be LC too. Chris would probably not be thrilled about the cheese whiz... and you are low on veggies.



Boy, that sucked. I hate being the bearer of bad news. So, my Diet Framework glasses are on now.

Overall, you did really good today... especially for just switching from Atkins to CTL. I am proud of you!!! Overall your diary for today looks really really good. I'd just make some tweaks.

Breakfast is all about being high carb and protein every morning. Some people find that eggs and fruit or bread seals the deal here. Others (like me) have a protein shake with fruit every morning. Veggies at breakfast are purely optional.. have them if you feel you need the extra staying power... or skip them if you don't.

The rest of today should have been Low Carb. This means a "palm of protein", two fistfulls of veggies, and 1 thumb of fat. No carbs at all. The fat content for your day was a little on the high side, which I don't see as a problem, assuming you are able to go low fat tomorrow. The bigger concern would be that you are really low on veggies today. Low carb days are the day to get in your veggies, as you might not have the room to eat them all including the carbs on High Carb days.

It looks like to me that you stoped at about "1200 calories" because that is what Chris says to do in the book. In my experience, it is really really hard to get all my veggies in for the day on 1200 cal days, and the protein and fat that I should. This is when I realized Chris says something really cool on page 171 of the book:

"Vegetables [are] unlimited (except for root and starchy veggies in the carbohydrate category - they count as carbs)"

I take this to mean Chris is telling us that we need to eat the two fists of veggies (or more) if at all possible at each meal (after breakfast).... and that we can do that even if our calorie count for the day hit the "1200" number before we got in all our veggies.


So, my takeaway is this: Up the veggies, and make sure you get protein at every meal. Be mindful of your fat & carb portions at the appropriate meals and you will be golden!
-sarah

To everyone else!!!

Holy Cow!!! You are all doing so great! I love hearing your stories of loss and perserveriance.

Today was my crazy homeschool co-op day... it is Low Carb for me... and boy am I peeing like a racehorse!

So, you want to know what is funny? Between December and January I lost a total of 2 pounds. Two. That's it. Last saturday I "gained" 4 pounds, which puts me back up to my weight before Thanksiving. I am sure it is all water because I wasn't feeling bloated or "fat" at all... in fact my pants were fitting really good. I did my HC day on Saturday, and my "funday" yesterday.

But here's the kicker.. this morning, I am down 1 pound from last Saturday's weight. This is a first ever for me. I have always stayed the same, or gained slightly from Saturday to Monday. Always!

So, what have I changed? Well, I'm working on drinking more water. Last week I ate kinda crappy, and went higher on sodium some days than I wanted to on some days... and on others I didn't perfectly eat LC or HC. So it was all strange. Saturday I started a challenge with some friends and I have to drink a minimum of 64 oz of water a day. I got the 64 in on Saturday and 96 in on Sunday!!! No wonder I'm peeing so much. :laugh:

I also decided to try to go "sugar free" as much as possible, so no more than 6g of processed sugar in a serving of anything. This included no sweets yesterday. That was strange. I ended up really high on the sodum though. Sigh. Finally I did exercise yesterday... and I don't usually on Sunday, and my calories were a little lower than I usually eat.

So.... I'm not sure what caused the weight drop... but I'm not complaining. Here's hoping for a really good weigh this next Saturday to make up for the "gain." LOL

I love long posts. I don't feel alone when I feel like I have so much to say!

JB... you "done" good here! :laugh:

Day 2 of slingshot week, week 5 of doing CTL. I'm actually enjoying it. (but I know I will miss my chocolate peanutbutter protein shakes and my avocodos!!!) <snip>

Oh yes.. likely by the end of your week you will be craving them... It always makes me laugh when I crave different things at the end of a High carb week. Sometimes it is something like Pizza or mac and cheese. But one week that I ended up eating a lot of chicken & turkey, all I wanted was a big fat juicy steak w/ potatoes & a cranberry walnut salad. Go figure.

What I find is really funny though, is that often when I was really am craving something that is in a combination that I can only have on funday, I often "forget" to eat it on funday. Go figure. LOL.

I think I did well yesterday for my first slingshot day. I did break the rules slightly & added a small amount of blue cheese to my salad at dinner. <snip>
And I thawed some salmon for dinner tonight and then afterwards realized that might not be the ideal protein for a HC day since it has alot of omegas. But, it's too late now, I can't let it go to waste & it is healthy, so that's my dinner.

Okay you are fired. Nope. Get off the cruise ship.. You can't stay.. you HAD CHEESE on a High Carb day. :laugh: :laugh:

Bwahahhaha! I'm sure you had less than 1 oz of cheese... and even if you had more... who cares! It sounds like you had a rockin' day!!

As far as the salmon goes... it is an approved protein, to eat any day of the week. This is how I treat "high fat" proteins. I try not to have them at more than one meal of the day.. and if I do have it 2+ times in one day, I try to eat really lean meat the following day. It's all about balance. Also, when I look at my fat content for a HC day with "fatty" protein, I mentally subtract the amount of that protein's fat from my day's totals. As long as the rest of my food was under the "fat grams" that I wanted to stay under for the day, then I call it a success.

It's the same reason why I am so glad that Chris updated his food guidelines from the book to what he has on the smart food guide that you can download. In the book we were only allowed egg whites on a HC day. Now we are allowed to eat the whole egg as a complete protein. I'm thankful for the switch. And, quite frankly, my fat content on a HC day that includes eggs is usually pretty low, unless I have ground beef or salmon or something too, so who cares!

Babeinthemoon - I'm constantly switching back & forth with my diet prison glasses & my diet framework glasses. What do you think about the fruit thing?? I unintentionally bought a ton of fruit & I certainly don't want any of it to go to waste, but I'm wondering if I should try to also incorporate a few more grains.

YES! Go for it! I go through phases where my HC days are only fruit, and others are only grains... and then I do days where I have a great combination of both. See if you can get grain in a a couple meals over the week... but in the meantime, enjoy that fruit!

<Snip> So....should I also maybe make a brown rice to go with dinner? If so, is it ok to have the pineapple AND the rice since they're both carbs??

Oh my word! Have both! You have my PERMISSION! LOL.

Seriously. Take a look at your carb quantities for the rest of the day. Are you a little on the low side during any one meal? If so, take the dinner opportunity to add a little back in.

OR

Take your "fist size" quantity, and eat roughly half of it as pineapple, and roughly half as brown rice. I rarely eat a full serving of brown rice anymore... it is usually about 3/4 of the size.. and I don't feel denied. If you go over the fist size by a little bit, who cares. It will all come out in the wash eventually. Just try not to eat a full serving of each. K?

You can do it! Enjoy your meal, and have fun!!!

Hi there! I am freaking out a bit here about the sling shot thing.I tested my blood sugar last night and it was pretty high despite not eating enough. Sunday it was high but that was expected after Saturday. Today at all 3 tests it was quite high. I put a call in to the nurse practitioner but I think I already know what she may say.I don't think I can handle several days in a row of really high carb. I hope jumping off the slingshot doesn't mess anything major up. i was losing just fine last week. Do any of you have any experience with high BG and the slingshot week????? I was doing very good with the every other day. It got just slightly elevated on the high carb days but nothing like this.

Chelle, I don't have experience in this... but my husband is diabetic (type 1). He is not on CTL, but does eat everything I put in front of him. LOL (usually with no complaints, unless there is squash involved).

How do your blood sugars look during a normal week? Are you familiar with the Glycemic index (I'm sure I spelled that wrong)? Perhaps on a HC week you need to focus more on long lasting carbs, rather than the ones that will shoot right through you and spike your sugars fast?

Here are some options to try (I'm just guessing here):

Maybe try doing Funday, 2 days HC, 1 day LC, 2 days HC, 1 day LC, Funday

OR

Maybe you HC from Breakfast Day 1, until morning snack of day 2, and have LC Lunch and afternon snack, with HC dinner on day 2. Day 3 repeat?

OR

Maybe you do HC all day, except your last meal where you eat LC no matter what during your slingshot week?

---

There are 2 things that happen during slingshot week. First of all you are eating low fat along with the higher carbs (duh). This means that you are allowing your body to build up some new energy stores for the next few weeks. This is a good thing.

Secondly, your HC week is usually all 1500 cal days. You are eating more calories. The theory behind this is that you are telling your body... "hey, I know things have been rough around here lately, but look.. food is plentiful, so feel free to use some of the fat stores we already have. :laugh: Please? :laugh: "


So, on your slingshot week, even if you resort to having some LC meals, don't worry!! Keep your calories up all week. Do what works for you, and for your body! You have special considerations, so tweak the diet until it works for you!!!

:flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: