Posts by mindxdreamz

I went vegetarian cold turkey and changed my ways in 13 days. I did have mild thoughts, not really cravings, for meat during the first week, but the foods I am eating, wholefood farmacy food, it's so tasty that I am now a convert. I also did the Airola diet years ago and kept my weight maintained for years. But mid thirties I started putting on the pounds. I also studied the Essene literature and tried, for spiritual reasons to go vegetarian for about a month, but I went back to old ways at that time because I was not eating a good variety of proteins and had gotten sick, nails started breaking and I started losing hair. I have had none of those side effects this time around so I'm all for the vegan or vegetarian lifestyle. And I find I'm spending a lot less too!

Love the title of this thread, it's true too that nothing tastes as good as being thin feels. :)

Yes you can google my profile name and the words wholefood farmacy to find out what I have been eating. Change your ways in 13 days. :)

Here is my story:

From October 2003 thru February 2003 I worked for Jenny Craig. And this is not an ad for Jenny Craig by the way though I learned many good habits there. I was a weight loss consultant. At the time I was hired I weighed in at 208 lbs. That was the most I’d ever weighed in my life! It was a huge wake up call for me. I told them when they hired me that if they selected me for the job - I’d be a client. They did and I did. At training they gave each of the trainees a free week’s worth of food. I was in heaven!

Prior to this I had never been in the health or wellness industry. I had been a computer systems trainer, technical writer, and systems analyst/consultant. So, working for Jenny Craig in itself was a humbling experience for me. But since I’d lost a job due to my asthma and allergies this was the place that apparently I needed to be – at least for awhile.

I talked with the nutritionists (there were only two) who worked higher up in the Jenny Craig organization. We were able to call them, explain a client’s situation then receive a call back with how to tailor the program to meet that client’s need. The nutritionist would explain enzymes and other factors to me that were over my head at the time. I believed they were on to something though. What they had found was this - the glycemic index. Nutrisystem uses this same principle. No white potatoes, no white sugar, etc. Or if you did have it, you had to eat a very small amount of it at one time so that they body didn’t over produce insulin.

I have continued to apply many of the principles I learned at Jenny Craig to my life. About the only thing I did not like in their program were the “pre-packaged” foods. I loved the fact that I could still buy my own dairy and produce on the plan because I love salads, fruit, and cheese! But the cheese was one thing that they severely restricted. I learned to eat lowfat cottage cheese though and love it! Haha! Everything Jenny Craig sold was either frozen, canned or in a bag/pouch. And we had to take supplements everyday, which I did. Looking back, I am wondering what was in those supplements? I am sure the supplements aided my weight loss. I had clients tell me that they had more energy when they took the supplements and many lifers on the program wouldn’t come in to buy food anymore, just the supplements.

Since I was an employee, I got a discount. I spent about $70 a week on food. The only way I could afford to work the program was that I didn’t have to feed my adult children anymore. I was divorced at that time without a husband to cook for. My kids were working, though living with me, but they were able to provide food for themselves. (They usually ate a lot of fast food, sometimes even bringing pizza home but I was good for the most part and did not partake - even if offered). Since I didn’t have to cook for anyone it helped me stay on the plan. Some of the things I recall doing while I was on the Jenny Craig plan were to:

Limit wine to twice a week, and then only have one to two glasses.

Ate dessert every night usually consisting of fat free whipped topping and sugar free jello. Or have a Weight Watcher frozen treat. Or a Jenny Craig dessert – and they were yummy! No more snacks after dinner/dessert though.

Work out, but no weight training, just walking, mostly at work at the Jenny Craig centre, where I “shopped” for the food, for my clients in centre (we had a large storeroom of food and huge freezers), and walk back and forth down a long hallway - all day - from the front entry/waiting area to my office. I wore a pedometer and some days walked 8,000 to 10,000 steps.

When I quit Jenny Craig to return to work on a graphics contract (sitting at a computer all day) I quickly regained about 3 or 4 lbs in a couple of months.  Once that contract ended I worked for a few weeks at Walgreens. They had me squatting and bending over to stock and clean up the store, as well as standing all day at the register, so that was great! I lost those few pounds and then some and was feeling great again. The only other exercise I do consistently is walk my two dogs.

I was doing fairly well eating on my own until July and August of 2004. That’s when our power went out (once for 5 days) and fresh food supplies were disrupted due to three hurricanes near our area within a six week timeframe. I gained about 12 lbs. It really knocked my motivation and led me to go back to eating tortilla chips (something I had totally given up when I was on Jenny Craig). It also led to me eating a lot of canned foods, loaded with salt. (I had known for years that I’d had sensitivity to salt and had quit putting salt on my food years ago and had not been eating chips because they had salt on them, etc.)

but here I was eating salty foods again.

My husband Richard and I married on February 25, 2005 and between my nearly 15 lbs weight gain and being married and happy, I totally forgot about my weight issues. I started enjoying more dinners out and having more wine and didn’t weigh myself very often. When we did cook, I began getting into more organic and whole foods but I didn’t count my calories. I tried to eat a correct portion, but we snacked more in the evenings and didn’t work out consistently.

I've done colonics, colon cleanses, and bought umpteen diet books as follows:

Eat Right for your Blood-Type (and corresponding pocket book to show all the foods I am supposed to be eating, and abstaining from.)

The Biggest Loser (The weight-loss program to transform your body) as well as their DVD workout program

The Liver Detox Diet

The Zone Diet

Somersize

Losing Weight after 40

All I can say now is that eating at least 40% of your daily intake in raw food, all natural, organic if possible, is still one of the best things you can do. Get off the processed food, especially enriched flours, sugar, diet sweeteners and the like. Watch out for high fructose corn syrup too and know that even salad dressings like Marie's that are in the produce section, next to the organic lettuce, it says it's got no preservatives and 0 trans fats but guess what? Yep, it's got high fructose corn syrup as its #3 ingredient. Good grief!

It's a jungle out there and this is a lifelong work for many of us - losing weight or maintaining our weight.

Regards,

Mind Xdreamz

I agree with everyone who's brought up weight and resistance training. We have the bow flex dumbbell weight system, not the big system that they sell. I learned at one of my Juice Plus health seminars that "the best exercise is the one you will DO" and so I've followed that ever since. This is what I do:

• I regularly do yoga and stretching exercises, especially and at least five minutes of back aligning stretches before going to sleep
  
  
• I walk outside about a half hour a day and jog as well, approx. 2 miles - I prefer doing this in the morning when it's cooler outside
  
  
• I practice some belly dance moves while I dance or do low impact aerobics occasionally, 1-2 times a week. I get bored with a lot of work out routines so I mix it up
  
  
• I always manage to get in about 40 ab crunches at least every other day
  
  
• I lift 30 lbs of free weights for upper body workouts every other day
  
  
• I do hindu squats everyday, somedays only 2 or 3 reps of 10 other days 4 or 5 reps of 10; I do these within a minute or so at work during the day, no one notices and it gets me out of my chair (I sit at a computer all day - which is challenging when you want to be more active)
  
  
• I perform some arm/back stretches at my desk at least once per hour while I'm at work also, which I hope will prevent carpel tunnel from setting in - and this also uplifts my body so that I do not slouch as much
  
  
• I take Juice Plus everyday, eat raw foods from the Wholefood Farmacy, and continue to limit the amount of dairy products I consume