Thursday, December 29, 2011

Newbie Tips


Are you new to this diet and want wondering what to look out for? Here's a few tips that will help you lose weight faster!

FIRST:  Ditch the mindset of less food = loss of weight.  This diet is not your run of the mill diet, but is one where the MORE YOU EAT, the MORE YOU WILL LOSE.  Bare minimum for women is 1,200 calories a day and for men it is 1,500 calories per day net of exercise, meaning eat back what you burned off in exercise.

H O W E V E R ..... you will find on this diet that if you are a woman and eat at least 1,500 calories a day or are a man and eat at least 1,800 calories a day, your losses will be much better.  Eating every 2-3 hours helps a lot in order to get all the food in!  Yes you heard it here, EAT MORE!

YOGURT
Your yogurt does not have to be nonfat or fat free; it should be lowfat, tho with no sugar in any form listed in the list of ingredients.  It is to be NSA (no sugar added), not sugar free--there is no such thing as sugar free yogurt as all dairy products have naturally occurring milk sugars.

There really is no magic number on the sugar grams for yogurt, but we highly recommend keeping the grams of sugar to 10-12 grams of sugar or less per 6 ounce serving. If you eat Lowfat yogurt (which IS allowed), then your sugar grams from naturally-occurring milk sugars will be closer to the 12g mark, but definitely within limits. For yogurts that show 8 ounces as the serving size, that would mean that the 8 ounce serving should show 14 to 16 grams of sugar for that 8 ounce serving.

The yogurts with fruit in them are generally considerably higher in sugar than if you had bought a plain yogurt and added your own fruit PLUS the fruit added to yogurt is not counted as your fruit serving.  I'd recommend getting the plain and adding some Stevia sweetener and your own fruit to it.

Fruit flavored yogurts? Where do you think the sweetness comes from? Especially in Greek yogurts that are fruit flavored, that flavor comes from added sugar, so steer clear of these.

Lowfat/Nonfat yogurt can be used in place of sour cream!  If you want the sour cream flavor, just add some dill weed and fine tune it until you get the flavor just right for you.  It's great for dipping veggies in as well!

MENUS
If you use are using the menus from the book, please note that they do not contain enough calories by themselves to sustain weight loss.  You will need to add at least 300-400 calories a day to them to reach the minimum 1,200 calories (women) or 1,500 calories (men) to keep you out of Famine/Starvation mode. More is better!!!! Better yet, target 1,500 calories a day for women and 1,800 calories a day for men net of exercise.

What Famine/Starvation mode does is send a signal to your body and your body hoards both calories AND weight, plus long-term it can really mess up your metabolism.  Some have seen a complete stop in their weight loss due to this alone.

While you don't need to count calories all the time on this diet, I do recommend that when starting out, you keep a food log and track calories to make sure that you're getting your minimum caloric requirement in.  A good website for this is MyFitnessPal.com.  After you have a handle on what that looks like for you, then you can stop counting calories if you want.  It's a good idea to track them again periodically to make sure you're still on track, especially if your loss has slowed down substantially or stopped.  Remember in C2 that your loss will not be at the high rate it was in C1.

HUNGRY? WHY?
Are you hungry on this diet? Then you're not eating enough! This is an "Eat More, Lose More" diet and also one in which Dr. Mike has said "If you're hungry, EAT!".  Just supplement your menu plan with foods from the "Freebies" list (list of foods in the book of the lean proteins and cleansing vegetables).  To quickly look at the list, check out the grocery list here.

GREEN TEA
If you have low iron, do not drink the green tea -- it can make your iron deficiency worse. Also, if you have high blood pressure it can make it even higher, and if you are on blood thinners, please PLEASE talk to your doctor before using the Green Tea.  There are a number of medical conditions where green tea is not recommended.  Talk to your doctor before drinking green tea.

If you have some issues with constipation, it is most likely related to green tea; backing off on it or eliminating it will probably help the situation.

HOW LATE CAN I EAT.....?
The only food you are limited as to how late you can eat it is the fruit in C1 and the starches in C2.  For both of those, don't eat them past 2 p.m. OR closer to your bedtime than 8 hours prior to going to sleep.  The 2 p.m. deadline is based on an assumption that most people go to bed around 10 p.m.

FOR BEST LOSSES:
For the best losses, stick to only the Food Lists found in the book, at least for the first round of the 3 cycles.  Dr. Mike has made some modifications to the diet, but if you are in your first round of cycles, you will do a lot better if you keep it simple and follow the food lists in the book.  Basically: if it's not listed in the Food List for the cycle you are on, don't eat it.

This basically means: unsweetened almond milk is C3; nuts and seeds are C3 (including avocado and allowable peanut butter); no coconut oil or protein powder; hold off on agave for as long as you can (it is allowed, but it is still sugar!), and remember that any hot, spicy chiles or peppers such as jalapenos are C3, as is Cilantro.

This also means not using the Cultural Exceptions listed in the book under a different chapter. Dr. Mike told me in January 2013 that the Cultural Exceptions are for those who would completely walk away from this diet if they can't have those foods.  Be honest with yourself--limiting yourself to not eating a few foods is not going to make you give up on this diet.

21 comments:

  1. Hi there, I'm looking at starting this to loose 20-28kgs. 16th January 2012 is start day. What tools you suggest on facebook that I may need. I live in Christchurch/New Zealand - so not sure if receipes are filled with the food we have over here. We don't have turkey around like you do in USA. Also what is the success rate if you are dedicated with keeping off the weight. How long does it last? (I know that sounds like how long is a piece of string) but if you are committed can it happen? my email address is skinnys@inspire.net.nz (LOL we've had this address for years!)
    thanks for your help
    Cheers
    Nickie Skinner
    Christchurch
    New Zealand :-)

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  2. PS I haven't brought the book yet. about to do this during this week
    :-)
    Nickie

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  3. I'd definitely take a look at the grocery list, the links for recipes on TheDoctorsTV website; here's the links here:

    Grocery shopping list:
    http://17ddgal.blogspot.com/2011/11/grocery-shopping-list-and-some-notes.html

    C1 recipes from TheDoctorsTV website:
    http://17ddgal.blogspot.com/2011/11/recipe-links-thedoctorstv-website-c1.html

    C2 recipes from TheDoctorsTV website:
    http://17ddgal.blogspot.com/2011/12/recipe-links-thedoctorstv-c2.html

    C3 recipes from TheDoctorsTV website:
    http://17ddgal.blogspot.com/2011/12/recipe-links-thedoctorstv-c3.html

    Also, make sure you're getting a minimum of 1,200 calories a day -- if you don't get this many, it could stall your losses.

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  4. I'm about to start this diet and I am anemic so I take ferrous sulfate everyday. I happen to like green tea. Is it okay if I drink the tea and contine to take my daily sulfate?

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  5. lilgracie: That's a question that your doctor needs to answer. For most people who are anemic, it's suggested they discontinue the green tea as it can worsen the anemia. Have you been drinking green tea prior to hearing about this diet?

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  6. Are red peppers and fat free sour cream allowed on cycle one? Also it says that fat free salad dressings are allowed, but I notice most contain sugar. Is this ok? Thanks!

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  7. WA Wine Enthusiast: Red peppers as in bell peppers? If so, then yes, they are considered a vegetable. On the fat-free sour cream, yes -- it is considered a condiment and as such should be used in moderation. This translates to 1-2 Tbsp per serving.

    On the salad dressings, that's a tricky thing! I know when you go for fat-free (anything), a lot of times the sugars are through the roof. I use a combination of olive oil and balsamic vinegar (the amount of vinegar you use depends on your personal taste). Some have used the fat-free dressings and have had no problem with it affecting their weight loss.

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  8. Help! I've got a question about what should be one of the simpliest parts, starting off the day with lemon in hot water. What's the purpose of this? "Getting the disgestive juices flowing". I don't understand.
    Here's what I've done, where my problem lies...days 1 and 2, the weekend, I cut a lemon, squeezed half into each of two coffee mugs for my wife and my self, added water, microwaved it, and we sat and drank it before I started cooking breakfast and she made our green tea. Days 3 and 4 I poured some lemon juice from the bottle into my cup, microwaved it while I started cooking breakfast, and ended up drinking the hot water with my meal, carefully sipping to keep from burning my tongue, I had the green tea later at work. Today, day 5, I started the hot water running in the sink, put lemon juice in my water bottle, added enough "hot" water to make a cup, and chugged it quickly. Then grabbed a bottle of Lipton diet ice green tea to drink with the hasty breakfast that I grabbed..some chicken and fruit that I could eat while I drove to work. Unfortunately THIS is more like I normally live, and maybe that's part of the explanation for my weight problem. Be that as it may, what's right and what's wrong? How "hot" does the water have to be? Do we HAVE to finish it pre-breakfast? Are we supposed to drink green tea WITH each meal (rather than 3 times a day?) Are the Lipton diet green tea products acceptable, they don't have Truvia.

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  9. Hi Rick!

    I believe with the lemon juice in hot water in the morning, there is something about the acid in the lemon juice when combined with your digestive juices that gets everything moving first thing in the morning. I haven't done that since the first week on the diet (a year ago today) and have lost just fine.

    The temperature of the water should be hot like tea, or as hot as you're comfortable with. A lot of people I've talked to just do it on the hot side of warm.

    Ideally, getting at least half of it in before breakfast would be great. But I think whatever you can do to get things started in the morning is good.

    On the Green Tea: the book states with meals, but I think that's just so you get into a routine and don't forget to drink it. As long as you get the 3 cups daily in, you're fine. Lipton diet green tea -- I've heard a lot of good things about it and it's fine to use, as are flavored ones as long as there's no added sugar you're fine!

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  10. Thank God I found your blog I was ready to say forget it however being a good role model for my daughter to loose weight kept me from quitting. I am so excited now that I know I dont have to eat the same thing all the time what about fat free dressing instead of the oil and vinegar for cycle one ?

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  11. Mhoeff1 -- you are so welcome!!!

    On the fat-free dressings, check the sugar content; usually when something is nonfat, the sugars are really high (and also, if no sugar, then the fat content is high).

    I don't know where you live, but look to see if any markets in your area carry Walden Farms products -- their salad dressings (most of them) are pretty good and they are 0 everything. If not, then choose a dressing that is low fat with no sugar added (if you think about it, the oil/vinegar dressing we're recommended to make ourselves has fat in it -- good fat, but fat nonetheless).

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  12. I am starting tomorrow. I tried the green tea tonight. I literally gagged it down. I added Stevia and lemon. Any suggestions? I don't know how I will do it 3 times a day...

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  13. I know the feeling! If you *absolutely* can't tolerate it, look for green tea pills. Also keep an eye out and if you get constipated, eliminate it -- it's nice to use but not mandatory no matter what.

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  14. Thank you. I thought the tea was required. I may try the pills. I drank two cups today (tonight I tried agave). I don't think I can do a third. Everything else went smoothly. A group of us are doing this together. Our question today, "Can we chew sugarfree gum?"

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  15. If you can tolerate the tea, you should try, but we looked it up in the book and on page 29 of the original book it states that it's a "suggestion." Further on in the book, I believe Dr. Mike says it's essential, but there are quite a large number of people who can't tolerate it or use it and they do just fine (I'm one of those).

    Sugarfree gum? Yes. Dr. Mike says in the book that it's like chewing air and may cause gas, but again....I've not heard of that happening with anyone!

    Feel free to email me (17DDGal@gmail.com) if you have questions--I'm more than happy to answer any questions!

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  16. I cannot thank you enough for your helpful suggestions. I am in C1 day 8 and now understand why I only lost 3 pounds last week. Don't get me wrong, 3 pounds is declared success at age 51. However, I realize now that I likely impeded my own success because I used agave as my preferred sweetener. I had 1-2 string cheese sticks with my apples, and I had fruit filled greek yogurt daily. Oyvey! Now that I have been educated (thanks to you!) I should have even greater success next weigh in. :-) I do have two questions...Is it really necessary to us Truvia or is Splenda acceptable? What are acceptable forms of cream for coffee. I have a feeling can milk is a no-no. Thanks in advance for your valuable assistance!

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  17. Truvia or Stevia are the listed artificial sweeteners for the diet. However, a lot of people have had a lot of Splenda on hand and Dr Mike said to use it up if you have it. Some have issues with Stevia and Truvia (Stevia is the purer form of the sweetener with less junk in it) and continue to use Splenda.

    In Cycles 1 and 2, there's not much choice for creamers. Sugar free creamers have a lot of fat in them and conversely, the fat free creamers have added sugar. Some have been able to find the allowed Acidophilus Milk, and that is fine. Others have weaned themselves off of creamer and now actually report enjoying it more!

    It's best to use plain yogurt (it can be lowfat, it doesn't need to be nonfat) and add your own fruits. Also, the string cheese is Cycle 3.

    I've got a Grocery Shopping List that can be printed out and shows each category of foods (probiotics, starches, fruits, etc.) by Cycle for each food item so that you can look them up or print off to take with you. If you'd like that file, just email me at 17DDGal@gmail.com with Grocery in the subject line and I'll send it to you.

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