Begininglight's Journal

[begininglight]

This is me starting this plan for the first time.  To tell you the truth, I've tried it for about a week with a few changes here and there and have never felt better, but have had to take it slowly with everything due to work, school, no time for anything.  But tomorrow I will consider my first day to do things the right way.  In the morning I plan on having two boiled eggs and then an apple when I am hungry later on in the morning.  Then I will have an all vegetable soup with beans in it and a small bowl of sirloin beef mixed with turkey breast meet and tomato sauces (left overs from the lasagna recipe from the book).  That will fill me up and then I'll have a salad using the caesar salad spritzer (very low fat) cuccumbers, a soup, celery sticks.  I will more than likely feel the need to snack, so I will probably have a small orange and if still hungry, maybe popcorn.

Hope this goes well for me!

[sugarbeartf]

Welcome Begininglight. Sounds like todays menu will be good. I am  new, just started Feb 2 and I love it. I am sure you will too. 

Tracy

[niki]

In the morning I plan on having two boiled eggs and then an apple when I am hungry later on in the morning........I will more than likely feel the need to snack, so I will probably have a small orange and if still hungry, maybe popcorn.

  here's the thing....every time you eat, you should eat until full....the reason for this is that every time you eat, you cause your blood sugars to fluctuate...and fluctating blood sugars give you cravings....stable blood sugars make you go HOURS before getting hungry....
  i've been eating this way for three years and i almost always start my day off with a fruit meal...i eat as much fruit as i can eat in one sitting......i recommend this very highly...there are some people who don't like fruit or can't eat much of it for various digestive reasons.....that's another story....that person has to develop a plan that works for them....but, for the person who does like fruit , it's a fruit meal in the morning that works for me and it's what i highly recommend...i don't recommend snacking on fruit and i personally prefer salad and/or bean soup or even popcorn for dinner although sometimes i would have fruit, but if i did, i would make a meal out of it and eat fruit until i was full....these are just MY preferences and what worked for me... 

[begininglight]

Thank you so much for your input!  It helps greatly and I love the support and vibe I get from everyone here!  I'm one of those weird people who do not like many fruits or veggies, to tell you the truth, I don't even like chocolate and I just had my first grape two years ago!  So I need to get to my second grape and I'm 27 

But, for protein I figured eggs are good and I love oranges and apples and those are two fruits I do like, so I end up mixing those in to what I eat as much as possible to completely fill me in.  I also love raisins and I use those as in-betweener snacks.  I use to eat a lot of pasta, a ton of it!  But last week I only ate pasta one day out of the week and bread (100% wheat bread) 2 days of the week.  I was EXHILIRATED!!! I use to eat pasta morning, lunch and dinner!  I couldn't believe that I could actually let go that much!  and thanks to this plan, I HAD MY FIRST ZUCHINI EVER!!!  from that lasagna recipe and I loved it!  So I plan to continue eating this stuff and experimenting, trying new fruits, I'VE NEVER HAD A STRAWBERRY!  I haven't had a banana since I was 8, just some smells and textures get to me, but I need to overcome it!

[niki]

just remember that whatever choices you make, you should make a meal out of whatever you eat.....if you ate a piece of fruit every hour of a day, you wouldn't accomplish anything as far as stabilizing your blood sugars are concerned...

[begininglight]

Okie dokes, today I had the following:

Breakfast: 2 boiled eggs, OJ, apple, 1 coffee (wake up real early to go to work)

Lunch:  Vegetable soup and incorporated a bit of sirloin beaf mixture with turkey breast mixture and tomatoes. Also had a small V8 (never had one of those before)!

Dinner: Had a small 100% wheat bread sandwhich (know I shouldn't eat any sort of bread, but had school to go to) along with 100% organic couscous with immitation crab meat.

Snack: cucumbers with lime juice!

Well, still needs work, but then again, these are all foods I NORMALLY DO NOT EAT - so I am getting there! Yay!

[patsyfay]

Hi, Begininglight!

You might try wrapping your sandwich ingredients up in lettuce.  This is a good idea for your extra lean hamburgers at lunchtime, too. If your sandwich ingredients aren't too messy, lettuce makes a good substitute for bread.  You do know the reason you shouldn't have bread is because of the flour, right? Your body processes it the same way it processes sugar.  Also, couscous is made of flour, so you don't want to have to deal with that either.  Try and find some extra brown, brown rice and cook up a pot of that. (there are some great recipes using it on the site.  Roger & Neet's recipe for fried rice is wonderful!)  The bread and the couscous can sabatoge your efforts right away and you might not get off to the great start you would otherwise.  And don't forget to have all the fresh fruits and veggies you want. Welcome to Let's Do Lunch.  Enjoy the journey.

Pat

[begininglight]

Thank you for your advice!  I actually thought that the couscous would be healthy because they were brown and whole weat + organic.  I didn't know they had flower!

Today was a better start:

Had:

Breakfast: Apple, oj and coffee (+water)

Lunch: Veggie Soup, V8, Crabmeat with mustard as a side! (always loved that)

Dinner: Turkey franks, cucumber (with lime juice and dash of salt), kidney beans and 1 1/2 slice of wheat bread

As of now, getting a bit hungry so I may end up eating some fat free popcorn!  I will work on cutting out the bread part completely!  I finally found a place were they sell the bread crisps mentioned in the book.  Bad thing about it all is my schedule.  I really have no time for anything.  Work full time, go to school every night, come home with an hour left to myself before I hit the sack.  I get 5 hour sleep most days, it can be hard, but the fruit, even if it is a little, has helped with the energy!

[Gwennaford]

Hi begininglight !  I love your enthusiasm for Let's Do Lunch.  Do you have the book yet?  If you don't, please order it from this website so you will get all the upcoming changes and the laminated menu cards that Roger offers free of charge.  I highly recommend it.  If you cannot afford the book right away, just email Roger and tell him about it.  He says to read Chapters 2 thru 6 (the 'diet' part) at least THREE times to thoroughly understand the way of eating and the best food choices for getting you off to a great start.  In the meantime, please read the posts in "How to Start Let's Do Lunch."

I know working & studying are VERY time consuming & stressful.  Ordering from the Internet can be a big time saver. 

Good Luck to you!  I'll look forward to seeing you here for a long time to come!

Sincerely, Gwen

[begininglight]

Thank you for that Gwenn!  and WOW! Congratulations on losing so much weight!  I need to get myself weighed soon, it's been two years since I've been near a scale!

Yes, I have the book and had purchased it about two weeks ago from Barnes & Noble.  I told the girl I had to have the book and she ordered several of them.  I was so enthused about the program that I blabbered away about it to her and she got excited too!  So she ordered several of them.  I do hope I have the most recent book.  I spent approximately $25 on the book, and being a broke college student, well, it doesn't help. My plan so far is to copy all the recipes from the book since at the time I can't get to the laminated cards part.  I got one of my co-workers on this plan and she ordered the book from the site, so I may be able to share cards with her!!  My boss is the one that got me hooked on to this.  So I am changing my health, getting in touch with my spirituality again, becoming one person, it's so exciting!!!  Now I need to work on the guy part, which is a lot harder than losing weight!  Ha, ha....I always thought it was the other way around!

[Gwennaford]

Well, good job on getting the book, first of all!  Let's focus on one thing at a time and get you started on the right track on Let's Do Lunch.  You DO have the most recent book, you still need to request the SUBSTANTIAL changes to the book from Roger.  Please click on this link and request them from Roger TODAY.  I would suggest you copy the text of your last post into the email so Roger will know where you are in your Let's Do Lunch journey.


Speaking as a loving mom with children your age, I need to tell you - being busy and being successful are not mutually exclusive.  Sometimes you don't do yourself any favors by taking shortcuts, so please take this step.  It will simplify your life dramatically and positive results will start immediately!

Loves, success, and best wishes to you for a happy life! 
Gwen

[begininglight]

Thank you all!  I have been re-reading the book as much as possible and am correcting bad eating habits as I go along 

I've been throwing away bad foods and stock-piling good foods.  My new favorite snack has been those V8 spicy veggie juice thingies!  I love those, I had never had a V8 until now!  It's hard with school to read, so I've had to read the book in tiny pieces at a time, so you're advice helps me to get there faster!  But I love to announce that I have lost a few pounds and already people are starting to tell me that they can really see a difference.  Slowly but surely, I'm starting to take the weight off.  And for someone who would eat pasta and potatoes on a daily basis (at least 3 to 4 times a day) Trust me, that's a huge accomplishment.  Since last we spoke, I've had no bread, not even crackers!  I love beans and I love the recipies, so I've had so much fun in cooking those and learning new things, especially coming up with a few weird things myself!

God Bless everyone and thank you all!

Yesterday:

Breakfast: 2 boiled eggs, oj & coffee (working on cutting this part out!)
Lunch:  Brandon's lasagna (couldn't even finish eating what I had, means I'm starting to donw-size, yay!) and an apple
Dinner:  Lentil Soup, Cucumber + V8, Pomegranade 100% juice.
Snack: Fat free pop corn!

I need to get one of those losing weight tracker dealies!

[begininglight]

Yeepee!  Found the weight ticker!

[begininglight]

Okay, started out good today and ended up semi-ok

Breakfast: boiled egg + fruit juice (100%) and half a cup of coffee
Lunch:  Chilly (didn't get to eat it all, work) mandarin and water
Dinner: No yolk noodles (cup worth) with a can of garvanzo beans mixed with olive oil mayo (1 tbsp) + v8 juice
Night Snack: I had very small v8 + cucumbers and a bit crab meat with mustard

Did a lot in class, much stress, I'm beginning to think I am a stress eater!  But I got a punching bag and should be able to use that instead of eating!  But i need to find a way to get more sleep!

Not too bad, but better than before!

[begininglight]

I had the following today:

b: 1 boiled egg + apple and coffee
L: Brando's lasagna (a bit) and crab meat (immitation) with mustard
D: butter beans with sweat peas, V8 and pomegrande juice 100%
Snack: Popcorn

[lifegoeson24n7]

Did a lot in class, much stress, I'm beginning to think I am a stress eater!  But I got a punching bag and should be able to use that instead of eating!  But i need to find a way to get more sleep!

When you figure out the sleep thing, let me know.  'Cause I am exhausted.

Jill

[begininglight]

I know what you mean!! 

I live downstairs in an apartment complex and my neighbors love to talk outside their balcony and I can hear everything, I have sensetive hearing.  So I stuff my ears with toilet paper, anything that will work, and fall asleep.

But lately, I've picked up a book that teaches you to meditate and get in touch with your inner self and your intuition and it helps get me relaxed, I'm actually more positive as a result and things are starting to shape up better.  Prayer usually helps me fall asleep too!

We'll see how this goes......I just hope I'm doing okay in this diet!  I see some differences here and there and it's hard for me to believe or see the changes well enough because I see myself everyday.  I guess I need to see a substantial difference!  But that will take time!  I'm still so excited!  I'm changing both inside and out!

[Gwennaford]

I see some differences here and there and it's hard for me to believe or see the changes well enough because I see myself everyday.   I guess I need to see a substantial difference!  But that will take time!  I'm still so excited! 

Now's the time to take your BEFORE pictures & measurements, so you'll have something to compare besides the scale!

[lifegoeson24n7]

Yes, I know what you mean when you say you "to believe or see the changes well enough because I see myself everyday."  I have been following the plan since January 12th.  My first weigh in wasn't spectacular(4#), but it was jump in the right direction.  I haven't noticed many changes physically yet (except my bra has extra room in it)  I have noticed that I really don't miss bread or potatoes all that much.  I really craved them the first couple of weeks.  I am trying not to set my goals too high and take one step at a time.  I know from reading other people's success stories that sometimes bodies don't react for a couple of months, or react really quickly then halt for awhile, so I am just trying to concentrate on getting with the plan.  I am trying to think of it as eating modification, rather than a diet.  I know I am eating healthier and not putting sugar, caffeine, and refined carbs into my body has definitely got to be a good thing.