How fast to go on P2

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Registered: 01-20-2006
How fast to go on P2
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Sun, 02-12-2006 - 10:26pm

I'm confused because reading the "getting started" info it says if weight loss stalls you may be going too fast adding carbs back in... but then in another section it says it's normal to stall or even gain at the beginning of P2. ??? So how do you know if you are moving too fast or not? I'm not sure my scale is accurate to 1/2 lb so even if I'm moving down slowly, it may not be detectable. I like to *think* I've lost 1/2 lb but it could all be a delusion. ;-)

I'm almost done w/1st week of P2... should I go ahead & move to 2 fruits & 2 grains even if I don't see a loss on my official weigh in day? How can you tell if you are adding too fast or adding items that don't work well for you? Do you just go ahead w/first 3 weeks and adjust things at that point if you aren't losing? Or should you stay on top of it along the way? Any insight would be most welcome!

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Registered: 04-01-2004
Mon, 02-13-2006 - 7:38am

In week one adding

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Registered: 01-20-2006
Mon, 02-13-2006 - 10:31am
I weigh 110 now so 2nd wk of P2 is starting to push my upper calorie limit to maintain current weight... I can fit in a bit more exercise, but I'm never going to be a hard core athlete. At some point (next week) I'll have to back down from recommended serving sizes if I'm going to keep losing. I plugged some random wk 3 foods into fitday.com and came up w/1880 calories w/o any sweet treat calories or condiments. Most calculators peg my daily calorie requirements around 1800-1900 to maintain current weight. I should say I was blown away that all levels of carbs, protein, fat, & fiber hit recommended levels just by following SBD guidelines. But calorie-wise, late P2 isn't going to create weight loss for petite women. At some point, I *will* have to cut down serving sizes in order to lose last few pounds because I have neither the interest nor time to start training for a marathon. ;-P
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Registered: 04-01-2004
Mon, 02-13-2006 - 11:23am
Yes, it can be difficult.
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Registered: 01-20-2006
Mon, 02-13-2006 - 11:41am

So you don't have the full oil serving recommended for all meals? Do you eat 8 oz of protein (2B, 3L, 3D)? I've been getting about 6 oz and was feeling guilty. I am having PB or nuts and beans daily but about 1/2 svg each and I might have 1 svg of cheese a day... some days none at all, not a big cheese eater. I keep reading you have to include everything to lose weight so I feel very torn about how to strike the right balance. The grain servings seem a little big to me so I was thinking of making them a little smaller so I don't feel so bloated.

I'm starting to feel like I'm obsessed with food and I really don't like it! :-( I may need to use SBD principles but actually count calories for a few weeks to get these last few pounds to budge. I feel like P2 is a little too sloppy for people on the lower end of the scale to have successful weight loss. :-( Or maybe I"m still in a funk over my dinner party this weekend. It felt so great to start P2 & add grain/fruit back...was so hopeful but now feel like I'm not going to keep moving forward despite best efforts. :-(

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Registered: 04-01-2004
Mon, 02-13-2006 - 11:50am

I was stuck on a plateau for a very long time during phase 2.

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Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 02-13-2006 - 12:22pm

I was just reading in one of my magazines (prevention) about a study on protein intake. It was a

"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign study that suggest that adding more sifh, poultry and lean meat to your diet will accelerate the benefits of your workout. In a 4-month study that followed 24 women on a fitness plan, one group ate about 9 ounces of high-quality protein a day; the other ate 5 ounces of protein and twice as much carbohydrate rich food, such as bread and rice .

Both consumed the same number of calories, but the protein group lost 21.5% of their body fat (compared to 15% for the carb group) and 47% more weight. The protein-rich diet boosted the benefits of the exercise plan, say researchers, because high-quality protein contains a high level of the amino acid leucine. Leucine, working together with insulin, helps stimulate protein synthesis in muscle, which revs metaboloism."

Pge 146, Prevention - March 06.

I typed this in just to remind you that it is still important to get your protein in at each meal. It isn't JUST about calories. You want to make sure you protect your muscle mass.

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Registered: 04-01-2004
Mon, 02-13-2006 - 12:41pm
Thanks, Kim.
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Registered: 01-20-2006
Mon, 02-13-2006 - 3:28pm
The article is advocating a high protein low carb diet, which is counter to SBD principles...it says they ate the same # calories but one ate more protein (so carbs would have to be restricted to keep calories constant). SBD shouldn't work as well as a high protein/low carb diet, according to the article. And yet SBD has an excellent track record for fat and weight loss. How do you reconcile the discrepancy?
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Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 02-13-2006 - 4:15pm

No, it isn't advocating a high protein low carb diet at all. 9 grams of proteins is certainly not high in protein compared to "high" protein diets. The article was quoting a study that was limited to evaluating protein content in a diet along with a weight training program. It didn't SAY whether it was good or bad carbs but it being Prevention magazine I'd say that it was good carbs.

Yes, SBD has an excellent track record for fat and weight loss and this is due in large part to its recommendation to have carb competitors such as high fiber and lean proteins (and some fats) with healthy carbs. It recommends protein at each meal and suggests protein with vegetables as snacks. So, in my viewpoint, there is no discrepancy between what I posted from Prevention and what SBD recommends, except that the Prevention article didn't quote the study about the types of carbohydrates other than saying rice and breads.

My point in posting is that a shortage of protein in a "diet" can cause muscle atrophy. I didn't state it before but a diet short of protein AND exercise is particularly susceptible to loss of muscle. I know this because I lived it for the first few years of my marriage. I lost muscle mass and regret it. I wish I'd known 14 years ago what I know now. I'm sure my husband would say the same.

While I understand your need to watch calories considering your size, you'd be just as keen to watch proportions of intake as well in order to keep your metabolism up. You might even find that you gain some muscle (not in girth but in density as muscle can 'grow' in that way too) so that you lose inches and nothing on the scale. This is very common with petite women.

best wishes

Kim

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Tue, 02-14-2006 - 2:12am

OK, it is splitting hairs w/o seeing how the study was actually run... were all women same weight? Did they eat exact same # calories or same % of protein? It sounds like all same oz protein rather than same %... so they all had same # calories and I would assume they had to be about same weight for study to make any sense. You'd have to have everyone needing about the same # of calories in order to feed them the same # of calories and not have some gain, some lose, and others stay steady.

Having said that, you reported the group w/lower protein had double the carbs which I took to mean they ate 2x the carb intake of the high protein group. Or stated another way, the high protein group ate *half* as many carbs. Without knowing total calorie intake and total carb intake it is impossible for us to evaluate whether it was high, low, or moderate carb diet. We don't know what the % carb to % protein was. I assumed low carb because I took the low protein 2x carb group to be the control and assumed their diet was modelled on standard recommended amounts. I took the high protein to be the experimental group, where they cut the standard amount of carbs in order to increase protein w/o increasing calories. I think that is likely given they were studying the impact of protein on diet but certainly other scenarios are possible. I"m not motivated enough to do a medline search to find out. ;-)

At any rate, we agree that it's the *proportion* of fat, protein, and carbs that matters rather than a hard & fast # of ounces. A 200 lb woman needs more protein to survive than a 100 lb woman so to say everyone will gain muscle & lose fat by eating 9 oz of protein daily doesn't really make sense. I think in principle we agree. :-)

So yes I am starting to track proportions more closely and have always been tracking inches, which have also stalled in P2 despite my protein % being higher than carb % at this early stage. Fats were shockingly high in P1 but I think it's because carb calories were so low the percentage became exaggerated. Things are beginning to even out but I think a general reduction of serving sizes across the board will soon be necessary or calories eaten will begin to outpace exercise. grrrrr. I was really hoping SBD would be an easy no counting method but I'm beginning to feel I'm going to have to suck it up and measure & track. As geeky as I am, it's just not something I can get into. *sigh* :-)

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