New to this adventure!

[csimons]

Hello Ladies! I am new to the program and started yesterday. I have read the rules, although i keep finding little things that I didn't realize, so I hope to master all the rules soon! I am a mom of an almost 2 year old little boy, run 2 businesses and am really involved in our church...so life is always a juggle of balance. I have a great hubby that is supporting me, but I am so excited to have the forum to learn from all of your successes...you are an inspiration!

Couple of clarifying questions if any of you know:
1. How do you handle the crackers? I was just having them in between meals for snacks, but I read this morning that I can't have more than 2 per meal...so should I only have 2 at a time?

2. I got the tomato, mozzarella cheese, basil and balsamic vinegar for breakfast or lunch recipe from the forums. Although after eating it this morning, I realized that my diet says (only 1/2 per meal and 1 per day). Can you clarify what that means?

Thanks for your help!

[PhyllisRis]

Hi csimons.....WELCOME!!
Sounds like you lead a busy life....but just try to stay strong and plan ahead! And...drink LOTS of water!! You can do this! Don't be discouraged by the amount of weight you have to lose...it WILL come off!!! Just be patient and diligent in your road to your new healthy life!
Answers to your questions:
1) Crackers. You should have no more than 2 cracker servings at any one time. One cracker "serving" is equivalent to 2 Premium brand saltines. 1 Premium saltine cracker is equal to 4 Premium saltine Minis. You can have less than 2 cracker servings at a time. I used to have the zucchini pancakes for breakfast every morning...in those I used 3 Premium saltine crackers crushed up where techinically I COULD have been using 4 crackers...but I saved that cracker in order to divide my remaining servings into 3 snacks of 12 minis per time. Does that make sense??? Sometimes it can be confusing. Just remember 1 cracker serving=2 saltines=8 Minis
2) Tomato....yes, only 1/2 a tomato at any given time, and only 1 tomato per day. Tomatos contain quite a bit of natural sugar and we don't want to spike our insulin!! Just cut the tomato into thinner slices..... :) I think you kind of have to use your common sense on the tomatos, too. There are GIANT tomatoes (the beefsteak kind) and then there are smaller ones....so does that mean we can have half of a beefsteak tomato at a time?? I would say no....you should probably figure the normal tomato is the size of a tennis ball and gauge your servings accordingly. Don't try to stretch the rules on this diet, just trust that Dr. Cohen knows best, CUZ HE DOES!
I hope this info helps....take one day at a time and pretty soon you'll come to the understanding that food is just our medicine and no more than that...it's just food! Good luck with your journey....YOU CAN DO THIS!!
:)
Phyllis

[Onemomof2]

Welcome! I just started on Friday myself. I have found getting all 3 meals in difficult in the first 2 days. Now I just make my meals the night before and bring with me when I'm on the run. I noticed the more water I drink the less hungry I am. Best of luck to you, read the rules and check in on the forum, I have found this very helpful and encouraging.

[csimons]

Thank you both! I appreciate your advice, I wasn't trying to stretch the rules...I think I was disappointed because I didn't realize it was incorrect. Oh well, I hope it doesn't have a negative effect on my first week. I will just press on to tommorrow!

[Dayanira]

Welcome to this wonderful adventure! Not only you're gonna get thinner and eat healthier in this adventure but you will find a lot of friendly and knowledgeable people who will be ready to give you support, encoragement and most importantly LOVE!

Stay strong and steady!

[Key]

Hi and welcome to you, csimons! Lots of good advice on this board... glad you found us. I also have written many letters to my consultant(s)... they're another asset to this plan. Dr. Cohen has put so much thought behind this program that if you follow the rules, there's no way you can fail. Give it a week, you'll get the hang of things and then it all will become second nature. And when the pounds start melting off, you'll know you're in the right place.

Glad you found us!
Key

[csimons]

I am just updating you on my first week. It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. Although, again I missed a few details, but I think I have most of them down now.

Well, I broke the rules and weighed myself after 1 week, just to see if all this is working...and I lost 4.5 lbs!! YEAH!! I have a feeling that I have lost inches too!

This week I am doing well, but will need to find some more variety so I don't get tired of the same food. Thanks for all your support and on we go!!

Christie

[PhyllisRis]

Way to go, Christie!! Keep up the good work! Adding variety is key to this diet....shake things up! Change the meal lines around from time to time, too.... There are a lot of great recipes posted in this forum....choose a few and incorportate them into your diet this week... Have fun and don't be afraid to experiment.
Phyllis

[Dayanira]

CONGRATULATIONS for your loss of almost 5 punds!