I have been noticing that the past 3 or 4 days I am not consuming much. What I do eat is the allowed foods for phase one but I for some reason am getting sidetracked. Before I know it lunch was two hours ago, then so busy when I get home that I am busy fixing dinner, cleaning, etc. That I don't eat that much for dinner. Should I start setting a timer so I remember? anyone else encounter this problem?

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Yes, yes, yes!!! I had to set the alarm on my cell phone to go off every 3 hours when I first started...I get so busy at work, time gets away from me...and it's even worse when I get out of work...running here, picking up kids there...dropping them off here...so I feel ya! If you have access to any type of timer or alarm...sure....set it...see if it helps...it won't hurt...least it will do is annoy you and after awhile of that, it will be second nature. Good luck my friend!

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(Because I STAYED Determined!)

thanks I will set the alarm on my cell as a reminder. I was so hungry when I got home after teaching vacation bible school tonight I broke my rule of eating at night I had a slice of ham

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Why no eating at night? A good healthy snack at night helps keep the blood sugars stable while you are "fasting" overnight. There is no scientific evidence to suggest that the time of day you consume healthy foods and snacks has any impact at all on weight loss. Your body actually does a lot of "work" overnight as you sleep and keeping it properly fueled 24/7 is actually a pretty good idea. In the end it really comes down to total calories taken in vs. total calories expended over time. It's only our minds that like to break it down into 24 hour segments. Our bodies really don't care!

I get nervous about eating at night I some times feel that I don't pay attention to what I am eating. So for right now I try to write it down and not snack late in the day. Since I'm having a hard time remembering to eat, which I think is more stress related, things are getting kinda tight,I eat 6 small meals.

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Well you know yourself better than anyone else! 6 small meals a day should work well too if you are getting sufficient balance, calorie levels and nutrition to keep your metabolism running and your body and brain properly fueled. Over the years I have just seen a lot of people subscribe to the idea that you can't eat anything after X o'clock at night and lose weight and that simply isn't true. It matters far more what and how you eat than when you eat. Best wishes on finding your path!

Does anyone know how to figure how many calories you should be eating to lose say 2 pounds a week? My doctor had done it for me once but I can't remember how he did it

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can't help ya there, I've never counted calories...that's why I love this diet!

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(Because I STAYED Determined!)

well the calculation is easy! it's the practical application that becomes tricky!

Nutritional "science" tells us that to either store or lose a pound of fat, takes a 3500 calorie surplus or deficit. so to lose 2 lbs a week, you have to create a net deficit of 7000 calories or about 1000 calories per day.

The tricky parts are figuring out how many calories you expend each day and how much you take in. How much you expend is a combination of your BMR or basal metabolic rate which is based on body size as larger people expend more calories simply "being" than smaller people (more cells to maintain, more body weight to move around, etc.) and how much you expend moving around and exercising. (and don't believe those calorie meters on health club equipment either!)

The other problem is that our bodies are not static systems where inputs and outputs are consistently applied. Our bodies are in contstant states of flux and adaptation to our conditions. If you cut calories too much for even relatively short periods of time, your body will adjust by lowering your metabolism to compensate and/or cannabilizing muscle tissue rather than using fat for energy as a "survival" mechanism to save the fat for when it thinks things might get really bad.

But with all that as a mini-preamble, here are a couple sites I keep bookmarked to help figure out these things.

BMR calculation: BMR Calculator

Daily Caloric Needs: Calorie Calculator - Daily Caloric Needs (good article underneath the calculator section as well.)

Finally a couple "corollaries" to think about...

1. If you do this as a couple, the larger person needs to eat more because their body uses more calories just resting. When I started with my wife I didn't understand this and we split things relatively equally and she was "satisfied" and I was very hungry. When I started eating more I was better satiated and I was still able to lose weight.

2. The more weight you lose, the fewer calories you need to sustain yourself. So if you have a fairly stable eating plan in P2, you may be able to lose weight at first, but at some point, you might lose enough weight to where that caloric intake and expenditure equation comes into balance and you need to either cut calories or increase exercise to make the gap larger again. This is part of the reason why those "last 10" can often take such a long time. It really becomes infeasible to maintain that 500 to 1000 calorie a day deficit when you are close to your goal weight. A 1000 calorie deficit per week might be the best you can do and that works out to a pound a month or so. It also tends to mean less "wiggle room" the closer you get to your goal or ideal weight. It's what makes maintenance so difficult for some I think. You think you are "good" and can eat more freely and suddenly regular treats start throwing that balance out of whack fairly quickly. A cheat meal can wipe out an otherwise good week.

Which always brings me to my standard caveat, "weight loss is neither linear, predictable, nor comparable". I'm not really for or against calorie counting. I've seen weight loss work both ways and sometimes it's a good exercise to go through to be able to guage rough estimates of both intake and expenditure. I think over time, just listening to your body and finding a level of food and exercise that works over time is a more sensible approach for me, but some people just seem to have to "know". ya know?

THANK YOU Redrox. I was just wondering if having something in print would help me a bit. I really just need to get back in the shape I was in before. I've spent the last week swimming all day with the kids. anyone who spends time swimming can understand when I say I get hungry....lol. So I have been snacking on cheese and nuts sometimes if I'm really hungry roast chicken

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