HI,
My name is Sheryl. I've been reading posts for over a week now, and wanted to let all of you know I was here. I didn't see a place to introduce myself, so I hope it is okay that I started a new thread.

I started the 3rd of August. I have lost 10 pounds.

I know that I can not drink diet soda. The cravings are so strong. And all this time I was telling my doctor how hungry I always was and he told me I just needed to have some willpower! Shows what he knows. I just have to have discipline!

I have also found that I lose better if I eat 3 CM and 1 RM.
I lose better if I cook with olive oil instead of margarine.
I lose better if I cook my own meat.
Cottage cheese is okay for me.
Sometimes my reward carb is slightly larger than one third, and it makes no difference for me.
Sweets don't taste the same. Little Debbie snacks do not satisfy my sweet tooth any more. I like a real tasting sweet at the end of my RW.
I am not as hungry as I used to be. I am not hungry all day as if I never had eaten.
I will not eat my RW without having the time to pamper myself and enjoy it.
You can cook three scrambled eggs with a touch of water in a glass or ceramic microwave safe container for about 2 1/2 to 3 minutes with just a spray of olive oil and it comes out in an attractive shape. I can put that in my dishwasher and I don't have to wash my frying pan every day!
I stayed on this plan because I read what all of you have accomplished to make sure it worked and wasn't a fad.

About 4 years ago I did the Weigh Down Diet. You only eat when you are hungry and stop before you are full. I lost 40 pounds and thought my life would finally change. Well, it changed. I went on medication that messed up the hunger signal. I gained the 40 plus more. Then I was always hungry.

1 year ago July my husband was diagnosed with diabetis. I ate what he was supposed to and lost 25 pounds. He couldn't stick with it, so I went off and back came the weight.

I went on vacation in June and was miserable with all the extra weight I carried around. So I came home and ate low fat and salads. I gained 10 pounds and it wouldn't come off.

I had dabbled with Atkins for a very short time about two years ago. I couldn't afford to eat that way on a low budget. But in one of the books I had read it mentioned the CAD. So after some thought, I went to the library and checked out every book they had from the Hellers.

I have since purchased a few of the books from ebay to have for my own. I do need to read more of the books that are now soon due. I may have to renew them. I run my own business, I am the only one in the house who cares about keeping it clean (hubby and 23 year old son) and I am getting ready to have surgery in two weeks. I'll have a few days of downtime to read after the surgery. I have to go today and get another test.

I have added a multi-vitamin from Walmart that has 200mg chromium. I really think it gave me a boost. It was less than $6 for 100 pills. It's the Equate brand weight loss vitamin.

It's good to see what all of you are doing. I need to have others to get me through. I feel like my family, including DH, don't believe I will do it. I will never change the way I eat. I love being in control of my eating. I love not binging.

Thank you for being there, and letting me ramble. I felt it was time to let you know I was here.

Welcome to the CAD forum, Sheryl I am so glad that you decided to introduce yourself. It is so nice to see other ppl having sucess on this plan I know other ppl will seem skeptical about this plan, and honestly this plan isn't for everyone. When they see your dedication to this WOE and the weight coming off of you they will be convinced No one doubts my way of eating around here. They have seen the weight come off of me and me maintain it for months now. My SIL was inspired to give CAD a try and she's lost 17 lbs in 2 mths. She is amazed at the lack of cravings and the feeling of satisfaction. There is no other plan for me. I know I have probably said that 100 times, but I do seriously mean it. It feels great to "feel" normal about food. Anyway so great to see another CADer. Our numbers need to go up, this plan is awesome

Hi! Welcome! Like Jill, I can show you that this plan works in more ways than one. It's not just the weight loss--it's the loss of inappropriate cravings. That in itself is a success to me whether I ever lose more weight or not. Before I was on a gradual steady-gain cycle. For years I went up, up, up bit by bit. Now I go down, down, down bit by bit. When I started the plan I had just quit smoking and I figured that if I just didn't gain weight, it would be a success. But I *lost* weight--I quit smoking 3 months ago and in that time I've lost 18* pounds. I love this way of eating not just for the weight loss but for the way it makes me feel--that's the most important thing to me, feeling in control, feeling satisfied, feeling like a normal person again.

Welcome aboard and please post freely--this board could use some livening up! There are only a few of us (the CADettes) who seem to post regularly anymore.

*Edited: I mis-counted! I was 170 lbs. when I quit smoking (had lost 5 lbs. on Atkins).

Hi Rev,

It's so nice to see more people doing CAD on this board. If you've read any of my posts here, you already know that I'm not doing CAD presently, but I fully intend to for maintenance once I reach goal (I promised someone I'd stick to Scarsdale until I reached goal, otherwise I'd be on CAD right now).

I love hearing everyone's successes with this program. I also visit lowcarbfriends.com and there are a few people there having success with CAD as well. I just read a post of one man who lost 70 pounds in 6 months. He couldn't brag about the program enough and how great he is feeling. His wife lost 30 pound just eating some of the foods he was cooking. Isn't that great?

May I ask what kind of surgery you are having tomorrow. I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers if that is alright with you.

Congratulations on your success thus far. I just know you will do well with this program.

And, Glendora, I'm so proud of you for giving up smoking and losing weight. Not too many people can say that when they give up smoking. Way to go!

Sandy

Hi Sheryl ! Welcome!

I can't believe how much you've learned about yourself in such a short time. That's amazing that you already know so much about what works for you and what doesn't. You must be a fast learner.

I am loving CAD. The support here is GRRRRRRRRRREAAAATT. And that helps me a lot. I have very little patience (apparently) and I have a history of rolling around from plan to plan. But there are such great examples here of working with how your own body works. Plus the people are so nice!

And it's so adaptable. Today I knew we were having lunch brought in. It would either be Greek or Chinese. Well, I knew I could adapt - that if it was cm-friendly, I could eat it and if it was not, then I could pack away a couple treats for rm, and eat the cm I brought with me just in case. It turned out to be Greek and wonderfully cm-friendly. With salad, zucchini and chicken.

And I still have my rm to look forward to tonight!

Glad to have you aboard! You're doing great!

Katie

Jill, Glendora, Sandy, Dawn and Katie...........

Thank you for taking the time to welcome me. It is helpful to hear how all of you have done on this WOE.

Glendora- Congrats on the no smoking thing! I gained 50 each time I quit! Haven't smoked in 5 years now.

Sandy- I am having surgery on the 8th. Nothing major. My TOM is so heavy that I can't leave the house for two or three days. I can't sleep through the night for a few nights. So my new doctor told me he can do a surgery that will give me a 75% chance of no more flow! And it doesn't make you go into menapause. I couldn't sign up fast enough! DH has to take a day off to go with me, but it will be outpatient. I am SOOOO excited! I have lived this way for over 5 years. I prayed every month for God to take it away, reasoning with Him (myself?) that I wasn't going to have any more babies so I didn't need it any longer. I've had my tubes tied for about 16 years!

Thank you for offering your concern and prayers. It means a lot to me.

Oh, how hard it was to drink all the fluid I needed to get an ultrasound! My stomach is already used to so much smaller amounts of everything! But I did it, and the test was successful. I see my doctor on the 2nd to make sure everything's a go.

I can't remember who was coming down with a cold. My son had a cold and severe sore throat the past few days. And DH had the flu. Thanking God I haven't gotten either! I have Fibromyalgia, and seem to get everything just a little worse than the average person.

Well, 4:30 PM again, and as every day it is time to take my son to work. If he ever is able to get his fines paid and get his license again, you will all hear me woot where ever it is you live!

Thanks again, all.

Sheryl

I wish you the best of luck on this. I, too, did some time on the wdw diet. I didn't lose a lot of weight back then, but the fasting brought me closer to God than I have ever been...so I am still thankful I did it! But CAD is the way!

Take care of yourself. From one newbie to another on this board -- "These people in here are tops!"

Snow

Hi Rev-

That was a really nice post- liked all the things you've learned. I have been doing this for more than 2 yrs, and while I eat a lot more carbs now in RM (to maintain) I learned: have good CMs with clean protein- no MSG, fake foods, and as natural as possible; balance the RMs well, and have carbs that are exactly what I wanted; and no RM food outside of RM.
Welcome!
E

Welcome, Sheryl...you've come to the best place for support and encouragement to help you succeed!!
We are all on the same journey, some of us have made it and are still encouraging, thanks Eno, you are a wealth of info that is so valuable.
I did the WD diet also a few years ago..I learned so much about trusting in God, but the carb cravings were not in my control and I couldn't do it for long.
With CAD, my insulin is controlled and therefor so are my cravings and I can stop eating when I've eaten enough and I can not eat when I don't need to.
It's gives you back a real freedom of control over your eating.
Wishing you all the best...
Mary-Ann

Hi Sheryl,

Welcome! :-) You lost a lot of weight in such a short time. Wowzers, you're a fast loser! I'm going to watch your progress with great interest. In comparison, I'm a pathetically slow loser, at about 2 lbs a month and some months nothing and some months I gain weight and cancel everything out again! What a battle, but I am close to goal and have been for a long time.

Please post lots and liven up this board. I agree the people on this board are very, very nice and also extremely helpful. That really compensates for the fact that it is a bit slow. Some people go visit the journals and I suspect then it is more interesting. Maybe I should do that too.

Edited to say, I'll send up a prayer for you too. God bless you.

Eno, Mary-Ann, and Sue,

Thank you for your warm welcomes.

I am trying to do just as you said, no carbs outside of RM.

Yesterday, to get all the fluids down that I had to drink, I drank three sups of coffee with cream. I also had a waffle cone last night for my carb. I was up 2 pounds today. I had to weigh at a different time also. I went out of town to visit my mom and sister, and adorable little nephew. The ice cream was too much. My husband and I agree that the next time we get sugar cones with one scoop instread of the waffle cone. It also was the first time I took the entire 60 minutes to eat, because of going out for desert.

I felt hungry all day. I hated it. I am back on track today. I made my mistakes, but I learned from them.

I am going to keep in my mind that I also will be able to add a few more carbs a couple of years down the road when I reach my goal and can just maintain. That is a real boost to me.

Thank you, Sue, for offering your prayers.

I agree that WDW gets you closer to God.

I really need to cook more of my own meats. I am just so busy. If I eat something "not perfect" I eat it at my RM.

I did want to mention that I also eat toward my carbs as suggested. I am getting tired of eating cold food in order to eat my salad and veggies first. I may have to start warming my protein in the microwave before I eat it.

Has anyone had trouble eating canned veggies? I ate a can of string beans with some heat and eat bacon and a piece of cheese at my mom's, the only thing we could find that was close to the plan. I know the bacon probably had MSG, but do canned veggies have stuff we don't want?

I had to take all the books back. They were all past due! I didn't realize they were due a few days ago. I now only have CAD and CA Program for Success to refer to. I will have to get some more on ebay.

It's getting a little colder here in Youngstown Ohio. Soon it will be too cold to do anything outside. I have been swimming once a week. We go to a lake, and they guys fish and I swim. Activities are hard with some very touchy bursitis in my hips, and of course the Fibro. I am thinking of getting the Greer Childers Body Flex with the exercise bar. I also have an interest in Zumba, a dance exercise, but I read some reviews that said you need a lot of room for it. Anyone here do something at home that isn't boring? Anyone know of any other dance exercise? When I was younger, I used to go dancing three nights a week. I know that is something I could stick to.

Looking forward to knowing all of you better,
Sheryl

Sheryl, this was my mistake with Stone Cold Creamery! I don't know if you have that in Ohio but basically they take some delicious ice cream, put it on a cold board and mix in all sorts of stuff right in front of you...fresh bananas, M&M's, whatever you want. Well in the beginning of CAD I figured a size "small" should be fine...but when it was served, it was much larger than any other "size small" of food I've ever seen. Of course I ate it all anyway. I think you do need to exercise a little judgement when you're talking about a highly caloric carb in your RM as opposed to, say, a piece of fruit. But just being able to have yummy food at all makes this plan awesome!

Sheryl, have you also heard that sometimes fibromyalgia patients actually are hypothyroid too and once on T4/T3 thyroid hormones, they get better? Just wondered if you had already covered that possibility. So sorry you suffer like that. I have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, but I am treated with thyroid hormone.

I have exercise machines and my weights and then I do push ups and sit ups also. I used to do ballet tapes sometimes, which are great for toning and stretching and becoming more flexible. I'll probably fish them out for the winter.

Glendora,

I am learing about the heavy carbs. I think I am getting to a place where I can start to let them go. We do have a Cold Stone here, and it is a lot of ice cream.

Sue,

My rhuemie does blood work every visit, along with all my other doctors. They haven't seen a need to thyroid meds yet. I even had blood work done by my dermatologist because I have other symptoms such as thin, peeling finger nails. I also get a very slight rash on my face. Been tested for it all, even Lupus. Nothing. The sleeping pill helps because if I can get deep sleep, I repair and feel better.

And on that note, I already took a sleeping pill and a pain pill and my typos are getting out of hand...so it's time to turn in. Don't worry, my bed is three steps away. I'm sorry if I missed any of those typos. Didn't want to turn in without seeing what was new.

Good night all!

Sheryl