im doing CAD

Trying to do CAD with balance.

I'm doing CAD.

I'm doing CAD for life if I want to keep the weight off

Hi everyone,
Considering CALP once more. I started CALP back on 27 December, 2000; 10 days before going on holiday. For 9 days I ate an English breakfast...Mushies, bacon, sausage, tomato and egg (minus the toast), low carb salad for lunch and then my reward meal for dinner. This was according to the balancing act indicated in the book and the third which was the reward usually consisted of Christmas pudding (which I hate as a rule, but lapped it up with brandy custard and lashings of King Island cream. Normally I would crave sweet / chocolatey things but found my craving diminished to nothingness and only ate the Chrissy Pud because my hubby likes it and there was too much just for him to eat on his own.
Anyway, the day before I left on holidays, I checked the scales. I knew I had lost quite a bit of weight, because my clothes we so loose, but imagine my utter amazement when the scales informed me I had lost 12 kilos (approx 26.4 lbs!!!) in those 9 days!!! (I'm a big girl, so these results are definitely not typical of most people). This loss meant I was able to pack some clothes I had not been able to wear in simply yonks! Unfortunately, I went OP whilst away, and never got back on. Those 12 kg and many more, have returned since then, and I have decided it is way past time for me to get serious again.
I have been studying lots of differnt eating programs and have decided this time, I will probably have my English Breakfasts, salad for lunch and Reward meal for dinner, but with a difference. I have decided to bring the GI / GL into the equation, so while I will be able to consume things not normally permitted on low carb diets, I will keep them lower in GI which should prevent any stalls due to insulin spikes. If I want chocolate during my reward meal for instance; instead of having any old chocolate that takes my fancy, I will consume Lindt 70% or 85% cocoa chocolate. One full piece of the 70% is well and truly enough choc for me, or half a piece... yes I said half.....of the 85% cocoa choc. I am a chocoholic of the worst variety, but those small amounts of high cocoa choc more than satisfying and have a low GI.....and because you are not stuffing yourself silly, you may consume some other desert or low GI / low GL, fruit etc that you normally can't indulge in on lc diets and not worry about the spikes. Also I won't just limit the GI / GL to the reward meal, because some low carb items are higher in GI / GL than I would like, which is why I'm certain some people stall and still have some cravings.
Ok, sorry to have rambled on. Good luck to everyone with their chosen eating plans and may you all reach your goal safely and with your sense of humour still intact!
Keep the faith,
ice.

Welcome to CAD/CALP, Ice. I am glad that you are coming to join us. I have a couple of questons. First off, if you don't mind me asking, where are you from?? Another thing, what are mushies? It sounds like you did amazing on the plan with a 24 lb loss in 9 days. I am looking forward to seeing your progress. What is GI / GL? Is this the Glysemic Index? I too, am a choco-holic. It makes sense what you are saing. If you eat something with that much cocoa in it, you would be satisfied easier and with much less.

Keep us posted on how you are doing.

Hi Diane,
Thanks for the welcome and encouragement. I come from Tasmania, Australia. I'm a 33yo wife and mother of two (Son 9, daughter 8).
Sorry for the Mushie confusion; it's a common term here for mushrooms!
Yes the GI / GL is Glycaemic Index / Glyceamic Load. Using this principle, you have Low GI up to 50; medium GI from 51-69 and High GI of anything 70 and up. The GL is up to 10 is low; medium is 11-19 and high is anything 20 and over. Some people only use the GI and don't concentrate on the GL, but I am inclined to think you get a wider variety using both. For instance; if I was eating my reward meal only using the GI, and decided I was going to have some fruit for my dessert, I would not chose a piece of watermelon, as it has a GI of 72... which is WAY too high; However, if you consider the GL of this food, it only has a GL of 4 (i.e...a 120g slice of Watermelon has 6 g carbs and a GI of 72 out of 100; therefore 72%.....so you times 6g by 72% and arrive at 4.32, which is rounded down to 4) Now, so long as you have kept your meal balanced and stuck to mainly low GI foods, the worst the watermelon can put you at is an intermediate level, but because of the low GL, that sould be minimalized once more because until you go over a GL of 10, you should not get an insulin spike.
I hope I have not bored you witless with that explaination. Oh, one more thing. Whilst I am no expert; I have done alot of reading and wonder if perhaps people should not make their reward meal salad a free for all. If you keep it to low carb / low GI veggies and dressings,this should keep your insulin levels low and therefore will combat the insulin which it receives after that point...... Just a thought.

Anyone interested in the GI / GL can find a great book called 'The New Glucose Revolution' Some people find it heavy reading, but if you make the effort, it really makes alot of sense, and I think it would be great for anyone on this WOE, as it could help with stalls and cravings.

Hope to come here alot to give and receive support. Best of luck everyone on your various plans.

ice

I am doing cad...a week with no sugar for rm for this next week though. Had a bad vacation week

Ice, would one ever have to worry about it being the other way around, low GI and high GL? Why worry about GI at all if all one is to consider is the GL?

CAD here!! I joined this site about 15 mths. ago while doing Atkins so although I am not new, I am new to CAD and this forum. I had very modest success with Atkins and failed with it for two reasons. 1. I realized after 3 mths. that I simply would not be able to live the rest of my life w/out carbs (severe addict ) and 2. DH was unemployed for the better part of 2 yrs. and we all know how cheap those carbs are to live on! I remembered reading last year somewhere on this site about a plan with reward meals. I was at the library last week and was disappointed with their lack of material. I grabbed what looked like the only low-carb book on the shelf, and guess what it was? Yep, CAD. This is it!!! This is a plan I can live with forever. I already know I can handle low-carb so eating that way during the day is no problem and I'm able to have my carbs for dinner and not feel like I'm being deprived. Today is only day three but I'm already down 2 lbs. after the scale only creeping up for months . I feel like I've found the holy grail of diets. The only problem I'm having is 2-3 hrs. after dinner having to fight the munchie cravings (like bugs crawling under my skin saying you must have something to chew on ). But I know I can ignore it and it WILL go away! Anyway, hello to all you fellow Cadders, I look forward to being a member of this forum for a long time to come. Happy Day!

Ali

I am doing CALP.

here and lurking

Welcome Rocknhorse, Wiggy and Ice-
Glad you are here! Please post on the daily thread, and look at the stickies and archives.
Eno

2 months on CALP for me.

Leaving atkins. Return of cravings after starting OWL.
I am making a menu to start CAD over this three day Memorial Day weekend
BTW, what is CALP? Wish me luck! Thanks Jeanms.