LMMS,

How's it going with the CTL diet? I notice no one seems to be giving it a try. I think I mentioned that the cheat day was just too hard to me with the water gain every week and the increased hunger it caused. Since a week ago, I am back to low carb with higher fat in the form of coconut oil. I've lost 5 of the 10 I gained with the last splurge so I'm at 175. Happily my blood work came back with no problems just a B-12 deficiency so I've been giving myself shots for the last two weeks. It's weird to do but I think I may be seeing results already as my hair finally stopped falling out!!! Yea!!! Anyway, just thought I'd check in with you. Hope all is well.

Abby

Hi Abby,

I don't really write too much about CTL diet here since not many people have heard of it and don't really understand the importance of Leptin. They pretty much say good luck with trying not to just cheat and cheat and cheat. But most people I know that are on LC have a cheat day when needed and most notice a weight loss after.

But I just started my 3rd week of priming phase. Today I had a bowl of special K and finished off my last apple from last week, had a protein shake with skim milk and tonight I wanted Mexican food so I have 100% whole wheat tortillas and turkey tenderloins and I am making turkey tacos and having some refried beans with it. I can only get up to 1305 calories but just not hungry for anything else and my fat intake is only 17% but hopefully having it that low is okay. I will try putting some real butter on veggies or something this week to bring up the fat to the low fat percentage of 25% which the AMA recommends.

I am not a fruit girl but ate it all up last week. I started to like some of it but I made sure berries and grapes were weighed and put in individual baggies to bring with and put pretty much all snacks/meals together for correct size portions.

I don't have as much to lose this year as last year but I lost 5 during the first week and when I added all that fruit I was afraid I would gain like the book says but lost another 1/2 lb. So I know I will gain more weight with more carbs this week but next week the water weight will go away with LC days and my workouts with my trainer.

So I have enjoyed some great foods I never thought I could. I was so afraid that I wouldn't be able to handle correct portion control like 4 oz of meat being a serving. So used to big amounts of meat and fat but I found with veggies and fruits I was full and that was even after heavy workouts.

So anyway, thanks for asking. I have friends here on WW and LC and Atkins so I just don't get into all the nitty gritty of my diet. My friends know I added fruit and legumes but not much more.

I found a couple other forums and found someone on one that I have to PM because people here the word CHEAT and freak out so we are on the "down low" LOL. But I got some great info from her. She has so many health problems, Lupus, and is still able to keep up with this. I admire her and her help since I am such a newbie. She was worried about having too many carbs so she does 3 days of LC and 3 days of lower GI/GL foods and then a cheat day. I might do that but right now I am just doing it by the book until I don't see any weight loss.

When I did Atkins I added in more fat and especially coconut oil but it didn't agree with me so I stopped it. I find I can still have the occasional treat like a fat free pudding today and just have one and I have learned so much about portion control. I hope I can keep it up.

Good luck on your diet. I hope you love it as much as I love this. And good luck with your health and your B12. Sounds like you are doing better.

Lisa

Hi Lisa,

Glad to hear you're doing well. The portion control really sunk in for me with the CTL book. The use of the hand makes it so easy. Sounds like you have better control on your cheat day than I did. I should have just added higher GI foods and not allowed myself any junk food. I was eating a lot of sugary stuff which I know only makes me hungry for more. Do you have to be careful on the cheat day or can you eat whatever you want?

I just started using FitDay. It's been a real eye opener for me. I eat more carbs than I realized and my calories are lower than I thought. It shows you the nutritional values too and I am lower than the RDA on a lot of things. It confirmed my need for supplements. It's a great tool. Do you use it?

I consider myself a newbie too even though I've low carbed on and off for many years. Atkins was really all I knew about for a long time other than low fat diets which left me too hungry. I'm still trying to learn what works and what doesn't for me.

Getting advice really helps and it sounds like you've found some good sources. I feel for your friend with lupus. I had it in my 20s to my 40s and then finally went into remission. Eliminating foods that cause inflammation is vital (especially sugar) and as I mentioned the fish oil really helped me too. I wish her luck.

Abby

I haven't gotten to the cheat day yet. It is this Saturday. I know I will have to be careful but I actually feel like the time I am not on Low carb are all cheat days. Eating bananas and drinking skim milk with cereal. I had a turkey sandwich. I just looked up that if you want to do the high GL foods how low fat you should go and I try to keep it under 20% fat. It's so easy to do. I do have sugary things like fat free ice cream and I had a fat free pudding but just one and left the rest alone. I think if you have a craving for more you just get busy. I was pretty hungry today because I had my workout this morning. But I ate pretty good today and have a good dinner planned. I am going to be just as careful on Saturday and make sure I go right back to LC on Sunday.



I used it for a short time but found the program on this forum is much more user friendly and I am not crazy about computers so I use it. You can also keep track of all your exercise and keep a journal to write down how you were feeling on a particular day. It gives you the grams of carbs, protein, fats, fiber, calories, and the percentages of each of them so you really get the picture of what you are eating. I remember before I used it, I really didn't have the exact figure. But fitday is supposed to be good. I know lots of people that use it. Yeah, I take supplements twice per day.



This is the beginning of the low fat week for me and I thought I would be starving but I have spaced the foods I chose out. I have a white board in the kitchen and am planning out all our meals and snacks on that and making sure we get what we need but also a little snack here and there so we don't go hog wild on cheat day.



She's pretty bad off right now and gained a lot of weight with prednesone but she has lost 140 lbs total so she's doing really well. I just don't get responses to questions that fast so I just go along hoping with portion control and exercise I can lose weight but also not feel deprived. But I think it's too soon to know. I might go crazy on Saturday, just hope not. LOL

Good luck. I'll write back after my first cheat day. I do know that a movie with popcorn and raisinettes are in my future. I do miss that. LOL.

Have a good Labor day.

Lisa

Well today is the last day of week 3. Tomorrow is the first cheat day after doing this for 21 days. I just want to make sure that I eat enough because I don't want to gain back my loss but Joel says in his book NOT to do that. So scary but he says take a leap of faith. I took one on Atkins eating fat so I am going to take it eating what I want. I know I want to go to the movies and have popcorn and raisinettes. I know DH wants some real Chicago Pizza but what else could you want since you can have bread and fruit and beans and tortillas and pasta. What else could I pick??? That might be hard. We are usually up early with our dog on the weekends so I have to figure out something for breakfast. I could make french toast but I only have rye bread and sugar free syrup. Not quite what he had in mind. Maybe go out to breakfast. I know I can't do that on every cheat day but we are also not supposed to shop beforehand for anything. I also only want a serving of something. A box of cookies might be dangerous. Who knows. Not really in the mood for it. I actually like week 2 the best with the fruit. I never knew I really likes fruit. I got in the protein with peanut butter with my apples. It was a fun 3 weeks. I lost 5 1/2 lbs in 3 weeks but some is obviously water weight. I was losing zero pounds so this is great.

After cheat day I will be ready for back to Low Carb. I have been keeping up with my workouts and am fitting into clothes so much better. I think I will sign up for more for the rest of the year. My trainer is already courting me for that. I like that I go with DH and that it is the hour before dinner, the best time to eat carbs is after a hard workout so it works out great.

So far, so good but we will see. I need more time to see if this is a good way to live. Low fat was hard after eating tons of fat but I got used to it. I guess I understand what is needed after the priming stage. I am sure that''s what he wanted for that.

So on to the Core Stage after spaghetti tonight. See, what could I want for CHEAT day????? Well the movie will be fun.

Lisa

HI Lisa, You're diet is very interesting. I'm doing something similar, in that for 2 or 3 days I eat low carb, low carb for breakfast and lunch on the second or third day, then starting at 5pm until bedtime, I eat and drink whatever I want. I've had pizza, hamburgers (with buns,) ice cream, all kinds of stuff. I usually have alcohol with it, too. I've been averaging 3-4 pounds a week. Not sure how long it will last, but it gives me something to look forward too. I haven't read Carb Addicts diet, but I think this is something like what they do. My biggest thing, is only have the cheat meal at night, so that the next day is a fresh start with low carb. I think if I had my meal in the morning, I would have an extremely hard time getting back to it.

I have only read the first page of this thread... but it sounded similar to what I did 2 years ago when low carbing.

I would eat no more than 20g's of carbs per day from Monday - Friday, then on Saturday I would eat whatever I chose (it would be high carb but not OVER OVER eating because my hunger went down alot while low carbing)... sometimes I'd eat what I wanted on Sunday too. So basically I did 5 - 6 days low carb and 1 - 2 days eating whatever I wanted, I was losing on average each week 2 - 4lbs. It did steady after a while at about 2lbs a week which is great.

Lisa,

It really sounds like you have a good handle on what you're doing -- and having a great time with it. Keep it up. I enjoyed the fruit and higher carb vegs on this diet, and of course the cheat day. Reading your post actually made my mouth water and I just had dinner!!!

For the last week, I have been recording everything I eat on FitDay. I'm finding that I average 70-80 grams fat, 50-60 protein, and 40-50 carbs with total calores 1000-1300. I feel great with this and I am losing, but slowly. I've lost 1.5 lbs. so far. This is far from the way I used to eat with Atkins. I even had a few grapes, a yam, cottage cheese, and a low carb ice cream bar so far this week with no problem. I'm having healthy fats like olive oil and coconut oil. No overly fatty meats, except a little bacon. I'm going to keep this up for a month and see what happens.

Have fun at the movies and enjoy your cheat day.

Abby

Hi ALL,

Aquapixie, your diet does sound a lot like CAD or CALP. There is a thread on here that has a few people that are really successful on it. Eat LC for 2 meals and eat one balanced meal that includes carbs for dinner but you must eat it within one hour. I gained about 10 lbs doing it but it might have been some muscle mass as well as fat since I started working out with a trainer. I only found it hard because I wasn't even eating the 2 other meals. I was doing some IF at the same time as CAD. It works but just didn't for me.

Kay, Your diet sounds good, up those cals/carbs a day or two and your body doesn't know what's coming. If I eat the same low carbs and calories everyday my body is smart and knows to store fat because it knows what is coming. Tricking it up and doing something different really helps. Let me know how that keeps working. I might incorporate some of that. This diet really tells you what you can eat and has a list.

Abby, Glad your diet is working out. It's pretty much what the American Medical Association wants you to eat except you might want to watch going under 1200 calories. I did a test with a computer called an RMR (resting metabolic rate) which shows what my body burns by not doing a darn thing. It burns between 1299-1689 calories per day. Since I move my body I can't eat less than that or my body won't have the fuel to burn any calories. Lowering your calories to very low can help you lose weight in the short term but most diets will tell you to check with a doctor if you are going to eat under 1200 calories. Not telling you what to do but don't want you to get sick.

Sounds like we are all working a plan that is working for us. I say we use this thread and update and inform each other. I think we can incorporate all of this stuff in a diet. I just can't do the same thing each day, my body is smart enough to know what's coming. But breaking it up with meals or a day, I think really helps.

Good luck to all of you. Have a great weekend!!!!!

Lisa

Hi all,

Wow, Lisa, I'm so surprised that the AMA would recommend that much fat in a diet. I was going to search this site hoping to find a diet that matched what I am doing. At this point, I am just making it up as I go. I agree with you about the calories. On FitDay they ask you to list your activity level and I'm using "mostly seated" which allots about 1994 cal. a day for me. Then I tried "sedentary" and that was 1702 cal. I don't consider myself exactly sedentary but maybe I should be using that setting. I told the computer that I wanted to lose 15 lbs by 12/1 and so my calorie restriction is 603 cal., which means I can eat either 1099 at "sedentary" or 1390 at "seated" a day. This week I averaged 1190 cal. per day which I want to increase to at least 1200. So, I need some advice on how to increase my calories without upping the protein and carbs too much. Should I just add more fat with nuts or more coconut oil, or what?

Love to get everyone's feedback.

Abby

Hey Abby,

Not a doctor, just play one on TV. I looked at your fat levels and AMA would just say to lose weight 25% of caloric intake or 30% of caloric intake to maintain but hey, there's more than one way to skin a cat!! (Meow!!) I think I learned a lot about eating differently by doing one week of each of these diets. I thought I would just want to go NUTS today on my cheat day but really I don't care. DH wants pizza and I said okay but really not into it that much. I liked eating fruit and liked sweet potatoes and all the other things I was afraid to because of carbs. Now I get the whole FITday deal and what you should eat based on your age, height, whatever but if you really want to know what YOU personally burn you should get an RMR test done. Most gyms do it or you can talk to a nutritionist. Mine was pretty bad, I don't burn enough doing nothing but it getting better as my heart gets stronger by working out. I like to burn about 700 calories using my heart rate monitor 3-4 times per week. I do need to be careful to get enough calories in though because my body needs the minimum calories of 1299 to just live, breathe, digest, and all other functions besides moving.

I used to use the "check the box" deal on my health but decided to see what is going on. This diet is an experiment and if it doesn't work, oh, well, I am eating good and have lost a few lbs, haven't gained but I feel like I am eating pretty healthy.

When I was on Atkins I was eating a lot of fat but 25% fat is kind of a pain. There has to be a middle ground. Weed 2 seemed the most healthy and doable to me. I decided after finishing 3 weeks of it to do it for a month, unless I really hate it, and see what happens.

I talked to my trainer and he said that he has friends that do carb cycling. It's okay but my nutritionist (just comes with the trainer) would probably think it's dumb. She gives me cute little menus each week and I ignore them.

You just have to be able to sustain this for life, what ever diet it is. I learned I can't eat low carb for life. I wanted to and it did help me lose most of my weight but I still have quite a few lbs to lose and I don't care how long it takes as long as I find something that is doable. I haven't done too many diets so not sure about all of them. I was so thin in high school you could see all my ribs and collar bone sticking out. I wore a zero but then the 30s and marriage and laziness brought on the pounds. I really didn't notice until seeing my "before" picture I posted here. I like the during ones taken last December a bit better.

I guess if you are happy and can live with it and you are getting enough food in for your health, you got it made. Keep me posted. I'll let you know how "cheat" day finishes out. LOL

Lisa

Lisa,

I feel the same as you about just trying to eat healthy and enjoying good food. That's why I finally abandoned Atkins. I was tired a lot, hungry a lot, sick of eating meat, and there just wasn't enough choices. I am giving myself more leeway on this diet as long as I choose healthy foods. I rechecked my stats and I am averaging 62% fat, 15% carbs, and 22% protein. It would be hard for me to do this much fat without coconut oil. I only have about 1.5 tbs. a day. I've just read so many good things about it and I'm never hungry. So, like you, I am experimenting with this WOE. I have a wedding to attend in Dec. and would love to be in the 160s just for the heck of it. I'm sick of being in the 170s.

I saw a trainer three times on a freebie last year. I don't think he measured my RMR. He did check my body fat which was 44% at my present weight. That was awful to hear! Obviously, I really need to build muscle but I hate, hate, hate to workout. All I do is light core and weight lifting and some stationary bicycling, and not regularly. It would be helpful to know my RMR but I don't think it would make much difference with my attitude. No excuses, just lazy!!!

I took a look at your pic from 12/08 on your cruise. Are you the same weight now or have you lost more since then? You sure look great in the pic!

Abby

I have been reading some of the early posts and I was wondering what the cheat and lose weight diet is.Is there a website I can go to to read about it. It sounds exactly like something that I could handle and lose weight at. I am really looking forward to hearing about it.

Hi Soooz,

Unfortunately there is not much written on it. I ordered the book but it is an online book that I have on my computer. I think you might be able to order it but I couldn't find it locally. I like to have a book to check back on when I am lost but it is even easier having it right on the computer.

It is really simple. You have the priming phase for 3 weeks. That is the longest part where you do 1 week each of VLC, Lower GL/GI carbs, and then higher GL/GI and low fat together. It is nice after that 3 weeks is up. That Saturday you eat what you want and then go back to what you were doing but instead of a week each, it's only 2 days of each and Saturday you eat what you want. Not enough that it makes you sick, just enough to be full but don't deprive yourself of something you want. I really find I get excited about Saturday and then when it comes I am not as excited because all week I ate lots of different foods like steaks and veggies, apples and oatmeal or sweet potatoes, and pasta and cereal. What is left for cheat day Saturday. Since you don't deprive yourself you really don't pig out on that day. But the diet is based on your hormone Leptin. Reading about it will help you to understand how it works on your metabolism.

It's not for everyone but if you are in the mood for something new I would get the book, it was cheap and super easy to read. Take a chance. Let me know if you decide to do it and if you have any questions I will try to answer any of them for you. I don't know anyone else on it but it is pretty close to other diets here. I was going to do the Zone or Southbeach. I might if I stop losing at anytime. I feel like I might be losing more because I am working out more but I am having fun and enjoying meals.

Good luck!!!

Lisa

Would you mind telling me how much weight you have lost over what period of time?