I am not sure why this forum is less "visited" than the atkins one - I have been following the 40-30-30 plan written about by Dr. Sears and I cannot believe how easily my body has adjusted itself to eating this way.

I find that I an not hungry in between meals; and I do not miss the high quanties of carbs any longer.

How are others doing on the zone?

Beth

Hi Beth,
I too have found the zone to be very easy to follow. I was having some difficulty getting enough protein until I started to add soy protein to yogurt smoothies, oatmeal, etc. The vast majority of days I have not found myself craving certain foods or feeling hungry and when I do, I just eat a zoned snack. I haven't lost weight in the amount that I would like, but I am okay with that. I do feel much better and the pounds are slowly coming off.

How precise are you in counting blocks? Are you using the eyeball method or really counting grams?

I tried the zone after 3 years on Atkins because I was so tired, I was conatatly falling asleep. I am doing well so far. I have been doing my meals on the eyeball method and writing down everything I eat. Then, I use my computer to see how I did and adjust for the next meal.

It is a real relief to be on a diet that allow a few mistakes without a huge weight gain. I am feeling great too. I hope it continues.

I was on Atkins 2 year ago and also felt tired as well. The reason was not sleeping well, due to low blood sugar in the evening. The Zone, teaches you to correct this with your evening snack. As a result, I have more energy. However, weight-loss for me has been slower.

Jim

I have just eneterd the zone a week ago. I have been on atkins for four months and have switched to the zone. Already I have lost 2 lbs. I find the zone so much easier and I like the lower fat concept of it all.

i am just wondering the effects of upping the carbs on the zone compared to Atkins is less serious.... Coz whenever i have a birthday cake etc i will go up on a 2 pound or 3 pound after a 3 days lag (on Atkins).

Let's say if i eat a small piece of birthday cake while on the zone, do i get a less-disastrous effect?

Well even on Atkins, when you reach pre-maintenance and maintenance, you will be upping your carbs. Eat a piece of cake and the results will be the same, whether your on the Zone or Atkins diet. Basically, the Zone is Atkins at pre-maintenance, only more specific in the amount of protein, carbs and fat you eat and they are eaten together at each meal and snack.

Well even on Atkins, when you reach pre-maintenance and maintenance, you will be upping your carbs. Eat a piece of cake and the results will be the same, whether your on the Zone or Atkins diet. Basically, the Zone is Atkins at pre-maintenance, only more specific in the amount of protein, carbs and fat you eat and they are eaten together at each meal and snack.

I am not sure that is absolutely correct (the part about gaining the same weight on the Zone or Atkins).

Here is why. My science is a bit rusty, but I believe the math is that every glucose molecule in your system is attached to 3 water molecules. So, when you go from <20g of carbs per day (constantly being burned, no time for storage) to enough carbs to fill up your liver with glycogen (strings of glucose molecules), you will add lots of water. Many Atkins dieters assume that they just gained three pounds. You cannot take 4 oz of food and gain 3 pounds of fat from it. You can however gain 3 pounds of water. This is also why everyone on Atkins loses 4-7lbs in 48 hours. Anyone on this board can tell you that fat can come off very quickly, but not that quickly. At that rate, we could all lose 15lbs per week, 60 lbs per month and a 275 lb person could weight 120 in 10 weeks.

Anyways, on the Zone, if you are eating 40% carbs in a 1500 calorie diet, that is 600 calories per day, and that leads to 150 grams of carbs which keeps your water levels pretty even. A piece of cake will probably not do much to your weight if you compensate somewhere else with less carbs. However, you should always try to mix protein and fat with your carbs to slow your insulin release. Cake by itself could drive you into a binge if you are not careful. For most low carbers, sugar and flour together is very dangerous.

Also, I don't think that Atkins will ever become the Zone even at Lifetime Maintenance because he seems to think that very few of his followers will ever get up past 80-90g of carbs per day (unless they do vigorous exercise 5 days per week for at least 45 minutes). The Zone will have just about anyone getting almost half of their calories from carbs (200 g per day on a 2000 calorie diet) which is a heck of alot more that Atkins.

Your post is something to think about! For me, I have not lost weight on the Zone unless I'm very strict about carbs and exercise. Myself, being an undisciplined sort, will never do it to the letter and as a result, have been stalled in any sort of weigh-loss.

bdocili, what you said made perfect sense as to why I was not losing weight and Atkins is right on. According to the Zone, I should be taking in 99g's of carbs per day. This is the max. Of course a cheat easily puts me over that. I was not losing weight, but yo-yoing between 175 and 180. So, I decided to go back to Atkins, premaintenance. I'm down between 25 and 30'gs per day and I have reduced my weight back to 175 in the first week and a half. I'm also feeling better and my binge cravings are gone!

Jim,

I would be curious to see your bodyfat levels and how they change with switching from Atkins to Zone. Even though this system is very crude, will you please post your waist and wrist measurements now, and occasionally re-post updates. I switched off Atkins because I was not gaining enough muscle for me and went to a modified Zone (40% protein instead of 40% carbs with 30/30 for carbs/fat). This has worked very well for me but I have to admit that it is even harder to eat carbs while keeping them super low compared to just avoiding them. My impact carbs are still pretty low since alot of the carbs that I am eating are in my protein bars and they claim to be low carb. I dropped 10 lbs quickly on Atkins, but my bodyfat only budged a little bit and on the Zone, I have lost only 5lbs of weight, but bodyfat has dropped 4% and waist measurements have fallen 3 inches while my chest, back, thighs are getting bigger, more defined and stronger.