a new start
 

I have been on weight loss programs for much of my adult life with some success. Sadly, nothing to this point has been sustainable and at almost 45 I fear the swing of 20lbs up and down could be dangerous. I have no health problems and take no medications which is fortunate. I saw Dr Fuhrman on Dr Oz the other day and for the 1st time I felt like my knowledgebase as a Nurse was being totally respected! I ran out to buy the book and have been loving it and all the delicious foods....my only concern is that the refreshed sense of energy and discipline will wane once I reach my goal weight. That and of course my intense love of food/cooking. I have never been able to imagine living a vegan lifestyle and the thought of never eating meat again seems daunting. For now, I am totally satiated with the combination of fresh and cooked veggies along with legumes. I have pushed myself to stay commited to running and feel confidant that I will reach my goal weight by my birthday this coming January. Any and all advice from those of you who are seeing amazing results would be greatly appreciated.:)

Is this thread still active? I am happy to find a Furhman thread because Dr. F.'s book is my motivation to start my Green Smoothie cleanse/fast. I am fasting because I have found in the past that is easier (for me) to not eat at all than to eat a little or change my diet - I am too used to eating a lot and often and need to make quick drastic changes! I look forward to following Dr. F's diet once my 20-ish day fast/cleanse is over.

Reading some of the post here is motivational. I just got the ETL book and I haven't started the diet but I'm seriously considering it. I'm just not sure if I want to commit to a diet eating so much veggies. I like veggies but I don't LOVE them. Plus I'm not very creative in the kitchen so I get bored very easily.

I've tried several diets in the past and I lose about 8lbs and quit due to boredom. Exept on Atkins. I lost 20lbs doing that and then I quit because it got sickening. I've gained every pound back and then some. I am the fattest I've ever been in my life. And the most out of shape ever.

I'm very reluctant to try yet another diet but I desparately need to change my lifestyle for my health's sake. I feel like I'm losing the battle with my body.

Thanks! I am very overwhelmed. I will definately check out youtube!
I went grocery shopping today and got all my veggies and beans and prepped some of them today for tomorrow. I started the plan last night at dinner time. Today I have been on full force and I already have a headache from detox. I hope the raw veggies start tasting better soon because I do not love salad AT ALL. Breakfast was good. Lunch and dinner, not so good. I missed lunch so I ate leftovers from breakfast around 3pm which made me not hungry for dinner at all. I did try to eat my salad and some lentils, but not a whole lot. I hope I can change my taste buds for salad. I don't know what happened to me because I use to LOVE salad. Now it's the last thing I would reach for. I made the Ranch dressing/Dip in the book and it was so NASTY! I ended up throwing out my whole salad and making another. Any suggestions on salad dressings?

Hey Valentine, how's it going? Any luck with a better salad dressing? You should try green smoothies to get your veggies in, you can add fruit and you don't even taste the veggies! Good luck

So happy to see this thread! Hello fellow nutritarians! :)

I bought Dr. Fuhrman's book in 2004 when I was about 165 pounds at 5'6" -- i was eating mostly junk food, doing the whole "starve myself for three days, then eat anything i want" thing which was most certainly NOT working for me, and i was lethargic and miserable. At the time I was eating tons of meat and cheese, loads of caffeine, and TONS of sugar.

It took a long time but I slowly, slowly started to incorporate the principles in the book. First I started with just incorporating greens at every meal, followed by getting rid of meat in my diet (it just sort of happened naturally, I suddenly didn't want it anymore), then getting rid of caffeine and aspartame. My next big project is sugar -- I am slowly starting to lose my desire for it.

I still don't follow the plan to the letter -- I do eat minimal dairy (maybe 2-3 servings a week) and eggs (maybe once every week or two), and don't limit my whole grain consumption as the book suggests, so I am definitely not perfect with it. But from about 2004-2007 I very slowly lost 25 pounds, and have managed to keep it off since then (I have fluctuated from 136-144 or so during that time). I've gone up to over 140 again due to my ridiculous sugar consumption of the past few years, but I am determined to phase that out too, and have slowly lost about 3 pounds so far this month in the process! :)

Deb and Valentine, I totally understand how you might be feeling overwhelemed -- I was too! My advice is to slowly remove things from the diet (or add, as in the case of greens) one by one, so it is a gradual lifestyle change -- take all the time you need! <3

CPP, I just started reading your smoothies thread, very cool! I am blender-less at present (my house burned down over the summer, argh!), but am looking to pick up a new one soon! :)

Anyhoo, just wanted to say hi! :D

i just started Monday and fell off tuesday night for dinner but am back at it today...i will say for the first two days i was eating all day to fill myself up but just fruits and veggies and the 1 cup of beans. On tues i did the same. I must say in the two days i feel a difference in my sinus and i also had a great nights sleep without any sleep aid as i normally do. I'm looking forward to a great weight loss. My children are also doing it with me 16 and 10 yrs old.

Etl
 

I just started the diet last sunday. honestly i really liked it the first few days but by yesterday I was just so sick of salad and the homemade dressing I skipped dinner. Then today at lunch i tried to eat stemmed broccoli and couldn't I trying really hard to follow the diet plan. I'm currently 230lbs and I wanna work my way down to 130lbs eventually but I miss meat so much. I really really want some hamburger. And SALT! OMG! I didn't know you could literary crave salt. I just want to quit, but I removed all the other food options from the house to prevent me from falling off the wagon. Do you have any suggestions? I'm starting to feel depressed.

attempting ETL
 

hi all, great to read these comments. I have the book and am not done reading but am anxious to start. My fear is salads/fruits only and not being satiated. I am sooooo addicted to chips/salt/carbs/sugar. I'm vegetarian but do eat cheese, occaisionally eggs. How did you all just jump into it? I drink one large coffee a day. There is no time in my future where i have a stretch of time off to overcome "withdrawals/fatigue" associated with changing a diet so drastically. Any suggestions? Thanks, I look forward to posting my experience.