My parents are on the Suzanne Somers diet, which seems fine and all, but they don't have all her books, and the diet doesn't really suggest eating a proper amount of greens to meat etc. etc. balance, at least in the books they own.

Plus, I swear the people who wrote these cookbooks were meat cooks. The rest of her recipes for veggies and anything else are bland or bitter, but all the meat is amazing. The only good thing I've had that they made was meat. The veggies they made from one of her recipes was so soaked in oil and there was basically no nutrition left in it. Yuck!
just a question, what do you have against meat? any reason you chose to cut out this macro-nutrient? do you consume other complete proteins? like dairy or eggs?
I've been LOVING this. I'm losing weight slow, but that's alright, because that's not what this is about. I've been FEELING better. My skin is clear and I have a healthier glow. Because of that, I even look much thinner, even when I've only lost twenty pounds. I'm not sick all the time anymore and I don't struggle as much to get things done throughout the day.

Because I haven't lost as much weight as them(though they ARE larger than me, by a lot, which I think is part of it, along with simply eating far less than normal and completely cutting out pasta which was a very common food here) my mom believes my diet is a failure and that I should switch to hers. She constantly claims that I am low on iron and protein despite the fact that I DO eat meat--as much as every other day, or as little as once every two weeks, but I do eat it. Along with beans, nuts, spinach, broccoli, etc. I am not nutrient deficient there. And when I eat a salad with fruit mixed in it, she warns me that THAT is the reason I haven't lost weight. Because of the fruit mixing thing her diet says.
That's awesome you feel better! Have you tracked how much protein you get in a day? and tell them that the larger you are the quicker the weight will and should come off. And the fruit fear thing is just plain ridiculous, do they know why they are avoiding fruit? I hope the answer is not fructose. why would you cut out one of the most nutrient dense foods around.
It's frustrating, to be honest. She doesn't really respect my views because she thinks you are supposed to lose weight fast. I don't want it all to fall off, because I know if that happens, it's all too easy for it to jump right back on. Not to mention, extreme weight changes(higher OR lower) are ALMOST ALWAYS dangerous.
like I said, its all based on how high your body fat is when you start. and all of them could benefit gaining some weight... in the form of LBM.
But it's been hard getting her to let me buy the veggies I want and need. She wonders how I can spend so much on vegetables, even though a weeks worth of my food is far less than hers. Because she still thinks of the veggies as side dishes. It's really frustrating at family occasions, when I'm not able to make my own food(school or something unavoidable) and I want to eat no meat. I'll end up with an entirely empty plate with a spoonful of broccoli, because that was all that was left for me. Then she'll tell my family I'm on a starvation diet and have them freak out about me. Uhhh...WHAT?!

I know, I shouldn't rely on them for my stuff--but the thing is, I never got to get my driver's license. My parents were too busy to teach me, and then I left for college where there were busses between buildings. Now I'm back home and I finally got my permit, but I still haven't been taught how to drive. My grandma says she will teach me, but it's all about finding time when my parents will take me over there to actually learn. Honestly I'll probably have to get my boyfriend to take me. Point of that is, I can't drive, and our grocery store is not in a safe walking distance. Every time I've been able to go to get my own veggies, it's been when a friend or Nathan took me. They usually go on their way home from work, so they don't generally pick me up. It just..makes it really difficult. They know I can't transport myself, they know I can't get my own food. Part of it IS mom trying to switch me to her diet, she always mentions how I'd do so much better on it. It's so weird, it feels like peer pressure the way she acts about it, all sneaky like. I know it's because she really thinks it's the best and because it's working for her--which I don't question, it really is. But she doesn't respect that it just didn't work for me. I got so dang sick doing it.


Actually in the past month, I have been unable to get any new fresh fruits and veggies. We have some frozen ones--frozen spinach and carrots. I have potatoes too, I like to cook some mushrooms and stuff the potato with the mushrooms. Thankfully Nathan's parents feed me good veggie food when I'm there, or else I'd really be out.


So.. I guess it's been going well, but there have been some struggles. I hope when I get my license soon and get this job(was offered a job at an aquarium store) things will look up. I'm not able to rely on them to help out with this, so I've got to get it all together myself.

But.. I have lost twenty pounds, and like I said, I feel great and happy.

One thing I LOVE about this, is I am able to choose more humane meat easier. When meat is a rare occasion, I can wait til I know I get organic, awesome fresh meat from healthy animals that weren't stuffed with antibiotics and fed nasty stuff. Honestly, the meat tastes better, and I feel a lot better.


This next summer I am planning on growing my own zucchini, since I have discovered it is my FAVORITE! Delicious!!
congrats on the weight loss so far!