Fast Forwarding through Rungs

[Effie]

I've been on the berry rung for about 2 months now. I rarely ever eat berries. Lately I've been eating food from the starchy veggie rung. At first I had butternut squash, not realizing it was a starchy veggie. I've also been having a little bit of carrots here and there, like on salads, and tonight I had a few baby carrots with my buffalo wings. I've decided that there's nothing on the legume rung that I'd ever eat, and I don't drink alcohol. Fruits, like berries, are not a huge temptation for me, and I never find myself wanting them. I feel like I've fast forwarded through the rungs, but when I stopped to look at what shortcuts I was taking, I realized that I probably wouldn't have eaten any of those other foods anyway. Do you think I can officially be on the starchy veggie rung, or am I inventing my own OWL?

A separate (or possibly related) problem: Since I've been on OWL, I've stopped counting my carbs except for a few days here and there. I know I can eat 30 carbs and still lose weight, but I don't know how much more I can eat. If I do skip to the starchy veggie rung, can I just increase my carbs to 35 and start to find my CCLL? I feel like I've taken a long, lazy vacation from OWL and now I'm jumping back to where I would've left off. Something about that doesn't seem right to me, but the thought of starting over from the beginning is not appealing and seems unnecessary.

I've definitely had a lot of cheat days in the past month or two. Not huge blow outs, but things like eating cheese & crackers, and a few frankenfood Atkins candy bars, and today I had about 3 cups of Smartfood (the white cheddar popcorn). On days like these, I don't count my carbs, and I don't lose weight either. This is why it's hard to figure where I should start again. Part of the reason why I want to cover all the rungs quickly is so when I do eat stuff like this, it will be legal and I won't have to feel like I'm cheating.

Geez alou, I can ramble!

[Iapetus999]

Re: Fast Forwarding through Rungs

Just remember what you eat. If it seems to stall you or cause cravings then stay away from it.
I never counted carbs but I always read labels or looked up info on fruits/veggies so I had a rough idea of what I was eating.

It's always good to have a good "foundation" of food you can eat to get back on track. That way if you stall or start to gain you can fall back to what you know works.

Also as you lose weight you body burns less calories so portion control becomes more important.

[Momtofour]

Re: Fast Forwarding through Rungs

Effie.. I think I could have written that post. There are very few things that I would choose from some of the rungs and some I have skipped entirely. I'm interested to see what others have to say.

[Effie]

Re: Fast Forwarding through Rungs

Thanks Iap. I know from reading your other posts that you might not be structured on paper, but you seem to do a good job of sticking to the plan anyway. I hate to have to write things down, and plug everything into fitday, but sometimes it seems that if I don't have that structure, I spiral out of control.

Momtofour - How are you doing so far? Are you eating from most of the rungs on a regular basis? Did you increase your carb level everyweek as you added, or are you just picking a number and sticking to that for now?

[not2late]

Re: Fast Forwarding through Rungs

You can skip rungs if you like. I skipped the alcohol rung sort of because I don't drink alcohol: I use it only for cooking in the amount of about 1 tablespoon (1/2 fluid ounce) per serving---and probably less after the food has been cooked.

Just as Iap said, if any food you add causes any weight loss problems drop it from your menu and see what happens. I find the "Blood Sugar Stability" test in Chapter 12 to be more useful in determining if a food has had a "bad" effect on me than weighing and measuring myself. The BBS test can be done 24 hours of eating a new food.

[Momtofour]

Re: Fast Forwarding through Rungs

Effie... I pretty much eat at or below 30 carbs a day. I followed the rungs until Alcohol, and then skipped it. I have only had 1 drink in the past 5 months. It will probably be New Years Eve before I have another. I skipped the legumes rung because I really didn't know what was ok to have and the ones I could think of didn't appeal to me. I eat some melon at least twice a week. I have only an occasional starchy veggie. I am not ready to try the whole grains. Maybe when I'm closer to goal. I have a feeling that I will not be able to control the whole grains as well. We will see.

I have found that I have to watch my cheese intake and nuts. I have to measure both or I will over do it.

[Effie]

Re: Fast Forwarding through Rungs

Momtofour, now I think I could have written your post! I feel the same way about the grains rung. In fact, I am thinking of not adding this back until I am 10-20 pounds from goal. I definitely overdo the nuts. I try to eat macadamias if I eat any nuts, as they are the only ones that don't seem to stall me if I go overboard. Plus, they're so expensive that I don't want to go overboard. Let's face it, $6 worth of nuts is too much for one snack!

Yesterday was a good day. I ate cabbage, onion, cheese, macadamia nuts, strawberries, and carrots, and still came in at 23 net carbs. That surprises me because it seems so low. But yep, as Iap said, portion control is a huge part of success.

Thanks everyone for justifying my OWL plan!