Someone I know called me wanting to know how to lose the weight, that the Lindora plan (low carb plan was not working for her).  Here is what I wrote to her:

You have to be disciplined. I never eat wheat products anymore, except for exceptions that I will name in a few paragraphs.

This is not a diet, it is a lifestyle of being healthy and eating the right way.  The wrong way got us fat.  We have to retrain our brains.  Sugar is highly addictive and we are addicts.  We have to get through it by recognizing i.

I NEVER do rice or cereal or oatmeal. Never any potatoes. Not worth it. No yams or sweet potatoes either, I gain from it.  Too many carbs, not worth it. And definitely no pasta. If I eat Italian– meat. veggies and salad only. There are delish recipes for cauliflower based pizzas and zucchini slices instead of pasta noodle lasagna on the Internet. I have experimented and love both. The pizza is delish. You could go out for pizza that is regular once in a while, but you can only eat half of a small and it has to be gluten-free with lite cheese–but only here and there.

No booze. Bad for a diet. When you lost weight, a mixed cocktail once in a while, but it is what you do for skinniness. The body does not burn fat when you have alcohol in you.  I do not drink.

I have turned down onion rings, fries, fresh brownies, canolis and you can have a bite once in a while, but I don’t recommend cheating because it is a slippery slope. No chips either. Every tortilla chip, only ONE chip is a gram of carbs. Not worth it. I would rather have a protein bar than eat only 9 chips and eat the same amount of carbs, but way less protein. If it isn’t high in protein, I don’t bother.

Coffee, kills the need to eat.  Water, etc. multi vit’s and potassium.

Example of what I do:

Eat about every 3-4 hours!
Breakfast.
I have either a hard-boiled egg or over-well egg with feta for breakfast. I sometimes add a chicken sausage. No carbs. If you go out, you have an egg or two, no toast. I ask for grilled tomatoes and grapefruit or a small cup of fruit. Once or twice a week, I will eat the Lindora oatmeal or pancakes because they are low-carb. You have to use lite syrup and start looking at labels on everything!  Regular syrup is 50 g of carbs for two tablespoons, yet sugar-free  Maple Grove Farms and Cary’s ..from Ralph’s. and other stores (you would have to look at labels) has about 10 to 12g per quarter cup. See the huge difference?

Before lunch.

Protein snack. Protein bar. Best one around is at Target and  Costco. Nature Valley Protein Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate bar or at Power Crunch bars at Smart and Final and Trader Joes and even online at vitacost.com   These are only about 9g net carb per bar and about 10g protein. More protein, less carb. Vitacost has Power Crunch bars that are made with Belgium chocolate too. Very low carb and decadent tasting.  Kind makes some decent bars, but I prefer the others I mentioned.

Lunch

Always a salad with added chicken, turkey or any lean protein, even at a burger joint near me,  the Counter,I have their smallest 1/3 lb burger in a salad bowl. No carbs in the burger and you watch what you put in the bowl. No fries. Ever. I go to a salad cafe a lot and I told them I wanted a cup of lettuce and two small veggies. So usually half a cup of tomatoes and 1/4 cup carrots. Carrots are the only root vegetable I touch (carbs) and rule of thumb, half of the amount of regular veggies.

Snack a few hours later after lunch

Any of the proteins, Protein bar, Dannon Greek Lite and Fit at 8g of carbs per cup and I put a cup of cut up strawberries in it. Eggs, low-fat cheese slices or baby bells or string cheese, a small bag of measured out nuts, a protein shake or hot chocolate  by Lindora. Maybe the oatmeal, chicken sausage or low-fat hot dog. Maybe turkey burger. maybe low-fat chocolate pudding. Maybe an In and Out burger wrapped in lettuce, protein style (Carl’s does this too on their $6 burger). I always have protein snacks at work. Keep extra bag of sunflower seeds in my purse for emergencies. Can’t go for 6 hours without a protein hit. Bad for the metabolism.  Lite string cheese or a couple of Lite Baby Bells are good too.

Dinner:

Same at lunch. I can even have split baby back and tri tip combo with john , with a small side salad. Tasty.  Also, Lindora has a low-carb pasta they sell and it is delish. You can get their stuff at Lindora.com and don’t even have to be a member. I use only a little sauce, just like the cauliflower-based pizza.  I make a good turkey meatloaf too and I have that on my blog.

I have rules and recipes on my blog, skinny-rules.com and If you scrolled back to September of last year and look at all of my posts, every rule and all recipes are on there over time.

A few hours after dinner

A protein that is like a dessert. Again any Lindora chocolate product, protein bar, and then I get every day if I can, a carbolite that is only 2g of carbs per ounce. Regular frozen yogurt is between 6g of carbs and  more per ounce.  I eat Carbolite, which has protein, low carb….lost weight with it.  But, some markets like Ralph’s have Smart Carb ice cream, and that is low too.

I research every day. I write my blog a few times a week. I research, read labels, google ingredients on nutrition counter sites and work to learn the carb count and try to keep carbs at about 59 to 70g a day. I research and write about it on the blog.  I cook and put it on the blog.

Wheat products I will do: Western Bagel’s perfect 10 bagel is only 10g net carbs. I never gain on that bagel. I eat it with lite cream cheese or an egg on it.  Also, I make a great turkey or chicken burritos and I put the recipe on my blog.  I use a low-carb tortilla from Costco or Trader Joes at less than 7g of carbs per burrito, BUT a regular burrito shell is about 40g.  The less than 7g  of carb shell tastes good, so why have a regular shell? Also, all of this is brown wheat as fiber. Fiber fills you up. A regular white dough bagel will not fill you up. This is how Gwyneth Paltrow feeds her kids. Low carb only. They are thin.

I go out to eat and i get fish or meat, I get veggies and salad, no rice or potatoes.

Netrition.com and carbessentials.net have things you can buy.  There are some stores in some neighborhoods that are sugar-free or low carb stores.  Look them up on the internet.

If you are not losing weight, then it sounds like you are not following the rules, reading labels, and picking the right food eat. You are likely not prepping for your meals and snacks throughout the day. Even fast food places like Chick Fil A and Jack in the Box and Trader Joes and other markets have salads with just chicken in them. I eat those at times. Even at restaurants, I have ordered a side of eggs with grilled tomatoes and fruit or brisket sandwich, took the bread off, ate half of the meat with mustard and had salad with it. Tasty, but you have to consider portion control.

Please read my blog from front to back and if you still have questions, then let me know. But, I could meet you, tell you all of this and you still won’t lose if you aren’t diligent like I have been. I went to Lindora, followed the rules and I look up info every week and I won’t eat it if I don’t know the carb count.

Don’t let friends or family sabotage you. Anyone trying to get me to eat out of my plan is no friend and I chew them out and refuse to eat with them if they don’t stop.

I like being thin way more than i like food,  and once you give up potatoes and all of those things that convert to sugar, and you get over withdrawal, you won’t want it anymore. I only crave my chocolate and Carbolite. I also crave protein now, not carbs. This takes a few weeks. Drink coffee. Oh, Americanos are ok, no lattes or frappes . Too much sugar and carbs. I carried non-dairy creamer with me wherever I went. No milk in it. I use half and half, from time to time, but only a little.

Prepping and carrying stuff with you or having it at work, home and restaurants is key.

I do elliptical for an hour about 4 times a week and use my iPad at the same time. Makes the time fly. I do yoga 2 times a week and Pilates mat 3 times a week and 1 day a week, reformer. It takes time to build up this kind of routine, but it is easy as you see the weight fall off. I make exercise part of my day schedule and I only miss for illness and special events.  If someone wants to go out for happy hour or dinner, they will have to go after my class or not at all. I will not cancel my one hour class for something so easily remedied.

Put yourself first. More important than shopping, clothes or coffee clotches. What is the point of expensive clothing, if you don’t like how you look in them. When thin, you can wear a burlap sack and look good. That is what keeps me motivated, that and feeling healthy.

AND TAKE YOUR VITAMINS and MINERALS.  Getting B shots from your doctor can help lots too!  Drink  your non-sugary fluids.  You are less likely to just eat mindlessly if you drink liquids and fill up with them.
Read the blog.  I put a lot of work into it to share my success with others.