Background and Getting started

For almost all of my life, my weight has either been at the high end of the normal range for my height (5'4") or drastically higher. I've tried many diets, lost 30 lbs., maintained it, gained it back, lost weight, gained it back, then gained even more--the yo-yo syndrome. My clothing sizes have varied from a size 12 to a size 24. Finally, by May 1996, my weight was 83 lbs. over the upper limit of the normal range. By coincidence, that month a doctor happened to convince me that it would really be in my best interest to lose weight and my brother, Jim, talked to me about the Zone eating program that Dr. Barry Sears had outlined in his book The Zone. Jim always seems to have some new idea he'd like me to learn about and usually, I'm not very interested. Just as I've gotten good at putting off phone solicitors, I likewise told Jim, "you're welcome to send me something in the mail." I was only very casually interested and mainly wanted to end the conversation about the book. Well, Jim sent me the book! I figured since he had "put his money where his mouth was," the least I could do was read some of the book and consider trying it. The Zone book just happened to arrive pretty much at the same time I'd decided to follow my doctor's advice and I didn't have any better ideas, I decided to give it a try. I figured I could stand almost any diet program for two weeks. That is all I committed myself to--and only to myself. I didn't even tell Jim that I'd received the book because I was afraid he'd want updates or otherwise pressure me. However, I did do what Jim had requested, which was to keep a food diary.

Keeping a food diary

I have found it is enormously helpful to keep a food diary. In the beginning, as Jim requested, I not only wrote down what I ate, but what I thought about it. This was something I kept just for myself, so I was very honest. I bitched a lot! The Zone way of eating was incredibly different from how I was used to eating. I had not yet modified the program for my personal needs, either, with the end result being that I was extremely hungry pretty much every afternoon for hours on end. If I hadn't been so determined to stick out the first two weeks, I probably wouldn't have lasted two days because I was so incredibly hungry. What I have since learned is that if you're hungry, you're not in the Zone. It's better to eat a little more and be in the Zone, rather than stick to a rigid amount of food for the day.

Let me say right off that not only do I not work for Dr. Sears, but I don't think the Zone is perfect, either. Sometimes, I am still hungry, but I don't eat more because I don't want the extra calories so I can lose weight faster. It's not the extreme hunger I first felt, though. However, I do think the Zone program is the best food/exercise regimen I've tried. It's what I expect to be following indefinitely. This is not something you try for a month, lose some weight, then go back to your old way of eating and not exercising. This is a change in one's life.

How the Zone is different

The reason the Zone works is that you control the rate of insulin absorption into your bloodstream, thereby controlling your appetite. Dr. Sears's book The Zone, and his second book, Mastering the Zone, go into great detail about the science behind the way his program works. Dr. Sears contends that the typical food pyramid with lots of grains and other carbohydrates at the bottom is what makes people fat, not eating pure fat. It is a very different way of thinking. We all get used to the idea that we should eat "good" foods like rice, pasta, lots and lots of vegetables and that added fat is bad, bad, bad. It's very hard to think that Dr. Sears could be right. However, he goes into a long explanation for it and I've certainly found in practice that he's right. In The Zone, you still can eat anything you eat now. There are no foods you must eat. Have you been on a diet and felt that you couldn't have ice cream without cheating? That a brownie was going to break the scale? The great thing about the Zone program is that you can eat any food you like. What is totally different is how much and in what combination with other foods. Having ice cream, with its fat, is actually better for you than yogurt! This is because the fat slows the rate of absorption of the carbohydrates into your bloodstream. No, I don't sit around all day eating bowls and bowls of ice cream or any other sweets. As a matter of fact, I don't eat a lot of any one food per day. This is still a low calorie way of eating.

Balance-- the key to being able to eat ice cream and other "junk"

The key to the Zone program is balancing carbohydrates, protein and fat at every meal and every snack. Let me be up front and say that I had always thought that any diet program that talked about eating foods in certain combinations was so weird that the diet must be a joke. How could it make any difference? Yet, it does. It's the basis for a lot of Dr. Sears' explanation in his book. In practical terms, I have found that by eating protein when I have carbohydrates keeps me from craving more carbohydrates. The added fat creates the satiety. So, if I really want some fat free caramel popcorn, which is a carbohydrate, I also eat a couple of slices of deli turkey and a few peanuts or almonds (for the fat). What does this do? It keeps me from going back to the kitchen for more popcorn. This is how I can eat such small amounts and not feel totally deprived. That's how I can eat ice cream. I mentioned I eat ice cream, but what I didn't say is that generally eat only 1/4 cup at a time. It's incorporated into my meal and is not an "extra," so there is no guilt. I also don't eat it every day because it's still not the best choice of a carbohydrate.

A serious word about balance and being in control

Before I go into greater explanation of the Zone program and how I've made it work for me, I have to speak to anyone reading this who feels out of control where food is concerned. Have you ever decided you were going to eat a certain amount of cookies, crackers, candy, ice cream, cake, bread, rolls or rice and after you started eating, you just couldn't bear to eat only the small amount you'd told yourself you could have? Did your hand or your fork go back for more? Did you feel bad emotionally because you'd cheated on what you'd planned? Did you feel bad physically because you'd eaten too much? Did you feel badly because you felt you didn't have enough willpower and that therefore there must be something wrong with you? Did you ever marvel at thin people who actually kept boxes and boxes of various kinds of cookies in the cupboard and uneaten candy in the candy dish or on the shelf? Is it impossible for you even to imagine having to throw out a box of your favorite cookies because they went bad before you got around to eating all of them? Is it beyond your imagination that you could bake something you like and not eat too much of it? There was a time when I would have answered yes to all of these. What is fundamentally different for me now is control. After years and years of having varying amounts of control and pretty much feeling mostly out of control when it came to eating, I can eat one cookie and stop with that. I keep candy around all the time and eat very little of it. Ice cream routinely goes bad before I am able to finish it. (So now I buy the very small cartons and don't always finish those, either.) At last, I control food. It does not control me. The Zone is what has made the difference. Yes, I had to have a lot of determination and that, in and of itself is a kind of willpower, but I didn't magically stop liking cookies, ice cream, candy or rolls. I still love 'em all! I would still love to eat a big bowl of ice cream or several rolls when my husband and I go out for dinner. However, I just don't have a big desire to do so. This is because I eat protein when I have my carbohydrates. It's just that simple. The protein acts like a brake, sometimes just as dramatically as the brake in a car. I get my "willpower" from understanding the Zone system. If I start craving carbohydrates, it means I didn't eat enough protein to balance everything.

The block system

Dr. Sears has a simple way of keeping track of what you eat: the block system. You don't count calories (though you shouldn't have more than 500 calories at a meal or 100 calories for a snack). One block of protein equals 7 grams of protein. One block of carbohydrates is 9 grams of carbohydrates. One block of fat is 1.5 grams of fat. So, how many grams of food goes into a block varies by which category, protein, carbohydrate or fat, the food fits into, but once you convert food grams to blocks, you keep all your blocks equal. Just like adding houses and hotels in the game of Monopoly, you build evenly. If you're having one block of protein, you also eat one block of carbohydrates and one block of fat. There are also different kinds of carbohydrates, depending on how quickly they turn into glucose (a kind of sugar), and can get into your bloodstream and affect insulin. So, you probably won't be surprised to hear that broccoli is still better for you than ice cream. However, it's also a lot better for you than rice or bread! It is best to read one of Dr. Sears's books for a full explanation for this and for the lists of "good" and "bad" carbohydrates and other foods. Either book will also help you figure out how many blocks per day you need, depending on your lean mass (they help you figure that out, too) and exercise level.

Exercise

Isn't it amazing that a word so many people despise has more than four letters? I used to be the couch potato queen. I knew all about sitting on the couch watching t.v. for hours and hours on end. Exercise? That was getting up (effort right there!) and going to the kitchen for more food (better to bring the bag or the box into the living room) or having to trudge up the stairs to the bathroom. For the first several years my husband and I lived in this house, I complained frequently about how I wished we had a bathroom on the first floor. We had a running joke that my complaint was something like number 2,386, or whatever large number we'd pull out of the air. Now I hardly ever complain about it. Exercise--ugh--was what I thought! Actually get up off the couch (effort right there, yet again!), go find the sneakers (more effort), sit down, bend over my tummy (grunt), put them on, get up (again!) and actually go out the door? You've got to be kidding! "But it's cold out there!" "But it's raining!" "But I just don't feel like it." "I'll go tomorrow." Yes, I've said them all and more. Been there, said that, ate that, stayed home, stayed fat! Now I tend to exercise 6-7 days a week. I go out when it's cold or get on the exercise bike. I bought a pretty umbrella and go out in the rain. One neighbor almost seems to set her watch by my daily walk. One day she said "you're late today!" I don't even know her!

Walking

When I first started the Zone program, I took Dr. Sears' advice and started exercising by going for a walk. Let me tell you, some of my first walks were extremely short. I kept my goals attainable. Remember, I'd already made all that effort just to get out the front door! After that, my goal might be "Barb's house, five doors down." I live in a neighborhood of small lots, so this isn't very far at all. (You've probably walked further in a mall parking lot at Christmastime when you had to take a space on the edge.) Sometimes I really wondered if going such a short distance was worth the bother. My husband was my champion, reminding me that it was better just to go at all and to work up from there. If I were having an exceptionally bad day, my walk might only be two doors down! After awhile, though, I was able to walk further and further, faster and faster. Finally, I had to find a new route because my routine had become too easy! What had once taken me as much as 30 minutes would sometimes only take 22 minutes. So, I lengthened my walk so it would take me 40 minutes. Now that walk is getting too easy for me, usually taking 32-37 minutes, depending on which dogs I stop to pet or people I talk to, as well as how I feel. (I still have good and bad days.) So far, I haven't decided what my new route will be, so instead I have added to my routine by riding the exercise bike and lifting weights several times per week in addition to walking almost daily. Are you saying you don't have time to go for a walk? Do you watch half an hour of t.v. per day?

Being in the Zone--what it has meant

I have now been following the Zone program for more than a year. My doctor is no longer concerned about my weight. (What a thrill that was!) My cholesterol level went from acceptable (under 200), but not exciting, down to and excellent 156. I've gone from a size 22/24 to a size 14 and am still losing. My old clothes hang on me or almost fall off. My body is vastly different. Sometimes it almost seems as if I were dropped into someone else's body. I have hollows all over the place--in my hands, around my neck and upper chest and even my thighs! I can see space between my toes without trying; my shoe size went from a wide to a narrow and high heels don't hurt as much. When I sit on a public bus or the subway, I don't have to worry about "spilling" onto my neighbor's seat. And yes, sometimes when I sit in a chair, there's even room for my purse next to me. I have a lot more energy. My feet and back generally don't hurt. (If my back hurts, it's usually because I sat too long or put off my walk!) I can finally go back into the "normal" stores and shop for clothes. I even look good in them!

Being in the Zone--what you have to give up

It's not an ideal world being in the Zone. You have to give up old ideas about what and when to eat. Like many people, I used to eat three meals a day (often skipping breakfast) and then grazed on junk in the evenings. I didn't associate the need to eat with exercise (except I thought you shouldn't eat if you're going to exercise). I thought a snack before bedtime was just about the worst time to eat! Certainly, it never dawned on me that just like a drug out of a bottle, I should be mighty careful what I put in my body because food acts like a drug. In order to be successful, I had to give up thinking I can ever go off this way of eating and exercising. After losing 68 lbs. between early May '96 and the end of March, '97, I went into maintenance mode for five months. So I ate more, but I still exercised regularly. I didn't go back to eating only three meals a day, not balancing my foods, not paying any attention to portion size. However, I did stop measuring everything during maintenance, though I still measured added fat and "bad" carbohydrates. (I would eyeball the amount of broccoli instead of get out the measuring cup, for example.) When I went back to "dieting mode" in mid-August, I went back to measuring everything and being much more strict about keeping my proteins, carbohydrates and fat in an exact 1:1:1 ratio. One of the biggest things I've had to give up in the process of getting and staying in the Zone is the idea that I can eat like the people who can eat anything and not gain weight. If I exit the Zone and eat a lot of junk, I gain weight immediately! I can't eat a large meal any more because it's just too much food for me. My husband can have his big bowl of ice cream in one of our regular bowls, but I'll be eating my measured 1/4 cup in one of my little bowls. Calories do still count, even though you don't have to count them like in the old diets. One of the hardest ideas to give up was that I'd wait to start my diet until some event or holiday was over. If there's something big coming up soon, then OK, go ahead and wait until after that one event. Then the excuses are over. I found that there was always "just one more" occasion to overeat--and to put off dieting. It finally dawned on me that in my life, these tend to come at least once a month and I could never really find a "good" time to start.

How I made the Zone work for me and tips for you

I do not follow the Zone 100% by the book. First of all, the problem is which book to follow. Food amounts vary in some cases from Dr. Sears' first book to his second book. In one case, I'm virtually positive it's a misprint, but in other cases, I think he modified what the right amount is. Since I followed the first book until fairly recently, I have used the original amounts. In my case, I've been doing this long enough that I know what works for me. If Dr. Sears read my food diary, which I started keeping again when I returned to diet mode, he'd no doubt find that I eat more "bad" carbohydrates and "bad" protein sources than he'd recommend, I don't count absolutely everything (I don't count catsup, for example) and I'm probably a little more casual with some things than he'd say was "perfect." However, I'm fairly confident that he'd agree with my results--eating the way I've worked out means I keep hunger and cravings at bay and have good mental acuity. I don't have a big pasta lunch and then feel sleepy by mid-afternoon because I just don't eat large amounts of pasta any more. (I do eat small amounts, on rare occasion, just for variety.)

Eat what you like

What's very important is to eat foods you like and pay attention to how your body responds to them. Also, when you're choosing what to eat, think about textures and tastes you want, hot vs. cold, crunchy vs. smooth, foods that will let you have a large portion (1/4 bagel basically equals 1/4 cantaloupe--a much different amount of food you get to eat!) and foods that will let you eat longer. Eat longer? Yes. One of the things I had enjoyed about eating that I pretty much had to give up was the process of eating. Since I was eating so much less, it took less time to eat. I missed it. It took me a very, very long time to adjust. Most of the time, it no longer bothers me. Sometimes, though, I choose a food that will let me have a lot of it so I can eat more. (For example, you get to eat more than four times as much broccoli for the same amount of corn.) Sometimes, a new food will seem like a good idea, but it just doesn't work out. For example, I have some ultra thin gingersnaps. For 3 1/2 of these gingersnaps, I could have 2 Lorna Doone cookies or one Cameo cookie or 2 Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies. I liked the idea of having "more" cookies, so I tried the gingersnaps. They just didn't feel adequate. If I have them again, I may cut the amount in half yet again and also have one Lorna Doone cookie. Sometimes, I'll have one carbohydrate block of potato chips, but recently they just didn't agree with me too well, so I don't eat them often. I actually prefer 1/4 cup of grapes because they're tasty and juicy. If I really wanted the crunch and taste of the potato chips, though, I'd have them. I also eat "bad" foods like bacon, eggs and salami. You don't get to eat as much of them as you do of "good" foods, so there's a trade off. Most of the foods I eat come from the "good" category in Dr. Sears' books.

Yes, I still eat chocolate!

For the most part, I eat healthy foods, but if I have a strong craving for something, I eat it. Sometimes if I even have a small desire, like for a little bit of chocolate, I have some. We keep Andes chocolate mints around. One of them equals 2.75 grams of carbohydrate. Since one block of carbohydrates is 9 grams, I just don't even bother to count this one little itty bitty chocolate "bar." The quirky thing is that I like them, so I do get my chocolate "fix," but I don't like them a lot, so it's easy to stop at one. Until recently, I fit chocolates I love into my program, even if it meant cutting the chocolate bar down to a manageable size and putting the rest aside. I even used to cut the "fun size" bars in half and have half! This worked for more than a year. Finally, though, I noticed I started eating more and more of them, so I stopped buying them and now get my chocolate occasionally from the Andes mints or from the chocolate in fudge ripple ice cream. Since I'm back in diet mode, I'm trying to be very careful of what I eat. When I was in maintenance mode, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I could eat and not gain weight. It's very important to be honest with yourself about how much you're eating and exercising vs. what results you expect to get. When I was in what turned out to be maintenance mode, eating more chocolate, relying more on purchased microwaveable meals and not measuring everything, I wondered why I just couldn't seem to lose weight. I simply wasn't being strict enough. As soon as I went back to being very careful, the weight started rolling right off and the scale "magically" moved. So, too, did the tape measure!

Tips

1. Keep a food diary, including how you responded to a meal, including whether you're angry at not getting to eat more!

2. It really is important to measure. So, if you only get 1/2 an orange, cut the orange in half, put plastic wrap on the rest and put it in the fridge.

3. Read food labels carefully! A "fat free" item may be higher in carbohydrates than the "regular" version of that food and you may actually be better off with the regular one.

4. Eat a variety of foods. I find it is better to have half an orange and 1/2 cup of grapes instead of one entire orange.

5. Miss having cereal? Try Frosted Cheerios. Cereal is one of the most common foods that is the hardest to eat in the Zone because a very small amount is very high in carbohydrates. This meant I pretty much gave up having cereal altogether because I wasn't willing to turn over my three carbohydrate blocks in a meal to cereal and the milk I'd want to put on it. I found that 1/2 cup of Frosted Cheerios works well for me as one carbohydrate block. (You get a lot less of other kinds of cereal.)

6. It helps to measure out some items in advance. It's boring and annoying after awhile to measure everything, so if you can cut back on measuring at least a few items, it helps. I measure out 1/2 cup portions of Frosted Cheerios and put each in a tiny snack Ziplock bag, then put all the bags into a freezer bag labeled with what the food is and how much each portion is, both cup size and block size. Likewise, I hate to go to the bother of taking one single cookie out of the bag, so I have several cookies in one of the snack Ziplock bags, knowing I only get one. Then, too, I don't have to look at all the others!

7. If there is anything for breakfast you'd like to eat and can prepare the night before, do so.

8. It's an old saw, but use small plates and bowls. Nine almonds in a tiny bowl looks much better than in a big bowl or just eating nine out of the can and knowing you don't get any more. I happen to like William-Sonoma's 11 bowl set, not only because it's great for making complicated dishes, like Chinese food, where you need to have a lot of prepared foods to throw in the frying pan, but because the tiniest bowls fit well into the Zone program. They're not cheap, though, so if you can't afford them, just use the smallest bowls you have. I also put a single cookie on its own small plate. It seems a little silly at first, but it makes your food look more important.

9. Eat slowly. The next bite probably isn't going to taste any better than the one in your mouth.

10. Figure out which foods you don't mind eating frequently and which foods you need to rotate. I eat tuna six days a week, but eat ice cream once a week or less. I try to eat different cookies, just for variety. Go with what foods and food combinations work for you.

11. Pay attention to how you feel. If you feel a little shaky in your resolve and think that if you have a bit of chocolate, it'll make you exit the Zone, eat something else. When you start, don't have anything in the house you'll think you'll eat too much of. As you adjust to this new way of eating, slowly reintroduce some of the foods you liked enough to remove, but not the ones you liked most. Over time, you can figure out what you can reintroduce to your diet. When you know you're ready to bake again, congratulations! You've arrived!

12. If you don't truly have to pinch pennies, then don't. Never eat extra food just because you bought it. Yes, I hate to throw out food, too, but I'm not going to stuff myself with the last of my blueberries, no matter how much I paid for them, just because they look like they're going to spoil soon. Remember, you will pay for the food one way or the other, so don't pay for it by putting it on your hips or your tummy! I know it's hard to think this way if you're used to thinking it's a sin to throw out food, but you must put your health first. If you can't throw the food out without feeling guilty, then throw it out, feel guilty about it, but glad that you didn't overeat!

13. It's better to pay a premium for out-of-season fruit than buy a box of cookies that probably costs as much.

14. Eat your meals and snacks when you need to, even if someone else would rather monopolize your time or that person would rather eat later. If you just absolutely can't avoid it, have a Zone-appropriate snack handy and eat that to tide you over. If you hate to think about blocks and foods all the time, make up your own menu cards so you know in advance that you're going to have so much chicken, so much broccoli, so many almonds, etc.

16. If you're a young woman and you weigh yourself often, know that you not only may have a monthly bloat where the scale is unrealistically up, but you may very well have a bloat around the time of ovulation (14 days before your period, not necessarily mid-cycle).

17. Remember, life isn't fair and that men can usually eat more than women, even in the Zone.

18. Need another reason to exercise? Lean weight, like muscle, metabolizes food better than fat, so you'll get to eat more as you add lean weight.

19. Remember that the Zone is not really a diet, it's a lifestyle change. It takes awhile to get rid of old habits and make new ones.

20. As Dr. Sears says, you're only one meal or snack away from getting back in the Zone. If you exit the Zone for one meal or snack, don't beat yourself up over it, just go right back to eating in the Zone at the next meal.

21. Breakfast really is very important. So is the late evening snack. Don't skip either.

22. Take your measurements twice month. You may see the tape measure move when the scale doesn't.

23. Don't reward yourself with food. Get yourself a trinket, a more substantial gift or new clothes!

24. Drink plenty of water every time you eat. It will help fill you up and help you to drink less of beverages with calories in them.

A few disclaimers

1. This isn't a perfect program and it won't work for everyone. Some people have certain metabolic problems that don't fit with the Zone.

2. Like anything in life, there are no guarantees and I certainly don't make any.

3. I have absolutely nothing to gain by giving out this information except the hope that I'll help some other people experience the joy I feel at being in control over food at long last.

4. If you don't work the program fairly close to the way it's written, don't expect great results. The Zone program is an excellent example of the adage "what you put into it is what you get out."