I am on day 20 of my diet. I've lost 8 lbs. and feel great.

My diet is protein-heavy (whey protein added into smoothies) with an emphasis on vegetables, fruits and whole grains. I eat about 1800 calories per day which so far has me losing 1-3 lbs. per week.

Occasionally, about 4 times per week I will have a Lean Cuisine dinner, and I'll also snack on a turkey slice here or there.

I take a multi-vitamin supplement and also a calcium-zinc-magnesium supplement which I'm told helps with my exercise regime, which is primarily walking for now, but I'm about to get into weight training.

Any thoughts on the merits of this approach? I eat 8 small meals per day. I just worry sometimes that I'm missing something by not eating much meat.

-Ryan
My weight-loss blog: Body Transformation Project

Congrats on the progress. Watch the sodium on those freezer pleaser's. I have one occasionally also but don't lean on them to much. You need to hit the weights. You want to lose fat not muscle.

To see where your nutrients fall I'd suggest getting an account at FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal or one fo the 100s of other free sites on the web that will keep track of what your eating -not only calories but protein, fats (not evil), carbs (not evil) and fiber...

If 8 small meals a day work for you ... great - but there's really not been any hard evidence that's shown more meals are better than fewer -it's total calories consumed during the day -and what keeps you satisfied..

Did my first upper body workout in seven years last night... I'm in a lot of pain today, ha! But it was worth it. I could not even complete the workout, same one I used to do on the Body for Life plan in 1999... I've slipped a long way. But I will return stronger and better.

Re: sodium on the frozen dinners, true enough, but I have so little sodium in my diet as it is? Is that really a big deal when every day I eat carrots, broccoli, tomatoes, apples, oranges, and celery? I also eat a california roll two or three times a week and dip it in soy sauce. Bad?

-Ryan
My weight-loss blog: Body Transformation Project