Luckychick, it's too bad that you don't have the book any longer. I don't know if it can be bought on Ebay or not. I actually found the book at a thrift store, and it immediately caught my eye. I have tried so many diets in the past, and none of them made as much sense to me as this approach to losing weight. Atkins works, but who can stay away from carbs forever? I couldn't, and so I gained back every pound that I lost, with interest. I've been on diets where you can only eat four or five different foods, I've fasted and refrained from eating at all, I've tried protein shakes, I've even done the HCG diet, and lost a ton of hair along with the weight. The problem with all the other diets is that they promise quick weight loss, but they don't teach you how to maintain, and they don't teach the importance of revving up your metabolism with exercise.
Anyway, I didn't mean to ramble on and on. I'm just so excited to have found this plan, and I really feel like it's going to get this excess weight off for good. There's a lot of foods in the plan that I really enjoy eating, and I am a HUGE iced water drinker, so I think it will be easier than the other diets that I've been on.
Sadly, I would have to say that the salty crabs probably did have an effect on your weight loss. He does say in the book that we should stay away from salt, and just try to season our foods with different herb seasonings. This is the one thing that will be the hardest for me, I know, because I like a lot of salt on my foods, but I think I can handle it as long as I can use a substitute. I'm not sure about the tea with splenda. I know he also says that we shouldn't use artificial sweeteners at all, and that we should only have two cups of black tea or coffee per day. Have you ever tried stevia or xylitol as a sweetener? They are both completely natural and do not have any effect on blood sugar levels or on weight loss. I usually use xylitol, just because I like the taste better, and it doesn't seem to have the aftertaste that stevia has.
It sounds like you're doing good on the exercise! Keep posting, and let me know how it's going for you and your mom, and I plan on posting frequently also.