Actually,
Now that I think about it. I am going to start a thread for people who are proud to be 100% OP. We spent what, $90 a week for this diet? I don't know about you guys, But I want to get my moneys worth. I hope to see some of you non-haters over at the 100% OP thread. As for everyone else, please don't rain on my parade. We get enough here in Seattle as it is
There's nothing hateful about acknowledging that most of us find perfection impossible. Most of us find it hard enough to just do the best that we can.
None of my posts were meant to be "hateful," but I'm still confused as to why your perfection is threatened by anyone else's imperfection. And if you're not threatened by her imperfection, why is it bothering you so much. If you believe she's wasting her time and money - it's her time and money to waste. Maybe she's at a place where she can only put in 80% or 60% - isn't that still better than 0% - and what's it to you, anyway?
Why is it a virtue to have little to no sympathy for her less-than-perfect struggles. It sounds like you resent having to be perfect, while your friend "gets" to be imperfect. If that's the case, perfection isn't worth the resentment. Give up the perfection, or give up the resentment and realize everyone isn't where you are (you can feel sorry for or contemptuous of where we are, but it doesn't change that we're in a different place).
You can try to hang out with only perfect people (and I wish you luck with that, really), but I think you might find that it's a smaller group than you expected.
And I would hope an even smaller group who finds it necessary to proclaim their perfection and express their displeasure at those of us who haven't managed to be quite so perfect.
Regardless, good luck on your journey be it perfect or not. (That's what I was trying to say in my posts - that we all should be wishing each other luck on our journey perfect or not - whether we're on the same path or a drastically different one. Looking down on the imperfect ones doesn't make their life or yours any easier. It also doesn't make your success morally superior to those who achieve theirs by less perfect means).
Again good luck in finding what you need, and if that is surrounding yourself with only perfect people like yourself, I wish you luck in finding and connecting with those people.
I'm not sure why you feel where you were made out to be "the bad guy". We all just stated our thoughts-and as far as I can tell none were about you being a bad person.
I hope my post wasn't taken as "hateful"; it wasn't intended to be. I just wanted to get across that you really don't need to take on someone else's dietary burdens in addition to your own--that your friend/acquaintance, no matter how she's going about her plan, will not affect you one iota, weight-wise.
Everything we do to lose weight, no matter what methods we choose, is ultimately all of our own making. We can read and follow dietary precepts put forth by an Ornish or an Atkins or anyone else who has a viable and healthy plan. We can follow them 100%, 80%, or 50%. We can make up our own list of favorite foods and eat them in smaller amounts according to calories, fat grams, carb grams, or any other metric that makes sense to us. We can "cheat" or we can choose to stay completely on plan.
What we cannot do is undertake that kind of effort for anyone but ourselves. I know that if I did X, Y, and Z, I might lose weight more quickly than I have--but it's unsustainable for me, so I only do X and Y. It may be that way for your acquaintance, too, and maybe that makes her "imperfect" in your eyes, but in someone else's view, she might be doing well because she's at least accomplishing X and Y when that person can only handle X right now.
Blah, I'm probably making my post look like an abstruse math problem with all the letter variables. What I'm getting at is that dietary perfection and imperfection only matter to one person. We can't eat for anyone else, diet for anyone else, plan for anyone else--only for ourselves. If surrounding yourself with other perfectly-on-plan people is what you need to achieve success, then that's what you should do; other people take different roads to get to the same place. Other people may even have different definitions of success, and that should be okay too.
Again, sorry if my tolerance for imperfection came off as hateful. It was intended as anything but; I have nothing but respect for anyone who walks the long and often lonely path of trying to remake herself or himself, and that goes as much for those who trudge on that path as those who skip along it. (Well, within limits--I admit I don't have oceans of sympathy for for a few people in the universe, but hey...I never claimed to be perfect.)
This thread is really funny. I love that people are getting so upset over someone's choice/support to drink diet soda or whatever. It reminds me of Jeff Dunhams skit with Ackmed the terrorist "Silence!!!! I kill you" "Infidel!!"
It also doesn't say anywhere NOT to have it. Just saying. On the sheets it tells us what we CAN and CAN'T eat, and it's not mentioned. So in my opinion, if it's not affecting your weight loss (which it won't), then it's no big deal.
Maybe I have something different, but on the sheet that says we can't have bread, pasta, etc., my sheet says no soda (regular or diet).
This thread is really funny. I love that people are getting so upset over someone's choice/support to drink diet soda or whatever. It reminds me of Jeff Dunhams skit with Ackmed the terrorist "Silence!!!! I kill you" "Infidel!!"
I do have a similar situation with my Aunt. We started IP at the same time, I have consistantly lost weight and she has lost only a pound here and there. Every week we touchbase after our weigh ins, she acts like she is so disappointed in the diet, like somehow the diet is letting her down. Yet she is the one substituting or completely skipping meals. Initially, I would try to help by coaching her and explaining how the diet won't work if she keeps sabotaging herself. Now I've realized that I can't help her and she is obviously not being honest with her coach. I dread telling her how much I've lost each week because she offers me no praise or support...she just turns it around and starts complaining about her results again. I love her and I'm not willing to turn my back on her, but now I just let her whining go in one ear and out the other. I'm hoping that my results will either inspire her to get OP, or her coach will kick her off the diet for wasting time and money.
Aspartame is not natural and is connected to lupus.
I drink Diet Crush (Cream soda, grape or orange). It is sweetened with Splenda. It has been an enjoyable treat to have on occasion. I have never considered it cheating until I was called to task on it today on another thread.
I'd like to 'weigh-in' on the whole soda pop thing (pun intended ). I asked the same question of my coach's 'coach' (two levels up and I had the chance to talk to her). She happens to have a degree in nutrition.
I asked if I could have diet coke with splenda since we're allowed to have splenda. She said that even diet coke with splenda was more because the pop (from what I remember it was the carbonation) as it makes our body acidic....we are trying to make our body as alkaline as possible. I have done some research on the imbalance of acid and alkaline in our bodies, it proves to be an interesting read. Either way, I have given up a lot for this diet so giving up pop isn't a big deal either. It's pain for a few months, it's not forever.
I remember years ago my dentist telling me to lay off the pop a little more as my body could be over acidic which would effect my teeth.
Anyway - just my opinion.
If people want to cheat they will find ways and I think someone suggested you distance yourself from your friend. I agree, you want to keep the friendship in the end but right now you are doing this for you not anyone else.
Personally I'm spending WAY to much money on this diet to be cheating....
Most of our coaches are not profesional nutritionists so I generally talk what they say with a grain of salt. Having said that, I think we all agree that plain water is much better for you than soda but I think we need to give everyone some latitude to decide how to individually approach the program. If having diet soda slows their weight loss somehow (debatable) or has other health consequences that is really the individuals choice. I'm sure it is still a better option than getting in the buffet line everyday.
I can say I don't feel any shame or guilt about letting people know that IP packets contain sucralose thus if they want to drink a diet soda occasionaly ... why shouldn't they? If artificial sweetners are going to inhibit weight loss than Dr Tran wouldn't have them in an IP packet, right?
If someone really feels strongly about artificial sweetners and yet wants to follow the protocol very closely they could go buy some unsweetened MPI (Milk Protein Isolate) which seems to be the basis for IP packets.
The ingredients on the IP BBQ chips include sugar so I am learning to judge the IP products a little more critically. It seems in some instances their desire to create profitability can outweigh their own program requirements. I'm committed to IP because I have seen results but I am naturally skeptical of a program that makes its money by selling you your food. In a few weeks I will likely leave the program and prepare my own meals using the guidance of a professional nutritionist. For now, I need the structure of IP.
What I'm getting at is that dietary perfection and imperfection only matter to one person. We can't eat for anyone else, diet for anyone else, plan for anyone else--only for ourselves. If surrounding yourself with other perfectly-on-plan people is what you need to achieve success, then that's what you should do; other people take different roads to get to the same place. Other people may even have different definitions of success, and that should be okay too. 
). I asked the same question of my coach's 'coach' (two levels up and I had the chance to talk to her). She happens to have a degree in nutrition.
