I've been to NOLA, and they have some great food down there! Not much that isn't all carbs though (Poe boy sandwiches are delicious!) But try some of the hole in the wall restaurants, I got am amazing meal at a random place we found when we took the wrong street in town. Best of luck, and have fun!

How fun! Le Pavillion is one of the most haunted hotels in NOLA, from what I hear! I stay there every once in a while and have yet to witness anything! If you want to stroll along a nice shopping area, Magazine street is always fun. There are lots of art galleries and antique stores. It's not really walking distance from the hotel though. If you want walking distance, I love walking Royal street!

The Audubon Aquarium Of Americas, at the end of Canal (at the river) is always fun! Then you can walk over to Jackson square!

Sadly, I do not have any recs on restaurants. I have not been to NOLA since starting IP and couldn't tell you where they have IP friendly food! That's a question for Nolasmurf!

I'm pretty sure I'm just scratching the surface on what you could really get into down here but this is a good start for a weekend!

Stacey; I am from New Orleans. Do as much as you can. Walk the Quarter, go to the French Market. Eat a (1) beignet, get a love potion from the Voodoo shop. most places aren't IP friendly but just use your best judgement. My only recommendation is DON'T drink the Hurricanes Hand Grenades or Daiquiri's they are all sugar and will give you a very bad tummy ache. If you drink stick with something you know. The hotel you are staying at is wonderful and has a great brunch on Sats and sun!
Enjoy your visit!

Good morning all! Everyone is up and chatty this morning!

Today marks day 1 of IP for me. Had my "last supper" last night (tacos) and am currently sipping my first IP shake. Anyone else find it impossible to have breakfast within 30 minutes of waking up? This is something I'll work on, but factoring in my commute, I'm going to have to start waking up earlier.

Congrats and best of luck to you!!!

We all have our struggles and devils we deal with and this forum is the place to get help with those

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DH and I will actually be using the rest of the week to phase off as we have a trip to New Orleans planned. A friend is getting married on Saturday and we decided to stay until Wednesday for a vacation! We will be staying at Le Pavillion Hotel (got a great deal on groupon!).We're looking for recommendations of things to do and places to eat so if you've been or are from the area please share ideas!
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Hey Stacey! I'm from Baton Rouge & visit NOLA often. I personally LOVE Café Maspero! They have a French onion soup to die for, and they're chef salads are enormous and full of deli meat! But also covered in 1/2lb of cheese lol I went while OP and got both of those things, tried the balsamic vinagarette dressing, and I actually lost that weekend!! Have a blast, it's my favorite place ever!!

sarahBell Thanks! I am going to do an experiment tonight and make a breakfast item the night before and keep it in the fridge. That way I can sip it while I do my make up / hair in the morning. My coach was not too pleased to hear I am a 9am breakfast eater (when I wake up at 6:30).

I never knew that we were supposed to eat within an hour of waking....whoops! Also, my cousin and I heard different things from our coaches (in the same town) and I thought I'd bring it up here. I do not eat my 2nd and 3rd packets with my meals. I use them as snacks. For example, I have a big salad for lunch around noon and unrestricted chips around 3:30. Then dinner around 6:30 and my snack around 8 PM. Her coach told her she was to eat her packets with her meals.

Thoughts?

ems70508 I'm obviously a total newbie, but my coach told me that we need to eat within 30-45 minutes of waking up, then every 3-4 hours thereafter. I had the breakfast packet as my meal and am planning to have my next packet as lunch, along with some veggies. I'll probably use the third packet some time after dinner like you mentioned since that's when I get snacky (coach said this should be before 8).

I personally can't see the harm in spreading out your packets by having your "lunch" packet a little later in the afternoon, but I'll be interested in hearing what others say.

I eat my breakfast packet first thing in the morning (after getting dressed, making lunches, coffee, etc). Second packet is with lunch (usually a soup packet). My third packet is my afternoon snack around 3 pm. Then dinner around 6 - 7 pm. I don't do the evening snack as I'm never hungry then. Even when I wasn't on IP, I didn't do "dessert". This seems to be working for me and my coach hasn't told me to do otherwise. I guess everyone is a little different. My thought is do what works for you. As long as it is working and you are getting your required packets in, keep doing what you're doing.

When do you eat your veggies? I was kind of thinking of using the veggies as my snacks between meals as i have no idea how I will possibly eat four cups of vegetables otherwise.

I eat my veggies with lunch and dinner (2 cups each meal). Usually a large lettuce salad with oil and cider vinegar plus whatever additional veggies I have on hand. Sometimes I add peppers, cucumber, celery, etc to the salad. Other times I add it to my soup or make a side dish to go with my protein at dinner. I am really into stir fried kale with some salt and red pepper flakes. Goes well with most meats. Tonite will be chicken with some mushrooms and bok choy (asian stir fry).

I eat 2 cups of veggies on my salad at lunch and then usually cook them at dinner. I don't use them as a snack. If I am ever starving, I'll have a pickle in the afternoon then cut back a little bit at dinner.

Guess you're right...if it's working...keep doing it. I guess I was just wondering if I ate the packets at the meal, if it would help the weight come off more quickly. Not that it isn't coming off quick enough but I kind of want to blink and it all be gone..ya know?!?

Is there a way to tell when I started on this website? I thought I started it on my first IP day which was Oct. 15. I still am not able to get a ticker..

Good morning everyone. Hope you all are doing well. Life continues here in SF and I am enjoying being home, free from studying, the winter darkness and so on. I have taken to cycling to work at least 1x a week, and have incorporated doing some leg/arms/butt/core exercises in the morning (just 10 minutes almost every day). While my scale doesn't show movement, I am seeing differences and I am happy. I am officially a size 6 which I would have never believed in a million years and had to make an official trek to Goodwill where I scored a ton of work clothes from Banana Republic, J Crew, Gap, etc. So, pretty excited about that. The closet looks remarkably empty and the trunk of my car is loaded down with donations that I need to take in. Good times.

Tomorrow is my WI and, after last weeks lack of loss, it would be nice to see some movement downward this week. Fingers crossed.