Hi everyone,

Really nice day, celebrating my nephew. Totally OP dinner and food day. Depending on the hot breakfast choice, phase 2 may have to start on Sun., because none of the cold breakfast stuff works.

Great NSV, the first words out of my nephew's mouth were, Wow! You look great. (I had not seen him since Christmas)

Steph, have fun in Vancouver. So glad to see a post from you I miss ya.

Kawaii, hope things improve soon!

Off to bed. Early start tomorrow.

Breakfast in p2 is the same as p1. It is the lunch that changes from a packet to meat. No other p2 changes. Now p3 on the other hand... Whole different breakfast.

Hi Lisa,
Thanks Lisa for your help. I have read the Phase Sheets and studied all of the threads pertaining to the Phase off. I am obsessed at this point with Phasing off correctly, lol. My coach said that I could break up the protein throughout the day. We are attending graduation and traveling today (no stop for lunch, I am not in control of the plans). I thought I could get some of the protein in at breakfast. But alas, no eggs I came prepared with packets.

Slip:great NSV! I wonder if being sodium sensitive happens more the closer we are to goal? It is happening more for me too. I have been reading about the maintenence range as well. That is why I decided to make my goal 145 instead of 150. I figure 5lbs of a range is good. I know I would drive myself crazy trying to stay a specific number.
Kawaii: hope all is going well and life is just busy for you.
Steph: have a great weekend in Vancouver.

First night of camping went well. No extra food or snacks for me. Had to white knuckle it a few times. Lol. But feeling proud of myself this morning. One day at a time. Hope everyone is enjoying their Saturday.

Hi everyone,

Home! Things will work out for Phase 2 today,after all. Graduation was great but we left as soon as he walked because my Dad was not feeling well. Made it home in just over 3 hours. So now I have my afternoon free! I need to do some more planting.

Want2b, way to stay strong while camping. I was strong too! So wanted that wine everyone was drinking, but I resisted. Plenty of time for that when we are done!!!!

Hope everyone is having a fun weekend.

Happy Sunday everyone,

I took some allergy medicine last night and slept waaay in this morning. It is the first time I have needed it all spring.

Came home from graduation, moved 2 rose bushes and planted a bunch of perennials. Have large holes now in the garden, so I am hoping for some motivation in order to head to a nursery about 45 minutes away. If not today- next weekend. At the very least, I need to head to the grocery store. Time to restock the veggies and meat, meat, and more meat....


Great NSV! My dad who has been rather critical of my weight throughout my life, asked me when I would be done with losing. I told him that I was starting to Phase off now. His response was- "good, because you don't need to lose any more weight. You look great."

Day 2 of Phase 2- let the cooking begin!

Menu for today

Breakfast: IP peanut vanilla bar

Lunch: roast beef lettuce wraps with WF Thousand Island dressing

Dinner: Dijon chicken with garden fresh lemon thyme, arugula and cucumber salad.

Packet: health smart cereal


In the crockpot for tomorrow- New recipe: IP pulled pork
Also made: IP cole slaw.

Okay Newbies, getting tired of talking to myself

Rough day...PMSing like crazy, dealing with difficult people, lots of work stress, and just got a jury duty summons (postponed that sucker to September). I'm tired of these hormone fluctuations on IP and also just tired of still being in P1. I'm pretty sure I hit the 70 lb mark yesterday (home scale), but I am sooo mentally ready to phase off. I need the flexibility in my life.

I know I won't go back to my old habits, I just want to be able to live a little. I'm absolutely NOT going to cheat because I want to get to goal or close ASAP, but I'm just feeling IP/P1 fatigue. Tired of doing it, talking about it, etc. I feel like I've become a boring diet lady. . Wahh...I feel like a whiner, but it's better to get my feelings out than to hold them in and let them fester.

Went to a beautiful bridal shower this weekend and it was rough- great wines, amazing food, etc. I munched on raw veggies and was happy for my friend, but struggling inside. I didn't feel like binging. I just wanted to have a few snacks and glasses of wine. The wedding is in mid-July and I'm hoping for a strong month, so that I can phase off for it.

Sorry for whining everyone. I'm 100% OP and will continue to be, but I'm so ready to move on with my life. I'm even getting tired of compliments/comments about my weight and answering questions about how I did it. Now that my weight loss is really noticeable, people are asking if I'm finished or close and I say "no." You'd think that would be a good thing, but it just reminds me how much more I have to go and annoys me when people are nosy about my body.

I hope you all are having a better Monday than me. Please don't hate me for for my whining session. I'm annoying myself. Time to eat chicken and broccoli/cauliflower...yay! Not...

Sorry if I don't belong in this thread...but you guys give me so much inspiration!!! I feel like I'm eavesdropping lol

Kellyc14- everyone is welcome here! Join right in. It is a wonderful group of people.

Kooky, believe me, I understand! I am not enjoying Phase 2, too much meat/eggs. I am also starting TOM. I keep telling myself-1 more month. I am also feeling overwhelmed by the constructs of maintenance done the IP way. I signed up for a maintenance class at the clinic during the first week of June, hopefully it will calm me down. I too, long for a relaxed glass of wine with my family/friends,this weekend was TOUGH! I was able to resist and enjoyed my family with a cup of tea instead. Sounds like you did great at the shower and I am glad that you are not feeling the need to overindulge.

I want these last 5 pounds gone first! I even added boxes to my visual weight chart to keep on track and motivated. I guess it is a matter of figuring out what you desire most. I have gotten close to goal before become satisfied with my appearance, and stopped. Pretty soon, I went back to my old habits because a fun time always came up. I know that slippery slope for myself, so I am determined to break the cycle, reach goal and learn (for the 1st. time in my life) to maintain. I feel the fatigue and the boredom, but I also feel healthier, happier and I am so much more confident. The latter are the feelings that I am choosing to focus on right now.

Thanks for the words of encouragement, Slipfree! I try to stay positive on our board, but sometimes I get extremely sick of this whole thing and it usually coincides with my cycles. I pretty much get annoyed and have a shorter temper with everything and wish I could hide when I have PMS/TOM. I feel like IP intensifies it all. It's hard for me to see the brighter side of just about anything when I get like this. I am happier, healthier, etc, but struggling to appreciate it today.

You've been to a lot of fun celebrations and events lately, and I'm sure it's been tough (white knuckle tough) not having that glass of champagne or wine and having to worry about IP while traveling. You're going to be on vacation enjoying your wine in a month!

P4 does seem a little confusing and that more planning and food journaling would be necessary. I guess that's how it will be in the beginning and then it will become second nature like P1 is for us now. I am not looking forward to eating a pound of meat a day in P2...good thing it's only for two weeks.

Amen, Sista! TG that it is only two weeks.

I get pretty blue right before TOM. Now, I can identify that it is hormone based and I just mentally tell myself that it is temporary. I know not to say anything drastic or to act on my somewhat irrational thoughts during those days. I do think that it is intensified during IP.

As for the social events, there have been a lot of them during the past 7 months. It does not bother me when I am at the event. I just usually do not want to go. Seems like a lot of work but I do it anyway. Can't live like a hermit during IP.

I think that we are all chomping at the bit and feeling restrained right now. It is hard work that requires intense planning and focus, but my life was emotionally much harder 85 pounds ago. For today, that is more than enough.

Kooky: Whine away, that is why we are here. I am sorry you are having a stressful and tough time right now. I was having a tough time with IP and wanting to phase off for summer recently. But I talked myself out of it, I have never got to goal weight in my life. I think if I phase off I won't start back up again and I will gain all the weight back. So for me I need to white knuckle thru the tough days and keep going. It is mentally draining now to stay OP 100%, but something I feel is necessary for me to get to goal. Keep whining to us and stick with the program, you are almost there.

Slip: Great NSV from your dad! Also great job getting thru the weekend. Special occasions are always tough, we always seem to focus on the food. I think resisting temptation on special occasions is something we are going to have to train ourselves to be extra careful with. Hopefully it will get easier.

We are back from camping. The weather wasn't great but we had a good time with friends anyway. There were lots of times I had to white knuckle thru. I am telling myself that they were learning experiences. Something I will have to get used to as a skinny person. When the temptations arose I wasn't hungry just felt deprived I couldn't have what everyone else was having. Proud of myself for not giving in, normally I would have told myself it was ok to have that,"I have worked hard so far, I deserve it". I think I am actually getting the fact that I don't need to eat junk just because everyone else is eating it. Fingers crossed this thinking stays with me.

Thanks Slipfree and Want2B- I am feeling better this morning and agree that being really overweight is much harder than having to pass on wine or good food sometimes in favor of staying OP. Social events with good food/wine are only a few hours, but we spend our lives in our bodies. It's so much more fulfilling to feel happy in my body and feel good about what I put into it. I sometimes forget about that, but you've reminded me why we're all doing this and that it has been a very positive, life changing experience overall.

Want2B- Glad you had a good time camping and great job at resisting the non IP food! I was around it for only a few hours at the shower, but you were there the whole weekend, so I'm sure that was tough. It's cool that you reminded yourself that you've worked too hard to cheat. That's a great thing to remember and you're so close to goal that cheating will just prolong the strict part of the diet. I think that's what motivates me when things are really tough. I've set a deadline with myself and coach to be ready to phase off mid July and always remind myself that I need to be as close to goal as possible by then.

Thanks for the support, ladies, and I hope everyone has a great day!