I'm right there with you! 3 children later I am going to have to get comfortable with my new body. But that new body is becoming a smaller version every day

My weigh in today was great. Down 3.8!! after my big loss last week I was prepared for a slower week. What a great surprise!

I haven't been to the farmer's market in Soulard in years. I remember it was huge and fun! I thought about doing a co-op but was afraid I'd get a bunch of vegetables that aren't on plan. Once I get to phase 4 I think I would like to try something like that!

oh my gosh!! Can I just say that yesterday was an insanely crazy day?!!! And it was the first time that I ALMOST (but I didn't!!) ate something off plan out of stress!!! It was in the moment and totally an emotional thing, but I realized it for what it was and did not eat the tortilla chips!!

Can I share my day? I really need to share it with someone!! lol Ok so first work was kind of hectic and I am on call this week. I work with disabled and elderly clients. I work in the office and am the staffing coordinator. Anyway, my daughter calls me at 2:00 and says that she had a bloody BM, she is pregnant and has Crohn's disease, so I leave work and take her to the ER to get checked out. While I am at the ER my DH calls me and tells me that their is a baby alligator in the ditch at the front of our condos. He's sending me pics of it, the next thing I know he's sending me pics of the police arresting someone. No not over the alligator, lol, the police had just swarmed the complex and kicked in the neighbors door (we live in a condo in a nice area!) and arrested a guy (it was total choas he was sending me pics etc..) In the midst of that my on call phone rings... it was one of my workers, the client was in a rage and was hitting her. She ended up calling the police on her and she was taken to the hospital in an ambulance (the client that is).

As I was dealing with that the emergency room people came running into the room and rushed me and daughter out into the hallway, they had a critical patient that needed the room! The poor man was in respiratory distress, they didn't know why and he almost died right there!! Geez

We sat on a bed in the hallway for an hour or so watching all of the commotion. My daughters blood work and ultrasound came back showing that all was good, thank you Jesus!! and she was discharged. Baby is due on Christmas!! I LOVE Christmas!!

Well my daughter hadn't eaten since 8am and by the time we left it was 9pm so she kept saying that she was starving, for some reason my brain heard this and thought I should be hungry too. lol I knew I was going to be a while at the hospital so I ate a RTD chocolate blended with spinach before we left. I stopped at Wendy's to get my daughter a baked potato and salad on the way home and when I got home my hubby was eating take out from the Mexican restaurant, and my first instinct was to eat the chips!! My hand was involuntarily moving to the bag!!! lol I stopped myself though and decided to eat the left over chicken and veggies from the night before, it was maybe 3/4 of a cup total. But OMG I felt like I totally failed! Blew the day! Was off the plan!!!

In reality here's what my day looked like:

B: IP choc pudding blended with 2 cups spinach
L: south west cheese puffs IP
S: butterscotch pudding
D: RTD blended with spinach 2 cups

when I got home less than one cup left over chicken and veggies from night before.

So I really didn't go off plan????

When I finally did get to bed, midnight, I got another call from work and had to go pick up a client from the hospital 30 miles away!! at midnight!!!!

Friday is a full moon and Friday the 13th...lol

Kellyc14, What a DAY!!! Good heavens, woman! I'm so, so glad to hear that all is well with your daughter and the baby. Christmas!!! Just imagine how scrawny you'll be when you're rocking that sweet grandbaby! You are SUCH a rockstar for staying OP on a day of such insanity!

Thanks Annie!! I should look good in those pics huh???

Kellyc14 Wow girl with all you had going on yesterday you deserve a big and you also need to pat yourself on the back for staying OP. How wonderful that you were able to fight the stress hormones and not give in.
You got this!!

Just what I needed to hear today! Thanks for the inspiration . Have a great day everyone. I am going to remember to drink MORE water today.

Seems like a lot of people are having the crazies this week! You my dear -the most crazy one I have heard so far! Sending some healing and calming energy your way right now. Good for you for using your obvious emotional intelligence to navigate the stress you were surrounded with!

Hi All,

I'm really struggling today. I have not seen movement on the scale in 4 days. I know it is my time of the month and I feel incredibly bloated. I also know that I need to stop stepping on the scale everyday for validation that this diet is working. I am still the skeptic.

What I am really struggling with is the dinner portions of meat. I am told by my coach that I am to consume the exact portions that are listed on my daily sheet. Which includes for my weight 5 proteins a day, 2 cups of veggies at lunch, and 8oz of meat plus 2 cups of veggies at dinner. I feel like I am force feeding myself at times to consume this and last night at dinner I was full half way through the meat portion and made myself finish.

This feels very wrong to me. It made my body feel like I did when I used to overindulge. I texted my coach but have not gotten a response on this issue.

Do I stick exactly to the diet guide or do I listen to my body?

Johnsdeer: Morning everyone! Question for everyone since the topic of rhubarb came up. If you are growing a garden this year, what are you growing in your garden? My husband is a farmer (field corn/dehydrated onions) and last year on one of the corners of one of the fields my MIL grew a HUGE garden however; I want something closer to home and minimal to manage. I bought two raised garden bed kits that I'm planning to put together. I don't want too many veggies but, I'm going to plant zuchini, english cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes. My mom has a bumper crop of lettuce so no need there. I also have a HUGE planter that came with our house that has a raspberry bush in, my daughter loves raspberries.



I started my garden before starting IP, so mine isn't the best example. I've got 9 tomato plants (I know! I love tomatoes. Some are cherry tomatoes, some heirlooms for straight eating, some sauce tomatoes), three bell pepper plants, two hot pepper plants, two blueberry bushes, a raspberry and a blackberry. And I still have two empty beds! I was planning some winter squash, as I will hopefully be phased off by winter. The last bed was supposed to be asparagus, but I never got around to it. Maybe next year, or I can save it for broccoli and cauliflower in the fall.

I also tried to plant strawberries, but they sent them to me too early (there was still snow on the ground) and they plants all died before I could get them in ground. Ordered potatoes too but never got around to planting them, which is ok since I can't eat them right now anyhow.

Wow, that was a crazy day!! Good for you for staying on track.It is challenging for sure when you are in a situation where there is no IP food available. I try to keep a Quest bar in my purse at all times just in case.

I too have my first grand baby coming in December, so excited.

I also started with 5 packets and I had an incredibly difficult time eating all the food the first week. I dropped the 5th packet during the first week, which my coach was okay with, and choked down the rest of the food the best I could. By week 2 I wasn't having trouble eating it all anymore. Hopefully it will get better for you, too.

Lala - I am not an expert and think that maybe this is something to discuss with your coach when you weight if you are comfortable with that idea.

However, after 11 months and 88 pounds, I will offer my advice as to what has worked for me. First, I often split the protein up because not only is that a lot to eat at once, I often am hungry earlier in the day for some. Chicken in my salad, ground turkey in my omelet are treats for me. They still are counted in the total for the day, but split up.

As far as the veggies go, my absolute favorite thing to do is to add chopped frozen greens to my dark chocolate pudding mix to make a HUGE and delicious morning smoothie. Those veggies count towards the daily 2 cups at lunch and dinner. I will also roast veggies during the day as a snackand those count towards the veggies.

My general thought is that what is most important is that you feel good and satisfied in a way that will support you in staying on a healthy eating program like IP. I am not saying in any way to eat MORE than is listed, but to say do listen to what works for you and your body and redistribute the amounts if that strikes you right.

NSV today!!! I was deciding what to wear to work & pulled a pair of pants out that I haven't worn in 3 years.....not only did they fit, but they are comfortable!!!! I'll be grinning like an idiot all day My next WI is tomorrow & I'm hoping to be past the 20 pounds lost mark.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Definitely split your protein Lala! I am a small boned person and can't eat that much protein at one sitting. My coach said to split it or even reduce it to 6 oz if need be. Remember though that this is 'before cooking' weight - so don't weigh it after and use that as your measure. Often I didn't even eat my protein snack after dinner as I was not hungry then with so much food. I used the extra pack at my hungry time 3-4pm-ish. I also almost never ate any extra lettuce/salad as it was too much food for me to add and lettuce is optional anyhow. Hang in there, you will feel better soon...

Liana