I am so glad that I found this website. Reading through is great for pointers and encouragement and to know I am not alone. There are so many people going through the same thing I am. Issues for me this week.

1. I am far too consumed with this 'diet'. I need to keep OP but get on with my life.
2. I give way too much power to the scale. My attitude for the day is triggered by the stupid numbers on the scale.

I have a long way to go. I need to stop thinking small and think about the big picture. I've seen plenty of people on here that have started where I was at and 6-12 months later have achieved monument loss and spiritual gain.

I lost 10lbs last week and this week (week 2) the scale has not budged an ounce and I have been 100% OP. Makes me wonder if I am doing something incorrectly.

Does anyone use those ketosis strips to make sure their body is in the correct state for the diet?

I suspect turkey kielbasa is not a good choice. A quick look at one brand showed 50% of it's calories come from fat - not a lean meat. Plus the ingredients would worry me:

TURKEY, WATER, MECHANICALLY SEPARATED TURKEY, CORN SYRUP, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: SAL T, NATURAL FLAVORS, DEXTROSE, ISOLATED SOY PRODUCT, ISOLATED SOY PROTEIN, MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE, SODIUM ERYTHORBATE, SODIUM NITRITE. MADE WITH BEEF COLLAGEN CASING.

Lots of sugars and sodium.

June 12, 2014 - Think Thin Thursday Tip

If you think, “It’s not fair I can’t eat whatever I want (and other people can),” remind yourself that either way it’s unfair. Either you face unfairness by limiting your eating, or you face all the unfairnesses and hardships that come with being overweight. Besides, it’s a common misconception that other people can eat whatever they want and it’s HIGHLY likely that they’re limiting themselves, too.

I order REGULAR IP though eBay (only the free shipping vendors)
Nashua has free shipping EVERYDAY on orders 99 or over.

That is exactly how I was when I started. Actually BEFORE I started. I set a start date and read this forum religiously so I'd know what to do.

Glad you're back down & hopped tright back on. You're so right about cheating!

We can still have yummy food. We just need to plan it. Grilling your burger and tossing it on a salad is a fantastic idea. I do it regularly. I'm smoking a beef roast and a chicken today. One of those will be on my salad tonite

I'm going to suggest you quit trying to micromanage your weight loss. Follow the plan, weigh in weekly. The weight comes off. I'm living proof! Our bodies have normal fluctuations in a day and in a week.

Ketostix have mixed results for people. They work for some and not for others. And as we get more efficient at burning ketones, rather than excreting them, the results are reduced. I view keosticks as another way of attempting to micromanage b
y over monitoring.

You are absolutely right: move on & find something else to occupy your thoughts

Hello Lala,
Sometimes after a big loss the scale stalls a bit. it will move again. It helps to not weigh daily if it gets you frustrated. I personally look at the scale daily but nothing is counted/written until my official once a week mark. I don't let it get to me, if it did I would stop looking. I went through IP for a year doing this, and the scale goes UP and it goes down throughout the week. If you stick to the plan the week to week pattern is down or same. Rarely up unless tom shows up, but then when Tom leaves down the scale goes.
I lost 170lbs in a year. Your mileage will vary . I am torn about my obsession with the plan. Hyper focus worked to get the pounds off for me, but I lost that focus when I hit goal and didn't carry it into maintenance. Getting my focus back took me a year. Such a waist (sorry not kidding pun intended but not funny). I am worried about goal again, but I have a year or so to figure it out.
Barb

That's a great point. I did check out the nutrition label, which on it's face looked ok (pretty low in fat, low in carbs, but a serving is only 2 oz) but didn't pay attention to the percentage of calories from fat.

Yeah, sneaky labelling - they can legally call it low in fat because they tell you a serving is 2 oz (Really?? 2 oz will not give you enough protein and WHO eats 2 oz of sausage?).

High fructose corn syrup is always a bad one on a label, especially when they stick it in meat. The big combo of Sugar, Salt, and Fat to draw us in & set up cravings. Works 'cause it's yummy, lol.

Liana

I use alot of Jenni-o brand lean turkey sausage. Maybe that might be a good substitute for the keilbasa? It's still on the higher end fat wise (70 of the 180 calories from fat) but it doesn't have all those extra ingredients like corn syrup and MSG. They also have an extra lean ground turkey that I add loads of spices to that tastes great on the grill!

Good morning everyone! I have a question for experienced IPers. I started Phase 2 today and I thought I had it all worked out, but now I am confused. I have sheets that say 8oz of protein (no matter what kind, beef, poultry or fish) for both lunch and dinner. Then I found a sheet that said 7oz of fish or 5oz of beef for both lunch and dinner! What is the correct one? Did they change? I left my coach and switched to alternatives, so I am hoping someone here can help me! Thanks in advance!!!!

Extra Lean ground turkey is a great choice! You can make it taste like sausage by putting a tiny bit of fennel seed in and a bit of oregano and some chopped garlic or garlic powder - makes it taste like Italian sausage (like on pizza).

What are the dates at the bottom of the sheets? Use the newest. Mine are Dec 2013 and say 8 oz of any protein (meat, fish, eggs, etc) for both lunch & dinner. Remember it is pre-cooked weight so you won't end up with a full 8 oz cooked. Hope that helps

Liana

What are the dates at the bottom of the sheets? Use the newest. Mine are Dec 2013 and say 8 oz of any protein (meat, fish, eggs, etc) for both lunch & dinner. Remember it is pre-cooked weight so you won't end up with a full 8 oz cooked. Hope that helps

Liana[/QUOTE]

That's what I thought...okay good.
Do you know what the equivalent is for eggs instead of 8oz of protein? I read somewhere that it was 4 eggs and 2 egg whites, but that seems excessive! Just trying to make sure that I do this correctly!

Yup, that's the egg equivalent, and it IS a lot!

Thank you all for the suggestions! Maybe I'll run it by my coach to make sure she thinks it's ok. I'm not stuck on the kielbasa or anything. I usually eat the Aidell's chicken sausages, but don't want to do that if it isn't OP - and I checked out some of their labels and it is also a pretty high fat percentage. It's not something I'd want every day, but could be nice to have in the rotation every now and then.

Down 2.4 this week. Trying to manage my expectations - want lots of big drop weeks! It's a marathon, not a sprint, right?

Congrats Rayze! That is awesome and you can be proud and happy with the loss! And you are right, marathon not a sprint!