Welcome back to the Daily Chat thread - post your plans for today, share what's been happening, ask questions!

Some forum lingo:
NSV = Non-scale victory
TOM = time of the month
WI = Weigh-in
WF = Walden Farms
OP = on plan

Bookmarking:
Ideal Protein Sub-forum Home page
Consider making it a bookmark or a favorite in your browser so you can come back easily to get your RDA of Ideal Protein information.

Information for newbies:
Check the sticky page (top of forum, above all the topics) for lots of good information and please read here before asking what might be a frequently asked question: Information on Ideal Protein phases (1-4), IP Ultimate List Recipes, FAQ, Newbie Guide, Exercise, and other Important Threads,
and here are the most recent Ideal Protein Protocol sheets

And before you cheat, read this thread:
The Real Cost of Cheating on Ideal Protein

Before starting new threads: spend some time reading the forum. Most new threads are duplicates, triplicates, quadruplicates. Folks who are the most successful, make time for research/reading.

Recipes Here
Ideal Protein Diet Recipes #4 -current thread open for posting
Recipe thread #3
Tips and Recipes from the Incredible Weight Loss Center
Fun with Ideal Protein Packets
Fun with Veggie Purees!
Mix'n in the kitchen...Recipes from the Rainbow
MiX'N' iN THE KiTCH'N.... Recipes from the Rainbow Volume 2
Here are a couple "older" .pdf files of many of Rainbow's recipes: Rainbowsmiles Recipes
and Rainbows IP Inspired Alternative Recipes

For those looking for alternative products
Here is a thread with tons of info. Spend some time in it. http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/idea...phase-1-a.html
And here is a link to a chart to help you choose appropriate products

Tickers and Signatures:
There are 2 requirements to have access to signatures and tickers. You must have been a member of 3fatchicks for 20 days AND posted at least 20 messages anywhere on the 3fatchicks forum. When you've met those requirements check The Ultimate Signature and Ticker Thread for more information and instructions.

Quoting:
The best quoting tip - EVER!! Thanks Rosie, aka 6710.

Searching:
If you can't find what you're looking for in this forum using the website search function, try using the "double search" using Google.

1) Go to Google.com. Search 3fatchicks by using the term site:3fatchicks.com at the end of your Google search.

For example, if you want to look for "big mac in a bowl", type "big mac in a bowl site:3fatchicks.com" in Google search. No need to include the quotation marks when you type.

2) This will bring up the page that you are looking for, now hit Ctrl+F to search on that page. Type "big mac in a bowl" and all instances of that search term will be highlighted.

Progress photos
Mini-Goal Photo Album.

Other helpful links related to the Ideal Protein Dr. Chanh Tran Tien's website
Link to a pdf of the doctor's book here.
Note: this is not the same as the current IP plan.

Good Morning Everyone!

Make this the beginning of another great week! Remind yourself daily, even hourly or minute-by-minute if you need to, of why you started this IP journey. Then visualize your end results and how THAT will make you feel. Every day I commit and stay on plan, I know I am one day closer to my goal! Love yourself enough today to stick with it - for YOU!

Morning IPeeps!

Thanks for the morning encouragement! I'm thinking about a bikini body for 2016. How's THAT?

On my way too... Week 2 and I lost 6.2 pounds! Half a pound more than last week! Awww yeaaaahhh...

Woke up with a headache this morning but I blame whatever was in the air yesterday. We live within 35 miles of several refineries (one literally only a half mile away, as the crow flies) and there was an awful "chemical" smell in the air yesterday. I mostly stayed in the house but did go to church and the smell was all over town. I haven't seen anything or heard anything to explain what it was but it was awful! The odor is gone today but the headache remains. BUT other than that the weather is beautiful and I plan on just sitting in the sun for awhile today and soaking some of it up! I can't sit still for too long as the pollen will cover me...'tis the season of allergies!

Hope everyone's week is great and if Spring Breaking, have fun, be safe and stay true to yourself and don't cheat!!

Working from home today, and without the drive and bus commute this afternoon, I can make it to a 90 minute Foxtrot and Swing dance class after work -- dancing is my favorite form of exercise and the best stress reliever I have ever known! Great way to start the week!

Got my MFP account set up and began logging in the food diary there. Connected it with the Fitbit I finally picked up last week, and I already had the Aria scale that wirelessing sync's with the Fitbit app, too. I am working on making these tools a regular part of my routine - they will be especially helpful in getting me to my goal weight and navigating maintenance. Thanks to those IPeeps who have offered MFP friendship - so glad to share my diary and progress.

It's a new week - my home scale dipped back under 170 into the 160's this morning (I have been hovering around 170-171 for at least 2 weeks.... The last 10 lbs of loss took me 2 months to accomplish. I wonder what I can do to return to regular slow and steady loss for the last 20 lbs to goal? Is a consistent 2 lbs a week too much to ask for at this stage?

My regular coach returned from 6 week trip to South America, and it will be great to work with her again instead of the substitutes... overall, I am feeling optimistic about the path forward, but I am also wondering what tweaks and adjustments I need to make to minimize the 'hovering'? Shall I omit restricted's altogether? Or use only the drinks and soups and puddings from IP? I wonder what my coach will suggest - I'll let ya know after I see her on Thursday evening.

Hi Cheryl: Those last few pounds will take so much longer... just warning you to be prepared... best to look toward clothes fit & inches lost, especially since you are doing more dancing these days. You will be trimming up and gaining more muscle while losing your fat and that is hard to see in the weight number. Time to look to all the NSV's instead. I'd stay the course and not try the tweaking, if I were you. Remember, your body is now much smaller and way more efficient so it will not be pulling as much fat from storage as it used to for basal metabolism. This is already a very low calorie diet, no need to make it lower, as it is still certainly below your BMR. Keep up your dancing and other fun exercise and you will get there while retooling your new metabolism.


Liana

frawniemae - I hope that headache goes away soon. That's scary stuff!

oneuh2 - Glad your regular coach is back. It's always nice to be seeing your coach. I have two regular coaches, last weekend one of them was away and they had me in with someone I had never seen. Hopefully I'll get to see one of my regular coaches today. How are you liking your fitbit? I also have an Aria scale, which prompted me to get a fitbit charge HR, and I log on MFP. It's so easy having fitbit sync up to MFP. Hopefully you can get some direction on how to return to a slow and steady weight loss for the remainder of your journey. I've been struggling with slow losses too! It's frustrating...

I hope everyone had a great (OP!) weekend. My weekend was good. I pushed myself a little harder at the gym and tried a hot yoga class. I'm pleasantly surprised at how my body reacted to both. Though when my workout was about 80% done my ipod decided to glitch out and die on me...so I guess I might be having to replace that soon..(boo!). I shouldn't complain though, it's really old. I think I bought it in 2008? So I guess I was due for an upgrade.

Hi everyone!

Now I understand why some people just don't attend special events. I attended my cousins wedding this weekend and boy was it difficult..I stayed on plan as much as I could. Stayed away from alcohol/desserts. But it definitley tested me lol. Thank goodness I had my fiancee with me who is on IP as well. The struggle was real!!

I did get a lot of compliments and I am fitting into older jeans better and better. I also tried on and ordered my bridal dress, can't wait to get it and have it altered.

Have a great week!

Great job powering through the wedding weekend!! Sometimes you just have to the best with what you have (and/or pack a snack)

Congrats on ordering your dress!!

OK, have a question for the more experienced folks here. Just completed an extraordinarily busy weekend involving lengthy and dirty outside chores. I was very bad both days about both eating and drinking -- as in I did neither until I came back into the house almost at dinner time. Basically coffee and go. I'm nagging myself for doing this, so don't need support there. *eyeroll* In fact I woke up in the middle of the night last night with a nightmare where I 'forgot' I was IP and ate a bowl of yogurt and granola (fortunately we have neither in the house, so this isn't one of those 'I dreamed I ate a giant marshmallow and my pillow was gone' things. LOL I'm attributing that to the calorie deficiency, even though I ate a compliant dinner as if I hadn't screwed up the rest of the day.

Here's my question: my weight is up a little today (about a pound). I feel puffy. Is my body retaining water now because of the lack of fluids this weekend to flush out keto byproducts? And have I screwed up my metabolism (ie dropped into a 'starvation' setting)? Any thoughts/recommendations (other than drinking a lot of water today) to help me get back on track swiftly? Presumably I am still in ketosis, but I would have expected to drop a pound, not gain one.

Good Day IPeeps!

I hope everyone had a pleasant weekend. It's great that some areas are starting to experience some spring like weather. We've started to get some warmer days. But the mornings are still quite cold, my drive to work today had the temps in the low minus 20s (Celsius) with the windchill making it -30. But the sun is strong and bright this afternoon and it's not too bad, -9 now I think. Ice fishing weather.

NSV - I went shopping and I am down another pant size, and I am down a few inches overall. Feeling good entering Phase 2.

I hope everyone's week is OP and filled with scale and NSV

Hi. I tried roasted cauliflower for the first time last night. Yummy! I love vegetables, but DH hates them, so he roasted them. Even he liked them enough that he said he'd try the mashed cauliflower next. Wow. Always good to expand one's horizons on this diet.

I'm sure your body went into starvation mode a bit so you are retaining water. I think if you just get back to being OP this week you'll be fine. I don't think you screwed up your metabolism in one weekend. Just get your packets in, drink lots of water, and you should be fine. As for the dream, that's so funny! I definitely had the same type of dream about 3 or 4 weeks in. I can't remember what I ate in the dream now but I forgot I was on IP and ate carbs! Then I felt so guilty. I woke up with that guilty feeling still and really had to think about whether I actually ate bad stuff or not.

DD! fantastic pics!!!

Oh my gosh!! DeterminedDieter you look AMAZING!