[Briael]

I don't know what's going on with me today - I have had a massive binge. I woke up feeling very unlike my usual self. Discovered during breakfast that my electrolyte balance is WAY off (couldn't taste salt or sweet and even the strongly flavoured whey protein was completely flavourless). I was really craving fat.

Ended up at Smashburger and virtually ate my way through the menu - most peculiar for me as I generally have no interest in fast food at all. It wasn't until I finished the mint oreo thickshake that I could finally taste sugar again. Now, I am fine - cravings gone and with my taste for salt and sugar restored. Went through the Exchange mall where they had churros on sale in the foyer and had absolutely no interest in them at all. Cravings completely gone. Wonder what that's all about - perimenopausal hormones, I wonder?

Still, I guess that's going to screw up my WI tomorrow but to feel back to myself is worth it.

Hubby's bod pod test today showed that he has gained 5lbs of muscle, but also 1lb of fat. The good news is that he is going back to the IP principles so it will help me tremendously.

[Grateful4Health]

Amanda I had to smile a little - didn't you just finish a 5K on Saturday? I'm not nearly as science-researched as you (you are my hero in that area, as I love facts) but could you wanting/needing extra calories have to do with that?

[CenTXChk]

Thanks ladies. You’ve given me a lot of food for thought (no pun intended).

My sister has been great about helping. However, she is on crutches, overweight and out of shape (ie: me 10 months ago). She isn’t supposed to be putting any weight on her foot. Helping my parents is not physically taxing; however, it is a lot of run and get this or stand and do that. My mom is only moving from her hospital bed to the living room because she is down to under 100lbs and my dad is doing all the work transferring her to and from her wheelchair. My sister would be little to no help to him. He doesn’t need another physically impaired person around at the moment.

Not to get religious on you, but I feel like God is trying to send me a message. The harder I try and stay in town I feel like the harder he is sending me the message to go. I have pretty much decided to let go of hosting the party if my other girlfriend can host at her house and miss my the wine tour (and my cheat day). I don’t know what to do about DS’s prom. It breaks my heart and I want to cry to miss it. He is going to be so freakin’ handsome.

My sweet DH offered to throw me a birthday party next month (since our yard and house are all gussied up). I asked him if we was going to recreate the wine tour and prom too…

My parents have always been there for me and I intend to be there for them. I just needed to vent a bit. Thanks so much for listening.

[Avalon1957]

Briael, probably no biggie. Glad you see it that way too.

I went through a similar period in early March after 6 months of no cheat IP P1, I just felt like I had to have something carby. Once I got that out of my system, I was able to refocus and I am down 13 pounds in the past 3 weeks. It's funny but the cheats didn't actually taste as good as I was expecting and they made me feel a little bit sick.

The trick is to actually STOP and turn the train around (always a risky proposition when carb and/or sugar bombs are involved).

[oneuh2]

Another week begins.. glad to hear from everyone!!!

Sue - it sounds like you must have been the star of your Easter family event - so glad they were pleasec with your weight loss! And good for you in your response to there assurances that you have lost enough - you have your goal and you are sticking to it!! Way to go!

L2W - It seems like you have formulated a reasonable plan to incorporate more real food, and since you are using MFP, you have a good tool to help you keep things within reason. Keep on keeping track and I look forward to hearing how it's going!

JJTx - you think that a single chocolate egg is important enough to confess to... and
Amanda - you had the hungries to the point of doing Smashburger.... I am keeping fingers crossed for your WI tomorrow.

btw - I am ashamed to say that I too must confess to a cheat - I ate a slice of chocolate layer cake last evening -- a leftover from DH's birthday celebration. It did not have much flavor, really - I wish I had eaten a chocolate egg instead...

I posted it to my MFP food diary, though - this is significant - normally i would conveniently not post my failure to my food diary. An NSV of a strange order...

CenTXChk - I am glad you are adjusting the number of meatballs on your plate-- sorry you are giving up your planned cheat event, and I hope you will figure out something for you son's prom. If you use Apple devices, maybe your hubby could preside over your DS's prep and share it with you virtually over the iphone or ipad via Facetime. I think maybe Tango works the same for Android devices.... even your Mom could see you son all dolled up...

Ro22 - I love the idea of your Chicken Rice - gotta try it!!

Avalon - good point regarding lack of tastiness among items eaten as cheats.... my cake was definitely nothing to write home about.
Oh- don't let me forget to congratulate you on last week's descent to Overwight on the BMI scale -- so long to 'obese' -- YAY!!!

Right now, I am ready for snoozers - I was back OP today after no sign of my cakecheat on the scale (thank goodness), and I had a double class of Tango and Samba - still could not get to 10K steps yet, but the dancing gave me an extra 2K. The cake is in the rearview mirror and I am glad of that.
Catch you all tomorrow...

[Sgrealtor1]

Cen - I feel for you.... I know the feeling of having to make those tough decisions. My personal choice would be my son, but then again I only have 1 child so maybe that is why, but also this only comes one time. Your dad maybe could have a health care worker come in for the day... I had chipped a bone in my foot 2 years ago. Not fun, but again I was overweight and that did not help.

So some non IP moments happened here LOL.. I guess with us all this far in it was bound to happen some time. As long as you are right back to plan I think sometimes we really need something like that. I too have been known to endulge in an extra IP bar (the mint ones frozen)!

Off to have blood work done this AM so I am starving and have had no coffee....Ugh!

[JJTx]

CenTxChk - if you feel like you are being called to be with your parents, then of course that's what you need to do! Like I said no one can make the decision for you and you are in a tough spot for sure

Oneuh2 - I saw you logged your cake, I logged my cheat too including in my clinic journal so I may hear about it tomorrow! But like you I felt it was important to own it since I chose to eat it.

Briael - weird on the binge, but like G4H said maybe you needed to catch up from the 5K? Who knows? What I do know is you will get back on track!!

Sue - hope your bloodwork goes well and you got some coffee!


I'm back to work after the long weekend, and we have a busy week/end ahead! WI tomorrow and for the first time I have no clue where I'm at - last week my coach challenged me to stay off the scale. She wants me to focus on just doing what I'm supposed to regardless of what the scale says. I got on Saturday morning and was up about a pound. Honestly it's making me a little twitchy especially approaching WI day, but I am trying to trust my coach's process and see what happens.

[hysteria_625]

Originally Posted by CenTXChk

Thanks ladies. You’ve given me a lot of food for thought (no pun intended).

My sister has been great about helping. However, she is on crutches, overweight and out of shape (ie: me 10 months ago). She isn’t supposed to be putting any weight on her foot. Helping my parents is not physically taxing; however, it is a lot of run and get this or stand and do that. My mom is only moving from her hospital bed to the living room because she is down to under 100lbs and my dad is doing all the work transferring her to and from her wheelchair. My sister would be little to no help to him. He doesn’t need another physically impaired person around at the moment.

Not to get religious on you, but I feel like God is trying to send me a message. The harder I try and stay in town I feel like the harder he is sending me the message to go. I have pretty much decided to let go of hosting the party if my other girlfriend can host at her house and miss my the wine tour (and my cheat day). I don’t know what to do about DS’s prom. It breaks my heart and I want to cry to miss it. He is going to be so freakin’ handsome.

My sweet DH offered to throw me a birthday party next month (since our yard and house are all gussied up). I asked him if we was going to recreate the wine tour and prom too…

My parents have always been there for me and I intend to be there for them. I just needed to vent a bit. Thanks so much for listening.

CenTX - I am so sorry you are having to make such difficult decisions

It was a year ago 4/24 we found out dad was dying of liver cancer and passed away two weeks later. My brother and I were in complete denial and there are still a lot of "would've", "could've", and "should've". My dad was always there for me...had we known it was 2 weeks - not the 3 - 6 months the oncologist said, I would have done so much differently and spent so much more time with him. You could say we didn't know (per what the oncologist said), but there is little comfort in that after the fact.

Thoughts and prayers to you & your family.

[DeterminedDieter]

Wow, you miss a lot when you go away for a few days!!

CenTXChk, I don't suppose there is a right choice between visiting your parents and being there for your son, just know you are doing the best you can and don't feel bad for the choice you do make. Your family loves you and will understand. The FaceTime/Skype idea is a great one if you choose to visit your folks. Have you talked to your son to see how he feels if you can't be there? He is a boy after all

L2W - sorry you are suffering from diet fatigue and I hope that it passes quickly. You are doing awesome!

It's great to read about the losses, NSV and everyone working on being more active and preparing for Maintenance with tools like MFP.

I started Maintenance back at 142, which is pretty much where I was at when I started P2. I got to 141.5, but then in P3 I had that cheat and got to 146 on the scale, but then like I said, was back down to 142 for the start of P4. Of course I had my planned cheat for Easter Sunday, which included a delicious brunch and pie for dessert for dinner. So I was back up to 145, but I'm sure I'll be down again by the end of the week. I plan to run extra this week and eat clean

April 1st brought into effect a new helmet laws for cyclists, so I've ordered one, but we still have a crap load of snow, so it will be a while before I can actually start biking to work again! But I am looking forward to it. But on the other hand I want the snow and ice to last until the end of the month so I can squeeze in one last cabin trip before spring break up (DH can't get the time off until then).

Have a great OP day!

[CenTXChk]

You know my coach actually encouraged me to take cheat days on Thanksgiving and Christmas. She said a lot of people are OP through holidays but then feel deprived after and tend to fall of the wagon. I wonder if Easter could fall into that category too. Especially if celebrated with family or friends who were eating candy or regular food. Maybe that's why people have slipped up this week?

Either way, life happens and I wouldn't let it eat you up. Everyone has acknowledged their indulgence, logged it and moved on! Good work!!

I had dinner with a dear sweet friend last night and although I stuck with fish I am up on the scale and my fingers felt swollen this morning. Water retention!!

Well my sister got in to see her ortho yesterday and he told her to start walking on her foot asap. Now she says she can go this weekend. Darn roller coaster that I am on these days! I swear to not to say anything to anyone about this for the rest of the week as my plans seem to change daily. I know I'm sick of it so I know everyone else is too.

Beautiful day in Cen TX land. Eating my lunch outside and checking in with my favorite IPers. Hope everyone is having a fabulous day!!

[Briael]

Anemic and electrolyte imbalance - overdoing it on the walking and speed walking. Fix is in hand though - more iron, more magnesium - change of supplements to increase how much I'm getting. Suspect this has to do with lack of sleep, too. Feeling exhausted leaves me with low willpower and lack of desire to exercise, and I don't like the lightheaded dizziness that comes with shortfalls in electrolytes and iron. Time to get back to the old mantra "onward and downward".

Man, oh man, did I ever binge yesterday. Smashburger and fries, mint oreo thickshake, pizza, about a third of a tin of chocolates. Still, now I know what ails me I can fix it.

Seriously lucky that the scales only went up 0.6 this morning. As I know it's water retention from all the sodium I'm still going to record yesterday's weight for today's WI as I know it'll be gone tomorrow. Feels like cheating though. Note: I'm recording yesterday's and not this week's lowest, so I'm not colouring that far outside the lines.

CenTX - families are like that. I would happily GIVE my sister away some days, but if anyone else said anything negative about her, I'd be likely to bop them on the nose. Just take it one day at a time and make some time in each day for something that makes you feel good in and about yourself. Glad your sis can go visit with your folks and let you enjoy DS' prom. Maybe still have your friend host and sit back and enjoy some downtime.

Don't worry about those small cheats, Cheryl and JJ. They pass soon and you learn a lot from them. Sometimes it's craving the fat, not just the sugar. The body has a way of forcing us to acknowledge its needs until we work out what is causing the weird desires. IP has such low carb and fat macros that I think the body eventually rebels against the protocol.


Beth, I hear you on the denial issues. My mum had metastatic cancer and went from walking 3 miles a day to dead within 2 weeks. She'd been in remission for 7 years and it had been growing silently. We went through the same with my dad with congestive heart failure. It's hard to acknowledge that parents become frail and that we have to face their deaths.

If I missed congratulation you, Alexandra, on being merely overweight, then I am thrilled for you.

Sue, how lovely that your family are giving you the praise you deserve for all your efforts to shed the excess. You do so well at staying OP.

[Ro22]

Originally Posted by Briael

Anemic and electrolyte imbalance - overdoing it on the walking and speed walking.

Amanda - How in one day did you find out you were anemic and have electrolyte imbalance? Just curious as I would like to know if there is a faster way to know than waiting weeks for the official results via blood tests.

[Ro22]

I just thought I'd give you a heads' up that I just posted 3 recipes with photos for things I had today. I loved them and find they really break up the monotony so if you are looking for a change and foods that taste like you cheated, take a look and try them out! As many here are suffering diet fatigue, I thought these may help. They are all Phase 1 compliant.

one note on the bread - I used a Quest product so if you are not using any alternatives, sorry, I don't know what on IP you could use to replace to get a "French bread" like that.

[JJTx]

Originally Posted by Ro22

I just thought I'd give you a heads' up that I just posted 3 recipes with photos for things I had today. I loved them and find they really break up the monotony so if you are looking for a change and foods that taste like you cheated, take a look and try them out! As many here are suffering diet fatigue, I thought these may help. They are all Phase 1 compliant.

one note on the bread - I used a Quest product so if you are not using any alternatives, sorry, I don't know what on IP you could use to replace to get a "French bread" like that.

Thanks for sharing!!

I would probably do this with potato puree for an IP product.

[Briael]

Originally Posted by Ro22

Amanda - How in one day did you find out you were anemic and have electrolyte imbalance? Just curious as I would like to know if there is a faster way to know than waiting weeks for the official results via blood tests.

Four easy check home methods:-

1. Pull down your lower eyelid. It should be red or flushed pink. Mine is virtually bloodless.
2. Lip colour. Mine are also colourless.
3. Nail beds near the moon. Should be pink, mine are almost blue
4. Run a gold ring down your cheek using a little pressure. It will initially leave a white pressure trail. It should immediately refill to skin colour. Mine remains pale with a purple undertone before the colour returns.

Fatigue is another good symptom to keep an eye on. Of course, when you are exercising you expect to suffer a degree of fatigue and muscle soreness, but it should recede with a few hours rest.


Electrolytes are much easier. If you cannot taste salt or sweet (despite knowing that the food you are eating contains them) then you are likely to be low on electrolytes.


I played competitive sports for 25 years so I'm pretty in tune with my body and can normally identify when something is "not right". IP is relatively easily tolerated by the body, but identifying what is causing minor health differences from a "regular" diet helps you get on top of problems quickly. Of course, if they don't disappear when you remedy them, it's time to seek medical advice in case it is an undiagnosed underlying condition like thyroid imbalance. As I was recently blood tested I know that my parameters were all within normal ranges (some were on the lower end) so there isn't an underlying health condition that needs addressing.

Hope this helps.

EDIT: If you want to do a more foolproof test at home, here's the method that many blood donor centers use as an initial filter for stopping people at risk for anemia post-donation:-

CuSO4 (copper sulfate)
This is a qualitative screening test based on specific gravity. The density of the drop of blood is directly proportional to the amount of hemoglobin it contains. The sample of donor's blood dropped into copper sulfate solution becomes encased in a sac of copper proteinate, which prevents any change in the specific gravity for about 15 seconds. If the hemoglobin is equal to or more than 12.5 gm/dL the drop will sink within 15 seconds and the donor is accepted. If the blood drop sinks to the middle and remains or starts to rise, a microhematocrit or comparable test is usually used to confirm the deferral. This is not a quantitative test and will only show that the hemoglobin is equal to, below, or above acceptable limits.