All this talk of cheats... you are only cheating yourself. You are guaranteeing yourself another week on the program. I mean the diet is great, but why would you want to sabotage your weight loss and your wallet. Just like quitting smoking, drinking, nail biting - whatever - ONE craving at a time! Every time you beat that craving, it is a victory!

Elissa

Thanks a bunch!!....I knew I could see a little difference but when I put these 2 pictures together I was like WOW guess I have changed!...lol

i was up 2 lbs this morning!!!! that makes me so mad!!! any way, i will keep trucking on!!!!!!

Just as a reminder to everyone when you cheat and go out of ketosis you are starving yourself until you go back in to ketosis and make up the caloric deficit with stored fat. It is dangerous to continually live off of such a low amount of calories if you aren't in ketosis, and coaches have been advised by IP head office that repeat offenders be removed from the diet because this is not meant to be a low calorie starvation diet but rather a ketogenic diet.

Not to mention the waste of money and prolonging of living in such a restricted way.... Thus diet isn't for everyone and if you can't stick to it perhaps you should find something less restrictive to fit with your life.

That just my two cents!

"Every time you beat that craving, it is a victory!" LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS!! I'm going to write it on a cute paper and post it on my fridge. A "senior" member or not, I need to be reminded of this often. Thanks!!

I agree! And it is such a great feeling to go 1 more day with no cheats. I started this thinking I could go just one day and I've told myself you can cheat tomorrow if you really want to....I've never let tomorrow come and it's been 19 days! I know I'm not really going to do it tomorrow but it gets me out of cheating today.

Just sharing a little today...

Every morning I heat up one of the RTD shakes with my steamer and make espresso to add to it... today I made the chocolate shake but becuase things were tasting the 'same ole same ole' lately I bought a few bottles of extracts over the weekend... this morning I added a few drops of orange extract to the chocolate/coffee mixture and my oh my!!! It was like drinking a Terry's chocolate orange - LOVED IT!!!!

Tomorrow will try the almond with the vanilla shake and Wenesday will be the peppermint with the chocloate.... I find that you can 'cheat' your taste buds without really cheating - you just have to be a little creative within the rules provided for you! ;0)

Here's to a great OP week everyone! Cheers!

I love doing this too!!! I have a whole little row of different extracts now that have about saved my life (or at least saved me from food-boredom).
Just a tip though, when you try to do the chocolate peppermint one (Which is DELICIOUS if you do it right), only use a TINY TINY bit of peppermint. I ruined one completely by adding too much, and almost ruined the second one I tried even though I used a lot less. The peppermint seems to be the strongest, and really overpowers the chocolate.
I like to use the Dark chocolate too with the peppermint.

mmmmm! That sounds so good!! I recently purchased some sugar free (0/0/0) Da Vinci syrups - talk about filling a void! If you have a magic bullet you can add ice and a bit of syrup and your 1 oz of skim milk - perfect frosty treat and 100% OP!! There are so many flavors available - you can see them all on davincigourmet.com - YUM!!

Thanks for the tip - I bought every flavour they had on the shelf in Safeway while grocery shopping... peppermint, orange, almond, rum, vanilla and lemon... not sure what I will do with the lemon one just yet... LOL! Am going to try another store as I would love to find a banana one!

yes you can really tell...

just water, but it does kind of give you a shock, I was up 4lbs how can that happen... just a thing with your body you will have a better week next week.

Question - where in the store do you find the Da Vinci syrups? They sound yummy!

when you come to Edmonton Bulk Barn has coconut and banana... would make a nice pina colada...

you should be able to google it for your area. Alot of the coffee places have their own brands, and the davinci website should tell you where to buy. I get mine at the grocery people as they are cheaper then my sugar free place.

If you have a vanilla pudding left, you could try putting a little lemon and some poppy seeds in it and making lemon-vanilla poppyseed pudding cakes! I tried it with the lemon pudding/vanilla extract and it turned out well. Not sure if it would work as well switched around, but it's an idea. I love the pudding cakes.
I made an AMAZING one the other day with the vanilla pudding, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and a little instant coffee powder. Tasted sorta like a coffee cake.
If you don't have the recipe for them, there is a whole thread about it somewhere.

I'm in Canada, so the store I buy from is probably not available in your area. Check the website - it's definitely worth a try. I have chai, chocolate, cookie dough, cherry, caramel - the list goes on and on and on!