Well, Guys, this is probably my last post until next Monday. Tomorrow my son and I are off to Grandma's house(his). He's taking his laptop, but I sincerely doubt we'll find wifi for most of the time we'll be there. Have a great Holiday, and congrats in advance to you all for keeping a rein on it! Here's to strength and wonderful new lives in the new year!
someone was asking about headaches a couple pages back (sorry can't remember who). if you look back in previous monthly chats, you'll find that lots of us experienced the same thing. apparently it has to do with the sea salt - it's important to use your sea salt everyday. there are a variety of "fixes" all the way from putting a bit in your hand and having a lick to putting some in your water and drinking it down. If you experience headaches later in the diet, it can be a sign of dehydration, increase your water intake.
I checked one of my initial handout pages to see what was said about fatigue - as lots of us have experienced that side effect too. I'm going to pick some of the sentences off the handout - hope it clarifies.
there are three primary reasons why a dieter may experience fatigue on the Ideal Protein Protocol: low blood pressure (hypo tension), low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) and an imbalance in blood electrolytes (magnesium, sodium and potassium). All of these issues can be quickly corrected.
Low Blood Pressure: when we lower the insulin level, the kidneys now function normally and much excess sodium and water are rapidly eliminated. this can cause a drop in blood pressure and a feeling of fatigue can result. this is particularly pronounced if the dieter is taking a prescription diuretic (water pill). Should you experience this, make sure to use the sea-salt liberally and increase the amount of water taken daily.
Low Blood Sugar: in the beginning, when we reduce the amounts of carbs we consume, our body's first source of energy is suddenly decreased. consequently if our blood sugar suddenly becomes lower than what our system is used to, we feel tired. so it says in the first week only, you can consume up to 5 packets of the product. After the first week if one feels fatigued, it is usually because they are consuming too many carbs...prompting an insulin spike which will then cause "reactive hypoglycemia" (low blood sugar). says to review your food diary with your coach. Electrolyte Imbalance: two most common problems here are low sodium and low potassium If the first two issues have been addressed and fatigue still persists, the dieter should increase their potassium to 2 tablets per day for a couple of days and again, use the sea-salt liberally.
i guess our salt, water and potassium levels are really important.
Mom 22: thanks for the info, I often forget my salt so I will have to be better at it.
Sandrab: thanks for the info re the alternative plan. Is there a phase 2 and phase 3 for the alernative plan?
I will start phase 2 in about 15 pounds, I am told from my coach. I am nervous. More, though, I am concerned that I do not feel thin, like others tell me I look. When will that come, where my self image matches my body image?
Sherry
Sherry, my lowest weight was back in 93 when I hit a major depression, lost all kinds of weight in a month because I couldn't eat, literally. If I ate I threw up...not purposely. I weighed 119 when friends and family said that they would send me to the hospital if I didn't start eating. Well, the depression passed and I started eating again slowly, was able to enter a bikini contest at !23 lbs and was in a friend's wedding at the same weight. Everyone said how good I looked being so thin. So of course I want to get there again, but am not allowed because it is "too thin" for my build/height. Self image is a tough one. Pehaps start by being proud of who you are, with or without weight that doesn't change, you ARE a WONDERFUL person! Are you doing this diet for yourself, or so you get compliements from others that you've lost weight? Although compliements are nice, REALLY NICE, you should be in this for yourself!! And remember, you are a wonderful person....no matter what your weight, it doesn't change who you are on the inside, that person will always be there!!!
I also got into the jeans that I have been trying forever to get back into and not only do they now fit but are baggy enough to replace with a smaller size! I wondered if I would ever wear them again but I never thought I could go smaller. Great, right? How come when I look in the mirror I cannot see the difference??? My husband doesn't understand why I cannot see what he sees.
Sandrab, thanks for posting that alternative plan.
Everyone, I posted it under the Phases area for easy reference.
Well, I cheated bad on for my birthday dinner with my family. I went to On the Border and had a shrimp (yay, on the diet) chimichanga (boo, not on the diet), and followed it with a couple of spoonfuls of this delicious hot brownie with vanilla ice cream. I can say I don't regret it a bit. After all, this was for my birthday. And, I am proud to say that I was able to skip the rice, and although I had some beans I didn't eat all of them, and couldnt' eat all of the chimi. So, although I cheated, I didn't cheat as bad as I could have.
As for Xmas (holiday) food everyone. This year my family isn't doing the traditional xmas dinner because of the number of families involved and the distance everyone just doesn't want to drive. My main dinner is seafood on Xmas eve. I may, MAY, bake my FF to be healthier like Lilita mentioned (I think it was Lilita, sorry if it wasn't) just to follow the plan a little closer. Anyway, the point of this was going to be that if y'all would like lower-carb recipes for some of your normal dinner foods just let me know, y'all know I love finding new recipes. I do have some thanksgiving low-carb recipes posted amongst the recipes in there somewhere for stuffing, gravy and bourbon sweek potatoes....all recipes rock btw. If you can't follow the diet, don't beat yourselves up, remember, food comes with this time of year. Be proud of yourself, and notice that you still are making healtier choices than you did before (ie. less dessert, if any). And that we can start right back on Phase 1 like we are supposed to the morning after!!!!
I've been reading the posts about body image and thought I'd share my experience. Almost 7 years ago I lost about 155 pounds, going from a size 24W to a size 4/6. It took about a year for my mind to catch up to my new body. Every time I'd go shopping I'd instintively head for the plus sizes. I'd start going through the racks, only to have it dawn on me that I was in the wrong department. I'm sure the sales people thought I'd lost my mind! Also, people would often describe me as "tiny", because of my smallish bone structure, which sounded so bizarre to me. I eventually got used to it, for the most part. I must say it is a great feeling to not be the largest person in the room! My point is, give it time. You will eventually start to see what others see.
I am using the IP plan to lose 20 pounds that I've gained back in recent years. I never want to go back from where I came. My loss is slow, but I am told it's because I don't have much to lose. So I'll just keep plugging away and hope for the results that I desire.
I've only lost 6.5 pounds in two weeks, which was frustrating me. But I've also lost a total of 10 inches. That seems like a lot! Of course, it's 1" here and 1/2" here... But I'll take it!
I've been reading the posts about body image and thought I'd share my experience. Almost 7 years ago I lost about 155 pounds, going from a size 24W to a size 4/6. It took about a year for my mind to catch up to my new body. Every time I'd go shopping I'd instintively head for the plus sizes. I'd start going through the racks, only to have it dawn on me that I was in the wrong department. I'm sure the sales people thought I'd lost my mind! Also, people would often describe me as "tiny", because of my smallish bone structure, which sounded so bizarre to me. I eventually got used to it, for the most part. I must say it is a great feeling to not be the largest person in the room! My point is, give it time. You will eventually start to see what others see.
I am using the IP plan to lose 20 pounds that I've gained back in recent years. I never want to go back from where I came. My loss is slow, but I am told it's because I don't have much to lose. So I'll just keep plugging away and hope for the results that I desire.
I've only lost 6.5 pounds in two weeks, which was frustrating me. But I've also lost a total of 10 inches. That seems like a lot! Of course, it's 1" here and 1/2" here... But I'll take it!
LuveMyMarine, congrats on your weight loss and image boost!! You aren't losing slow, you are actually still losing the average 3 - 3/5 pound per week, which is incredible!! Hang in there.
SylviaG -- I am SO proud of you!!! You started just one month ahead of me...and we have been on here together a long time! Do you have any pix you can post? ... I found my "before" picture, but it doesn't seem much different than my NOW picture (see, I didn't say AFTER).
Denise, you can find my pics on page 18 from December chat. Can't wait to see yours! In my mind, I don't look that different from before but this dress helps a lot to realise how much I lost! (the "goal" dress I was thinking about when I was baking my meatpies...) As said early by Luvmymarine, now time is all we need to modify our perception of ourselves! Also had problems recently with ordering checks... guess it is a common problem!
Gained back some water in the last few days; scale shows +3 pounds but my clothes seem looser... Also, I started training last week. Only 30 min. cardiovascular for now but weights to come soon!
To those of you on the east coast, please drive safely! 2 weeks ago we had some 25cm of snow up here in Montreal but that is only about half of what fell in DC!
so frustrated. had my weigh in today (one day early). I only lost 1.6 lbs, same as last week. Not constipated, no period, didn't cheat at all, no restricted packs, nothing. sorry, venting a bit but I plan on this next week being not great for weight loss and was hoping to do better last week.
Everyone is doing so great! I have to admit that I had a about decided to take two weeks off the diet so I could relax and enjoy Christmas, but I did for two day for a birthday party and a family dinner and got deathly ill afterward. that should give me incentive to be a lot more careful! My weight loss has really slowed down to maybe 1/2 to 1 lb a week and I'm afraid I'm loosing my enthusiasm. Any words of advise? I have lost 30 lbs since mid October but would really like to lose another 20 or so and I need some new motivation.
valleygirl - I would usually tell you to drink more water, maybe it's that time of your cycle, maybe you're constipated, cut out the restricted packs to get things going but I'm having the same struggles for the last couple of weeks too. It's sure hard when you are trying so hard and not even cheating. it's hard when others are losing big amounts. And the cost - don't get me started. anyway, I'm determined to hang in there - i've seen good results in the past and I don't want to give up when I've been working so diligently. I added up my stats and even though it's only 3.2 lbs in the last 2 weeks - overall, I've still lost 3lbs/week in the 8 weeks I've been on the diet. you're not alone in feeling discouraged - does that help at all??
Everyone is doing so great! I have to admit that I had a about decided to take two weeks off the diet so I could relax and enjoy Christmas, but I did for two day for a birthday party and a family dinner and got deathly ill afterward. that should give me incentive to be a lot more careful! My weight loss has really slowed down to maybe 1/2 to 1 lb a week and I'm afraid I'm loosing my enthusiasm. Any words of advise? I have lost 30 lbs since mid October but would really like to lose another 20 or so and I need some new motivation.
ValleyGirl -
WOW, 30 lbs since October is about 15lbs/month! That is awesome. Many have written to say that their avg is ~ 3lbs/wk but yours is almost 4lbs! That is great! I hope this is incentive for you to keep going.
I'm jealous, it took me that long to lose 20 lbs. KEEP GOING!!
Last edited by toomanycats; 12-21-2009 at 05:45 PM.
Reason: spelling error
