Definitely find out what's going on....how many more are wrong? And which is the right one? For those like MeghanO who is carb counting it is really important!! 5 vs 13 is WAY different!!!

Excellent idea Ogdog for the new thread!!!! Hello to all us "oldies"

Things for me got a bit strange just before Xmas. By Dec 22 (2 months in) I was down to 158, 3 pounds from my goal and probably should have gone to Phase II but I was still thinking of changing my goal to 150 from 155.... still had the love affair with numbers and my scale at that point. I then went completly off IP over the holidays. I gained a bit over 2 pounds over the holidays and then tried to go back on Phase 1 again. As in the beginning, I had terrible side effects, sick to my stomach, terrible headaches etc and ended up coming competly off IP. I tried again the following week but used an approach similar to the Alternative phase - had a slice of 100% rye bread made with no yeast for example. This lessened my symptoms and I managed to get back into the swing of things and followed Phase I and lost the weight I gained and ended up at 154 pounds. I did not have much product left and was using EAS carb advantage shakes and what product I did have left. After that I went straight to maintenance... probably should have gone through the phases but did not want to spend any more money on food.
I am having a bit of difficulty working out what is best on maintenance as the place where I got my IP provide a very different plan for maintenance and are VERY VERY big on everything you eat being organic and no additives, not using teflon pans and they tell you not to eat carbs/grains at night and their way is much different from Dr. Tran's. So I have been slowly trying to work out what is going to be the best way for me and also the cheapest. Pure organic things are quite expensive, such as the almond butter ($9.00 a jar) that is recommended on Ezekiel bread ($5.50 a loaf) for breakfast etc. Very confusing. So far I have only gained 1 pound back which I am assuming is water due to eating more carbs. I do know that I am not eating enough/and eating properly on a daily basis and have to work this out quickly before I do myself some damage. Add to this I am currently on week 3 of quitting smoking so things are a bit stressful.

Suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Ottawa, where are you getting this info about organic and non-tephlon pans???

I eat as organic as possible anyway. I feel better on it, and know that I am doing the earth good too. It is expensive!!

So glad I found you guys!! As I mentioned to OgDog13, i've settled into this diet and while I appreciate that the "newbies" have lots of questions - it just takes too much reading.

I read Dr. Trans book - thanks for the link OgDog. I really enjoyed the read - appreciated lots of the comments and reasons for why it works and it's got some great info we can use for those detractors.

In there too was maintenance info - quite frankly that phase scares me. I remember when i started this diet and i thought that once I was done dieting that I'd be able to enjoy all those foods, wine, etc again. But it makes sense that if i go back to how i was eating before, i'll go back to looking like i did before too.

he says to have your carbs (complex carbs) for your evening meal but you can't mix carbs and fats. You also can't have carbs and (I think) protein together. i'm having a mental block - what is he calling fats - is this your basic oil, marg, etc. or what? I'm assuming that this would mean a plate of pasta, tomato sauce and veggies is allowed. But a plate of pasta, sauce and chicken is not.

After MeghanO told us about the 20-25 carb limit she was using I thought I'd give it a try and that's when i checked out my supplies and found out the wildberry yogurt has 14g (off the box). I was like - oh no...i think the crepes are only 15. it's more than the chocolate pudding for goodness sakes! i haven't had one since as i've been trying to keep my carbs down - i need to get through this and be buying fewer packs - i'm going broke. I asked my counsellor why it's not on the restricted list - she was going to ask her higher up contact - still this week no answer.

check out the veggie list of dr. trans book vs. our approved veggie list - he has fresh button mushrooms, cauliflower, broccoli, among others, on an enjoy in moderation list.

Okay Ottawa, had a little time to digest your post and think about this. Organic is NOT cheap. They can't expect everyone to either afford to buy organic or even have organic around them. Although Almond butter, btw, is in the organic section, but it doesn't mean it is organic unless it is labeled organic as some "organic" sections cater to glucose intolerant and different eating styles, not just organics. I think they want you to eat almond butter because it has less carbs. Could you eat peanut butter?....YES. Just not as much, or watch how many other carbs you are eating. Somewhere in the older posts someone said that we are eating about 800-1000 calories and between 20-25 carbs a day. Not sure where they got that though. (Has anyone tracked their total carb consumption besides MeghanO?) Anyway, if we sit down and figure out how many calories/carbs the new lilestyle takes, we should be able to approximate what you should/shouldn't eat in order to fit your budget and lifestyle!!! I, for example, don't eat red meat....so my approximations would definitely differ from those who do....I might be able to eat more PB since fish has less calories/carbs. So, let me print off what we have in Phases for Phase 4 and see if I can do a rough workup of calories and carbs for you. We can make this work!!! (Are you still seeing a coach?)

So I think I panicked a little more than I should have. I guess what I was looking at was the Canada/English Version on the IP site. The difference is Canada version ingredient is - lactoserum protein isolate. (14 carbs)
US version is whey protein isolate (derived from milk) only 5 carbs. So I guess in conclusion they actually twiked the product for US?

Woo, What a relieve. 5 carbs I can handle. 14 I cannot!

Sorry to bother you with the upset.

NP for the upset!! We all would like to know this stuff. Besides that is what we are here for!!!!!

I noticed that too! The book should have been offered or at least suggested at start up. But what I'm finding out is that coaches are learning about this just as we are. I was living off of broccoli and cauliflower at 1st. I wonder what my losses would look like if I would have used them as a moderate.


Oh and I found a nice website that has a bunch of varieties of nut butters:
http://www.nutsonline.com/nuts/almon...rce=googlebase

Ottawa, took some down time at work to figure out what you should eat calorie and carb wise from the Phase 4 list posted in Phases. When it comes down to it you should be eating (to maintian) 1800-2000 calories a day with approx 200 carb per day. So 10% of your diet should be complex carbs. If you keep a list on Fitday or sparkpeople or whatever you like you should be able to have no sugar added PB (given I'd still do organic because I love organic products) as long as you don't go overboard. PB is protein after all....just track how many carbs it has in it.

Does that make sense???

Speaking of different butters, I lived in Atlanta for 10 years and would frequent the Dekalb Famers market. It was wondeful in supplying freshly ground butters...right there in front of you. Cashew butter is SOOOO yummy!!

SoyNut Butter
 

http://www.nutsonline.com/nuts/nut-b...ed-creamy.html

5 fibers 1 net carb sounds like a nice alternative.

It's okay to have protein and carbs together. His reasoning (that I don't completely buy into) is that when we eat carbs, the insulin secreted tells our body to store whatever fats and oils we're eating as adipose, or fat cells. So if you eat your fats (and proteins) earlier in the day, and there's little to no insulin in your system, then it will just be processed and expelled without being stored. Then at dinner, you can eat your carbs (and proteins) without worrying about there being dietary fats in your digestive system to be stored by the rush of insulin. And he says you can mix them in moderation, like buttering your toast, because why break with tradition. Just no greasy lasagna. And if you do have greasy lasagna one day, he says to go back on phase I the following day, so your system will burn through everything before it has time to build up.

I love the Dekalb Farmer's Market, it's only about 5-10 miles away from my house. It makes buying organic a lot more affordable, and everything is so fresh! The only thing I don't like about it is that I go in for 3 items and come out with a packed cartload.

Bwhahahaha, leaving iwth 3 items. Impossible. What I loved about it also was the different cultures who shop there, and the variety of different culture type foods. I always left there with a new recipe to try.

Dang I miss Atlanta!! Maybe someday I'll be in a position to move back there.