Originally Posted by torchlaker (Post 3156038)

OK -- I figured out a way to not eat!! I have been SO busy sewing..that I forget to eat until I have a huge headache!! I am forgetting my water...I haven't taken the supplements (except potassium when I get cramps) since I returned from Ohio. Funny thing is.....I feel pretty good. Maybe I feel good cuz I am accomplishing something BESIDES dieting. It seems like IP took over my life when I went on it in September.

I don't mind talking about other diets/ways of eating, etc., on this forum. Those of us that have been on a long time have to be feeling the pinch financially....and the boredom with the same old foods. I even started adding butter to my veggies cuz I couldn't even look at them in olive oil anymore.

I used to make a pudding on Atkins using cream cheese and it was fillling. Any of you do that? I was trying to think how I could just use regular sugarfree puddings and make them filling......I wish i could do shakes...there are more viable ones out there than there are for puddings.

Sewing is going slow....just can't pound it out like I used to. I love garment sewing....but it just takes too much focus now. If anyone ever comes over here and I look decent, I will have them take a pix of the white shirt. I am gonna take tomorrow off and go shopping. Haven't taken my new car any further than 2 miles since I got it!! (Well, if it quits snowing....). Thursday is Red Hat function at a mexican restaurant. This one might be tough...cuz I usually just go to restaurants that I know I can get a salad. I LOVE this restaurant, tho.....maybe I should just make it my birthday dinner, huh??

I also went back to eating one sugarfree Klondike bar in the afternoons...it seems to satisfy my need for icecream. It DOES look like I have lost a little weight on the new scale (but I am gonna HAVE to go out and get another digital one....this one is too vague!).

Originally Posted by Mom22 (Post 3155652)

i did the suzanne somers diet a few years back - it was easy and i lost weight - i think for me, at the time, it wasn't strict enough - too much grey area. as i recall, the basics were carbs plus veggies or protein plus veggies. not allowed carbs and proteins in the same meal. it worked well and eating out wasn't a problem. i think after i've been on this diet for this period of time, i would be able to stick to that way of eating and have good luck.

Originally Posted by Birman (Post 3156394)

Mom22, could you explain more what you mean about finding it grey, and not strict enough?

Originally Posted by Birman (Post 3155681)

Melissa, OgDog, Mom22, and Lilita, thank you for the welcome. :-)



Gotta say that wouldn't be the first time I'd be chastised on a message board for suggesting alternatives! I guess I am just not a vee-must-all-goose-step-together type of person. I like individuality and choices.

Ogdog, no I don't have Montignac's recipe book. I have "Dine Out & Lose Weight" and "The French Diet", but not that one. Really though, all the regular Suzanne Somers or even the Aktins recipes work.

Melissa, I'm sorry you lost your cat. :-(

Mom22, Some protein powders have an off flavor and/or are hard to mix. I like Now's Unflavored Whey Protein Isolate (available from Netrition). I mix it with a zero carb / zero fat vegetable broth seasoning (I'm a vegetarian) to get a yummy soup with 113 calories, 0.3 g fat, 1 g carb, and 26 g high quality protein. The cost for both the broth and protein? $0.79 per serving. You can sauté veggies and throw them in to make it extra yummy and healthy.

Lilita, if this thread is for people wanting to focus on doing only IP, and I am sometimes interested in talking about alternating IP with other diets, would it be preferred if I started a new thread for that?

Originally Posted by Birman (Post 3155334)

I think I mostly belong over here in the Alternate IPers thread. I only do a few weeks of the IP diet every now and then, and mostly eat non IP foods/products even when I'm on the IP diet.

I find IP awfully hard to do for long lengths of time. I am also not 100% convinced that it's healthy to do for month after month. I really like the Suzanne Somers diet. Don't let the name throw you off. It is developed from diet techniques based in France -- I think particularly Michael Montignac's diet. Years ago a friend mentioned this diet to me. She was older (sixty ish, so therefore slow metabolism) and lost 10 lbs and 101 points of cholesterol in 1 month. I have now done the SS diet too off and on. And I have to tell you, the thing works! It's not as fast as IP. But is much much easier to do, and very balanced. It's a good long term way of eating.

Here is the really interesting thing. It's quite similar to what Dr. Tran Tien recommends for maintenance. (Perhaps not a coincidence that he too is from France.) It's a food combining thing, separating your carbs from fats. You don't eat crap, and there are a few vegetables that you can't eat, like corn and potatoes. However, in addition to proteins and vegetables you can eat stuff like whole grains, fruits, and cheeses. Actually, you can eat lots of fat on this diet and still lose weight (like Atkins.) That's what I really miss on the IP diet -- fatty foods! :D You can also eat a lot of food in general and still lose weight.

Anyways, just thought I'd mention this for those wanting a break from IP.