*I have a bengal! Matou is 8 yrs old; I got him as a kitten. I had his brother, Massino, too but they were both exposed to feline distemper before I got them and I lost Massino at 13 weeks old. I later had Sher Khan but, he was a true hybrid, f1, and after 5 years of trying I finally got him into a wild cat sanctuary. (He was so much an Asian Leopard Cat that he would stalk my poodles. I had 2. Now I just have Levi, my white Standard poodle.) Matou is my "big boy". He is a ghost bengal. Not a common thing and not what breeders want. But it is the whole reason I have him! His breeder, horrible woman, brought a whole litter of kittens into the county to be destroyed. She didn't want her "cattery" being associated with the markings which only occurs when they breeder down breeds too far to abbysinian lineage. ANYWAY, I got him and his brother when the rescue group I work with took the litter in. He isn't all rosetted, more of the striped variety, with a vary camoflauge look. He is so smart, a talker, plays like a dog, and cuddles to the point he drools!*
*Honestly, for me, of all the cats I have had he is the absolute best! My mom who was allergic to cats never even had a reaction with him! The only other cat that ever came close to Matou in personality was the maine coon I had as a teen.
What is your bengal like? I don't have a birman but, my boyfriend has a siamese, Luke. I wonder how similar those personalities are. They look alot alike. Luke had never lived with other cats before Kevin moved in with me but after a few months of adapting the 2 cats and Levi get along great!*
Levi is so used to the playfulness of "his cat" that he finds the siamese a little "off" in personality. I am so glad I have a great dog that is adapted to the cats! It makes for a happy home!
Can't wait to hear more about your sweeties!
Carla
Someone else here with a Bengal? Cool! And starting with an f1 no less -- my, Carla, you're brave! I know what you mean though, when you say "of all the cats I have had he is the absolute best!" Really, Bengals are very special. Just like yours, mine is smart, fun, and cuddly.
One problem with Bengals though -- they are NOT a good breed for a shy person. When you're out with them, people ALWAYS stop you to talk about them. When we go through the ferry lineup the booth person will call over the person from the other booth to come see Finnegan. When we go through the Taco Bell drive through, they'll call everyone over to the window to check him out -- then ask if it's okay if they give him some free chicken. When we go for walks, people are always stopping me to ask about him. Heck, if Finnegan and I are simply walking down the road, passing cars will back up and stop, to ask about him. Do you get that with Matou too?
I could go on and on about cats -- Bengals in particular. But… I won't bore the non-cat lovers in this thread. Carla, once I get up to 25 posts, and can do PMs let's share cat pictures, shall we? I'd love to see Matou!
FTLMIKE - good luck to you and your wife on your weigh in this weekend, hope you enjoy your delicious sounding valentines dinner
Good luck to everyone with the Valentines treat temptations!! Lucky for me, my husband is working out of town so I don't have to worry about any special dinners or candy or dates that might derail me....although I do miss my husband, it's much easier to follow the program when he's not home
Hi, everyone. I started IP a few weeks ago and have been browsing this board since then.
Today I decided to start a blog to keep track of my Ideal Protein experience and thought it might be of interest to some of you.
(The site wouldn't allow me to include a link since I don't have 25 posts, but the address is below.)
blog.vegasbuffs.com
I've been keeping a daily food journal since the beginning and have posted everything by day; what I weighed in the morning, what I ate that day, which supplements I took, how much water I drank, etc... I even included my mistakes.
I started Sunday, January 24 at 244 pounds.
Today I was 220 (for the third straight day, ughh).
Thanks for all the great information on this site and for making the guys feel welcome, too.
There has been a lot of talk about the expense of this diet. I agree! Using the Ideal Protein or Matol products makes the diet very expensive. But, we don't need to use the products to do the diet well, however. To my understanding, the key to the diet is not the packages. The key is the right nutritional balance as designed the original developer -- Dr. Chanh Tran Tien. If you look at his webpage trantiendiet.com/site/spip.php?article249 you will see that he says :
"- 1 protein packet (protein packets generally contain between 15 and 20 g of protein).
- OR 1 measure of protein. This option is by far the most economical if you purchase a large container of protein; however, large containers of protein are not available in all countries. The protein is diluted in water…"
So, why not just buy a large container of high quality protein, and use that instead? I use almost none of the Ideal Protein or Matol products, and I get great results. Personally I use Prolab's Chocolate Whey Protein Isolate -- which tastes great! Whey is a high quality protein. Being an isolate removes some of the fat and carbs leaving a per serving nutritional profile of: 110 calories, 0.5g fat, 2 g carbohydrates, and 24 g protein. The cost? $1 per serving as opposed to IP's $4 per serving. If one doesn't mind a bit more carbs and fat, the non-isolate version is 130 calories, 2 g fat, 6 g carbohydrates, and 22 g protein. Serving price for that is 62 cents. I don't use Matol's vitamin/mineral supplements either. I read what we're supposed to take, then get good quality stuff from iHerb, Costco, or Netrition. Netrition also has some delicious premade drinks (achievONE) with good nutritional profiles for $2 each.
If something is really important to me, I will come up with the money. (Remember, I'm the one who spent $750 on a kitten!) But… I hate to waste money. Personally I think the IP products are way overpriced, and that irks me. If someone is happy spending the money on the IP products I think that's great. Just mentioning that we don't HAVE to, to get good results, is all.
Hi, everyone. I started IP a few weeks ago and have been browsing this board since then.
Today I decided to start a blog to keep track of my Ideal Protein experience and thought it might be of interest to some of you.
(The site wouldn't allow me to include a link since I don't have 25 posts, but the address is below.)
blog.vegasbuffs.com
I've been keeping a daily food journal since the beginning and have posted everything by day; what I weighed in the morning, what I ate that day, which supplements I took, how much water I drank, etc... I even included my mistakes.
I started Sunday, January 24 at 244 pounds.
Today I was 220 (for the third straight day, ughh).
Thanks for all the great information on this site and for making the guys feel welcome, too.
Scott
Hi Scott - Welcome!! Great stats so far I'll have to check out your blog!
Hi! I just joined the forum after reading so many of your posts the past few days. I just started IP on Monday and am so excited to see how well you have all done! I was skeptical at first thinking that this might just be another one of those fad diets that don't really work. I was on WW in the past and lost weight but quickly gained it back plus more, so I am excited to be starting this new lifestyle.
First two days were rough, but the past three were not too bad! I can't wait to read through all of the recipes you have to start to prepare for next week. Thank you all for sharing your stories!
Hi! I just joined the forum after reading so many of your posts the past few days. I just started IP on Monday and am so excited to see how well you have all done! I was skeptical at first thinking that this might just be another one of those fad diets that don't really work. I was on WW in the past and lost weight but quickly gained it back plus more, so I am excited to be starting this new lifestyle.
First two days were rough, but the past three were not too bad! I can't wait to read through all of the recipes you have to start to prepare for next week. Thank you all for sharing your stories!
sunfsh! This forum is fantastic and very informative. I'm sure you'll enjoy being a part of it
Torchlaker -- I am trying your idea of oatmeal
with the Walden Farms maple syrup.Thanks so much for it. Now, any suggestions for salad dressings? At the end of day one, it seems this diet is not so hard but the salads will get pretty boring without some different dressings. Today I used olive oil and apple cider vinegar. Not my favorite, at all.
Torchlaker -- I am trying your idea of oatmeal
with the Walden Farms maple syrup.Thanks so much for it. Now, any suggestions for salad dressings? At the end of day one, it seems this diet is not so hard but the salads will get pretty boring without some different dressings. Today I used olive oil and apple cider vinegar. Not my favorite, at all.
add some splenda, garlic powder & onion powder to your oil/vinegar (or whatever spices you'd like)
the wf balsamic dressing isn't too bad...
also if you check the recipe section there are some different salad dressings in there
Thank you, ladies! I will see how bad the "pressure" gets at work and maybe swap around my meals accordingly. That's a good idea. Then I'll just have to deal with funny looks from my husband and not the whole staff of my office.
You'll have the last laugh, trust me. I had that whole thing going on at work at first...the fascination with the"astronaut food", and the Tsk, tsking. If you have time, go back to the Nov. and Dec. posts...we have whole days where we talked about it.
Anyway, as I was obviously losing weight, then the "concern" was that I'd gain it all back the minute I ate normally again. Well, let me tell you, since going on Christmas vacation, this last week was the first where I stayed on IP mostly faithfully, so these doubters at work have seen me eat normally plenty of times in the last 5 weeks. And guess what? I never got more than 2.5 over my pre-vacation weight. I need to lose, in my estimation, 20 more #s, but now they're all telling me not to diet anymore, or I'll be too thin. I do wear a solid 8 again, but I felt best in my life around 130-135.
So just agree with them and go about your business. They'll come around in no time.
There has been a lot of talk about the expense of this diet. I agree! Using the Ideal Protein or Matol products makes the diet very expensive. But, we don't need to use the products to do the diet well, however. To my understanding, the key to the diet is not the packages. The key is the right nutritional balance as designed the original developer -- Dr. Chanh Tran Tien. If you look at his webpage trantiendiet.com/site/spip.php?article249 you will see that he says :
"- 1 protein packet (protein packets generally contain between 15 and 20 g of protein).
- OR 1 measure of protein. This option is by far the most economical if you purchase a large container of protein; however, large containers of protein are not available in all countries. The protein is diluted in water…"
So, why not just buy a large container of high quality protein, and use that instead? I use almost none of the Ideal Protein or Matol products, and I get great results. Personally I use Prolab's Chocolate Whey Protein Isolate -- which tastes great! Whey is a high quality protein. Being an isolate removes some of the fat and carbs leaving a per serving nutritional profile of: 110 calories, 0.5g fat, 2 g carbohydrates, and 24 g protein. The cost? $1 per serving as opposed to IP's $4 per serving. If one doesn't mind a bit more carbs and fat, the non-isolate version is 130 calories, 2 g fat, 6 g carbohydrates, and 22 g protein. Serving price for that is 62 cents. I don't use Matol's vitamin/mineral supplements either. I read what we're supposed to take, then get good quality stuff from iHerb, Costco, or Netrition. Netrition also has some delicious premade drinks (achievONE) with good nutritional profiles for $2 each.
If something is really important to me, I will come up with the money. (Remember, I'm the one who spent $750 on a kitten!) But… I hate to waste money. Personally I think the IP products are way overpriced, and that irks me. If someone is happy spending the money on the IP products I think that's great. Just mentioning that we don't HAVE to, to get good results, is all.
Do you promise that the Prolab Chocolate Whey Protein Isolate tastes great?
I just got my tax refund today and I find that I have been thinking about doing some profligate spending for the last 12 hours. I've managed to talk myself out of 2 sets of porcelain dishes, a home telephone system that I saw while flipping channels on the Home Shopping Network,(the HSN!!!How pathetic is that?), a roomba, a treadclimber, and $26.00 shampoo. Just since this morning. So, of course, you describe this protien as delicious, and what do I immediately do? go to amazon and Netrition. So, again, do you promise? Hand on on Dr. Tran's hairdo, I mean book?
Hope everyone has a great weekend. 3rd weigh in for me and my wife on Saturday morning. Maybe our coach will let us have a couple different foods now that we will be starting our fourth week.
So, I had several NSVs today that I would like to report on:
-LOVE the new jeans I bought. "Santa" gave me a cute pair of Ugg boots for Christmas (the knit style that fold over with the buttons), and I wore them with the jeans to work today (I now love dress-down Friday's again). I got so many compliments on how good I looked, which just boosted my confidence even more. One of the other teachers actually pulled me aside and asked if I was okay because I've lost so much weight in such a short time. She said she walked by my room the other day and had to do a double take because she almost didn't recognize me. THAT made my whole day.
-I survived one of the worst school days ever -- Valentine's day (well, observance of it), which for us in New York is also the last day before the February vacation... basically, complete and total chaos, coated in sugar. I ended up with several boxes of chocolates AND a whole sack of gummies, lollipops, conversation hearts, chocolate bars, you name it. To make matters worse, there were cupcakes, cookies, and fruit. And I really wasn't even tempted. I actually enjoyed resisting the treats, admiring my willpower (honestly, it was the fruit I longed for the most; I was dying for some apples and strawberries!). And I actually brought the candy home. The kids were so proud of their gifts and the parents spent money on it, so I feel too guilty throwing it out (which has been part of the root of my weight problem; not wanting to "waste" food even though I know I shouldn't be eating it). I'm going to pack it for Vegas and let our friends indulge a little.
-Had my first "dinner out" tonight. Met my friend at a local mall for some shopping and the Valentine's Day movie (pretty good, but very cheesy and not at all original... perfect chick flick), and we ate in the food court. I knew based on the food chains available at that particular mall that I wouldn't be able to find anything to eat, so I brought my own salad with chicken. I felt kind of silly pulling out food from home, but I was really proud that while my friend ate her pizza (and then her candy at the movies) I stayed completely on plan AND felt full, satisfied and proud of myself.
Echobaby- LOL! you are too funny. "hand on Dr. Tran's hairdo". good thing I found this thread before I saw the cover of his book-- I might have judged incorrectly.
(Off topic)
sunfsh! This forum is fantastic and very informative. I'm sure you'll enjoy being a part of it 
), and we ate in the food court. I knew based on the food chains available at that particular mall that I wouldn't be able to find anything to eat, so I brought my own salad with chicken. I felt kind of silly pulling out food from home, but I was really proud that while my friend ate her pizza (and then her candy at the movies) I stayed completely on plan AND felt full, satisfied and proud of myself.
