Hi Ya'll,

Today is my first day too! I'm so excited!

I've been stalking this forum for about a week now and I'm so excited to be here. :D Its good to meet you all! I'm 29, live in VA, work for the Navy. Gained a bunch of weight when I went on anti-depressants and even though I've been off them for 3 years still can't lose the weight.

So I'm so exciting to be doing IP. Everything else I've tried I haven't been totally convinced but knew it was worth the try. This I'm genuinely excited for. And hearing all your successes is extremely motivating.

Last night before dinner I was so hungry and I wanted to exercise, so I age a hard boiled egg. I hope I didn't do much harm. I think I am following the plan right, but having a few pieces of tomato on my night salad and some SF pickles too. I still get tummy rumbling mid morning and mid afternoon.

Novak - Thanks so much for your post. It is how I feel and sometimes I need to hear it when I am hungry or had a bad day. I also look at this plan as a successful solution for me when all others have failed. Failure is not an option this time.

Sam0617 - 3.5# is a great loss for a week. If you were on another plan that would be unheard of. You are doing well.

Hiya and :wel3fc:

This forum is awesome for support, and answering questions etc - I've found it extremely valuable to my success!!

A few tips for your first week:

Always get your supplements in, they are vital to making sure your body doesn't go in to starvation mode.

Make sure you drink all your water and get your sea salts in.

If you find you're hungry during your first week - your best option is an extra package of IP food.

If you have a headache drink an 8 oz glass of water with 1/2 tsp of sea salt in it.

And finally if you think you can't make it, just know that after three days you feel MUCH MUCH better :)

Good luck on your first week!!

yingyang - a hard boiled egg is a great choice to get you through when you're hungry. Protein is always the best choice!

January 24th...

Welcome, fellow Northern Virginian and Fed! (Guess what agency I work for... is it too obvious?)

Have you guys found that the scale shows less of a loss the week before TOM, or the week during TOM? I'm curious because Monday will be first weigh in while on TOM and I am wondering what to expect?

Just wanted to do a quick post as I just had my weigh in and was down 4 lbs and 4 inches. I was relieved as I added the bars in last week, but increased my exercise too. I feel great and am so motivated. I have NOT had a single cheat and plan to keep it that way. I'm not paying $81 a week for a handful of chip or a cookie!!!! Good luck to everyone on their upcoming weighs and congrats to all the losses already! Keep it up!

Congrats on the loss Ritiki!!!!! That's fantastic!

I'm hoping for 4 lbs this week so I can be down 40 lbs before my birthday - I hope some of your skinny mojo wears off on me!!

Thanks for the encouragement. My headache is pretty bad right now.:dizzy: I felt like a prisoner eating her last lunch today. I never thought that a tiny cup of IP soup and steamed broccoli could taste so heavenly:)

I'm thinking that maybe I should apologize for my comment about cheating? Back when I was paying for IP products only I guess I felt a little more weary about it but now that I'm saving $50 a week I guess I have let me guard down a little bit. Probably shouldn't because I do want my weight down as quickly as possible but for me, it's nice to have a bite of something I miss every now and then so I don't over indulge later. That being said, I am not encouraging cheating, if you look at the results others who have been very strict have had compared to myself who has slipped 3 times over my 5 weeks then you will see who has made the better choice. Stay strong :)

I feel a little guilty saying this, but I chew Spry as well as regular sugar free gum ALL DAY LONG and it has not slowed my weight loss one bit, nor has it taken me out of ketosis at all, I check every morning with the strips. I am going to slow down with it but I think it's perfectly safe to chew Spry once or twice a day.

What a small world!! Jan is such a phenomenal woman! I am actually in Colorado right now and she does the long distance coaching with me and ships all my food --it has been great so far. It's like an excuse to chat with my aunt on a weekly basis (and I didn't do this before so we are able to become closer :))

Tell her hi from her neice Cassie and she will be so excited that we found each other on this forum :D

Welcome! It does get easier, Im almost done my 2nd week and Im feeling great:)

Great job and great loss!