feeling a bit discouraged and down today . I have gained 3 lbs back since my husband has been home and he leaves to go back to Iraq early Thursday morning . Trying not to focus on the weight gain and trying to stay positive . Funny thing is people are just now starting to ask me if I have lost weight . Ive lost almost 80 lbs and people are just now noticing .Crazy . Looking forward to getting back on trackand loosing the rest of my weight . Wish my hubby didnt have to leave but I know he has to .

Awww CW don't worry about a silly gain, enjoy the time with your husband...that's more important than anything else!! You'll get that 3 lbs back and more once he goes and then it's only a fraction of time until you're at your goal!! So amazing!

CW Don't be discouraged about three pounds...that's a tiny blip on your weight loss journey that will be gone in a blink of an eye. I understand completely about not wanting your husband to leave again - my husband was in the military for 20 years. I hope you greatly enjoy the rest of your time together and make many happy memories to tide you over until he's home again. Both of you deserve my thanks and praise for the sacrifices you are making for the good of ALL of us. :hug:

Weighed in today - down 3.2. Slowly but surely, I'm getting to my goal. ACK! Does the word "goal" freak anyone else out? Seriously, Goal? Then what? LOL

I am so far away from my goal I don't even think about it yet - but I'm sure once I'm close it will freak me out...

I focus on my mini-goals, they're easy to attain and non-threatening!

Look at he 1st few pages of this thread and see a comment I posted about the effects of exercise and the different heart rate phases... I strongly advice that you DO engage into some sort of physical activity but a low intensity one like Pilates, Yoga, Walking... that will help you lots

Yes, Kale chips!
Ingredients
1 bunch kale
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt

Directions
Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a non insulated cookie sheet with parchment paper.
With a knife or kitchen shears carefully remove the leaves from the thick stems and tear into bite size pieces. Wash and thoroughly dry kale with a salad spinner. Drizzle kale with olive oil (I started using a spray olive oil and like it better for this) and sprinkle with sea salt.
Bake until the edges brown but are not burnt, 10 to 15 minutes.


I go up more than 3lbs when I am off for a weekend! and you know what? get back to IP and go back to the low weight withing a couple of days... you will be fine

Enjoy your hubby and savor every second you spend together. Do not let the scale, a mere number, ruin that precious time with him... focus on him and being together, you will have time for the scale after

HUGS!

Good Morning to everyone!

I was wondering if anyone had come up with something to substitute oatmeal, bread crumbs etc in hamburgers as a binder. I was thinking maybe shredded cauliflower, but not too sure how that would work.
I would appreciate any suggestions!!!
Have a great IP day!
Gaile

good old eggs or ground flax?

serious issue this morning and watch out this is graphic. woke up feeling like my tampon was leaking, went to the restroom and blood POURED out of me. i know that ip has affected TOM some with a lot of ipers on here, but is anyone else experiencing crazy TOMs like that? not sure if i should call my coach or my ob...i don't want to get off ip but this is really starting to concern me:(

Ask your coach but I have heard of things like that...hormones need to regulate and some times, especially after we have been on Birth Control pills, a load of Estrogen stays in our system... has to get out somehow.

I also have a cousin who experienced periods like that (without IP) and I told her to start taking DIM (a supplement) and she said that has helped tremendously. Look it up and see. I helps your body detoxify quicker.

I'm not an MD so please ask your coach. But I have seen others go through stuff too

Thanks Bev. I was extra hungry yesterday so I ate some extra meat but I didn't skip my 3rd packet. I used it as my drink with dinner instead. Really glad to know it won't hurt anything :)

DK thank you:) i'm definitely looking into the supplement and contacting my coach

CW...Hockeymom said it perfectly. Those itty bitty lbs will be gone in a heartbeat, so don't even bother with the scale...wrap yourself around your husband and get all the squeezing in you can:) Only worry about making a few extra memories to hold you till he is back again. And like Hockeymom said thank you as the sacrifices military families make everywhere are incredible.
As for people noticing...I bet they noticed before, most folks just aren't sure what to say..worried they will give offence. Your awesomeness is noticeable to all!!!!!!!
Mamaerinb.. this is just my opinion, but if that is extremely unusual for you, I certainly don't think it would harm you to see your doctor. I think it was a week or two ago, that perhaps showgirl (sorry Carla if this wasn't you) had mentioned that we need to be aware of our bodies, and not all changes can be attributed to IP. Getting checked doesn't hurt :)
[Yellie..thank you for replying to my plea for help yesterday..I don't think I have had a lower IP day. I wish I could say that measurements have changed, but nothing there either. It can be so upsetting when you follow the program to a "T", and still be stalled out. I'm starting to think I should have eaten my son's birthday cake...good thing I planned ahead for weakness and sent it out the door...whew, hahaha

Has anyone stalled out(really low lbs and NO inches) while following the plan and not cheating???????

here is a good page to see what DIM is and does
http://www.energeticnutrition.com/vitalzym/dim.html

I get is this one http://www.vitacost.com/Olympian-Labs-DIM

By the way... I take 2 caps 3x per day

I lost track of names (eeeek!) but congratulations on all the GREAT losses this week! Y'all continue to inspire and motivate me.

Jordanna, you're my hero!

MamaErinB, I tried the HEB sparking water... um, would you like the rest of this 12 pack? LOL. I'm so used to regular water now that I can't even do it. I did see that the normal HEB brand flavored water is sweetened with Splenda so I might try some of that next month or whenever our coach gives me the green light for my Splenda!

Soooo... on Saturday after a lovely afternoon at an outdoor festival when I was on my way home to get dressed for potentially stressful event (family wedding, lol), I made the mistake of stopping at Sonic during happy hour. I ordered a diet green tea thinking diet had to mean aspartame or splenda. Well let me tell you it was super sweet and tasted WAY too good to be either. I drank it all. And then proceeded to have half a glass of wine over that ice. Cousins who came in for the wedding and were staying with me decided to stay an extra night and asked me to make my special drink... I did good with the first one (fuzzy navel) and only took a sip to make sure it tasted ok. Not so much with the pina colada I made for them later. I ended up drinking a full glass (about 12 oz). Totally not worth it! I was up on my home scale by 2 lbs the next day but have been back on plan since I woke up Sunday.

The good news is, we walked across the street to a Mexican restaurant for dinner on Saturday night and I ordered a salad with modifications to make it work and took my sea salt for flavoring. Not exactly sure why I forgot to take my WF dressing but oh well -- the salad was great. And I didn't TOUCH a single chip in the basket that sat in front of my face alllll night. Gotta celebrate the small things, right?

I agree. contact your coach. It happened to me too, it was like flood gates had openned and it went on for probably 10 days. She assured me it was fine.