Aww! Thank you ladies! You are so sweet to say such things. I am grateful to have been able to share anything that benefited or helped you and others on this weight loss journey. Having this community has been very valuable to me. I hope to be able to contribute back to others what I got from it or add to it what I needed when I began IP.

BTW, many of the things I passed on were taught to me by others who used to be on these boards, Like MeghanO, Ogdog, Princass, Torchlaker, etc. Some of the information came from my coach. Some of it came from research. So a big THANK YOU to all those who helped me too!

I totally agree with the other ladies. Carla, you have been a HUGE part of my success so far. I've lost about 10 lbs in two weeks. I've have gone through most of this IP blog and have reaped so many insightful ideas and recipes from you & others. I never thought this would ever be possible. I just came to the point in life where I told myself, "I'll always be chubby. I'll never look good in a bathing suit." But my prayers to God combined with the Ideal Protein program (& ALL the support on this blog) has allowed me to push forward towards my (former) unthinkable goal of weighing 120 pounds. You and all the other ladies on this blog are my inspiration. Every pound lost by others gives me the strength to join them and to enjoy the freedom from extra weight. I'm so grateful! Thanks to you all!!!

I have been on the program for 2 weeks and have lost 16.5lbs. I am on BP meds and my stats this week were incredible! After a few weeks they will lower my meds. This is a miracle!
I want to lose 150lbs. My biggest challenge is not having 4-5 packs a day.

Yes, I too had started telling myself I would always be fat, and I just needed to work to prevent any more weight from piling on! It is so nice to have hope! And I also am calling on God to help me when I am feeling weak.

When you feel like going off Protocol.....

--step on the scale, remember how far you have come
--set mini goals ... 10 lb increments works really good for me
--be true on your food journal
--keep a chart of your daily weight, you will be surprised when you look back
--remember for every "cheat", it puts you back 2-4 days loosing weight
--that "cheat" will cost you $40.00 as you consume the IP products for the 2-4 days after
--every time you "cheat" it throws your body out of ketosis and it is very hard on your body doing that
--keep your motto as I AM WORTH THIS
--think of all the great health benefits you are getting from being on this fabulous eating plan

These are my rules....hope they help someone else

I'm really missing my creamer in my coffee. IP Vanilla just doesn't do it for me any ideas?

---Love the blueberry pom-- and the cereal is much better with ice cold water-- I freeze my water while I walk my 30 minute walk then pour and go!!!

I came across this GREAT presentation about diet, cardiovascular health and body fat. It's a guy giving a talk about how eating carbohydrates keeps us fat, the role of insulin, why the current dietary recommendations are what they are, and probably some other good concepts that I've already forgotten. It's in 5 segments, each between 12 and 15 minutes.

Ok, the search on the forum isn't the easiest thing to use and the results seem less helpful than one would want. Here's a tip to make it easier for you to find recipes that appealed to you when you read them: Copy and paste them into a file on your own PC!

When you're browsing the recipe thread open up a word-processing document. When you see a recipe you like copy and paste it into the document. Save the document regularly so you don't use your hard work.

You'll get into a rhythm: Ooh I like that one, highlight text with mouse, copy, move to document, paste, save, move to browser and repeat!

If you don't have Microsoft Word, in Windows there's always WordPad, as well as free applications such as Open Office and AbiWord. You could also use online applications such as Google Docs, or Microsoft's Live Office which are web-based scaled- down versions of Office & Excel. I use a great little free application called Evernote that allows me to save recipes in their own record in a database. If you've got OneNote on your Windows PC, it would work really well too. Sorry no experience with Apple/Mac applications (Well, I'm not really sorry. ) I'm fairly certain Evernote runs on Macs.

Recipe thread #1

Recipe thread #2

Well, I have actually been doing this......but I wasn't bright enough to offer the suggestion to others!!! Thanks!

Hello I just started the IP weight loss program and need to lose 100lbs. I have been reading all the posts and have been inspired to make this work for me and my family. I appreciate all the posts about the different things you can do mix things up and create new things by flavour profiling. I would like to know if adding crystal light to your water has effected anybody negatively or is it ok to use. I also would like to know where you can find the recipe for Big Mac in a bowl.

i was told that i should try my best to not have any of the crystal light stuff, but that may just be my coach and i think as long as you count it, you`re fine. i think we need to make this diet work for us so do whatever you have to, to stay on track

What a great and encouraging list! Definitely valid points and something to think about

Thanks for the info and suggestions for all of us newbies. I just started last week and I am down 4lbs.
I was wondering about the sparkling water, why are you not allowed to drink it? Is it not classified as water? I drink Perrier water with lemon to replace all the pepsi that I use to drink. Should I stop drinking it?

As a mother of twin babies I have no time to be measuring and preping food each night and on top of that trying to feed the girls on my own. This resulted in me making bad food choices and eating all wrong. I just started this program a week ago and it is going well down 4lbs.

I found that spending a few hours one night (after they were in bed) cooking/cutting vegetables and meat, then measuring them out and puting them in bags really helped keep me on track for the week. I just put them in the freezer and take them out each night for the next day.

I also love to have vegys and ranch dip and more on the dip than vegys. I found Walden Farms Ranch Dip really good and for 2tbsp it is 0 carbs, 0 sugars, 0 fats. 2 tbsp is not enough but if you add 1 tbsp of water it makes a lot more dip and tastes the same without being too runny. You could add 2tbsp of water and have it as dressing also.