I just checked out the 20 Pounds by Labor Day Challenge thread (for the first time in a long while, sorry) and was amazed to see the cumulative progress everyone has made. WOW!!!!! FANTASTIC job everyone!!!!

It was also interesting to see the losses AND the gains which occur over a specific time period. Hmmmm... maybe I should have kept track of my progress on a nifty, little spread sheet. Yah, right! Who am I kidding!

What's the next challenge? 20 pounds by Thanksgiving? Yikes, the holidays are quickly approaching...

Again, CONGRATULATIONS everyone!!!

If you go to page 1, post 1 of this thread there is a great summary with links to other thread topics that answer your questions.

Also, I know every coach is a little different but many of our coaches tell us not to eat the bars and other restricted items until after a couple of weeks. They often recomment adding extra packets instead.

Best of luck and I know we all look forward to sharing your journey with you.

I would be willing to go for that challenge!!

Well, I'm not the photographer in the family. What you're looking at is a cat and a puppy, sleeping with each other, complicated by the mammoth black ears of the Papillon, and one dangling foot.

Back from my weekend in Colorado, doing trail work on the Continental Divide Trail... we camped at about 10,000 ft. & worked between that & 10,800 ft... it was one of the most exciting, exhilarating, & satisfying experiences of my life!.. the project was to build turnpikes in the trail where there were previously mudholes, plus we fixed a bunch of places along the trail for water to run off... there was a lot involved in building a turnpike... we hauled about 30 wheelbarrow loads of rocks down from about 500 feet higher on the mountain, sizes ranged from football-size down to golfball-size, then had to dig the dirt even higher up on the mountain, about 1000 feet above the project, & that took at least twice as many wheelbarrow loads... the soil had to be mineral soil with no organic material in it so it'd compact better, & evidently that's not found in the lower areas... organic soil tends to stay spongy... plus, there was cutting down the trees & stripping the bark off... we actually built 2 turnpikes, but the second one was only one log long instead of 2... each log was about 17 feet long & they were laid down along each side of the trail, then we filled in between the logs with rocks, then topped those with soil... I didn't do the tree part, but I did a little of everything else... the work never really made me tired, but I always got out of breath hiking up the hill... but so did everybody else, so I didn't feel too out of shape... we had a crew of 25 people, about evenly split between men & women... ages ranged from early 20s to over 65, so I wasn't the oldest one in the group...

The Continental Divide Trail Alliance is an amazing organization... if any of you think you might want to work on a project with them next year, just Google "CDTA".. they'll put up the new projects on the website in February 2011...

I never could've done it without losing weight & getting in shape with the exercise I've done since starting IP... this is the most wonderful diet EVER!!!.. I'm re-starting Phase 1 Boot Camp today... the CDTA camp chefs didn't exactly follow IP protocol, so I've got some repair work of my own to do!..

I missed y'all... howdy & welcome to all the new folks!..

hugs

so you're a cat and a dog... i get it. btw, we are the same height & weight. I will be watching your progress...

Sheshie - How cool are you? I would love to be able to do something like that sometime. Contiental Divide or the Appalachian Trail. This is a dream... so out of my normal life. I admire you and welcome back.

You didn't hurt anything as long as you aren't starving when you get home and have more than 1 packet. Salad dressing sounds good and yes on the white vinegar.

What a great idea! I am away so I don't have my measurements with me. Darn it! But I'll definitely do it when I get home.

The word "wow' has become ubiquitous here, so maybe it doesn't have the impact it might. But WOW.

And I've been curious, since I started to read you posts, how you could work with a coach and not raise your heart rate above what's good. I mean, it sure worked for you.

I wish that were the case! I had more colds and sinus infections this summer than ever before.

What an awesome idea!

I will be out of pocket from mid-November until after Thanksgiving but if no one will run the one you suggested, and people are interested in doing a challenge between Labor Day and Halloween, I will volunteer to do the tracking. I'm going to St. Thomas in mid-November for 16 days and will probably phase out starting Nov. 1 and resume phase 1 after my trip. Or maybe a couple of us could do it and I could bow out after Halloween?

Thanks y'all... this was way out of my normal life too... I've hiked & camped in the Rockies, but never did anything like this past weekend... I feel pretty great about it...

To answer your question, Linden... I don't have a coach, I've been doing the IP protocol on my own, according to Dr. Tran Tien's website... my workouts are interval training, a few minutes of cardio, a few minutes of strength training, so I rarely raise my heart rate above 70% of max...

hugs

I was told no, and one of the sheets my coach sent says no. So I guess it's no. BUT you can use apple cider vinegar. That works for me, but I like lemony, vinegary tastes. Thanks for the recipe.

Thanks. I appreciate the feedback.

Can someone tell me if I should start this diet when I am trying to get pregnant?

I need to lose about 30-35 pounds, I am very active just have poor eating habits. I'm afraid this diet might mess with my hormones or that I won't have enough energy to work out 4-5 x a week.
Thanks in advance (and sorry if this is the wrong forum- I am new and I really have no idea where to ask this)

This is SO WEIRD. Just as I read the word tsunami, our tsunami alarm went off! I was so taken aback that I forgot that it was the first Wendesday of the month, at 11:45. I'm glad to say the system works and that I live just above the tsunami warning level on the island.

Oh, yes... I love this.

yay me! Down 4 lbs and 3 more inches at weigh in today