Hi, my name is Lori and I'm beginning IP today for the first time. I've tried everything else, some successful and others not so much, but I'd always give up or lose motivation and am determined not to do that this time. I've been reading posts all day and am super excited to have found such a great source of knowledge. I hope to stay in touch with you guys and best of luck to all of you. I'd love to meet some fellow newby's who might be following the same journey with me. I've got about 40 lbs to lose so I suspect I'll be here for a while. I'm looking forward to what the future holds. Nice to meet all of you.

Welcome to the site Lori, you will find lots of support here and make lots of friends. Where are you located?

Thank you so much for the warm welcome. I'm originally from Louisiana but live in Houston.

I am Susan, on IP for about a month now and truly hope that this will be my final diet.
I've yo yo dieted all my life and struggled with food since I was a little girl. I've been super skinny and super fat, and over exercised and played all kinds of games to manage food.
It's been better as I get older and more at ease with my body, and realize more what is really important in life. BUT...I would like to be the most healthy person I can be, and my doctors seem to all agree that I need to stabilize my weight about 20 more pounds from where I have gotten to now. I am a "glass half full" person, motivated and a go-getter but very sensitive and emotional, too.

the BIGGEST problem for me is...i did what alot of us have done, I married and made a huge mistake...I knew it even before we married, and here I am almost 30 years later paying for that mistake. I did work on leaving when I was a bit younger and before we had kids. I made a very conscious and professionally helped decision to stay for the kids and "make the best of it".

It's just sad, and lonely, not abusive at all but certainly the wrong thing for me. We are light years apart in many ways and the glue that has held us together has been eating and drinking. Well, the drinking isn't out of control at all and now I don't drink at all on IP. It's not missed in any way by me. I feel better without it.
I supplement my life with meaningful things but I still am in dread when he's in my space...his energy is a negative drain on me. It's not always as bad as it sounds as I write this, but I'm always happier when he's not around. Sad, and FOOD has been my companion but of course, never solving the problem since food only solves hunger.

So I have two boys, one special needs, I work part time at a career I really love that helps people, I am a big reader and like to jog and walk and hike. I love the ocean, the mountains, and learning.

I hope that with IP I finally reset my body from all the years of food abuse, and learn to respect food along with my self. I know I feel better when I am taking care of me, since there is no one else in the whole world that is there for me. Sounds like a pity party but it's not, just the truth. My family is tiny and splintered, as in we don't even see each other for holidays and not everyone even shows up when there is a funeral. So I've accepted the detachment and built my relationship with my kids, but YOU KNOW...they will leave to lead their own lives as they should, and I'll be...??

I am really comitted to making this work, and being kind to myself. I am grateful for this site and the wonderful women I've been sharing with here, and men too, it's a great support and one of the fun things about all this technology!!

Intro:
 

Ah. I think this is just the thread I was looking for. I am new here and would love any tips on how to use the site, where to post what, etc. etc. etc.

I am on Week 10 and am really needing some more recipes which led me here. I am doing Ideal Protein because it seems like it will be long-term eating healthy. While still an end in sight, you get to phase 4 and your life-long "diet" is healthy eating. Plus, I love the ability to start over on phase 1 to get back on track if needed. So far IP has been AMAZING and I LOVE IT. I feel so confident and good about myself and shopping for clothes is fun again!

I am 26, married to my high school sweetheart and we had our first baby last November. I am a work from home graphic designer, stay at home mom combo.

Here is where I am at!

~PHASE 1~
START WEIGHT 182.6
GOAL WEIGHT: 150
WK1: 173.4
WK2: 168.8
WK3: 166.6
WK4: 164.4
WK5: 159.4
WK6: 156.4
WK7: 154.6
WK8: 151.0
WK9: 148.6
ADJUSTED GOAL WEIGHT: 135
W10: weigh in tomorrow 7/19 :goodscale

Intro
 

Hi, My name is Mandy. This is my 1st week on IP. I go in for my WI today.
I'm 41 years old, married for 19 years. We have 3 kids, 23, 18, 16. I live in Louisiana and work in a Maintenance shop as a Admin Asst. I raise Louisiana Catahoula Leopard dogs.

I was always very athletic and active when I was younger. My weight problems begain when I was pregnant with my 2 nd child. I gained about 28 lbs with the pregnancy but was put on bedrest for the last 2 months. My motabolism stayed on bedrest even after my son was born!! I just never could get the last 15 lbs off. 2 years later 3rd child pops up. So I went into the 3ed pregnancy already 20 lbs over weight. It was like a cycle.

In early 2001 I was in a sizw 8/10, i quit smoking a couple of years later, gained 25 lbs right off. had a Hyterectomy a year later and I have continued to gain since then. I was 220 lbs and started watching what I ate and doing a Zumba dance class in Feburary and March of this year, lost about 18 lbs. Fell the last weekend of March and sprained my ankle (4th degree sprain) . I know it sounds funny but when the ankle went out and I hit the ground, I was on my hands and knees, my 1st thought was "I'm not going to be able to go to Zumba Tuesday night!!!" We're going on an 8 day cruise in October and I had given myself 7 months to lose the weight. Well 10 weeks of the 7 months I spent in a full boot 24/7. That was depressing to say the least!! And I have to be very careful now when working out because the ankle is very weak. I always wear a brace working out and usually wear it all day at work.
I've never felt that losing more than 2-3 lbs a week was healthy, but the way the IP diet works I think it is a great way to go about it. I have lost 6.2 lbs by my scale since last Wednesday morning. I think I would have done better but hubby wanted to have Mexican last Saturday night... my scale showed that I had gained 1.4 lbs the next morning! eeekkk Since then I've found that it does take a couple of days for your body to get back into Ketosis after having things that aren't on the diet.
So I will try really hard NOT to do that again.
I'm really happy to have found this board, my coach is not real informative. he says I can have a free day weekly to eat whatever I want, but reading on IP it states DO NOT eat any of certain items during phase 1 and 2.
He has never done the diet, his sister has and thats who convinced him into being an IP diet consultant. I have a ton of questions, but I'm unsure of where I should post newbie questions?
Love all of the ideas and recipes!! these really help me make it through another day. The Big Mac salad is for lunch and maybe dinner tonight lol

Hope everyone has a GREAT day :)

Mandy

Hey there Mandy, welcome to the board. You will find a lot of information here to be helpful. Your coach is totally WRONG...this is a NO CHEAT DIET, so you can NOT have what you want to eat once a week....bad bad bad.

There are a lot of us here from Louisiana and Mississippi so I have created a thread for us here. No one understands southern food like us...haha... is the link

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/idea...louisiana.html

Hope to see you around and have a 100% OP day! :)

Hi there, sounds like you've done a fabulous job...you must feel incredible about your accomplishments.
Since you've been on phase one for so long why don't you move to phase 2 since your so close to your goal...do that for a couple of weeks its just adding another protein if your own at lunch time and giving up an additional IP packet, try this for a couple of weeks then move into phase three, which will reintroduce carbs to your diet slowly. You can still lose weight in both these phases. Phase three should be followed for 2weeks.

Phase 4 is for life, this diet teaches how to eat correctly so you don't regain the weight. You have a mandatory cheat day once a week followed by a clean day the next. The rest of the week you learn how to correctly eat cabs, fats and proteins. This phase is to maintain the weight loss, you shouldn't be loosing weight on phase 4.

Great Job, keep up the good work!

Hey all,

My name is Stephen, I started in April and have lost 60 lbs on this diet.

I have been reading a lot but finally decided to start posting. My goal weight is only 16 pounds away but now that it's getting closer I'm going to try to get lower.

I sure wish I'd found this site sooner, it would have made the diet a lot easier.

Welcome Stephen and congrats on your 60lbs that is awesome! Now that you have found the site you can have a glass of water and join in on the fun!

Hello! My name is Sammi or Samantha...aka Jasesgirl.. most people call me Sammi or Sam...you can call me whatever you like!

Im new to 3fc and IP and im looking to make friends! I hear this is a great place for support and fun times..already checked out the "lighter side" in the other area..had a good laugh..

Okay now to get to the details..the nitty gritty as i call them..Im 5"9 and i have A LOT to lose..over 120 pounds to lose..im about 320 right now and hoping to lose lots!

Hope everyone has a fabulous day!

Hi. I am Linda. I am 53 years old and have never dieted for more than a few days probably in my life. Could be why I got to 288 pounds! I currently live in ALaska. This last year and a half has had so many impossible stressors. I am losing the weight for me. I am tired of always being the fattest person in the room. I want to be thought of for me and not just as "she's the fat one!" Looking forward to my weigh-in later this morning. Taking it a baby step at a time!

:welcome: You'll find a lot of support here!

Well did not lose as much as I had hoped but am 12 pounds less than when I started!!

That's a great start justamom!! Keep up the good work!