3 Fat Chicks on a Diet Weight Loss Community

Originally Posted by hwntula:
I started yesterday. A tad disorganized. I didn't realize how large and how many diet supplements I had to take. To make it worse I didn't have a pill box large enough to put them in. I lounged most of the day and didn't drink enough water (I have a hard time drinking water). I had gone to the Farmers Market on Saturday and bought vegetables that I like (did I mention I don't like many, :dizzy:. Didn't do anything with them until 7:30pm last night. Made a huge salad, steamed cauliflower, cut cucumber.

Breakfast, IP herb omlette in the morning. It was okay. Not the 9 egg omelette I'm use to at Family House :D, but it will do. Had a 16oz glass of water

Lunch, IP Bar, 2 cups of cucumber.

Dinner, This was interesting. I steamed cauliflower and sauted a turkey patty. Cut up the pattie and added the cauliflower to the pan. Added the leek soup and mixed together. It was pretty tasty.

Today I packed my stuff up and brought it to work. Hope the water drinking gets better.

My gripe for the diet today is - They put 8 puddings in my variety pack! WTH! Gonna make a call and see if I can change some.

Until tomorrow ALOHA

:welcome: and congratulations on your start!

I know water can be hard to get in. You can flavor it if that helps. Some people use: a little lemon or lime juice, cucumber slices, fresh mint, a few sprinkles of crystal light, a little mint extract or other extract you enjoy, some flavored liquid stevia (berry, root beer, apricot, mint, grape, lemon, orange, etc. there are 14). Others on here have used a little of an IP protein drink packet to lightly flavor a pitcher of water and then drink on in during the day. The orange, lemonade, pineapple, and blueberry seem to work best for that last tip. You don't need much flavor but, sometimes a little bit of something makes a big difference to how much you are willing to drink.

Make sure you remember to get in your lunch and dinner salad. I couldn't tell from what you wrote. I got the feeling you made a big salad and split it out during the day so, that would work well.

It is best if you separate your meal protein and your packet protein if you will be eating the entire thing in one sitting. In effect you had 2 proteins and that is much more than your body can use at one time. Try to save the last protein pack for a snack and have some of that pudding as a dessert. :)

The puddings can be made into shakes and because you really dilute them, you get a nice large volume to drink. They are wonderful for add on to coffee, tea, or, down the road, making an icing of sorts for the chocolate pancake/muffins. I had a pudding nearly every night the first 10 weeks I did this plan and I lost 42 pounds. I also had that pudding within 1 hour of going to bed so, don't worry about how late or how close to sleep you are eating it, you will still lose.

Originally Posted by annieann77:
I am also surprised you had a omlete, bar AND the leak soup?? I thought those were considered "restricted"?

Nope! The soups, omelete, drinks, ready to drink shakes, ready to eat pudding (canada only), jello, crisp cereal, yogurt and puddings are ALL non restricted.
The restricted items are: soy puffs, soy nuts, ridges, bars, chili, spaghetti, stew, pancakes, plain crepes, orange crepes, chocolate muffin/pancakes, oatmeal, and soy puff cheese curlz.

Restricted items are allowed from day one and often help someone trying to wean off of high carb lifestyles to transition smoothly on to IP that first week. It does seem that for some people a slight improvement in loss is noticed of the restricted items are held to a minimum use.

Originally Posted by ipsmb45:
I started on Jan 10 this is day two for me...soooo i am with you (although you are a couple days ahead). I need to get some ideas about how to cook veggies....good luck..hang in there:carrot:

Have you seen the links for the vegetables thread and the recipes thread yet? If not, I can link them for you. We have lots of suggestions! :) You can do so much with veggies from dehydrating, boil, broil, bake, sautee, roast, steam, stir fry, to grill.

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/idea...cipes-2-a.html

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/idea...tables-ip.html

Originally Posted by juiceman11:
I actually started Monday, but have lost nearly 10lbs in 48 hours, that is if the Dr. scale and mine at home are reading the same. I am following the protocol to a "T". Is this normal in the first few days?

I find myself drinking over a gallon of water a day. Is this ok?

Leek soup is terrible by itself, trying cream of chicken soup today..

I am excited to be part of this program, my father-in-law has lost over 110lbs and mother-in-law I think over 60lbs and they started in June 2010. They look and feel amazing!

Its a bit rough being on this diet as I am married and have children at home with tons of snack food. All family members are supportive and we eat dinner together and always did before. My wife will most likely start once she is done breastfeeding.

I have a question the I find different answers too on here and from my in-laws. Can I use sweetners while on Phase 1? My Dr. said yes any 0 cal 0 carb sweetner is ok, my inlaws say only use a stevia or spleda type sweetner. I am only asking for use in my coffee in the morning.

Sorry for the long post, I will keep it shorter in the future.

Congratulations!! That is really a remarkable start!

yes, if you are spacing the water out over a 12 to 16 hour day, it is perfectly fine to have more than a gallon. The heavier we are the more water we needed.

Sweeteners are suppose to be stevia, splenda, truvia, purevia, xylitol, mannitol (another sugar alcohol). Avoid erythritol and maltitol as they do have carb which, for some people are useable and do effect insulin production.

Truvia is questionable for me because it uses other sweeteners which can be a problem. Purevia is also not a favorite of mine but is accepted.

You also can not use too much splenda (each packet has .5g carb) and you can't use the cooking splenda as it is a blended product and will impact insulin.

Aspartame is an iffy one. Some coaches allow it. Originally all of these products were made with it. Then "better" sweeteners were available and the use was discontinued. It can stimulate appetite, it can cause insulin to be produced which means you are not keeping your pancreas at the ideal resting place, it can prevent the body from retraining its need and taste for sweet. That last one was an interesting study that showed the use of some sweeteners can actually make it more challenging dieters to maintain their loses. It found that people using aspartame became sensitized to the increased level of sweetness over that of the same quantity of natural sweeteners and after losing weight and returning to normal diets tended to still over use sugars, carbs, and over produced insulin relative to the amount of sugars taken.

Those are the tidbits I have, maybe you will find some logic that works for you. :)

Originally Posted by juiceman11:
Thank you. I will just stick with Splenda or Stevia. So is there no chewing gums available that are acceptable to protocol?

Spry or any gum that is made with xylitol or mannitol or splenda or stevia. If it has other stuff avoid it. Read the package, it will say if and how many carbs you are getting.

I have taken to using a breath tonic spray that I bought at the health food store. It works and tastes great! It is a blend of mint, cinnamon and clove oils.

Originally Posted by jazzbearyjam:
Have any of you all had your coach tell you that you can use Ken's salad dressing? My coach told me that, but I can't find anything else that supports that. She even wrote it on my diet plan. I know it is low in carbs, but has a good bit of fat. I haven't used it, have used Walden farms, she said that was okay too.

Have been having a mother of a headache the last few days... any suggestions on how to help alleviate that or does it eventually go away?

I know of some people who have been given permission to use ken's and, for that matter, other dressings. The real guidelines of the diet allow for any zero carb, zero cal, zero fat product. If it is outside of that, you may have to use your own judgement.

I personally can't use the ken's because it is made with MSG which, I was allergic to and have become even more sensitive to since doing the program.

Originally Posted by jazzbearyjam:
Thanks! I had such a bad headache and nausea this evening that I couldn't eat dinner and went to bed. I read your post when I got up and did put the salt in some water and salted my salad and forced it down. I actually feel better now! I haven't been using the salt very well. I am a cardiac nurse educator for patients and it goes against everything I teach to add salt to my food!! But it did make a difference, thanks!

Below is some information my coach shared with me when I started the diet. It is fairly common to find online too.

I don't think many people think of manufactured table salt as a chemical but it is and, partly because of that, our body doesn't use it well and it impacts blood pressure. I grew up avoiding salt. Now, I use it regularly and have very low blood pressure.

Table Salt Vs. Sea Salt

Besides the difference in the manufacturing process, sea salt and table salt differ in the following ways:

* While sodium and chlorine are the only minerals contained in table salt, sea salt has other minerals like iron, sulfur and magnesium naturally present in them. This increases the nutritive value of sea salt as compared to table salt. The various minerals present in sea salt helps us to maintain a healthy balance of the various electrolytes in the body.
* The refining process of table salt strips it of all of its minerals, other than sodium and chloride. This makes it an unnatural substance as compared to sea salt, and contributes to high blood pressure, heart and kidney diseases. On the other hand, health benefits of sea salt include, inducing proper sleep, promoting efficient working of the liver, kidneys and the adrenal glands. Sea salts also boost the immune system of the body and don't cause high blood pressure like refined table salt.
* Although, due to the higher mineral content, sea salt may be considered to be a healthier choice than table salt, it has its own drawbacks. One major disadvantage of sea salt is that it is a poor source of iodine. The iodine that is added during the refining process of table salt makes it a better source of iodine than sea salt. (redmond's real salt contains iodide as part of its mineral complements)
* Due to the presence of many minerals, sea salt is not as 'salty' as table salt. It may be slightly flavored.

Some retailers may sell sea salts that are fine-grained and white in color. If you want to enjoy the advantages of sea salt, be sure that it is the unrefined one and contains the minerals that gives it an edge over table salt.