[CarrieA]

First, thanks for your insight and daily blogs...this is the website I found that convinced me IP was the diet for me. I also have a friend that is doing IP and lost 32 pounds in 3 months.

As part of my Christmas present I told my husband I wanted him and I to do this program. With some reluctance and reservation he gave in. We started the Wednesday after the superbowl, February 9th.

I'm 5'3" 1/2 and weighed in at 186. After the first week I lost 4 lbs (I was hoping more like 6 to 8 lbs and so was my coach) and 1 inch around my waist. The second week I lost 2 lbs and 2 inches. Of course my husband has lost a total of 10 lbs...that's a man for ya! I think I'm following the program correctly. We will be weighing in on Tuesday and I'm hoping for at least 3 lbs.

I have some questions that you might be able to help with:

1. do you measure your vegi's before or after you cook them?
2. how do you measure things like spinch, do you pack it into measuring cup, and radishes, to bulky to fit into a measureing cup?
3. I keep mushrooms that I've sauted in a teaspoon of oil in my refrigerator. I use some in my omelet, mushroom soup and with our meat. Do I have to count the oilf in the mushrooms as part of my oil for the day or do you think it's a negligible amount to count?
4. If you go over your meat allowance by a couple or few ounces will it matter?
5. Do you count romaine and mixed green lettuce as part of you vegi's or is it part of the unlimited lettuce (didn't know if it was just iceberg lettuce that was considered under the unlimited lettuce)?

I'm just concerned about having to many vegi's or carbs and to much oil. My coach says having a little extra meat or vegi's won't hurt.

I appreciate any advice you can give me.

[Adrean]

Hey CarrieA I'll try to answer some of your questions (I've only been on IP for three and half weeks)
I personally don't put too much effort into measuring my veggies (a little more or less won't hurt you) I have a good idea of how much 2 cups looks like and I usually just eyeball it...which may not be the best method but it works for me.
I would not worry about the amount of oil in the mushrooms its not much.
My understanding is that lettuce of any type is unlimited

Hope that helps (I may not be the best example as I am not into measuring things and so far I've been ok) You might want to try IP bootcamp which is only eating unrestricted packets and unrestricted veggies and see if that will kick start your loss. Make sure you are drinking rediculous amounts of water as that will help flush the fat out of your body

[CheekyWit]

Originally Posted by CarrieA

First, thanks for your insight and daily blogs...this is the website I found that convinced me IP was the diet for me. I also have a friend that is doing IP and lost 32 pounds in 3 months.

As part of my Christmas present I told my husband I wanted him and I to do this program. With some reluctance and reservation he gave in. We started the Wednesday after the superbowl, February 9th.

I'm 5'3" 1/2 and weighed in at 186. After the first week I lost 4 lbs (I was hoping more like 6 to 8 lbs and so was my coach) and 1 inch around my waist. The second week I lost 2 lbs and 2 inches. Of course my husband has lost a total of 10 lbs...that's a man for ya! I think I'm following the program correctly. We will be weighing in on Tuesday and I'm hoping for at least 3 lbs.

I have some questions that you might be able to help with:

1. do you measure your vegi's before or after you cook them?
2. how do you measure things like spinch, do you pack it into measuring cup, and radishes, to bulky to fit into a measureing cup?
3. I keep mushrooms that I've sauted in a teaspoon of oil in my refrigerator. I use some in my omelet, mushroom soup and with our meat. Do I have to count the oilf in the mushrooms as part of my oil for the day or do you think it's a negligible amount to count?
4. If you go over your meat allowance by a couple or few ounces will it matter?
5. Do you count romaine and mixed green lettuce as part of you vegi's or is it part of the unlimited lettuce (didn't know if it was just iceberg lettuce that was considered under the unlimited lettuce)?

I'm just concerned about having to many vegi's or carbs and to much oil. My coach says having a little extra meat or vegi's won't hurt.

I appreciate any advice you can give me.

Hi Carrie A --first off How lucky you and your husband can do this together. I am relatively new to IP --this is my 8th week but I will attempt to answer your questions (one thing you might want to consider is posting your questions in the daily thread - those seem to get lots of activity and many of the seasoned IP folks frequent the daily threads -- they are AWESOME mentors)

1. I do not weigh my veggies unless they are the higher carb veggies or like spinach the shrink down - if I am steaming spinach I pack 2 cups prior to steaming (amazing how little that actually is once it is steamed) otherwise I pretty much eyeball my veggies

2. There is a website from the department of ariculture that tells you how much a cup of radishes vs. a cup of cucumber weighs -- that site is extremely helpful if you are wondering how much a cup of a veggie weighs http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/

3. I don't think the oil in your mushrooms - unless they are stored in a jar of oil, like tuna fish - is a huge issue

4. Do not go over the 8 oz limit - in the first week it might be okay but you should have no less then 5 oz and no more then 8. (it helps to have a digital scale for this)

4. I was told that Romain lettuce is unlimited but things like arugula and field greens are part of the 4 cups of allowed other veggies. Iceburg lettuce has very little nutritional value so it is not the preferred unlimited lettuce.

A few things to consider -- are you taking all the supplements? Are you drinking at least 100 oz of water a day, are you taking your salt, how about your oil -- are you using the full 2 tsps? (for me I have had to increase my fat/oil intake a bit to lose weight), are you exercising?


Hope this helps -- and if you answer the questions - and perhaps post a sample day in the daily thread we can all help you with some tweaks

You are doing a great job - this is all part of the process, understanding how your body works and with which foods

[CarrieA]

Thanks so much for your input. I will repost this on the daily thread. I will also check out the website for the vegis.