Interesting that you wrote (pear)...shape has a ton to do with the clothes we wear. I am an hourglass....I have never had a butt....my outter thighs do not exist. My trouble area has always been my arms, breast, and stomach.

Also the longer on this diet the more fat we lose (and I have been working out with a personal trainer for 14 weeks now) so we are leaner and stronger and slimmer at a higher weight.

I love that for the first time in my life I don't hate my arms (too much).

WHAT? it wont knock you out? I have been avoiding it cause I THOUGHT red wine would be safe......as champagne has more sugar no???? WOW

I think for a dry champagne it would only have 1 or 2 carbs for a regular serving (3-4 ounces). Sweeter sparkling wines or champagnes could have up to 5 carbs (still pretty low).

I have a yummy bottle of sparkling reisling champagne in my fridge from my Bucks County PA wine tour last week....I am saving it for my goal weight!

You can do it, after all you've been through what's another 2 weeks. I was down 4.4 today after your advice this week. I also had my BMI measured and it was 25.9, which is still high, but almost to the OK range!
Thanks for your help.
Mary

Yes, I know your right Mama, what else can I do? Have to keep on getting down this road. I guess I should be thrilled that I can have my cooked protein again. I really have missed it. Guess I'll have to start my protein eating tomorrow as I don't have any pulled from the freezer and I'm certainly not going to the store for it today, I was just there yesterday.

So if I am understanding this correctly you are not having a "real" cooked protein? I think I read you have 4 packets a day? if this is correct what is the reason for this and did it help with the weight loss?

I think my body is unhappy with all the starting and stoping I have done since the beginning of the year and I find that I loose big the first week then stall out again. I may have to try the packets 4 times a day if it works.

Hi Mepeterson!

Yes, thats right, 4 packets on non-resticted packets per day, and no cooked protein. Coach recommended it to me when I started only losing
.8 pounds to 1 pound per week. I am a pretty tiny lady, 5'0 tall and small boned so he wasn't that alarmed with my slow weight loss. But he knew I was getting frusterated with the whole thing. It did bump me up to maybe an extra pound per week but then about 3 weeks into my no cooked protein plan, I did a cleanse and that really helped. I don't know if it was really the cleanse or what it was, maybe the diet moons just lined up for me... lol.

What I did, I ate my protein once a week, instead of having the 4th packet.

sherry- do you have a license for that gun ma'am?

sunny- april was kinda atkins for me with a few beer days thrown in for good measure. i went all out (cheating) for a weekend then started OP this monday. i took off 7lbs. 155 down to 147 this am. it is alot of "water weight" i think. i don't know, but whatever, it seemed to hit my reset button so i'll keep you posted if the number continue to go down now.

ronda

Day 4 back on 100% protocol (from Dr. Tran's book & website, with lots of IP thrown in, but no IP products).. plenty of cravings the first 3 days, but today I feel like I've finally got my head back in the game... maybe that's the ketosis effect... or maybe it's that new swimsuit I bought the other day that's just a smidgen too tight... whatever it is, I'm sooooooo relieved to be on the right path again... it's been a long, hard trip back to this place... cheating is so NOT worth it...

Since joining the fitness center two & a half months ago, I've become really hooked on exercise... I'm going 4 days a week, working with my trainer one day, doing Group Power & Zumba the others... thinking about adding Centergy, but haven't figured out how to fit it in yet... before joining the gym, I was exercising at home, but it sure got boring... plus, it was too easy to put it off 'til later, then when when later came, I was out of the mood... having set times to be at the gym keeps me a lot more accountable & a lot more active... I'm loving it!!!.. I think I will get back to doing yoga at home a few times a week, though... I'm noticing a little loss of flexibility lately...

I hope everybody is having a great weekend...

hugs

It won't knock you out of ketosis, but it WILL slow down or stop your weight loss. Sorry. ;-)

As I understand it, it takes a couple consecutive days of carbs to leave ketosis. But in the meanwhile, your body is burning the calories from the sugars and the alcohol first, instead of burning fat.

Red wine is better than champagne, straight alcohol like vodka or scotch is also good - but be careful. :-)

I did my four-day diet reset over the holiday weekend, and expected to gain weight temporarily, and then start losing again, at a faster rate than before.

Last Saturday, I was at 146. Wednesday, when I went back on program, I was 152. I flipped back into ketosis yesterday (I can always tell when it happens, always the afternoon of the third day, but it's getting easier) and I'm happy to say this morning I'm down to 148 again. So, probably a 2 pound gain of actual fat, which, given how I ate over the weekend, I probably deserve. ;-)

Seven pounds to goal. The nice thing about the reset is that now instead of being angry and frustrated that I'm not there yet, I'm excited and enthusiastic that I'm *almost* there.

So much of dieting is psychological. I've been seeing a therapist through the whole process, and I think I would never have been able to do this without it.

I can see the finish line now. 83 down, 7 to go. I can do this. ;-)

-Lisa

That is AWESOME Lisa! Nice to see results like yours. It's very encouraging to all of us!

Thank you again, experience IPers, for encouraging me to keep pushing past my desire for a cheat day. I do have to admit I had a restricted bar binge but I think that's all out of my system and my TOM is right around the corner so I blame that for the craving.

I'm having a huge NSV/SV morning today:
-I hit 189....I can not remember in my adult life being 189.
-Oddly enough, I used 189 for my driver's license when I turned 16 (it was a lie, I was heavier) and I'm now 29 and I weigh what my license says! But, not for long.
-My BMI moved from "obese" to "overweight"
-My husband is in the 180s and I've ALWAYS wanted to weigh less than him and never have- we've been together 12 years. I can do it!! I see the finish line.

My spirits are renewed today. I hope everyone out there plugging along has a breath of fresh air in their journeys!

Hey everyone. I thought I would join in here since I don't really feel I get paid any attention to on the other threads and it is frustrating! I am having a hard time. For some reason I am an extremely slow loser. Like Sherry, I am only five feet tall but I have much more to lose. My loss has slowed to only about a pound a week and I am getting very frustrated. When you still have 65 lbs to lose, a pound a week is maddening! Perhaps I could give you guys a big of background on what I eat and we can figure out how to boost my losses!

Breakfast is cereal. Lunch is my restricted (yes, I have a restricted daily, (maybe that is my problem but I was told by a nutritionist that it isn't good to go below 30 carbs per day or you run into problems). Afternoon snack is a RTD. Dinner is usually 6 oz of protein (chicken, turkey or lean burger). I stick to just a few veggies as I have gotten sick of most of them, I eat cucumbers, turnips and zucchini. Occasionally I will eat brocolli or spinach. I don't eat the lettuce that I am allowed to have during the day, perhaps that would help my losses. I drink 100 oz of water daily with the occasional coffee. That is about it. Here and there I will put some mustard on a burger or hot sauce in my turkey but I stay pretty strictly to this.

On that note, why are my losses sooooooooo slow? I am getting so discouraged that I just want to give up.

Lisa are you in phase II? I went to Phase II last week I had also lost 83 lbs and had 7 left to go. But, when I weighed in this week, I had gained 2lbs this is the first time I gained in 7 months.

I don't know if anyone else has had this happen, but I was disappointed. I know that I have been under a lot of stress with Finales (college). In the past I handled stress by working out, so I thought I would go to the gym and do some light weights and some cardo (20min), my muscles hurt for three days, I am not sure what happened, I do yoga once a week and do about 2 miles twice a week, maybe it was the combination of stress and excercise, and maybe not enough water, so this week I am trying to make sureI am supergood, and restrict my self to walking and plenty of water.