I enjoyed your post so much! I wish it would be possible to send some of that cooler weather and rain down here. We need rain so badly in central Texas. In April we were already on phase 1 water restriction and we've already had days of 90 degrees!
I, too, have the same problems you described regarding eating. I am listening to my body and am finally able to begin distinguishing between physical hunger and my inner child hunger-- what you call emotional/boredom/stress hunger. Yes, there is such a thing! I know it well! The interesting thing is that because I've been so content on this program that I have not been eating enough! I know it may sound crazy to some, but I was wondering why I felt so good, was on 100% protocol, but wasn't consistently losing weight. Then I decided to write down the actual calories, carbs, proteins of what I was eating. Lo and behold, I discovered that I was consuming less than 900 calores and an extremely small amount of carbs every day! My body was in starvation mode!! Imagine me at 276 pounds!! In starvation mode!! What a laugh, I thought. So... after going through the products I was eating, I decided to add 2 hard boiled eggs to the mix to up the calories a little. BINGO! I got off my plateau (in all fairness, it was the 4th week plateau that so many talked about here) and now I'm on my way to losing weight again.
At this point, I'm also learning what you mentioned about eating slowly, taking small bites, and enjoying the journey. I look forward to reading your posts. You are so positive. Thanks.
Your post made my day too!
I also added hard-boiled egg whites in the morning for breakfast. I just need them.
It was a bit pricey to start up and create and will be a significant amount of work to upkeep, but I enjoy the building of it and taking care of it. If you have good soil, you do not have to make a raised bed and just put it in ground level. You need more space than you think once you start putting in all the vegetables you want. I ran out of room and I have 400 sq feet!
We are on bedrock so we will need an above ground version. I think if we start on the small side--just a few plants of this and that--we should be ok. We're empty nesters so with just 2 adults, we won't need a very large garden. You sure have planted the seeds for hubby's next project!
Happy Monday all! Today is my official weigh in day and I'm down another 2 lbs..total of 15lbs in 3 weeks
NSV: Yesterday I went and bought a swim suit, because my kids are definate water babies..and will want to be swimming very very soon. Well..even though I wasn't happy about how I looked in a swim suit..I didn't hate me! I didn't leave the dressing room all depressed, and I managed to find one that fits, and won't be too hard to alter, if I choose to let it shrink with me this summer!
WHOOOOHOOOOO Girl! Way to GO!!! I'm so proud of you. Keep up the great work.
I went swimming yesterday. Hubby and I wanted to finish cleaning out the pool--they are enlarging a road just outside our subdivision and the sand blows into the pool, making it almost impossible to keep clean. I came up with a nice little attachment to our pool vacuum and volunteered to get the sand out of the corners. I about froze to death. BUT-- the good news is that I was able to get into a bathing suit that I had bought years ago and was never able to wear. It doesn't look great, because I'm still so big, but at least I can wear the suit.
I worked last night and am feeling exhausted this morning but still got up and went to my cardio class and feel a little bit more revived. We are off for a walk when my youngest wakes up from his nap, finally the wind has settled and we are going to take advantage fo the nice weather.
I had a slip up and had some cheese and a cracker ont he weekend but have been back on track so here is hoping for a great WI this week.
Happy Monday to all!! Today is my official end of my first week on IP, it hasn't been the easiest but to look down on that scale it makes it all so worthwhile!! I go in tomorrow am for my first official weigh in and measurements and I'm so excited to see what just one week has done! Apparently the weekends are going to be the hardest for me with the other half home all day eating everything possible that I cannot have. I have to be understanding towards him that he has Type 1 diabetes and needs food but it's so darn hard to watch him enjoy all the goodies with no consequences.
Highlight of my weekend: Going to Whole Foods to do a little shopping and running into the "nutrition lady" that works there. She overheard the other half and me talking about finding new things I can eat and asked about my diet. I explained it to her and at some point mentioned it was meant to put your body into ketosis.....well, she just about lost it on me and began speaking REALLY REALLY loudly that I was going to kill myself and I needed to march over to her section if I wanted to learn to eat right for life(her words). I decided to amuse myself and stroll on over there and I was in for a shock, not a single food was a "real food" every item was either vegan processed into something else like sausage, cheese, chocolate, etc.. But I could find nothing that was even close to fat free, carb free or recognizable(except for the cupcakes from the bakery shop). At first I felt berated for her basically embarrassing me in front of people that my diet was BAD for me but then I got a chuckle of out her idea of a diet and simply said, thank you, but I'll stick to my diet where there are actually veggies and real meats. I like hearing other peoples' perspectives but apparently she can't do the same, so frustrating! Sorry for the rant...
This year I am going to try to grow a few things, I kind of tend to forget to water sooo things tend to die.
Prayer for all the people in Slave lake who have lost half their town, most of them were told when they evacuated that there probably wouldn't be a home to come back to.
You're gardening comment made me laugh, we both garden the same way!
Definitely sending prayers to all those people in Slave Lake, hopefully everyone will also be praying for many folks along the Mississippi River, mainly now in South LA as they open all the levees to relieve the pressure. I know too many people that will most likely be loosing their homes and their livelihoods. All of my family is down there.
I'm new to this site and this is my first post. I just wanted to introduce myself and hoping to meet alot of people who are in the same boat as myself.
This is week 3 for me. The big day is wednesday for my WI. I've done many diets before and I'm really hoping this is the last one. I had a great W1 and not too bad for W2. Found out a few things that I was doing and shouldn't have. But hey you learn as you go. This is why when I found out about these forums, I joined right away. The more information I can get, the better.
Hope everybody has a great week and great success.
Thanks,
Jo-Anne
W1: lost 9.6 lbs and 18.5 inches
W2: lost 2.2 lbs and 5 inches
Good morning all. I have not read through the weekend chat yet, but wanted to wish everyone a great week.
Over the weekend, I put in a raised garden, 20ft x 20ft. Took 19 tons of dirt to fill. I planted cauliflower, broccoli, zuchinni, jalapenos, red orange yellow and green bell peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, peas, beans, carrots, radishes, romaine lettuce, yellow and white oninons. I plan to make 2 more beds one for strawberries and watermellon and the second for sweet corn. Hope it all works out and grows well.
I am almost back down to 209. It has taken less than a week to get there and I am happy for that.
Have a great day!
WOW! The garden sounds fantastic and looks great. I just looked at your progress pics and you look amazing, congrats on the weight loss!! Seeing everyone here and reading the stories keeps me so motivated knowing that I can do this. Thank you!
Last edited by Tab McButterson; 05-16-2011 at 11:11 AM.
I am very excited about all of this and very thankful for this journey... and that it is taking longer than it was supposed to because without the extra time, I may not have learned the lessons... and to be patient.
I love this line- it is so important to be thankful whether it is for pounds lost or lessons learned- thank you for the reminder
WOW! The garden sounds fantastic and looks great. I just looked at your progress pics and you look amazing, congrats on the weight loss!! Seeing everyone here and reading the stories keeps me so motivated knowing that I can do this. Thank you!
Thank you. You will find lots of information and helpful people here on this site. Good luck to you in your journey!
So Juice if I pay for your airfare to Nebraska plus a hefty wage, will you plan me a garden JUST like that?! Wow! So impressed!!
I'm nodding along with those talking about taking better care of yourselves now that the scale is going down. I'm growing out my hair, getting my nails painted regularly, wearing heals again and enjoying clothes shopping for the first time in forever. It has been many years since I felt this good.
I had a tough weekend. I injured my toe badly Friday afternoon and was in bed hopped up on codeine all weekend. The codeine made me nauseated so all I ate were restricted bars for 3 days- no veggies, no other protein, no vitamins. I hopped on the scale this morning and I'm a pound down. Go figure. This week I want to work on my salad dressings. I have a love affair with blue cheese (less than a carb per serving) but it has 16 grams of fat per 2 tbsp. I dump this all over my salads and I need to be more honest with myself that this is probably causing a stall. I'm going to go browse the recipes and see if I can find some home made dressings that sound good.
Morning all! Planted my veggie plants in on Friday and spent the weekend at our campsite... So much fun! Taking a sick day today though just to recooperate! It is rainy and cool in CT and I am extra cold on this diet so enjoying staying under the blankies this morning. I think I am going to move to phase 2 when I get to 132 because my 6's I am back into are pretty loose and I dont want to be smaller than a 4 as I have more of an athletic build from years of running. Well I hope everyone has a great OP day
Congratulations on being so very close to where you want to be- it's very inspiring! Just wondering how difficult it is to stay OP when at your campsite? We are going camping this weekend and we have a camper so I don't think it will be too bad- but do you have any tips?
Thanks!
So Juice if I pay for your airfare to Nebraska plus a hefty wage, will you plan me a garden JUST like that?! Wow! So impressed!!
I'm nodding along with those talking about taking better care of yourselves now that the scale is going down. I'm growing out my hair, getting my nails painted regularly, wearing heals again and enjoying clothes shopping for the first time in forever. It has been many years since I felt this good.
I had a tough weekend. I injured my toe badly Friday afternoon and was in bed hopped up on codeine all weekend. The codeine made me nauseated so all I ate were restricted bars for 3 days- no veggies, no other protein, no vitamins. I hopped on the scale this morning and I'm a pound down. Go figure. This week I want to work on my salad dressings. I have a love affair with blue cheese (less than a carb per serving) but it has 16 grams of fat per 2 tbsp. I dump this all over my salads and I need to be more honest with myself that this is probably causing a stall. I'm going to go browse the recipes and see if I can find some home made dressings that sound good.
Here's to a fabulous OP week to everyone!!!
Thank you. I could come out and build you the same garden. It would take a weekend. Are you close to Omaha, I have family that live in Omaha. LOL! Hefty wage huh?
I just finished my first week and lost 10.8 lbs and 6 1/2 inches. I am doing the happy dance. This diet has been harder than most (mentally), but also a bit easier than most because we are told what exactly to eat so we don't have to think about what we put in our mouths we just eat what we are told. I told my DH what I had lost and now he is thinking he might do this with me. That would also make life easier.
Juiceman- nice garden! Wow you have a lot of energy and probably a good back, right? I have a garden plot at a community garden and it has raised beds. I only have 10x13 feet to work with so I mostly just planted tomatoes. And some herbs, and some peas. I have one garden bed left which I need to fill in with more dirt and maybe I'll do cucumbers there? Or if I can get my mom to give me one of our wonderful black raspberry bushes, I'll plant that and rhubarb (in the fall) and maybe a gooseberry bush, also from my mom's farm. I'll go take a picture this week and post it here, and you can laugh at how small it is. But this is the first year (after waiting on a list for 2-3 years) that I got a plot, so I'm really happy about it. I was out there watering at 7:15am on Thursday morning and there were these beautiful little yellow birds with striped black/brown/white wings. I don't know what they are called, but they were singing beautifully and flying around together, and perching in this totally overgrown plot! It was a little slice of heaven.
My thoughts are with those in Alberta and Lousiana.
I am so tired from the weekend. But I just finished writing a proposal that my boss said was really good. I had a burst of creative inspiration for the executive summary. I'm usually so bad at writing those but this one came out great!
I'm having a phase 1 day today after starting phase 4 this weekend and celebrating my boyfriend and his sister's graduation yesterday. I only gained 1.2 pounds so I hope I can lose it in a day. Last time I did IP, I never did proper Phase 4 and "reward" days because I didn't feel like doing phase 1 later. But now it's no problem! I think it is a really important part of the program and I'm tweaking phase 4 to work for me (with less carbs, none at dinner specifically). I hope to maintain well this time! This whole weight loss/maintenance is a journey and I think I'm finally getting the hang of it!
All your victories sound wonderful! Keep up the great OP work everyone!
