haha! My heart goes out to you.

Last night I had to bake 2 separate batches of cookies for my wife's professional choir. ("Mrs Fields" clones and Hawaiian White Choc Chip).

There was still some batter left over, so I went to a friends house and cooked up the rest for their family so there would be no leftovers.

I am ok as long as I dont lick my fingers or take a tiny taste. In my past dieting, "a tiny taste" would mean 2 dozen cookies down the hatch.

:cookie: :cookie: :cookie: :cookie: :cookie: :cookie: :cookie: :cookie: :cookie:
The good thing (if you can call it that) about Ideal Protein/ ketosis is that it is teaching my WHY I have to follow the rules and the consequences. Its not that I'll just gain weight, but kick my body out of ketosis which will take 3 more days to get back on track, slow down my weight loss, possibly get headaches the next day etc. So its at least a little bit easier not to cheat knowing that its about more than just the carbs or gaining weight.

Glad you survived your cookie baking! :carrot:

(BTW, anyone else laughing that the "healthy dancing carrot :carrot:" is a forbidden food? Dancing healthy banana also forbidden. :cb:

So I guess that leaves my new best friend broccoli. :broc:

Thank you for the encouragement :)

Hope you'll get the job you want.

I also wanted to add this question to today's chat.
I saw a few of you talking about "tap and track" so I looked it up and downloaded it. I love that IP is just "follow the program" and you don't necessarily have to keep count of anything calorie wise, etc. HOWEVER, I am very much a worksheet/chart/hyper organized person so I love the app. (+ you can see how things could be affecting you week to week) I had been doing the journaling but just couldn't keep up. However my phone is always on me and I think this will work better. I was just wondering, those of you who use it, what you put for your "budget" numbers, especially since they can vary from day to day depending on what packets and veggies you have. I also really need to start tracking how many stevia packets/mio squirts I use in a day.
Is there anywhere to track supplements and water or would you just add that as another food item? Thank you Thank you Thank you. :)

Thanks for the smile today. I needed it!!!

I know! I always get a kick out of that!

I add water in under the meal category 'other' and also I created
Mio & Arizona Iced Tea flavors under custom foods and add them in under my water category.

Well, usually the words "thank goodness it's Monday" don't ever leave my lips, but today I am saying it. It was certainly a trying weekend for me and I am glad to be feeling better and on the upswing.

Good luck to all of you who WI today. The way things are looking right now, looks like I will be around 2# by Wed. which tickles me pink :) Any loss is a good loss- less pounds and less fat on my body! :D

I think I mentioned a few weeks ago about getting my body fat tested at the gym and I finally got it done. They test with the calipers, so it is fairly accurate. Not as good as a dunk tank, but much more accurate than a scale. Last time I was tested I was 167# and 35.7% BF. This time, I was 145# and 29.4% BF. So I lost 6.3% body fat and I am FINALLY under 30%! I would like to get around 22% because that would be right in the middle of "healthy". I am going to go back when I hit 130#. I am really happy with the results and with IP. Such a tremendous drop in such a short time!

So, in continuing the conversation from the weekend thread regarding Acidophilus. I have taken my 2nd dose and have had my 2nd "movement". Thank goodness because the Penicillin was really binding things up.

For anyone experiencing the big "C", I highly recommend this probiotic. If I wasn't on an antibiotic right now, I might have never heard of it, but thank goodness my doctor recommended taking it. The bottle suggests (1) capsule per day, but my doctor recommended (2) caps after breakfast and (2) caps after dinner while on the antibiotic. I think that even after I am done with the Penicillin, I will continue taking (1) capsule a day, especially if it helps with regularity.

Also, I mentioned it to Bella in the weekend thread, but thought it would be worth repeating today in case anyone did not get a chance to read through it. If you are experiencing a stall or a series of slow losses, try changing things up a little bit. I keep a journal with my food log, exercise, how I am feeling, appointments, etc... I am very old fashioned and keep a hand written journal ;) However, the point is, over the last 12 weeks, I have kept track of what I chose from IP and whatever else I eat.

Here is what I noticed: any week that I had an "off" (NOT OFF PLAN) day, I had a better than average loss. By "off" day, I mean, I unexpectedly had a P2 day, or we ate out and I had a little more fat at that one meal than usual. Any time I strayed just a little from the norm (but still stayed OP) it "shocked" my body and I had good drops. Another way I have found to trick my body is to eat a restricted item for 3-4 days, then go 3-4 days without. Whenever I do that, I get a nice drop as well.

I wanted to share this with everyone because we at some point or another, we are all looking for ways to break out of a stall or a rut, and this could be one more trick to try. I think it falls right in line with the "upping your protein" trick or "adding a 4th packet" trick. It is just another way to change things up in your body. It is amazing how adaptive our bodies are, and sometimes you need to break the pattern or routine. AND it is a way to do it and still stay OP.

That should work. I might as well do that for the supps/salt/oil too. Do you use the cal/carb/fat/protein "budget" and what numbers do you use?

Like I mentioned, I don't remember where I read to take it but it helped me also. I'm not taking antibiotics so I'm just taking one each morning. Hasn't done anything today yet though. ;)

#23 Lesson is the best and one of the most important things IMO. One example of this for me - Sometimes when eating with others I find that they will say, Oh you'll be fine! (if you eat that) Well ...YOU know what is the right decision and nobody else.

"Be true to yourself. You’re the only one you need to report to. I learned to be confident in my decisions and not to allow others to change what I believe."

Sooo disappointed, only lost 1.6lbs :( My coach can't believe it, she's going to call the dr. that looks over for our region as she's NEVER seen anything like this. She thinks that for some reason, my body just isn't eliminating anything. I told her that in the past few years, any diet i tried, i just couldn't lose any weight so here we go again. As much as i don't want to give up....i'm starting to wonder what's the point...

Where do you get it?

you do need to realize that you DID lose a huge amount of weight in the first 2 weeks, your doing awesome!!!! it took me just about 8 weeks to lose what you did in 3-4

Colley, Congrats on the half-way mark !

Jennydoodle, so glad you are feeling better, but take it easy, strept can take alot out of you.

Acidophilus is found in yogurt, one ot the reasons I miss my yogurt, it keeps your digestive tract healthy and regular. I guess taking the pill form will work while on this program. Remember if you buy Acidophilus to get the "active" form and keep it in the fridg!

House cleaned, sheets changed, just need to mop. YEAH!

I honestly tried WW ( 3months) and NutriSystem (3 months), so a half a year and I exercised and only lost 3 pounds. At least on IP I am losing, granted not like others, but I am losing. Some people just don't have "super" metabolisms. My doctor said it is great if you get stranded on a desert island, you can survive longer than others. That really didn't cheer me up, but it was his attempt at humor. I think there are metobolic tests that can be run, ie breathing into a machine for a certain number of minutes,but I can't spend the money on that stuff.
At first I think my coach thought I was cheating, as she would say " the only people I have losing this slowly are cheating" she now knows I am not cheating (looking at my journal) and has concluded that I am just a SLOW loser. Hang in there, you are losing. I am going to switch to alternatives, because the cost is getting up there being a slower loser. It will take us longer to reach our goal. Keep on going :)