I'm not sure I'll make it through the work day but I hate to go home with a cold. :(
Your breakfast sounds yummy. I wonder what time I will have to start getting up to get myself fed before leaveing the house in the morning. I like the grab and go of the shake and coffee that's for sure.

Can we use truvia on phase 3? I bought a bunch awhile back because I liked it in my hot green tea. I haven't touched it since June but I'd like to use it up if I can.

Yes!

I have to give myself 30 minutes in the morning now to prepare and eat breakfast. Kind of sucks it takes so long, but the food makes it totally worth it! ;) I leave my house around 8:50 and get up at 6:50 to get ready,eat and clean up before I leave.

I was wide awake at 4 am and finally got up. I didn't eat breakfast until 5:30 but I thought of it! LOL

My stomach has been a lot "noisier" since I've been on Phase 3. Lots of action going on down there. Has anyone else noticed that? I definitely noticed right after breakfast both days.

Sandy - I haven't noticed any more noise on Ph 3. I just feel really, really good on it! Not that I felt 'bad' on the other phases, but I feel terrific eating yogurt and fruit again. It may take your body (or anyone else's body) a few days to adjust to the food again.

I have a question for those in Phase 3: I understand that your carbs from grain have to be equal to or less than 30 and your carbs from fruit have to be equal to or less than 20. What about carbs from dairy? Do you make sure that your breakfast is equal to or less than 40 carbs, no matter what? The sheet I have doesn't say the dairy carb limit, just to stay equal to or less than 120 calories.
I made a little chart and went through my pantry last night filling in carbs, calories, fat on items I already have, just to see if I could eat anything already here in phase 3. I know I'm a tad OCD, but I need to know it all about phase 3 before I move there next Thursday.

Here is what is on a sheet I got from a friend who has a different coach in another town:

RESETTING THE PANCREAS
Remember, the only meal we are changing in Ph 3 is breakfast. Lunch and dinner will be exactly the same as ph 2. Breakfast in ph 3 will consist of the following: Complex carbs from 2 sources, fruit and grains. you will also get a serving of protein and on of fat/dairy. WE DON'T ACTUALLY WANT TO GET INTO COUNTING GRAMS AND CALORIES but for simplicity's sake and to make sure everyone is on the same page, her are you guidelines for the 2 weeks of phase 3:
GRAINS: mo more than 30 grams of carbs
FRUITS: No more than 20 grams of cars
PROTEIN: Aim for at least 25 grams, more is OK
DAIRY: No more than 120 calories
FAT: No more than 15 grams
Breakfast is between 400-500 calories.

I already get up at 5:15 so I can get myself and my girls ready and out the door by 6:30. They are pretty self sufficient, I just pick my 6 year old's clothes and some days fix her hair for her. I used to get up at 4 to work out and that only lasted a couple months but I think I could do 5 for 14 days and just pick her clothes out the night before and stuff. I guess I'll see how it works.

I actually slept until 7 this morning. Thank you Nyquil! I am enjoying my coffee and quiet until the chaos of make up and hair on the little ones for their dance competition today.

I asked my friend who went through IP what kind of greek yogurt she liked best and she said she didn't like any so she ate Activia. Does that have much for protein? Has anyone else done this? She said she was up 6 pounds on Sunday (she finished the program in May) so she went phase 1 Monday and by yesterday was down 6.5. Gotta love this diet!

Oh and I was an even 150 this morning! Crossing my fingers for some 140s by Thursday. Heck, I'd be happy to just stay where I am or go down another 0.2. Since TOM is coming next week I'm worried it'll jump by Thursday though. Believe me, if I get to the 140s I will be taking a picture of the scale and cherishing it.

Thanks Sandy, I think I have that same sheet or formula here. I know many of us wonder what we can just grab and go with on busy mornings and I'm trying to figure that out myself. My mornings are sometimes hectic. Sometimes I get called in at the last minute to sub at school, so I'm running around trying to get myself ready and the 2 boys ready and out to the bus stop. Phases 1 and 2 were easy, just grab a RTD and head out the door. I really don't have a set routine in the morning. I'm trying to be as prepared as I can for whatever my morning may bring.

Paint Lady, there's one other component, at least on the sheet I have, that might make answering your question easier. I had the same question. My sheet says no more than 50 carbs total for breakfast. So if you have 180 g of nonfat milk with 8.64 g of carbs, you have to carve those grams out of what you would have had in grains or fruit, or both. And, also my interpretation, there's no need to eat all 50 grams for breakfast each day. If I'm wrong on this, would someone please chime in?

The "Offcial" blue and green IP phase 3 sheet is really pretty vague, just says a gradual reintroduction of healthy fats and carbs in the morning only. So I am not going to get caught up in the numbers per se. My coach didn't even give me the other sheet I quoted up above!

Woohoo on seeing 150, I would really like to see the 140's , but I know by maintenance there will be a gain as I increase my glycogen stores.

Lynsey- if you are so inclined to prepare your breakfast the night before and eat it at work, you could boil (2) eggs and then pack up the rest of the food (yogurt, grain, fruit & fat) and eat it later. It would save you some time in the morning.

Sandy- no tummy noises. What are you eating? Could be that you have an intolerance to the yogurt or wheat (if you are eating toast). I can't do wheat, it does bad, bad things to me. Try changing things up (1 thing at a time) and see if the noises stop.

I do not think Activia has much protein. Plus it is sweetened / flavored. If you can manage "plain" yogurt and put some stevia/truvia/splenda in it, it is much more tasty. And you can either add your own fruit to it, or like I do, granola.

I just checked my yogurt, I am eating Yoplait 2x protein greek yogurt. I really like it.. Jenny, I think it is my bowels getting regular again!!! I am so excited for this! No more constipation!

I love my toast, I do not want to give it up!!!It is the first thing I eat every morning with my 1 TBSP of peanut butter!

Hello fellow ipers!
My life hasn't gotten ridiculously hectic in the past 1 1/2 weeks, so I haven't been able to post, but I really want to share my experience so far with phase 3, as I loved reading about other's experience through the phases, so here it goes:

- For the first 3 days I had a hard time consuming that much food. The volume was just so much more than I was used to, so I eliminated coffee if necessary so I wouldn't be so full so quickly.

- YOGURT: I went to whole foods and bought individual little cups of about 5 different kinds of plain yogurt to try them out. I highly suggest doing that. Also I don't think you should worry about it being non fat. I think low fat is good too, as long as you don't have other high sources of fat. For me, the most important criteria when buying the yogurt was the carb content.

- BANANAS- I'm unsure whether I developed an allergy for bananas, or they threw me out of ketosis rather violently, or what! but the fourth day of phase 3 I ate (or tried to) mix a banana with my yogurt and my face got really hot and red, and my face and scalp got tingly, so I stopped eating it. Though bananas used to be one of my fave fruits, I"m not sure I can brave it again anytime soon.

WEIGH IN - My weigh in after the first week of phase 3 was a positive one. I lost 1.5 lbs. I haven't weighed at all after that day, so I don't know if the trend has continued during this week.

VARIETY- Although I have had yogurt some days, I definitively had eaten many other things during my breakfasts, as many have mentioned before, I guess the important thing is not to go over the magic numbers 50/15/25

STAPLE BREAKFAST FOODS: These are the things I've been eating -in different combinations- to hit those numbers: Ezekiel sprouted whole grain english muffins, organic valley cream cheese spread, almond breeze unsweetened vanilla milk, whole foods organic light string cheese, fry's vegan hot dogs, turkey bacon, organic valley egg whites, low fat cottage cheese, yogurt (chobani, fage, oikos, etc), honey nut & morning O's. For fruit: apples, strawberries, grapefruit.

I hope this info is helpful. I will be checking in again hopefully at the end of my second week of phase 3.

Good luck all!

I'm taking pictures, I am trying to show a before and after.

Wow Sandy-you look awesome. I agree with you about the toast with peanut butter- love it. I also have a lot of stomach rumblings after breakfast, especially when I first went to phase 3. And I do think it is probably the bread but like you, I am unwilling to give it up. Would be nice to have great grocery stores or store where we could get numerous food options such as ezekial bread, different yogurt options, ect. But that is not our reality when we live in an area with 1.6 people per square mile is it?!I try to get different foods when I get to a bigger town but distance is such a daily issue, I also find it important to find what works that is available. Oh well- we live where we live for a reason!

Thank you so much for sharing that with us!!! You have made very good, clean selections with your breakfast options. Congrats on the continued losses... may I ask, do you workout?

Loving the photos! :)

Good job! I think your hair looks great, too.

I did my first WI after staring Ph 3. I am down another 2 lbs in Ph 3! That's amazing to me especially since I had not lost anything in the 2 weeks prior. I think my body needed a change.

Anyway, I need to hop on the maintainer thread. I'm pretty frustrated with my coach. I had a bunch of Ph 4 questions and she couldn't answer any of them! The Ph 4 information, in my opinion, is vague. I've also read through the stickies to get more info and i'm not seeing answers.

If anyone here knows the answers to my questions below, please let me know.

In phase 4, what are the guidelines for....
1. Can I really have any veggie I want - including beets, carrots, etc??
2. Can i have some fruit in salads? Most places include apples, pears or craberries in salads and I miss them.
3. Can I have balsamic vinegar and red wine vinegar again?

For now, that's all I can think of...

Hi. I think the answer to all your questions is yes but with a qualification. No fruit or other carbohydrates at lunch except what you get from vegetables and salad. And the other hard and fast (sort of) rule is no fats for dinner and the carbs should be complex, not refined as in bread. Hope this helps. I am really new to 4 as well but think I've got this right. And if I didn't, I'd love to be corrected. :D

Thank you for answering this! Definitely makes it easier to understand.

Lookin good! What a difference a "few" months makes!


My head cold finally seems to be getting better but now my oldest daughter and husband are where I was last week. I'm still battling it but nothing like they are.

I was up a little this morning at 150.2 but that's fine, as long as it doesn't go up much more. ;)

I struggled shopping for phase 3 yesterday. I had my husband and kids with and I was reading EVERYTHING for what seemed to me like forever and they were getting antsy so I know they were annoyed too. I couldn't find anything I had on my list but I had written nutritional info to compare and I think I got pretty close. I will be bringing some of the things to work and leaving it there so I don't have to get up so early I think. I have a test Monday and finals next week so I don't have a lot of time to worry about making sure I have the numbers just right so I'm kinda freaking. I think I will write the name of all the products I bought and plug them in at work to see what I can have with what. I'm going to make this work! I have to admit, it was much easier grabbing the shakes, bars and veggies and getting out the door. ;)

Where do you find this Ezikiel bread?

I really like your explanation of phase 4, you just made it easier for me when I go on phase 4 next week.

Thanks for all the compliments on my before and after pics. I actually am the Fiskmas elf today at my crafting community. If you want to see a VERY SHORT video of me here it is: http://www.fiskateers.com/blog/2011/...if-fisk-a-mas/

REbecca even acknowledged my 50 pound weight loss. If people email me I will tell them about Ideal Protein.

Hi Sandy. The picture loads but the video gives an error message. Sorry. This looks as though it would be fun.

Ummm, it works when I click the link! Sometimes you have to update different aps your computer, can't remember which one, Java, adobe, ...not sure.

Ok, so I have a question, I don't have my sheets her because I was looking at them at work the other day but I swear it said something about subtracting fiber from carbs. Was I dreaming this?

Also, I got everything written down that I bought and I wrote the carbs, cals, prot, fat, and fiber so it will be a nice cheat sheet to have. I have everything on there except fruit because I didn't want to buy that until it gets closer. I'm thinking I'll get oranges and bananas because I'm not an apple fan and can't stand blueberries or grapefruit and there really isn't a lot in season right now. Any other ideas?

Lynsey, great job on the scale staying down. You can buy frozen berries and use those on your yogurt. This morning I had a plum with my 1 egg, 2 whites, and 3 pieces of turkey bacon, and 2 slices of toast.

I heard that too about using net carbs, I think it was my friend who gave me the sheets from her coach.

Hmmmm, I copied a sample menu on my handout sheet called "the all american" breakfast and I notiece that it did not have a dairy on it. all the other samples have milk or yogurt (I am not a milk drinker).

Makes sense and I'm using a borrowed, quite old Mac iBook. Sorry.

Hi ItsAboutTime, from the papers we were given from our clinic, you take the total carbs for the item subtract the fibre to get the net carbs and that is the total you would use. Bananas are a high carb fruit: carbs are 27 -3 fibre =24 net carbs.
Our clinic gave us some sheets with nutrition facts from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that are helpful if you can find them on the net, they are yellow and green, and there is a seafood, vegetable, and a fruit sheet.

That would be helpful!


It would also be helpful if I didn't want to eat everything in my house today. Horrible day to be home all day because I've snacked on this, that, and everything. I am sure my awesome loss so far will be gone tomorrow. Ugh. Thanks a lot TOM and stress........

Lynsey, you and me both on the being hungry. I made my zuchinni muffins at 3 pm, ate supper at 4:30 and now I am done eating for the day. I was up at 3:30 am and just had a little cat nap so I will be crashing for the night early. Oh, My friend was at a Sam's club in one of our big cities and is bringing me a mixed box of Pure Protein bars. I told her to get them as I will pack them for my train trip when I have to sit on the train for 23 1/2 hours to see my grandkids in Oregon. Now to be strong and stay out of them!!!

Glad I am not alone. Today we were shopping and he told me, if it is going to be like this every week, I am not coming. haha. i just struggle with what grains to buy. I get the Ezikiel bread in frozen section, where frozen bread is. near lots of gluten free items as well.

I really like these phase 3 breakfasts. I am going to bed at night not wanting to snack because I know I can eat a big breakfast when I wake up.

The sheet I have says:

Meals should consist of 30g or less grain carbohydrates, 20g or less of fruit carbs, 15g or less of dairy carbs. Aim for about 25g of protein and try to keep fat less than 15g. Breakfast should be between 400 and 500 calories in Phase 3.


Nobody else has mentioned the extra 15g allotted for dairy. Is this sheet wrong? It's on the third page of my Phase 3 sheet which talks about waking up the pancreas. On the 1st page of this packet is just mentions grain and fruit carbs and says dairy no more than 120 cals. I thought I better find out of I have to add them into a different category before I plan my meals. Thanks!