I hope you enjoy it! It made my night last night...I added in chopped green and red peppers that I cooked and finished in with the meat, and I had raw pico de gallo (yellow onions, tomoatoes, jalepeno pepper and cilantro) to top it off...my DH even ate it like that without cheese (he is not dieting) and thought it was delish.

I posted this on the daily chat, but should have come here instead, so I'm re-posting again...

I went for my weigh in this morning to talk to my coach about going to phase 3 for two weeks to shake things up as my weight loss has really slowed down and no weight loss according to my scale at all this week. I just really felt after 7 months of being 100% OP and having lost just about 85 pounds, that my body needed waking up again.

She was not crazy about the idea because she is worried that I won't be able to get back to phase 1 in two weeks. She did weigh me and sure enough no weight loss on her scale either. However she did measure my lean muscle and body fat, and I gained 2 pounds in muscle and lost 1 pound of body fat, which for me is a big deal because my body fat goes down VERY slowly. I also lost an inch. That was all good news, but I still have a gut feeling that I need to shake things up a bit to get the scale moving down again too. I also started doing the slow burn weight lifting technique at the gym this past week and I really think that will help get that body fat moving more also.

I did eat a phase 3 breakfast this morning, and I'm happy to say those foods weren't as wonderful as I remembered. I actually missed my morning bar. So, I'm doing this experiment for two weeks and hoping/praying that I'm right on what I think I need.

Good luck Dana... I too have been contemplating this a lot lately... I've been on 9 months and have almost lost 130. I've tried doing the no resticteds thing. Walking more. Nothing has helped... Even took a whole week off Derby thinking that was the issue as well... Nothing changed... I'm pretty frustrated.

Thank you for the additional list of options. Even though I really want a blueberry or strawberry, I will wait to hear what my coach's thoughts are. I didn't have a rough time getting started on IP (no headaches, feeling awful, etc), but what I don't know is how I will feel getting back to P1 a second time - makes me a bit nervous.

:hug: x a gazillion I feel the same frustration.

I was wondering whether there would be a sense of missing the usual routine if I jumped to P3 for a short time. Take it one day at a time.

Looks like there will be several of us testing shocking our systems. Maybe if we had all gone on vacation to Mexico with Ishbel we wouldn't be feeling stuck now. :beach:

Thanks JellyMae, I just hope this works for me as well as it did for Lisa. It was so strange this morning, I kept putting off eating my phase 3 breakfast because I was really scared. Scared that I wouldn't be able to get back onto phase 1 after these two weeks are over. I even had to call my friend who lives in CA who is on IP also, to talk me through this. The good news is the breakfast was very uneventful, and now I know I will be able to go back on plan. I really missed my morning routine of the bar and tea I've had every morning for the last 7 months.

I guess at this point it can't hurt you to give it a try too.

That was exactly how I was feeling this morning. This diet in phase 1 is just so easy. Every morning I make my cup of tea and rip open the bag that my protein bar comes in. That's it, I'm done. This morning I'm weighing and measuring, etc.. Truthfully didn't enjoy it that much.

Have you tried upping your fat intake? Ground beef, steak, even (gasp) some chicken skin might shake things up. Some bodies need more fat to get the stored fat moving. I think it is especially true for people who exercise a lot.

Good luck!

A couple of weeks ago, my coach told me to eat whatever I wanted for dinner. “You mean even X & Y” and she said “Yes, even X & Y”. I was really looking foreword to this but was also scared, since, to me, this was a cheat. But I felt the scale was not moving and I needed to “jolt” my body. Something told me to weigh myself before I ate this “special” dinner and I was way down (at 6pm!)…180.5...lower than I ever had been and sooo close to the 170s…I knew I should not have had X and Y, but it was too late, my mind was already there and I couldn’t stop. So I ate X and Y. They didn’t taste good at all and I felt SOOOOOO guilty and sick, even though it was sanctioned. Wuv had warned me to try phase 3 instead, and I should have listened. My blood sugar, which had been about 85 since the 2nd week jumped to 222. It took it till morning to get back to normal. It also took me almost a week to get back into ketosis. The one thing it did was solidify my resolve to NEVER eat off plan on this diet again. I went on “boot camp” the next day (5 unrestricted, only unrestricted veggies and no meat), which was the plan…so a week later, I got back to 180.5 on my WI day. I lost a whole week by “jolting“ my body with off plan food. I finally realized, too, that I will always lose on the lower end of the range. I have stayed on the 100% thread because that is where my head has always been. I had not planned to even write about this since I didn’t feel it added much value to the board. Just like I feel the “I cheated...” thread didn’t add value but instead caused a great deal of harm. But since this type of “jolt” was brought up, I thought I would put in my 2 cents worth.

I came into this thing knowing IP would not work if I “cheated”. The science supports that fact and quite frankly the “cheaters" make me furious. You are “judging” them if you tell them they are wrong…great…let them hang out together…I am more valuable than to cheat on MYSELF. I will not even read that thread again. I will stay with the 100% group, thank you. We will get all the weight off and KEEP it off for life. OK, now my blood pressure is up, too. Sorry for the rant…breathing deeply….
:soap:

On a happy note, I unoffically reached the 170s yesterday :dancer:

Just got back from taking the 3 kittens to the vet for their 1 year old checkup. Good thing DH was with me because all I could think about was what to do about this slowdown I am having.

I was running through all the possible options and reread Ishbel's post again and again. Then it dawned on me.... what if I have forgotten how to eat normally????? :fr:
hahahahahahaha

This IS normal ;)

I was really struggling when I hit the 160s I would go up 6 lbs (eating a normal phase 1 week) then down 7 the next week, so basically 1 lbs every two weeks, this went on for a couple of months and even though I wanted to continue my coach felt that my body was telling me this is it... well I struggled on and got 5 lbs to my goal weight and wasn't losing and would go up and down again, I think I was frustrated by coach was frustrated and no one could figure out what to do... I did bootcamp two weeks, I did phase 1 then for 2 - 4 weeks then I did phase 2 for a couple of weeks finally she convinced me to do phase 3 but I was afraid as I wasn't close to my goal... but on phase 3 I did lose 3 lbs and that is when I got 5 lbs close to my goal... she convinced me to go to maintenance and I reqret it ever since. I am back in the 160s and there have been maintaining but still I go up 6 lbs and then down 6 lbs, I don't have cheat days I have some sweets when I have a chocolate craving but I have been back on phase 1 and it is hard after being on phase 3... so I guess what I am trying to say is everyone is different... I rebooted and stayed on phase 1 and am back to not losing anything... so be very careful what you do... but it is better to try different things then to just give up like I did. :o

You followed what your coach told you to do, yes you ate X and Y BUT your coach told you too and we trust our coaches because they are suppose to know what they are doing. Some just do it different than others. You are now at your 170 so something has clicked in your body. You know now that its NOT worth a cheat, even if it is advised by your coach :) hang in there, you are going to get there :hug:

You have been struggling with these last 5 lbs for a while....its your clothes....take them off! then those 5lbs will be gone. why is it so important to lose those 5 lbs.....is it just to see the number on the scale? do you not feel better? do your clothes not fit different? I am just throwing some questions out there to help you think about it:) Good to see you still around :hug:

I have a rough time going into ketosis, it's like the flu for four days...I was so hoping that it wouldn't be like the first time, but alas...it was. BUT, you just put your mind to it...and it's determination and the knowledge that it will get better. Day 4 I felt better day 5 I was back to 'normal'. That and although I enjoyed my break...I wanted my goal just that much more. Whatever you do, just decide...and that's that. GITR'DUN! :)

Ok, you struggled for a while (I remember) and I remember you trying different things, I don't think you gave up AT ALL!! Reference the pm I sent you when you decided you were going to phase off...you can't discount all the positives you made in your life just for one thing that you MAY consider a negative. YOU, not the rest of us. You're a total T-O-T-A-L inspiration to me, you encouraged me on my way and I remember the day you got me to put the scale away. You're awesome!

Okie-- WI today.. I'm not going to blame the Big Mac bowl thingy lol... down 1 and feeling ok about the whole situation :) But.. has anyone noticed a weird metallic taste in their mouth.. kinda realized later this afternoon that it was there.

Congrats on the 170's! I think I would have had a hard time eating just whatever for dinner too even if my coach had recommended it. I guess I should say I'm surprised your coach recommended that, but then again nothing surprises me anymore when I hear what some coaches recommend. Good news is it's all good again, and the scale is moving down again.
That's what was so strange this morning; I was actually afraid to eat. A very strange feeling for me, because obviously before IP that was never an issue for me. ;) Needless to say, I was thrilled that breakfast turned out to be rather ho hum and I was missing my bar. The rest of the day felt very phase 1/phase 2ish.