The IP bars are good, aren't they? To be honest, I've only had the peanut butter crunch bar; because it's so good, it's hard to branch out and try the others. I usually have it with a cup of hot tea...so filling and satisfying! I don't have one everyday. Maybe twice a week but I know I will continue to buy these from IP well into the future. If you like them and they work, why are you switching from IP bars to Simply bars?

Cost.
IP bars run over $4 each. I can get a simply bar for half.

Also, the Simply Bar looks to be a lot cleaner to me. They are picky about their ingredients. I can pronounce most of their ingredients and I recognize a lot of them. They use Non GMO soy. And the bars don't have Splenda. They also don't have sugar alcohols which I think some have trouble with.

I don't yet know what my issues are. But, of all the bars I looked at these labels were the easiest to read.

But, will they pass the taste test? With so much removed it will give me a chance to see what I am sensitive too as I was with the bars but ate them anyway. Soy? Splenda? Something else? Who knows?

Oh and I forgot to mention, I was consuming 1.5 to 3 a day sometimes. Kind of became a problem. Okay for short term or travel but not a good long term option.

Hey all! I'm back from vacation. It was amazing and I'm sad that all my family is gone again. Anyways, I think I gained a few pounds before even going on vacation as I was struggling with beginning phase 4. The scale is way up from vacation so I started phase 1 today. I'll probably do it for at least more than a week.

I decided since I'm going back to phase 1 that I'll do it until I fit into a size 4 comfortably. I could fit into a 4 when I met my goal but they were uncomfortably tight. It feels good to be back in the simplicity of phase 1.

I'm meeting with my coach before I phase out again to talk about p4. I think adding in exercise as phasing out made it too complicated for me and also made me extra hungry. I will stick to my spin class though because it's so much fun.

CassiR, Oh Goodie. So glad you had a good vacation.

My understanding is that the skin reattaches itself if that makes sense. I did not understand at first but it feels like my body has been taking shape more. I definitely noticed a difference in the clothes I was wearing yesterday. I was looking for an explanation for why I was able to get into smaller sizes and that's what I came up with. Because the scale did not necessarily go down.

I am still doing my P3ish deal. Seems to work for me. I like the veggie burgers at lunch. I need to be more daring at dinner and try more carbs. I saw some lo carb tortillas and low calories tortillas. Might try a wrap or something.

Hey everybody,

I'm back from vacation too. I was up 8 pounds!!! I did really good the first 3 days but then decided to indulge- like crazy! Went back on P1 for most of last week but felt so horrible b/c of some lingering vacation stomach issues and cheated this past Friday night w/ popcorn. Anyway, long story short, back on P1 since Sunday, weighed in today and I'm 2 pounds less than before I left for vacation! Yay! I'm going to go for 6 or 7 more pounds (to prepare for the P3 3lb gain) and phase off again.
Glad to see everyone is still doing great!

Thanks purple. I love my veggie burger but sadly I may need to cut them out. Ugh. I'm breaking out severely on my cheeks and after some thinking, it may be a soy reaction. I'm not sure. It's not exactly acne though. It may be stress. But when I went on vacation I was in the sun a lot and I think it irritated it. Now my cheeks have deep redness. I will probably go to the doctor before I try cutting out soy though because it's not acne. I know since starting the diet in Feb my skin has been rough. I thought it'd go away but hasn't.

I'm glad p3 is working for you! I may need to do p3 too before I'm comfortable with adding in carbs again for dinner.
Welcome back too! I was also up 8 lbs but after only one day I'm down 2 of those 8. Went to see my coach today after breakfast (even wore jeans :P) and according to her scale I'm up 6lbs. I started p1 yesterday. It's exciting to see the scale go down again. I'm also trying to go a bit below my goal this time for p3 and p4 gain.

Ah 8 pounds. That means you guys ate well.

I haven't tried the soy veggie burgers yet. I found a black bean chipotle.

Now soy is tricky. I am playing around with it because I just had a simply bar today and it worked wonderfully. I had originally given them to DH because I had a reaction. So I am wondering with me if I have to learn to work with soy. I cannot do soy milk, at all. I know that. But, I have to admit I had one bar in my purse and grabbed it and ate it and felt better and no cravings. With IP, I cannot stop at one bar. With this one I was satiated. No headaches. No weirdness. Now, they also use non-GMO soy. Don't know if that made a difference. The truth is that I think sucralose causes cravings in me. I am still playing around with things. I do believe sugar is a problem for me, possibly over other carbs so that is why I am so focused on it now. Because if it is not the soy and rather the sweeteners that gives me something to work with.

Anyway, glad to hear you guys had fun and will be figuring out your way back. I think it is also really good to do this at the beginning of P4. Then, you come back and start fresh.

Yes, I indulged. My sister and I have been dieting for the past 5 months and we decided we were going to let loose and enjoy our vacation. I'm down 4 lbs in 2 days of p1. I've never seen the scale move so quickly!

My sister went back on her diet of eating healthy and exercising and when I told her that i'd be back to what I was in a week or two she asked me for more info about IP. She doesnt have the budget for the IP plan but I gave her a phase 2 sheet and told her about the alternatives she can buy from walmart and nashua. She's started a phase 2 today on EAS shakes and atkins bars!! I'm so excited for her!

I'm thinking of going to see my doctor before cutting out soy. I've never had this problem before. I also havent gone back to the bars yet... dk if i will. I'm doing non-restricteds in p1 as I want to lose all the weight I gained super quick. It might not even make a difference but I dont have the crazy cravings I had when eating the bars. I do an omelet packet for my snack instead and I'm enjoying that.

I find those simply bars delicious and filling. And much easier than trying to figure out different snacks and prepping them to bring to work!

Yayyy for sis. And yayy for you getting closer to a comfortable 4. Let me know what you find out with the soy thing. I am still not 100% that is always an issue for me. I just know for certain with soy milk. It was an issue with some of the bars but not all.

Momto2cs, I don't know if it was you who recommended these but thank you. They took a while for me to get used to because they weren't like the IP bars but they are filling and I don't find myself grabbing for more. They are also not sweet which is ideal for meal time replacement. And they seem like they will be okay in my purse in the summer Just ordered a box of the cinnamon pecan. Did not like the coffee one. And I do like chocolate covered espresso beans. This just tasted like the beans.

After 4 full days of p1, yesterday I was really hungry getting home from work. It was 6:30 and I hadn't eaten since 11:30am. Anyways, I decided to have a bar while I was cooking dinner. Bad idea! I havent had any restricteds and was dropping a lot of what I had gained while on vaca (I was down 4 lbs in 3 days of p1). That one bar turned into two which turned into apple chips. Then on top of that the DH and I decided spontaniously to go to dinner since it was his birthday. I had my favorite dish and pumpkin pie.
To my surprise, I'm only up 0.6lbs this morning. It was a tiny cheat meal.

Oh well. I had to get it off my chest. I'm back in p1 today. I have WI on monday evening so I hope to be back at goal weight by then. If not, that's fine. I'll just keep doing p1. No rush. It's not so bad this time around without the restricteds! They are just too much for me.. I can't have just one! I thought about getting the simply bars but decided I can do without. Budget is tough right now anyways. I need to prepare boiled eggs for days when I'm ravenously hungry or something.

Oh also, update on my sister starting IP on alternatives! She's down 5 lbs in 2 full days. Woo Hoo!! I'm so glad she's sticking to it.

Those bars are tricky. I don't remember having this problem on P1 unless I was more disciplined then.

Simply Bars are better than IP when it comes to the snarfing problem but I still can't get down to 1 bar a day.

And Atkins is just trouble for me. I got into one the other day and cause of the cost (my logic) I ate another. Right? 2 bucks vs. the almost $9 for 2 IP bars. Then for some crazy reason a bit later I ate the Simply Bar thinking it wold stop the problem. 3 bars down and I am like still under $5 so I think I am good. Nope.

There is something called Sugar Alcohols. And while in the past I may have noticed a smidge of gas. You down two of those in 1 sitting and you are in for a rough evening. All kinds of unladylike aromas and sounds were coming out of me, for hours and hours. It was so unpleasant and super funny.

So, back to the drawing board. I think I am doing okay otherwise with my P3ish deal but these bars are a problem. I don't crave nuts. But, I need to try something else.

Yesterday I was like a crackhead searching for them. I called DH at work several times asking him where they were. He told me he took them to work because I told him to do that. Then I thought I could just run to Walmart which I hate to do for one $5 item.

When I put on weight I did not have a problem with binge eating or addictive stuff so this behavior is kind of surprising to me. I was never like this with booze or anything. This is not me. I made poor choices when I ate and I over ate or underate. Both, I guess. But, I could always set a limit. 1 cookie was always enough. Sometimes 2. 1 Slice of cake. Whatever it was.

But, with these bars I am like a crackhead. It also seems to override the good work I am doing with my P1ish lunches and dinners and sticking to a sensible P3 breakfast.

BTW, some of this is carry over from vacation. I leaned on the bars more than normal while traveling to compensate for some of the lower calorie/fat items I was eating for meals. Kept me from being overly hungry or making t choices my tummy might later regret. Also got in the habit of daily Americano's which always has to be accompanied by a bar. Same with afternoon iced coffee. I am working on cutting back the extra coffees thinking that might helped. I used to only drink it in the morning. I need to go back to that.

I really think I have a sugar problem. This also concerns me in terms in the future when I start adding back more carbs. Will I go overboard with those also.

Just seen your reply!
It's been a lot harder sticking to p1 this time around. So far only had that one slip though. Tonight it's really hard though! I'm 1 pound away from pre-vacation weight but need to get below goal so I can settle at goal after phasing out again.

The bars are bad. BAD!! I did have a cran granata bar today and I didn't feel like I wanted another one. Maybe it's just the chocolate ones? Hmm
Thats funny about the sugar alcohols though. I too was never like a crazy person wanting to get food. It was just a lot of bad choices as soon as I moved out on my own. But I was never ravenous about food. Now it's all different. When I'm so restricted it's all I can think about! And on cheat days I go crazy to the point where my stomach hurts.

I don't know but does this mean we have sort of an obsession now? I feel like we're always being restricted now and it makes me want the things I cannot have. Even the things I didn't even want pre-diet. Was I happier as I was gaining weight? I didn't gain the weight overnight but now if I ate (and drank) things that I did before I'd definitely gain rapidly. Not sure where i'm going here and just rambling. I'm in one of those moods because I can't have what i want. Sorry!

You're in my head.

In recent days I have tried a few things that seem to be helping a little.

Cut out/reduced afternoon and evening coffee because they made me want bars. Switched to salty IP snacks. I don't overeat salty. I stopped the IP and Atkins bars and reduced my MIO intake. All trigger crazy cravings. Also tried fruit and yogurt as an evening snack. I am not too crazy about that because I reserve it for breakfast. Doesn't taste as good in the evening. But, eventually I have to move towards 100% real food.

I saw a good number on the scale today so I am hoping things are back to normal. Between some crazy cravings, and excessive flatulence and not good bathroom time, I was starting to grow concerned. Since I never really moved into P4, just a little.

It can be a little scary to have something have control or power over you.. The body can override your sense of reason. But going forward, what else will trigger this? I don't honestly know how to gently re-introduce items back into our lives without possibly going overboard. I see that big white loaf of French bread at the grocery store (you know fresh out of the oven in the evening) and I wonder if I would eat it in one sitting. But would I really do P1 the next day? Lots of trial and error but we will get there just like we helped each other through P3. We will. This just seems to require more feeling bad in the tummy.

Thank you so much!!!!! This was the most helpful document. Not as scripted as Phase One, but goes a long way in making it understandable.