Music, there are roughly 1,000 recipes on the forum, under the recipe archives. The book I'm working on will be able to help you find side dishes that are veggie, as well as main dishes that are delish and are vegetarian so you can definitely get your veggies in. You don't need to lose too much weight, so that could slow it down a smidge.
Why are you lonely? We have each other and that's a huge deal! What kind of seasonings do you like? You can roast virtually any vegetable with olive oil and your favorite seasonings.
Don't be disappointed in yourself for trying something new, something hard. Be proud of yourself for taking the plunge. Look up weight loss motivation posters, those helped me stay focused. Also, find a buddy you can text or call when you're having a low moment. If you need a pick-you-up, my email is pandoraeternity-at-hotmail-dot-com and I get email alerts to my phone, so can be there beck and call if you need. If you hate the veggies, you can also blend up spinach, 2 cups in the morning and mix the concoction with your morning shake. That'll get your first two cups out of the way for the day. I use frozen veggies or ones that can be steamed in the microwave to save time.
Cravings will go away on their own, but not completely, kind of like, random "want" it like you would during PMS. Bars help with chocolate cravings, I hear the soy puffs help with bbq or salty cravings, water for almost everything else.
Life is hard, change is hard, and restrictions are hard. You are doing all three right now, so it will be hard. I think part of the importance is that this isn't a "magic bullet" type of weight loss. It is effective, and faster than many other weight loss diets, but it is not magic. Accept that you are strong enough for this challenge and you will be OK.
I started crying looking at a bowl of stuffing once. We all do it once in a while, just think, you are stronger than XYZ. It is a food. It is fuel, it is not life. Eat to live, don't live to eat.
OK I'm out of clever anecdotes, but if you need more, you know where to find me! Also, you can start PMing I think after the first 20 days and 20 posts I believe...?
Musiclover- Being someone who has cheated many times on this diet before finally deciding it was time to do it without cheating...i can understand how you feel...Yes it can get boring..but one thing i have come to recognize is this: We can either fight against the diet or we can go with the diet...I think we often fight the diet without realizing it. Its almost like we make it harder then it actually is...We try to fight these cravings and try to fight off temptation and try and fight back are boredom and fight our body to drink down all the water...and on and on it goes..
Ever heard the saying.. "Its easier to go with the current then it is to swim against the current?"
Point is: In order for the diet to work, i had to stop fighting all these things..Instead of seeing a craving as something you have to fight against..why not embrace it. You dont need to induldge in a forbidden food to embrace it...you just need to allow yourself to crave..recognize tht its natural to do so...and recognize that you are human and you will at times desire things you can not have...however...allow yourself to feel that craving...enter your body and then leave your body...just like you do when you breathe in and out.. i know it sounds tacky..but it works..Also..instead of fighting against how much water or how much veggies..just work with it..learn to find creative soloutions..Surrender to the fact that this is your life for right now...it might not be forever..but it is for right now..and you just got to adapt and embrace this lifestyle for now..Do what it takes ..find creative soloutions...
and best of all...Just breathe...step by step day by day...
THank you so much! for some reason I started crying when i read your comment...I really want to do this! and i comitt myself to never cheat again, I will try to look for recipies and different things to eat my problem is I hate veggies, but thats not going to keep me away from getting to my goal.. I will do my best THANK YOU ! very much for your support have a wonderful night
I am sorry I made you cry, that was not my intention but if it made something "click" for you then good. As you can see you are NOT ALONE, we are all here for each other. Everyone is always ready to help!
You can do it. One day at a time. Look at your self talk and listen to what you say before you fall off the deep end. I am reading a book called "How to think like a thin person" by Dr. Beck and it's helped me a lot, especially if I am HALT (Hungry angry lonely tired). I am not perfect, but I can go forward and strive to meet my goals.
These posts are fantastic. The emotional aspect of food is tough. When I started, I felt like all my joy was taken away. Food and drinks have been how I show love, socialize, celebrate, mourn, the list goes on and on. Pretty profound to reflect on that. It is hard and the support here is amazing!
You get right back on the plan and try a little harder. One great way is to get some of the WF caramel and put it on a pudding at night. You will feel like you are having such a treat!!!
Have you ever considered thinking "What veggies DO I like?"
Though it's just the inverse of "i hate veggies", it's amazing what this slight change in thought process (focusing on what you like or CAN have) can do to help motivate and become proactive about how you approach the diet.
Musiclover,
I had a day like that yesterday where I wanted to cheat, and was so sick of vegetables and vitamins. Here is what I did:
went for a walk, talked on the phone-- cravings got worse--
went for a manicure/pedicure -- this was a great trick because I was then trapped for a good 2 hours with no food around. After my mani/pedi (who doesn't like having their feet rubbed) I felt so good about my new blue toes, that my cravings subsided a bit.
I still was sick of being on a diet, and I rebelled by not having my vegetables at dinner.
I am only on week 3 and I havent really had a huge craving yet, but if I smell something that smells heavenly, I'll think to myself "I'll have that on maintenance".
To me right now, I pay too much $$ and like Wuv said cheating is not an option for me. I am not paying for special food only to waste my $$ and cheat. Plus I keep it in my mind that my body is burning fat right now, why would I mess that up?
Also on the veggies, I am a very picky veggie eater. BUT I found out that I like roasted zucchini, roasted peppers and cauliflower. Who knew?
Roasting does it fact make it easier to eat veggies.
Hope you're feeling better and 6 lbs is an awesome motivator.
There is nothing easy about change! We all need support in it. I have struggled and continue in that.
The thing I understand about IP is that I can not have many carbs. The diet has it figured in the measurements and types of foods you can have. It is more complex than just cutting calories. I think many of us have come from histories of calorie counting, or point counting or such. In those situations, it seems with cheating one can eat more one day with the thought of cutting back the next couple of days or whatever.
The way I understand IP is that it is different from those approaches. The difference is amazing though. I would never return to another program for myself! This one works sooooo much better for me. Because of need to be in ketosis and for the pancreas to rest during IP, I am sorta freaked out about carbs! I will not eat them!! They scare me! . When I have been over the top with wanting something, another protein pack has been my "cheat" or an additional egg. Few of us are perfect!! That is okay. If you can develop a mindset about what you can and absolutely can not have while on IP, it might help. What also has helped me is not to go to places of temptation if I will be tempted. I learned this from my friends in recovery. They will go to NO social place where they might relapse! I have changed my lifestyle while on IP. Once I got the program going strong, then I carefully began to venture to outside eating. When I went to restaraunt where I could not make it work, I left. I don't know how to give someone the key to the resolve. I sure wish I could! But, there are things I convinced myself that I simply can not and will not eat. I never was a veggie eater. It has taken relearning of my "taste" for food. This taste can change! Keep at it and don't introduce the "old" foods and I bet you can experience the changes too!
Keep on with it! The weight loss and the health gains and the personal growth IP has to offer is worth all the trying and all the attempts it takes!
[QUOTE=Samba;4403758] It is more complex than just cutting calories. I think many of us have come from histories of calorie counting, or point counting or such. In those situations, it seems with cheating one can eat more one day with the thought of cutting back the next couple of days or whatever.
QUOTE]
That is the crucial point. If we come into this with our old mindsets the program becomes much harder. We carry old info from previous diets in our heads; counting calories, low carb/low fat etc.
That is why it is so important to follow the protocol sheets exactly and not try to change things up to "improve" the plan based on old notions that obviously didn't work for us in the first place.
I see people trying to lose quicker by going all lean protein, by trying to cut back on the carbs ever further by cutting out the restricteds, by counting calories carefully or thinking they can have a small cheat in without it causing a problem.
What stood out for me from the original post was the small cheat was a half a bun.
In most plans that would not be a big deal, it would not add very much to the calorie count. But on IP that choice is a killer, the body has gone through a big time detox and that half a bun sets the whole process way back.
Kaypix is so right. There are thousands of recipes on this site; it is a huge part of the learning curve to train ourselves to focus on what we can have rather than what we can't.
I have been in maintenance since March. What has really helped with this has been the routine I had internalized while on phase 1. My body has learned that it eats 4 times a day at pretty well set times.
Lots of people worry that when they go into maintenance the carb monster will come roaring back. This hasn't happened to me and I give credit to the "dreaded" bars.
While on plan I had a bar and a coffee every afternoon at 4 on my long commute home. I really looked forward to that and it was my treat of the day. This really helps in not feeling deprived when "everyone" else is eating whatever.
I have kept that habit up in maintenance and find that treat really cuts down on urges to have other treats.
I said "everyone" because of something else I observed. My workplace is awash everyday with high fat high carb "treats". I started observing how people handled this. I noticed about a third of the people don't partake at all, about a third have a small serving and forget about it and about a third keep coming back till everything is gone.
I for sure was a member of that last group for way too many years. But I found the scheduled routine of when and what I ate I established with IP finally broke that habit.
This is a long post and off topic as to the question the original poster had but the comment of the uniqueness of IP really hit me. So often people will post things that their coach tells then that is actually based on a different mindset. Once someone hits a stall the advice is usually to cut back on something in an already very restictive program.
The problem almost always is that we are missing something in the complex variety we are allowed. In my case a problem was that I cut back way too much on fat, choosing all white fish and chicken breast and using WF individual dressiings because of convenience instead of the oil that is so necessary. If we miss any compontent of the plan the journey becomes much harder.
The secret is to keep going back to the protocol sheet and focus on what we are allowing to have and get creative in how to prepare these choices. I feel sad whenever anyone mentions "choking" or "gagging" veggies which are such a wholesome and natural food but we have allowed our love of processed carbs kill our natural instinct to eat them.
Music, there are roughly 1,000 recipes on the forum, under the recipe archives. The book I'm working on will be able to help you find side dishes that are veggie, as well as main dishes that are delish and are vegetarian so you can definitely get your veggies in. You don't need to lose too much weight, so that could slow it down a smidge.
Why are you lonely? We have each other and that's a huge deal! What kind of seasonings do you like? You can roast virtually any vegetable with olive oil and your favorite seasonings.
Don't be disappointed in yourself for trying something new, something hard. Be proud of yourself for taking the plunge. Look up weight loss motivation posters, those helped me stay focused. Also, find a buddy you can text or call when you're having a low moment. If you need a pick-you-up, my email is pandoraeternity-at-hotmail-dot-com and I get email alerts to my phone, so can be there beck and call if you need. If you hate the veggies, you can also blend up spinach, 2 cups in the morning and mix the concoction with your morning shake. That'll get your first two cups out of the way for the day. I use frozen veggies or ones that can be steamed in the microwave to save time.
Cravings will go away on their own, but not completely, kind of like, random "want" it like you would during PMS. Bars help with chocolate cravings, I hear the soy puffs help with bbq or salty cravings, water for almost everything else.
Life is hard, change is hard, and restrictions are hard. You are doing all three right now, so it will be hard. I think part of the importance is that this isn't a "magic bullet" type of weight loss. It is effective, and faster than many other weight loss diets, but it is not magic. Accept that you are strong enough for this challenge and you will be OK.
I started crying looking at a bowl of stuffing once. We all do it once in a while, just think, you are stronger than XYZ. It is a food. It is fuel, it is not life. Eat to live, don't live to eat.
OK I'm out of clever anecdotes, but if you need more, you know where to find me! Also, you can start PMing I think after the first 20 days and 20 posts I believe...?
Thank you very very much for your support!! this is definetly a great site to get support .. Reading this made me realize that i have to do this for me, because this is what i really want..! and im going to give everything i have to get to my goal , not looking back but just foward!! thank you very much! and thank you for the spinach tip! I will try that tomorrow!! have a wonderful night !!!
Last edited by MusicLover23; 07-13-2012 at 11:31 PM.
[QUOTE=Porthardygurl;4402477]Musiclover- Being someone who has cheated many times on this diet before finally deciding it was time to do it without cheating...i can understand how you feel...Yes it can get boring..but one thing i have come to recognize is this: We can either fight against the diet or we can go with the diet...I think we often fight the diet without realizing it. Its almost like we make it harder then it actually is...We try to fight these cravings and try to fight off temptation and try and fight back are boredom and fight our body to drink down all the water...and on and on it goes..
Ever heard the saying.. "Its easier to go with the current then it is to swim against the current?"
Point is: In order for the diet to work, i had to stop fighting all these things..Instead of seeing a craving as something you have to fight against..why not embrace it. You dont need to induldge in a forbidden food to embrace it...you just need to allow yourself to crave..recognize tht its natural to do so...and recognize that you are human and you will at times desire things you can not have...however...allow yourself to feel that craving...enter your body and then leave your body...just like you do when you breathe in and out.. i know it sounds tacky..but it works..Also..instead of fighting against how much water or how much veggies..just work with it..learn to find creative soloutions..Surrender to the fact that this is your life for right now...it might not be forever..but it is for right now..and you just got to adapt and embrace this lifestyle for now..Do what it takes ..find creative soloutions...
and best of all...Just breathe...step by step day by day...[/QU
THank you very much for your support!! I decided to give everything
and do my best for me!!! no more cheeting for me this is it!! thank you very much I appreciate it!! I feel so much better now
I am sorry I made you cry, that was not my intention but if it made something "click" for you then good. As you can see you are NOT ALONE, we are all here for each other. Everyone is always ready to help!
You made me cry but because i realize im not alone on this, and without ya support i dont know what would of happen! thank you!!!
I will not eat them!! They scare me! 
. When I have been over the top with wanting something, another protein pack has been my "cheat" or an additional egg. Few of us are perfect!! That is okay. If you can develop a mindset about what you can and absolutely can not have while on IP, it might help. What also has helped me is not to go to places of temptation if I will be tempted. I learned this from my friends in recovery. They will go to NO social place where they might relapse! I have changed my lifestyle while on IP. Once I got the program going strong, then I carefully began to venture to outside eating. When I went to restaraunt where I could not make it work, I left. I don't know how to give someone the key to the resolve. I sure wish I could! But, there are things I convinced myself that I simply can not and will not eat. I never was a veggie eater. It has taken relearning of my "taste" for food. This taste can change! Keep at it and don't introduce the "old" foods and I bet you can experience the changes too! 
I will try that tomorrow!! have a wonderful night !!! 
