Hi longhorn, yup, I stayed on program, no cheats. The only thing I think that was making it hard for me is that I am using the salt they gave me, maybe that is it, and also I did have a bar for the first 3 nights...I didn't know they were optional, so I was eating one as a snack. Here is my menu for those first few days:

Monday - breakfast: Cappuccino drink, 1 stalk of celery
snack: sliced cucumber
Lunch 2 c. broccoli and broccoli soup
snack: 1/2 a cucumber with 1 t. walden farms dressing
Dinner: Salmon 7 oz with broccoli 2 cups
snack: caramel nut bar
snack: sliced cucumber and celery

Tuesday - Breakfast: banana pudding
cucumber and celery

Lunch: IP chicken soup with cucumbers and 1 T. walden farms
snack: cucumbers and celery

Dinner: Chicken with grilled zucchini, cucumber and lettuce with walden farms 1 t. 1000 island with 2 t. olive oil

snack: celery
snack: vanilla peanut bar

Wednesday: Breakfast: Chocolate pudding
cucumber and celery

Lunch: celery with cucumber with IP tomato basil soup with 1 t. olive oil

Dinner: 4 oz beef, Iceburg lettuce with 1000 island dressing and 2 hardboiled eggs with 1 t. olive oil

Snack: raspberry chocolate bar
Hot tea with stevia

Thursday:

Breakfast: Butterscotch pudding
1/2 cucumber
coffee with a splash of vanilla rtd

Lunch: Pina Colada drink, cucumber, celery and radish with 2T 1000 island walden farms with 1 t. olive oil

Dinner: 1 large meatball (turkey and lean ground beef) with portabello mushroom and cucumber

Snack: Vanilla RTD rest of it.

Friday:

Breakfast: Strawberry pudding

Lunch: Pineapple banana drink with cucumbers

Dinner: Roasted cauli with olive oil and salted, with a pork steak and a bar.

that is what I had the first week. I can't see anything in it that would make me not be on plan. Each day I have measured my water to be 1 gal a day.
I'm glad you asked, it made me type everything from my journal, so I know myself that I did indeed stay on plan.
My outlook is much better than when it was when I first posted this message. Boy I was very upset on Friday!!! I'm going to stay on this at least a month through the clinic to see if it works. I hope it does!

Hi Foreveryoung: I don't know if that is too much water, I have been going to the bathroom lots though! I was told I had to drink at least 64 oz a day or more...now i'm wondering, LOL!

Just another bit of encouragement if you can stand it!

I am on IP and I am NOT one for whom the weight is just dropping off as I walk down the street! It is coming off slowly, but steadily. I too got discouraged seeing all these "omg I lost 20 lbs my first week" posts. I finally had to just sit back and think about what I *was* accomplishing -- steady losses and no gains! I'll take that any day, rather than continuing the deadly path I was on.

Hang in there, and just keep on plan, the weight will come off. ((hugs))

Hang in there! I usually don't show any loss at all until the end of the week and your WI was at 5 days, so that's not that surprising. I am not a real fast loser either. I've had one week with no loss and several weeks of small losses, but if you stay OP you will lose.

That's become my mantra. I know I will get to my goal as long as I stay on the protocol. So, try not to get discouraged and stay OP and you will get there.

Good luck!

I stayed on the same weight for 3 weeks. Now THAT'S discouraging, I don't even know how I didn't just binge because of it. But I didn't (I wasn't exactly 100% OP though, but I still never went over 50g of carbs a day) and only today the scale finally moved. It was ONE miserable pound, but hey, at least it finally moved.

OMGosh! I'm glad your scale finally moved! I pray that I lose something on Friday! One good thing is that my blood sugars have been dropping to normal-like levels...but I would love to lose weight too! I want this to work sooo bad, I hope that if the scale doesn't move much this time that I can have your determination!!!

On the first couple of days it looks like you had more than the 4 cups of veggies allowed but the rest of it looks really good. How much water are you drinking? Could it be you are just holding a bunch of water?

Thanks mightbe...I was told at the clinic that I can eat as much lettuce, cucumbers and celery as I want between meals. Do you think this could possibly be the reason?? Also, I drink a gal of water a day..my coach didn't say anything about it...

A gallon of water is a LOT of water....I drink 6 of the 16 ounce water bottles so 96 ounce...a gallon is 128 ounces which is 8 bottles of water. Now if you are retaining any water, that would do it. Water weighs I believe 8.35 lbs per gallon...so keep your salt intake proper and maybe cut back some on that water...just maybe!
Cheers
Jake

Also, don't forget you get additional water in the foods you eat...so if you drop down to say 96 ounce water as "water" I bet you actually get a bunch more from veggies, meat etc...

good point. But I always thought the more water you drink the faster you lose?

I also drink about a gallon of water daily, I just feel better with more. I was told that only lettuce was free. I think that is another of the points that coaches vary on....sorry I can't be of more help that way! Have you tried adding a couple of egg whites, maybe you need a bit more protein? :hug:

My clinic does not allow cucumber or celery as free...

bump

Cucumbers and celery are on the Select Veggies list as of the May 2012 Phase 1 sheet which I believe is the latest one. That being said, you should ask your coach why those are off protocol. Also, I drink over 16 cups of water a day and have never had a problem. Your menu looks okay, you may still be getting into ketosis, please bump this up with your WI#2 results.