Day 1 has begun.

I'm still trying to wrap my brain around it all. I have already lost 55 pounds this year due to exercise and clean eating. But, my hormones are depleted (age), my thyroid isn't working well, and I have pretty bad adrenal fatigue (lots of kids.)

So I can't exercise but I don't want to stop my progress, here I am. I am about to do my first IP food. Then I have A LOT of reading to do on this board. I need to find recipes. I still cook for 7 people every night.

Kim

Welcome, Kim!! There are some great recipe threads on here. I typically keep it pretty simple but there are many creative chefs on here who come up with fantastic ideas.

Good luck!

Congrats on starting! (and great job losing so much before starting IP!)

I can sympathize - I am on IP but my husband and kids are not! For me, the key has been pre-planning. In the beginning, I would cook up enough chicken breasts for myself for the week, then just change how I seasoned when I reheated it each day. I still made dinner as usual for them, and just tried to make sure there was at least one veggie being served that we all could have. Gradually, I found IP friendly recipes that I thought we could all enjoy, and worked them into the family meal plan. Now, I have a pretty decent arsenal of things I know they like which are also safe for me, and I am prepared for the nights when their food is not IP friendly. It might seem like a lot of extra work but it actually reduced a lot of my stress. The hardest thing was to give myself permission to eat differently from them!

Good luck!! You can do it! I am on my first day of week 2, and I have already noticed a difference in how I feel! I am excited for you to feel the same way one week from now!

My fiancee is a vegetarian, so we will rarely eat the same dinners on this diet. Since I'm the dinner preparer, it has been a bit of a challenge, but he has been very supportive. scorbett1103, I love your comment about giving yourself permission to eat differently. I had never thought of it in those words, but I completely agree that this was something I had to do (subconsciously).

Welcome!

55 lbs loss this year is fantastic. I bet this diet will be a breeze for you since you have been eating clean already.

Check out rainbow's recipe thread for some ideas.

Hi and welcome! Congrats on 55 lbs weight loss! This diet is great because you don't have to exercise (that alone would have sold me on it ) in fact I read some threads where some people said they think that upping intensity of their exercise slowed down their losses... Have fun browsing around. I got all my information here in fact, because my coach doesn't seem to know much - she ignores my questions and I'm guessing it might be because she doesn't really know the answers.

I am in a middle of my second week on IP. My first week was tough for me...not too tough, but I was sort of weak and feeling off. It is best to take it easy as much as possible at first, if you can. Apparently most people seem to get their energy on day 4 or 5, but for me it was more like a day 8, but it sure did come! I feel really well now, and definitely feel more energy than before the diet. Good luck!

I'm not trying to make light of your issues Kim, but your "adrenal fatigue" made me smile. I teach so I have lots of kids too -- just not 24/7. I just think I'm tired and crabby by the end of the day, but maybe it's "adrenal fatigue"... I'm going to look that up!

Good luck and God Bless. You will find it a challenge but honestly, anyone with 7 people to cook for already has got things pretty down pat I bet. I can hardly cook for 2kids and hubby, and they'd be happy eating Kraft Dinner or cereal every night! LOL

Let us know how it's going!

I did a saliva test that shows estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, thyroid, and cortisol. My cortisol level was fine when I woke up. It bottomed out and flatlined at noon. The test was expensive, but well worth it.

Welcome and best of luck. I cook two different meals every night or at least most nights. My husband and son have football until 7:30 every night and I cannot wait that long to eat so I cook once at 5:30 and then again about 7:00.

Kim