Hey all! Been busy the last couple of days and wanted to jump on and say hello to everyone. I had WI yesterday morning and I am down another 6 lbs. I am also about to hit my first personal goal of breaking the 250 hurdle...I am currently at 252, so I should eclipse that by next week. We have a conference/vacation in Key Biscayne next month on the 7th and my goal when starting was to try and hit between 240-245...so I should eclipse that goal as well, as long as I stay OP. If I continue to lose at the same rate, I would actually be down to about 230-235, which would be pretty damn exhilarating! I would actually weigh less than what I did when I got married 11 years ago.

Hey OneGuy! FWIW...red pepper has been my staple for veggies during lunch. When I travel (like yesterday), all 4 cups of my veggies were red peppers. My clinic does paper journal and I am instructed in the same manner that Lisa is doing her clinic. I was instructed to consume no less than 6 oz. of natural protein and no more than 8 oz. daily. I peed on a keto strip this morning after consuming all that red pepper yesterday (not to mention my strawberry wafer) and I peed pink on the strip indicating that i was still in ketosis. IMHO, I would maintain keeping IP as simple as possible (like you used to do) and follow the same instruction sheet and just measure out your veggies daily. I wouldn't worry what myfitnesspal says...you have done this before with success..."dance with who brung you!"...why does your clinic want to reinvent the wheel??? Just my $.02

That is awsome man! 30 pounds in a month is smokin'!

I've got week 2 WI tomorrow morning and not thinking I'll be doing nearly as good. Our kitchen has been out of comission all week due to a roof leak from our 1 storm this year. They're supposed to be finished today but the last 4 days has been eating out. I've been as OP as possible but know some of the dishes I told them to cook dry were slathered in butter. No intentional cheating but a sneak look at the scale, while showing some progress, isn't what I was shooting for.

So with snowmeggadon upon us I had to stop in lastnight and pick up my food. They will be closed on saturday which would be my WI date. Got on the scale real quick and seemed to have plateaued here in week 3. Not an official complete week, just 5 out of 7 days in and down 1lb.

Guess this makes up for the whopping 14.5 and 9.5 lb WI's my first two weeks. 25lbs in three weeks is not too shabby, I just hope I haven't over done it somewhere with my daily consumption here this week, this is normal right? Didn't get a chance to sit with a coach as they were too busy, but they were kind enough to get me a quick check on the scale.

Several NSVs this morning. I'm on the plane with no extension, walked straight down the isle didn't have to go sideways and on thesaurus into the building everyone had trouble keeping up and I was carrying a backpack and rolling two bags and my laptop bag!

Counting down the hours. I'm taking a mini vacation into the city (DC) for the weekend as an early Valentines. The resort has an indoor pool and gym so I will probably take advantage of that not to mention all the extra walking I will be getting in while site-seeing.

There's no doubt that I will be exceeding my 8oz of meat this weekend. I have a reservation for Chima Brazilian Steakhouse. Twice a year the really nice restaurants do "Restaurant Week" where dinner is a fixed $35 instead of the usual $60+. Most are fixed menu and wouldn't work on IP but this place has plenty of options. My food journal entry for Sunday will be " > 8oz of steak, chicken, swordfish and salmon"

Snow hit Chicago yesterday. My boss mercifully told us at noon to get the out of here. Some who did not have such a caring bosses, who live around me said it took them 3 hours to get home.

I had a brutal workout in the morning yesterday. I know we are not to push it on this diet, but I did, because I felt so good. Wish I hadn't. Shoveling that heavy snow last night was brutal. But I did it.


I would of never believed in a zillion years, that the hardest thing on this diet would not to exercise to excess. It's like my body has rid itself of 24 pounds and says "I am free, I am free, let's go run!"

BTW I do have a Sears Craftsman 10 hp 2 stage, kick a$$ snowblower. However it told me it was cold and didn't want to work. (Not really, but I wanted the shoulders and back workout and Nature gave it to me for free!)

So those in the Northeast are getting are semi heavy snow storm that left Chicago last night, then another one is coming up from the gulf, and they are going to mate, and make your lives miserable. Unless you love snow.

Here is my emergency list
+ Drinking water.
+ Canned food and IP food
+ A non-electric can opener
+ Cash money. The ATMs will be buried.
+ Batteries.
+ A way of charging your cellphone.
+ Flashlights and candles.
+ Plenty of blankets.
+ A shovel.
+ Packed suitcase in case you need to evacuate quickly.
+Reading glasses.
+ MY IP vitamines.

My coach says if your going to cheat, cheat with protein.

Cheating with protein will slow your weight loss due to the added calories but at least it won't knock you out of ketosis like cheating with carbs will do.

Grrr... I think I might be developing an allergy to acesulfame potassium. Lately, I have been getting severe stomach cramps after consuming the orange drink and the EAS shakes. It hasn't occurred when I have the chicken soup, strawberry drink, peanut butter crunch bar, jello or my dinner protein.

I created a spreadsheet of all the ingredients and acesulfame potassium is the only one in common that isn't found in my other meals. It appears that this artificial sweetener has a lot of possible side-effects including stomach and digestive problems so I guess I will be avoiding it in the future. What a shame, the orange drink is my favorite post-workout protein.

Awesome job Horns!! I've been straddling the 260 mark the last couple of days on the naked scale. I can't wait to hit the 250s!! That is my mini goal for Monday! The clinic scale is usually around 5lbs up so that would give me 20lbs for 3wks which I would be very happy with!

Big workout this morning, throwing around my Ariens snow blower. I did my driveway and three neighbours. That is better than 15mins on the treadmill any day. Funny thing, I bought the snow blower off an 81yr old guy with a cane who thought it was getting tough for him to move. Tough to move??? I'm a pretty strong guy and I struggle with it, I can never figure out how he could move it at all!!!

I finally joined MyFitnessPal. That site is great! I can't believe how few calories we are taking in on IP. No wonder the big losses! Yesterday worked out to about 1400 calories!!! Man, I used to eat that before work!!!

Bad week food wise. Our kitchen has been down so eating out every night. Still down 2 pounds on WI today. I'm really losing my a$$ though. Down 1.5" Unfortunately it's one of the only thin things on my body so I really don't need to lose much there.

How do you put in the salads and vegtables? Guess?

Ya, pretty much. I just guessed on the high side with that stuff.

I'm interested on seeing what you guys eat in a day because the two ladies who are coaching me seem to disagree on how much I should be eating.

B - IP Pack (Usually omelette or drink) + tea (w/2 skim milk)

Snack 1 - IP Pack (Drink)

L - IP Pack (Soup) + Salad + Veggies (Celery (3pc) and/or Pickles (6pc)

Snack 2 -IP Pack (Drink)

D - 8oz Meat + Vegetables (usually grilled Asparagus, Mushrooms, Zucchini, Peppers - generally 2 or 3 of these - likely 4 cups total)

Snack 3 - IP Pack

Plus: I usually have 1 protein bar at night or 2 (one after workout) if I have worked out. Plus all the water and pills.

I sometimes have a couple extra teas during the day.

Does this sound like you guys?

Type in salad in the "search" and it'll give you some choices of salads with different ingredients or actual ones from chain restaurants. Whether it's exact to yours or just close at least it's a filler for the page.