Hey everyone

I wanted to point out the moderator announcement at the top of the forum re: signatures. It seems some are very big! I saw one this morning that took up the entire screen on my laptop. If you have a long sig, go to user cp and make sure your sig is within the "green" boundary. If you have strayed to the red area, it is time to consolidate before the 3FC moderators do it for you! We wouldn't want anyone's sig getting chopped!

Thank you so much ragdoll....you've been a huge help. Thank you for your support

Good morning. Going out to a formal dinner tonight. Thanks to help on this forum, I called the event coordinator and they are willing to accommodate my meal plan and serve a plain protein (no sauce) with steamed vegies for me. Packing Mio and a snack just in case. Looking forward to a club soda on the rocks with lime.

Last night I set some mini goals to break up my 150 lb weight loss goal. I am almost at the first one!

Start: 296
1st goal: 269 (lowest weight I had in the last 10 years)
2nd goal: 249 (buy a WII fit - max weight on the platform is 250)
3rd goal: 225 (weight when my husband met me)
4th goal: 199 (Onederland!)
5th goal: 175 (definitely less than DH!)
Finish line: 150

So far 100% on plan and staying that way! Feeling great.

I agree with the chlorophyll suggestion. I've been doing that, and it definitely does help. I remembered months ago when the ketosis-breath (and BO) issue started, that it had been recommended by the Dr. Bernstein people when I did their diet about 10 years ago. That diet also puts you into ketosis. And it works pretty fast too - purifies the blood apparently and is sort of a general body deodorizer. Available generally through health food stores, etc. If you get a liquid version where you have to combine it in a little water, beware because it stains. I occasionally also use the Listerine 'on tongue' strips.

Hey ladies
Hope everyone is having a good morning!
Tomorrow will be my IP week 1 weigh in and I'm super stoked to find out my results. I'm pretty sure it will be an 8 pound loss but who knows what tomorrow might bring

I stepped on the scale this morning and was up a half pound from yesterday. I think my positive self talk is working at least a little because I was totally okay with it. I am accepting that this is a long process and life long commitment and fluctuations are a normal and natural part of getting to a healthy weight!

I do have a question about restricted items. I'm not having any restricted or milk and the last few days I've felt kind of light headed and blah. I'm still working on getting the ip supplements but in the meantime I've had a tablespoon of mayo plus a tablespoon of yogurt with my lunch salad. I know it's not sticking to the sheet 100% but I figured since there's no carbs in it and it doesn't have too much more fat than a restricted item anyway, it can't be that bad right? I'll try it for a week and see how it goes. Just tryin to make this work for me but don't want to be whining and moaning when the scale stops moving because I messed up

Congrats on being at the end of your first IP week. It's a toughie. Re the light-headedness.... have you tried licking some salt on your palm and then having some water? Also, it's really important to take the supplements - either IP or good alternative ones. As to the mayo/yogourt..... I'd personally urge you to do your best to stay 100% OP. It's awfully easy to let these little 'extra's' add up and sabotage your efforts. You'd actually be better off making a salad dressing using part of your olive oil allowance for the day, with a little lemon juice or acv plus some grated garlic, parsley, chives, etc. Add a small dash of stevia to sweeten slightly. Have you tried any of the Walden Farms mayos? They are 000. In particular I really like their Honey Mustard Mayo product. I like making my own version of tzatziki with it. Really zingy and tasty.

My eating schedule and working with IP was a HUGE concern for me as I work evenings. I have a snack between 12-1am. You have to work IP with your lifestyle. I look forward to coming home and having my treat.

NSV: Went to my daughter's dance class, there was none last week because of the storm and my husband's been taking her. You can see where this was going.........I forgot it was school vacation so, there was no class.

My daughter loves to go out to eat, esp breakfast so we went to a diner down the road. I easily and happily ordered an egg white omelet with mushrooms and spinach and as little fat as possible. I got a coffee but they didn't have skim milk so I put a smidge of milk in it. Of course I was freaking out about that, but the good news is I wasn't concerned with what anyone else thought with what I ordered and ate. (This diner had no healthier section, I was surprised!) I couldn't even finish my meal. Not that it was HUGE. I was just FULL.

Off to look at our potential new member of the family.

Well...this week certainly was unexpected. I went to weigh in on Thursday, down 0.75 pounds, my lowest so far, but no concern to me at all. That makes 64 pounds gone total and I'm so proud of that, and especially the fact that I have not had one cheat since day one back on October 4th. But, the hair loss thing has become insane, really. The hair loss has been increasing over the past three weeks or so, but it's to a point now where you can see my scalp in places (not too awful though, as I have a ton of hair to begin with) so my coach told me I have to phase off, at least for awhile. So, I'm on phase two. She ordered a lot of labs, which I did yesterday, and told me to take Silica in addition to the Biotin I'm taking already. I wasn't mentally prepared for this, bc I'm not done!!!!! I still feel like 36 pounds to go is a huge amount and I won't stop until I get there. I guess I just have to be more patient, and know that it's now going to take longer than I had hoped for. I wonder how long I'll have to phase off before I can start back up?? I am looking forward to being able to exercise more, and I am very confident that I will make the right eating choices as I have done, but I just wanted to get this done and work on maintenance. Proud of myself for listening to my body though, and I know that I will see 150 soon...hopefully by summer. Anyone else had to go through this? Thoughts for continuing to lose another way, even if more slowly? Sorry for the long post. Wishing everyone a great weekend

Happy Saturday! It's a beautiful sunshine-y day here today, finally NOT snowing, which is great news.... think we'll take the pups out for a nice long walk today and get some vitamin D!

Hopped on the scale this morning, and it FINALLY didn't say 234... 230 this morning, woohoo! Have a fabulous OP day everyone!

Thank you! It's been a good week! I've been adding salt to my protein shakes which seems to help some. I am taking a prenatal vitamin and hoping to order the ip vitamins from plainprotein in the next week or so.

I totally get what you're saying about the extras! I was looking at some of the restricted items, one I saw had 8 grams of fat so I figured cutting the restricted and adding the mayo and yogurt instead of that ounce of milk wouldn't be a biggie. I've looked for the walden farms products at my store but think I'm gonna have to order online. From what I've read so far it looks like the honey mustard and thousand island are the best along with the chocolate and caramel sauce. For me personally, I'd rather save the oil for my meat or veggies cause a teaspoon in a vinegarette isn't gonna seem worth it lol.

Congrats on your four pound loss. Sometimes it seems like the same number is gonna be on the scale forever cause we've seen it for so long. I know it feels awesome to get over those little plateaus

Happy EARLY Birthday!
Have a wonderful OP dinner somewhere. I don't know if you guys have an Applebee's........ Not that it's a fancy restaurant, but my husband and I go about once a week. On their 2 for $20 or 2 for $24 they have 7oz or 9oz (I think these are the sizes) steak and veggies and potato. We get the steak and instead of a potato have them give you 2 sides of steamed veggies (instead of 1) - also find out what veggies they steam (like you don't want their carrots). The meal deal does come with an appetizer that is totally off plan. We usually get the buffalo wings to-go and my husband will take them to work the next day and let his small staff have them for their lunch. Anyways a good meal and one that doesn't even come close to breaking the bank.

Yes, Lisa.... Thank you for doing this daily!

Half-again. I suck on 100% xylitol mints - Spry brand (you can get on-line or if you have a Super Supplements store). They are really healthy for your teeth. Just don't overdo them!

I usually have my restricted about 2-3 hours before bed and I don't think it's made a difference in my weightloss, but of course no way to really know that. I enjoy it as a snack while I watch TV!

Thanks for the info. I will definately check it out!

[QUOTE=Glover girl;4643392]Bubbleblower - Congrats on your 3lb weight LOSS while on Vacation!

Glovergirl - You'll rock this! Planning and being prepared is the key and you sound like you have a very good handle on this. Have a nice flight!

Have a great night out at your Formal Dinner.
Very nice goals.............. Now you get to think of some really nice REWARDS to go with those goals!

Nice NSV - ordering what YOU want at a diner and not caring about what others think. Remember, you are the customer. And as long as we ask in a nice caring manner, I think servers want to help us.
Keep us posted on your potential new family member... send us a pix.

Sorry, about this unexpected hitch in the road. Try your best to just go with the flow. I'm sure this isn't what you had in mind for your IP journey, but the goal is to get to the goal, right? You have an obstacle in front of you and you will find a way to get over it and continue down your road to success. We are all behind ya!


Yeah, be careful about the extras that aren't on IP protocol. You don't want to accidentally start down a slippery slope where you allow more little things to creep in and get off plan.
As far as the WF products. You might ask someone (like a manager) at the store. They aren't always where you think they would be. I usually ask where the diabetic FOOD section is - they are sometimes located there. If you do order on-line, there are some sites where you can buy the individual packets to try first (instead of the bottle), since some people really don't like some of the WF products. Good Luck!

Have a nice weekend everyone! Jen

Cleaning the kitchen, I just came across a tin of dark chocolate covered cranberries. I smelled them.

Smelled them again.

thought about 3FC.

dropped them out of the tin and into the garbage. Win! Thanks for being here y'all.

To the newbies..............

If you want to reply to someone's post and you want their quote to show up in the light colored blue box along with your response, here is how you do it!

To reply to only one person:
At the end of the persons post that you want to reply to, there are three icons on the bottom right. Click on the first icon that says "quote". This will bring you up to a screen where you will see their post and you can then respond and submit (post quick reply).

To reply to multiple persons quotes:
1. Choose the second icon at the bottom right of the first persons post you want to respond to. The icon has a paper in the background with a bold quotation mark and a small + sign.
After you click it, it will turn orange.
2. Continue down the page until you find another post you want to respond to. keep clicking that same icon on each persons post that you want to reply to and again they will all turn orange.
3. When you reach the last post you want to respond to, pick the first icon - the "quote" icon.
4. Now it will take you to a page where you will see all the posts gathered together. You need to navigate through each persons post to apply your response.
So, write your response after the first persons post and
scroll down and write your response to the second persons post.
Keep doing this until you've responded to all the posts that you see and that you wanted to respond to.
Before submitting, there is an option to preview posts.
I always preview posts and make sure it looks good before submitting. If you see a change you want to make before submitting, then go down to the editing box and fix before officially submitting.

** I will sometimes go in to a persons post and shorten it down (by erasing) to the actual point that I want to respond to. This will shorten YOUR whole posting so it's not as long. Plus, it makes it easie rfor others to follow when reading and understand what you are really wanting to respond to in those others posts.
If you do this, be super careful to not erase the original bracketed areas at the beginning and the end of the persons post that you are responding to!

Hope this makes sense and is helpful! Jen

Hi all...had my first WI yesterday...8.2 lbs and 3 inches! �� On to week 2!!!