Been on IP since 1/16. Cracked the 300lb barrier, updated sig!

Dolemite your 25 pounds ahead of me in total weight loss. You rock! It is amazing in that a group of us that started ( dec/Jan) you, USMCVet, MPStation, Kit, Horns, Edge are still around. Haven't heard anything from Chicago Phil and Chicago Boiler lately.

Yes this diet is crazy. I lost a lot up front but now am averaging 4lbs a week. I have never looked forward to fall in my life to be closer to my goal.

Coming up on first WI tomorrow. Trying not to WI at home every day, but it's impossible for me, so just dealing with it :) From my reading (ex: great book, Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living) I know that we can retain and fluctuate roughly 4.1lbs of water in either direction daily, so I try to keep that in mind. I'm down about 11lbs for week 1, which I know is primarily water weight given that I lived it up on sodium and carbs the day or two before I started.

So, we'll see what happens tomorrow.

I see now I bought all the wrong kinds of food in my initial session too.... I have no desire for the pasta (full box), and all kinds of desire for the omelette (only had a sample pouch which is surprisingly good!). So, will attempt not to buy more food tomorrow but temptation may be too strong. I guess it's just purchasing a week ahead of time (was supposed to have 2 weeks worth, and buy more next week).

Long story short (too late), still going, 1 week in, I guess ;)

Welcome! Yeah I made the WI mistake my first week. Now I only weigh in when I go for visits.

As far as foods.. I know everybodys taste are different, but I love the chocolate drink with ice blended or the herb and cheese omelet for breakfast.. crispy ceral pancakes on the weekend. I do the chili with diced roasted veggies (zucchini, turnip, mushroom)very filling..and then throw in a bar, strawberry wafers or yogurt drink for snack after dinner... I have tried most of the products but I seem to be coming back to the same ones.

That's pretty amazing! You've been on 9 days longer than I have and lost more than twice the amount of weight. I'm struggling to keep the 3lbs a week avg (slipped after week 11). Hopefully only 6 more weeks until I can move on to P2.

I haven't seen HornsFan post in quite a while. You sure he's still with us?

Yeah I definitely will get more omelette after trying the sample (trading in my pasta). I see people doing stuff with the cereal that sounds interesting. I haven't tried the chili yet, but I do have a big box of mushrooms to do something with.

Been trying sous vide cooking with varying results, but changing up my technique and trying to brine some chicken today and sous vide it tonight. We'll see how amazing it turns out :)

I do need to also figure out some "go to" veggies to have diced/cooked/ready to toss into my Chicken Pot packet things, and soups. Can't tell you the last time I had turnips, may have to look back into that. Been snacking on asparagus, okra, etc.

DW and I go through about 8lbs of mushrooms a week. Lay them out on a cookie sheet, spritz with oil, salt, bake for about 20 minutes - excellent! We also roast brocolli with cayanne pepper on it and have tried it with Red Robin Seasoning Mix and that wasn't too bad either.

For those that like original style hot wings - get some Frank's Hot Sauce, dip cauliflower in it, bake 20-25 minutes and you have faux hot wings. I don't really like spicy that much but DW loves them.

I get the feeling the more you have the faster it comes off. I have been on the diet with a few other guys from work who weren't close to my starting weight and I have been ahead of them by 20lbs or so as well. I am afraid that it most likely will start slowing down as I start to get into the mid 200's. But will keep trucking!

Great ideas there, have to make that happen!

My experience is the same, it definitely slows down as a) your total fat % gets lower/closer to goal weight, and b) if you've done this kind of diet before.

The goal weight my counselor (abbreviation avail?) gave me is below anything I've been as an adult. I'd love to get there, whether OP or other plans in the future, but it seems unattainable from where I'm standing. Even in my best days of low carb when I lost the 110lbs before, I pretty much got stuck about 10lbs above that. (Of course that was without a good strength program, more cardio focused.)

You'll be surprised at what this diet will do. Naked scale this morning I was at 181. Last time I saw that was just after graduating Infantry Basic/AIT (16 weeks of intense strength/cardio) and certainly never dreamed I'd see it again. When I get to goal (170) that'll be 165 on naked scale and will be the lowest I've been since 3rd grade. This is the 1st diet I've ever been on where I've gone 90 days with zero cheats. I've got 6 more weeks to hold it together (which hasn't been that tough) and I'll have accomplished something that no one, including myself, ever thought was possible.

That's some good inspiration :) I guess I'm 10 wks to go, IF their calculations work out (and if I don't cheat, and don't accelerate or screw things up with strength workouts, etc.). I essentially didn't cheat for at least a few months during my low carb journey, but it was a much richer initial period (with more fats and normal foods). I wish I would have tracked the progress back then so I'd have something to compare. For those that want a quick read, and and are fond of my complete overuse of emoticons and exclamation points, here's the link to my original story: http://www.richardgoodwin.com/wp/my-low-carb-story/

(You can tell how old that is, as I keep referring to newsgroups!)

I did Atkins back in '98 and lost a lot of weight then but unfortunately some of it was lean as well as fat. I had a guy that worked for me that was just coming off a gig as a semi-pro (arena league) football player. He was a 375lb linebacker and solid muscle. He went on Atkins to get down to 250. He didn't have any fat to lose so it was ALL muscle.

That's definitely something I screwed up before, not knowing my macros of fat and protein, and favoring cardio over strength training; that's how I lost too much lean mass and ended up skinny fat (although it was glorious to be that skinny fat). But, it won't happen this time (they always say).

Trying to see about getting my sister on the diet, but I'll have to essentially pay for her (she's extremely overweight and jobless (no doubt in part because of it)). Just don't know if I can trust her not to cheat. I mean, my version of cheat is "have an extra boiled egg or some extra beef jerky or a shot of vodka". Hers would be "have a 48oz Dr Pepper and some candy".

After meeting with my coach this past weekend and listening to the lady try and justify her wine drinking the previous week we got to talking, and she said for my weight I should actually be having 3 packets + 1 snack per day... then she asked if I feel hungry and although sometimes I do I don't want to stop or slow down the weight loss, I'm hoping by July I will be at my ideal weight if I keep losing 5-7lbs/week which is where I am right now. Another thing we talked about is accelerated loss by only having a snack every second day and move the snack and the lunch packet, unforuntately I cannot do the skipping of the snack until I'm under 200 but I've started swapping the snack for lunch now.. perhaps that may help some other people that are slowly losing?