Hot Dog!!! Congrats!!! :broc:

Great job shrinkingsusie, this is a plan that works and makes you feel so much better....

Great job!!! :cheer: :cheer:

Thanks for the great info. I agree with you - one of the reasons I want to start incorporating exercise now is so it will be a habit once I am ready to move into maintenance.

Lighthouse101, interesting you say that today! I went to my Lady Doc this AM and she was impressed with the losses but really wants me lifting weights. I told her I had begun building strength via yoga but she wanted weights. Not heavy cardio either.

Wondering: has anyone used SISU whey protein powder as a substitute? Going to post this in the Alternative thread, too.
Have done a search and nothing comes up.

Annik

Hi everyone, looks like everyone had a New Years Eve, So glad the holidays are over. All the sweets and ect. will be less. Down 6 pounds but was not able to weight last wk, so 3 pound for each week. It was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone. My challenge for spring is going to be 25#.

Well, had my weigh in and was up 1.2. But lost several inches. I was 100% compliant last week. So, just one of those weeks - had great weight loss last week. So net loss over the past two weeks is 4.6. So, onward and upward. Thanks to everyone's words of encouragement. Many bright spots over the last 5 months to focus on

Don't sweat the small gain Carol - so many things can effect any weigh-in, water retention, TOM, etc., etc. Remember that each weigh in is only one point in time, the overall trend is what counts. And losing several inches is awesome!

You've done so great on IP - don't let this get you down!

I hope Lisa is enjoying her vacation!

making some changes
 

Ok I am going to make some changes to my diet.

#1- I am going to make all my own dressings from here on out. I have a bottle of the WF coleslaw dressing that I used over the weekend and that did it for me, it was so nasty I got the willies. I have a booklet of 50 home dressings and I am going to see if I can try to use WF mayo in the ones that call for mayo. If not then 100 EVOO, lemon juice and garlic for me. THe only WF stuff I will use will be the chocolate syrup and cocktail sauce (maybe).

#2- I am going to try to eliminate out chicken from my diet for a bit, DD made an attempt to make dinner and I swear tried to make me sick. the chicken was NOT cook properly even with me supervising and telling her what to do and NOT to do. I have been nausea since then and any meat tastes nasty now.

#3 I am going to stop buying the sugar free capp. powders. they are made with splenda and have like 4 carbs but they are addictive

#4 start working out more either the Kinect, Wii or elliptical and weights!

Those may seem silly to some but for me it is much needed, I am feeling like crud the ast few days and need to cleanse myself big time!

Thanks Ruth Ann. You are a true motivator.

I phased off in November and did Phase 4 for December. Loved it. I can live that way. But now I need to take off 3 pounds I gained over Christmas and see what else I can do in the next 6 weeks. I know the losses slow down a lot toward the end, so my goal now is not a specific weight, but a set date. I will phase off in February and wherever my weight settles at that point, that will be the weight I try to maintain for the rest of the year.

Today was the first day back on Phase 1 (although I'd been doing every Monday on Phase 1). I had DH take me to Applebee's for dinner. I love the chicken roma dish with the shrimp. I just have them substitute broccoli for the potatoes and the whole thing is Phase 1 compliant. I thought that would help ease the transition to Phase 1. It was yummy! Tomorrow I'm back to cooking my own IP-compliant food. Let's do this!

Not looking forward to WI in the morning... I've felt yucky all week... Caught a cold, and Aunt Flo decided to visit, so I am not looking for a loss this week, because I feel super bloated, and am swimming in snot... bleh, I hope everyone had a better week than me!

OH and be cautious, the HALLS sugar free Black Cherry Cough drops in the bag are made with Sucralose, BUT the ones in the little travel container are made with Aspartame... I learned that the hard way... :/

I am so excited for 2014!! Last year was great but, I had trouble getting back on IP and gained weight. Finally got back on track the last quarter and have lost the weight I had gained! Yay! In 10 #s I will reach my mini goal and from that point will be at a weight I haven't seen for 25+ years. Can't wait to experience the upcoming changes.

I have managed to stick with the first couple days and tomorrow will be my first official week completed! I'm pretty excited that I've gotten use to things so quickly. I am still struggling with veggie ideas but am trying new things and keeping a list of what I liked. The past two days I've noticed a sweet taste in my mouth that won't go away, is it from whatever sugar subsitute is in the EAS shakes I'm drinking? Other than that, feeling good and excited for my first weigh in!

Good morning. It's -37 Celsius here with the windchill... And I get to go out and brush the snow off my car in that and head to work. Blah. 4pm can't come fast enough today!

Sorry you're sick Deana - hang in there and drink lots of fluids!

Sekc & Blondie - Yeah! I love your enthusiasm! It's so motivating to get some time under your belt and see the changes, isn't it?

Susie - That is COLD. Makes our 44 seem down right balmy (even if we do have rain). Take care out there.

And TGIF!

Like so many others who have posted, I think I have caught a cold. (Boo!). Right now it is just causing a sore throat, and I am hoping that it doesn't get worse. I looked at cough drops at the grocery store last night and didn't buy any because they all scared me (LOL). Does any one know of a good sore throat losenge? Does anyone take Airborne? Due to other health issues, I can't take much in the way of cold medicines and cough syrups etc have a lot of alcohol in them (an I don't want to fall out of ketosis due to cold medicine).

Any suggestions? I am hoping it is a false alarm and if I drink tons of water and hot mint decaf tea it will all go away.

Digging out...
 

:coolsnow:Like so many here on the east coast!! It has stopped snowing here.....But the frigid air has already begun moving in.

North of Chicago, where we just left, is still digging out from the front end of the storm going through there first. So glad we were home when this started there!! My daughter says it is predicted to be -9 on Monday when the kids go back to school. (LOL..How many calories can we burn keeping warm?) Maybe that is not so bad! Oh well...heat up your IP chocolate, and try to stay warm all...and on plan!
:snow4:

Hi everyone greetings from LA.
No Internet yesterday & after a whirlwind few days I'm glad things will be settling back down

We've had an amazing coast-to-coast trip and I'm NOT looking forward to a return to winter weather. I AM looking forward to my own bed, a routine, and my return to P1 tomorrow after a long stall & then decision to self-impose the stall longer to help my metabolism & thyroid heal.

I've mostly been low carb girl until the trip to the Rose Bowl. Even our brief stop in Vegas (<24 hours) was low carb

Without being at home & without my own coolers, parade & game day were tougher (glad I wasn't on P1). I had some street food and tossed the bun. I had quest bars in my purse. Veggies were sparse. Had a great big salad to celebrate the Rose Bowl win when we returned to the hotel.

I can feel the inflammation in my body. Probly won't weigh for 2-3 days after I get home to let that settle down. My feet hurt from a LOT of walking but my back has held up amazingly well (thanks PT)

This has been an amazing trip
12/23 East coast of FL with friends
12/29 FL Gulf coast overnite with other friends
12/30 Overnite in Vegas including impromptu Fleetwood Mac concert
12/31 Drive to Pasadena on short sleep. Pep rally & NYE party in downtown LA (early party, early to bed)
1/1. 4 am wakeup for parade & Rose Bowl game
1/2 - site seeing in LA area
1/3 - 2 pm flight Burbank >Denver>STL. Praying it goes well but texting a friend in Denver just in case.

1/4 return to P1. Have breakfast shake at home. Will need a major grocery trip to restock veggies/lettuce. Meat in freezer.

My body is CRAVING veggies! My how a year-or-so changes things. Some people look forward to whatever crap food they haven't been eating. Give it a try (not condoning this!). You'll look forward to how your body feels on healthy eating!

Sounds like you've been having fun Lisa! But I'll bet you will be glad to get back home - nothing like your own bed after a long trip.

Have a safe trip home!

Lisa Welcome back - you were missed but it sounds like you had a grand adventure and kept yourself mostly healthy, quite an achievement given your circumstances.

In Central Illinois we are looking at -15 on Tuesday morning and also 6-11 inches on Sunday...sigh

Monday's high temp for us will be any where from -18 to -20F with wind chills getting as cold as -50 F. I bet the kids do not have school Monday!

Ugh, I have had NO interest in food for the past two days. I have no appetite. I"m not sick, I feel fine, I just don't want to eat!! How's that for a diet, lol.

Well the girls did amazing at the sugarbowl! I had to delay with some crazy fans but it was all worth the halftime show! I didn't catch Katie on the big screen but my parents at home saw her on ESPN. It was a long day tough to stay on plan but I did the best I could! We finally got home around 1 am. It was a struggle to get her into the shower to clean up the makeup. She just wanted to crash! Me too but I couldn't let her go to bed covered in thick makeup. She was thankful she showered tho and went straight to bed! I made it into my bed around 2am and just woke up. I'll be headed into work and hopefully it won't be crazy this weekend !

Having just been at the rose bowl & parade (4 am- about 9 pm day) I completely understand how you feel about doing the best you could. Had I been home, a soft side cooler would have been with me with items to meet all of my needs. We are FAR from home and have traveled coast-to-coast since before Christmas. We took a train and walked for miles on game day. Others handled the tailgate (poorly in my opinion...based on lack of anything even marginally healthy). Higher fat street food had to suffice (toss the bun)

I hope you're right! Can't imagine even trying to get the car warmed up to drive them to school!
It was a warmer 15 degrees here this AM but windy and temps predicted to drop through out the day. We picked up extra lettuce and veggies and an extra doz eggs yesterday. Guess we are stuck. DH just came in and used the snow-blower to get most of the snow off the driveway but the thick coating of ice, which was underneath, is making it impossible for us to get up and out. We have a steep-steep driveway...with a sharp left turn and the house is at the bottom. Will be good to down size one of these days...a 55 and over place where they clear the driveway sounding GOOOD today. It's a perfect day to do stretching and isometrics...skip the gym unless the sun can get us down to bare pavement by midday.:shrug:

Do have a few good books downloaded to the kindle...and thinking of making chili or chicken soup this afternoon. (Feel guilty about not getting to the gym tho'.:()

What's everyone else who is stuck doing today?!:?:

:wave: Hi Lisa..Happy New Year!!
Safe travels home to you. The airports are a FAT mess!!

My daughter is in Lake Forest...less than a mile from the lake...Nice in the summer...BUT...I always FREEZE there in the winter. They have an older house...which they just put new windows and doors on this fall...but I was still a popsicle in a new sweater everyday the whole 10 days we were there!

I was up in Kenosha last winter when my daughter was looking at colleges. It was soooo cold by the lake!!

I hosted our hospitality suite again and managed to get some of the bone in pork shank w grilled peppers but it wasn't enough, so I had an all beef hot dog no bun. Lots and lots of water! ;)

That's how I've been for the past few days! I'm just tired of eating. NEVER thought i'd say that. I got so sick of salads about a month ago and have been doing so much steamed veggies. I need to get back into cooking a fun dinner because the steamed broccoli is getting old. I did it to myself. I love the veggies I'm just bored. I have NO desire to give up and stop because I'm so proud of what i've done, I just want to liven up what I'm doing. It may be from the weather being so crummy. By the time I get home from work, I just want someone to feed me. I got a crock pot for christmas. Thinking about using that more.

Well, with being sick, and TOM, I only bloated up by .6 lbs... and I know it'll come off next week, just never something you want to see when you look at the scale, a higher number than the week before... BUT it could be worse... I could still be at the weight I was when I started, SO I'll look at the bright side, because I know that IP works, and that I never plan to be at the weight I was when I started, ever again!
Happy Friday everyone!

Funny how colds seem to be spreading across the continent, I am getting one too :(. Resistance must be low from all of the business of the holiday.

65x65- snow has stopped here too, and we are heading into the negatives with temps by Monday. I have been freezing throughout the whole holiday, I was always chilly, but IP has turned down my thermostat. I went out to by more
sweaters(winter sales)!

Lisa, sounds like quite an adventure. Congrats on the win! Hope all your travel arrangements work smoothly.

Deana, thanks for the cough drop info. Hope that you feel better soon. I took St. Joseph's cold and cough pills for high blood pressure and it seems to have helped.

Ems- I eat a lot of sautéed mushrooms, Kale or spinach. It is quick, helps me get my Evoo in. I use lots of mixed spices to throw in. Homegoods carries a lot of the spice mixes, but be sure to read the label for sugar.

Nolasmurf, what an exciting event! You must be exhausted today.

Aliexpat, I go through the no hunger weeks, unfortunately I also have hungry weeks :( Yesterday, I was starving all day. Made it through by drinking water..

slipfree that's a great idea. I've been making a ton of frittatas as well. I'm worried about eating too many eggs though. I don't want to go and give myself high cholesterol.

There's a lot of research out that the cholesterol in eggs won't raise your cholesterol unless you have a family history of it.

Many, myself included, think eggs are a great source of protein!

Funny Ems, I eat a boiled egg every day at lunch with celery. Our lunch ladies make it for me at school.(grateful to them) How about using egg beaters or one whole egg and the rest egg whites. Homemade soups are great to make ahead of time too.

Hi Lisa and others... please help. I have looked through several post and got a headache trying to find phase 4 recipes ideas and a list of slow carbs. Could you all help.. thank you!!or point me into a right direction... :(