Wow, it feels like old home week for me seeing all of these familiar names. I've been off plan for a good year or more, but I called my old coach yesterday and I meet with her later in the week to get back on the wagon. Last year was the worst year ever for me between my husband recovering, my cancer and then losing my younger SIL to brain cancer. Between medication for me, and stress I let the weight creep back on and now I need to lose about 60 pounds again that I've regained. I may have a harder time losing the weight again due to one of my medications, but I plan on getting there with some hard work.

I loved catching up with all of your stories and look forward to reading and posting once again. :hug:

Dana

Dana, welcome back, so sorry about your horrible 2013! You will make 2014 a Happy Place.

WUV, you crack me up

Hi Dana, nice to see you again. Sorry the past year was so hard. It seems like 2013 was bad for most people, 2014 will be a great year :-)

I am also still here. Started early in 2012 but had lurked far before my actual start date. I remember lots of you, esp Wuv who was a huge inspiration for me. I am not at goal yet but keep tethering towards it.

Hope you guys don't mind me peeking in and saying hi. I lurked and read all the old threads for a long time before starting and feel like I know you all!

Dana: So sorry to hear of all your troubles - I hope this year brings you nothing but joy!

Wuv!
I just read through more and see that your back! Im sorry to hear about the clinic but happy to see you posting again. I dont have a Facebook so that never helped me. I followed you for months before I started and lits of time later I am down 150 lbs. I am struggling with the last couple pounds but I know it can be done. Thank you for being so encouraging and inspirational, otherwise I dont know if I would have started when I did.

Dana; so sorry about the terrible year. You've made the right decision, coming back to 3FC. For myself, I find the motivation I get from reading all the posts is essential to staying 100% OP! I am also back after having gained everything I lost in 2012 (I started lurking in 2011, so I'm also recognizing a lot of people from my first journey), and then some.

Today was WI #1 and after 9 days, I've lost 6.4 pounds of that "and then some". Finally on my way!

Day 21 of my reboot. I said this earlier in my reboot but I will mention it again. When I lost my 30 pounds in 2010 I never ate restricted. I have tried rebooting since then without any success but I was having 1 restricted bar every day. This time around I am not eating restricted and for some reason the weight is coming off and it seems easier. I know it does not affect some people eating restricted but for me I do think it affected my success. Have a 100% IP day.

Thanks ladies…trying doing a modified something…packet for breakfast, phase four salad for lunch, phase one dinner, and bar for snack. Also elliptical at lunch for 30 minutes.

Good morning,

So i ordered some french vanilla protein powder from costco on Friday and it came yesterday and so far, i’m very happy with it. It wasn’t in store and i just came across it when browsing the website.

Its 96 calories, 1g fat, 1g carb, 0 sugar and 21g protein. It cost me 40$ for 2 bags of 20 portions each (so 1$ per portion) and it mixes SUPER easily (just with a spoon, no clumps). I brought one bag to work and left one at home for week-ends. Oh and they also sent a sample for whey protein iced cappuccino...doesn’t have the nutritional info so i need to find that before trying it but i’m assuming its similar as the French vanilla.

I didn’t like the chocolate premier drink at costco and can’t find the vanilla so i’m really happy with this. I use the pure protein bars as my restricted.

Oh and i know this will sound stupid since it involves a cheat but yesterday i was attending a conference and i did good with the lunch but cave on dessert BUT my NSV is that i continued great with the rest of my day (and skipped my snack) which for me is a huge deal as i’m a binge eater and if i have one thing off program, i usually would say screw it and continue the rest of the day but yesterday i didn’t...i almost did, was tempted and had the should I or shouldn’t I conversation for awhile but at the end, i didn’t and am super proud :)

My son's bday today and we're going to the chinese restaurant but since i'm doing good right now and have no craving, i'm just going to not eat (did it several time while on program) and will have dinner when i get home.

Have a great day!

Congrats Busymom, any time we can pull ourselves back to the program after having a mishap is a success in my book! My boss just went to get Starbucks for everyone and while I did order a skinny, sugar free coffee I now have regrets and will give it to someone else or dispose of it when she gets back. Why is it being good to ourselves is so much more difficult than being bad to ourselves?????

Dana, it is so good to see you back here but I am so sorry for all your pain and misfortune last year. :hug::hug: I always followed you closely because we were close in age and height..... anyway, I hope you find strength and support here with your "old IP family".

Best of luck to everyone today, we can do this one meal at a time! :goodluck:

Thanks for the welcome back. I've tried to do this on my own this past year, but I've come to realize I need/miss the support from everyone here and my coach. There is something to be said for accountability.

Hi everyone,

So happy to come read this post.

Dana, I remember you, I'm sorry you had a horrible year, but hopefully this year will rock.

Darbs, also sorry for what's going on! It's crazy how things turned out while a newborn is there, which should be a happy event! Hopefully things will turn out like you want them to.

As for me, I'm still struggling, but at least I learnt not to let go 100%, so I slip here and there and get back to being OP. I guess I will keep on trying until I get it right.

I lurked from Fall 2011 to Spring 2012 and then walked into the mist (lightly without forty five pounds). Now I am back with the monster tire stuck on by tummy. So I am an old newbie.
I am known to nobody but I recognize two thirds of the posters' ids. I will post more this round!

Im a lurker too. I have read everyday since 20012 but rarely add much. I should post more. This journey has been very emotional for me, I experience something new each day. Hoping everyone a strong finish to the week.

Darbs, don't forget the havoc that lack of sleep can wreak upon your body. I know I have read studies linking sleep deprivation and weight gain. So sorry for this stressful time for you...:hug:

Dana!
I don't know if you remember me, but I followed you and loved seeing your posts. Sadly, I too need to re-lose 60 pounds. :mad: Let's cheer each other on, shall we?

Such a lot of news, some sad and some good. Dana, glad to see you back but sorry you had such a hard hard year. Darbs, it is so hard to lose weight while under such stress. I am sure your daughter's situation will work out for the best but it is very upsetting to have to go through.
Sonya, you have done amazingly well, 150 down must feel wonderful. Hi to everyone else, great to see so many familiar names.

Good morning everyone. It is a cold and frozen morning here in TN, but knowing some of you are from northern states and Canada I won't complain too much. :lol: One of my biggest challenges is staying off the dang scale, I know I should and I'm better than I used to be but it is a hard habit to kick.

My new snack addiction is "chips" and salsa. I will take the weekly allowance for tomatoes and make up some fresh salsa with onions and peppers and sometimes even a little bit of broccoli and eat it on cucumber chips. It's a great way to get in my veggies and feel like I'm having something bad :devil:

Have a great day and keep up the good work!

Molly:
When you run out of salsa for the week, have you ever tried the asparagus mockamole? It is another great veggie dip (and select veggies, too so allowed DAILY!) . So is the caulihummus :)

Both are in recipe threads

I love both with celery and cukes (even all winter-long).

Good morning,

Man am I sick of winter, i hate being cold! I'm in the middle of planning our yearly trip to wildwood so makes me think of sunshine even more AND also planning my wedding (extremelly small wedding that we're having at the beautiful park nearby and got city's approval to use the gazebo, yay).

So yesterday was hard...at the chinese buffet for my son's bday watching everybody eat then home and again watching everyone eat the beautiful chocolate cake i made...sure was glad to eat my dinner but was down 1.8 this morning so happy with that. Tomorrow will be another big challenge as friday is pizza night and the first friday i'm planning on skipping it (the other weeks i was doing well until friday where i would say screw it and then cheated all week-end)!

Darbs...so sorry about the stress you're under right now. Funny how some people when they're stress..they lose a bunch of weight...why that could never be me is beyond me!

I Lisa, I have not tried either of those, I will have to look up the recipes. Thanks!

Youngest daughter birthday is tomorrow. Made her favorite from scratch chocolate 3 layer cake. I made it without one lick of batter. Very proud of myself. Going out of town to celebrate her 24th birthday and meeting up with her two older sisters. I have already told her that I won't have any cake but I can still celebrate the occasion with her. Seems like everything evolves around food. Starting week 4 of staying 100% OP

I was bad today. period.

I will refocus and go forward tomorrow, stay warm. lol ( Impossible here)

I was bad today. period.

I will refocus and go forward tomorrow, stay warm. lol ( Impossible here)

Good morning,

Lots of temptations this week...first Chinese buffet and bday cake on Wednesday..then food court with my son yesterday and pizza tonight..resisting all of it and was rewarded with being almost 6lbs down so far and 0.6 from goal. Official WI on monday!

Will continue for another 10lbs as i want my goal weight to be my upper limit before doing a reboot and want some wiggle room.

Super cold here...again...-11 (-29 with windchill)...so sick of the winter..its been horrible. Especially since i booked our summer vacation to wildwood yesterday, really want the summer to come!

Have a great day everyone and TGIF!

Hey :) I did not know you were getting married! You must be so thrilled cause now you'll be having pictures to be proud of :) and please send me some pictures for me to see :) So happy for you :)

Just checking in with everyone. It is so cold and windy here. I am tired of being stuck in the house. Looking forward to spring and wearing cute clothes when I reach goal.

Just had an IP snack. Made pudding with extra water and put it in the freezer until it got really cold. Delish I felt like I was having a milkshake.

Still Truckin
 

Was a bit disappointed today. I am on week 3 and didn't lose this week. I know I have not been filling all the requirements, especially the veggies and have been making small little exceptions!:o That all ends right now. I have been 100% Phase 1 today and feel great.

The inches are noticeable that I am losing so that helps and my husband and boys have said they can see that I'm losing. I really love this way of losing weight and am so glad that I have it to fall back on when I have put on a few lbs!

To be successful on IP you have to be 100% OP

WUv, driving in sleet is the pitts anyplace. We have very extreme winters here
but what helps is our cars are prepared for it. I spend a fortune on winter tires but feel much more secure with them. It must be so hard when you almost never have such tough driving conditions. I hope the cold goes soon.

Another cold and snowy day here. It is a good thing I am 100% OP or I would be munching my way to added weight. We were suppose to go out of town to celebrate youngest daughter birthday but got an hour into our trip had to come back home. The roads were icy any we couldn't see the cars in front of us. The snow was blowing so hard. My first thought was I am going off plan today and eat some sweets. Luckily that was a passing thought and I am once again in control of my eating.

Of course I remember you. Looks like we are in the same boat. For my first year not doing IP my weight bounced around 20 or so pounds, but then as my life got out of control I gained another 40 pounds and now I need to lose about 60 pounds myself again.

Thanks, missed you all too.

I met with my old coach the other day and picked up my first week of food. I'll be starting on Monday. It was hard to get weighed and measured again, but thankfully ALL the numbers weren't terrible. One nice thing when I lose weight again this time will be seeing a much flatter belly as I had to have a tummy tuck as part of my reconstruction for my mastectomy. Now at least when I get back down I won't have that nasty tummy apron left over.

Congrats! Busymom on your willpower over the past day and on your fantastic accomplishment of 135 lbs lost. When I reach goal that is the amount I will have lost since my HW 268. My biggest concern right now is how much loose skin will I have when I get there? At my current weight I'm beginning to see loose skin. I've read that the lower percent fat the less it looks like loose skin. Have you noticed truth in that statement? Sorry if I'm getting too personal.