Welcome back to the Daily Chat thread - post your plans for today, share what's been happening, ask questions!

Some forum lingo:
NSV = Non-scale victory
TOM = time of the month
WI = Weigh-in
WF = Walden Farms
OP = on plan

Bookmarking:
Ideal Protein Sub-forum Home page
Consider making it a bookmark or a favorite in your browser so you can come back easily to get your RDA of Ideal Protein information.

Information for newbies:
Check the sticky page (top of forum, above all the topics) for lots of good information and please read here before asking what might be a frequently asked question: Information on Ideal Protein phases (1-4), IP Ultimate List Recipes, FAQ, Newbie Guide, Exercise, and other Important Threads,
and here are the most recent Ideal Protein Protocol sheets

And before you cheat, read this thread:
The Real Cost of Cheating on Ideal Protein

Before starting new threads: spend some time reading the forum. Most new threads are duplicates, triplicates, quadruplicates. Folks who are the most successful, make time for research/reading.

More Recipes Here Mix'n in the kitchen...Recipes from the Rainbow
MiX'N' iN THE KiTCH'N.... Recipes from the Rainbow Volume 2
Fun with Ideal Protein Packets
Fun with Veggie Purees!
Ideal Protein Diet Recipes #4
Tips and Recipes from the Incredible Weight Loss Center

For those looking for alternative products
Here is a thread with tons of info. Spend some time in it. http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/idea...phase-1-a.html
And here is a link to a chart to help you choose appropriate products

Tickers and Signatures:
There are 2 requirements to have access to signatures and tickers. You must have been a member of 3fatchicks for 20 days AND posted at least 20 messages anywhere on the 3fatchicks forum. When you've met those requirements check The Ultimate Signature and Ticker Thread for more information and instructions.

Quoting:
The best quoting tip - EVER!! Thanks Rosie, aka 6710.

Searching:
If you can't find what you're looking for in this forum using the website search function, try using the "double search" using Google.

1) Go to Google.com. Search 3fatchicks by using the term site:3fatchicks.com at the end of your Google search.

For example, if you want to look for "big mac in a bowl", type "big mac in a bowl site:3fatchicks.com" in Google search. No need to include the quotation marks when you type.

2) This will bring up the page that you are looking for, now hit Ctrl+F to search on that page. Type "big mac in a bowl" and all instances of that search term will be highlighted.

Progress photos
Mini-Goal Photo Album.

Other helpful links related to the Ideal Protein Dr. Chanh Tran Tien's website

Good morning. We have tomorrow off for the first time ever, so today is the last work day!

Did my weights at home, now off to swim. Hope everyone has a great day. Enjoy healthy eating!

Happy Thursday everyone! After a 2.8 loss yesterday, I moved my goal from 145 to 128. 15 more pounds to go!

Calypso congratulations on meeting your goal and deciding to push it further!! I hope I feel the same way when I get to mine!

I had a little NSV this morning with my jeans. Since tomorrow is a holiday we can wear them to work today instead. I was worried because I hadn't put them on since washing them earlier this week - so I was afraid of the dryer tightness but.... No more dryer jeans!!! aka they fit perfect as if I had worn them all week! I even texted my boyfriend to see if he had tried to trick me and let them air dry haha - he said "you're such a girl"

I hope everyone has a great day today! Can't wait to check back in @ lunch

Hooray for 3 day weekends! I want one!

Wow, you're doing great! I should probably move my goal lower but I really like seeing that I'm under it - little things make me happy.

Great NSV! Just wait - soon you'll be washing those jeans in hot water and drying them on high heat hoping they shrink! (They don't much, by the way.)

Good Morning!

MellyIP, we are very close in start date and starting weight....though I'm an inch shorter My goal weight is higher too, but I am 60 now - not that that is an excuse! - but I just didn't know what was reasonable for a goal weight. If....er, when.....I get to 145 I may reconsider and set it lower. How did you decide on your goal weight?

I'm wondering how many of you weigh at home? My first 'official' (weekly) weigh-in is not until Monday, but I have to say......I saw ONEDERLAND on my scale this morning!! Yay!! So motivating! I know it will slow down, but have to get this initial 'quick' weight off (the bloating from the carb binge that I had the day before I started IP) before I can really attack the fat stores. And I'm amazed that I can already feel the difference in my waist! After just 3 days?! Can't wait to officially see where I will be on Monday and change my ticker Have a great day everyone!

Happy Thursday IPers! Had my third weigh in yesterday and lost 5lbs which I was very excited about. Close to my first mini goal of getting to the 220s. Next mini goal is getting below 220, then onderland! Hope everyone has a great day

Good Morning! Just got to work and am sitting at my desk with a full bottle of ice water trying to drown out the irritating naysayer voice in my head that says I'm going to fail at this diet too, just like all the other ones I've tried. I am on Day 25 and feeling great. Have lost 14.6 pounds. I am doing IP with alternatives so I do my own "official" weigh-in on Monday mornings. So far, I am down 14.6 pounds. However, I do cheat with some "unofficial" weigh-ins just to gauge how the week is going. Yesterday, I was up 1 pound, and this morning it was up another .5...so 1.5 pounds gained since Monday's weigh-in. WTH???

I know there are lots of variables that make weight fluctuate, but still frustrating nonetheless. Here's my question: Have any of you had this happen but then still had a decent loss several days later at your official weigh-in?

The mental component of this journey is so hard for me. I know that I need to just keep going and push the negative thoughts out of my head, but if I have to see a GAIN on the scale after just 4 weeks, I know I will cry!

Maryland Mom, let me just say that it is very common to go up and down throughout the week. It can be many different things....ahem, how to say this delicately?.....food still making its journey through the body? Water retention? That is why it is good to weigh weekly, so you don't see those daily fluctuations and stress yourself. Trust the plan....it really works. Don't let that little voice of doubt derail you and cause worry.

Dcs! Congrats on being so close to your first mini goal!

3sisters, it is so difficult to figure out a goal weight. Each of us are built so differently. I think you are picking a good goal and it is so easy to readjust as you near that, and see your new figure emerge. You will be amazed at how the fat melts away and as many others have said, you will find that you are much smaller at a heavier weight than ever before.

Calypso, you are so close to goal! Yay!

MellyIP, it is so funny how the little things mean so much. Throwing my pants in the dryer has been such a cool thing! I have ALWAYS hung everything yo dry, fearing my clothes would shrink and no longer fit. What a good feeling to toss them in the dryer.

Do you guys find that the inches are coming off in only one or two parts of your body (that are measured) or do you find it comes off pretty evenly? I swear, the inches on my hips just will not budge! It's like they are super glued on! I don't even care about a scale victory this week, I just want to see that hip number drop!

This was my warm laugh for the morning! Inches do NOT come off evenly for me. I am now a size 10 on the top and just squeeze into a 14 on the bottom. Now that I need to get new lingerie since I am falling out of the old things, I have to go to a padded underwire to have any shape on top.

So, you can guess that means I still have natural padding on the bottom. Yep! Curves to be more polite. Will never be a stick but I do know it is genetic. When my mother married at 19, she had a 21 inch waist and 40+ inch hips.

Nope..one week it would all come off one place, the next a different place. I felt like one of those lumpy cartoons.

I lost in my hips and thighs the fastest, but my arms and waist were slower. I am still self conscious about my upper arms. My SIL had the opposite happen, her hips and thighs took the longest to begin shrinking. It was at the very end of P1 that she started to go down more rapidly in sizes on her lower half. She is still larger on the bottom, than the top, but as you said that is all genetics. I used to always picture myself as that little old lady with skinny legs and a round belly some day. lol.

Congrats!!!!

Yay Calypso! So excited for you

Melly, Great NSV! Ruth Ann stole my line, but in a couple of weeks that hot air dryer is going to be working overtime!

Onederland! Hurray!

Congrats on 5 pounds gone forever!!

Marylandmom, take a deep breath. As one of the Oct. Newbies told me recently, this is not a race. You are well on your way and 14.6 pounds in 4 weeks is amazing. Week 4 is notorious for scale mischief. Your body is trying to catch up to the changes. I know it is hard to see the scale fluctuate, there were weeks of slowdowns for me. My coach said no weighing at home for a while, because stress can cause water retention. I just had to trust that the protocol works. Please consider that the scale reacts to many things, sodium, TOM, C, water retention.... No need for tears, the scale is just one measure of your journey.