No official WI today. Coach is out of town. Home scale says 1.4 lbs down. Was hoping for better. I'm at week 11 and feeling crabby and out of sorts and hungry for the last few days. Will just keep powering through. Hope everybody has a great weekend.

So...the cat likes rutabaga. That's not normal.

The cat just wants what you have, lol!! Not a fan of rutabaga or turnip although I'll eat almost anything else.
On a side note - it's asparagus season here - the time when the only vegetable we eat for a month is fresh asparagus!!! I buy 10 lbs at a time and don't freeze any of it. Bad side is pee STINKS from asparagus - I know, TMI...
Looking forward to fiddleheads soon, too. Right now recovering from being 'glutened.' I was out for a very busy day with a friend, and we went to my usual Japanese Sukiyaki style joint where I always order the beef & vegetables with no teriyaki or soy sauce (& sometimes no rice - carb smarter). I wasn't very vigilant about witnessing the grill clean first because I was tired and overhungry, and there was a new guy on...
Needless to say within a couple hours after I was in severe pain and my stomach had gained 10 inches (not joking). We managed to make it home before I was tied to the bathroom and my knee & elbow joints have been aching as well since then. So exhausted, sick & sore, and it will take days to recover.
REMINDER NOTE TO SELF: Never take your 'regular' restaurant meal for granted - ALWAYS check prep.

Too funny! Mine likes tomatoes - I seriously have to make sure they aren't left on the kitchen counter, it's the only thing he'll get on the counter for. I give him the cores for treats. Strange animals!

I feel the same. Every time I go to the grocery store to buy veg, I get frustrated that the produce section is SURROUNDED by junk food. I know why they do it, I just find it irritating. And boredom, YES. I miss my cheese! My coach and I had a conversation about it at my WI a couple of days ago. And I really noticed last night how much time it takes to prep my veg for the week!



I had a cat once who loved French fries and green beans!

I have also struggled this week. It is especially strange because it had been so easy at first. I was so surprised that I had NOT craved sweets and had found it easy to ignore "illegal" foods around me. But, that all changed this week. Don't know why... though I do have a theory. For one, I am bored with my food selections. Second, I am tired of all the prep work. Third, because of those first two, I haven't been pre-planning and pre-prepping like I should...

I don't know, really, but I'm going to take some time this weekend to think hard about my goals and try to find some ways to bring back some excitement that I had in the first few weeks.

Aww, man ... there's someone sitting next to me in my class who's eating Panera Bread, and it's making me hungry. I don't even LIKE Panera Bread!

I've decided to splurge and buy a nutribullet. I have never made a smoothie, but I plan to use it as a way to get in my veggies in an easier way. I have been struggling with all the veggie prep and getting sick of it. Maybe it will help to get some of it out of the way by throwing it in a smoothie.

So, I would appreciate any suggestions about making smoothies.

A friend of mine buys the big pre-washed bags of spinach and kale, then puts a handful or two in freezer ziplock bags. Then, she freezes them.

I'm thinking I can put 1 - 2 cups in bags and freeze them like that. Then, I can put water, a protein drink or pudding mix, and the frozen greens in the nutribullet. I also have some Torani sugar free coffee flavoring syrups that I could add.

Any other suggestions for making smoothies??

Well this morning the scale gave me a 9lbs lost in 1 week and 2 days!!!! Woo hooooo!!!!! I'm so excited I can't believe it! I even did not give in to the apps at dinner last night, nor the dessert at parrot pete's, when my kids and husband ate it right in front of me. It's getting to be almost like second nature.

Hi everyone....

I want to start Ideal Protein, but in no way can afford the diet. Do you think this is an ok modified version?

2 Quest Bars/Day
8 oz of lean protein
4 cups of veggies
Lots of water throughout the day
Multi Vitamin

I am getting the quest bars tomorrow morning. I can't wait to lose this weight! As a college student though, I need to be able to do this on a budget. What do you all think of this plan?

Just enjoying a beautiful Saturday outside with the family.

I agree, the prep work gets time consuming! Mostly the need to go to the store every couple of days for fresh veggies. I do love veggies so it's not the end of the world. I haven't had green beans on this diet, maybe I'll have some for dinner tonight. In all honesty I'm not even craving things I normally crave, I just want anything but what I've been eating lol. Craving cheese and peanut butter, neither of which I'm a huge fan of. I mean I eat those things but definitely not binge foods. A little peanut butter on an apple sometimes, and cheese in things.

WELCOME and KUDOS to you as a college student for taking control NOW!!


Do you have the Phase 1 sheet? You will see you need three packets per day... two unrestricted and one restricted. You can't shortchange that because as the plan is designed you will get 800-900 calories and need every bit of the nutrition from those three packets!!

Quest bars are for most people restricted (a couple are on the border, but usually treated as a restri8cted items so only one per day.) You can get EAS CarbAdvantage shakes four for $4 at Walmart/Target etc. And the Pure Protein shakes four for $8 (they are a little richer, a little bigger and in my opinion worth the additional cost, but I also use EAS).

Have you red through the Alternative Products for use in Phase 1 thread?? It is a MUST READ for those doing OP with non-IP alternative foods. The second post shows the nutritional information you will need when selecting alternative products.

Read the Alternative thread and ask questions there or here on the Daily Chat.

You CAN do this at a significant cost savings and be successful!!!

FYI - SOMEONE with the SUPPLEMENT INFO jump in here as I don't have it at hand... You will need more than just a multi-vitamin because you will not get everything you need from the packets, veggies and meat.

To college student
I followed a similar diet except that I used whey protein powder instead of Quest bars.
I am down 30 lbs since mid November.
I always had boiled eggs ready in the fridge and used frozen vegetables and they were the least carbs eg cauliflower,broccoli.Always had chicken breast and fish as the meat protein.
I sometimes made a stir fry with a couple teaspoons olive oil.
The whey protein powder was my snack.I usually added water to it and it is 110 calories.
Most important of all was my food scale and measuring cups.
After about a week of stubborn whiteknuckling determination the hunger subsided and I am now maintaining at 138 lb.
It absolutely can be done and not be very expensive.
Good luck