I stayed with my clinic for 3 months. But after the 1st month I spent a great deal of time researching the Alternate Thread to make sure I completely understood what I was getting into. If you are lucky enough to have a good coach, sometimes that is worth the $$. I lost an average of 2lbs per week on IP and 2 lbs per week on Alts. So the only difference is face to face accountability if you need it and doing the leg work yourself.

Also once you reach 200 lbs. you could drop to 3 packets. I started at 206 and I never did more than 3 packets a day.

Finally out of the obese category and into the "merely" overweight one at BMI 29.9.

Impatient, as always, for the next milestone, but I'm still frustrated at how much slower weight comes off the lower half. :)

momat40 Nicely done on the water technique - congrats for your positive approach. :)

Last Year I joined a crossfit gym for the sole purpose of building muscle, I gave myself a year and am satisfied with the results. Unfortunately, I never paid attention to what I was eating so I never lost any weight but I never gained any either but my body got fitter and more toned. However, I could never tone my lower half so that's why I started on IP, so I could loose all the extra fat that is convering up my muscles ( AS I like to tell myself, lol). So I here ya on the lower half frustration:( But here's hoping that if I get close to my goal it will melt off:carrot:

WI today, thought it would be terrible but not so bad. Week of Christmas is our fiscal qtr end, we can't leave the office during the day, work late and they bring in food for us. I did fine, either brought my own or made good choices. Week after Christmas my daughters and I drove to Disney World for a week. Tried to stay OP, did the best I could with no fridge or microwave (made good choices and walked 20 miles a day I'm sure). Week after vacation sick with flu like illness. Needless to say a challenging Dec/Jan. I gained .8 lbs so not bad. I can live with that. Now back in the swing of IP and considering C25K to add some movement.

Cheating and being off plan is not good but I think we've all learned so much and have made this a way of life so we make good choices even if we're not always conscious of it.

I was actually just having a conversation today with someone about the weight taking forever to come off of my lower half. I feel like I lost a ton of weight on the upper half of my body...well actually I definitely have as a lot of my favourite tops are now way too big to wear, whereas I'm still in the same size jeans I was in when I started at 190. Oh well, it's the process and I don't mind waiting. My coach said that I should start to see changes in my lower half and overall body composition shortly here based on my body fat % and weight now.

Buster it's nice that you stried your best to stay OP. Congrats on only losing 0.8 lbs that will probably be gone by tomorrow. :) We had a lot going on at year end too..I'm an accountant so there were some crazy long days and dinners brought in. I, like you, brought my own dinner. I felt much better than my coworkers who ate a crazy amount of pasta!

jstbkuz I'm sure you have plenty of muscle if you're a crossfitter. I'm a gym junkie and I'm thinking my legs will have some good definition by the time I'm at goal as well. Here's to removing those layers to show off what we've worked hard for!

Hi I am a coach for IP and I was told well over 200 closer to 250 we recommend four packets and over 300 pounds we would might recommend five maybe 350 ish. My DH weighed 332 and did three packets. I do not understand why you are on five unless you have some medical reasons from your doctor. Ask you coach and tell him/her this is not what most clinics do.

kimo88 and justbkuz I also love to work out. Have been for years, with a trainer and on my own. Working out alone does not equal weight loss for me, it's all about diet. So, I am taking a few months off from hard core working out to get a some weight off, then I will return to working out with my trainer. Depending on the status of my weight loss at that time, I may add an extra packet on the days that I work out.
Right now I'm just walking and doing 20 minutes of cardio sculpt on dailyburn two to three days per week.
I too have high hopes of the muscle that is under the fat.

Last night I ordered some IP products from eBay that are not available in Canada and some IP compliant food from LowCarbGrocery.com to give me a little more choice in my meals so I don't have to eat the same thing for breakfast or lunch for 7 days.

I'm curious - What does the U.S. have that Canada doesn't? I know my clinic didn't order everything but anything I saw on the idealprotein website they could get for me.

I'm curious too because all the products look the same on the US and Canadian websites.

http://www.3fatchicks.net/img/bar-ch...5/160/183/.png

trying to add my new signature ( this is only a test ha ha)

I have a question about calculating the fat of the alt products. If the total calories are 150 and the calories from fat are 25. If you times that by 3 and it ends up being 75 fat calories of the total is that okay if you are still under the total amount of calories? Does that make sense?

You go girl! Say goodbye to obese forever:carrot: Feels pretty darn good, huh?

Congrats on all of the great losses this week! Love reading about all the successes. Such motivation.

Heard through a reliable source at work today the I will be included in a big out of town 3 day executive meeting at the end of next month. Professionally it is a huge deal, but already stressing about the food/alcohol situation. I work in the restaurant industry so food and booze are always a huge part of any event. Will have to try and get the low down on the menus to see what my options will be. At least I have some time to figure out my game plan.

First week WI for my neighborhood competition. As I kind of expected, my loss was smaller than most. But slow and steady wins the race. All of the new dieters are losing their water weight right now. Check back in a couple weeks. :yes: I've been clocking a steady 2-3lbs a week.

Here's to hoping that's for sure:carrot:

It's been hard not to work out but Once I get a good handle on things I am allowed to add back a class a week with extra IP packs so I look forward to that, just to keep my tone:o And hopefully this will teach me to make healthier choices so my workout will pay off and I'm not just working out to eat, lol