Oh wow that's good to know. I have definitely seen him have a bad day. I will be sure to mention that to people if they are thinking to see him. I think I have just been seeing him for so long I'm used to how to deal with him. I mostly see the nurse practioners there, Kim and Lea Anne, and they are awesome. Dr. J is actually really great at diagnosis but yes, fairly gruff in demeanor and very male in his approach - I kind of have to beat information out of him, but the information is there if you go for it. Kim is my preferred overall "go to" and Lea Anne is awesome at IP. She did it herself and I always like talking to someone with experience.

There is someone in Denver named Candace that seems to be the person people like here - is that the clinic you go to?

Ya'll please lift me up in your prayers. My father is in the hospital and it's not looking good........they are trying to get him strong enough to go home with hospice, he wants to spend his final days in the comfort of his home. This is really hard especially since I am 11 hours away. I can't think, can't sleep, can't function. But the good thing is I'm not eating...the bad news is I'm not eating. Maybe one meal a day and two RTD if I remember to drink them. :(

Can you try using alternatives, Type 1?? It is cheaper and I'm sure we can be your support system. I hate to see you give up when you are heading in the right direction weight wise (albeit slower than you wish). Even if you use just whole food while carefully watching the carbs/fats/proteins macros it could help. The other way to look at this is to ask yourself how you will eat after you decide to stop IP, and will it get you to a lower weight in a healthy way and facilitate maintenance at that lower weight. It can be hard when you don't see big results or have a swing pattern of ups & downs in weight. There is a positive general trend though, you ARE LOSING the weight.
You may be sensitive to certain ingredients in packets or even vegetables or 'real' types of protein that could be causing a slight inflammatory response. Check over your food logs for the weeks you had an uptick and see if anything stands out.
Hang on girl! Don't give up just yet! :grouphug:

Liana

Sorry to hear that, Kelly. Wishing the best for you :hug: I hope your father's wishes can be met. My Mom just demanded it and signed herself out against medical advice. Your father has that right.

:)Thanks for the encouragement and kind words Liana My diet coach also pulled me through another week with her encouragement. I was only up 1 but apparently my BF % went down 2%. That always fluctuates but this is the lowest it's been. She figures, using her magic math, that I have lost around 23 lbs body fat and 12 lbs scale weight close to 4 of those BF pounds this week. I guess I am fixated on the scale weight. I don't see much difference in my clothes but have supposedly lost over 40"! My visceral number went from 11 to 9.

I had a 'happening' in the supermarket this past week which maybe bothered me more than I realized. I was standing in the line unloading all my veggies and left the 20 lb bag of potatoes on the bottom of my cart (my family is a meat potatoes one) the lady behind me asked if they were mine to which I replied a sort of confused yes. She commented that they looked heavy and I agreed. She then said that I obviously wasn't a gym goer...I gave her another confused look and she made "muscles" at me and asked me if I needed help with the potatoes. I think she just called me fat!

Yes it is a downward slow journey. I will try another week and see how it goes. I can't think beyond that right now. The only difference in this way of eating to how I ate before is the increase in protein, otherwise it is pretty much the same. What is the inflammatory response you speak of? How would I recognize that?

I have thought about replacing the IP stuff with alternates but I haven't really even been able to find anything here that compares except the standard protein powder. I think I am sucrosed out with IP stuff so am trying to choose less sweet food. I think my uptick weeks are related to the weeks I have more blood sugar which results in extra food. I try to have a few extra packets with me to cover those. That seems to work but occasionally I go really low and just need plain sugar at those times.

Well enough of my woes and emotions! Thanks again. It does help knowing someone out there cares and understands the struggles. I will check in again

Yaaay that your BF went down, Type1lady!! Eek about the potatoes, sort of a warped sideways kindness about helping you lift them :o. Just plan on 1 week at a time. Perhaps your clothes may actually fit better than they used to. At a higher weight there is a large difference between sizes, as you get lower you will change sizes quicker. I know I can still get into some of my tighter jeans at a slightly higher weight, but they don't fit as 'nicely.'

Can you find some Quest products? I know they are gluten free and soy free and some may fit into your lifestyle. They do ship from online. I also use vegan protein powders (Vega and Garden of Health RAW) that are GF, and soy and dairy free although dairy isn't much of an issue for me. I never used much of the sweet food on IP because I'm not a sweet craving person mainly and because much of it wasn't GF. Because of your underlying health issues you may just have to acknowledge that you will need extra food at times - but if you make wise choices when doing that your overall trend will still be in the direction you want. Hugs! Glad you are holding out yet! Re: inflammatory response to foods - http://www.care2.com/greenliving/14-...o-stop-it.html

Liana

Has your coach referred you to a doctor for metabolic testing and a review of the amount (AND type) of insulin you're injecting? I know that my sister uses combo fast and slow acting at different times of the day, and it may be that this is affecting the outcome. The fact that your BF% is reducing is a good sign, that you are losing the fat, but it's being chewed up with retention somewhere else. I wonder how much water retention is caused by diabetes? Does anyone know?

Truthfully, I don't believe that non-medically trained coaches are worthwhile for someone with a metabolic disorder like diabetes .. this would appear to be borne out by your coach's lack of concern that you aren't losing very quickly.

Your time, your money and your decision what action to take, but I certainly wouldn't be forking out the silly amounts for IP coaching/foods when my losses didn't reflect the pricing structure and nobody appeared interested enough to investigate.

Oh Kelly, I'm so sorry to hear this news. Is there any way you can be given emergency holiday leave to spend time with him in his final days?

Please take care of yourself during this time. Sending positive thoughts your way and hoping for a peaceful passing for your dad. /hugs

I use my Magic Bullet for all of my packets. I prefer it over the shaker but the shaker is good if you are at work.

Unfortunately you have to take the IP supplements to qualify for the program. If you don't take them, your coach could refuse to sell you any of the other products. The IP supplements are FDA approved, high quality, and designed to be highly absorbed by your body. Because IP is an unbalanced diet, they have designed these supplements to give back your body what it needs to stay healthy. The IP proteins are just that - protein. No added vitamins or nutrients. If you don't take the IP supplements they technically can't guarantee your success. If you're not happy with that, you may want to look at the alternatives threads to see what products/supplements others are using and compare results? I'm sorry your coach was harsh with you. There's no need for that.

pamara - I'm excited for you to start too! It'll be awesome! NPA meens "needs prescriber aproval"and NPC means "needs prescriber care". There are some conditions that need to be approved by your physician prior to starting the program. You should be able to start at your consultation appointment if you decide that's what you want to do. Good luck!

She hasn't referred me and I have never heard of that test! Sounds like something I could use. I will bring it up next time I see my GP. I use a fast insulin during the day with at least three injections before meals - humalog and a long lasting one at night - lantus. For the most part my sugars have levelled out now . The times it goes crazy are usually because I forgot a dose somewhere. I definitely have retention issues...some days more obvious than others. My Dr chalks it up to age and being overweight as I have no other health issues aside from 20 yr old torn rotator cuffs which cause constant pain and some mobility issues and calcified tendinitis in one shoulder as well. This is why I was curious about the inflammation comment...I will need to look into that.

Thank you for your understanding

Thank you for the article and hoorah! I wonder if that is why the pain in my arms and shoulders is more intense then usual. I will have to look into it a little more. I will also keep an eye out for those products.

I have already told my coach that I don't consider my treating a low as a cheat because I don't have a choice. So far when I mention it at our meetings, that I had to "treat eat", she will weigh me but not measure because of the cheat. Even though she agrees with my action. Weird. Funny thing about the treatment. Some times fear takes over when treating and I will eat all and anything I can get my hands on to eat until the symptoms go away. It's a terrible out of control feeling especially when I am not home when it happens. And counter productive to weight loss! This is usually the result of a really low low. Last week I ate a cinnamon bun! (And enjoyed every bite I might add) because of just that scenario. Yet I still lost 5.6! What would I have lost had I not eaten it. My coach wouldn't measure because of it. Oh well...it was an out of control crazy response but my sugars finally levelled out once I ate it....usually a bar works though if I can catch the low 'high' enough.

Have you tried the jelly baby hypo treatment? At the first sign of a low blood sugar on the meter pop 3 jelly babies. Wait 5 mins and retest. Repeat as necessary. This is one of the ways they teach British kids to handle hypos, as the JBs are portable, easily accessible, small enough to carry in a purse or schoolbag and nearly pure sugar and gelatin and therefore easily absorbed and utilised. :)

If you wanted to go closer to an IP compliant item you could buy the tiny jelly moulds and use the IP gelatins - make them up with little water and some real sugar and at least get a nice protein hit in there at the same time.

Thanks SusieCJ and Stephascope for the advice. I signed up and will begin the program on Monday. I'll be cleaning out my cupboard, fridge and freezer to rid my home of any temptation. Somebody is going to get some thick-cut bacon I bought at the Dutch Market!

Any tips or advice to make sure I get started on the right foot? I'm both excited and nervous about starting and staying on the program. Glad to know there's a support system here at 3FC.

:dancer::dancer::dancer::dancer::dancer:

There is actually a thread I started a while back titled Tips and Tricks. We posted information like you are seeking there. Do a search and you will find it. I would advise you to read through these threads in general as there is a wealth of info here. Use the search feature if you have questions.

Also, make use of the sticky threads as there are such things as recipe ideas, exercise and such there. In fact, there are multiple posts where Rainbow has posted her recipe books and I posted one which was a collection of recipes found here and other
locations.

One of the more common themes you'll find is issues with the coaching so use this forum to supplement the knowledge, but due to cost of program, be assertive with your clinic to ensure you are getting your money's worth.

One other thing - there seems to be a growing contingent on My Fitness Pal with same names as here so you might want to do that also.

Another point I posted elsewhere but wanted to capture on this thread for newer people or people having trouble with their clinics or coaches:

I had a monthly maintenance meeting with my clinic yesterday.
In the course of the discussion, we started talking more about the challenges of maintenance and P4. I mentioned to her that I am finding myself need more social support and information than I needed on P1, and that I found this thread and am learning for others. I also mentioned that it seemed at times I see on these threads that there are other clinics that possibly seemed uninformed or perhaps more financially motivated, and it seemed that people weren't getting the same level of support as I have been given, esp. medically or after P3 is over.

She said that Ideal Protein really does not want clinics to be financially motivated or lack support or knowledge. She encouraged people here to report their clinics to Ideal Protein headquarters if those things are happening. She also said if someone doesn't feel comfortable doing it themselves, to let her know and she will do it for you. You can private message me and I will send you her information.

A little off topic- I just watched the documentary Fed Up on Netflix last night. It is about obesity and how/why govt supports the food industry in making us sicker.

It is definitely worth a watch, it supports the IP way of life (and touches on the nutrition science that proves it). A good reference for friends and colleagues who still believe that carbs and sugar are not the cause of this problem.