Ro22, I can't imagine golfing with a bad back. You are a trooper! The few times I had back pain, all I wanted to do was just lay around (in semi traction in an easy chair) until I healed. It's amazing how transparent our backs are (we hardly know they are there) -- until they hurt. Luckily as I've lost weight -- my back has gotten better and healthier and (seemingly) stronger. But in any case, sorry to hear of your pain -- I've been there myself.

Bet you guys have been looking for me in the obits.... I have been so remiss through the month of September - avoiding coming here because I have no good news on the WL front. This posting is a cry for help, and a thank you to you all for being here.

I just did a quick review of your postings this month -- I am SO glad to see that we have at least a solid dozen regular posters from our stalwart 2014 Starters who continue to be here consistently (including you, Beth, who began IP this year but have joined our thread as a regular).
Ro22 - you are doing so great since your re-boot, so sorry re your back pain -- have you considered massage or acupuncture?
DD -- you are doing the IP Coaching gig!!! How lucky your clients are to have you in their corner!
Sue -- Glad you are re-dedicating to strict P1 rather than letting yourself stray from the path.
CenTxChk -- I too must apologize for long post, here. But, I am fascinated with your report from the Plastic Surgeon re loose skin and cosmetic body shaping.... did they give you a ballpark estimate on the cost? Inquiring minds want to know!!!
Alexandra -- Onederland and out of the Overweight category!!! Fabulous! You have been a rock of steadfast good behavior thru your whole journey - I cannot tell you how much I admire you!
JJTx -- I am so envious of your successful entry and transition into maintenance. You have done so many things exactly right, and even with the added challenge to go gluten free, you are right on the track of success.
Rayze!! So glad to see you returning to posting from time to time - you have done so well and you recognize the value of using 3FC as times get tough.
G4H -- loved your posting about the lower calorie tolerance for those of us who have been overweight... this is one factor that makes the 'keeping it off' harder than 'taking it off' - your sharing of experiences and learnings is so valuable to all of us.
Amanda -- I see you are back on the downward slope on the scale -- good for you - I really get how hard it is to return to the path when you have returned to 'free form eating' for awhile.... and congrats on the new flooring! Home improvement accomplishments are so energizing!
Liana!!! How great it is that you surf the whole IP sub forum and share ideas or bring humor to the conversation --- Halloween is coming - I am anxious to here about the costume plan for this year ;-)

I am sure I missed someone, and for that please know it was not deliberate - my brain's just not capable of keeping up with so much at one time. But it's just SO good to re-connect with you all -- I cannot tell you how grateful I am to come back here to the forum and find faithful friends who are modelling the very behaviors I need to re-discover.

I am struggling. No question about that. I am trying each day to just get back on program and by noon I am usually off... with an extra quest bar, or worse -- some off-program, junk food item, like an entire 7-serving bag of kettle pop corn.... What's wrong with me that I feel so empty/unsatisfied nutritionally that I am stuffing my face on a daily basis ?

It's so scary -- how could I be off sugar and most carbs for a full year, and within a few weeks, be sucked back into all the pre-IP triggers?

I have been soul searching for what steps I can take to turn the tide before I do too much damage. My weight has crept back up to 166.. that's 10 lbs higher than my momentary all time low of 156 on IP. Unbelievable and grateful that the damage is only +10 lbs at this point, but that does not make it ok either.

I know that much of what's going on for me is emotional/stress based -- husband is not rebounding from his fall/hospital/rehab experience this summer - he is more weak with every passing day, and I am fearful that he is giving up and beginning to wait for the grim reaper - docs are not too helpful so far, but I continue to reach out for help with his situation.... also I myself have had to restrict exercise to let my badly bruised knee heal... still going to some dance classes but not dancing for exercise, and my right hand is constantly numb - diagnoisis is moderate to severe carpal tunnel - appt with hand specialist is not until Nov 4th -- very good doc, but in high demand - he has a loaded schedule - very hard to get in to see him and arrange for surgery (arrgh!). All of this is the daily extra burden - I am trying to take it all in stride but, apparently, it's all contributing to my constant need to EAT!!!!

If you bear with me, I will brainstorm some options to remedy my struggle, and welcome any ideas from you all --

1. I know I need to return to good habits to change the context a bit --
- when I am engaged with you guys, I am less likely to get loosy-goosy about snacking, so getting back to posting here regularly is a smart move.
- getting out of my usual lazy boy chair location in front of TV with laptop, and sitting at the table in the breakfast room with my laptop (that's where I am now) creates a change of scene and takes me to a place where I seldom sit and eat -- fewer triggers in my immediate surroundings

2. I need to go back to posting what I am eating AND weighing regularly, despite fear of grim numbers or no downward change -- this will put me back online in MFP. Those of you who are on MFP support me when you see me there -- that is a extremely helpful and encouraging.

3. I need to get back into the mode of eating a salad every day - I have been lazy, and have not made a salad in many days... weeks, actually, since I was eating one every day.

This could be a good start... successfully re-adopting these habits could shift my reality enough to help me get back on the horse and stay there.
What do you think? What would you do?

Ro – My heart goes out to you with your back issues. Like Avalon said, you don’t appreciate certain body parts until you start experiencing problems with them. I threw my back out once and it was NO fun! I hope you are able to find a non-surgical remedy soon.

Hey One! So good to hear from you! I think you took the best first step…coming back here. I find, in posting and being honest here, I may not always have the popular opinion but I keep that connection and accountability with people who know a heck of a lot more than I do about IP. This group is a huge part of my success. I am always excited when I check in and see a new post from our group! I look forward to updates from everyone.

Couple thoughts…get the junk out of the house. You can’t eat it if it is not there. Maybe you should only eat at the table and not in front of the tv. Too much mindless eating happens in the living room. Make your eating plan for the week, go shopping for foods and prep your foods this weekend so you can just grab and go. It is always harder for me to stay OP when I don’t plan ahead. Lastly, give yourself a break. You’ve got a lot on your plate at the moment. I know what it was like when my mom was sick. I can’t even imagine going through that with a beloved spouse.

Best news is you realized the slide after only 10 lbs. Do you have any clothes from your original size? Put them on. I have a list on my phone of all of my progress (aka: Advantages Response Card from the Beck Diet Solution). You forget all of the aches, pains and challenges you had at a heavier weight. Take a moment to remember how far you’ve come, how good you feel and why you are doing this.

We’ve got your back! You can do this!!

great ideas, Jen -- thanks for sharing them.
And, I am going to bump the thread on "When I lose weight...."

Oneuh... good you are back - and 10 lbs (it could be waaaay worse) is what I was up over happy weight too. It's half gone now and yours will be soon too - we have faith!
Do you have a certain time of day that's bad for you? Make a plan to keep yourself busy with something you can't snack while doing. The rest of the time go on autopilot - clean up your salad greens, and bag them, get yummy veggie add-ins (like broccoli or cauli florets, oil & vinegar marinated mushrooms, chopped green onion, shredded Brussels sprouts, even a couple cherry tomatoes) all prepared so you can just throw stuff in your bowl/plate.
If noon seems to be a bad time... make that meal your savoury, full protein, hot veg meal so you feel satisfied, and use the packets or alts for dinner.

Remember even if you fall during the day, just make your next step in the right direction.
Liana

Oneuh - :hug::hug: So happy to see you....I have missed you so much. If you notice my pattern of not being here either...Well that number in my stats is about 6lbs higher...My home scale has tipped near the 200 mark..I need to get my head back around this too.. It makes me so mad that I can slip back and have to figure out mentally what is going on... That being said I am so glad you are back here for me to do it with! I am sorry DH is not doing well. I know how stressful that can be as I deal with DH's own medical issues. But I also know that sometimes I have to put Me First...(I am still trying to wrap my head around that) :hug::hug:

WI today with the coach I am not thrilled with. I don't want to balme her for my derailment last week, but her words were not helpful at all when the scale was up. Had a long talk with my old coach on Tuesday and even though her new clinic is not up and running in full (waiting on IP appoval), I am going back to seeing her weekly... I need her to get me back on track and get these last 15 off. And then I need someone to get me solidly into maintenance..

RO- sorry about your back issues. I remember having a herniated disk when my DH was 1 and I was in sever pain ... it was the worst to try to do anything....Hang in there and feel better...

oneuh2, It seems like you have a great plan in place, and there has been some great advice given as always. You know you have all our support and that we are rooting for your success! You too Sue! Remember when you get the cravings and think you are hungry to down a big glass of water and distract yourself with something you can't eat while doing like Liana said.


We've got this ladies!!!! And any men who may stop by for a read :) We are strong and awesome and worth it!

Quick check on my favorite IP ladies. I think for October we need to revisit long term motivation. I loved rereading posts from One’s “After I lose weigh I will…” post but the things that motivated me then are not necessarily what motivate me now. I don’t want to take reaching those milestones for granted, but am feeling a more internal satisfaction than proud of external accomplishments. After 43 years, a yearlong…no, a lifelong WL journey, months of therapy and learning from you ladies I finally can say that feel good in my own skin. Calm and peaceful. Like I fit in. That is worth the price of admission more than any bathing suit or designer pair of jeans can provide.

Not much to report on the maintenance front. Another uneventful WI…which is a huge success after my bumpy maintenance start. ;) My goal was 150 but I seem to have settled around 155. While I still struggle with the thought of how nice it would be to lose “just 5 more lbs” I am grateful to be where I am in maintenance and am happy with my figure. Heck, it even crossed my mind to switch to bi-weekly WI checks…but if it ain’t broke. I will give it through the end of this year before making any big changes.

My trainer has been on me about my limited carbs and calorie count. I will always defer to my IP coach’s opinion but I seem to remember G4H mentioning slowing increasing her calories over time. I am trying to not be so fearful of carbs and testing the waters of slowing increasing my calories, especially now that I am working out.

Busy weekend with my DD playing volleyball for her school team in a tournament plus a soccer game on Sun. She sure keeps us hopping! Hope everyone will have a great weekend!!

OneUhTwo, thank you for your kind words!

CenTxChk, I could relate to everything you wrote.

Hello to everyone, had about a week of stress and not much checking in here but back to my normal schedule, read through every night to keep up though.

I'm good, finishing my P1 reboot next Wednesday and can hardly wait - my body isn't so thrilled and wants the fats back. I have a WI Wed. so I'm holding out until then.

Just posted more over in the Maintenance thread so I won't repeat it all here, but just wanted to say hello:)

DD I am enjoying keeping up with your coaching stories. My coach also gave me her phone number to text. I needed it esp. the first week but after that rarely used it, I mostly just emailed her. I think the coach is a massive part of the success of the plan, in my opinion. At least for me it was.

One - I am sorry to read about DH's decline and send healing thoughts.

Merry Monday, I hope everyone had a great weekend. I attended a wedding reception full of amazing smelling authentic Filipino food and yummy desserts and ate nothing! I was so sad because I know it's so good, but another great week of starter losses makes up for it :)

Wishing everyone a wonderful OP week!

Hi All,

Back has settled down - thanks for your thoughts. It seems as if I work out it is ok as I am very careful not to twist, but any twisting is a problem, eg golf. I picked up my MRI results so I have them now to take them to my back surgeon, but I think I will give it more healing time and plan a golf trip to Scottsdale in about a month and see how I do. If I come up lame again, then I'll know surgery is unavoidable if I want to continue doing my favorite activities and best to get it addressed during the cold months so I could be ready to go by Spring.

I lost 1.7 pounds last week (Week 6) - not thrilled with the recent weekly results as Week 5 was a loss of 1.1 and Week 6 was 1.7. I'll see what happens in the next 2 weeks for the monthly total before I panic and question doing this with alternatives. I am hoping the last 2 weeks are simply an adjustment to losing so much the first few weeks.

The reality is that I have lost 26.9 pounds through 6 weeks which is slightly ahead of my first time. Months 3, 4 and 5 were my strong months when I did this the first time, a year ago. I'm not sure if that occurred for you, but I definitely remember the inches just melting off in those months along with the weight. That hasn't yet happened this time.

I went and saw my IP coach today for the first time since Feb. I decided to add in some IP products rather than all alternative as I was getting tired of muffins/cookies 3 times a day. So, I picked up Chicken soup which I will have for lunch like I used to do the first time I did IP. I am adding 2 cups of cauliflower to it so I am really enjoying that, and it is a nice change up as I have had spinach salads for the last 6 weeks for my lunch vegetable.
My coach gave me the latest product to try, Vanilla Crispy Square, which is unrestricted. He said it is delicious. I will try it as I love Rice Krispie treats.

Cheryl - good to see you back!

DD - I went to my nephew's wedding and had my Quest cookies that I made rather than Filet Mignon and all the goodies so I can relate!

CenTXChk - Interesting regarding lower carb...I mentioned to my coach today I was doing even lower carb than the first time (<10) and he said our brains need it so to target 25-40 net carbs a day.

Sue - I hope you are back on track.

JJ - Things seems to be going really well for you in maintenance along with CenTXChk and Audrey, etc.

By the way, have you noticed how many "A" names there are - Amanda, Alexandra, Amber :-) ?

Good Morning ... Sorry been swamped with work and home stuff.... Fell hard off the wagon again (day I saw my new coach) Ugh..think she triggers me LOL but back on track next day but man oh man did damage on the scale that is not fast to come off...

Vanila Crispy Squares are delish!!! :D:D Picked it up to try... Will be adding to my rotation of snacks. Also got some soups that are lower in calorie for lunch.

Anyway wanted to pop back in and let you know I am still here.... Just lots of college stuff to do with DS as he wants all his applications in before Ice Hockey Season starts November 5th so we are on the move trying to get things done. Lots of work. Oh and DS bought his first car last night. He is so excited! He did all the car shopping and checking of the carfax and then asked DH to go for a final look over. He found a good one so we put the deposit on last night for him and then he will pay for the rest...my hard working kid! So proud.

Sue I wonder if you are in a similar situation to what Liana found on her P1 which is she went over to alt P1 for the last 10 lbs.
I did something similar also, my coach didn't call it alt but we added things here and there.
Such a bummer about your coach.

Ro22 it's just really great you keep going along. A lot of fortitude and desire for your health.

One so nice to hear from you and my thoughts are with you.