mezmerelda - Congrats on your loss.:carrot:

beaka - Congrats on the 1/2 and welcome. The first week can be a little rough but it will pass.

Kayweight - I hope your week 2 is going well and that your are less frustrated. I hope you are getting the IP videos. In the upcoming weeks you will learn more about the program and science behind it.

Hey beaka - welcome to P1 and I assume they gave you a sample bag of 7-10 days of food so you could try various stuff out....

I never liked the almond vanilla drink - I had great expectations but I thought the flavor was kinda weird - you are a tea fan, I can see - I think you might find the ready to drink vanilla is a better additive to the chai -- and that's a great combination. Just a bit of the drink will lighten the color of the tea, so you can stretch that one IP protein item out for hours, if you like!

I think the chicken a la king and that chicken patty thing are terrible - it is better to have real chicken as your dinner allocation of real protein rather than trying the IP dried versions.

A tastier snack -- you might be surprised by the Crisps, the soy balls (or whatever those little round guys are called), or the puddings -- I find butterscotch pudding to be pretty ok, and it's more 'grab and go' than you might think - you can take your shaker and mix it up in a jiffy, if you need to have it in the car.

Unfortunately, like other packaged food programs, that starter bag gives you variety but it always includes some of the least favorite items... try to get your clinic to let you trade back stuff that you know you won't like. The omelets for example - since 2 eggs are freebies, or you can choose eggs instead of the evening real protein - who needs to spend IP prices on the omelets?

You will figure out which food items work for you, and you will likely find some alternative items from Quest or Healthsmart or other makers - you will have sufficient variety, and this program will work for you!

And don't wait to get into the recipes - take those packets and turn them into muffins, cookies, and other stuff that will work for you and will taste great!

You are off on the right foot and you can do this!!

Hey, y'all!

I had my roasted chicken breast and radishes in my car before class last night. I'm working on my doctorate in public health. My night classes are 3 hours, so I think my plan will be to scarf down dinner before then eat the snack during or after. Last night I came home and had the ready made chocolate pudding. Yuck. So then I did have a 4th packet (coach said up to five the first few days)- the apple cinnamon puffs. I really liked those.

This morning I did the pancake mix as a waffle with WF syrup and had one egg. THAT I can do. I planned the broccoli cheese soup with broccoli for lunch, but I may go with something safer since I don't want my tummy to be weird for class tonight. Maybe the BBQ soy things on a salad.

I'm saving the good stuff for when it feels rough. I think tonight I'll have one of the wafers with some tea.

oneuh2 - 2 eggs are freebies? I saw in the FB group some people mention egg whites being a freebie, but my coach never mentioned that. She just said I could spread everything out however I want.

mezmerelda- Congrats on the big loss! I put my scale away. I want to wait until a full week before checking it again and hope for a good 1st weigh in! Also, I LOVE roasted cauliflower. I need to experiment with some other seasonings.

You're off to such a great start, so smart to be doing all the planning you're doing, it will make this so much easier going along, especially with the busy schedule you have. WTG!!
I never liked the soup mixes much, but I do like soup. I make my own with chicken broth, add whatever veggies I have, and seasonings. Today I had roasted cauliflower soup ( I roast a lot of cauliflower, puree it, and portion it into equivalent 1 cup portions, then freeze it). Any veggie(s) would work, great way to use leftovers too. And portable :)
Plus if you have this for lunch you get to have a packet too ( I often save mine to have a bit later, keeps me full till supper.)

About eggs - not free, but 1-2 egg whites are. I count one whole egg as 1.5oz protein.

Have fun trying out all the packets. If you haven't gotten to the muffin recipes yet, they're also great make-aheads, easy to take along with you when you have classes.

My boo boo - it is 2 egg whites that many coaches identify as a 'freebie,' not 2 eggs!

I did do the broccoli and cheese soup. I boiled some zoodles and mushrooms then whisked in the soup. It was still chalky and hard to break up. The creamy soups just don't seem to be my jam. :p

On the bright side, my tummy doesn't feel weird. It was weird IMMEDIATELY after the soup yesterday. I also just had some unsweetened tea (I bought a gallon) with lemon and a splenda. It seemed like such a treat!

Dinner is going to be some zoodles and chicken breast. I weighed it since I got the scale. That's still a good bit of chicken. I bought the Simple Girl sample pack of dressings and I'm looking forward to trying those too.

My coach emphasized these first four days being the worst, so I'm being obsessively vigilant. I'm not sure my body has caught on yet that I'm trying change. Hopefully tomorrow will be good too.

smdawheel - It has been a better second week. I'm still waiting to see what happens Saturday. I put in my calories for this week just to see what I was eating - 625 - 930 - seems so low! Anyhow - seeing that made me believe my body must just need time.

Finally, these past two days, I've had it where I had to remember to eat my snack and then dinner. Today it was an hour late for both my snack and dinner (5 hours instead of the 4). I think the "hunger" I feel after 4-5 hours must be normal, as it's not starving, it's just that it dawns on me that I could hold food in my gut, which is growling at me. A pair of pants fit better today and two people stated I looked slimmer, one asked if I was going to the gym. I don't know what to think of that - I measured (I know, I know) and one inch of the waist, but nothing else - maybe it's just that I'm not losing weight at the measurement points? Could that be?

To me the soups are best stove top, but when microwaved, make sure that they don't *boil* over - really watch. I find microwaving them I can't get them as hot as I'd like or they'll be chalky (sometimes I do a 30 secs., then stir, then 30 secs., then stir, then set aside/do something for a couple mins., then do 30 secs. to 1 min. and it gets warm enough w/o being overheated and chalky/blah.

I liked the maple oatmeal, today! Tasted like a treat. WARNING: I'm one who enjoys the crunchy cereal, chicken soup (tumeric spice, salt, pepper, and oregano), tomato soup (with salt, thyme and pepper), and broccoli and cheddar soup - ones I've found that usually folk are not a fan of. :D

Beaka - I mix all my soups in the ninja and either add to veggies or puree the veggies for a thick soup. I think Broccoli and Cheese or the IP Chili is my favorite.

Wow a doctorate in public health. One of my friends from grad school finished a masters in public health at Berkley about a year ago. She was holding out for a specific type of job (hopefully in CA). Its funny that she actually found that fab job in her home town in Iowa.

What is your background? Are you currently in a health career? I am a pharmacist.

beaka - I avoid the scale too, except for at check ins. Not my thing to weigh, and will likely derail me if I do. :)

I tried that broccoli cheese soup last week - or almost did. I was carrying it back up to my desk, and tripped a bit going up the stairs. It went everywhere, and was hard to get out of the stair treads. Didn't pick more of it up this week, as I thought that was a sign.

I'm at the end of day 9, and I feel pretty good. I do still feel hungry periodically, but I am in the habit of ignoring it and having some water. Let's see how I feel about that in a few weeks.

smdawheel - maybe you are the one that gave me that idea - This past Saturday I did something similar with the mushroom soup - I used the liquid and shaker with it - and used my nutribullet with the zucchini and yellow bell pepper - then I combined both the liquid soup and the veggies in a pot on the stove with salt and pepper - it was so much yummy soup! I forgot I meant to try that with lunch at work. Making my mush and then shaking the soup and microwaving them together. If that works - it will be fabulous!:carrot:

Kayweight - its sound like you are in ketosis now. I love that I am not hungry or obsessed with food. You are right on with cooking soups in microwave - it is better to do 30 sec at a time. I was always obsessed with both when I was on WW or any other diet (even adkins)

This weather in Wisconsin has got be down because I miss walking my dog. Too dangerous for both of us to go for a long walk.

smdawheel - hope there's a break in the weather soon!

I am starting the program tomorrow, hoping to have the same success as the many I have read about on this site. Thanks for the encouraging words, let the journey begin!

kayweight- Glad you're having a better 2nd week!

smdawheel - I'll message you about the work stuff. ;)

hoops50 - welcome!

mezmerelda - you didn't miss out on anything when you spilled it!

I decided to have the southwest cheese flavored protein curls as my snack. I felt like having something chipish while watching TV. There were a lot of them! Those are going on my list of things I would buy.

Hello everyone! Today is day one for me!, excited and nervous.
i did IP in 2013 then moved where there was no Center and, of course, gained all then weight back! i really want to loss it but more importantly I want to keep it off.
Any tips would be appreciated and I will spend hours reading thru the threads.
thanks!