@Trying: Good luck with the TO! I hope you lose a lot.

I am also finally getting back on the bandwagon today. Ive been having too much fun and enjoying too much food. And, yeah, it was good.... very good.
But.... I can't take advantage of it. I need to get back to where I need to be and start the Stabilization phase.
So here i go again....

Trying... I may check in more often than once a day! If you need anything, just post and I may be able to answer right away. Assuming, of course, that I know the answers! lol

Good luck to us all
How are you doing @Tracy?

OMG I am SO hungry and if I pee one more time.... Today so far hasn't been too too bad. Though I have had my panic moments, I just stop and remind myself that this isn't the end of it all, but the begining. I can do 2 days of this. (Thank God it only last 2 days!!) Wednesday will come and I'll have more to eat and hopefully less to carry around.

Fingers crossed!!

LOL. I know what you mean! I remember always looking forward to having a piece of bread for breakfast after TO. I would savour every bite and really chew.. but, it was all gone before I knew it!
The day is almost over! Just one more.
Hang in there!
Let us know how much you lost from day one!

I am not starting with TO. it never seemed to do anything for me. I decided to just start right in with the diet. I asked my counselor if TO is absolutely necessary and she said no. You can also do it with oranges or grapefruits in place of the drink.

Hello All!
I, too, am a former LAWL'er. 2006, 2009, 2010. 3 babies. 3 times on the program. Each time except for the middle time I lost about 20 pounds. And that middle time was cause baby number three decided to make a surprise introduction :D
I've been on the Ideal Protein diet since LAWL closed down. And I was very successful with it. Lost all my weight, entered maintenance and stayed there for a year before I started gaining and gaining and gaining. Unfortunately, I find myself in a vicious yo yo this past year as I try recommitting to the first phase of IP which is incredibly strict and I don't feel particularly healthy.
I happened across the offer at Costco for the LA program and it rekindled my affection for the program. I like that I can still exercise, that there are rules (more so than WW) and yet it's not completely restrictive and (like IP) isn't based on being in ketosis (IP is and I find that it's causing some health concerns).
Very, very happy that there are posters in this forum!!!! Yay!!! My scale is broken... I'm vacillating between fixing it... and just going with the flow. Because it truly isn't about the number on the scale. Much more for healthy eating and feeling comfortable in my own skin. But the scale can sometimes offer motivation (and recrimination ;)) in much smaller increments. So... hmmm...
Anyway, today is day 1 of the TO for me. I was really confused as to whether I was supposed to have 2 bars and 6 oz of protein or unlimited protein and no bars. This has been cleared up for me after having read through this thread. In my time at LAWL I was gold and then later plan 2. I preferred the gold but I think the number plan still works...
So happy that the TO is only 2 days... looking forward to the end of tomorrow...

Omg I have the exact same story as you... Only one child but as far as doing Ip and ww. I just stopped Ip this week because I feel like cramp all the time while I am on it! It works but is it worth feeling like crap all the time? I have recommitted to lawl... I too did the gold plan when I lost about 7 years ago i have not really tried the numbered plans but I do have them... Any thoughts by anyone as to which work better... Colored or numbered? I am starting with plan 2 and I figured I would change over to colored if I am not seeing as much success... So this morning I was 162.2. Hopefully I will not see this number on the scale for long! Best if luck to everyone!

Hi Barri.... glad to see you back! I've been wondering how you've been doing and what you've been up to.
I, too, did not do TO when I started this weight loss journey in September. I just started eating what I knew to eat and the weight started to fall off.
I did the gold plan and plan 1. I lost weight with both but, plan 1 is the plan that sticks in my mind. I find that I can follow it much easier!
Good luck with you choice... I think it's a good one. Start the numbered one and see how it goes.

@Capricious: Welcome! It's so nice to have yet another person for bouncing ideas around to.
Good luck with your TO and may you lose plenty!
Do post often and let us know how things are going.

I've been bad. I want to be good but.....
I'm not eating from all the food groups and overeating on the starch. I'm finding it hard to get my veggies in. I like veggies but I don't know what's going on.
I think I've taken too much for granted in the last two weeks. I've been enjoying too much good food. It's time to get strict and get back to where I was so that I can start the stabilization phase.
I need to lose 2 lbs now to get to 140. I may reassess it and make a new goal of 135 when I get there.
Also, I need to find what exchanges are allowed for the bars? I want to stop them but I don't know what I'm supposed to eat.

Any ideas?
Please help.

@Trying: How's it going?

My lifesaver is "veggies hiding in plain sight." My favorite is to add a can of no salt added tomatoes to a serving of ground beef, as well as a bunch of sauteed (in non-stick spray) peppers and onions, to make some homemade chili. I add the spices from my favoritel chili recipe. I like the vegetables cooked with my food a lot better than I like to eat salads every day.

Sorry to have been AWOL, by the way. I am getting things in shape (no pun intended, but makes me laugh) for my DD to come home for the summer. You don't realize how much cleaning needs to be done until you are in the middle of it.

I haven't weighed in a while, but I visited with my parents last weekend for the first time since Christmas, and they both talked about how much thinner I looked. That was nice to hear.

Ok Day one of TO is over and I have a better handle on things today. I lost 2# as of this morning. I'm loving my Peanut Butter Grab1 bars. They taste just like the old LA Lites, just a little chewier :)

Shy- I know how you're feeling right now. I just needed to have a conversation with myself about who is actually in control here and that all these yummy foods aren't going anywhere (except straight to my tummy and bum). You have 2# to lose, which is the hard lard. It's still only 2#...for now, but soon it could turn into 4# then 10# and so on. Take the control back and get back to that beautiful goal weight of yours!!

Ok so I'm a little proud of myself. The hospital I work for is having a bake sale tomorrow for Relay for Life. I was going to bake something yummy, but I just knew that I was still far too weak to be anywhere near baked goods. So I purchased some goodies instead. I left them sealed up in the locked car. TO off is OVER and I made it through without error! Yea for more food choices tomorrow!!

Good luck and good night ladies!

@Tracy: You're right! The veggies are there. I just have to be creative. I also like to mix veggies into other foods but I also like them as is. I think I've been losing motivation and I'm tired of thinking 'what do I make for dinner?' everyday.

@Trying: Thanks for the words of wisdom... you're absolutely right. That is exactly how I put the weight back on. I never went through stabilization and never learned what to do and the weight just crept back on.
I did a little sole searching yesterday and told myself that I have to jump back on the wagon fully... don't let my legs dangle.....

I'm happy to report that I dropped one pound overnight. I did everything correctly and measured my food and guessed at the amount to eat for my starch (I had something different that is not covered by LAWL). AND i drank my veggies! I found a bottle of V8 and had 1 cup of it.
The results speak for themselves...

Current weight: 141.0
Goal weight: 140.0
1.0 lbs to go!

@Trying; Good for you for not falling into temptation!

Okay... so TO is over! I'm proud of myself because my husband really wanted to take the family out for dinner last night at the favourite authentic Italian pizza place. I ordered a salad with a lemon vinaigrette on the side. It was super yummy! I love ordering salads out because they have so many bits and pieces that I don't normally take the time for at home (cilantro, little bits of red onion). It was great to wake up this morning feeling like I am on the right track of moderation. Really enjoyed my Greek Yogurt and raspberries with a few almonds for breakfast. I split the protein portion so that it was 3/4 c of Greek yogurt and 6 almonds.
@Barri- Well it's great to have someone around who has had such similar experiences to my own! I found with IP, that while it definitely works it was reinforcing a terrible binge/ restrict pattern... mostly learned in maintenance where a free day is followed by the Phase 1 day. It really taught me a lot about healthy choices and watching the carb (starch) intake which I had never realized was so important previously but eating healthy is a lifelong commitment. Phase 1 does not seem healthy to me. Too few calories, too many packaged/ processed foods. Hence my return to LAWL. I know I will always need to watch what I eat but I also need to live a bit. And it is great that this program allows for an occasional glass of wine or piece of pizza.
For me the only real difference that I noticed between the number plan and the gold plan is that the gold plan allowed me to pair my food choices as I wanted and the number plan denotes how I should plan them. I preferred the gold plan in this way as I didn't really find that the number plan offered greater losses for having more restriction. So, while I'll try and follow the set meals... if I'm not hungry for more I'm not going to eat it just because it's part of that set meal. That just doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
@Trying- It's funny that we both started the exact same day! What was your breakfast this morning??
@Shy- Firstly, Congratulations!! You have done an exemplary job of showing what a positive, moderate attitude can do. Get to goal, while still living along the way! You give me hope that such things are possible :)
Secondly, in regards to the stabilization process...
With my Costco order came a booklet that explains the different stages. The Rapid Results stage is the one I believe you've been following up to this point. The next stage is the LA my way- which the booklet states should be followed after losing 20 pounds OR reaching goal.
It really isn't too much different from your current eating plan it just allows for an extra ounce of protein and there are a bunch of starches/ vegetables that are now allowed. In my experience of maintaining what you're doing is maintaining... You watch the scale, enjoy having a bit more when you have company or vacations and cut back when you see the number on the scale rising. I do remember that my clinic said when you hit maintenance they start adding in an extra starch and a bit of extra protein and then leave it for a week to see how it affects the scale and keep adding back until a level number is reached. For the bar replacement I think it was an extra fruit & starch. Definitely the extra fruit but I'm not positive what was in addition to this... I think it was a starch but I can't remember for sure... Maybe try calling LAWL to go and ask?
@Tracy- my mindset is fairly similar to yours... just doing whatever works and qualifies as healthy eating. I have a problem with sugar as well and am fairly leery of trying to incorporate the bars again as having one always makes me want another 5 :o At this point I'm thinking of knocking down the bar intake to one a day or find out what the replacement for a bar is for sure and use that instead. Also, I'm considering adopting a bit of the WW protocol that allows extra points. I would do this by eradicating one of the two bars allotment daily. I figured roughly the amount of points we are eating on LAWL everyday and with one bar it works out to 26. My daily goal on WW. It would allow me a bit of wiggle room on the weekends or for birthdays etc. And as I know that one of the things I really need to work on is not being so all or nothing I think this would really help with that. Have to see... for now I just want to stick to the plan ;)
Hope everyone has the sun shining on them today!

Okay...
So I chatted with LAWL online. And they said the bar exchange is 2 starches and 1 dairy for both bars.
@Shy...your best bet may be to go to LAWL online click on the 'chat' icon. They communicate with you through messenger on the computer. You can ask them how you go about properly phasing off now that you've reached goal...

OH, Capricious!!!!!
Your kind words made me blush :) Thanks for making my day. You can and will do this! It's all about attitude.... and you seem to have it.

How can i ever thank you for getting this information for me???? Thank you. Thank you..... Thank you!!!!

I just ran out of bars and I really didn't want to go out to the store and get any... I was getting worried that the effort of yesterday would all be lost today. This is fantastic news!
I have come across so many different 'versions' of what replaces the bars that I was getting confused! I read that they could be replaced with 1/2P to something like 1/2P,1V, 1F and 1S. I was getting so frustrated that I literally threw up my hands in frustration.
The great thing about your answer is that you just got it from the source itself!
I can't thank you enough!

I will definitely look into the LAWL online when I get to goal..... I'm thinking of maybe getting down to 135? I'm not really sure yet... It took so long just to get to 140 that I'm quite happy here... Besides, I might have to buy more bottoms if I go that route. lol
I already have to go and buy new tops. I think most of mine are too loose. I'm talking about the t-shirts.... my blouses are fine... they are the light fluffy chiffon ones that are 'in' right now.

@Shy- I just wanted to add that one of my favourite ways to have my veggies is pureeing them in the blender... I make a green smoothie with kale, spinach, celery, cucumber and sometimes lettuce. To this I'll add either an apple or a banana to sweeten the taste (but you can use your preferred fruit). I found during take off that I really enjoyed pureeing the veg and then adding the TO juice. It's quite refreshing. Another thing I enjoy is cauliflower 'rice'. I'll grate a head of cauliflower (usually in my food processor but a regular grater works just as well- it's just a tad bit more work ;)) and then either steam it in the microwave for a couple minutes or sauté it with a bit of coconut oil. If I steam it I really like to add a bit of salt, cilantro and lime juice. If I sauté it I add cumin, ginger and a bit of paprika.
@Barri- I was reminiscing over the gold plan and I long for the days that there were the carb trades. My favourite was a peanut butter and jam sandwich being considered a protein. And three sticks of twizzlers were a starch.