Heya everyone :-). I'm feeling tons better from the last time I wrote here to you guys. And I'm glad to say I'm holding steady with my weight loss. I gained a few back but they dropped off quickly when I cut some carbs for a few days. I ate some Chili lastnight for dinner. I'm glad I still have a few random things left from Wonderslim. I got a diet direct catalog in the mail and I think I will be ordering a few things that I loved eating - like the CHili, the veggi joe is amazing as well. I do so much better when I cut carbs from my diet than any other plan - especially when the carbs I cut a processed & wheat carbs.

Only 4 more days til I leave for Vegas! I'm so excited I can't stand it!!! My goal was to be under 200 lbs by Vegas, I'm only 12 lbs off so not too bad. At least I didn't miss it by 20+ lbs :-). I'm thinking about starting Insanity when I get back from my trip. I was trying to hold out until I got under 200 to start doing it, but since I'm so close anyway, and exercising will get weight off quicker...I might as well stop procrastinating it!

I hope everyone else is doing great, and congrats on the losses ladies and welcome to the newbies. I do read my daily emails with your updates even if I don't reply :-)

xo
Sara

Hey everyone! I got my food yesterday! I ate my first meal about an hour and a half ago and I'm still full!

I had the hot cakes and they were really very tasty and cooked up great. The only problem was that I used IHop's sugar free syrup and it had that nasty artificial sweetener afterbite. The good news is that I wasn't tempted by the waffles my mom made for everyone else one teensy bit... and I LOVE her waffles.

I did "cheat" and use a few teaspoons of creamer in my coffee too... I'm NOT going to give up my coffee and I can't stand it black. I tried a bit of vanilla almond milk in it yesterday and it's just not the same to me.

I do have a few questions...

1. I've seen some people comment that they add the water to the chili a few hours before actually cooking it and the texture is much better. I'm going to have the cheesesteak noodles for lunch later. Do I need to do that with ALL the entrees to make them taste better or will it make the noodles gummy from sitting in water too long?

2. What the heck do you do with the Vegetarian Joe? I saw several good comments about it, so I ordered that for my extra box when I was bumping up to the next discount level. Now that I have it in and am looking at the pic on the box close up, it looks... uhm... well... gross... like a can of Alpo plopped onto the plate. Not really sure if I'm supposed to pretend I'm eating a taco salad with it or eat it by itself like the other entrees or what...

3. Is it going to hurt if I DON'T eat all 7 of the meals each day? I'm looking at the snack bars and thinking that I don't really want that many carbs as compared to how few calories and nutrients it contains. I feel better when I cut out a lot of carbs and I'd LIKE to keep it under 100 for most days. I've plugged in what I plan to eat today at SparkPeople and I'm right at 1,000 calories and 90 grams of carbs without the snack bar. (If I don't eat the snack bar, I'll probably add something else to bump the calories up to 1200 and keep the carbs less than 100 so my body doesn't go into starvation mode.)

4. How much trouble is it to send items back? I really think I'd rather have something like the chicken and noodle soup in place of the bars each day. A lot less carbs and calories in that AND I think I'll get enough to satisfy my sweet tooth with the 3 shakes/smoothies and dessert each day.

5. Do I REALLY need the fruit? I'll eat it some days, but again, I think I'll get PLENTY of sweet things with everything else AND I'd rather cut the carbs. For my starch each day, I think I'll be adding a few tablespoons of flax seed to my shakes. That will give me the fiber I'll need AND my omega 3's AND a bit of fat all at once. (I am taking my multi-vitamin.)

Thanks.

Lets see,

I do add water earlier to all the entrees, but in case of the noodle types, it does make the noodles mushy (which I like). Though for soups, I heat the water in a pot on the stove with some added veggies. After the veggies soften, I add the dry mix, whisk it in, then let it sit for five minutes or so.

I eat the vegetarian joe on lettuce, with some jalapenos, onion, and cheddar sprinkled on top.

I don't always eat all the meals, I do make sure I get at least 1200 calories a day though.

I also do not eat the starch or fruit daily, I tend to use more fat, protein, cheeses or oils; added to my main meal to bump my calories up.

Hi - I use Smuckers Sugar Free Blueberry Syrup. It is really sweet with no aftertaste. I barely use any at all but it is GOOOOD!

1. I think the soups might need this as I had a problem with it. The spicy pasta though does not. I have found that oatmeal, pastas, soups, and veggie joe taste much better if they are cooked stove top.

2. I agree with the veggie joe - alpo comment, LOL. I MUCH prefer the spicy pasta but I make the veggie joe and eat it over shredded lettuce with cut up tomatoes, peppers, a small amount of Kraft 2% shredded mexican cheese and a small handful of crumbled up baked tortilla chips. YUM!!!

3. I will never order the snack bars again. Too much sugar and not enough fiber. (Coconut and PB bars are the highest fiber/lowest sugar ones if you do get them though.) South Beach bars are cheaper, have the same fiber and protein and less sugar and calories. Although I honestly don't eat them unless I truly have to run somewhere and need something quick. The above Taco Salad lunch is my only lunch. I figure the extra calories from veggies and a few tortilla chips more than make up for it and it makes it feel like a meal for me.

4. Not sure - haven't returned anything yet. I do like the small pack munchies like O's and pretzels. They are good for on the go, TV watching etc... I rather do them than the soup personally. I wasn't a fan.

5. I do not eat the fruit. Rarely I do. I just prefer to eat a little extra here and there. I avoid all the fruit and starch options but I do marinade a lot of my dinners and add more veggies and sometimes do little cheats here and there. I rather have that extra calories for a few of my daughter's goldfish, LOL.

I am on Day 12 and am down 10lbs. I have eaten at a few restaurants as well for dinner - wrapped a terriyaki chicken burger in lettuce with no may or cheese and sub the fries for broccoli. Salmon and mixed veggies another night. Very easy to still go out thankfully and I am never hungry. I did have a big slice of pizza at my daughter's school picnic but no ice cream, no sides, no chips etc... I just skipped lunch/bar all together and only had one shake before dinner. I much prefer shifting things then staying on an exact schedule. I thought a cheat here and there would throw me off but the packets and shakes make it much easier to just get back on target and I don't feel deprived. I am finding this diet VERY easy. I know it won't melt off this quick in a few weeks and that is when my cheats will stop, I will exercise more etc... to step up the progress.

Good Luck!

Is anyone else's husband doing this diet with them?

My husband is and he is down 17lbs in 12 days and does not exercise a freakin lick. His pants are too loose already and needs to go down a size. I seriously can not believe how different he looks already. Face and belly slimmer. I am happy for him but darn MEN. I would LOVE to lose as quick as him.

It seems it is ALWAYS that way with men and weight loss Travelnurse...all my husband ever has to do to trim down a little (he's always been fit) is to cut out soda...*sigh* Stinks, but it is what it is

*runs through thread scraping tongue on carpet*

GAHHHHHH!!! After such a nice day on WonderSlim yesterday, I woke up this morning to my mom cooking eggs and bacon. No biggie. I swapped my oatmeal out for the WonderSlim "eggs" and added a couple of pieces of bacon to my plate.

I wound up drowning the "eggs" with salsa in order to choke some of them down. This is one item that WILL be going back! *shudder*

Thanks for all the answers and tips y'all!

Glad to see I'm not the only one with the thoughts of Alpo running through my head when I got a close-up look at the picture on that Vegetarian Joe box! LOL

I'm going to try it today on lettuce with some onions, tomatoes, cheddar, and salsa on top. My only problem is that it's not really going to seem like taco salad without tortilla chips, but I've only got 81 carbs scheduled for today, so I may splurge with a half dozen of them.

I WAS going to try the spicy pasta for lunch, but after the wretched "powdered cheese" experience with the eggs for breakfast, I decided a pseudo-taco salad sounded better.

I've decided to keep some of the bars for an occasional snack. I'll probably return some of them though and I'm DEFINITELY returning those "eggs." *shudder*

Finny... I think that's gonna be my approach... using WonderSlim to keep at 1,200 calories and less than 100 carbs per day. I surprised myself and did really well yesterday, but I am definitely going to tweak. The shakes weren't too bad, but they do have a sweetener afterbite. I'm going to add almond milk today to see if it cuts the taste down. (40 calories, 1 carb, 5 protein for 1 cup)

TravelNurse... congrats on the weight loss and I'll have to investigate the Smucker's syrup.

Has anyone tried the aspartame free shakes? Do they taste better? Worse?

I have the aspartame shakes, but no regular, so I can't compare. they are good though. I have a few things (puddings and stuff) with aspartame, they definitely have a more pronounced aftertaste.

Yeah, the eggs were terrible. I ended up using them up by adding a tablespoon of flax seed to the mix, just enough water to make a batter, and cooking them in the waffle maker as a savory bread. One whole egg, plus an egg white, makes just as good of a scramble egg for comparable calories.

Finny... thanks for the shake info... I think I'll order the aspartame-free ones on my next order...

And I was thinking the exact same thing about the eggs... I've still got to try the oatmeal and cereal, but right now, I'm betting that the pancakes are going to be my favorite....

I did not like the oatmeal or the WS cereals. I do like the Kay's brand cereals though. I love the pancakes!

I just had the chocomint shake... I added a cup of unsweetened almond milk and a tablespoon of flax seed meal to it before I mixed it in the blender with a bit of ice.... those two items did the trick... the afterbite isn't nearly as strong... it was YUMMERS so I'm not going to bother sending back any of these shakes so far...

I'm just leery of the vanilla shakes.... haven't tried them yet... I'll probably have it in the morning... I didn't order the strawberry because I saw so many negative comments about it... glad I didn't because the strawberry smoothie wasn't my favorite and it was supposed to be a lot better... I'm going to add frozen strawberries to it next time...

I haven't tried any yet, but the cereal servings are TEENY... I may save them for a dry, crunchy snack if they're any good and don't keep me full... I'll try the oatmeal in the morning...

I just ordered the Kay's cereals - hoping they are a little better. I find the oatmeal and pancakes much more filling than the WS cereal.

I kept my same weight all weekend long which is a positive because I cheated some, not with food really but wine, but it was nice to chill out. I went to multiple BBQ's and was pretty good for the most part. It was really hard to get back on track today though. Hoping tomorrow will be a little easier.

Hope you all had a great weight loss filled Memorial Day weekend!

I wasn't horrible, but I didn't stay completely on plan yesterday either... I was thrilled this morning to only gain 0.2 from the festivities. <-- sorry... I've always been a daily weigher

I had the cereal with 1/2 cup vanilla almond milk this morning... I was surprised that I liked it... satisfied my cereal need for something crunchy and sweet... and I honestly couldn't really tell that the almond milk wasn't cow's milk as long as I ate it blended in with the cereal.... I was tempted to have another bowl instead of the chocolate cake tonight, but I went ahead with the cake... I let it cool and it wasn't half bad either...

I'm going to exchange some things, so I'll let you guys know if it goes smoothly... with the expense of this stuff and the fact that I KNOW I'll ditch the program when I run out of "good stuff," I just can't justify keeping some of it....

I'm exchanging the cheesecake, smoothies, vanilla shakes, and those horrid, horrid, horrid, "eggs"... *shudder* I'm not tempted to eat the bars one bit, so I may ditch those too...

So far, I love the pancakes, cereal, spicy pasta, and the chocolate/mocha/chocomint shakes.... the beef steak pasta, chili, oatmeal and chocolate cake are pretty good too...

I was disappointed that I hated the cheesecake... it just tasted like a loose pudding to me... I have two boxes, so I'm going to try a pack from the other box since I can open one from each box... this time, I'm going to add just a little bit less liquid and I'm going to use almond milk instead of water to see if that helps....

Aside from the bars, I "think" the only thing I haven't tried is the Vegetarian Joe... just been too lazy to prepare all of the lettuce, tomatoes, etc to go with it.... LOL

Newbie here! excited to get my package today! I Plan on posting regularly with updates! Hope to get to know y'all! I've been scanning these forums for awhile!