While I am on here, I want to mention my moment last night.

My daughter has a bunk bed. She's had it for a year. For a year, she has begged me to snuggle her to sleep, but I always bail out and have my husband do it instead of me as he weighs less and I am terrified the thing will collapse under me if I get up there with my daughter. Last night, she asked me again. I hemmed and I haaed and was about to ask my husband to crawl up there with her while I realized something major...her weight and my weight combined is now LESS than my start weight!!! She and I can now safely be on the top bunk! So...for the first time in a year, I got to snuggle my daughter to sleep in her "new" bed! :cloud9:

Thanks for the warm welcome, zoesmom! I'm glad to read you can snuggle in the bunkbed safely. That is a fantastic reward!

I am doing protein shakes (2g carbs, 25g protein), meat (Canadian bacon, fish, sardines, scallops, turkey, occasionally beef), high protein bars (12-20g protein, 2-10g carbs) and salads loaded with veggies with homemade dressings with no sugar. I am eating two WS products a day (a meal and a bar) for convenience sake. No exercise at the moment, as I have vertigo and any movement seems to trigger it - even simple things like walking.

I'm tracking on Livestrong. It shows I'm consuming 900-1100 calories a day and less than 40 carbs a day. I have hypothyroid and Cushings Syndrome. Because of this, my doc has recommended trying the ultra low carb path. Weight Watchers was not working at all - I gained over 10# eating all the "fiber" a.k.a. carbs. I also did the Paleo diet - but that was really hard for me because I am on the go so much with my kids (sometimes until 10:30PM) and my job.

I'm getting frustrated. I was hoping by this time I would at least be down 10# or some inches. I know I'm not gaining (yeah!), but this is heaviest I've ever been. I had a picture taken of me at work and it was posted on a wall. I walked by it and said, "Wow, who's that?" Yeah, it was ME! Depressing...

I'm glad to hear that your doc says a trace amount of ketones is a good goal. I am a water drinker by nature and I think I might not have enough of a concentration to change the strips.

Thanks for taking time to reply to me!

No sweat :)

If you know you have certain obstacles to overcome with your dieting, you may want to reach out to the forum that touches on this indepth. Whereas I would adore to see a new name here with WS and encourage you to post often (really, I would LOVE for you to be a regular here, I am NOT shooingyou away!!!), you may find better help there as many have been in your shoes and have either overcome their obstacle or are still overcoming it.

I found this thread for Hypothyroidism as well as this article. Here and here touch on Cushing's and dieting while on prednisone (GAHS I HATE THAT STUFF!!!! I have to use it frequently for my asthma flair ups...no clue until I researched it that it can be used for Cushing's too...heck, had to google Cushing'e even.)
There are tons more threads on the subjects, but I just grabbed what looked like the top...then again, since I have neither, I dunno if I grabbed the right ones. But go check it out. Maybe you can get some advise there. And seriously, let us know here, how you are doing!!! :hug:

My grandson was here on Monday and shared his cold with me. I went and picked him up this morning, the doctor has him on a breathing machine.

I worked out for a little bit yesterday, but just did not feel up to much.

:welcome2: ukemama,

Glad you joined us, I looking forward to reading your posts.

zoesmom, so glad you got to snuggle with Zoe. I bet she was excited, also.

:cp::cp:

Thanks for the links to the articles, zoesmom. I tried to do a search of this website when I first joined and couldn't find anything. In fact, when I used the search function today, I still got no hits. Weird...

Today is DD's 11th birthday and DH's birthday is tomorrow. Tonight was supposed to be my one cheat night (in three weeks). I wanted some wine, a little cake and a healthy high protein meal with lots of veggies. I'm so worried that this one night is going to set me back all three weeks.

Enjoyed my meal last night. Had two glasses of red wine, loads of veggies a small steak and a 1 1/2" slice of birthday cake, which, I have to say, tasted disgusting. The frosting was greasy and gritty - nowhere near what I was expecting (or wanting to taste). The bright side of this is that I certainly won't be tempted to cheat with THAT! :)

:lol: Are you talking about that WS cake? THAT thing IS horrible! As a cake baker, I scream, put that thing out to pasture to DIE! Happy birthday :)

Giving WS a try
 

Hello All!! I am new to 3fc, but I'm here because I need some help :tantrum:

I started on Ideal Protein Nov 2012 - 1 week before T-Giving...looking back not a fabulous idea. Between T-giving & Christmas I lost 16lbs, which was wonderful!! Getting back on the wagon hasn't been so easy & I have gone on/off the program a couple of times since the beginning of the year.

I found the WS products online & their meal plan seems much more "normal" for me, as I was craving fruit & dairy. I think this will be a "win-win" for me & if I have a piece of fruit or yogurt I won't be "throwing my money down the drain" as the coaches at the IP clinic have put it.

Any help getting started would be greatly appreciated. I do plan on incorporating some alternate protein shakes as I have a whole cabinet full of them! Thanks & I hope you all succeed in your journey :flow2:

:welcome2: kmorin,

I modify the WS plan depending on my week. As I get closer to my goal, my losses per week are smaller.

Also depending on my exercise I have to change things up.

So lately I have cut fruit out and increased my veggies.
Some weeks I will add in a starch, this past week I cut starches. After my exercise today (4mi walk away the pounds, some weight lifting, and 15 minutes of hula hooping-which I only did because I was having fun with it :D) I had an EAS Carb AdvantEDGE..thanks zoesmom

I use LoseIt app on my phone to track food, exercise, and weight. This also shows my protein, carbs and fat. I am one of those people that can be 'done in' by carbs.

Glad you have joined us, I look forward to seeing your posts.

:welcome: kmorin!!! Glad to have you!

Much like irish, I have had to modify my WS meal. Most days, I don't have fruit. Half the time I don't have my starch. Sometimes I don't have my dairy (but that is laziness...I hate milk.) Mostly, this is because I love carbs...but so does my body. It just hold onto them until the end of its days. :)

That being said, you CAN eat the fruit, milk, and starch and lose weight. It will just be a little slower, but not all that dramatically slower. And if it keeps you OP, by all means do it. Afterall, the plan was made to incorporate these foods in it, so why not utilize it as intended if it is what works for you?

Incorporating shakes is a swell idea. If I had some in my cabinets, heck, I'd do it too! Why waste the money if I have the product!?!? I assume you have IP products and both IP and WS are interchangeable as far as nutritional values go (for that matter, so is Medifast, Nutrisystem, and a few others I can't think of on the top of my head.) If it is something other than the meal replacement systems, just make sure the shakes you have on hand have the nutritional daily requirements in them so you don't muck your body up with a deprivation of sorts.

On WS, you want to stay between 900-1200 calories a day. If you are excercising, you'll want to add between 100-250 calories on workout days within 30-90 minutes post workout. Either an extra WS shake (or equivalent) will work...my doctor recommended the EAS Carb AdvantEDGE shake. Not all that expensive at Wal-Mart, and not all that bad tasting either, thankfully. :)

Most things are tasty enough on WS...although there are a few things I'd rather not eat again (THAT CAKE!!!!....BLECH!!!!) but all in all, not so bad. As with IP, make sure you get all your calories in and make sure to weigh/measure properly so as to not go over your calorie count (LoseIt! is awesome.) Easy peasy.

Again, :welcome: and good luck! Looking forward to hearing your updates!


Today I had my weigh in. Blech. Between TOM and retaining water, I am up. But I am down some too. At least I am not 259 anymore :lol: 258.2 is my offical weekly weigh in. SO ready to be out of the 250's....these past few weeks have been killing me...finally get out of my plateau only to have my super infrequent period come and say "hi". So unfair....

Found this...very fitting and LOVE it. Here is my QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might as well put that passing time to the best possible use.” ~Earl Nightingale

Today's weigh in down -.6 for the week.

zoesmom , :cheer3::cheer3: you are doing great!!

Kmorin...I was doing the 6-7 shakes/replacements in January, but I have cut back. I probably have 3-4 per day at most now. Again, I modify according to how my week is going- I would say try different things and see what works the best for you. Just make sure as zoesmom pointed out that you get in your 900-1200 calories.

I have the baby here today and he still has a cold, so he is a bit cranky. I will check back later.

I eat 2 packs for breakfast, 2 for snacks, 2 for lunch, 1 of desert. So yes, 6-7.

But here is the difference: With WS, you only get 3-4 ounces of meat at dinner, roughly 1 cup total of veggies, and 1 ounce of starch (plus your optional.) Each shake is 100 calories. Lite Entrees are about 130 and snack bars are roughly 150. Deserts range from 70-165.

In IP, you get 2 cups of veggies for lunch, 5-8 ounces of meat at dinner, plus two more cups of veggies. The foods on IP (memory can't recall exacts, sorry) range from 80-180, with most shakes being 110.

Pretty much, you get the same amount of calories in each, it is just how the diet is broken up.

NOW, if you have all of your phase information (and if you don't, you can easily track down Dr. Tran's protocol on the web and get it) you CAN substitue WS products for IP products and do IP on a complete alternative. Lots of IP-ers do that. Here's the thing, if you do that, make certain you track every calorie as there is a difference between IP and WS and you'll want to be certain you are eating enough/not too much. I don't mingle the two. I like to keep things simple. :) But if you want, you can do that. Pay close attention to those fruits, dairies, and starches if you do that as one of the reason those are not allowed on IP is all those other foods you get that you don't get on WS. Plus, IP wants to throw you in ketosis. That is not WS focus. The plans are very similar, but different JUST enough, you know what I mean? Really, the WS plan follows more closely to Medifast than to IP, even though the shakes are interchangeable between the three for the most part.

All this being said only to follow up with...yep, irish is right. You may have to modify based on your needs. The less you modify, the quicker you will loose, but if you add in exercise, you'll have to modify by adding food (the program was created so you didn't have to exercise, but how can I claim to change my lifestyle if I am not changing? :) )

Like I said, I like simple. I amd following WS to a "T", the only exception is I don't always do the dairy, starch, and fruit. I make up for those lost calories in the way of celery, egg whites, or almond milk. On days I excercise, I add a shake. Other than that, I follow it. I hate complexity. That's why I don't count calories :)

You can do this! I have faith in us all!

irish---yeah you!!!!!!! :cheer:

Cranky baby fell asleep in Grandma's lap, so he is now down for a nap.:)

Whatever you do...DO NOT order the chocolate cake. We have not been able to come up with a way of improving it.

I am a chocolate person so I like the chocolate, hazelnut, mocha puddings/shakes. I really got into the hot chocolate, but I was also doing a lot of snow shoveling.

The iced cookies both chocolate chip and oatmeal are good. I sometimes have one of those for breakfast on days I have to go get the baby.

Breakfasts: Like the pancakes,.the apple/cinnamon oatmeal is fine if you make it into pancakes or muffins...I am not an oatmeal person.
I didn't care for the eggs much, cinnamon crunch cereal is good for a change .
Entrees: I like the spicy cheese pasta, and cheese steak macaroni The veggie joe is okay now and than.

I have never done the soups...not a soup person.

Bars: I like the gourmet ones -marshmallow chocolate, creamy peanut butter.

Can't think of anything else right now.