I posted this on the cheat forum, but to be honest, i need all the help i can get so i am posting it here also.
I had a very rough last couple of days. My teenage daughter is having emotional issues and we ended up in an emergency room from Thursday at 11pm until Friday morning at 4:00 am. Being up and stressed all night found me at Waffle House at 4:30. I had all my old favs like grits, hashbrowns and toast. Stayed home and in bed all day Friday (unraveling mentally from the long night) and ended up ordering pizza from Papa Johns on Friday night. Today, we were invited to a few friends' houses. They served shrimp and crab chowder at the first gathering, and tamales and banana bread at the second.
I cannot understand why this is so hard for me as I am an extremely strong personality, successful in every other aspect of my life. I even stopped smoking 3 years ago, hardest thing i ever had to do. I am basically stalled at10 or 11 lbs, which is my first week loss. I have wasted money and time for week 2, 3 and 4. I am having an extremely tough time accepting the no carb issue. I LOOOOOOVVVVVEEEE Carbs. What's a girl to do? God help me!
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Aww Whirlybird I feel for you. I love my carbs too. But what I can tell you even though I'm new to IP, I am not new to low carb and I not only know it works but I know that once you're in ketosis you absolutely lose that craving for carbs. You just have to be strong and get through the hard few days. The problem is, if you suffer through one and a half or two days and then blow it, you start to suffer again.

Believe me, 100% might not sound eaiser but it is far easier than doing it 75% and suffering constantly.

Of course, the emotional trauma you've just been through was plenty of reason for wanting comfort food but now you've had it jump back on the wagon and get the suffering over with and then stay 100% and just enjoy the ride and the loss.

The carb addiction is harder to quit than smoking. I've done both. The carb one is waaaaay harder. I always felt like I was in control of everything else in my life, except food. But, because food is such a huge part of life and impacts how we look, what we can wear, and our size, it felt like I was only I was only in Control of 70% of my life.

I'm sorry that you slipped. It sounds like you had a rough few days and that is understandable. However, I suggest that you try to understand how you could have handled the situation differently. You are still turning to food for comfort. Is there something else you could have ordered, or should you have suggested a different place altogether? Learn from this experience, because life will always throw your curveballs and you have to learn to change how you deal with things.

Now, get back OP right away. You will probably need a few days to get back into ketosis, but that is ok. You will have more carb withdrawal, but that is ok too. I wish all the willpower in the world. You can do this.

I just tried the chocolate pancakes for breakfast. What an odd experience - kinda like eating chocolate milk. They were good - but for breakfast? Maybe not so much. Great for a latenight snack. Next time I'll try the regular pancakes.

The funny thing is, the chocolate cheerios commercial that's been on so much has had me thinking "yum, this is the first thing I'm going to eat when I stop IP." And I'm not really even a cereal eater. I think the chocolate pancakes made me get over that.

They were good though and I'm full now.

Jackie..The crepes are not bad nor are the orange pancakes..also making pancakes from the crispy cereal are really quite good. I couldn't eat the chocolate pancakes for breakfast either..

I am so sorry about your daughter and wish you strength to help and support her!
After battling weight for much of my life, I have finally figured out that it is truely a carb addiction. There is no doubt that if you eat more carbs, you crave more carbs and put on weight. It also messes up your blood sugar which starts the cravings again.
I can understand your love of carbs! When you jump back on IP you do lose much of your desire for carbs. You did great in the first few weeks and will once again begin losing as soon as you get back on.
My best wishes for you and hope today goes well.

Maile? How do you make it from the crispy cereal - not that i[ll probably get that again but you never know.

I had heard that the orange pancakes were gross but my fav flavor combination is orange and chocolate so perhaps orange pancakes with chocolate syrup would be an excellent decadant meal or snack

I was just writing in my journal out on my deck as I do every Sunday morning and saying how great IP is - I'm overwhelmingly satisifed with every part of it - the food tastes good, is extremely filling and satisifying, I'm not having cravings and I lost a bunch in my first week. I hope that continues

Good morning all! I have had company for 4 days so I have been busy! Then yesterday my scrap booking gals came over for a few hours to scrapbook. The hardest part was making the "goodies" for the club. I did cut up celery for those of us dieting but I sure wanted to lick the knife and eat some crumbs after I cut the BRo*******s. But I persevered and am 100% OP and on Day 48!!!

Woohoo, I sent 2 bags of larger clothes home with my sis-in-law and she wanted me to keep them "just in case"! I thought about it a moment and said no way, I am not going back to that size!!!

Bellamack, I saw that you lost 2.2 pounds! You are over the hump, now just eat a few more fish meals this week! I have been doing quite a few fish meals because I lost last week and I seem to have a nothing week after a loss,. I am trying to break that cycle!
Congrats to all of you on your victories this weekend. Dig inside for that internal motivation and be strong in temptation, remove the temptation or remove yourself. Don't let it get to you. Remember, this is a no cheat diet. I have been reading Dr. Tran's book and also going to his website and reading there. Make some adjustments . I am having baked zuchinni and mushrooms slices instead of all the broccoli and cauliflower. Just trying to change things up a little.

Good Sunday Morning to all,

I had another party at the Lake yesterday and food galore, stuck to a grilled chicken breast and raw veggies. I made a caramel cheesecake and didn't lick a drop. hmmmmmmmm. not easy.

My husband loves to fish, I have never fished, I am more the type to sit in the shade (Irish skin) and read a book. So, last night some classmates were in town (35 yrs out of school) and they said "come on lets fish" and I said I cant put those crawfish on a hook alive and I couldn't take a fish off a hook, so they volunteered to do it for me. I caught 7 fish and 1 was the biggest they got out of the lake that anyone could remember (drew quite the crowd) well, I was laughing so hard I was crying, just too funny. A guy in a canoe came paddling toward our boat when he heard all the commotion and he says 'what is it?" and I yelled "it's a Marlin" and everyone was dying laughing, since we were in a small upstate NY fresh water lake. So, much fun, they all celebrated with a round of "jello shots", but not me, just a big smile.

So sorry to hear about your daughter, hopefully she will get the help she needs to get through this phase. You said you wasted time and money for 3 weeks - actually you didn't! You had an emotional "get comfort food" response and went with it, followed by dinner with your friends and the "I've already blown it, so I might as well syndrome". What you've learned is:

a) an expensive lesson that you don't want to repeat (as someone else said - what other activities/choices could you have made?) think about it and write down 3 things you'll do in the future instead of wasting all the time and $$

b) yes, you (and many of us here) are true carb addicts. It's like quitting smoking - and you were successful at that. You can't have one ciggy, or two ciggys, or your back to full blown puffing (pun intended) I finally figured out that after 2 months, it wasn't the potatoes I missed, it was all the crap I put on them. I could honestly care less about bread and rice now. It takes time, but like quitting smoking, it DOES get easier with time.

c) you've learned about a huge lapse that will be followed by getting back on your horse, visualizing yourself at 130 and saying "yes - I'm worth it" - sorry L'Oreal, but it's a great line.

Hang in there! Although it's not the same thing, my nephew tried to commit suicide a month ago and came to stay with us for a week. He's now in a program back home of intensive counselling full time for a month with follow up counselling. While my initial reaction to this news was to run for food, I stopped and asked how cheating on my diet was going to help him or me - bottom line, it wasn't.

Jackie Gee: The crispy pancakes are to take mix 1 packet cereal, 1 egg white or 3 tbls egg whites from the carton, 1/4 t baking powder and 1/4 t vanilla and then add a little water to a pancake consistency. I dump in cinnamon also.
I did not like the orange pancakes either..but for some reason after being on this long..now I like them.
You could also try orange extract in a chocolate pudding if you like that combo. I know there is lemon extract..or in a pudding cake.
I am also happy eating IP products!

LOL!! My Hubby makes the chocolate "cereal" pancakes every day for breakfast. Before IP he used to make chocolate chip pancakes. I just can't seem to stomach the thought of having chocolate at breakfast. I agree with you.... maybe a late night snack instead!! I am still having the cereal pancakes made with banana extract and WF strawberry syrup most mornings (I sent a text to my coach asking if I could use the banana extract and she said that was fine). I enjoy the taste of those!

I am psyched!! My neighbor found frozen rhubard for me!! I can't wait to try all the yummy recipes!!

We are heading to our annual Cousin's party today. Most of our relatives haven't seen us since before we started IP!! Should be fun!!

Happy Sunday all!!

Good Sunday morning. Just one more day to get through before we are back to normal routine. One more weekend I've made it through with no cheating and hope you did too! I stepped on the scale today and to my surprise was down 6 pounds. I thought holy catfish, that woosh fairy found me. And then my scale went blank and read ERR. So I stepped off and got back on again and I was really only down another pound so 2 since Thursday. (That's more realistic I suppose.) I always have great losses on the weekends and then slow during the week for some reason. Hoping that's not the case this week so I can get closer to that half way point!

Whirlybird: I'm sorry about what's going on in your life but you have to learn to turn to something other than food for comfort. Food only satisfies hunger. You probably only felt worse after eating it I'm assuming so it may have been a good lesson. Keep your chin up and get back at it. I agree that after the first few days those carb cravings are not as strong. Stick with it and you can do this!

Sandy: I'm a scrapbooker too and all of the crops I've been to have been filled with junk. Funny how scrapping and snacking go hand in hand. Lately the 6 or 8 of us who would go from town have just been getting together at someone's house locally so we save a little money and then we can also have healthier snacks.

I want to pass my clothes to my sister in law also but I feel like I will be offending her. She has her second weigh in tomorrow and has been doing great so she will need new smaller clothes soon and it's obvious she is much bigger than me but how do you go about saying, "hey, these are too big for me you can have them"? I thought about keeping them just in case too but now that I know how to lose, I plan on catching any gain I may have before they get out of hand. We won't need those old clothes!

Of course we LOVE carbs. That is in reality why the majority of us are here. Quitting smoking is not the same. While it does require great willpower to quit you do not HAVE to smoke. But the truth of the matter is that we HAVE to eat. SO it is up to us to learn to make the right choices. When we have baddays or bad weeks we need to put our big girl panties on and start again. There is not one of us who have not been where you are. The advice to come up with a plan for next time is excellent. We should all have a "what if" plan so that we are not broad sided.
I hope that your daughter is getting help. Focus on her and keep busy. That will help get your mind off food.

12 weeks ago when I began researching IP, I never would have thought that after 9.5 weeks into the program I would be able to say that (as of this morning) I am only 1/2 pound away from reaching my 50% goal and 6 pounds away from seeing the 190's. I was able to hold back the tears this morning (barely) but when I see that 199.5........I don't think I will be able to do so.

Best to all........we got this!