Howdy maintainers and maintainer wannabe's.
Got my thyroid antibodies checked out the other day and there is a continuing drop in the levels which is exciting news for staving off autoimmune thyroid disease and drugs - I'm still way above at 244 U/ml but it's heading for <60 (preferably 0 U/ml), and it is dropping at every 6 month test. I was at 1108 a couple years ago, and last test in April was at 328, so a 26% drop just since the past check up!! Just using selenium and L-Tyrosine. I dropped the L-Carnitine as it was found to be unnecessary in my case.
And I am now at 135 well within my scream weight again, lol.
Aaaannnd, according to blood tests for hormones (and the physical proof - no periods ) I am officially in menopause! Yaaay for no more birth control!! Heading to the doc on Monday just to confirm as I do not want to take a chance on the birth control thing and be wrong!! I couldn't even begin to imagine that disaster scenario. :0

Liana

Maintainer wannabe - lol...definitely true of me!!! Congrats on health progress! Good luck with the appointment Monday.

Yep! All confirmed by the doc at my appointment. Now I just have to fine tune my maintenance plan again, lol.

Howzitgoin? A big shout out to any 'old friends' on the boards, I do wonder sometimes how things are going for those we haven't seen for a while. You are in my thoughts!

Liana

Good to hear! I wonder too. We had a few old timers pop in this year and just as quickly pop out. Unfortunately, we know that doesn't usually bode well but hopefully they bucked the trend and are fitting the no news is good news category.

I'm pretty new...been doing this for a little over three weeks now...I just wanted to say that you ladies give me hope that this will not only work but can be something that I can do to control my weight for the rest of my life. Thanks for continuing to post.

Hi Maintainers!

I haven't been on here in awhile...a LONG while, but I saw the site bookmarked on my computer and wanted to check in! I lost 40+ pounds not even sure how long ago on IP. Since then, I have been living life and dealing with MAINTAINENCE which is a big ol' AWFUL PAIN. I have found that I cannot easily maintain my lowest acheived weight of 125 without heavily restricting my calories. However, my original goal of 135-140 is much more realistic goal. Currently, I have 10 pounds to get back to that weight. I lost that 10 pounds last spring/summer but found it this past fall/winter with a new job. Grrrrr. I have learned that my weight maintainence is a true up and down journey. I have also found that my "HOLD THE BRAKES" weight of 150lbs has kept me honest in not getting up to the 170's like I did before I started weight loss. When I want to lose weight, I use MFP to set a reasonable caloric goal and watch my macros closely. I have not gone back to the extreme IP restrictiveness. Hope everyone is doing well!!!!!

Hi evemomma! Good to see you back again. I have been too stinking busy with elderly parents' health issues and now as of today (YIKES!) their move to a retirement residence. The past few months have not been good to me, since Dad lost his driver's license I have been their only link to all appointments and needs in town. This extra stress has seriously impacted my health and my antibodies are increasing again as well as having my TSH MORE THAN DOUBLE. A doc appointment some time this week means that we will probably be looking at Armour dessicated T3 & T4 thyroid. Maybe once the parents settle into their new place downtown, I may be able to get thing headed in the right direction again. I was within my scream weight from 4 years ago in Nov, now I'm up 15 lbs in 4 months. Working on getting that down by being very careful again. I'll try to check in here more too.

Hello maintainers!

It's good to see some people here that I remember. Hello Liana & evemomma!

Things were going so well and then something happened last year in June. I started gaining for no reason even though my diet was the same thing I had been doing for two years. Now I'm 35 lbs up from my scream weight. Cut calories to 1200 and watched macros to the point of becoming obsessive. Ugh. I joined a gym, got a personal trainer and did weight lifting 3 times a week plus cardio and still continued to gain. So frustrating.

I am working with a new doctor who is trying to get my hormones under control. I'm very low in testosterone and growth hormone. Thyroid checks out. All that to say that I am jumping on the IP bandwagon again. Not too happy, but at least I know that this works. Placed my order at Nashua last night and will start as soon as it comes in. Phase 1 here I come!

Hi all. I came back for a mini-reboot but it seems like the board is WAY less active than it used to be! Anyway, I'm not being as strict this time around, but on the other hand I don't have as much to lose. I watched my weight creep up about 15 pounds over the last 5 years and finally figured it was time to get back on track. Just about 7 more pounds to lose and I'll be happy. Doesn't sound like a lot, but for me the last 10 are always the hardest.

Hi there Bubbleblower!

I remember you and you're right. Not nearly as much activity on the board compared to when I was in P1 (2014). Maybe they are all over on the FaceBook page. Glad to see IP is working for your reboot. Mine is working too. 3 weeks on P1 and I'm down 7.3 lbs! It was hard getting started again and I'm not quite 100% on protocol. I'm using Stur water enhancer and sometimes I put a little bit of grated cheddar cheese(maybe 1/4 of an ounce) on my eggs in the morning. I'm also eating more of the freebie veggies to increase fiber and fullness than I did the 1st time around.

Hi! I remember you as well! I've kind of stalled, but I'm trying to get back on plan today. Red wine is my downfall, especially if I go out with friends. One day at a time!

Is there a FB page specifically for Ideal Protein that most people moved to? Too bad the board isn't like it was, but I guess that's been typical of most boards now with all of the social media options.

Good morning everyone-just checking in after a very long time of being away from this site. Nice to see some of the old familiar people here. I’m on day 5 of my “re-boot/tune-up/do-over” call it what you will. I went into maintenance back in February 2016 having lost 85lbs. Did fairly well, for the most part over the last 2 years, though slowly weight crept up. Last summer clothes were a bit tighter than the year before, but...then this last Winter...�� I just let myself go and I couldn’t seem to regain control of myself. So, 30lbs later, VERY tight clothing (what I can wear-and I refuse to buy larger sizes-I got rid of everything I owned that was bigger because my closet ranged from 12-20 and I was determined not to go back to my old habits) I went back and bought the mother load of products-supplements and all and started P1 on Monday. I am going to weigh in and measure today in about 3 hours. I weighed in here at home Monday morning and as of this morning I’m down 7. I know that the next 2 weeks will be minimal at best but hoping that the inches will be better. I tried self measuring here at home ���� hopefully I was way off. We will see today when she measures and I compare to what I measured. I’m nervous though, my old coach Meghan was amazing, she not only talked the talk, she walked the walk-she was 4 years maintaining and doing well. She was a wealth of knowledge and sadly no longer works there. The woman I’m seeing today, I’m not sure she knows anymore than what she reads off the paper...based on when I went in to buy my food. I’ll see later...hoping that I’m very wrong. Meghan’s support and knowledge were critical to my success-I firmly believe. Anyhow, that’s my story in a nutshell. I am surprised at how the threads have quieted down-I thought they’d always be busy - and it’s hard to believe when I look back that it was 3 years ago that I chose and found my “magic bullet”. I pray that I can have the same focus this time as I did last.

Nice to see you again! I, too, refused to start buying bigger clothing sizes again, so that really forced me to try to keep things relatively reigned in. I have a different coach as well this time since we moved, and she's not nearly as good. Thankfully I don't need as much coaching this time around.

I finally broke the 140 barrier a few days ago, and that was major for me. It seems to have given me the mental incentive to keep going, so I've been sticking pretty close to P1 this week.

I'm so happy to see some former posters come back after being away for a while. We have lost a lot of posters, but we are still a friendly, helpful group. Hope you stick around!!

Good morning! Weigh in day again.....last week, met my new coach and let’s just say that I am glad I weigh myself at home and have my boyfriend take my measurements.....my new coach -super nice, but doesn’t know much more than what any of us read day one out of the gate. She literally cinched the tape tight for every measurement. Not good, but as I said, I’m taking them at home too. So, I’ll go to the clinic, spend my allotted time since I have to buy my food anyways. As of this morning I’m done 3.2 from last Saturday-which surprises me. I’ll have to look back at my old records and see what week 2 was like I initially. I should have been minimal at best after 7 for week 1. Bf is still sleeping, when he wakes up, I’ll do measurements. Hopefully I’ll see some movement there too. Happy IPing to all!