Hey Newbies, this is your week for great wt. loss! We all started this diet with a bang and it is so motivating. Just DON"T CHEAT and you will see fabulous results.

Hey Oldies: we made it through the holidays without too much damage. This is our life! With ups and downs, holiday, birthdays, vacations, parties, coworkers, snowstorms, earthquakes (here in California.)

No matter what, we keep coming back and posting here and it is the Key to Our Success. I truly believe it.

For me, when I make time to come here to read and post, it represents my commitment to myself and to my wt. loss program. I am so grateful!

Today I had a good talk with my sis-in-law who is also my IP coach. She has lost 50 pounds and has been on maintenance for over 6 months.

We talked about how our attitude toward food has changed so much and it is still true for her. She no longer eats junky foods. She rarely eats bread but when she does it is only "good" bread. She eats only "good" cheeses.

While I was talking to her I realized that I no longer crave my old drive through fast food favorites.

Early in my IP program just the thought of a "hamburger and fries" would set my mouth watering and I would feel so deprived.

But now what I look forward to when I get to maintenance is eating high quality real food, not the junk food that I used to eat.

I know for a fact that maintenance is very do-able yet I also wonder what happened to our original posters ( Alwe and Valkyrie see October and November, 2009.) and how they might be doing.

I vow to keep posting even after I reach maintenance.

Oops, I forgot to talk about clothes. LOL.

I threw out more baggy clothes and some old shoes. Closet looks so good now, not stuffed and overcrowded.

Also my size 12 jeans are getting baggy........ woohooo.

Thanks, I've never been happier than I am with the results from this plan.
Breakfast is usually Cappuccino, Pina Colada or Banana Pineapple drink. Lunch is usually Mushroom soup with 2 cups of Portobellos or the Chicken Soup with 1 cup Cauliflower and a salad with Celery or Cucumber on it and my vinegar/Olive oil dressing with my spices (garlic power, onion powder, pepper etc.) Dinner at night I love Steak with 2 cups of Portobellos or a Hamburger patty with 1 1/4 cups of tomoato, 1/2 cup dill pickle and 1/4 cup onion (I only have this once a week) and I put mustard on my hamburger. Or I'll have chicken with Brocolli & Cauliflower steamed. I've also made Fish in tinfoil in the oven with my oil on it and spices and put my brocolli right on top of it and cooked the whole thing then added vinegar when it comes out of the oven. I LOVE having my Restricted item at night as my snack. BBQ chips, Lemon Poppy seed bar or Soy nuts are my fav's. If I have the STEW for a lunch then I'll have a vanilla drink for my snack at night. But I do have 1 restricted item every day. It's my treat. I drink 4 cups of water by lunch and 4 cups of water before 5pm and then another 2 before bed every day.
I just started drinking coffee again and I'm drinking it Black which is amazing as I was a Double cream and Double sugar girl.

I find I'll have a couple of lower weeks and then a nice big one.

Lilita, I vow to keep posting, too. I think Valkyrie is getting married this month, so she probably doesn't have time to even think about this. We can ask Torchlaker to start a monthly maintenance thread when she gets there, since it seems like either she or Meghan will get there way before any of us will.

I have been so bad at posting lately and I think that is why I have not been losing as fast lately. I think posting keeps you motivated. I did gain a few pounds over Christmas, but have finally gotten these off.
I did feel really good yesterday when I bought a size 8 pair of jeans! I am still 12-14 on top but hopefully one of these days I won;t be so top heavy. I carry all my weight above my waist. I long for the day when I actually stop looking triangular and start to look curvy.
New Years Resolution: back on track big time and checking the forum daily again!
Diane

While I was on vacation I didn't plan very well for the days of my return because when I got home I also had a lot of higher carb items. So I purchased the EAS drinks (@ smith's) and supplemented with them. It worked until I was able to see my coach.

I lost another pound and I'm only one pound away from 30 total lost!

I just noticed that the little dancing icon is a carrot! Well, it must be that happy because I haven't been eating him! LOL.

I used to love carrots and would definitely "overeat" them before IP. I didn't realize I was sending my body a message to send out more fat-producing insulin by eating such a "healthy" veggie. Oh, and I would chug carrot juice like it was water all the time. All the while thinking I was doing my body a great favor. NOT! No wonder I couldn't lose weight!


Exercise: I went out dancing last night with my DBF. There was a live blues band jam session at one of our local bars. We danced about 6 fast songs and I didn't get tired or breathless at all. I also enjoyed sitting on a bar stool (drinking iced water with lemon) without my jeans binding across my belly. We will be joining our local gym together in February.

Just something I wanted to share with everyone.

I was looking at the site that Echobaby orders from and Wow there's a big difference between IP and Matol in the Veggie dept. because on IP the only unlimited item was lettuce...on matol there's a whole list of unlimited.

Select Vegetables List

One portion per meal (up to 2 cups): Asparagus, beet greens, broccoli, cabbage (collard, green, Nappa, red, Savoy), cauliflower, celeriac, fiddle heads, garlic, leeks, mushrooms, onions (raw only), shallots (raw only), Swiss chard turnip, zucchini.

Unlimited: alfafa sprouts, bok/pak choy, celery, cucumber, daikon, fennel, salad (all varieties), radish, seaweed, soy bean sprouts, spinach.

Once or twice a week, no more: 1/2 avocado, Brussel sprouts, eggplant, 2-3 hearts of palm, peppers, sauerkraut, snow peas, string beans (yellow and green), tomatoes and squash (summer).

Pretty interesting.

Similar thing happened to me and I ate boiled eggs and Atkins shakes (but they are high fat) just to get by. It worked.

I am going to buy some EAS shakes to have as back ups in the future.

Keep posting to keep losing.

This is so helpful! Your results are amazing.

Dancing is the best work out!! Keep up the great work.

Echobaby-are you taking the Km supplement?? I watched the video and it looks like it might be very beneficial. Any thoughts?

Lilita, congrats on your loss....and the dancing fun.....and the not tight jeans!!! Whooohoooooo!!!!

Yes. My first order came with 2 bottles. I really think it makes a difference in how I feel. It tastes kinda like unsweetened Geritol, though. But you get used to it. In fact I was just about to order more.