First, congratulations on the wonderful weight loss and the incredible discipline staying on the program.

We can always use a 'veteran' on the site because it is the wisdom and experience that supports s on our challenging journey.

Curious - when you wrote one day of what you wanted to do when you got to be a skinny girl, have you done any of them? Bought black knee high boots, knit yourself a beautiful sweater, gone to a vintage shop to try on old beaded sweaters....

don't trust the keto sticks. Many people have brought these sticks up on the forum over the past few months. Seems pretty unanimous that these guys aren't trustworthy. If you're following protocol, you're in ketosis. If you're feeling great, you're doing great!!!

IP has been a get-out-of-obesity-jail card for me. I found it relatively pleasant to follow, too. Just recently I had to use P1 to get some holiday weight off after about 4 months on P4. Each time on P1 I've bumped into very low mood, accompanied by irritability and absentmindedness (more than baseline!) that improves with added carbs. But, if I go over a certain carb amount, that brings in another set of issues, eg slower weight loss on P1, cravings on P4.

It seems there is a such narrow margin of the right amount and type of carbs, for me anyway. I had planned to continue eating very low-carb ongoing, maybe even stay in mild ketosis at a higher calorie intake. I am so interested to find out what experiences others have had with mood and cognitive function on the various phases of IP. Thanks!

Morning of day 3 here, and doing pretty good so far. The nasty headache is gone and I am doing some research on some new packets I want to order. Hope everyone has a grand day.

Hi Mars...Thanks for your comments. I don't get the moodiness or fatigue described by you and others......just start seeing the scale change ...quickly! I am thinking my maintenance is barely above IP...so when I really get back to that, will stay under 50. That was OK and about where I was clocking as I went slowly into the maintenance phase this fall. Harder to do over the Holidays and with so much long distance travel, that is when I noticed how easy it was to see drift. Now I've customized my fitness pal, to learn a bit more so I can make good choices once I go back to trying to maintain in a few weeks. I also noticed because of the travel, the numbers CAN even out over a week or 10 days and the net impact can be OK.... if I am OH SO CAREFUL...so I'll need to pay attention each day ...but can look at the week as a whole. It gives me a small wiggle ... nice for travel, and special events. Absolutely no all-out-free -for-all days for me. That's OK...an evening event or special meal is enough, and it won't happen every week. It's too hard and not worth it to get back. Increasing good fats does not seem to be a negative for me. In fact it's probably needed to keep my skin, nails and hair form doing terrible things!! Others have noticed they tolerate a bit more fat better than carbs as well. There are some intersting Harvard studies and nutrition articles on low carb. I'll try to link some later today or tomorrow. Just what I need and they may help you too.


EDIT: Harvard studies. **They also have a news letter..

http://www.health.harvard.edu/health...right-proteins


http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritio...hydrate-diets/

I lost another 1/2 pound so am only a pound away from where I should be now...and will continue hoping to lose that last little bit past where I stopped in August.

By Spring ... !!

Fingers crossed for you, Carol! Good luck with the weigh in!

Welcome back! Congrats on your hard work and great success!

No. Those are pretty unreliable overall, so I would just ignore the number altogether. Keep up your hard work!

You should definitely eat another packet when you work out vigorously (and shoveling is certainly vigorous!) It's probably a combination of all three things you mentioned. Take an anti-inflammatory painkiller and take it easy today if you can! Feel better.

My experiences are much like yours. I'm usually an emotional mess for the first 1-2 weeks. Things that wouldn't normally bother me really get irritating. It's almost like a constant state of PMS. Sometimes I even get downright enraged at the smallest, stupidest thing. Luckily I'm not very snippy with others and it's directed internally but good grief, I am always clamoring to get out of that stage! As far as cognitive function goes, I haven't noticed a huge difference- I'm maybe a little bit slower on the uptake overall, though

Congratulations on getting through the toughest few days! And what a beautiful baby!

I made it through my first day and am down a pound. Yay! Any encouragement will do. I tried the mushroom soup and had a hard time getting through it after adding 2 cups of mushrooms. And I love mushrooms. I still have 6 more packets. Any suggestions on variations that will help? Also, I would love to hear some of the veterans favorites IP packages. Happy to be here with you all.

Congrats on your incredible loss! Very inspiring!

IP IS DANGERPOUS TO YOUR.....DESK!!!

ok - there is no way I'm the first person to this - fill my water in my bottle, put in my chocolate shake mix, screw on the top and shake - then immediately get covered with chocolate shake mix and water!!! That darn top wasn't snapped down! It's in between the keys of my keyboard, papers, etc!! Between the shake and the coffee I seem to spill all the time.

When I was on maintenance I did a detox. I found that I was in a very low mood, very depressed. I read that it's not that unusual to have that happen do to hormones or something being released. I wonder if you're experiencing the same sort of thing?

Right now I'm on day 3 being 100% OP for a reboot, I'm going to keep an eye on it and see how I feel.

Thanks .....

I am glad I am not new to this rodeo and knew what to expect and was prepped. And I do agree with you on how cute he is... but i am a touch biased.

Thanks for the nice congrats and welcome backs, all. It's great to be back. Nice to see so many new faces and great to see some of the veteran regulars.

Wow, did you look this up?? I barely remember typing that, though they do all ring true and are very much part of my goal set. I have not done any of the yet as I am still not at goal. I am thinking about 25 more lbs need to go.

I tried my utmost to get some boots, but my calves have been the final hold-out, and, alas, I am still sporting ham hocks for calves. I don't want to make an investment unless I know they will fit right when I am at goal.

I have taken myself to some great vintage shops and was brought to tears when I recognized that some of the things would actually fit me. That said, I have not yet actually bought anything like that.

The sweater is on my "knit list" for the year, again, once I get to goal. I need some time to get my funds together as the sweater I want to knit is a long and will need lots of good yarn. I'll try to post a pic of the one I have my eye on:



We'll see how that flies.

So, anyway, thanks for checking up on me. As you can see, I am not "there" yet, but certainly feel almost-there, and even that has been great!

He's anyone ordered from Nashua lately? How long did it take to receive your order? They have a note on their website about delays, so I was curious. Usually they're very fast!

I shed another 3.2 this week. I'm very pleased with my results!

I put an order in 1/4/14 and received it yesterday 1/14/14-they had sent me a notice it should be delivered by Friday so I was glad to get it early!
I heard they were closed for a couple snow days and got behind a little
one of my items was backordered (the oatmeal)