I agree Shingen a free workout through the hangar 180 steps to the bathroom. I get a .7 miles a day just for toilet breaks and yes it gets me out of the office. My coach sells single packets of the IP what is everyone's favorite? There isn't a whole lot of choices but I need to know and are most people doing the plan or alternative foods?

I have a cappachino pre made drink for breakfast. Lunch is either broccoli cheese soup w/ broccoli, mushroom soup w/ mushrooms, or one of soy chips. Sea salt and vinegar and BBQ chips are legit. Snack is either a wafer (orange or lemon) or a peanut butter bar. Other than those I also mix in mango smoothie (delicious, 2-3 a week), potato purée, rotini, and sometimes chicken soup ( I need a lot of spices to accompany it). With the soups it's highly recommended you cook your veggies before you put them in the soups. The only thing I think is absolutely awful is the tomato basil soup. Tasted acidic to me.

There are some other things that I can swing but I actually enjoy all those snacks rather than just tolerating them. But you can make anything palatable with green onions, jalapeños, or some tony chachere's.

I don't know how other people feel about alternate options for snacks but my mom tried doing some of those quest bars and she gained 3-4 lbs. I suggest sticking with IP snacks. If you are going to do it do it right has kinda been my slogan and I am averaging about 5 lbs per week in the weight loss department.

Honestly, I gave up on IP packets. The cost was killing my household budget. My wife and I liked the RTD shakes but there were only four in a pack. My wife also liked some of their restricted foods like the soy puffs.

For us, we'd rather take the money and apply it to workout sessions. I now drink Premier Protein ready to drink shakes for breakfast and lunch and eat quest bars for my restricted, apple pie is my favorite.

I'm a "simpler is better" kind of guy and not complicating my daily routine with microwaving, or preparing lunch or breakfast makes this whole thing very easy. Since starting to workout I've also had to increase the amount of food consumption. I don't want to even imagine what my IP bill would look like now that I'm taking an extra meal.

Lots of ex-football players on this site I guess. I played most of my time at around 192. I remember taking weight "gainer" to try and add weight as I played on the line. When you are young and active it is a lot harder to gain!

Tough weigh in yesterday which I expected. I was sick for a couple of days (not diet related) so I wasn't on as much as I should.

The IP stuff is expensive but for me it works well. As I keep going I likely will move over to some of the other powders again!

I agree it's expensive but it's the best thing I've tried. I see it as an investment in my future health. If I didn't change something, I was looking at a lifetime of prescriptions, doctor/hospitals bills and most likely an early death.

My favorite ip meals are the cereal flakes, strawberry wafers, chicken a la king soup, premade chocolate shakes and the chips. Unfortunately I haven't been able to try the new chips yet. My clinic sells to customers who are doing the diet on their own, which they frown upon (so it doesn't make sense to me why they do it). I guess these people buy like $500 orders at a time and take up all the inventory.

Hi guys. First post on this thread but been lurking for past month gathering information. I've been on IP for 3 1/2 weeks, have lost 20 lbs and 1 belt notch. I am eating alternative foods and alternative supplements - no coach and no measurements. I am regimented and have no problems staying with a plan. Needed to take the lower-cost route for my wife to accept what I was doing as opposed to her philosophy of just eat less. My genes don't work that way.

I notice that a couple of you guys are in my same weight/height range. I have never been very muscular so I will ultimately head lower than my goal weight with the intent that some muscle pumping will put me at 200 lbs. I am also 50 so I am not expecting to be ripped - toned is fine with me. I will probably start bodyweight exercises (Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training) when I get to a lower weight but not sure what that will be yet. I see cautions about working out while in Phase 1 but I can't see myself hanging low that long. At any rate, weather is starting to break where I live so I will start a regular walking routine of 3-4 miles x 5 days.

My family nickname is "Cakeman" but the sweet tooth is pretty much gone. A choco/PB protein bar more than satisfies any desire.

Nice reading about your successes and I will be seeing you around.

Dale,

There's a lot of different thinking about working out while on IP phase one. Some people say no way, many people say a limited workout is fine and others say they do significant exercise. My advice is that no one knows your body better than you. Try introducing a little bit at a time and track your results.
I would also suggest more cardio rather than heavy lifting while on IP or alternatives cause you don't have the protein intake to support the muscle recovery. If you find yourself feeling hungry or low on energy, have an extra meal or protein. This is what I do. I workout about 25 minutes a day doing various cardio work and have an extra protein packet. It hasn't really increased or decreased my weigh loss at all. What it has done is helped me get into the routine of working out regularly so that it will hopefully carry on after I come off IP. Just me two cents. Someone else may have a different line of thinking.

I missed my weigh in this week but that will just make it a better weigh in next week. I did have aminor fall off this weekend. This was the one year anniversary of my uncle passing so my family shared in a scotch to remember him by. One scotch led to more and my brother and I drunkanly ordering a pizza. Both of us are on ip so it was definitely a drunken craving. The next day I decided to take advantage of being off ketosis and grabbed some enchiladas and queso with a coke on the side. Had about 4 sips of coke and couldn't finish the enchiladas bc of the grease content. I guess my pallet is changing. Anywho back on IP and going strong.

Besides the slip I am also. Down to a 38 pant size. That's down from a 44. Really pumped about being able to fit into my early college wardrobe.

S*%t happens. We're not perfect. Get back on the wagon and keep progressing! I'm down from a 46 to a 40.

By the way Dale Gribble is one of my favorite cartoon characters ever. I don't know how many people nationwide watch "King of the Hill" but it is a comedy of epic proportions. I guess a bunch of people do watch it since it lasted 13 seasons. I think there is an extra layer of humor init for texans and maybe that's why I am infatuated with the series. Anyways nice choice of screen names.

Yeah, sure, Dad, I drank your grapefruit juice. I had it with a big bowl of broccoli.
Bobby

Well I got weighed yesterday and I am down another 4.5 lbs. that was over the course of 2 weeks though. I guess my little St Patty's day excursion caught up with me. I know 4.5 lbs is decent but when you are used to losing 5 a week it's a little disheartening. Well it's just more motivation to do the diet right!

A before and now photo for everyone. I went from not being able to button this tux to fitting in my brother's suit which is 4 jacket sizes smaller than my tux. Just wanted to share with everyone.

WOW!!!!

AWESOME Job! before too much longer you can model for JCrew

Lookin' good! Fine job... and btw, I love King of the Hill too (but I'm Canadian and I think the funniest parts are the Americanisms). Then again I have a rather warped sense of humour, I also liked Black Adder (UK show) and have never been able to get enough Monty Python. "And now, for something completely different!..."

My hubby lost his winter tummy (13 lbs - because he doesn't work over the winter) in 5 weeks thanks to just doing Phase 2/3 with a little help from me - I'm on maintenance.