Thanks ladies,

I dropped a bit this week and my coach recommended to drink more water, reduce restricted items and eat more veggies... Last week I reduced the restricted and the weight dropped a bit but I started eating more veggies since Friday and today when I weighted myself my weight just dropped like nothing else. I think I was not eating enough and it was slowing me down. I think being in ketosis makes be sometimes want just a little bit of food and I can't eat everything. I got new greens like dill and basil leaves to give more taste to the veggies and I am being able to eat them all. I will force myself to eat more because I believe that was my problem.

Each week is a learning curve and being on this diet since March I thought I knew better! hehehe I hope you guys are doing well too, its so hard to follow protocol during the summer!!! I went to visit family this week and everybody couldn't believe I was not having even a taste of dessert and eating mint leaves to have a taste of something!!

Stay strong, it's been hard for me but I think I need to do it for my health, I don't want more cysts and emergency surgery ugh!! This diet has helped my health a lot but it has not been an easy ride.

Good news to report. First, I achieved my mini-goal of being under 150 before my birthday last week. I hit 149 at the weigh-in a week prior, and skipped the weigh-in that would've been the day after due to being on vacation, so I don't know what my weight was on my actual birthday, but at my weigh-in yesterday, I hit 143, so I know I didn't regain any in between.

I was able to stay on plan during vacation, which I'd been a little worried about. It was difficult at times not being able to indulge in regional cuisine/restaurants we don't have where I live, especially since that's one of the great things about vacations, IMO, but it turned out not to be as difficult as I'd imagined.

Yesterday, my coach said I should consider moving my goal to maybe 130 instead of 120. The latter would be 23 pounds less than my current weight, and she said I don't need to lose that much more. Family/friends/etc. are saying the same thing, so now I'm a little conflicted, but for the moment, I still want to leave it. Once I get to 130-ish, I'll reevaluate.

Something I was able to do on vacation? Go shopping. I hadn't wanted to buy any new clothes yet because I still have weight to lose, but needed to because I'd reached the point where everything I owned was too big.

The new pants? Single digit sizes! The shirts? Size M. It's been years and years since I could fit those sizes, and it's funny that my perception of myself hasn't adjusted yet. When I first went to try things on, my selections were all too big, and for the ones I ended up getting, I thought, "These look so small, there's no way they'll fit." Then they did, and I thought, "Hey, I actually look pretty good in this." Such an awesome feeling.

This diet's been rough at times, but I'm so, so happy I found it.

Good luck to everyone!

Congratulations and Happy Birthday.
Best ever birthday present to yourself!
WTG!!

I'd be interested to hear how you feel when you get to 130. We're the same height, and started at about the same weight (athough you started a few months before me). I chose 150 as my goal, with the thought that I would probably revise it once I got close. BMI shows I should be more in the 130 range like you. I had a hard time, especially when I started, seeing myself weighing less, losing more than 50 lbs sounded like such a daunting challenge...but I know I will likely revise my goal.

Oh yeah, that feeling is got to be W-A-A-A-Y better than even chocolate!

Thanks, blueskiesahead. This has been the best birthday present I've ever given myself. It was a milestone sort of birthday, the big 4-0, and I can't believe I look and feel better at 40 than I did at 30.

It's a major change just being able to enjoy clothes shopping again, choosing things I want to wear instead of what I feel I need to wear to "cover up". I've never been a fancy dresser, rock band tees/tanks and jeans are my standard wardrobe, but I'd been stuck with boxy mens tees and baggy jeans, and hadn't worn a tank top (or anything sleeveless) out in public for probably five years. One of the new outfits is a tank top and skinny jeans I'd thought would look terrible, but decided to try anyway. If the store had people watching the dressing rooms for shoplifters, they were probably laughing at me for standing there staring at myself in shock once it turned out to look good. The feeling's definitely better than chocolate.

I'll give an update when I'm closer to 130. It's true that 120's too low according to BMI, but I chose that as the goal because it's what I weighed until the weight gain started, and to allow for gaining a little back after I'm off Phase 1. Since I was in my mid-twenties when I started gaining, attempting to get back to that weight might be unrealistic altogether, but we'll see.

dickinsp, I agree that it's hard to follow protocol during the summer. Everybody's always barbecuing, and then with going on vacation…aside from all the "food opportunities" in general, when we visited my husband's family, they decided to go to an Italian restaurant. I was worried I might not find anything there I could eat, but they had a portobello mushroom salad that turned out to be really good. Like your family, his was surprised I stuck to the plan.

I also agree that it hasn't been an easy ride, but when it comes to the positive health aspects, the drop in blood pressure alone would make it worth it. I've gone from 160-ish over high 90's to 98 over 68. And that wasn't a fluke, one-time reading. It's been in that range the last 3 times it's been checked. My blood sugar levels are a lot better, too. And my knees don't hurt as much.

As much of a pain as it's been to stick with it at times, I can still say without a doubt that it's been worth it for me.

Loved reading your post Jonquil. How exciting to be in single digit clothes and for your 40th no less! congrats!

hysteria_625 - oh to feel confident in a bathing suit - sighhhhh - I can't wait that must have felt wonderful!

I have clothes from a few sizes smaller tucked away in both spare room closets. Down 24 lbs at last weigh in I got them all out and found some new tops I could fit and some shorts that aren't as snug. My "too big" pile of clothes is getting bigger too. SO HAPPY I found Ideal Protein and all of you for support especially!!

Weddings are so lovely, how nice to have that to look forward to!
You must have been stressing over what to wear...
hope you find just the perfect dress in the ones you're ordering. Hmm...if the wedding is not till the end of next month, you've been doing so great on the diet, maybe you should order the dress in your size and also in the next size down

Lol Roxy - well, compared to where I've been the last 10(ish) summers, yah, I felt really good in my tankini I'm a realist, the bikini is a pipe dream for MB in a month but we'll see next summer once I get my Insanity back on \.
Congrats on the "too big" clothes pile! Feels great

Destony - oh, dilemma...and big thumbs up being "kicked out" of Talbots for being "TOO SMALL"!!!! If it's possible...and you find "the one" in the chosen color I'm with blue - order one in current size and one a size down (yah - I'm not feeling the 'color scheme' for the mom's either...seems kind of rude truthfully)

Jonquil - congrats on the great loss & single digit pants! If I have my math right, -6 pounds in a week!

dickinsp - a little confused about your coaches motive...so the general feeling is you're not eating enough...but remove the restricted (which is generally highest in calories) & replace with veggies? You may be eating more, but unless you are adding oils to the veggies - or eating a lot of restricted veggies (brussell sprouts are fairly calorie dense), calories would actually go down...? But it is working, and that's terrific!

Day two in the 160's!!!! Yay
Sometimes I wish these whooshes came without the cost though - and by 'cost', I've also started monitoring / writing down other IP side effects.

Yes, there are the great ones like lowered BP, steady blood sugars, and of course, weight loss...but then there are the other things that seem to occur when my body decides to drop a bunch of weight over a short period of time...TOM is lingering (does it each time I 'whoosh' for a day or two), I am extra tired - and extra hungry. The kids wanted spaghetti tonight and it took everything in me to keep from eating the kielbasa I use...I feel like a wrung out sponge.

Thank you!!!!!!Yes, it was wild- and then to get in the medium dress- I know you know that feeling!! Thanks also, I was feeling as though I was losing my mind with the whole "being told what to wear" but, I'll do my best to keep the peace
Congratulations on 160's hangin' tough!! You are there lady!! I know what you mean about using all the willpower not to eat something. My lawn gets mowed today and I always leave something snackish for them. The iced gatorade is the easy part- it was the cookies I baked last night for them that was the killer- I wanted beyond words to eat the dough-but I kept talking about it to my boyfriend and that seemed to help-not even so much as a nibble. yes, it's worth it - but man-o-man....my mouth was watering.
As far as the dresses, I have ordered 1 in a 14 because they didn't have the 12 and the others, thank goodness I ordered a 12.
Have a great Tuesday one and all!!!

Destony - I was looking at your ticker this morning & check you out! Flirting with the 150's I hear you on the baking...maybe it's a good thing, but right now, when the 'hangries' hit, I've really just wanted fat - not always "good" fats, like avocado - but not cookies / ice cream either. I've occasionally indulged and had a hot dog or piece of sausage - last night felt like a slippery slope moment (ie - eat the kielbasa and it turns into a plate of spaghetti with garlic bread) but I powered through the cravings.

I forgot though I actually have a sample of nashua's "spaghetti bolognase" (sp? lol)

DD18 and I did a 2 mile walk last night, which did nothing to stem my want of food so I ended up coming in around 1,200 k/cal per MFP yesterday...scale up +1 today (probably more attributable to the wicked humidity + salty dinner), but still in the 160's

It really was all I could do not to even have a scridge of the dough- I like that better than the cookies. Good bread with oil has been tough too, but not as tough as the dough was. Phew. So far, 166 days in, lol, I haven't strayed...
Holy cow- I am always so focused on the pounds and inches, I truly didn't realize that I am flirting with that number....Wow, thanks for pointing that out!
I don't know what the scale will bring- dinner last night was a bit on the salty side and it's been humid as all get out here, so....we'll see at 5:00 tonight....
I haven't really been doing a heck of a lot (read -nothing really) in terms of exercise, so I started a 30 day plank challenge yesterday. We'll see how that goes. I really need to get in to making exercise part of my routine- it used to be, and I know it is going to be critical when I reach my goal. It's just I get sucked in to Facebook first thing in the morning...maybe it's time to deactivate the account, lol. I am easily distracted- "oh look, a shiny butterfly"

Weigh-in day... not surprisingly, only down 0.8. It seems to be my pattern, one week good, one week not so much
It's been hot and humid here this week, so hopefully that had a effect and it'll be better next week.
Still, it was DOWN, and I did lose an inch on my hips
so I'm happy with that. Still averaging just over 2/week, which is what I was hoping for when I started.

We had our 44th anniversary a few weeks ago, this year I decided I didn't really want to have a week away, so we decided on a couple of mini-getaways. last week we went to the Eagles concert (Absolutely wonderful!!) and stayed for the weekend at Caesar's. This weekend, we're going to see Heart, stay over for the weekend. Nice dinner out somewhere of course ( I WILL BE GOOD!)
I have to admit, I almost prefer just going away for a few days, takes much less planning.

Hope everyone is having a great week, looks like it's HOT just about everywhere.

BlueYou're absolutely right! The scale is moving in the right direction AND an inch off your hips!! That's terrific! Happy anniversary, it sounds like you've got some great plans- glad to hear you are having so much fun!! Yes, we are Hazy Hot and Humid today here on Cape Cod...air quality is going to be bad. Hope that everyone takes it easy outside today.
BethI did it!!That was such a cool feeling. I was so nervous, after I realized it, I was in that "oh no, what if I miss it" mind set- kind of like when it took a bit to hit "onederland" but 2.2!! So excited.
The dresses I ordered online should be arriving in the next day or 2, Macy's is so good with shipping quickly. I was shocked when I ordered the stuff for the bridal shower on Monday and it was on my stoop Thursday when I got home from work! Going to my diet buddy's camp for supper tonight. She's been awesome through this- to think I kind of signed on to be her cheerleader, and she's been so great to me! She's lost 71 lbs, started about 2 weeks sooner than me, and she is doing amazing!! She sends me pictures of what she has made for supper - she even plates it up beautifully for herself- she's so funny!! Looking forward to it. I don't go out too much, especially during the week, so it should be fun!
Happy Wednesday to everyone out there!

158

You are on a roll, girl! No more 160s, on to the 150s, and pretty soon GOAL in sight!! And clothes falling off you, down to a sz12! WOW!!
You'll have to let us know when the dresses come in, and you've tried them on!

That's some great diet buddy you've got, what a nice idea, taking a picture of her supper for you. Bet she's a good cook....me, not so much. I'm just thinking what some of my dinner plates would look like in a picture

dickinsp - a little confused about your coaches motive...so the general feeling is you're not eating enough...but remove the restricted (which is generally highest in calories) & replace with veggies? You may be eating more, but unless you are adding oils to the veggies - or eating a lot of restricted veggies (brussell sprouts are fairly calorie dense), calories would actually go down...? But it is working, and that's terrific!



I was not eating more than allowed for restricted, but I believe veggies have more fiber than restricted food? I dont know! I was having a hard time eating my veggies, instead of eating the 2 cups most days I couldn't eat more than 1 per meal. I was feeling full just with the protein and a bit of veggies. So I told that to my coach, she thinks if I reduce restricted may help with the scale, so she also told me to make an effort to finish my veggies because I dont get enough fiber just from protein and I need it. I have been following the program closely, just add some eggwhite when too hungry which hasnt happened in a while... So, for a week the scale did not move but it seems to be working now... Hopefully it will stay this way. I wonder if its getting slower because I am not in the obesity zone anymore and it gets harder to lose the fat... I just wonder...

dickinsp:
Way to go on your progress to date! Amazing! I wonder about the slow down too. Definitely the 4 cups of veggies a day are needed. I'm not sure about reducing the restricted. Maybe change up the restricted.
I do drink a very large glass of water with a squeezed lemon and cayenne pepper every single morning when I wake up. I got this from another weight loss book I read prior to IP and my coach encouraged me to continue this practice. If nothing else, I haven't had a cold since I started.
I was also told to take 2 capsules of "Body Detox" (Nature's Sunshine) every night and it seems to really keep things moving well.
Maybe even digestive enzymes if you're not already taking them.
Sounds like you're doing everything right though, so maybe it was just a temporary stall.
When I read posts from IP veterans, temporary stalls seems common.
Keep doing what you're doing, you'll get there!