Hello Everyone!

I haven't really posted here before, but I read everyone's posts about everyday. It has been a great motivation especially when I feel horrible about my weight or am simply hungry for junk food. I think you all are doing a great job!!

I'm on week 7..and I've only lost 19lbs. To be honest, a part of me is super frustrated because I feel like everyone on this site is shedding the weight so much faster. Any tips or words of advice?

Jordanna-I loved the cauliflower pizza! Delicious.
Mystical-No one deserves to be treated in such a way. I really hope you address your concerns and stand firm in telling them that such comments are unacceptable.

You are almost averaging 3 pounds a week. I think you are doing okay. Do you have a lot of weight to lose or just a little? What does your average day of food consist of? Are you drinking 64 ounces of water? How about your supplements, are you taking them? Are you chewing gum or drinking diet sodas? Do you take any medications on a regular basis? These are all things that can slow your weight loss.

BlueMermaid: Thanks for the encouragement! I have about 30 more pounds to lose....which at the moment feels like a lot! I do exceed teh 64 ounces and I take the supplements. However, I usually do intense cardio for roughly 90 minutes a day and I end up eating an extra IP packet. Other than that, I have small cheats when i'm stuck at work late into the night like having 1 banana. Now that I think about it, i'm sure my so called little acts of cheating are adding up.
Does anyone else get super hungry from working out?

I have tried to workout more regularly this week. I wanted to walk on my treadmill on Thursday but was starving so I ate a bar. This allowed me to walk for 60 minutes . I went to lift weights today and wanted to have enough energy so I ate a bar just before I went and I was able to lift pretty hard for 50 minutes. The banana is your enemy right now due to the high natural sugar count it has. It is probably throwing you out of ketosis and making you hungrier than you would be otherwise. Try eating a 4th protein and staying away from the fruit. Have you told you coach you are doing 90 minutes of cardio? That is an awful lot since you are not eating very many calories. You may need to adjust when you are eating the 4 proteins. I think it is helping me have the stamina to get through my workout by eating the higher carb protein just before my workout.

I also have about 30 more pounds to lose and it has been 2 - 3 pounds a week so don't get discouraged because you are not seeing 5. You are still headed in the right direction which is down.

I was jumping around on this site and saw that someone was paying $7 a pkg. for the protein packets. Is this something we can discuss? I would be interested to know what others are paying. Mine are $4 each and if you buy a box you get $1.00 off. Moderator....please delete if this is not allowed.

Your body I bet is going into starvation mode....I was told we need to work the muscles and/or do interval training...but watch out for the cardio...you are not getting enough calories to workout 90 minutes and your body is hanging onto everything. Try backing off your workouts...do non-heart raising excercise...situps/pushups/weights/interval walk-run.

Also, Bluemermaid is right...fault to more protien...stay away from all carbs, sugars and fruits...everytime you have one it takes 3 days to get you back into Ketosis to start losing.

Thanks for all the feedback!!

I'll totally take bananas out of my diet..and i'll try to have a bar before I work out.
My doctor knows how much I work out. He told me that if I add a packet of IP, my loss will be a lot less but that I should keep up with the exercise. I guess i'll stick to the 4 packets and then try to decrease to 3. Hoping for the best!!

Maybe it is the exercise. I'm a guy....6 weeks and 15 pounds. I workout 5 hours/week at min (about a 50/50 split between lifting and cardio). I hate to think about it but it seems like many who are "slower" losing are the ones working out a bunch before and during this diet....?

I think I'll stick to my ~2 pounds week rather then give up exercise though. I'm on the diet to be better at the activities I love not the other way around.

Hey, Birman - we have the same scale! (Why am I not that surprised?) Congrats on breaking the barrier!

I agree with others about how your body responds on this diet with the intense exercise thrown into the mix. Just be careful that you are not "starving" your body, and remember that there's really no such thing as a "little" cheat on this diet... once you throw off the chemistry and put yourself out of ketosis, you've slammed on the fat-burning brakes.

I recommend you not be distracted by the weight loss numbers posted by others... this is not a competition! And don't discount the other metrics: measuring inches and body fat lost, how your clothes fit, how you feel... for me, blood pressure is another good monitor of progress. This week I am experiencing lower weight loss, but I lost more inches and body fat than either of the last two weeks.

So don't be discouraged! Be proud of yourself for taking control and doing what's right for your body and your health.

We really need to talk to someone whose coach can measure fat lost as opposed to muscle gained. I as a woman tend to build muscle fairly easy and have been athletic since high school. My theory is that if we are exercising, we are building muscle which weighs more than fat and will help our metabolism in the long run. However, it is kind of discouraging on the scale. Do you notice when you lift weights or do other exercise your body is not used to that your muscles are sore. When your muscles are sore your body encases them in water until they heal. The water will definitely make the numbers on the scale bigger. I am trying to ramp up my exercise, especially my weight lifting because I am feeling jiggly since the 30 pounds I have lost was making my skin tighter. I like to be able to see a little muscle definition when I wear a tank top or swim suit. Summer is coming!

Just my take on this.

This is what I am trying to do. On the days I work out I will have the 4th protein. On the days I rest I will only have 3 proteins. The 4th protein is only at most 150 calories and if you are doing cardio for 90 minutes you are consuming much more calories than that. Please don't starve your body because that will also slow your weight loss.

$4 and no discount on a box.

We pay $28 a box but if she has someone bring something back we get it for $3 a pack. I grab those whenever I can.

I had my second weigh in on Friday (two weeks was on Wednesday). I lost 3 more pounds and 13 inches! Yeah!!! That's a total of 14 pounds and 18 inches.