Hi everyone!

Natoshial, I don't know what you eat regularly, but I have recently cut out all the "junk" (well 99% of it anyways) and have been eating "healthy" stuff for almost a week now and I have so much energy! I had been eating a lot of potato chips, white bread, white pasta, candy, etc. in addition to "regular" foods. (Just because I could on IE.) But for the last several days I have been eating a lot of fruit, fresh veggies, lean meats, whole grain breads and pastas. I felt a difference in my energy after the first day of eating this way. Again, I don't know what your eating habits are, but if that sounds like a possibility for you, it seems to be working for me. I had been feeling quite sluggish. Bonus ... I don't have any uncontrollable cravings anymore. Yesterday I had one small spoon of mint chocolate chip ice cream, (my favorite) which was plenty for me and tonight I had two Girl Scout cookies, which didn't even taste all that great to me. That's the only "junk" I've had since Sunday. Anyhow, just a suggestion. Don't know about the supplements you asked about.

Oh, yeah, and I've also taken a walk 3 out of the last 4 days, that helps too. But I know what you mean about the exercise ... exercise will definitely give you more energy, but it's hard to get going if you don't have any energy in the first place! Good luck!

Trish, good to see you!

I have a little different twist on the energy thing. Lately I have been letting myself get good and hungry and then just eating enough to quiet the hunger. It is amazing. Not only do I have more energy but many of the aches and pains I have are gone and I just feel so much better. It is hard to do because I am so used to being full but I hope I can keep this up. I feel so much better than I have in a long time.

Thanks Blue Serenity for the reply and the helpful info. Your comment about the ice cream made me think. I do take in way to much sugar and that is my weakness. I think that might be the culprit and also why my weight is stalled. I feel like I have to eat something sweet with every meal. It is not always something small either. I'll cut back on that and see if I see a difference.

I used to do the one spoonful of ice cream. I would also allow myself one of other treats. That really used to work for me. I also used to keep mini snickers in the fridge. You know the really tiny ones and grab one when I had a severe craving.

I really need to get back in the groove of things with the exercise. I walked to the mailbox today which is a pretty good distance. We live down a dirt road. I think that is a start just walking down the dirt road since that is a safe alternative to the highway.

Thanks again!!!

We live on a gravel road and right now it is pretty muddy.....not too good for walking as you sink in. ha!

Carol, I remember seeing someone else on here (sorry ladies, I don't remember which one of you said it) but she mentioned how eating the way you described made her feel a little edgy (I think that was the description) basically, on top of her game. When I let the hunger come I, too, feel on top of my game. It's a real motivator!

Natoshial, here's something I used to do that gave me that satisfied feeling when I was done with my meal: I would serve myself a cup of a Perfectly Protein Mocha Cappuccino (by Bolthouse Farms, one of my favorite drinks) and would savor that. It really rounded out the meal with that sweetness you're talking about. (Probably not good calories and sugar wise, but oh so satisfying.) But I haven't done that in quite a while, instead I have been fixing myself a cup of hot herb tea, with no sugar or artificial sweeteners. It seems to top off my meal just as well. (I'm quite the tea drinker.) The flavor I really like is by Numi and it's called Sweet Meadows (Chamomile Lemon). Even tho it doesn't have any sweeteners in it there is still just a hint of sweetness to the flavor. Anyhow, I said all that to say I'm learning to make substitutions with my foods and finding that I can enjoy things that are better for me nutritionally. If I suddenly desire the Perfectly Protein I won't stop myself from getting it, but I will not let the food consume me anymore! And I think a good way to do it is to limit the sugary stuff and highly processed stuff. That seems to be tipping the scales in my favor. Not to mention it seems to be helping the number on my scale go down!

I'm learning this week, as Teff mentioned, by the way, welcome Teff ... BABY STEPS! Little changes along the way and it's OK if I slip and fall from time to time. I just have to keep getting back up!

Have a great one everyone!

I realize that a lot of what I said about making substitutions and cutting out or back on the processed stuff flies in the face of what IE teaches about "eat what you love" but I think a little restraint can be a good thing. For me, eating too many simple carbs causes me to want to eat too many simple carbs and I end up stuck in the rut of eating lousy and feeling lousy and being bloated all the time. So, to me, even tho I love white pasta and potato chips and cheezits, it makes no sense to frequently indulge in something that has so many bad side effects! I'd rather feel good. Just wanted to put that out there. I think we've had this discussion before.

I think my diet is pretty healthy about 75% of the time. When I was counting calories I was always so hungry and it was hard for me to feel satisfied while eating 2000 calories a day. Now that I am IE I dont have cravings and I don't feel like Im starving all day. I try to make healthy choices while IE but I did have pizza about 4 days ago but I was able to eat 1 slice and feel satisfied whereas when I was CC I would eat 2 slices or more because I had the cals left in my daily total. I used to eat when I wasn't hungry just because the diet said to eat every 3 hours. I am now surprised at how long I can go before feeling hungry. The thing that I struggle with is not eating everything thats on my plate. Its hard for me to stop eating if I still have stuff on my plate but what I have started doing is putting a small amout on my plate. I will eat that slowly and then wait about 10 minutes after and eat a little more until Im satisfied, doing this is a lot easier then filling up my plate and then not eating it all. Sorry for blabbing again lol.

Also I noticed that most of us don't have our weight posted, so I was wondering do yall weigh yourselves weekly, monthly, or never? I was thinking once a month but Im not quite sure now if I even want to do that. I was thinking once every couple of months, if my clothes aren't getting tighter then that means I must be doing something right or at least maintaining

Great posts Ladies. I really enjoyed reading.

Carolr I am back to eating only when I'm hungry and then eat just what I want and as much as I need to be satisfied. I got back into the habit of eating because it was what and when I "should" eat. I got up this morning and decided that was crazy. I didn't want breakfast when I first got up so I just made me a cup of coffee. Later when I got hungry all I wanted was a banana and a slice of toast with peanut butter. It was satisfying and I didn't feel stuffed and the best part is I totally enjoyed it. Later in the day I wanted 2 pcs of dark chocolate squares with a cup of black tea instead of a eating a whole meal.

Blue I went to the store this week and bought some fresh fruit and veggies. I love salads with mayo and sometimes with crackers. It is funny but with IE, I don't feel the necessity to eat all the crackers at once. By the way where do you find the Perfectly Protein Mocha Cappuccino by Bolthouse Farms? Sounds like something I would like to try. My little grandmother always made us girls hot tea when we stayed with her. We didn't like it and would pour it out when she left the room because we didn't want to hurt her feelings. Now I love hot tea... all kinds. I too have things I cannot eat or have in the house any more. I never even think of bringing them in the house because I can't eat just one, as they say. There are some that I will eat in restaurants or at parties when I am around them because I will use more control around others. Funny isn't it.

Natoshial I find that I get that tired feeling when I'm dieting or when I overdo the simple/empty carbs or something my body does not tolerate. I find I do a lot better when I eat more balanced and only when I am hungry and stop when I am satisfied. I'm still trying to get back to that eating only when I am hungry. When I lost almost 70 lbs about 7 years ago, I was dieting, but a lot of the time I would do like Carolr is doing now... I would wait until my stomach was so empty it would growl. I had read about a woman who did that because she realized that she didn't recognize what hunger really felt like. I decided this morning that I need to learn that again. I've followed diets and having to eat so many calories, carbs or meals each day that I think I've forgotten how to recognize the difference in "real" stomach hunger and "head" hunger.

Carly The problem I had with CC or WW pts etc is that when I started doing I was told I had to eat X# of calories or pts each day. I found myself having to force myself to eat all they said I had to eat which only made crave more. That is why it didn't and doesn't work for me. I felt like I was being force fed. When I was a child, I ate lunch and dinner. Snacks were rare. When I went to college, I started eating 3 meals a day and went out with dorm friends for cokes, shakes, etc each evening. Then everybody told me you have to eat at least 3 meals a day. This finally lead me to the vicious cycle of diets for 40+ years. When I would get in the moode to eat only 1 or 2 meals a day, the weight would just literally drop off. Then something would happen and I would happen and I would begin eating the so called "normal" way of eating and the weight would come back on. The most interesting thing is that about a year ago, we started going to a new church. One night at a Bible study class, we talked about eating healthy and losing weight or keeping our weight down. Our new Pastor said, "I usually eat only 3 meals a day... lunch and dinner. I've always eaten that way. If I ate like most people eat or the way people say you should eat with 3 meals a day, I would be huge". I was amazed. He at the way I did all my life until I was convinced I had to do otherwise. So what is "normal"? How many calories do we really need? Maybe it is more up to our individual make up. That is why I really love IE, if I could just get rid of this 40+ years of being brainwashed into thinking I have to follow a diet to get my weight back to normal weight. As for weighing, I think each one has to learn that one for themselves. Some never weigh, some weigh once a week or month etc. I haven't gotten to the place that I can give up the scales yet, but I don't let it bother me any more because I know that my weight fluctuates a lot. One day it may look like I lost 2 or 3 lbs and then it looks like I've gained 5. Weight has more to do with my body reactions to certain foods, seasonings etc.

Sorry this has been long.

Hope everyone has a great day.

I buy ice cream in individual servings so that I don't over do it. Oh how I love snickers and I too used to keep the mini ones and started out eating 1 or 2 a day when I was on WW because one was 1 pt. However, the little snickers became one of those things I no longer buy because I can't eat just one. One seems to be one of those foods that to trigger cravings for me. Dark chocolate doesn't seem to cause me any problems.

Trish, I've found Perfectly Protein at Super Walmart and the grocery stores. Our Walmart puts it by the dairy case (not in it) with the other "fancy" juices. Grocery stores seem to keep it in the produce section. Here's a link to their store locator: http://www.bolthouse.com/store.aspx

Thanks Blue. Looks like it is at both the stores where I shop. I will look for it when I go to the store next week.

So true. I would much rather eat when Im hungry vs being told to eat when Im not hungry. Im just still amazed at how long it takes to get actually hungry. I also did WW several times and everytime I went back it got harder and harder to stick with. Plus I think calorie needs are different from day to day. Their are days where will will need more cals and days where we need less cals and our body will let us know how much it needs. Plus using a scale to guage how hungry I am, I usually ask myself on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the hungriest) how hungry I am. It makes it so much easier to tell if Im head hungry or really hungry. Usually when Im bored my hunger is at a 2 or 1. Usually if my hunger is at a 7 I will eat something. I wish I would of tried this sooner, I could of saved a lot of money and stress

Carly, my dh is a veterinarian and we went to college at KState. I see your dh is in the army so maybe you are not from Kansas. My dh was a vet in the army 40 yr. ago and we were in Boston. We are originally from NE.

Oh cool. We are at Fort Riley but soon we will be moving to Fort Carson, CO. We have been stationed in Kansas for 6 years. I think Kansas is so beautiful and it took me about 2 years to see the beauty in this mid west state. I am originally from Maryland and was so used to seeing water everyday or going to the Ocean at least once every 2 weeks. So going from that to the flat prairie of Kansas I was like wow but I have grown to love this place and am said to leave but its time to move to another base. Thats awesome that he is a vet. We use a vet in Junction city and I was shocked at how much a regular checkup cost for a puppy lol. Are you still in Kansas or in Boston?

No, we live in WI now. The hills here are beautiful.