Yay! Luccilove Have fun in Boston.

Lucci: Great WI! I am excited for you! Have fun. Soak up all the compliments, you deserve them!!!

I ran into a couple of friends I have not seen for a couple of months today. My one friend went on and on about how great I looked and kept hugging me. Finally I looked at her and she was almost crying! I still can't believe she got that emotional. Guess she was really happy for me. Kind of funny, embarrassing, nice all at the same time. Made me think about how I feel about my weight loss. Why am I not that happy for me? Don't get me wrong, I am happy I have lost weight, and proud of myself, but not like that.

Want2b- it did not set in for me until I was in that dressing room fitting into tens. I guess because I have been a size 12 before, I was not as impressed as others with my weight loss changes.

I think our focus is on reaching goal and that still seems pretty far away. I do not want to overly focus on how I look now because I have settle for that in the past.

The changes must be big, because everyone focuses on it- all the time! It is awkward. Today a colleague came into my room and said -what, are you on that protein diet? I said yes. I told her how much I had lost. She said, must have cost you $2000. I said, probably. My health is worth every penny. She then said, well I hope you can keep it off.

My question is why? If you can't say anything nice, do not say anything at all. At least your friend was happy for you. Maybe our weight loss brings up stuff for them?

Hey all..

I will be going offline for a few days, not quite sure how long. All the pain that I've been having is due to my gallbladder. It's full of gallstones and is inflamed to boot. I'll be having surgery, probably monday or tuesday of next week.

Keeping it short and sweet today since I'm in pain and going to go lay back down. Once I'm recuperating, I'll have time to chatter with you all again.

Oh my! Take care of yourself... we will all be thinking about you and anxiously waiting to hear back from you after your surgery!!

Slip: Few things in life are certain, but one thing I've found that is certain is that there are people out there who just are just flat out negative people. If I had to sell my house in order to do this diet I probably would've done it cause the money and things are unimportant if you're not around to enjoy them! Focus on how far you've come and don't worry about negative people. Those who matter don't mind and those who mind don't matter!

Kawaii: I'm sorry to hear about your struggles! I hope everything turns out ok! We're still in this together!

Lost another 3.5 at my weigh in this morning. Showed my new coach the comparison photo I made and she was speechless. I have two long trips lined up in July and August so I wanted to talk to her about phasing off for those trips and starting up after I get back. She told me that I could be at my original goal of 250 by then if I keep averaging 3.5 lbs a week. Hard to imagine!

Kawaii, you can not catch a break lately. Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Jig, you are absolutely right! Awesome WI and great long range planning for your summer trips.

I am worn out today. It was a long week. One more week until spring vacation. My kids are squirrelly!!!

Kawaii: Sory about the gall stones. Take care, and speedy recovery.

Jig: Good WI! It is very hard to imagine that we could be a goal by July, kind of exciting thou.

Slip: I hate how kids get right before vacation, happens every time, even to the 3 and 4 year olds I teach.

Looking forward to a relaxing weekend, I hope. Seems like a long week.

Hi all,

Had my first night of not eating dinner, had an extra packet instead. Just did not feel like eating or cooking. Looking forward to Lent ending, because I find that I often have no desire to eat or cook fish or eggs on a Fri. night.

I have weigh in this morning. Think it is going to be the same as last week. Interested in the measurements since we have not done them in a month.

Hope that your weekend is spectacular! Our weather is supposed to be close to 60 today. UCONN plays tonight and tomorrow. Going to take some of my clothes to a consignment shop today, that will be a whole new experience. Need to plant some seeds too and catch up on chores. Going to be a busy weekend here!

Lots of good WI's so congrats to you all.

Good luck with your surgery Maddy!

My coach and I decided it's time for maintenance. I started phase 3 today and will start phase 4 next week. These phases will be the most important as I have failed to maintain my losses in the past. If I feel like losing another 5-10 after a bit of maintenance I think I'll go back to the Jorge Cruise style of weight loss which is low carb and much cheaper than IP. It will be a lot less daunting to lose 5-10 lbs rather than 40-50! I'm so glad I chose to do IP. It's been hard and expensive but totally worth it. And I got to "meet" you lovely people here. Have a great weekend everyone!

Hi everyone,

Back from weigh in. I reached my original goal of 175. I am going to keep going until the end of May and then begin the phase off. I want to be in Phase 4 by the 21st of June. I have lost 15.5 inches off my waist! Amazing.

Steph, my coach said that phase off takes 28 days, is that what you were told? How was your first day of Phase 3? By the time I get to it, you will be an expert.

I am glad that I chose IP too!

Slip: Good luck with WI and measurement today. Keep us posted.

Steph: Congrats on maintenance!! That is exciting, I am sure you will do great.

Isn't it funny how our motivation can take a nose dive over night? I was great a couple of days ago and today I am doubting if I will ever get to goal. Yikes. I am not giving up, but it just hit me that I may not be at goal by July, that has always been my goal date. I know my body is going to do what it wants but having it take longer is kind of depressing. Anyone else have major motivation nose dives at times?

Slip: We were posting at the same time. Congrats!!! How exciting!

Steph,

Congrats on making it to phasing off! I'm super happy for you! Glad we've become friends here and on FB. It's so nice to have people that understand what you're doing/what you're going through!

Slip,
Congrats on 175! Your constant positive attitude and "can do" spirit really have buoyed me a few times when I've been struggling. I'm so very thankful that we've become friends! Can't wait till I'm well and we can get together for another coffee afternoon!

Jig,

Your posts here the past few days have truly made me so happy. You absolutely CAN make your dream come true of becoming a police officer. You're getting fit, and healthy, and nothing is going to stand in your way.

I'm still doing A-ok.. sticking with plan, eating alot more of the soft squishy foods and making tons of soups since solid food and I don't get along right now. This too shall pass, and I'll be back to 100% OP AND working out.

Unfortunately, I've had to put my dream of doing the color me rad 5k on hold. Note I said ON HOLD. I'm not giving up on myself, my goals or this program. It's not IP's fault that I am having this issue.

Keep on being the AWESOME people you are, don't let anyone tell you you can't do something that you really want. You CAN make it happen.

Maddy

Want2B,

Oh yes! I can absolutely relate to your motivation nosedive! *hugs* Hang in there.. that's the part of this that's mental. You can get through it. I have to look myself in the mirror and tell myself that I've bought into this program, it's expensive, and I'm not going to give up on it because it would be a waste of money! Additionally, I've started writing a journal of little one line things to help me. All things I couldn't have done without having lost the weight. When I get down, or start feeling like the road is really long and painful, I take it out and read it. I wasn't really sure that I wanted to share this with everyone, but I wrote something a couple days ago.. it wasn't a one line thing, but I'll share. Hope that this might help some of you for when you have moments of struggling.

This was taken from a journal post. It's long, and there are some swear words in it. Just skip it if you'd like.

April 3, 2014

So I've spent my entire day at the hospital/doctors offices, I've been sick.. and I'm in pain. ALOT of pain, so much so that the dr offered to admit me to the hospital for pain management so that I could get some sleep, but because I was worried about finances, co-pays, deductibles, I decided to just tough it out with prescription meds and hoping for the best. The doc isn't sure if it's a kidney infection, gallbladder issues, or kidney stones, or lucky me, some combination of ALL of them.

I had the best AND worst moment while at the hospital. The tech that was performing the test gives me a size xl scrub pants and a jonny top to get into. Sigh. xl pants are not going to fit around my behind. I'm smaller, but yet again, I'm still too big for the "normal" world...All that horribleness that I thought I had gotten past came back. That feeling of being too big for everything..There's a stack of pants in the dressing room. I riffle through, unfold *every single pair*, burst into tears, and sob into my shirt. I pulled myself together, thinking that this poor guy is probably wondering wth is taking me so long! I peek my head out and I asked the tech if there were pants that were larger since these didn't fit. Yeah.. he says we usually have them, lemme go look for you.. He wanders off, and like 5 minutes later, he comes back and he says,"Usually we do have them, but today, we don't. I'm sorry." Perky Maddy takes over and I say no problem. I'll make it work. So, I put my regular pants back on and I open the door with two jonny's on (one facing the front, one facing the back because I couldn't tie them up).
Feeling a bit on fragile emotional ground because of the whole clothing fiasco, we step into the radiology room. And I start hyperventilating. I knew in the back of my head that the CT scan was the one that had the giant donut magnety thingy that spins around you, but I didn't *get it* until I was standing there in front of the machine turning all sorts of colors because I was so scared. Oh good god, what if I don't fit???? What if the machine is weight rated for someone smaller than me?? I almost burst into tears in front of this poor guy, but I managed to calmly (seriously didn't FEEL calm) use my words and ask, "What is the machine weight rated for?"

***This is the beginning of the BEST moment*** The very nice tech raises one eyebrow at me and says "Don't you worry, you'll be fine. It's rated for something like 500lbs." Then I look at the donut hole and I say, "You think I'll fit??" He again raises one eyebrow at me and says "You'll fit fine!! You're not THAT big."
It was at this point I quietly said to him that I was once. I told this complete stranger. I didn't have to, but when I told him, he smiled at me and said "Right on sister! If you weren't in so much pain, I'd hug you right now. You totally made my night. And for what it's worth, those pants suck, they're itchy and uncomfortable. So don't you worry your head about it at all. Let me get you a warmed blanket.. So he did, and he starts up the machine and they start raising the table. And lo and behold, I fit in the machine. No problem at all.. there was even room around the sides.
Maybe I'm not at the point where I fit in everywhere, but tonight I had a triumphant moment. The pants didn't fit, so what. **** the pants.. I fit in the machine.. whereas 14 years ago, I wouldn't have been able to get onto the TABLE portion of the machine, much less fit through the hole of the diagnostic part of the machine. Today, I fit enough.