too funny! As for the restaurant, there are so many people with "special food needs" (diets, gluten, soy, etc), don't be afraid to ask for your dishes to be prepared in a way you can eat them. I've found most places will understand and be accommodating as much as they can.

Awesome job - to you!! That is just terrific

Congratulations!! What a power of example you are to us newbies!!!! Thank you for sharing!! Keep up the GREAT work!!

This just makes me want to cry! Tears of joy for you, of course! What an amazing display of dedication and persistence! So awesome, congrats!!

I had dinner at a Chinese restaurant the first week of my reboot. I told them I was on a restricted diet and needed to have plain grilled chicken and shrimp, and plain grilled vegetables - I selected asparagus and broccoli from what they offered. NO sauce (though a little soy sauce is allowed per my coach, I didn't have any, and you'd want to put it on yourself if you do). Just seasoned with garlic, salt and pepper. It was SO DELICIOUS and perfectly OP!

Congrats to everyone for the awesome NSV's also! I am about floating with all of this water! Taking in 96 oz (upped from 64 per my coach's suggestion). Hoping it will help boost my loss at this week's weigh-in!

So I had my first *real* and absolutely weird craving tonight. I stopped at the store for ground turkey and hubby needed Heinz 57. As I walked by the mayonnaise, I had this clear picture of squirting a bottle of Dukes straight into my mouth in real life I would never, ever do this!! Even though I rarely used buns I like having ketchup and mayo mixed together to dip my burger in (not on IP obviously) and am guessing this is what caused this weirdness to occur lol

Went out this evening to grab more veggies for the week. Bought a bunch of kale and now I'm in the process of making kale chips. I can't wait to have these tomorrow!

I stuck to plan 100% today! one day down, rest of my life to go :-)

I am taking a 9 hour drive to SC on Wednesday -- I did this same trip last October -- I made some IP Packet muffins to take in the car (look at the thread called Fun with IP Packets on Lisa's opening post of this Daily Chat thread - you will find the link to the packet recipe thread there) -- I added shredded zucchini to the muffins and also prepared celery and cuke sticks. Any Subway will be a good stop for salad. You can bring your own salad dressing from home.

Since green salad is unlimited, for those two car trips, I relied on very large portions to offset the absence of an easy source of cooked veggies.

For real protein at dinner time, I got grilled chicken on the way down - you can get that even at McDonalds - just get the grilled sandwich and toss the bun. On the trip home, I got 2 quarter pounders from McDonald's and tossed the buns.

Instead of dealing with phasing off, I highly recommend you get creative to stay on program -- you can do it if you give it a little focus and determination. Go for it!!!!

I'm worried..I just started week 6, and haven't changed anything (I follow the program to the "t", no cheating or anything) I've lost 17.5 lbs as of my last WI on Saturday...According to my Keyto sticks, as of yesterday I have dropped out of Ketosis, and that scares the crapadoodle out of me! The only thing I did different over the weekend (which usually is the case) is that I ate my snack at night instead of the afternoon (my week is extremely different from weekends, so the snack in the afternoon is better for me because I am in bed not long after my dinner during the week) Any insight from you all would be greatly appreciated...Thanks ladies and gents ...Lbj

Woke up a full 2 hours earlier than normal
On the plus side I had a loss (I'm a daily weigher, it's the only way I stay on track) but on the down side I have to wait for breakfast.
On an even LESS positive note, we got 2 inches of snow last night.
What. The. Heck.

Fear not, keto stix are not a great marker of whether you're actually in ketosis, and here's why....

Now that you have been in ketosis for several weeks, your body is more efficient at actually using up those ketones as fuel for your brain! So you are not peeing them out, you are actually just becoming keto-adapted.

If you would like to monitor your ongoing state of ketosis, the only reliable way to do so is to test your blood or breath, but IMO this is not necessary. I did monitor my blood ketones for a few months last year just for curiosity's sake, but the numerical value truly makes no difference in the long run.

It is important to note that, if you are following IP with no "cheats" (like making sure you only one eat restricted item per day), ketosis WILL happen. Quite simply, you aren't eating enough carbs to come out of it for any noticeable length of time.

Congrats!

OMG Congrats!!!!!!! Thats so awesome! You are doing great and very inspiring!

I can relate, I was at work the other night and there was a ton of junk in the break room, a coworker kept telling me to have some, this is a coworker who is also dieting but not on IP. I havent cheated in the 7 weeks that Ive rebooted in the program. I said "No thanks" and he was persistent, he even went on to say, "Hey Im on a diet and I had a piece of cake, you have to cheat sometimes, you need a full day to just let loose at least once a week and eat what you want." Umm not this gal!!!! That kind of thinking is how I gained 65lbs! I made exception after exception and I ended up the biggest Ive ever been and the most miserable Ive ever felt. Not going to happen, you cant have just a cheat day! At least not for a food addict like me, one cheat day spirals out of control and pretty soon Im having a week long cheat, then a month.........Nope, not going back!!!!!!

That is sooooo irritating! seriously, you don't tell a recovering heroin addict to just "let loose once a week and have a cheat day!" so why do people think that it's okay to say it to someone on a diet? Good for you for sticking to plan!

Good for you for sticking to your guns! He probably just wanted someone to validate his cheating on his diet!

I found the "thank you I don't care for any right now" line to work well and if people got too pushy (and they do!) then go for blunter like "what part of 'no thank you' did you not understand?" It's your choice what to eat and food pushers are irritating (to say the least).

I did soften a bit when clients would bring in homemade stuff during the holidays that they had obviously spent a great deal of time making and packaging up for me. Then I would do the "this looks amazing but I just ate, do you mind if I take it home for later?" And then take it home and let dh eat it.

Or give an alcoholic just a shot, lol. Yeah one piece of cake would have turned me back into a sugar crazy monster, I probably would have started pulling fist fulls off the cake and stuffing it in my mouth. Until I can learn control I wont be able to eat this stuff again.