Heck yes we can! Where there's a will, there's a way...

And I WILL do this!

I can officially see Shark's finger Yelling at me today! This morning I had my first "Cheat" moment. Swimming lessons are hard to get into around our area and you have to go to the college around 2:00 am and sit and wait to register and by the time I was done, although I had packed good meals, I thought at the time it was just easier to eat an egg, cheese and ham burrito, but right back after it at lunch today. Hoping I gain some energy from somewhere, I'm exhausted!!!

Lol, I'm glad my wagging finger is helping people stay accountable.

Good for you, not letting the slip up impact the rest of your day. The last time I was on IP I cheated all over the place and it ruined my motivation and led to my eventual failure, which is why I'm taking such a hard stance against it for myself. I wish I had been able to jump back on the horse and move forward the way you have!

Keep at it! You may have had a cheat meal, but you have the right mindset in keeping it from becoming a full cheat day/week.

oooooo....the finger...it points at me like no other! Hahaha! Yes, went right back to IP meals at lunch and veggies. And, only going to have IP meal and veggies for dinner as well....Jump right back on the IP Train!

Hi ladies,

I have lost 18lb so far but I notice my arm is getting flabby. I have very thick arms and they are looking each day more like jello! Has anybody done light weight lifting while on phase 1? I am thinking to start something just to get some muscle mass and get my arms and body a bit more firm.

Any thoughts?

I use weight machines 3x per week, along with running. I've been lifting for about 5 weeks now and starting to see a little definition in my biceps. There's still plenty of underarm flab, especially juxtaposed with my biceps, but I'm hoping that will tone as I lose more weight.

I love lifting and would definitely encourage you to try it out! Just listen to your body, and don't push yourself too hard. And don't forget to add an extra packet on days you're working out- half before and half after was recently suggested to me by Briael, which makes sense to me.

And good luck!

Unfortunately, the cost of being overweight is gaining loose skin as you lose the weight. You cannot tone up fat or loose skin. However, you can tone the underlying muscles and keep reducing the overall body fat percentage. In time, as you rid the loose skin of the tiny row of fat cells that is stopping it from shrinking back (and this IS tied to genetics and age) you may be able to firm it up. There is some evidence to support skin brushing (it increases circulation if nothing else) but do not be conned by these miracle creams and cellulite treatments, they do not work on loose skin.

No problem at all doing strength training during P1, even though many coaches prefer you not to exercise as it makes their job easier because they don't have to calculate whether you need an extra packet and keeping an eye on your nutrition levels versus your exercise level. They are trying to ensure you lose at optimal rates so that you don't quit the program, but they fail to take into account that losing weight quickly can also cause body image issues and that exercise keeps your base metabolism higher than being sedentary. Ultimately this stops your daily calorie intake level from plummeting, so when you phase out of IP you don't have to spend a few months rebuilding your slowed metabolic rate.

If you have flabby underside of the arms you need to be working your triceps (hold a weight above your head, bend the elbow and bring the weight down to where it is behind the head) and raise it back above your head. The two actions count as a single rep. Second exercise is to bring the elbow up to the shoulder, so that it's parallel with the floor. Bring the forearm up behind you til it is level with the upper arm. Or get on a Triceps V machine at the gym. Simple fact: start with low weights and do more repetitions. You should feel a little muscle fatigue as you finish the last reps. As your body becomes accustomed to it and you feel little to no fatigue at the end of the set you should increase the weight. Start low. If you struggle, decrease the number of repetitions rather than reducing the number of sets.

If you have flabby front arms, then work the biceps. Curls curls curls, one arm rows and shoulder shrugs to keep your neck and shoulders nice and strong to support the increased weights.

Personally, if you aren't a regular gym goer, I would spend the money and have a personal trainer for two sessions. They walk around the equipment and weights with you, advise you on form, recommend weight levels and reps and generally teach you which muscle groups you are working. It really helped me understand that just doing the exercise isn't enough - you need to be doing it with the right form or you risk injury and wasting your time doing something that will not build muscle strength. It helps to keep the "helpful" guys at bay, too! Finally, you will not become muscle bound - women lack the testosterone to get into serious body building - that takes a ton of supplements and way more protein than we are having on IP.

Like Sharkie, I also do weights at least 3 days a week (more like 5, because hubby's gym routine is split over 5 days, with 1 cardio - swimming - and a rest day).

On the extra packet front - strength training is not meant to raise your heart excessively high, so provided you have eaten in the preceding 2 hours you shouldn't need to packet before the workout, but do top up after it. Keep it light - a hardboiled egg may be enough to put you back to feeling good, or half a packet or a whole packet. This may vary day to day. I don't need an extra packet for the gym anymore, but I did when I started.

On the subject of fueling both before AND after exercise, this is more a cardio trick - especially for running. Running is a constant motion and you keep the heartrate elevated for long periods of time - this means that the body either needs to have sufficient fuel for the majority of the run OR it will break down muscle to use as fuel (which is specifically what you do NOT want - the point is to spare the lean tissue and burn the fat). The way to combat it is to ensure that your blood sugar level is high enough to last at least 75% of your cardio, then top the remaining 25% up after you finish - with a boat load of water to help your muscles recover.

The body is normally reactive and it will soon tell you if you are putting it under too much strain. Be prepared to start slow and build up.

Did my 10th weigh-in today. Still maintaining with no cheats, down 36 pounds and about 20 inches. I've gone from a size 16/18 to 10/12. I've got very few clothes that fit anymore, but heck if that isn't a great problem to have (when the problem is that they're too big, of course ).

On the topic of exercise while in Phase 1, I've been going to physical therapy 2-3 times a week since week 2. Due to health issues that make physical therapy necessary, I can't do anything high intensity/high impact, so I can't comment on that. The workout portion of PT consists of a few minutes on a recumbent bike, a few on a machine like a Total Gym, using resistance bands for various upper body exercises and doing this thing where you step in a pattern on various points on the floor (for balance/coordination).

It lasts about 40 minutes, give or take, and is strenuous enough to get my heart rate into "the zone." It hasn't caused any issues with weight loss, but I feel extra fatigued on those days, and I've had to eat off-schedule due to my blood sugar falling so low I became hypoglycemic. But I'm diabetic, so that might not be a problem for everyone. And I have issues with fatigue regardless, so others might not experience that, either.

I note down all my exercise in my journal, and my coach hasn't commented on it, so it must be okay, at least in her opinion. I know coaches don't all give the same advice, so it can depend on the coach.

Good luck to everyone in staying on track and dropping the pounds. A mini-goal of mine is to give myself the present of being below 150 by my birthday (mid-July), so that means at least 17 more pounds in the next 9 weeks. Keeping my fingers crossed that I'll get there.

Thanks ladies, I will start some exercising this week after Tuesday which is a month after my surgery and thats the time they said I had to wait before exercising. I dont like hard cardio exercise anyway hehehe so my plan is trying little cardio just to get a warm up and strength exercise for arms, legs and abs. My clothes are also getting loose and I am felling much better. I am getting impatient as I want to see all the weight down right NOW hehehe my average has been around 2lb per week which isnt great but it is still coming off. I can't complain much! My coach said that in a way it's good to lose wait slowly because I have more time to make changes and adapt to a different diet. She is very positive and thinks this way is easier to keep it off once I lose it all. I am choosing to believe her just because it sounds encouraging hehehe if it is true or not I'll find out sooner or later!!!

Best of luck to all of you and thank you for taking your time to explain to me a bit about your exercise plan. Have a great Sunday ladies!

Hopefully you're all recovered, as it sounds like you're raring to get into exercise. It sounds like you're at that stage where you NEED to move because you feel good.

I agree on the slow loss. It's great to see big numbers, but it comes at a couple of prices. The first being that you are more likely to gain loose skin quickly, because you can't do enough exercise fast enough to trim up, and the second in that it lets you see the effect of individual packet/vegetable/meat choices as you go. If one week you see a 3lb loss (and you're tracking your food macros) and you see that you ate more fish and white meat and other weeks you've eaten no fish and more red meat and only lost 1lb, you know that those choices hold water weight.

Some of us like to game the system by eating fish and white meats on the two days preceding a WI, as it means no water retention (and less retention in the colon!), but this is a nifty "trick" if you haven't seen good loss during the week and you're worried about what your coach will say.

Jonquil and Dickinsp,

Woo-hoo on your weight losses! I agree with the comment about being impatient with this diet, as I feel the same. Hurry up, already! I want this weight gone, gone, gone!

You two are eager to excercise but I haven't been bit by that bug, yet. One of my sons bought me a Fitbit for Mother's Day (yes, I'm behind on my technology purchases!) and I am pleasantly shocked by how much I walk just doing chores and running errands. I'm hoping it'll make me be more mindful of being active.

I had my WI this morning, and I lost 2.5 pounds, 1% body fat (or whatever that statistic is called) and 1 inch from my waist and hips. My coach/nutritionist doesn't focus on the numbers, rather she encourages her patients to eat healthy, stay on IP, and focus on the long-term. So it helps someone like me who is a slow loser not get depressed when the numbers are 'small'.

My college-age son is home this weekend--classes are over, finals are done, and graduation is next weekend--for the first time since I started my diet. He told me he could see the weight loss which made me feel good. (This son will be a very good husband someday. He always knows the right things to say!) I've lost 15 pounds total and he had me lift his 20 lb weight to show me what I'll soon (hopefully) lose. Wow. It's startling to feel how much it is. It was another positive reinforcement to staying on this diet/lifestyle change.

And I had another NSV yesterday. For the first time in a long time I was able to sit on the ground and get up! Some of you may think I'm joking but I'm serious. I used to have tremendous inflammation and pain in my joints (knees, ankles, wrists, etc.) that it made impossible to sit on the ground. After 4 hours of weeding/gardening at my mom's house (she's 87 y.o. and only recently is not able to do her own yardwork), my son and I went to Gravelly Point near National Airport. (Those of you from the DC area know what I'm talking about.) Just like when he was little, we laid on the ground and watched the jets fly a few hundred feet above our heads as they were landing at National. It was such a joy to relax with my 'little' boy, just like when he was small. So despite all that weeding, walking along the Potomac River, and 90 degree weather, I was able to sit on the ground and get up all by myself. I may not have done it with the finesse of my youth, but I did it! Thank you IP!

Awesome NSV, SuzieCJ!


Liana

Congrats on all the WI's this week!
WI yesterday for me was 1.9 pounds and 1/2 Inch off my hips! (thank goodness!)
Hope everyone has a GREAT week on IP!!!

hello ladies,

We are mostly over the 2 months mark for those that started in March. Hows you diet going? I am still going strong and I feel it is getting easier. I am more used to the foods, in love with the wafers and started doing light weight lifting for my arms. I am also taking collagen to help my skin to recover from the weight loss.

I have lost close to 25lb and I feel freat. I still have a lot to loose but as I am used to the diet it doesn't feel so difficult anymore. No more super hunger, no more headaches or problems. I just feel good and adapted to a routine.

Let me know how you are feeling so far!!

Hi Ladies, Yay, there's activity on our thread! I'm doing well. Dickinsp, we have hit our two months (or more) anniversary. I remember how I cried the first week on IP because I HATED the IP packets and though this diet would be another failure. But here we are, yippee!

In some ways the diet has gotten easier. Not much cooking, no hunger pangs, no more achy joints, etc. But in other ways it's harder for me. I'm getting tired of the same foods, I miss eating out, and I still HATE the d*%# IP packets!

Since hitting menopause, weight loss has been slow, and IP is no exception. I've lost about 19 pounds in 8 and 1/2 weeks. Nothing to brag about but I'll take it! Prior to IP I lost about 7 pounds--but it took about 10 weeks. So, since I started dieting in mid-January I've lost 26 pounds. That number pleases me but I've still got a ways to go.

I'm not sure how long I will stay on IP. My initial thought was that I'd be on it for 3 months, but now it is obvious I will not meet my goal. Actually, my initial goal was 160 pounds (not 150) but somehow when I vocalized that number to my young, trim, and athletic IP coach it seemed too high so I said 'maybe 150'. I don't know what my goal should be. At that time I also didn't fully understand there were 4 phases to the diet which will add several weeks to overall time I am on IP. (To be truthful, I still don't fully understand Phases 2-4, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.)

From a vanity standpoint, I can see the weight loss now. I had a terrible double chin and while it's still there, it's greatly reduced. This was something I was/am terribly sensitive about so it's a big reinforcement that I'm doing the right thing. Other parts of my body are noticably smaller, such as my belly and of all things, my wrists. Clothes are fitting much better and I've been able to wear some of my smaller sized wardrobe. (I've got clothes from size 12 to size 18W in my closet.) I am getting rid of all the W size clothing as they never fit properly and I don't want to see them again.

But the most important thing is the difference in how I feel. My whole body was wracked with pain prior to IP. Doctors could never identify what my medical diagnosis was--MS? Fibromyalgia? Osteo arthritis? OA was identified in my feet but what about all those other aches in the rest of my body that I've lived with for years? Every doctor had a different opinion. After 8 days on IP I noticed all the pain was gone. I don't understand it but I welcome it. And I know other people have said the same thing. Amazing.

But what will happen when I go off IP? I recently read another person's post on 3fc that after adding carbs and sugar back into her diet, the pains returned. I try not to dwell on that right now. First things first, let me lose this excess weight.

Dickinsp you mentioned two things you are doing: weight lifting for flabby arms and collagen supplements. I would like to incorporate both, so could you please share what you are taking for collagen. (Yes, I know there is evidence suggesting the collagen supplements don't work--but if it's not detrimental to my health, I'll take them.)

Brial had a post a few weeks ago about lifting weights for flabby arms so I'll search for it to pick up a few tips. I also want to start walking--just short distances--perhaps 1 mile per day at a fast pace.

Well, that brings my status up-to-date. I've written a lengthy post, so I'll shut up now. We're having beautiful weather in the DC area so I shall go outside and enjoy it! How are the other March starters doing? Are you still around? I enjoy reading other peoples' stories -- it's a great motivator!

Happy Memorial Day to everyone! Hats off to everyone who has served our country. I thank you for your service.