Hello all! I am down another 3lbs this morning!!! I am down more than 25lbs in total!! 11 more to go until Onederland!

The one person who has motivated me the most is my friend. She introduced me to IP and we check in with each other every couple of days. Both of us are doing this at home with no clinic or coach.
Probably the best thing that has happened to me since starting IP is how I feel. I generally felt bloated and gross most of the time, now I am not bloated at all and I feel better overall. Definately incentive to keep going. Trying to imagine how I will feel when I get to goal!

KookySuki: The only thing that's unlimited on IP is lettuce (iceberg, romaine, butter, boston, green leaf, etc.)

Kale and spinach are clearly listed on your P1 sheet under select veggies. Show your coach the sheet and ask him why he's giving you false info.

Hi everyone - i finally went off plan on a scheduled hockey tournament for my son. 9 hours on a bus ride down with alcohol flowing and snacks everywhere. I thought I did ok in holding off, but not as well as I wished! The next day I was soooooo hungover and sick. The weekend (4 day trip) was totally off program where I tried to be protein as much as possible, but was not easy to be OP. End result - scale was up 6.5 lbs on the Sunday night on return. So - 3.5 have gone away since then. It's amazing how quickly it can pop on and off but I do realize i'm not much of a drinker! I'm pretty much at goal so would love to be able to stay at a manageable weight with some way to follow plan. I see my coach on Monday and will enter Phase 2.

Happy Holidays.

It was actually my doctor who owns the IP clinic where I go who told me that a handful of kale or spinach is ok to add to one of the IP drinks. I specifically asked if I need to deduct it from my 2 cups of veggies and his answer was no. He said when I get below 200 lbs we may have to tweak things ie not have restricted items every day or look more closely at whether the HANDFUL will make a difference. I trust my doctor and the coach in his office and have absolutely no intention of accusing either person of giving me false info. This isn't some fly by night IP clinic owned/operated by a random, uneducated person who woke up one day and decided to open an IP clinic. The clinic is owned and overseen by an experienced doctor who has helped me tremendously with my health. I don't appreciate the attitude or implication that the clinic doesn't know what they're doing. There is really no need for anyone to lurk on our Newbie board looking to "correct" us in a condescending manner. Please show more respect or don't post in our threads. The whole point of these Newbie threads is to support one another, not criticize each other's coaches or each other.

I have decided with the support of my coach to switch things up and do different IP drinks for breakfast instead of the smoothies every day to see if it makes a difference with my losses. I'll keep you posted!

Wow, you sincerely need to relax.

People who have been on this diet a long time stop in all the newbie threads ON PURPOSE.

If it is just new folks banded together, sometimes questions arise that a person with experience can answer. or we see info that need some correction.

Doctors have very little (hardly any) nutritional training in their medical school curriculi. My coach was also through a medical practice. They use IP as a source of additional revenue for the practice.

Re kale
Check out the nutritional stats on it. It has WAY MORE carbs than lettuce.

I made a morning smoothie for over 6 months containing spinach. And I subtracted the spinach from my veggie alottment for the day because spinach is on the veggie list, not on the unlimited lettuce list..it doesn't say unlimited greens. It says lettuce.

By dinner, I usually only had 1 c veggies left for the day, so I typically had my meat on top of a huge bed of romaine lettuce.

When I came to 3fc, I made sure I learned all I could from the people who came before me. It served me well.

I'm very relaxed. I was simply offended by the tone of your post. I felt it was condescending, abrasive, and rude. That's all...no need to continue the conversation any further.

This doctor is completely trained in IP. He is not just using this as a source for additional revenue. He uses it as a tool to improve the health of his patients who are at risk for or who have obesity-related diseases. He personally gets involved and monitors his patients in the program. There are people in the program who are not his patients who only see the IP coach.

I do appreciate tips, but the tone of that person's post was rude and condescending. I use this board for support and recipes, and if anyone is giving advice or questioning someone's coach, doctor, etc, he or she should be tactful and respectful.

Kale advice: noted and per my discussion with my coach, I'm going to watch my smoothie/kale/spinach consumption. If anything this is good news that I don't have to eat/buy/prepare so many veggies. Thanks

It sounded pretty factual and straightforward to me

Long timers have seen SO MANY people get erroneous info from coaches (such as using kale in place of lettuce) that sometimes we just get straight to the point in replies.

There are also different levels of IP training. My coach is a region rep and has all the advanced training. She STILL calls IP frequently with questions.

This WAS a great thread, but it has severely deteriorated. I'm over this conversation and the pettiness. I came to this website for support and ideas. I don't need another coach or doctor. I guess I'll use Pinterest for ideas and get my support from friends/family rather than a website. I didn't think the threads were monitored by the IP police.

We are all here to help one another. It would be a shame Kookysuki if you left.

I agree. I hope you won't leave. I think our core group has been really kind and supportive and I would hate to see anyone go with hard feelings.
Sometimes even when people have the best of intentions and want to impart what they've learned from being on ip for a long time they come across as patronizing or condescending in their zeal. I've struggled a little bit with that on this site but my experience has been very positive overall. I've had to really bite my lip over a couple of comments (nothing here!) But I love our group so please stay and let's keep going together.

KookySuki....don't leave. I always try to stay neutral on these sites, but I agree that sometimes the use of caps and wording can make the tone of some posts not very positive.

I lurk all the IP threads and I really to do cringe at times of the way things come across when talking facts. I agree, this is a support network for overweight people....why would you not be anything but hospitable and polite to everyone unless they are being totally obnoxcious themselves (which you weren't).

Please............this is just my personal opinion. I do not need any responses...I just feel bad for KookySuki because this group is for support of EVERYONE who wishes to post.

Oops........did I use caps..........hee hee!

Slipfree, Wantanewme, and 44forever...thanks for your kind words! My irritation level has come down and I'm ready to move on. I've enjoyed our group and the site in general. Hopefully this was just a little blip. I shouldn't have gotten so irritated, but I felt I had to stick up for myself. My doctor and coach are very special and helpful to me, so I got upset. Anyways, moving on...let's keep our progress moving forward. I lost 3.8 lbs this week despite my kale and chia seeds in my smoothies. I'm going to do just the unaltered drinks until my next weigh in and see how it goes. Also recommitted to myself to not drink and to stay on plan at my work Christmas party. All of your strength and commitment has inspired me to stay in plan for the party and when I go visit my family in Ohio for a week at Christmas time. I just shipped my IP packets to my parents' house and I'm prepping them for what I'll be eating when I'm there. Fortunately they are being supportive and want to get the right foods for me to stay OP.

Made Kale chips tonight with basil, pepper and sea salt. Yummy!