Yes I definitely felt that he was trying to justify his own cheat! I could feel his guilt oozing out of him while I sat there drinking my water and protein drink!

EXACTLY. I just find it so aggravating that everyone around me can see that I'm overweight and I really need to do something about it, but get so negative when they find out I am! And so incredulous when I tell them that any tiny cheat will just make me start backsliding. I'm not fat because I'm lazy, I'm fat because I have a problem, an addiction, and I'm trying to conquer it.

Despite my coworker's joke about cheat day (and he definitely meant it as a joke, not trying to derail me), he's actually been very supportive. Not that I go into detail about my diet, but he's tried my Quest chips and helped evaluate them with me, and when we go to company functions, he doesn't make fun of me for my food choices. He definitely makes the everyday burden a bit easier. I think one of the main reasons I'm going to be successful on IP this time around is that our other coworker quit a few months ago. She was a particularly nasty woman, made my life miserable the first time I was on IP with her pointed comments about everything I did and ate, and I just didn't want the harassment over my diet to continue.

And Alaskan- it sounds like your coworker is trying to justify his piece of cake by getting you off the wagon as well. Way to go for staying strong! You're better than that!

This cracked me up! Mayo is so gross yet good at the same time!

This has nothing to do with the conversation above but I thought it too funny (at least to me) not to share: at Church Sunday my best friend and I were talking about how much weight I've lost, etc and I said something about my average weekly loss and she "Well you know what they say about eating an elephant; you do it one bite at a time!" She then turned red and started sputtering "Oh No! I didn't mean...I am so sorry. Oh gosh I apologize. Now I feel so bad!" I just laughed and tried to assure her that she had not hurt my feelings. It just struck me as so funny because that's pretty much how I'm going to beat this thing! "One bite at a time!"

Good for you sticking to it! I am lucky in that I've been at my current job over 7 years and most everyone has seen my ups & downs and are always understanding when I say "no, thank you" Hopefully your co-workers catch on...nursing is hard though. My mom was a nurse for 25 years and was always having to watch her diet too (b/c of all the break room food).

Hi fellow IPers! I had my first weigh-in this morning since restarting IP on March 9. Good news is I lost 6.8 lbs, and 2 lbs of that was pure fat! The bad news is, I can't listen to my home scale...it told me I had lost 4 lbs more than the clinic scale said! Boo...time to adjust the ticker

So biggest issue for me was going off program yesterday. I talked with my coach and we reiterated the fact that I need to plan, and I need to have fun with the food! I need to make recipes instead of taking the easy way out and eating raw veggies and hard-boiled eggs or prepackaged 4 oz salmon straight off the supermarket shelf. BORING! That was what did me in yesterday. I smelled that delicious dip and realized my choice was between that or more plain eggs and my mind just rebelled.

Oh my gosh this is so funny!! Your poor friend must have been so embarrassed! Good on you for having a sense of humour!

I really think 95% of the time people get negative about these things because either they are:
1. Completely ignorant / unwilling to try and relate to others struggles
2. Jealous and/or scared - I see this a lot (and sadly have btdt...) - maybe they know they need to do something in their own lives like lose a few pounds, and haven't succeeded...or are just completely miserable human beings and don't want to see anyone doing anything to better themselves (I fell in the 'jealous' category, knowing I needed to lose weight but not ready...).

Diet fatigue is REAL unfortunately. I am sure every last one of us has struggled at some point on this journey. This board is chalk-full of great recipes. I have 6/7 go-to's that I am circulating - and I truthfully have never had an issue with 'boring salad lunch' at work - but even that I keep "exciting" by changing out the meat weekly (I split 4oz lunch, 4 oz dinner) and mixing up veggies (usually) - like next week I am swapping out the peppers for asparagus and I will probably change from romaine to field greens. I love the jicama too much to change right now

Huge NSV today (needed it after seeing the scale this morning!). In the office kitchen, a guy from another department turned and said "Beth?" (this guy KNOWS me...) and I smiled, a little - thinking 'wth...so-n-so you know me...?' and he goes on to say "OMG you are absolutely disappearing" whoa!

WI today...down 6.2 lbs!! Feeling very good about that.

Feeling not as good about last night. An old friend invited me to dinner at what turned out to be a really delicious upscale restaurant. As planned, I did successfully order a light seafood entree modified for IP. But I also caved in to a glass of wine. And then another one. And then after the wine, eating a hunk of bread felt like a good idea. Then half a dessert.

It sucks and I wish I'd done better. But...nothing to do for it but acknowledge and move on. And obviously, I just need to stay out of situations like fancy Italian restaurants until I develop a little more willpower. Fortunately, I don't see any situations coming up where I'll be similarly tempted for the next several months.

The good news is, I was able to get back on the IP train this morning no problem. That in and of itself is a big, positive change. With past diets, I've used any little mistake as an excuse to binge for a week "since I blew it anyway." Even coming home last night, my old binge voice piped up and said, "you blew the night anyway, might as well have another glass of wine at home." But I was able to ignore it easily and just had some water and went to bed. This tells me that this time, it's different.

Hi Mimi:
from closed last chat thread...quote

"Just started Phase 3. Does anyone know anything about the IP Meal Replacement Drinks being mandatory once a day, or even every other day? Is IP now recommending that for P3?"

IP meal replacements are technically not mandatory - they can be handy if you have a very busy job or are traveling, etc.

P3 is about starting to 'up' your breakfast foods to jump start your metabolism for the day, and learning to incorporate healthy carbs a bit at a time. You don't need an IP product for that part of it. I'd look at the macros on the side of the Ideal Complete and see how to fit real food into that. According to the chart you need 1 protein, 1 starch carb, 1 fat, 1 fruit ie: eggs with toast and butter, and a serving of berries or an apple, etc.; or a protein smoothie with 1/2 a banana, and a serving of cereal with some homogenized or 2% milk (which includes the fat); or a piece of cheese or nut butter on toast with a side of melon. Just for some ideas.... It may show all of those things plus IP Complete for breakfast but according to my coach it should say or there.

Liana

As you noticed, lettuce.... alcohol can lower our resolve, if nothing else, and derail us momentarily, but that was the other day, today is a new day and you can be 100% today...
Time to climb back up on your wagon, and giddyup
Don't look at the past except to learn from it! Hugs!

Liana

Hello IPeeps! I had my weigh in last night and was up .4. I was surprised, as my home scale showed losses all week, and it is usually fairly close to the clinic scale. Oh well, perhaps I wore heavier clothes than usual. On the plus side, I was down 6.5 inches (we measure every two weeks)! I can definitely feel a difference in how my clothes are fitting me. This morning, I saw the lowest number I have seen on the scale yet, so perhaps next week I'll have a huge loss!!

Congrats on the inches lost!! I know for myself when I had low weight loss weeks those were my highest inch loss weeks and vice versa. Perhaps it's the same for you!

congrats everyone on the scale this week. I was up .4 on the scale, but know EXACTLY WHY... Wont let it happen again- will be 100% no matter what. Total inches lost over 9 weeks is 10" and a total of 17 pounds. Trying to keep my eye on the prize and push forward. I have about 40-45 pounds more to go...

6.5 inches is awesome! Fingers crossed that the scale will catch itself up to you next week.