Love this!

Pancakes as an unrestricted! Awesome. Besides the Crispy Cereal (plain or as 'pancakes'), there isn't much in the way of unrestricted options for breakfast.

TGIF everyone!!! Looking forward to a beautiful weekend here!

Great breakfast options include Omelets, orange drink or peach-mango, berry yogurt, strawberry banana RTD, Cappucino mix or RTD, coffee mixed with vanilla shake or vanilla RTD

My go-to breakfast is a frozen smoothie with spinach puréed in - I typically use milk chocolate pudding.

Pudding mixes can be used to make muffins or pancakes (add zucchini for better texture, Recipe is in recipes #4

Most of the newest IP products remain off-limits for me as I'm gluten and soy protein-free.

I just tried the complete breakfast, chocolate flavored. Not bad and it feels pretty filling.

FYI for newcomers, that is for p3 and beyond

drd: cute pic update!

Sorry, should have qualified that.

IF you do (or want to try) alternatives mixed in with IP you can get Maple Grove Farms Sugar Free Pancake Mix (must be sugar free box) for UNRESTRICTED pancakes. I find it in the specialized baking goods area near Bob's Red Mill, GF baking and near the syrup section.

I use 1/4 cup mix, 1 egg white, a dash of baking powder and water to make batter consistency. (Do not need to follow directions and use whole egg or oil.)

Meets IP nutrition for Alts if you add the egg whites and makes nice pancakes (or waffles if you thicken the batter). Top with WF syrup and YUMMMMMM!

I love the chocolate wafers too! So yummy!

Good morning! I thought I'd share some positive news on the doctor/diet front. My breast surgeon reviewed my post-surgical results with me yesterday (all good - I need radiation but NOT chemo!) and I told her I weighed about 20 pounds less than the first time we met. She asked what I was doing, and I explained it to her. She said she's been doing a very similar program. I told her that the office I was going to was a bit concerned about me doing this program since as the weight is lost, estrogen stored in fat will be released in my system. She replied, "You'll never get a straight answer on this - but what's worse? Having the estrogen released as you lose weight, or having it stored in the fat in your body? More women in the U.S. are going to die of heart disease than of breast cancer, so my advice is - lose the weight!" It was nice to hear her perspective and support

Thanks for info.
I start work at six and my favorite part of P1 was jut grabbing a RTD chocolate on the way out the door and drinking it at my desk.

I'll see if my coach will let me get part of a package at WI on Monday.

Lisa, I like your "can do" attitude! I have this conversation with myself about the cravings monster often, but I refer to my inner brat. I try never to reward the inner brat with food, she would just keep nagging at me. That is one of the blessings of IP, I know the difference between hunger and cravings.



Lakelover, I think you are incredibly brave to deal with all of these health issues at once. I am glad that chemo is not required. As the daughter of a breast cancer survivor (32 years), I am also comforted by your Dr.'s. words.

I had a very bad day yesterday. After my disappointing annual visit with my GP I got my lab results back. Not one bit of good news. It appears that I have a kidney infection or a UTI, they are doing a culture to see what type of bacteria grows so they can figure out how to see how to treat it. The only symptom I have been having is an ache in my lower left back that I thought was being caused either by my office chair or that I might need a new mattress. That could account for my 1 lb losses that last few weeks. Also the urinalysis showed Ketones - Negative. How is that possible? My blood sugar levels are elevated to the point that she says I am prediabetic. I don't understand this at all. Before IP I ate NO sugar. Not even fruit as I was doing very low carb and Paleo. Could the sugars that are in most of the packets and snacks be the culprit? Because of the Paleo, my cholesterol went up and this was reflected in the tests as well.

By the time I got home last night I was so upset and depressed. I made myself eat dinner and then I followed Ruth Ann's advice and just went to bed.

This morning I feel a bit better mentally, and I know this is just a hurdle that I will have to get through on this journey. As Lisa said earlier, I have to be an adult. But I really just wanted to have a child like tantrum yesterday. Being an adult is hard.

Pity party over.

Catlady, Sorry to hear about your kidney infection. When was the last time you had blood work done? Could it be that the pre diabetes was there prior to starting IP? From what I hear at my clinic, you will not be pre diabetic for long if you follow the IP protocol. They talk all the time about people coming off insulin because of the weight loss. I hope all of this improves quickly.

Catlady - I hope you get better soon. As far as your other tests go, I am sure that as you lose weight they will normalize. My SIL who was quite overweight had such horrendous results in late October that it finally motivated her to lose weight that she has been carrying for 15 years. Her doctor gave her until May or she was going to put her on heavy duty meds and insulin (she had high cholesterol, tryglicerade count was through the roof, she was prediabetic, protein in urine, etc). After losing only 30 lbs her tests are all normal! This is motivating her to keep on going as she has 4 kids and wants to be around for them.

Week one, looking at a 6 lbs loss. But the headaches! Any suggestions?

Finally, a scale victory, albeit a small change...I finally hit my -100th pound! This was not all on IP, but it is from my highest recent weight.

What it represents for me, though, is renewed energy and determination, something that has sometimes been lacking. I look at myself and think, WOW, 100 POUNDS. That was always an unattainable dream for me. And, of course, as long as I thought that, it remained that.

This board is responsible for a lot of that and my thanks go out to all those stalwart people who take their time to post support and ideas. Honestly, I could not have done it without that. Losing weight in todays world is not always seen from the outside as a positive thing to openly support and cheer. Thank you my cheerleaders!

My morning will be spent celebrating - relaxing and reading, listening to a 1950's jazz CD I bought myself, sipping my coffee with a touch of vanilla EAS.

Then I am going to slip into my size 14 skirt (never thought that would happen), slide on my size 10 top (goodbye to the girls there) and saunter out into the world with the names of people on this board bouncing back and forth.....my inner child is nowhere to be heard (thank you Lisa for that expression because I use it often when it comes out).

Life is good.....better when skinny......