WOOHOO! You and me both! It's so exciting isn't it!? I had my hubby get on the scale and i did a celebatory dance behind him! lol! He's been gone for 5 weeks working overseas and it was amazing for him to come home and POOF, he's married to the incredible shrinking woman! Congratulations on such an awesome accomplishment! Keep up the positive outlook, it's infectious! :-)

pitakitten, i just noticed your stats and you're my twin! Weight and height nearly spot on. Would you mind if I asked you if you've got a weekly breakdown of your weigh in's? I'd like it for my motivation

I’m going to get a little controversial here, and I’m sure some folks on the boards are not going to be happy with me.

I know that one of the goals of this forum is to provide support for each other, and I completely embrace that goal. As an emotional eater myself, I also fully understand how events in our lives can trigger a need for the comfort so many of us find in food and other places. I’m there. I get it. I sympathize.

But more and more on these boards, I am seeing people who use IP as a yo-yo diet: they lose some weight, allow themselves a big “cheat” because they attend a social event or get free booze somewhere or hang out with someone they haven’t seen for a long time, and rationalize that the situation warranted their behavior. Sometimes they feel bad, sometimes not. People respond with the requisite support: don’t beat yourself up, get back in the saddle, etc. Some chime in and say it’s okay because they can go back on the diet and lose it all again—no harm done.

The trouble with this desire to offer support is that sometimes the behavior is simply not okay, and it’s untrue that no harm is being done.

We are blessed with some real heroes on this forum… people who have toughed it out and lost impressive amounts of weight – joshb, SylvieG, Chaplains Wifey, Mystical Mamma, beyourbestinidaho, want2run – just to name a few. We have the likes of Carla and Jordanna who not only lead by example, but are truly dedicated to making this site a valuable resource for those seeking information on IP. There is no lack of sound advice and inspiration here. In fact, this forum basically became my IP coach, and I owe my success in large part to the great coaching the folks here gave me.

What we are doing here is not easy. No diet is, especially when you’ve reached the point where you’ve all but given up on being as fit and feeling as good as you used to – or as good as you’ve always wanted to, and deserve to be.

This is not a forgiving protocol, but it works. It puts your body (and mind) through some pretty radical changes, which must not be taken lightly. Our wonderful experts have posted the effects of pulling your body in and out of ketosis. It’s no joke.

And on the financial side, I loved this post from Birman a while back: some people find that the expense is a great motivation to stick exactly to the diet, and not cheat. Cause, every high carb cheat will set you back a few days. If you are paying $7 per packet, having 3 packets per day, and a piece of chocolate cake sets you back 3 days, that piece of cake cost you $63. Was it really worth $63?

IP is not for the casual dieter. I would suggest that those who are using it as such may do well to sign on with a program less expensive and less stringent. Maybe you are able to lose in spite of your “cheats.” Maybe IP seems like a fast way to recover from transgressions. But the weight many of us carry (or DID carry) got there because of our behavior – whatever the drivers – and without changing our behavior, we may eventually be doomed to repeat our past.

I notice that no one has added to Lady5andy’s thread about why we gained the weight we’re trying to lose. I think it’s a great post, and when I have some quiet time, I intend to think about that. I sort of know… I know the events that triggered the behaviors. But I need to do a little more pondering. A lot of us would probably benefit from going through the process, whether or not we ever decide to post what we learn about ourselves.

I need to respond to some individual posts and will do so later, but this is long enough, so I’m just going to check out and let this hang for a time…

BRAVA!!!!!.. excellent post, Novak...

Novak- I totally agree with you...I think sometimes we forget really we are just cheating ourselves, whether we look at it in dollars or in weight loss or how we feel about ourselves, I think generally its because of these behaviours that got us to "that place" we were in before IP to begin with. IP does say every pound has a story, we need to rewrite our stories, WOW does that sound wrong, I hope that makes sense. My new book has only just begun, I like to call this my revised second edition, it still has some typos and errors here and there but definalety a better healthier read than the first.

Novak - I do agree with you, though when I've tried to bring up this view before I've been chastised because some people just need more hand holding than others so now I just keep my mouth shut.

I will say this though, I don't think it's fair on everyone else when people cheat and then come back and talk in detail and length about what they ate and drank with no regard for anyone else on the diet.

This diet is hard, every single day we have to get up and make the right decisions and stay away from everything that tempts us (and believe me, all of us are tempted much of the time) and to have to come here and see discussions about the food and drink others have indulged in makes it even harder.

I completely understand that once in a while people slip, but maybe those chronic offenders can keep it to themselves rather than flaunt it on the boards every time they partake in all the things the rest of us would like to eat & drink.

I would like to add here: none of us know where other people on this board come from, their background or anything as such. We only know their weight, height and location. As for me it would an interesting point to note that I hold 2 phD degrees, one in molecular biology and one actually in biochemistry. Point being that I am really not an intelectual inferior person who needs to be told that alchohol is a no no. I believe that is why it is called a "cheat" otherwise it would be called a very good time at least by me. I also do understand that this is not for a yo yo dieter and I am not one of them; I have lost weight every single week on this diet and love it so far. I will do this diet as I please, I will loose weight at my own rate, and I am rather happy with the way I am loosing it. I also would like to be able to find a reason in case I am about to faint, it could be have to do with something else other than my "cheat".

Regardless, I hope all of you keep supporting each other and still show no tolerance for anyone who tends to enjoy a drink of alchohol. May the force be with you.

btw: I have always had my 3rd pack of protein between lunch and dinner; since my dinner also has protein in it then I believe I am having protein in my tummy when I go to bed.

wonders if anyone has had ribs on IP and how you determine what 5oz of meat would be?

Amen sister. That's been one of the harder things to deal with -- reading in graphic detail everyone else's cheat. It definitely made me want to avoid the board at times. Thanks for putting that out there!

Well said Novak and Jordanna - I'm new to this but this but this is how I am approaching the plan. I need to make changes in my life (and diet) - not twist and manipulate the plan so that is is hardly recognizable. The plan is designed for a reason. It is successful and I want to be successful.

Thanks to all the for the support and inspiration.
Cheers

Jordanna,
I have had ribs on this diet and I measured it out raw and put it in a small glass dish in the crock pot to cook. it worked great and I could still add all the yummy stuff (bbq etc) to the rest of the ribs for our guests w/o messing up my ribs. it really did work out well. I used the boneless ribs so I did not have to worry about adding any extra weight. Hope that helps

I know we aren't supposed to have nuts but I was wondering about pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds. I haven't gotten a chance to check out the nutritional info but I was wondering if anyone has heard anything about whether we can have them.

Unfortunately these are bone in ribs, that's why I'm not sure how to measure them...there isn't that much meat on each side rib and the bones way a lot...

The reason why you should stay away from seeds and nuts is because of the higher fat content of them, IP is a low fat, low carb diet. Would they throw you out of ketosis - no, will they slow your weight loss down - possibly.

I agree, and I would like to add something else to what Novak said. I’ve already talked about that before, but I think it is important to mention. I’m not one of the big looser of the forum, so I don't know much about everything, I'm young and I don't really have experience in dieting, and moreover I’m considering myself still as a newbie, but maybe what I think could be useful to someone. I’ve cheated, (and sadly I'll probably cheat again) I’m nowhere near perfect, but I’m working on it

By allowing ourselves a cheat day when we’ve lost well for a while, or for others good reason like that we are rewarding ourselves with food, something that probably most of us do, or have done before this diet. Like WannabeIP said, every pound have a story… this pound come from a great day with friends, those pounds from a bad breakup, and those from the death of your dog… Rewarding ourselves, comforting ourselves with food is a habit that most of the women have, but it’s not a way to live, and be healthy. The thing with IP (and oh well in fact with every diets) is that we’re trying to lose weight, but I think it’s more than that. We’re trying to achieve a live that is healthy, without being obsessed by food. When Doctor Tran say that ‘’this is our last diet’’, he mean by that that we’re supposed to lose weight, but not to gain it again, if we’ve learn how.The things it that every doctor of every diets out there should say the same thing.. I see many people here saying ‘‘I’ve tried every diet, and I’ve gained everything and more back […] this is the only one that work’’ How do you know that this one work ? Maybe, If you're going back to your olds habits, you'll gain it again? We need to learn how to eat, wathever the name of the diet we're on.

That is only my opinion, maybe I’m wrong.. I’ve never done another diet before, and I want to do this one ONE time, and never never never again. I know why I’ve gained weight, and I know how loosing weight is hard, so I’ll never let myself go in this journey again. With IP, I’m learning that food is not my friend, and that It’ll never be, but now I’m able to control my pulsion and to live without always thinking about chocolate… Most of the time, my craving are in my head, and now I’m able to understand that, maybe not resist completly, but I'm trying ..

Hold on everyone

Hi everyone, As one of the "older" members here I have had almost 40 years of different diets, starting with going to my Dr. when I was 22 after my 1st child was born and only about 15 lbs overweight..he put me on Diet Pills (all the rage in the 70's) and I believe that was the beginning of my battle with diets. I sure wish he had told me to go home, eat healthy; but he didn't .
Anyway what drew me to the IP eating program was the 4 phases and how it actually teaches you HOW to keep the lbs off once you have reached your goal weight; no other diet has ever done that for me. I am doing so well on IP and loosing weight so differently on my body than ever before!! I have never "cheated" except to have an IP bar that put me over the 40 carbs, but now that I know what that does to my body I don't want to do it again. I believe that this ISN'T a diet by a life long EATING PLAN. That is what is making this such a wonderful plan for me.
I love this forum and all the love, support and information that is exchanged here....everyone keep up the excellent job!!!