Hey Sandra,
Congrats! We can all do this together one day at a time. For those of you who find the thought of being 100% OP for a week to be just too much take it a day at a time. If a day at a time is a challenge take it one meal at a time. Reward yourself, but reward yourself with something other than food! A nice long bubble bath when no one is allowed to interrupt you....reading 20 pages in your favorite book, something that may seem small but is important to you that you don't normally take the time to do because it is something just for you. We can all get so caught up in our hectic lives that we forget to take time for ourselves. And no offense to the men here...but women tend to take less time for themselves because they are worried about taking care of everyone else. It is just in our DNA to nurture so reward yourself for your victories by taking care of you!

You are soooooooooooooooooo right!!! I recently re-started going to the gym as something I do to myself, time for myself. My husband is a gym fanatic, he is there most of his free time, so even though we go now to the same gym after our long day at work, when we return home, guess who has to take care of preparing food and doing the dishes!!! (and for the few who might think it is him, yeah right!) It is me, myself and I!!! We women are indeed more nurturing, it is in our DNA I guess. So, it is so important to take care of ourselves in the midst of taking care of everything and everybody else.

Way to go!! I'm so very proud of you!!

I'm a big gym lover myself! But remember it can really make you hungry, which is tough the first week or so restarting! Don't try to do too much until you are well in ketosis!

Hello Momto2cs,

I remember you, you exercise a lot! I on the other hand, I am doing more strength training exercises, no heavy cardio at all. I start my exercises by walking on the treadmill for 10 minutes or doing the eleptical for 10 minutes then I do an exercise plan that my husband made for me (he really should be a gym coach, he is amazing), one day I do upper body and one day lower body. I do this for 4-5 days a week. So... I am not getting myself sweaty or out of breath, just strengthening my muscles in the hope of not having much more than I already do of the extra flabby skin.

Also, I add a protein packet a day when I exercise.

Do you still exercise as you used to ?

Definitely. I am a 6 day a weeker. Some days I still go to 2 classes.

I need the endorphins! And I like the social aspect as I mainly do group fitness classes.

Hi gang, I posted when this thread first started, but since then life has taken ovr and I have not had much 'puter time! I've been buried these few weeks in planning out my kids curriculum for the school year (I homeschool a 16 yr old and 10 yr old). Now I've come up for air, with just about everything in place for them to start.

I have been pretty wishy-washy on plan! Maybe about 75% on. And when I am on, it looks more like South Beach than IP -- for a time, I could not face my shakes, so just used "protein". That means that I ate more real protein than typical on IP, and probably did more veggies than IP allows, but...I'm proud of myself that I didn't do ice cream, M&Ms and other junk, for the most part! I did have about 3 slip ups in that direction over the past few weeks.

Starting today, I am having my shakes again, lots of water, and the normal 4c of veggies. I have not gained, but continued to lose, which tells that really, any low carb, high protein combo is going to work for me. I have TONS of shake powders to use up though, so I am going to call myself IP for a while longer, then re-evaluate.

Hang in there everyone, and always remember that each day is a brand new chance, so take it one day at a time; pretty soon all those "one days" add up!

Still doing good in here,

Official weigh-in on Monday, can't wait to see how much I lost.

How is everybody doing?

Day 2 of the re-start, and so far so good. I've been waiting for the headache, but knock on wood, nothing yet. I have one packet of IP left, and then I move to alternatives. I have a Jillian Michaels shake mixture from when my son was losing weight to make a certain age division for football last year. I think it's pretty close to the IP shakes, so I will start with that and see how it goes.

Impressive ! I too love the group classes... body pump have not returned to that since start of IP... but zumba is so fun..totally understand what you say about the social aspect and the endorphins LOL.... did you find it slowed down your progress in the beginning... totally meaning seeing the numbers move more slowly on the ol' scale?

Hello everyone,

How are you doing?

It seems to me like my weight loss slowed down, I used to lose like 4 pounds a day (yes I weigh myself everyday), and now it seems to me that through all this week, I am stuck on 218 which is ok, but just wondering, if exercise might be the cause, I am exercising, but not making myself sweat, only doing weights to strengthen my muscles, and having an extra protein pack a day when I exercise.

For those who exercise, i.e. momto2cs and Losingforgood2010, can you please tell me if you noticed that once you exercise your weight loss become slower?

I really hope not, cause I am enjoying going to the gym, I feel stronger, but I REALLY need to lose weight fast, I mean, by September 13th (my doctor's appointment) I HAVE TO lose about 20 pounds!

Help!

Hey there... I think momto2cs can better answer you...as when I lost my 57 lbs from aug - dec... it was with no exercise. Even tho PRIOR to IP I was going 6x a week (body pump, body jam etc)...... last night i went and did just elliptical and tread on a great incline... and when I got off... i was DIZZY ........it was actually scary... as I had to drive home down the hwy.......but it passed..... I thk I will bring a light muscle milk with me when I go back for insurance and fast energy boost.

Hello all my restarting friends. I have determined I need a more strict routine to help me stay on track. Because I don't go to a coach and I have never done well with a food journal I'm going to make myself a weekly menu. Instead of writing done what I did, I'm going to write down what I will be eating. I'm one of those that doesn't do well with too many choices, hopefully this will help me to stay on track. My DH has agreed to be my coach and be there when I weigh myself. Hope everyone is doing well. Good luck with the weekends----those are tough for me.

Hello MustangMolly,

Do whatever you can to keep yourself on track, whatever works for you! Way to go on planning. Also, good idea that your DH would be your coach, that will keep you accountable as if you were going to an IP coach. Hang in there for the weekend, it is only two days and it will pass.

Good morning all re-starters,

It seems to me that I finally broke the 218 mark I was stuck on for a long time, today, I weighed myself and I was happy to read 215.6, finally!!!

I really hope that my weight loss would accelerate so I can reach or be close to 200 pounds when I see my doctor on September 13.