May I ask Dee the date you started IP, I stared Oct 25th, 2013 and have lost 24lbs, and I notice you have lost 38lbs. Are you 100% no slips? I'm jelous of your progress, although of course this is a personal journey.

Hi all: Happy "snow day" wednesday. If only it weren't so easy to work from home... I'd love a "real" snow day

Work is crazy for me in December so I haven't been on the boards as much though I try to check in and read. It's so important to be able to reach out to people who are experiencing some of the same ups and downs.

Some very nice milestones. Congrats to all!

I am trucking along. It's a little more challenging with my schedule now being more crazy, and of course the holiday "cheer" (food and drink) but i'm confident I can just keep on keepin' on.

IP POWER to you! (Of course it's really your power, our power, IP just helps us along)

Happy Hump Day!

Be prepared and bring your own food. I went to a friends for a party assuming there would be some veggies or something I could eat and was sadly mistaken. There was pizza, poppers, onion rings , candies, nuts and tons of alcohol. I was spending the night and wasn't prepared. I ate as little as possible as to not starve. I should have been prepared and had nobody to blame but myself.

I've had people give me a hard time by not participate in their eating. I just tell them that I am on a really restrictive diet because I am trying to reduce my blood pressure without meds. Which is the truth.

I am going to push my own envelope here: I am challenging myself to stay 100% until Feb. This is going to be sooooo hard for me. I mean it is going to really push me mentally and fight my sweet tooth. So I am officially announcing my own challenge. I just hope I have the will power to do it. Because I can be so close by Feb. I know I can I just need discipline!

I started IP with alternatives (due to cost issues) on October 7th. I try to be 100% OP when I can control my food, but I travel and dine out for work at least 2 days each week. I have been eating a dish before, thinking "hmmmm, this dressing does not taste like oil and vinegar". I also don't eat beef due to diet issues, so I have a lot of fish and poultry. But my 4 pound loss this week was a surprise...a few 1-2 pound weeks in a row. I did just start doing a yoga fusion routine which I LOVE. The bottom line is IP works! And thanks to this site, we are empowered with the knowledge to take the program and make it OUR individual journey. You're right at the point I was a few weeks ago!

can you please send me the list of the alternatives you use also.....

purplemonster can you send me the list of your althernatives also..

If I can do it, anyone can! And most find it easier once they are committed to be 100% because you get less cravings. Good luck!!

Aww thanks. Sugar is my kryptonite (sp??) I cant help it SO I am going to discipline myself on this. Maybe if I get a loss or two like my first few weeks on IP that will keep me motivated?

I was a big "sugar" snacker as well. The first two weeks were terrible so I just tried to not have any sweets in the house so there was nothing to tempt me. And if I wanted something I just remembered that I could have a bar in the evening, or I would have some water with MIO. Now I am so disciplined that I made several Christmas baking treats for a party last weekend and didn't lick a single finger or spoon, and it didn't really bother me either. Sure I wanted to taste. But I didn't. I would rather be proud of myself for not eating it than miserable and defeated. It really is mind over matter. When you find yourself in temptations way just think "Is it really worth having maybe one minute of eating something off protocol, and potentially spending 4 days making up for it?" That's what seems to work for me.

I was grocery shopping today and had to pick up potatoes because my husband said he is sick of eating chicken ( ) and wants Shepherd's Pie. They had a 50 lb bag so I tried to lift it just to see how much 50 lbs actually weighs. I couldn't even pick it up! To think I used to carry that much extra weight around and then some every day!

In other news, my husband and two guys he works with split a cow...literally. My freezer is now jammed full with steaks, roasts, ground beef, etc. I guess he was serious when he said he is sick of chicken. lol

I know what it feels like to pick up what we lost. My 2 yo weighs abt 27 lbs so when I carry him I am carrying my lost weight!!!

AWESOME on the cow! We raised our own beef cows and there is nothing better than home grown raised from a calf meat. it is super tender and man the flavor is something you cannot put into words!

I realized the same thing picking up a bag of dog food. No wonder my knees were achy and the bottom of feet tired. I think about it when I want to eat something I shouldn't...because we all know it only takes ONE BITE to negate a week's worth of work & dedication

I so agree with this Lisa, and I assume this feeling and knowledge will just get stronger the longer I'm on IP. I was making dinner tonight and thought to myself - "this is so good, why didn't I just eat like this before? Why did I go for such fatty, carb laden, bad-for-me choices, when I could have this great, satisfying food and not wreck my body!?" So for those skeptics who say the IP program (or any program that depends in part on packaged food) "doesn't teach you anything so you will just gain it all back" - I'm definitely learning new tools and am beginning to look at food differently - which is exactly what WILL help me keep it off!

So, NSV.... My Stretchy "comfy" clothes are WAY too big now... So much so that (while procrastinating on studying for finals) I was wearing a stretchy skirt, and pulled it out and said, I bet I could fit another person inside this skirt with me.... and my friend heather said, I WANNA TRY! and she is about a size L, so add a loose 2X and a L together, and we still managed to fit... haha, great feeling to know I've lost inches
I'll hopefully be back soon, my last final is today, and I have to finish a paper for my capstone class, and then I'm free for about a month! Yay!