Good middle of the night. I just started IP yesterday and thought this would be helpful. I am excited to get going, but know I will have some down days and could use some help. It looks like you have all had some great success and I am hoping to follow.

Welcome Hoppy! I'm usually a late night poster as well, so us night owls can stick together. Today having trouble sleeping -- been up since 4 ish (egad!) so I should really let Lisa sleep in and be starting the "thread of the day". Too much on my mind. I'll either have a productive day and get lots done, or crash and burn for a nap by 10:00 LOL

Good morning IP'rs! Well, I went to the Doc on Tuesday and realized I needed a few days to "get it together". So I started yesterday. Worked from home to help ease into the program....I did really well! I was surprised that I didn't feel starvation or crazy! I will have problems getting all the water in....my Dr. Wants me to eat every 4 hours....wasn't a problem until I had an evening errand, so was off two hours getting my evening snack in....almost skipped it, but decided to do it to ensure I was getting all required food.

Water consumption will be an issue....I only drank half the reqd amt. it's not the flavor or anything....more feeling of bloat.....any tips?

Weigh-in was a bit of an eye opener....20lbs more than I thought!!! And BMI?? OMG...if anything keeps me going, it is that number by itself!

Love the support I see in this community...on to day 2!

Lulu - water is tough for me too. I have a "thimble bladder" so feel like I have to pee all day when I start drinking more than usual. HOWEVER your body gets used to it and you'll find yourself craving more water eventually.

Personally I switched to decaf coffee and have had 2 lovely cups already today.That's easier for me that H2O. A lot of people enjoy herbal tea or mio in their water to help with a bit of flavour.

Give yourself a day or two to get up to "max amount" and set some goals (e.g. 2 cups in before lunch... 1 cup with each snack ... ). I also bought a water bottle that is 1L so I can actually see how much I've drank because I don't remember if I'm just taking a regular glass and refilling.

Morning ...yes I'm a late nighter too! On my second cup of coffee..woot and trying to decide which pouch to have for breakie..haha. I started on Thursday and will go back Tuesday so I only bought 5 days worth of food. Have quite the assortment. Everything I have liked so far.....so every meal is something different. Figuring out some of my favorites though. Lulu...congrats on getting started. The first two days have been really easy, but I am waiting for that day 3/4 starvation tiredness to hit

Hoppy -- I don't want to be the bearer of bad news BUT Caffeine actually is a diuretic or something so unless you are drinking decaf, for every coffee you have to have an extra glass of water.... It's why I switched LOL. It was hard enough to get all that water in, let alone extra for my java junkie ways

You need 3 days to get rid of caffeine headache, so it may not be a bad time to do it now -- you are expecting the first 3 days to be tough -- may as well add to the misery and then it's all done at the same time!

Thanks IP43..I feel weird calling you that haha. My coach did tell me that. I will drink extra water just to have my coffee in the morning. baby steps right? I actually drink a ton of water. I always have...dunno why. maybe I'll start doing one cup regular, one cup decaf....sob. did any of you ever end up eating 4 or 5 packets of food/day in the first couple of weeks? the literature says you can, but I would feel like I was cheating...I guess it would be better than real cheating though

Well then call me Diane - my mom does

The program is written that anyone over 200 lbs can have extra packs so you're not cheating. My coach said I could have an extra one for the first 2 weeks only, so that's what I did while I got used to it. Now if I'm super hungry or whatever, I have that extra pack, but not every day. But it's not cheating. Do something else first if you want 0-- extra pickle, some egg whites + veg into a mini omelette... but if you need it/want it, you're totally justified to have it (See I don't ALWAYS bring bad news! )

Are you getting enough salt in? The weak and dizzy feeling happened to me quite a bit in the beginning and I found just licking salt off my hand and drinking a big glass of water helped a lot. Hang in there - your body will get used to the diet and you'll feel so much better.

I'm on my second week and I feel great. The first few days are tough but you get through them. I feel so much more focused and productive at work. I haven't cheated and found I have had to be a little more creative with my dinner options.

I miss cheese and fruit, but my coach keeps telling me to remember that Phase 1 is only temporary and isn't forever.

I never really ate cauliflower before but I find myself roasting it a lot and either making a mash or using it as my 2 cups of veggies for lunch and pour my broccoli cheese soup/sauce over it.

I was down 5.8 lbs on my first weight in and have been incorporating some 'conversational cardio' in this week because I just don't like being sedentary.

This site has helped me so much get started on this life change. Thanks for all the contributions, everyone.

Thanks. I ended up having 3.5 packages today. would have done the whole 4 but not a huge fan of the lemon pudding.
today was day 4... I kept thinking I was hungry, but really think it is more of an entertainment thing. I kept wanting to eat all day. didn't though so there is that..lol.
also, It just hit me today that I have no idea if that is 8 oz of meat precooked or cooked. I can't find it in the literature. I'll google it but thought you guys would know

Well done on staying OP. It's 8oz pre-cooked.

IP uses the wording "pre-cooked" to mean raw, or before cooking.

Occasionally, there are some French-to-English interpretation issues.

Thanks for the info. Well hope that doesn't screw up my weight loss. I've been eating 8 oz cooked meat all week. It seemed like so much meat. Haha