Hi Everyone - I'm getting married in 6 months and my plan was to lose all the weight I had to from Jan - March so that I could spend the remaining 3 months planning the wedding. Well.... its Feb 10th and I've been on Day 1 of Ideal Protein everyday since Jan 1st!!! I dont know what to do I break my diet every day.. or i'll break it on day 2 or if i'm lucky enough to get to day 3 i'll break it then! I need some serious help I need to lose 20 pounds. Ive been 150 since Jan 1st and I want to be 130 by June 1st.

I'm on day 1 again and almost went to Harvey's right now to get a Poutine but realized the car wasnt on the driveway (luckily). So now i'm here trying to avoid the craving. Can someone please help me get past 3 days of this diet!!!

The only really true thing anyone here can tell you is that you have to WANT to do it! The ONLY way you can stick to a plan is to STICK to it! You have to have the will to want to stay on it more than you want *insert food here*. If your wedding is in 5 months from now why not diet up until then? Your diet should NOT require you to not be able to lead your life up until the wedding Good luck!

You either decide to do it or not. Perhaps you should find another diet, or accept that this is the weight you will be at your wedding.
If the wedding isn't enough incentive to avoid poutine, nothing is...
Try to commit for a full week. It will be easy after that!

you can do it! I decided this was it and haven't looked back! Do you have a coach?? Get one! They will be sure you are in ketosis and hold you accountable! Just think of all that money you are spending on wedding pics-spend some of that on doing ideal protein the right way-with a coach and the packets- you won't regret it.

My motivation was-it was either this or bariatric surgery-I've seen people go through that and decided that this is the right way to do it for me-so I am-no looking back! This is it! This is forever!

I say commit to it for 2 weeks. If you can get through the first 2 weeks of P1, I'll bet you sail through to your goal. Flip that switch in your brain and commit!! I mean, really, is anything you are eating worth the torture you're putting yourself through? I agree with Miranda...you have to want the weight off more than you want the food. You CAN do it, you just have to decide to do it.

thanks everyone, im on day 2 finally - i made it without the poutine! i'm going to try to get thru atleast week 1. in my head im planning on eating poutine next friday lol but hopefully i wont have these cravings by then. i wanted to know if there were any bbq sauces or mayonnaise that I can eat with my protein in the evenings? does anyone know any good brands i can eat while on IP?

Walden Farms makes a Thick and Spicy BBQ sauce, as well as mayo. I haven't tried the regular mayo, but I do have their Chipotle Mayo and it is like a thick spicy salad dressing. You could always put some vinegar and other things in there to spruce it up.

If you are trying to lose 20lbs, then you can't be spending the time and money to keep giving up through these first 10 days--you could have been almost half way to your goal had you stayed on track. You really have to question if you are dedicated enough to do this. Otherwise, you have plenty of time to exercise your butt off and probably lose the amount you want to.

If, in your head, you are trying to go get that poutine next Friday, you are setting yourself up for a failure. Why don't you think of an alternative to reward yourself with, such as turnip chili fries? Those are totally on plan and there are recipes here for it--I will be happy to find it for you. You have to find other ways to reward yourself that are not food, and you can't fixate on what you can't have--poutine will be around when you are done, so will pizza, fries, and all of the other things you can't have right now. What won't be around, is you at your ideal weight for your wedding photos, which you won't get a second shot at. Which do you want more? (By the way, I am losing for my wedding, too) So, put your full effort into this and you won't be disappointed. Good luck, and don't sabotage yourself.

Congratulations on hitting day 2! It's always, always one moment at a time -- the present moment -- and 2 days of present moments turns out to be quite a lot If you can do that, you can definitely continue as long as you choose to.

Remember that the first week is the hardest. Basically, it kinda sucks. But over and over again, I see people on here saying "... and then at day 4/5/6 it was like someone flipped a switch and I felt amazing!" That was my experience as well. I woke up on day 5 more alert, energetic, and happier (yes, the mood boost came before ever seeing what happened on the scale), and less "hungry/crave-y" than I ever remember being. No lie.

Give it 1 week minimum, 2 weeks ideally, and see how you feel. If you need to plan on poutine at day 14 just to make it through this time, then plan on it. I don't think you're necessarily setting yourself up for failure by doing this, since planning =/= doing. Sometimes we need a crutch. You've got enough time in the meantime to re-evaluate, and honestly... don't expect to still want the poutine as bad on day 14 as you do now!

Check out the recipes thread(s). There are tons of ways to play around with on-program foods and packets to suit your tastes and cravings without going off program.

Cheering for you!!

You can do it! As lingereverywhere said tehre are plenty of ways to experiment with the IP foods to make there more appealing. I personally have coem to love the Ip cereal made into pancakes. That way I can have pancakes and still have a restricted. I also love the turnip fries with heinz low carb ketchup.
I had some days that were tougher than others but I "kept my eye on the prize". I weighed in today and am down a total of 15.2 over 4 weeks and am 11 away from my goal weight. If i hadn't started and stuck OP I likely would be about 20 pounds heavier than I am now becaus I was gaining an average of 1 pound/week.
The other posters are right, the beginning is the toughest part and those foods will still be there when you reach your goal weight.
I am rooting for you

Hi there! I do not want to discourage you from this diet and I know that if you put your mind to it, you can do anything. As a long time dieter, I've learned that not every diet is for everyone. If you've spent the last month and a half struggling with this and mainly because of "cheats", weight watchers might be a GREAT option for you. It seems as though with 20lbs to lose, WW would be feasible. Although Im not sure how tall you are. I WISH I was able to do WW and eat the foods I love and drink wine but unfortunately, I have messed my body up so badly with yo yo dieting that I must go to extremes such as IP. if you are not in the same boat as me in regards to the life long struggle, I would seriously consider switching to WW or maybe even adkins. I too am a bride to be and I TOTALLY feel your pain. I just wanted to give you some advice from a life long dieter. Good luck to you!!

I have convinced myself that this is a treatment for a disease (with is partly true) I would not skimp on antibiotics, or chemo if I needed it and I need this so for me cheating is not an option...
It even helped when I told friends that it is a "treatment from my doctor" instead of just a diet I chose, they seemed to be more willing to help me chose good situations and even ask the waiter all the questions for me instead of saying "aww, one bit won't hurt"

I have been going to a gym religiously for about 4 years. Every year we comment how everyone looks the same, give or take...

Exercise is just not the miracle weight loss process people expect. It can even hinder losing as it make you hungrier!

After working out up to 12 hours a week I tried ip. It works. Weight loss really is 90% diet and 10% everything else!

Omg...I just looked up what poutine was! Eeeeekkk! hahaha I had to laugh because here in Jersey they call those "disco fries" although I don't believe they are fried in lard lol. Thankfully I've never had disco fries so I'll never know what I am "missing" but I will definitely make a mental note to stay away from poutine!

Lol chix I wish I hadn’t tasted them either! Theyre my weakness. But today’s day 3 its usually when I break. I hope I can just make it thru today and then I'm sure I can last until friday. All of your support has been so wonderful, I feel like I'm not in this alone anymore I've always been the 'chubby' sister my whole life and I've always had weight issues because no one in my family understands me... theyre all skinny sticks! So thanks for ur support everyone! I also never knew I could do so much with IP foods, I've been browsing thru the recipes and I was so shocked! I will definitely try them out. I also never knew I was allowed to have the heinz low card ketchup? If so I'm going to go and buy it today!