Hi everyone,

Eeek help! I'm on day 6 and the first couple of days I felt sick, but then I felt great. Now I have a headache and feel icky again, boo.

I'm stressing over 2 things-what to take to work for lunches, any ideas about how to get in those 2c. of vegetables? I'm the slowest eater and it takes me forever to get them down.

Also I'm leaving on a 10 day holiday on Fri and I plan on sticking to the plan so I want to be super prepared. So far I really like the IP drinks and bars...I feel like I should be having a soup or something for lunch, but really 1 unrestricted item should be just as good as the next right? If I wanted to have an orange drink for breakfast and another for lunch it shouldn't matter right?

I see my coach tomorrow but I'm trying to plan out with IP packets ahead of time so I appreciate any advice!

P.S. Despite the headache I love IP and for the first time in a long time feel like there really is hope out in weight loss land

I add 1 cop of mashed cauliflower to my soup at lunch. Plus some curry powder. It is delicious, filling and seems like normal food! I also have a green salad with 1 c cucumber every day, with oil and vinegar. I like routine!

If you like the drinks you should try adding spinach to some of them. People seem to like it. I love asparagus and Zuchinni, so getting my other 2 cups in is not an issue. Find a veg you like and stick with it!

It's normal to have ups and downs on this diet. Trust me, there will be days that you are annoyed that you are eating out of envelopes while everyone else eats crap around you...but the end result is worth it.

Work lunches: I take the time after my food shopping trip to chop up things like celery, cucs, green peppers, mushrooms, etc., and measure out 1c baggies worth of each. I line them up in my fridge so they are ready to grab and go each morning. (I re-use my baggies). I also always have cans of tuna or chicken stashed in my desk, in case I want to throw some protein in the mix for lunch.

We have a full fridge with freezer in my office, so I keep small bags/boxes of frozen veggies in there.

I don't have any advice on the slow eating part; but I will often make a 2c baggie of celery pieces and just have them on my desk to munch on all afternoon. Kind of like a bag of chips, only better for us!

One thing I really like for lunch is the veggie chili mix with 2 cups of veggies added in. It's really pretty tasty. I normally cook 2 extra cups of veggies at night and set them aside for lunch the next day. This is especially good with roasted veggies - peppers, zucchini, mushrooms - feels like a really hearty chili! It is restricted, so I do this maybe 1 - 2x a week, since I also like to have the bars occasionally in the evening.

Right now I am sitting at my desk easting spinach salad with some red peppers and vinegar and oil dressing. Will follow that up with a vanilla shake.

I keep a stock of packets in my office, so all I have to do is grab my veggies from the night before and go in the morning!

This will get easier. My whole first week was a little rough - feeling out of sorts and craving things, but around end of the first week I started feeling a lot better!

I do everything the night before. When I make my son's lunch for preschool I make mine as well. I love the chicken patty mix. I cook it in the 2tsp olive oil we need for the day and I think it tastes awesome. Then I just pick which veggie I want (I like asparagus, cauliflower, broccoli,mushrooms, and zucchinni). You can always pack some cut up veggies and use some WF dressing as dip.

I also make my breakfasts the night before. You can take any pudding or shake and add baking powder and two egg whites to it and eat it like a cupcake/muffin or pancake...yummy and filling! And, it's non-restricted.

Good luck!

I'm so gonna try and make 'muffins' tonight and see how they are in the morning! That will help so much! I was looking for something I could make ahead of time!

Thanks a bunch

The sea salt will help with the headache issue. Hope you are feeling better.

My easiest lunch is soup with pureed veggies. I make the veggies ahead of time & just bring everything to mix together at work. I've been putting 1.5-2c veggies in the soup, along with spices & salt. I can easily add a salad.

for some reason, i seem to be MORE hungry if I eat salad. Soup really fills me up.

Wow, so many great ideas...thank you for the support!! I feel better today and will definitely be trying out some of these awesome hints.

[QUOTE=Momto2cs;4431239]

If you like the drinks you should try adding spinach to some of them. People seem to like it. QUOTE]

I agree with Momto2cs! For breakfast I put my IP powder drink, ice, and water with 2 cups of spinach in a blender. Keeps me full! And by the way, I don't like spinach but blended you can't taste it at all!

Then for dinner it's easy for me to eat my two remaining cups of veggies.

Here's a thread I started a few days ago with some veggie puree ideas:
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/idea...ie-purees.html

I add them to my soups, as a side dish and use as gravy & sauces for dinner. Because they are pureed/blended down they are easier to incorporate into your meals, and you can change the flavor using spices as you wish (taste as you blend & adjust accordingly).

There are a lot of different ways to get in your veggies - you don't have to stick to the same old thing. Really experiment and try new things. Like other folks have mentioned blending spinach into your drinks is an easy way to go - I LOVE my morning spinach+lettuce breakfast smoothie (I make mine with the chocolate drink + coffee) - and I actually don't like spinach or lettuce (never been a salad person), but you can't taste it and it liquefies down nicely. All I taste is Cafe Mocha!

Also - check out the 'What are you eating today' daily thread for ideas and insight into how folks plan their day. Here's the link to todays and yesterdays thread:
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/idea...ugust-9-a.html
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/idea...ing-today.html

You guys are lifesavers!!
My leader gave me a recipe today for zucchini hummus (it's probably on here already lol) but it had
A zucchini, 2 t tahini, 1 clove of garlic, lime juice, sea salt and cayenne to taste. I know the tahini is not strictly op but im not sure it's enough to matter.
Anyway, I whipped up a batch and it's delicious. I just took out 1/3 of a cup and saved the rest because it did have the tahini, but could see adding spinach or other veggies without the tahini and making it a soup, hot or cold, all sorts of possibilities! Yay for veggie purée lol

Hmmmm...I am formulating a new purée recipe...I wonder if WF peanut spread would work in place of tahini...I shall work in the test kitchen...

1tbsp tahini has 85 calories, 65 from fat. Definitely not IP, but a good paleo recipe we can work on adaptong!