I'm failing miserably here. It's not the hunger, the water or the supplements - which is what I thought I'd struggle with - it's the food - both IP and normal.

We all know I can't cook for ****, but I'm trying. I think to some degree it's what we have to work with. Last night I tried ground beef stir fried with veggies and tonight the exact same thing with chicken. It's so disgusting I'd rather starve than eat it. There is no flavour.

I fried up a cut up chicken breast and then added broccoli, green onions, garlic, etc and added some soy sauce and it's HORRIBLE. I actually gagged when I tried to eat it and had to spit it out.

How do I make this edible? Its day 2 and I'm already sick of broccoli and sweet peppers.

Sorry to be such a complainer - I really want this to work but I need to be able eat without gagging. I'm so used to breading and sauces.

dinner.jpg

Here is a picture - could YOU eat this?

Spices....embrace them...find them in the recipe section. It's planning your food, preparing for that and ensuring you have selection. Make a plan for the next week, with different recipes and buy the ingredients. I wasn't a cook either and now people think I am....three different types of chicken this week alone.

Unfortunately you have to do the work....but it will get easier as you go. Give yourself some credit, cooking is all about prep.

Would I eat that, with just soy...no but some soy and other spices yes. Find a stir fry recipe that has no sugar and just spices. It becomes fun to challenge yourself to get the same taste and not use sugar. Ie, I made my own pulled pork recipe without sugar and now it's my go to recipe. I shared it in the threads.....check 'em out.

What did you like to eat before IP? Lets start there.

What flavors do you like? I love onions and garlic and put some salt in there, and fresh herbs. So in this diet, I try to use lots of those things.

Also, what veggies do you like? Even it it's just starting out with eating celery and cucumbers you'll get that required 4 cups in a day.

that is what I was going to ask. What about going to a hamburger joint and getting a hamburger minus the ketchup, cheese and mayo? Have them give you more lettuce?

On the dinner pic above, you could add a sauce, maybe like frank's hot sauce or something?

Fry your chicken up sprinkled with garlic powder, onion powder and some Mrs. dash... Steam up some cauliflower or broccoli..those you can get frozen. they also sell frozen salmon patties that are legal...etc etc...

You have to find it in yourself to be able to find something you can eat on this plan, if this is indeed the plan you want to be on. After reading your other posts, maybe IP isn't for you? Just a thought, because I think you can do it, it just takes time. Try not to stress out about stuff. It's gonna be ok.

Yes! I get cucumbers and the mixed lettuce (I get mine at Sam's) and keep that in the fridge. I also get a portabella mushroom and either chop it up or steam it whole..same with regular white mushrooms, I put some olive oil in the pan and saute them with garlic powder...pretty flavorful. I make sure to have the walden farms 1000 island on hand, the other's I don't like as much, but they do make a barbeque sauce that is pretty good. I do add spices to them to up the flavor a little. They even have ketchup. What level is your cooking experience? I will try to help you in any way I can, just pm me! *you can also use the italian dressing to marinade your chicken, beef or whatever in..or use it to pour over the meat you make...

Well I was on Weight Watchers for 4 months before I started this. I only lost half a pound a week, maybe now I'm starting to see why.

I never cooked. Ever. I'd usually have cereal or toast for BF, Lean Cuisine or sandwich for lunch (yes, I'd sometimes make a sandwich), and if we did eat in - pasta with sauce - but I always measured out exactly 1 cup with 2 TBSP parmesan. I've never been much of a meat eater, I was quasi vegetarian for a while.

My husband always joked the only way to get me to eat meat was to pound it into a cube, bread it and deep fry it.

Even on the rare occasion when he would BBQ I always had to have tons of BBQ sauce. I'm Irish descent so my idea of spicy is pepper on my boiled potatoes. LOL. I am not a fan of hot and spicy food.

BUT I also lived on chicken curry with rice done with mild spices.

And for salads I liked things like nuts and shredded cheese and raisins in there more so than vegies. I loved carrots. I like cooked vegies way more so than raw - with butter poured on them.

Since you asked. . . . ;-)

hey, what about saute some veggies, add a little but of curry powder to them, serve that with some cauli rice, (which is shredded to resemble rice)...or make a curry soup..saute veggies with chicken broth (canned) add a bit of curry powder to taste...maybe that will help.

What meat will you eat? Tofu? Which low carb veggies do you like?

I am not much of a cook either, and quite frankly, don't enjoy it. I grill all of my meat and eat my veggies in a salad. I do this every single day for lunch and dinner. It is so easy.

I usually buy chicken and steak and I use the McCormicks Montreal Chicken and Montreal Steak. I season both sides of the meat and throw it on the grill. Voila! Easy dinner (or lunch, whenever you eat your "real meal"). Then I start with a huge bed of lettuce and add veggies- cukes, celery, peppers- whatever you like. Then I make Good Seasons Italian dressing and use (2) T, so I am getting in my olive oil requirements as well.

Hardly any cooking involved and it is very quick. I eat my real meal at lunch, so for dinner, I have my salad and my bar. My typical P1 meal plan:

6:00 am: Workout
6:45 am: RTD Chocolate
8:30 am: (2) egg whites and Chocolate Drink (powder) or Cappuccino Drink
12:30 pm: Salad with 2 cups veggies, 2 T dressing and 6-8 oz. chicken or steak
4:00 pm: RTD Mango
7:30 pm: Salad with 2 cups veggies, 2 T dressing and IP Bar / restricted

Hope this helps!

How do you feel about soups? Soups fit our diet rally well, or stews, I'm not sure exactly of the definition of each. Basically, put in allowed vegetables, allowed meat, your favourite herbs/spices, and it would really help to have meet stock for better flavour - you'll need to find some that are 0/0/0 or near those figures. I would not add any oil in it so that you have control over oil intake for every day (you can add oil into it for each meal).

I adore vegetable soup (no meat) and I am eating it every day the last 5 days and I am not at all tired of it. I make a big pot of it on a weekend, and then keep eating over the weekdays... Soups and stews also freeze well, so you can make a big pot then freeze in 2-cup containers... I would advise you to experiment with small quantities of soup (rather than a make a huge pot) until you can verify that you like the flavour...

Tell me what you think of that idea?

Do you have a friend with some cooking skills that could cook with you for the "real meal" part a few times? It might make it easier if you have someone help you out with the basics of cooking. If that doesn't work, I say watch those youtube videos!

YES I could (bad cop here ) IF you want this bad enough you could

Also, if you like tofu, then to help you choke down some meat, you can cut down on meet by mixing it up with tofu, and putting in flavours you like (for example curry if you like that).

Another idea is to put meet and veggies (tofu and whatever flavours) into a blender, or blending you soup with meet....actually I think I may try this myself as I am not a huge fan of meat either. I think that maybe flavours of veggies will "kill" some meat flavour and make it easier to get down...

Don't discount eggs. Make a spinach and mushroom omelet for dinner. Not only is it filling, it is very easy. Just saute the veggies first, then add the egg. Cook, then flip. Or just make a 'scramble'.

Also, I think your taste buds will adjust. Calling a broccoli and chicken stir-fry "horrible" and so bad you gagged and had to spit it out speaks volumes about your palate. It really does take a while to change your preferences. Give it some time...