I have only been op for a week, and did great on my first weigh in losing 11lbs. I think its a great fast weight loss diet and really want to stick to it. My problem is that im not a veggie lover and am having a very had time eating 4 cups of them a day. I have been eating steamed broccoli, cauliflower and cucumbers every day and ugh, am getting so tired of them already. I ordered walden farms dressings and they are aweful.
Does anyone out there have any suggestions????
thanks everyone..

I call myself a carnivore. I could live my whole life and never want to eat a veggie so IP scared me a bit but I have managed and realized I need to make veggies a major part of my future. Even free veggies on WW wasn't enough to make me eat them. They say it takes children 19 times before they may like something so keep trying.

All new to me since IP: I like roasting peppers or asparagus, sautéed julienned zucchini with garlic,or zucchini chips, turnip/rutabaga fries, coleslaw with a WF based creamy dressing. Most things I cook to very well done.

My go to is celery and sliced raw peppers. I don't like broccoli, cauli or cukes.

You can also steam veggies, purée and add to broth so you drink your veg. I make a leek, cauli soup that is great even without the added cream the recipe calls for.

I'm only on day 2 and I am struggling with the amount of veggies required (not so much that I don't like them). One thing that helped me today was adding roasted red pepper to my salad. The red pepper when it's roasted tastes very different then raw and made the salad sweeter. I put the rest of the red pepper in the fridge and was thinking about puree-ing it for a sauce tomorrow.

I added roasted red pepper purée to the tomato basil soup. It improves the colour, texture and taste tremendously!

I love roasted vegetables and I just spent the last few hours roasting red orange and yellow peppers, asparagus, mushrooms, garlic, and a few tomatoes. I also made zucchini chips but they didn't turn out very crisp. And I turned a whole bunch of dinosaur kale into a big jar of kale chips.

Last week I tried turnip fries for the first time. I didn't think they'd be good because turnip has such a strong taste compared to potato. But made into oven baked fries they taste completely different and were delicious

Here are some things to try (my daughter is picky and is doing the diet with me)

she found out that she LOVES any vegetable when baked in the oven with a little bit of garlic, lemon peel (you can squeeze the juice on them when they are done) and ginger add as much as you like.

Use a little bit of the olive oil so that they dont stick and bake until you have your desired done-ness - she likes hers slightly burned. Add salt when you eat them.

Zucchini
Cauliflower
Broccoli
Brussels Sprouts - restricted to once a week
rutabaga - omit the ginger and add cinnamon or curry - restricted to once a week

My daughter found out that she likes dill and lemon on raw cucumbers too and she will eat those with the garlic chips.

I prefer my veggies raw - so I eat salads - but I make a homemade dressing with a bit of mayo (WF) and salsa and BBQ sauce (again WF) and chili powder- then I taste it.

I add stevia if it needs some sweet - I add vinegar if it needs some tart. Taste it - tweak it. I don't cook with oil so I mix in the olive oil here. If it is too thick? Add add a bit water or more vinegar. I make a batch of it and store it in a small mayo jar.

In my opinion - everything that WF makes is either too sweet or too vinegary. I dislike them all but I do use them because I prefer a creamy dressing and this dressing tastes more like 'real' food.

They tell me eventually I will get used to them - but it has been 5 months now and I still think they are disgusting without 'tweaking'.

Cauliflower rice in various recipes helped me.
Zucchini made into noodles (zoodles) with soy sauce and ginger
Turnip fries
Roasted cabbage with olive oil
Roasted fennel with olive oil
In the cold months, I made soups with lots of spiced and veggies.
AND... I ate many, many cucumbers, tons of mushrooms and arugula.

Hope you can find some things that you can live with. It was worth every bite of veggie to make it to goal. Wishing you luck

Oooooh! I forgot about zoodles!! Thx!!

Disgal, funny because I learned a lot from you too, when I read every thread of the maintainers and life after phase 1.

I am ok with veggies, but I was getting tired of cauliflower, broccoli, spinach and cukes, too. I discovered turnips done in the crockpot with WF maple syrup and some chicken broth - totally yummy. Turnips and rutabaga can be cut up and made into oven fries (someone else discussed this). And Jicama is excellent - adds some real crunch to salads, and it can also be made into oven fries. Look up Jicama in the recipes.

You can add grated or finely chopped cauliflower or zucchini to just about anything and you will never taste the veggies -- check the recipes for muffins and waffles -- you can do both with either of the added veggies and use WF Maple Syrup or a Torani flavored syrup. WF Maple syrup is about the only of the WF stuff that I find ok right out of the bottle.

I made pancakes out of the Crispy Cereal packet by adding 2 egg whites, 1/4 tsp baking powder, McCormicks vanilla extract, splenda, dash sea salt, shredded zuke or cauliflower rice and enough water to make pancake batter ...spray frying pan and put batter in...turn over when light brown and cook other side. Let it cook slowly until is completely done.

There is a better write up by Lisa on making muffins:
I have not found the hummus or mockamole recipes yet - but those are additional ways to get veggies in (I think these are pureed or chopped veggies with some doctored WF for flavor).

Finally - if you have a good blender -- like the Nutri bullet or the Ninja or a Vitamix, you can make up your IP drink (any flavor) and add spinach. The blender will obliterate the spinach and you won't taste it, but you'll be having a good amount of you veggies if you do that daily.

I hope these ideas help!

I throw my veggies into my shakes. I use chopped frozen spinach or greens and I add them to the blender with my dark chocolate shake an blend the heck out of it all. The greens almost completely fade into the background, particularly if you add a touch of Truvia or Splenda. I can get one 2 cup serving in a shake and get a good start on the day.

Good advice and so true..!

Also take heart non veggie folks...after a while on IP...your tastes change!! SOOO don't cancel anything for life . This diet is a regroup for life...it's basic training. You must be OK with making some changes...or you will never reach...or maintain your goal. Many before you have done amazing things ...and embrace the carryover to maintenance.

It is the key. Losing it is not near enough....you need to be a new you to hang on. Are you up for it? I am betting on you to win!

Blending up a cup or two of spinach in your shakes is a super easy way to get those veggies in! If you are getting your 4 cups a day in, you can break it up any way that works best - 1 cup in a breakfast shake means you don't have to eat as many later in the day.

LizRR (one of my favorite success stories) used veggie purees to help get her veggies in - this is the old thread that she started - TONS of creative ways to make it work!

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/idea...ie-purees.html

Spinach is now listed as unlimited on the new sheet so it doesn't count toward the 4 cups.

It's actually listed both as an unlimited and a select veggie - so it CAN be unlimited if you need something extra in your day...but otherwise it can count towards your 4 cups.