I have been slow getting this thread started today -- very sorry for delay.

It is April! Our IP journeys have made it through another month - despite some bouts of diet fatigue, some slower losses at times, and some bumps in the road, we are continuing to move forward together - with notable progress. For me, it's something to look forward to every day to check in here and see what everyone is up to! You all reflect some 100 lb losses, some entries to One-derland, patience through some 'stalls', commitment to the Couch 2 5K, and more. Checking in here renews my determination and inspires me!

I know those of us in the Northeast US and those in Canada are REALLY ready for Spring -- you Texans are already in the garden, yet Sue had some more snow this week, I think. Ideally, April has showers that bring May flowers... a bit of planting and yard work helps with that, though, so we are all hoping for fine Spring weather!

For our April IP agenda -- as we came to the end of our March thread it seems that there is some common interest in

• Body Fat % (to expand focus beyond the weight scale readings),
• Activity -- could be steps (Fitbit) or walks, time/miles on the treadmill, time in yoga class (or dancing for me!)... anything that's movement
• Water -- for those interested -- this one is important for me because I am the Sobe Lifewater addict.... with Erythritol as well as Stevia

Shall we all post with some emphasis on these areas in April?

And if you have another focus area that is especially important to you, we all want to support one another so don't let this be restricting. These topics are just notional and suggested here to give us some common themes.

Welcome to April, Summer 2014 Starters!!

Yay for our new thread! Thanks again Oneuh2 for getting us started for April

As for my food diary, I find it funny you mention I have fewer restricteds - I've had one every day for 3 weeks! And yes, my new coach is fantastic.

I won't be investing in an Aria scale, at least not for now. For one thing, my coach has challenged me to not weigh in every day. She wants me to focus on following the plan and eating healthy, regardless of what the scale says. It's going to be a tough habit to break. I do get my body fat % on my weekly printout so I can follow along that way.

Activity for me will be walking and yoga. And for sure watching that water!

Glad you found this new thread, JJTx!

It seems compared to my meal plans, you are doing more of the drinks - mostly lower calories and carbs than the oatmeal and pancakes that have become daily staples for me... and I have been doing a choc brownie or a Quest bar (just discovered the Apple Pie bar that when chopped and baked into little cookies is really yummy) every day. I think your restricted items show more variety, and lower calories than my selections, although I thought (on my quick perusal in MFP) that I saw days where you had 3 drinks for your 3 IP items for the day, thus my conclusion that you were not having a restricted daily....

When I think back to my beginning months on IP (when I was dropping 3 lbs a week pretty consistently), I had Vanilla or Cappuccino drink for breakfast (usually mixed with coffee over ice), then a soup or a drink for lunch, and a bar (often the IP Rasp/Choc bar that reminds me of a Nestle crunch texture). All of these choices are among the lower calories and carbs or net carbs. These days I use the both the oatmeal and/or pancakes, and the choc brownie or quest bar made into cookies, daily. All of these are among the higher calories and or carbs.

I am very religious about getting my 2 Cups of veggies and my salad in daily at lunch and at dinner -- I may not measure the jicama in my salad closely enough, so it's possible I may have too much veggie over the course of a week... this is probably not a major issue, except when you put that together with the nutrient content of my IP selections. And this makes me ask... altho we should not need to track nutrients on IP Phase 1, I am wondering what would be good targets to aim for... I know there has been some discussion of grams of Protein vs Carbs vs Net Carbs vs total Calories, but I cannot seem to zero in on what would be good goals to put in my MFP... any advice on this point would be greatly appreciated!

And my comments above remind me - Veggies - trying new ones - is another area of interest for our Summer Starters in April! Sorry Amanda! I skipped over this. Maybe we should make Sunday, "Let's talk New Veggies Day" -- so many of us shop and cook on the weekends....

Congratulations to everyone on their stellar losses!

I have ripped through 2 BMI Obesity Zones (Body Mass Index dropping from 41 to 30) and I just made it into the "Garden Variety Overweight" zone. Down over 86 pounds in a bit over 7 months. I feel so much better!

In terms of OneUh2's suggested topics:

1. I am not sure if my calculated body fat % change is accurate or not, but my waistline has dropped a foot ... from 53" in Sept ... to 41" today. That's a pretty good measure of body fat loss.

2. In terms of movement, I have been using my FitBit step tracker since the end of October and I have walked over 500 miles since then (which is about the distance from Washington DC to Boston)

3. In terms of water, I have such trouble getting my 80 ounces in. I have to guzzle (force down) a 1L bottle of Evian after I walk in the morning. I get another 24 oz in when I drink my three IP Chocolate Drinks, and the rest comes in with my coffee. I am sure I am a bit under 80 oz. With my height and weight, I really should drink more liquids, but I am just hardly ever thirsty. That could be an area of improvement for me.

Thanks One for starting our April thread! Love that everyone is doing so well OP.

One, maybe you should do an experiment and go a week with no restricteds to see if that affects your losses. Now that we are all getting down to the end, I know how impatient I am getting. we are going to get there!!

I had 7k steps yesterday but only a piddly 2k so far today. I had a mammogram this morning and worked through my lunch so no mid-day walk today. But I have my Bunco group tonight so lots of standing chatting to my ladies. Doesn't really qualify as excerse but should get me more steps.

Water, which is the one area I've always struggled with is finally coming easier to me. I started bringing a 24oz tervis cup with me to work which makes it easier for me to keep track of my ounces.

Wishing all my friends in the north get warmer temps asap. This winter was too long this year! I am ready for some heat (especially because I am so cold all the time now!).

Hope everyone is having a great week!!

And so we carry on! It's not my official WI, but I do have a couple of up pounds but it's P3, I had that one cheat day, and it's TOM, so it's not unexpected. But I will finish my last two days on P3 OP.

I don't know what my BFP was when I started, or what it is now. I may have to check with my clinic to see if they have the tools to measure it for me.

My exercise currently includes weekly soccer and ball hockey rec league games, and I just finished the C25K program, and plan on continuing to run3 times a week. I would also like to start light weight training a couple of days a week, and when the snow goes I will start riding my bike to work again (it's about 4.5km with inclines) and when the ice eventually melts I will kayak a couple of times a week.

Today I just did a quick mile on the treadmill and did a bit of weights, tomorrow I will do 5k and play soccer.

I'm pretty good about getting my water in, I get at least 3 litres a day. I have two 32oz bottles, one for home, and one for work. I will usually have 1/2 a bottle before work, then I will have a full one before lunch, and then another full one before the end of the work day. Then I will also have at least a full one after work at home.

I hope the exercise and water have become good habits that will help me in maintenance

Let's rock this month!

Your IP diet coach should have a tool connected to the computer that you hold - it measures body fat percentage and hydration and lean body mass... this should be recorded on your IP measurements log each time you go for a weigh in, along with your tape measure results.....

The ARIA or WITHINS digital scale measure body fat percentage too. My ARIA scale shows a bit lower percent than the IP tool.... but it weighs me about 3/4 lb more than the IP scale does, too.

and DD... I cannot imagine how you could accumulate extra weight given all the different activities you are into now -- lot's of fun things as well as good healthy habits! It sounds terrific!

Yay for April. Thanks for getting it started Cheryl!

I think tracking Body Fat % is an awesome idea. Have to say that when I started I wasn't sure I would get down to my last "light" weight, so I am still fairly shocked to be 30lbs below that number.

When I started on Aug 26th my BF was 48% and this morning it's down to 31%. The wellness clinic keep telling me that 30% is considered "moderately lean" and what they generally accept as a good guideline for health.

Like Alexandra, I struggle with a lack of thirst and often get to the last few hours of the day and start gulping it down. This doesn't help for an early bedtime, that's for sure!

I've kept a table of all my measurements/weight/BMI/BF% and changes since the first week I started. It's hugely interesting to see patterns in how my body loses (one week a big loss, the next week a big shrink with less loss). I am starting to see body shape changes now, more so than weight loss, and I'm certain it's the exercise toning up the muscles.

I'm not the world's most protocol compliant dieter - there are some foods that I sneak in (few grains, few dairy, a tsp more healthy oil), but provided I am progressing in health the weight loss isn't my only focus and I can afford to slow it down a little in the interest of avoiding resentment eating and/or diet fatigue.

Glad to see everyone doing so well, let's make April our "Just do it" month and prove that we've got sticking power! Go girls!

It's so fun to peek into your guys' thread and see how things will hopefully be for me next year. I just wanted to say that Avalon your chart is inspiring!! Congratulations to you and to all the success here in this thread.

How do most of you track body fat?

I am using an Excel Spreadsheet "calculator", that is using my body weight along with 5 body measurements to estimate total body fat and body fat percentage.

Here is a summary of my losses over the past 7 months:

Total Body Weight Loss = 326 to 239 lbs = 87 lbs (measured)
Total Body Fat Loss = 93 to 66 lbs = 27 lbs (estimated from excel spreadsheet)
Total Water Weight Loss = 60 lbs (estimated from excel spreadsheet)

So in losing 87 pounds over the past 7 months -- my excel spreadsheet is telling me that 27 pounds of that loss was fat and 60 pounds was water.

These numbers in a ratio of roughly 2 to 1 jive with what my nutritionist told me that I would lose 2 pounds of water weight with every 1 pound of fat loss.

So if these numbers are all correct. My body fat percentage has only dropped 1% during my 7 month diet. From 28.6% to 27.6% -- even though I have lost 27 pounds of pure fat. The reason being is I have lost 60 pounds of water weight, which is actually included in my Lean Body Mass measurement.

So the reason my body fat percentage is not showing that much change is I am losing twice as much water (which is included in Lean Body Mass) as fat -- as I lose weight.

Lean Body Mass = muscle, water, blood, organs, bones, skin, fluids

So it seems like getting all hung up on body fat % might not be the best way to look at it.

It might be better to focus on the (estimated) Total Fat Weight in pounds.

Or easier yet is just to focus on your Total Body Weight, everyone has a scale and they are pretty accurate.

Honestly I think the best (at least more tangible) measure of body fat loss might be measuring inches lost from your waistline -- as that is probably due to almost all fat loss.

Hello Summer Starters!

Well good news bad news at the Dr. yesterday for DH. Good news is oncologist is not certain we are dealing with a cancer. The bad news is biopsy was inconclusive...the lab has sent it out for a 2nd opinion to Johns hopkins and 6 more vials of blood drawn yesterday and we wait.... I think we are holding on to that good news and will have to continue to wait. There is definatly something going on....just what it is we don't know....Ugh...

Anyway I am a huge water drinker so I have no issues with that. Getting in my steps is proving to be a challenge, but I like a challenge LOL....Never an issue on a day I am showing houses, but when I have 5 hours in the office it gets tricky!

Tomorrow I have to face the grocery store and get food for easter dinner. I am sure it is going to be a zoo. But I have no choice. DS is off so maybe he will come with LOL. Saturday I am working in the morning, but should be around in the afternoon to start the food prep. I have not even decorated for easter yet...such a slacker this year.

Alexandra - you're making my head spin with all those technical calculations.

I use a scale that monitors weight, hydration, BF% and BMI. I haven't found it as inaccurate as many people claim, but my scale is never moved - it is always in the same place and I weigh in at the same time every day under the same circumstances - fasted and having pee'd. The only interference is that the cats like to lay on it while I'm in the bath or brushing my teeth (they are my little shadows and follow me round from room to room all day).

It is always within 1% of the Army Wellness Center's bod pod results in any case, so either we got lucky with the particular scale or that scale is a little better balanced than most commercially available. It wasn't even an expensive one.

Sue - That would be wonderful if it isn't a cancer. Keeping fingers crossed for good news, and glad that they are sending to Johns Hopkins for more analysis .. at least you'll get a very detailed result. The waiting has got to be hard though.

Happy Thursday (although it is my work Friday!!). My scale looks like I might be having a bit of a whoosh in the last couple days. I know it’s the walking. I wasn’t able to get out for a walk yesterday and probably won’t be able to today either, but am planning to bring my shoes with me to my folks this weekend. I will MAKE time to get out on a walk every day during my long weekend.

Heading to my folks bright and early tomorrow morning (gotta get there so my mom and I can watch the Price is Right together ). It was nice to be home last weekend but my parents need me. My mom’s blood pressure has been very low the last few days and she is starting to get bed sores that are really affecting her comfort. Unfortunately, even with hospice nurses staying on top of treating her sores one of the most important parts of healing is proper nutrition. And I know she is not getting that with only a couple bites of food and sips of tea she can manage a day. I am to a point where I just want her pain and suffering to end. I want peace for her.

Sue – I am praying that no news is good news in your DH’s case. May he be cancer free and they find something very treatable to help him. I know how hard the waiting can be hard.

I hope everyone has a Happy Easter weekend.

Sorry about that !!! LOL

Thanks for including this info on your scale -- I might dig mine out again and try again ... but it was all over the map last time I tried to use it.

Heading out for weigh in after 2 weeks... will be back later to share results and some thoughts re today's postings!