Your daughter can always just have a packet for dinner with the required vegetables. According to Dr. Tran's book, the evening meal was to make the plan easier to follow for most people, not because we have to eat meat at the evening meal.

Ok ladies. Its been a while since I posted, or even been on here. But I think I need some encouragement. Wednesday was my 1 month on IP I've lost 15lbs total and 13 1/4 inches. Which is great, except that I'm just not feeling great like they say you should be. I'm so tired, and grumpy and so sick of veggies and chicken that I could scream!! I still have 23 lbs to go and before I figured it would take two months but if I avg. 15 a month it will be longer. I'm craving EVERYTHING. I mean even stuff that I never even ate in the past! Like Salisbury steak for example. Ok I've had it like once in my whole life. Not a big gravy person. So WTH! And sweets, omg, I'm dying for junk food. I feel like if these cravings keep it up, how am I gonna be able to keep from bingeing like a maniac when I do get to come off the plan!! To keep from really cheating a couple of times I added a couple of boiled egg whites to get me thru and one day I couldn't take it and ate 2 of my restricted cookies n cream bars (I figured that had to be better then 2-3 Cadbury eggs or a whatchamacallit, which is what I really want) I'm so frustrated.

You sound like I felt the other day. Are you having pms symptoms? I did not stop at 2 bars though. When I got home from work, I had 2 bars, some of the soy nuts and the chocolate covered puffs. It is like a maniac takes over 1 or 2 days a month and I feel like I am starving. I really wanted some frosted flakes. I ate the restricted IP items and drank some water and finally was able to stop. The next day was much better. You made a good choice not eating the cadbury eggs or whatchamacallit! Hopefully you will feel better tomorrow. Don't beat yourself up over it. If this is a daily occurence, you probably should call your coach and see what they suggest.

I have to tell about my NSV for today. Today I helped host a bridal brunch where I made a fruit salad with all types of yummy fruit. The other dishes I will not describe, as they are food porn and might get some cravings going. Just saying, I couldn't eat one thing there. I had my IP breakfast before I went and then waited until I got home to have lunch. I had to explain a little to my co-hosts why I was not eating, and they were very supportive and interested. One said that some of her co-workers were also on the program. Worked out okay and goes back to if you head is right the rest just follows along.

Floorshine - You have lost 11# which is so great. You should be proud of yourself.

Eastcoastmama - Way to go on the loss of the "obese" category. Don't you just hate to see that on your chart?

Chaplains wifey- I also only walk now with a couple times a week doing some crunches and exercise bands.

BlueMermaid and ChelleFL- I too have one cup of coffee plain and one cup with FF half & half with SF syrup in the morning. It seems like a treat to me and I would hate to give that up. I have found that if you heat the oatmeal too much, like putting it in the microwave, it makes it hard. Just warm to hot tap water and it's better. I like it and will try the cinnamon idea.

ChelleFL- My coach had me get magnesium citrate for constipation. Take one tablespoon 3 x day. I bought lemon flavor and it takes okay and seems to work for me.

Jen1125- For me my cravings and unhappiness with this plan is aggravated by seeing or smelling foods I can't have and want. I have stopped watching the food channel and reading my magazines that have food stories in them. I also copied some pictures of myself where I looked really, shockingly bad and that pushed me into this plan to lose weight. It always helps me to refocus and redefine what I am doing and why. This is only to help get your head back in the right place. If it's a food/chemical thing, I agree that you will need to talk to your coach. A couple days I took was too hungry and wanted to exercise, so ate a hard boiled egg. My coach said that was fine. Hang in there.

I have been seeing where several people have posted that if they get hungry that they have been told by their coaches it is ok to have a hard boiled egg or two. Is this really ok and won't have a negative impact on the weekly weight loss? I don't want to do anything that slows the weight loss process down but there have been times that I would have killed to have a hard boiled egg or two.

Well, I feel better knowing I'm not the only one going crazy sometimes! It is that TOM for me so maybe that has been my problem all week. Unfortunately though I totally caved tonight. I had to go pick my daughter up from her dad in between this post and my last one. My DH is on the road tonight, and he is usually the one who cooks. Didn't want to fool with it but we really do try to feed the twins (and DH too) healthy foods, so I stopped at KFC. Didn't order anything for me as I was going to make my dinner after I fed the boys. What was I thinking! I've been wanting KFC since I started this diet, so I totally caved and had a biscuit, several bites mashed potatoes (no gravy) and a few pieces of the grilled chicken. BIG setback I know, now I feel guilty. I guess I'll just pick up tomorrow with being super strict on plan and expect no loss come my WI on Wed

I just let her know. Thank you.

Oh and my coach did say that the egg whites were fine. I don't eat the yolk, just the white and I have 2 or 3 occassionally. She said it wasn't cheating to do that.....

[QUOTE=jen1125;3211300]Well, I feel better knowing I'm not the only one going crazy sometimes! It is that TOM for me so maybe that has been my problem all week. Unfortunately though I totally caved tonight. I had to go pick my daughter up from her dad in between this post and my last one. My DH is on the road tonight, and he is usually the one who cooks. Didn't want to fool with it but we really do try to feed the twins (and DH too) healthy foods, so I stopped at KFC. Didn't order anything for me as I was going to make my dinner after I fed the boys. What was I thinking! I've been wanting KFC since I started this diet, so I totally caved and had a biscuit, several bites mashed potatoes (no gravy) and a few pieces of the grilled chicken. BIG setback I know, now I feel guilty. I guess I'll just pick up tomorrow with being super strict on plan and expect no loss come my WI on Wed

I'm new here, so I don't know how this is usually handled, but I'm gonna go with my gut on this: Don't beat yourself up. Pull yourself together (now, not tomorrow - so you'll behave for the evening hours) find something to take your mind off of food (I know it's hard, hang in there).

Jen, you will probably be surprised that you will still lose. Just pick yourself up and dust yourself off. We are all human and those of us that are women with monthly hormonal imbalances will have to deal with days like this. Just be glad it is only a monthly thing. Don't waist time feeling bad it will all be okay if you just get right back on plan.

Sometimes when I have to have something I have a package of the Miracle Shirataki noodles can anyone comment on whether this is ok or not.

jen1125 - I have been craving all kinds of weird things I would never usually want. Also I dream about foods that I can't have. Then I feel bad when I wake up because I cheated. I told my boyfriend I dreamed about cheating and he said, "You dreamed about cheating on me!?!" I replied, "No, cheating on my diet!" Hahaha! The cravings are worse during the time of month. Which for me lasted for about 5 weeks on this diet (which started on week 2). It was awful. Hopefully my cycle has adjusted now and thank god it stopped. So hang in there! Get some of the restricted bars and eat those. That's how I got through it. Caramel nut bars to the rescue!

Jordanna might be able to chime in too - she takes it 1 week at a time, 10 pounds at a time. Otherwise it can be overwhelming. I don't think anyone can look and say, "Hey I still have X amount of pounds to lose" and NOT feel overwhelmed. You are doing great, dust yourself off and get back on the wagon if you fall off! You are doing something really good for your body by just being on IP. It's ok to feel crazy or like you can't do it. It's hard! We're all strong people with strong wills. You can do it! Tell your coach how you are feeling. Maybe he/she will have something positive to say and give you another hint or trick. I like freezing the pudding sometimes so it's like ice cream. Also I eat the chocolate pudding every single day. It's dark chocolate and helps with the chocolate cravings.

yinyang - Woot! on your NSV. Sorry the party was like food porn! LOL that is the funniest expression. You are doing awesome!

so if if anyone saw back mid-week I was getting a weird rash on my face, went to my docs and talked to my remote coach, doc thinks it's an allergy and gave me two options, claritin, which is so bad for you, or a cream for my eyelids and benedryl, which I took, and it's working. My remote coach checked with her clinical pharmacologist and said it's probably one of two things, either an allergic reaction to the soy protein, which I hope not because that's in all my favorite packets, I can only have drinks if that's the case (and I don't think so as I've never been allergic to soy before) or my body detoxing, which they usually only see in body creases like elbows and such. Anyway, was told to try having only packets without soy protein for a few days to see what happened. Between that, the cream and the benedryl, my face is a lot better, though I had crepes today with the soy as I just really needed something that tasted like carbs, I'm thinking if I reduce the amounts of packets with soy protein and stick to more drinks but have them anyway, I should be ok, though really hoping it's just detox.

At least I lost 2lbs on Friday weigh in and an inch on my waist. And hopefully my signature shows up as I can now have it!!

Go for it! I don't see any reason not to eat them every day.