OMG i cant wait to try it... nom nom... thanks so much

Studies done in Japan, Sweden and at least one other country (can't recall the name right now blame LCB (low carb brain)) in the past 3 years have shown strong links between soy and hypothyroid activity. It is mostly a problem if you are also low on iodine. Studies where iodine levels were normal showed little to no impact of soy on hypothyroid activity. In cases where hypothyroidism exists, iodine is low and soy is used it exacerbated the hypothyroid activity.

You don't say what your doctor suspects is wrong with the thyroid. Having low thyroid function will also cause you to lose a little more slowly on this program. I don't suspect hypothyroidism with a nearly 6 pound per week average loss and a more than 2 pound loss on a week you are sick.

I suspect your thyroid may have an issue but, I am more suspicious of your iodine level. As I asked the other day, do you know where you iodine levels are? Has the doctor specifically checked your iodine? Shrimp and some fish are high in iodine and you have reacted after eat those each time.

WISH I could tell you what to do but, honestly, you need to make your own decision about how much your respect/trust your doctor. You could try limiting the soy for awhile and see if you get any improvement.

We do have a list on here of the products with out soy but, so many of them are on the unrestricted list. Nearly every restricted product has soy.

Yes!! It has been recommended for you Canadians in the past. There is a similar product in the USA by the USA counterpart... McCormick seasonings. It is quite good.

Eat More Pickles!

You have been on plan long enough for you body to be making adjustments in how much protein it needs and it knows now how to make necessary glucose/glycogen from protein.

If you are hungry, are you using 3 or 4 packets a day? Are they all unrestricted or are you using any restricted packets? How many restricted packets are you using in a week? Are you exercising on days you notice the added hunger?

If you are hungry and only using 3 unrestricted packets per day. EITHER add 1 more unrestricted packet on those days OR add 1/2 a restricted bar or soy puff/snack packet. OR REPLACE one on the unrestricted with a full/whole restricted packet.

If you are already using 4 packets a day unrestricted, try dropping one. If you are still hungry. Then switch one of the unrestricted packets for 1/2 of a restricted or replace it with one full restricted.

If you are using a restricted packet every day, try dropping back to every other day and on the days with out restricted if you are hungry have a 4th unrestricted packet.

What may be happening is one of three things:
You may not be getting enough food and are genuinely hungry. We don't want you to burn muscle unnecessarily so, you would add some protein.

On the other hand, if you are using too many carbs from too many restricted packets in a week your body is cycling in and out on the border of ketosis. It makes you feel very bad and hungry.

Also, if your body is very efficient at converting protein to sugar, you can be getting too much protein which is in turn converting to too much sugar and you are drifting around ketosis as you build and then burn a small glucose/glycogen supply. This causes you to feel like you did before.

By playing around with your food just a little, you may be able to figure out what to do to stop the craving.


ANOTHER THOUGHT! Are you only using the 2tsp of olive oil a day or do you use any omega oil.

Some people will feel very hungry if they don't get enough fat. If you are comfortable with your food levels. Try first just adding some more oil. Either olive oil or omega oils will do. Add it a tsp at a time. If you add the tsp to a green salad, it actually will help to improve the absorption of the nutients from the salad that are best ingested/absorbed with fats.

Won't the sodium make you retain water? You eat more pickles! just kidding

Carla, I've been using 1 Vanilla RTD in the morning with my coffee, then drink the rest of it for breakfast. Then at lunch time have a unrestricted package (2 at most restricted a week) and my asparagus/zuchinni/ or broccoli. At snack if I'm way too hungry I'll have a unrestricted before dinner and if its restricted I'll have it on the day I don't have restricted for lunch. Then for dinner I normally have 2 eggs and my vegis. I rarely have salad because I haven't been getting starving by the time my next meal comes, just hungry. I like having the rasberry jello at night, but I don't have it when I have an earlier snack. I do use the oil on my vegis when I bake it.
Today I'm starving! I just had a whole cucumber and that was after I had my strawberry pudding and asparagus (with oil) and a TON of water. I will eat another package today if I'm still hungry. I like to only do 3 a day for $ reasons. I was just looking in the alternative thread to see if I can add 1 a day for less $. Thanks again for your advice. I really don't want to get mad and hungry and give up like I have in the past.
I haven't been exercising yet (my gym opens soon) and on those days my coach told me to have 1/2 a protein bar before workout, then have a pkg like yogurt within 1/2 hour afterwards.
Also, I haven't EVER been in tune with my body, so it would be nice to know if I'm consuming too much protein, too many carbs, what my bodies doing with it, etc. It would be easy to have a machine hooked up to me all day and tell me what to do. haha. Its a learning process every day. I'm so glad I'm aware of things now that I had no idea about in the past. (6 pack of Diet Coke that I thought wasn't bad because it was DIET) wow! I've come along way.

Out of here for the afternoon/evening!

Work, errands and, a movie ahead of me. I will check back in later tonight!

I hope everyone has a good finish to their day!

Carla you rock!!! Thanks for the good news about that seasoning....lol

Have a good night!

Sending out loads of thank-you's to all who answered my posts and gave their beautiful comments!!!

I love this web-site for all the support it gives ... many thanks!!!

L

Hello all I hope everyone is having a great week. I have a question if having a caffeine free herbal peppermint tea with a packet of splenda affects the amount of water we are to have in a day or would it count as part of the daily amount?

You look fabulous! You are a poster child for IP.

but I am back! Doubt if anyone even remembers me. Been off the diet for a couple months, now going back to phase 1. Been on it since last friday. Hopped on the scale two days ago, no weight loss. Got on this morning, says I lost 7 lbs. How is that possible even if it is water weight?

Just a thought, Amy ~~ when I was about 2 months into IP, I decided to cut my sea salt from a teaspoon down to a half teaspoon... after a couple of days, I started to feel light-headed some of the time... since the only thing I had changed was the salt, I suspected it was the culprit... so I upped my daily dose to 3/4 teaspoon & that stopped the dizziness...

Something to consider...

hugs

Hi. You're remembered, and welcome back, AND nice lose. I'm sure it's retained water and other gunk. The latter is not a scientific term.