HI Eve,
This sounds tasty, just getting caught up reading, will have to try this soon. Did you enjoy it?

Jelly I have never seen your before pics but looking at the pics you had put up in the last couple months, i would say you are a thin person. Had I not known you were on IP i would think you were always that skinny. I know our mental images of ourselves are warped, but believe me when you had put up the pic of you in your hot pants, I was wishing I looked as thin as you.

I totally understand what you mean....when I'm at work or around the house, I still "feel" like I am 100 pounds heavier again, but then when I look at pictures of myself now or even when I'm trying on clothes at the store I see myself soooo differently! Almost as though I dont recognize the person looking back at me!

My work was putting up pics of us on our work Facebook page for "Admin Prof. Week" and when I saw my picture I couldnt believe it was me!!!!

Its amazing how much our minds play tricks on us, we have such a mindset of failure or even just plain "blah".....but we have all worked SO hard to get where we are and I know that if it weren't for IP and you all, I couldnt have done it on my own!!!

Even still, the inside beauty is what counts, but the outside beauty gives us the confidence to know we can do anything!!!!!

Keep up the AWESOME work everyone!!!!!!

On another note, WI last night and after 5 days on Phase 3, I've only "gained" .8!!!!!! I was expecting 3-5 of that Phase 3 junk....but not quite yet I suppose!!!

Its a pretty crummy, rainy day here today - but tonight my mom and I are taking my 2 1/2 year old to a little circus tonight and I'm super excited! Its pizza night, but I have by BBQ ridges ready for the event!!!!

Have a great day everyone!!!!!!!

Jellymae, I think, for what it is worth, that many people feel a slight let down after they accomplish something great. Loosing all of that weight is a hugh accomplishment, was an incredible journey and consumed a large part of your life. Now you look different, feel different and cannot quite get your mind around it. When I was teaching my daughter to ski and she would get scared when the slope suddenly looked steep I would tell her to stop and look back up the hill to what she had just come down. This woud give her the confidence to keep going. I would say the same to you now. Look back at what you have accomplished and then tell yourself, wow, I got this!

Good morning everyone,

Ok i take back what i said earlier this week about dieter's tea not working, omg is it ever! I have cut down to 2 instead of 3 times a day and for the past 2 days haven't even taken anything else to help with the big C. So for everyone who is dealing with major C issues, try that (i was taking 4 floralax and 2 novilax a day and still not always going).

Jelly, i am totally fixated on the number, people are telling me that i look good now but i'm not happy. Even if my eyes see someone smaller in the mirror, my brain doesn't grasp it. I said at 160lbs i'll go see how much lbs i have skin wise and then decide if i'll go for the next 10lbs but in my head, i really want to see 150 and don't know if i'll be able to stop at 160. It takes time for the brain to grasp the change and hopefully in time mine will and so will yours.

I really believe most of us on here have body image problems, they will just be one more thing we have to manage. (like we need another!)

It's not just that the weight came off quickly, it's even me looking at my before picture...that's me, I know that's me, I'm still me, I looked in the mirror everyday, but now seeing the two bodies same person side by side...how did I not "SEE" that?? :/

This is such an important issue for so many of us. In my head I see myself just as I was before I started IP, but then when I see myself in the mirror it hits me how much thinner I look. I'm actually shocked when I see myself sometimes. Twice in the past couple of weeks I've told people I want to loose another 50 pounds, and they both said there is no way you need to loose another 50 pounds. When was the last time anyone ever said that to me? Will we be forever fat in our own minds?

The other strange thing is when I go into a department store now . In the past my only option was the women's department. Now I walk in and I feel overwhelmed because I have so many other options now. I feel almost lost because I am out of my comfort zone. I'm sure this will all take time, but in the meantime it's a little scary too.

Yes, I did.

When my 8 oz of ground turkey was cooked, I let it simmer in the spices/juice and added 1 cup combined red peppers & sliced zucchini... simmered that until the veggies were tender. Sprinkled it liberally with sea salt and fresh ground black pepper. Plated it on a base of romaine lettuce. I'd make it again.

Another recipe I've tried and quite like for a Ground Turkey Burger is:

1 1/2 lbs ground turkey
1 tsp dry parsley flakes
1 tsp dehydrated onion flakes
1/4 tsp each celery seeds, thyme, ground ginger (I used ginger powder), and soy sauce (I used low sodium)
Dash of sea salt and ground pepper
WB barbeque sauce
(I think I threw in a dash of worchestershire too)

Mix ingredients together and form into patties... (I had calculated the ground turkey so I had just enough for 2 - 8 oz patties). Broil 8 to 10 minutes. Turn and broil 7 minutes. Brush with barbecue sauce on each pattie, and broil for 2 more minutes until browned.

I'm not especially partial to ground turkey - find it rather dry. But this made a pretty good and fairly flavorful pattie.

I ate my pattie with a side salad and this Tzatziki Sauce:

1/3 cup WF mayo (I have honey mayo and it was really good)
1/2 c diced cucumbers
1/4 c green onions
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 large clove garlic pressed
spinkle with dill to taste
Mix and chill thoroughly.

I seriously like this 'Tzatziki Sauce' and find it a flavorful way to 'moisten' chicken and ground turkey dishes.

This sounds really good. I'll have to give it a try. I think I'll fall back on a big mac in a bowl tonight though because I'm just feeling wiped out and I don't want to think too much.

Hi everyone! I have been reading a lot of these forums so I finally decided to make an account! I am new to all of this. I am currently in week 2 and my WI is saturday. I am hoping to make almost as good of a loss as my first week !(7.2lbs and 6.5")

Thank you ladies for all your kind words... I wish I would have seen the yesterday... I know that this is part of our journey... My coach recommend a book to me. It's more about sports but they think it will help with other things we put in our head... The book is called mind gym... I'll need to try and find it...

So I decided that I would go bowl league with the BF last night... I haven't howled league in about 2 years... Well I had to teach myself how to bowl again. My first game was 1/3 what my average used to be... My bf said that I looked like I was trying to go outwards to get around what's not their anymore...

Cadu- I don't see myself as that thin. I am still in 12-14 pant range. And some L tops... I guess its a whole lot better that what I was in... I know I have a lot of muscle... And need to grasp that it weighs more than fat.

We have all been there and as many have already said, it will just take time for the head to catch up with 'the bod' you have now and what it will become. I find I don't worry as much if the numbers are going in the 'right' direction. Right now I am in a holding pattern like you and although I can usually see a difference in the mirror in the morning, the knowledge must leak out of my brain during the day.

Case in point, DH and I are on the road this weekend and went out for dinner last night. We were escorted to a booth and I had to quickly excuse myself to the restroom. I really didn't need to go, but I panicked because I didn't think I could fit in the booth. In my head I was all of a sudden back 98 pounds.

You will get where you want to be. We will drag you there, kicking and screaming if we have to.

I've done that, got stressed over a booth...I was always so grateful when the waitress just took us to chairs. (big sigh here)

Tammy would like to say hello but she's kinda bandaged up...I let her out for a swim nightly though! She's doing well.

Quick update on my phase 3 experience... Well it only last 2 days as truthfully I hated it. I know this sounds crazy, but I just didn't feel right doing it and watching the scale move up rather than down was even more difficult. I will be doing it toward the end of June as I will be phasing off for vacation, but that's a different story. Instead I decided to do boot camp for 2 to 3 days and see if that would get the scale going again. After just one day of doing boot camp has worked extremely well, and I feel much better back in phase 1. Who knows if it was two days on phase 3, or boot camp or a combination, all I know is the scale moved again and I'll take it.

Have a great OP day everyone!