Welcome back to the Daily Chat thread - post your plans for today, share what's been happening, ask questions!

Some forum lingo:
NSV = Non-scale victory
TOM = time of the month
WI = Weigh-in
WF = Walden Farms
OP = on plan

Bookmarking:
Ideal Protein Sub-forum Home page
Consider making it a bookmark or a favorite in your browser so you can come back easily to get your RDA of Ideal Protein information.

Information for newbies:
Check the sticky page (top of forum, above all the topics) for lots of good information and please read here before asking what might be a frequently asked question: Information on Ideal Protein phases (1-4), IP Ultimate List Recipes, FAQ, Newbie Guide, Exercise, and other Important Threads,
and here are the most recent Ideal Protein Protocol sheets

And before you cheat, read this thread:
The Real Cost of Cheating on Ideal Protein

Before starting new threads: spend some time reading the forum. Most new threads are duplicates, triplicates, quadruplicates. Folks who are the most successful, make time for research/reading.

Recipes Here
Ideal Protein Diet Recipes #4 -current thread open for posting
Recipe thread #3
Tips and Recipes from the Incredible Weight Loss Center
Fun with Ideal Protein Packets
Fun with Veggie Purees!
Mix'n in the kitchen...Recipes from the Rainbow
MiX'N' iN THE KiTCH'N.... Recipes from the Rainbow Volume 2

For those looking for alternative products
Here is a thread with tons of info. Spend some time in it. http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/idea...phase-1-a.html
And here is a link to a chart to help you choose appropriate products

Tickers and Signatures:
There are 2 requirements to have access to signatures and tickers. You must have been a member of 3fatchicks for 20 days AND posted at least 20 messages anywhere on the 3fatchicks forum. When you've met those requirements check The Ultimate Signature and Ticker Thread for more information and instructions.

Quoting:
The best quoting tip - EVER!! Thanks Rosie, aka 6710.

Searching:
If you can't find what you're looking for in this forum using the website search function, try using the "double search" using Google.

1) Go to Google.com. Search 3fatchicks by using the term site:3fatchicks.com at the end of your Google search.

For example, if you want to look for "big mac in a bowl", type "big mac in a bowl site:3fatchicks.com" in Google search. No need to include the quotation marks when you type.

2) This will bring up the page that you are looking for, now hit Ctrl+F to search on that page. Type "big mac in a bowl" and all instances of that search term will be highlighted.

Progress photos
Mini-Goal Photo Album.

Other helpful links related to the Ideal Protein Dr. Chanh Tran Tien's website

Good morning IPeeps! Stepped on the scale...down another pound! 5 lbs in 4 days! Yes, I'm a daily weigher...I'll never change. LOL

Have a great day everyone!!!

Good morning all! I weighed in today, even though my last weigh in was on Tuesday. I'm down another 4.4 pounds! I'm sure that most of that weight is the extra water that I've been carrying in my hands and ankles from being in the car so much. We had a lighter week, travel-wise, with more days in each town. That made it easier to move around a bit, and I can see that the swelling is mostly gone.

The greatest part is that this puts me at just over 28lbs lost, which is 10% of my start weight!

Have a great Friday everyone!

TGIF!

I had an almost great NSV this morning. I was going through my closet to figure out what to wear and I caught a glimpse of my beautiful red jcrew coat that I've had for a couple years. It's size 16 but I have only worn it out a couples times because it is cut a bit small and my arms were too fat to fit comfortably in the sleeves with a long sleeved shirt or sweater (I got it final sale so I couldn't ever return it). I just realized it will probably be too big by the time it gets cool enough to wear it again. Yay and boo at the same time, haha.

But the really important question is - are you having a great time?

And congrats on staying OP on your trip - go you!

I hear you on the clothes pishposhappelsauce - pretty much my entire closet is new to me stuff. It was hard parting with some stuff that I liked but I kept telling myself I could just go find the same/similar stuff in smaller sizes.

I made an exception for a few t-shirts (so comfortable to run around the house in on the weekend) that started out too small and are now very large and I kept 1 pair of pants that I wore at my highest weight - just too keep a reminder around.

So sell the nice coat and buy a nicer one! And congrats on your progress - you're doing great!

Congrats to everyone on your weight loss! My weight loss and stalled a bit over the past 4 days even though I am staying OP, so I am trying not to get discouraged. I am looking forward to shopping in my own closet once I start losing more weight, especially since I have 5 different sizes of clothing!

Good morning and happy Friday ,
I will be leaving today to spend the weekend with my boyfriend and his son. I am nervous about staying on plan while gone. I have been so good. My boyfriend has no clue what one slip up can lead to. He has no clue how hard dieting is and frankly encourages me to cheat. Sometimes it makes me angry because he offers me things he must know I can't have. I have told him many times to stop because it isn't nice. I guess a thin person just has no clue because they go through life not having to think of the effect of every bite they take. I'm going to try my best to stay on track.

You stay strong and go have fun! Maybe another conversation with BF might help? My hubby didn't understand how sensitive ketosis was and orginally thought that I should just eat "sensible" when we were at Disney World. Once I explained how even a normally "sensible" portion of carbs would throw me off, he understood and supported me.

I also found it was REALLY important for me to speak up for myself when choosing places to eat on the road. If you go to restaurants that have delicious OP options, you are much less likely to cheat. A few times when I didn't speak up (or was over-ruled) about where to eat were my hardest times. I recall bitterly munching on a Quest Bar while everyone else ate Dairy Queen.

You can do this!!!!!

OK, putting my digital scale away. It is a cheapie, and I think I am TWICE as crazy since buying that thing. It said I weighed 154 (my old dial scale downstairs says 150). I keep telling myself I won't weigh, but I am wanting to get to my 20 lb mark. I put my digital scale away and may just chuck it because I swear it is possessed (weighed me in STONES this morning).

However, this is making me crazy. I haven't cheated at all and am not on my TOM. I know for a fact that I haven't eaten an extra 3500 calories x 3! I am also not the big C.

The only thing that may be throwing me off is that I haven't followed my water intake quite as closely as I have in the past. Could that lead to a 3-4 pound gain?

OK...so the sane part of me knows that really I'm stressing about nothing. But the fat-girl part of me is feeling VERY neurotic. I need some calming words!

I'm with you, SuzieQ. I'm only on week two, but all this week I have weighed the same every single day. Except for today, when I went up .2 pounds, even though I've been OP. It's irritating, but just remember that in the long run the scale will be moving down, and that's what really matters!

Take a deep breath! If you've stayed OP this is just a blip! And as weird as it sounds, yes not getting enough water can cause you to retain water. There's a scientific explanation for it but it has to do with the ratio of salt to water in your cells. So if you aren't flushing out the salt with water, you'll retain water to keep the ratio right. At least that's the way I understand it.

And sometimes your body just needs a rest. I know it's frustrating but I went weeks with 0 or 1 pounds losses and then suddenly dropped 4 or 5 pounds. There's not much you can do about it - just stay OP and it will happen it's just that your body is going to drop the weight when it wants and there's nothing much you can do about it. So put the evil scale away and just relax. Stressing is not good for weight loss!

Micormanaging the scale is futile.
Daily weight fluctuations are NORMAL
So is remaining the same weight for a week or more (while dieting)
For anyone who is stressing over the scale, put the silly thing away. What is going to happen will happen whether you micromanage every moment of it or not. The stress increases cortisol which reduces fat loss.
I suggest using the energy to figure out creative ways to remain OP 100%

Here is your Friday Beck Diet Thought:

Friday Weekend Warm-up: If you think, “Weekends should be about fun, not about dieting,” remind yourself that eating healthfully and having fun are not mutually exclusive. Just because you may not eat everything you want doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy what you do eat (and every other non-eating activity you do). Besides, being on track feels so much better than feeling out of control.

For those of you who started at over 200 lbs and were eating 4 packets - at what weight did you decrease to 3 packets? My original coach (who has since left) told me we would start talking about it when I reached 210 and I am getting close to that. From a financial standpoint, I am eager to drop to 3 but I don't want to do it too soon.

What are you "eager" for? Are you not losing weight? If it is all financial, have an alternative product for your 4th packet. There are MANY reasonable priced products out there...
Do you no longer have a coach?