I may not have to go here, but due to a host of health issues since starting IP (essentially, my thyroid going in the tank and having extreme problems with dizziness, fatigue, irritability, losing way more slowly on the diet than I should be even when perfectly on protocol, etc) my doctor is having me go soy free as a test to see if that helps me feel better.

Today was day one and no change, but we're doing 3-7 days. I am SUPER bummed that pretty much everything on IP that I remotely like has soy in it. I'll basically be living off of ready made vanilla drinks (and those only because I mix them with cold brew coffee and cinnamon and it's dreamy) and ready made mango drinks. Oh, and basically zero alternative products. Peanut butter crunch bars and a mix of 1/2 a bag each of PB and chocolate soy puffs have pretty much kept me from cheating more times than I can count. Having nothing to look forward to would SUCK.

So that is no way doable for 8 months. There's being strict and then there's just misery. So, in the event that soy *is*the problem, do people have some soy-free alternatives they can share? Just to help me have some starting points for my research and go from there?

Thanks so much!

Lisa posted quite a few times that she's soy free and her list of alternatives.

I'm sure she'll chime in but they include the Simply protein bars and chips:

http://simplyprotein.com/products/whey-protein-bars

She did awesome, so will you!

Oh and Quest bars are soy free (not all fit into IP though).

Tamila: Oh dear.
I've not wished my experience on ANYONE!

IP tanked my thyroid, too. It can take a LOT more than 3-7 days to determine if changes are working (months, perhaps to get thyroid to re-set)

Go back to January 2013 (100% thread) and you can see the hissy fits I threw when I gave up soy and gluten (which is also hard on thyroid). Of course I didn't think I could do IP without my "favorite" IP products! It CAN be done!

ANY low cal diet can cause this so it isn't just IP. But now you know why I move to maintenance prior to reaching goal. My thyroid health was also important.

Here are some alt products
Simply whey bars
Simply chips
Quest bars (see my post in the quest bar thread for which ones to use/avoid)
Quest chips (new and unrestricted!)
Syntrax nectar (whey protein powder - lots of great fruity flavors. I stay away from the vanilla and chocolate b/c they mix up very thin. I prefer creamier)
1 egg + 3 egg whites = omelet packet

What I avoid is soy PROTEIN and gluten. There is soy lecithin in many products, also. It is not a primary ingredient. So, if you re-look at IP items, there are actually many more you can use. I use potato puree, milk chocolate pudding mix mostly and then alts. I also purchase from Nashua nutrition cocomint creme pudding/shake mix, a berry yogurt mix, and also lemon and banana puddings (for making muffins).

I did a thread search for you to help you. If you read any of them with a last post after January 2013, you'll find some of my old posts on the subject. It actually took a lot of reading/learning to understand what is going on. I'm waiting on test results right now to see how my thyroid is doing. Here are the search results In one of those threads, I also posted IP products I can have. If you can't find it, PM me with your email address and I'll send you a doc I made.

The good news is that it IS doable for 8 months. You CAN do it! So what if we lose slowly and gain easily. Maintenance may take a bit more diligence for us (stick with the maintainer thread! I lurked there for a long time!)
We can still lose weight. The alternative for super slow weight loss for me is even worse (remaining obese!)

If you don't have the Beck Diet Solution book, get it! It really helps with attitude and acceptance. Use the book and the skills it teaches.

You are NOT ALONE! Let's do this together!

Lisa, you are amazing. Thank you so much!

Can I ask what your symptoms were? How you knew something was wrong?

Related, were you dizzy? If yes, how long does that take to go away.

I've lost really slowly despite being awesome and 100% OP, so the first thing is if the 3-7 days off cause me to lose more rapidly then she'll keep me off soy. I started levothyroxine & liothyronine in higher doses (my TSH went from 2.4 to 4.6 in 5 weeks) but they haven't helped. She thinks the soy may be preventing their effectiveness. And since I'm soy free I'll just be gluten free, too. I just find that, because it's trendy, finding GF products is a lot easier than SF.

Anyway. I have a weigh-in tomorrow so we'll see what the scale says.

Oh! And the soy protein vs soy lecithin tip is super helpful! Because I was going to ask my doctor about that. Soy lecithin, which I know is a emulsifier (yay, Iron Chef and Chopped!), is in EVERYTHING.

My coach isn't going to like using some alternatives but I don't really have a choice. I have two toddlers with autism and my husband's job is really demanding. [edit bc I didn't finish this thought] There is no way I can feel this horrible and function in the hectic life we live. We have cut EVERYTHING we can and I'm just struggling with daily life. If I didn't have kids I would probably not leave my house, or even bed, most days.

Oh, and lastly, we're doing a full panel, including testing for Hashimoto's either in 3 weeks or, if we change my lio dosage, 6 weeks after that.

I will not give up. But I am SO frustrated. I can't even go on the May or June starters boards (I started 5.26) because seeing people losing so much more weight than me is just depressing. But I did think of you, Lisa, driving home from my naturopath's appt. There may be people who have fought *as* hard as us, but I guarantee no one has fought harder.

I think I have thyroid issues too so have a test next week. I'll be keeping an eye on this thread. If you PM anything Lisa, add me to the PM too please. When I googled the symptoms, I have so many -- including even the carpal tunnel I just found out I have. Moodiness - check. Exhaustion - check. Hair loss - check. Sluggish brain/forgetting things, dizziness... check check check...

What else should I be looking for so I can check that off too? ... sigh...

Hi IP43: Carpal Tunnel is also very common in those with diabetes and can even predict future diabetes, as well as being common in thyroid problems. I downloaded a couple studies for my dad since he is on diabetes meds and has been having trouble with his wrists too.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11874948
http://www.webmd.com/pain-management...edict-diabetes

Not saying this is what is going on with you, but I did find it interesting how the sugars affect neuropathy. I hope your tests get you some answers and a plan for your health improvement...

Tamila

I was freezing ALL THE TIME
My weight loss didn't stall until later but I've never been a super fast loser.
You're right about fighting. Without the thyroid problems, I should have been at goal by Halloween of LAST YEAR (at the latest!). I even had people PM'ing me telling me "we" had to get my last 15 off...what???? That was something. Anyway, mostly what I've gotten is tons of support for sticking with the forum and watching others lose weight while I wasn't

So, one of the things I had to be willing to do was gain some weight while working thru thyroid problems. Trying to get it to re-set so I didn't need to continue thyroid meds. I just got my bloodwork back. We'll see what doc says. TSH has come down some but isn't in the optimal range of .05-2. But it is considered "normal range" (average based on everyone who has testing done, both no thyroid and thyroid probs).


Be sure they do a COMPLETE thyroid panel, not just TSH.