Ideal Protein - Day 33 - Sept 15 2011

I am now in week 2 of Phase 2, which means that I am eating lunch, which is super awesome! The meal plan in Phase 2 is:

• Breakfast : Ideal Protein Food
• Lunch: lean protein + 2 cups of veggies
• Snack: Ideal Protein Food
• Dinner: Lean protein + 2 cups of veggies

EASY! 

On day 23 I went for my weigh in and measurements. I was down 10 pounds and 15.75 inches. Incredible, but I was still worried about going on to phase 2. Although 10 pounds had been my original weight loss goal, I had heard that when you start eating carbs again you can put back on up to three pounds.  I was wondering if 13 pounds would be a better weight loss goal? After going over all my numbers, including my percent of fat vs muscle, my visceral fat number and my "body age"  which was now 38 instead of the original 44, I decided to move on to phase 2.  I went home and ate lunch!

Day 24 I was down another .6 pounds and every day after that I was either down or maintaining despite the fact that now I was eating a great meal at lunch every day. I had more energy and was really happy to spend more of each day feeling full!

Day 28 something exciting happened!  The kids and I were out and about and we ran into Sprartycat and Feligno from the Ottawa Senators. Without hesitation the kids and I jumped in for a picture. Now usually, I would have grabbed a photo of them, but this time I hopped right in! I actually liked the way I looked in a full body picture!! I definitely cant remember the last time that happened! I was so excited I sent it to all my friends and posted it on Facebook. Definitely the best thing about this diet is that it gives you back your self confidence.

On Monday - day 30 - I started a cardio kickboxing class. It's 45 minutes of extreme cardio, it was so hard but so amazing. I was happy not only that I was able to get through it, but that when I put on my sports bra...I actually liked the way I looked!

So, here I am at day 33 and I am at 116.8 pounds. I have not been that weight since high school.

This week I ran out of multivitamins so I purchased a generic multivitamin at the grocery store. It did not have every mineral in it that the Ideal Protein vitamins do, but it had 90% of what theirs did.  I figured that since I was a week away from starting phase three (where I get to eat fruit) I was ok to do that.  This week I am going to do the same with the calcium-Magnesium pills. I am sure they are cheaper at the grocery store and in phase three you start to eat on dairy products as well.

Overall - I am super happy at where I am at. I didn't really think I would reach a weight where I felt like I had lost enough. I am exercising with the kickboxing class once a week and then doing some exercise ball and elliptical at home twice a week as well. I am so excited to keep the body I have now!

As always, I welcome questions or comments!

Ideal Protein – Day 20 – September 2 2011

Current weight 119.8 - I thought I would lead with the good stuff!!
So by this point I thought I would be on phase two, but stupid me cheated! So here I am still on phase two. I only lost 2.5 pounds last week, and here is why! On Saturday I took part in an Aerial Adventure at Lafleche, it was a grueling workout. That morning when I got on the scale I had officially lost 10 pounds. Those two things combined made me believe that a small fry from a chip wagon in Quebec was a good idea. :(
What actually happened is that I lost three days of weight loss! My body stored those deep-fried carbs in my Glycogen reserve and it was like starting the diet all over again! It took 3 days for my body to then deplete that reserve and start losing fat again. I am such an idiot! I went through the whole first week all over again. I was tired, hungry, low energy levels. The moral here is DON'T CHEAT! omg so not worth it!
I have my next weigh in and measuring on Monday at noon. I can't wait! I have been really good this week and have been following these tips that seem to be helping:
1- Eat my salad and restricted food at lunch, then have my lunch shake as my afternoon snack. This means I am eating less as the day goes on and eating more in the beginning of the day. As you move through this program and back to regular food the motto is: At breakfast eat like a king, at lunch eat like a prince and at dinner eat like a poor man. I figure if I start applying that now it is going to prepare me for the next phases.
2- don't get the restricted food! I thought that you had to, but you don't! In phase 1 have 3 shakes, in phase 2 have 2 shakes, phase 1 have 1 shake. They are lower in calories and will make the weight come off faster!
Last Monday I was down a total of 13.75 inches, can't wait to see what this monday brings!!! Monday I also start phase 2 as I have actually surpassed my weight goal (which was 120)

Ideal Protein - Day 13 - August 26 2011

Here I am at day thirteen! On day nine I went for my official mesurements. I have lost 11.5 inches! I could not beleive it! I have lost 2 inches in my chest, 2 in my torso, 4 (YES I SAID 4) on my waist 2, on my hips and 1 on my thighs! I see a huge difference! All my clothes are loose and comfortable again, some ever now even too big!! But, where I can really see the difference in is my face. I will post 2 pics below, see if you can choose the before and after!

I am still finding this a really easy diet and my energy and hunger levels are now what I would consider to be normal. This week the weight loss has slowed somewhat, I have only lost one pound since Sunday, but I am still seeing small incremental changes. From 122.8 to 122.6 to 122.4 so at least I am going in the right direction.

My next weigh in is on Monday and I can't wait! Seing the tally of what I had lost on inches alone was great! But also my viceral fat has decreased from a 6 to a 5 - "Visceral fat is different from other body fat. Visceral fat, also called intra-abdominal fat, refers to the fat that surrounds the internal organs" "Visceral fat is harder to lose than subcutaneous fat because it is more deeply embedded in the body's tissues." - and as I had noted on my home scale my overall body fat had decreased by 2%.

This week I have to decide if I am staying on phase one or moving on to phase two. Originally I had a numeric weight in mind as my goal, but now, I am changing my view as I see the inches melt away...I beleive I will wait until Monday, see what the weigh in says and go from there. At this energy level I beleive that I could start working out again and do phase one for one more week. I can see how this could get addictive!

Anway, check out the pics an see what you think!

Ideal Protein - Day 6 - Aug 19 2011

BOOM! 124 Baby! I am so excited! Last night I had a steak stir fry for dinner. The Diet says don’t fry...but I tend to think that means don’t deep fry? Or don’t fry in oil? I fried the steak in a bit of water, then drained off all the drippings and then added garlic, broccoli, green pepper and zucchini. It was delicious! The great part about it was that everyone ate it and I just served theirs over noodles! I think that the best part about this diet for me is that I can have the same meal that my family is having. In a family of four, I couldn't make myself a different meal every night, that would just be annoying!
Tonight everyone is having pizza, except me. I will have chicken and zucchini! With the weight loss I am seeing, I really don’t think that I will mind not eating pizza. I know that once I am done this diet, I will be able to have it from time to time, so I am ok with not having it one time! I really see this diet as something that is worth doing, so why not do it 100%? I know that cheating will set me back and I just not interested in doing that. When I make something for the kids that I am not allowed to have, I don’t even lick my fingers! Of course this is also easier because I am a rule follower, not a rule breaker! I drive the speed limit, I don't download pirated copies of movies and I don’t cheat on my diet. It's just who I am.
I'm also excited to lose this weight because part of the weigh in process included calculating my metabolic age...it was 44 - not cool. So I really feel like I am doing something not only for my outward appearance but for my health in general. Why carry around 10-15 extra pounds that my body doesn’t need? It's just healthier to be a better weight...and I am well on my way!

Ideal Protein - day 5 - aug 18 2011

Last night's dinner turned out to be amazing! Thanks to a suggestion from a friend and my list of approved foods. I combined the ground beef with green peppers, hot sauce, garlic and salt and pepper and baked it like a meatloaf. It was super delicious and it is how I will probably continue to make meatloaf in the future! My son tried it and loved it! I know it is much healthier for him than how I usually make it.
When I went to bed last night I had a bit of a stomach ache, I think it may be indigestion issues but I woke up this morning feeling great! I
got on the scale and I was down another half a pound, and my body fat was down 2%. YAY!!!
Today I had the cappuccino drink for breakfast and I really love that, it is such a great start to the day and feels like a treat and not a diet. I had cucumbers as my snack today and then at lunch I had broccoli and cabbage as my veggies.
It is now 3pm and I have not even had my lunch shake yet! I am going to have it on my way home which will help keep me full until dinner. I
may not even have my snack today! Wow, I didn’t think that I would say that! I was pretty hungry my first couple of days.
Tonight dinner may be late because I have to run to the store  first, but I think I will be ok, and then home to have steak and veggies. Today was the first day that my body should be burning fat instead
of carbs, and I feel like I have the bad breath that was warned in the  "side effect" as my body changes into that mode. I am curious to see  what will happen from now until my weigh-in since I have already had a good  loss for this week.

Ideal Protein - Day 4 - Aug 17 2011

Good Morning!
This morning I woke up STARVING! I was hoping that meant that my body was hard at work eating all my calories overnight!
I got on the scale...and I had lost another pound! 125 baby! I was so excited!!!
Todays meals are:
Breakfast: IP Cappuccino drink - super delicious! I threw in some crushed ice and it was really great to have during my drive in to work!
Snack - 1/2 cucumber with vinegar (11:19 am)
Lunch - strawberry pudding
Snack - Dill pickle flavoured Zippers (like chips)
Dinner - this will be a challenge. I have meatloaf and broccoli planned, but I certainly cant eat that! all the rice, and sauce etc... So I am trying to figure out what I can do with my portion of the ground beef? (suggestions welcome)
I am definitely feeling more energentic today and when I see the numbers on the scale that are constantly going down it really is motivating. At work there is currently muffins and fruit sitting in the kitchen, usually i would load up a plate and have a morning snack, but I have a surprising amount of self control and I am really happy about that! My son't birthday party is on Saturday, there will be loads of stuff I cant have, but I really think I will be ok! I am trying to figure out what to wear to show off my weight loss!! :)

Ideal Protein – Day 3 – Aug 16 2011

Woke up this morning feeling great! I got on the scale – and I was 126! I have not seen that number in a long time! I felt super about that! It brings my weight loss to 5 pounds in 48 hours – that is nuts! Breakfast today was a chocolate shake and lunch will be a blueberry pudding. I have cucumbers and cabbage for snacks plus a peanut butter bar, I love those!
Dinner is eggs and zucchini, this will be tough because I can’t put ketchup on my eggs and I have to make my scrambled eggs with water instead of milk…oh well. I think the best thing about this diet is that when you see these results it makes it REALLY easy to stick to the diet and not cheat because I really want to keep seeing the pounds fall off!
UPDATE: I went and picked up all my food for next week today. I even traded in the stuff I was not fond of, what a great system! I made my eggs last night and added green peppers, onions, cherry tomatoes, garlic, sea salt and pepper. It was amazing. With that I also had zucchini, done up in olive oil and garlic. I had a huge plate full! I almost took a picture of it as proof that you can do this diet and still eat! I can see already how this diet changes my eating habits and my thinking when it comes to food.
I ended up in bed early last night with a headache. They do warn that this can happen in the first couple of days, I took a Tylenol and fell asleep quickly.

Ideal Protein - Day 2 - Aug 15 2011

I had a great night sleep and instead of waking up starving, which I assumed I would, I woke up feeling fine! And I got on the scale – 127! I double checked it, and triple checked it! How can that be??? 4 pounds? Awesome!!!
I took my shower, got ready, made my breakfast shake – wildberry yogurt http://www.idealprotein.com/ipcl_caen.asp?no=152&c=3&p=15 which was super delicious and headed to work. I have learned that the key is to not drink/eat the foods too quickly. I have to remember that they are FULL of protein and my body is not used to having that much protein all at once, especially at breakfast. It took me about a half an hour to drink my breakfast and now I am feeling great! I am having a green tea and looking forward to lunch.
At 10am I had my snack - cucumber dipped in a southwest (approved) dressing. It was good! Lunch was at 12 and I had the Broccoli and cheese soup. I found this to be the same as the omelet, that it was good hot to start with but as it cooled down it tasted very processed and not as good. It was hard to try to eat it all while it was still hot and not feel overly full. I ate the broccoli leftovers from last night and ate about 3/4 of the soup. I think i may move to all shakes and yogurts/puddings.
For an afternoon snack I have more cucumber and dip as well as the Ideal Protein snack of BBQ soy nuts. Dinner will be pork chops and cabbage.
I think that I am figuring out the ins and outs of this diet, what works, what tastes good and how to maximize my feeling of fullness.
I look forward to getting on the scale tomorrow.

Ideal Protein - day 1 - Sunday August 14th 2011

So, Saturday was my last day of meal freedom …and I took full advantage! Raisin Bran for breakfast, left over spaghetti for lunch and homemade lasagna and garlic bread for dinner. I had three helpings of lasagna! We played cards that night where I indulged in chips and cheesies! It was heavenly. I stopped at midnight as Sunday morning was day 1 of my Ideal protein diet.
I woke up Sunday and got on the scale – 131 pounds, not cool!!!
Sunday morning I had chosen for breakfast the cereal http://www.idealprotein.com/ipcl_caen.asp?no=152&c=4&p=25 it filled up maybe half an inch in the bottom of the bowl, not at all what you see in the picture! I added the cold water– which should have been ICE cold and wasn’t. I mixed and ate, it tasted horrible. It was hard, but slimy at the same time. I covered it in cinnamon which made it much more palatable, and there was so little of it, it was not hard to finish. I was prepared to be starving, but I wasn’t. That was a pleasant surprise. I also had black coffee, which was a big change from my old “double double” that I used to enjoy, but also was not horrible.
Around 11 am we were getting ready to go out, so I had a cup of cucumber dunked in one of the approved dressings, it was delicious and I figured it would fend off the hunger until lunch time. We left the house to shop for school supplies and did not get back until 2pm, I was hungry, but in a really manageable way (if that makes sense). Usually when I get hungry I shake, and sweat and need to eat immediately and that did not happen this time. I was hungry and I knew it, but I had none of the other side effects.
At 2pm (for lunch) I had chosen the herb and cheese omelet http://www.idealprotein.com/ipcl_caen.asp?no=152&c=4&p=29 this was good because I could add veggies to it to ensure that I was really full! I added spinach and cherry tomoatoes. It tasted great and it was easy to make. The only downfall is that there is so much protein in these meals, I could only eat half of it before it started to get cold and I could taste its true processed nature. I don’t think I would choose the omelet again just because I can’t eat that much protein that quickly.
At 3pm I had half of the “snack” http://www.idealprotein.com/ipcl_caen.asp?no=152&c=11&p=6 this was super delicious and I had trouble not eating all of it, just because it tasted so good! At 4:30 pm I had the other half! Yumm! I followed that by a green tea, which is good for you, will help fill you up and tastes great!
Dinner is your own choice of food (from the approved list) I had bbq chicken with olive oil, sea salt and garlic. For my veggie I had broccoli and had no problem eating 2 cups of that! After dinner I was surprisingly stuffed!
By 8pm I was starting to feel the effects of the diet. I was tired and not feeling quite myself. I felt full, but also hungry. I had already had 10 glasses of water so I also felt supremely bloated. I still had 2 vitamins to take and could not imagine putting another drop of water into my system! I had a hot bath, which was a super bad idea and got out when I started to feel really nauseous! I got into bed by about 9, had my vitamins and I was laying there hungry…and sleepy.

Last 10 pounds…this time it’s personal!

Time to get serious!....well more serious anyway. After 4 weeks of eating well and working out every day or every other day, I lost 3 pounds, and holding. Even after giving up meals for shakes, I have hit a plateau, which I was worried I would do. So last night I signed up for Ideal Protein and I start on Sunday. Their logo is “your last diet” – well let’s hope so!
The diet is a 4 stage plan, the first phase lasts until you have reached 90% of your weight loss goal, then you move to stage two, three and then to the “maintain” phase when you stay healthy and active and eat properly. I love the idea that you get on, you lose the weight and you get off. I like knowing there is an end in sight. I feel like I can do ANY diet when I know it is short term and that I won’t put all the weight back on once I am done (like I did with the Atkins diet). If you haven’t looked into Ideal Protein, I won’t give you all the details here, but the science behind is great. http://www.idealprotein.com/ipcl_usen.asp?no=215
Last night, I went into the Black Belt Excellence Martial Arts Academy in Bridlewood. I was weighed, measured and picked out my food. To start with I got 7 packages of breakfasts. I chose shakes, puddings, cereals and omelets. Then I chose 7 lunches (soups, shakes and omelet’s)
and snacks – these seems fun. I got chocolate and peanut bars, chips and soy nuts – stuff that will allow me to crunch on something and make me feel like I am actually snacking. Dinner will be up to me, I can have 5-8 ounces of approved meats and 2 cups of approved veggies. Lunch will also include 2 cups of veggies and all day long I can have as much lettuce/spinach as I want.
So Sunday I will start with cereal for breakfast and an omelet for lunch with chicken planned for dinner. I’ve been told that in the first three days it is not unlikely that I will be hungry and will be lacking in energy until my body figures out to use fat instead of carbs to fuel my body. Note to all of you – don’t bug me on those days! LOL The blogs that I have read have also indicated that if I remember to eat all my snacks, all my veggies and all my salad that really helps with the hunger. My concern is with limited veggies for the phase one I am going to find it hard to eat 4 cups of veggies a day.
This diet is going to take some preparation, which I have already begun. Last night I laid out all of my packages and planned my eating for the next week. With a stapler to connect them and a sticky note on each threesome I outlined what I will be eating at each meal with a reminder to myself to eat 4 cups of veggies, 1 tbsp olive oil, ½ tsp of sea salt, vitamins and 10 glasses of water. I will do the same preparation with my veggies and be sure to slice and dice them and put them in baggies of 1 cup each. So I can grab them and go before work or at lunch time.
I am really excited about this diet. The start-up cost was not inexpensive however with a firm and strict plan in place and weekly check-ins I am very confident that this will work.
7 Breakfasts: $27
7 Lunches: $27
7 Snacks: $27
Sea salt, vitamins (4 bottles), laxatives (oh no), shaker (to mix foods), meal plan: $75