Quitting Ideal Protein will not get me what I want! My Bucket List!

Summer has been crazy! 

I'm restarting the diet on October 4th and hopefully I will have learned something from all the damage I've done by quitting for a month and a half. 

I have gained back almost 50 pounds by quitting and not completing the other phases. This was done by pretty much eating whatever I wanted. At times I would just eat Magnum Ice Cream Bars and go through 2 boxes in less than 24 hours. I was out of control because I had it in my head that I was only off the diet for a limited amount of time so in the small amount of time I needed to eat everything.

And I did. 

But today is different. I am ready to take control of my own life. There are things I need to fix in my life in order to be who I want to be and live how I want to live. I started to put together a Bucket List and I am determined to complete all of the items. But the big one is I don't want to be fat when I turn 30 (less than 3 years). 

Among the things I want to do when I feel comfortable with my body. 

1. Zip Line, in an awesomely cool exotic location. How cool would that be. 

2. Go Karts. Love them but I get anxiety thinking about fitting in the seat. I don't know why exactly. 

3. Theme Parks/Roller Coasters, same thing about fitting in the seat comfortably.

4. No Seatbelt Extensions: pretty much applies to airplanes.

5. Go Para-sailing in Paradise, pretty sure there is a weight limit for this one.

6. Try Price is Right Again: I've gone to a taping of the show before, but feel like I might have a better chance if I was smaller. That’s television for you, and I know everyone has not been skinny minny who has been picked for that show.

7. Go to another Show: Ellen, it just looks fun!

8. Go Horse Back Riding: Requires a lot of leg power for the lift and a** in the saddle. I just want to be comfortable.

9. Ride a Bike again: Trust me there is a way to forget how to ride a bike. It might have been the bike I was trying to ride, but I would like to bike to work.

10. Swimming with Dolphins, sounds like fun.

11. Rock Climbing (Real/Fake):

12. Hot Air Balloon Rides: 11 and 12 Sound like fun too..

13. Try out or apply for a Reality Show: I’m a fan of the Amazing Race, Big Brother.

14. Float down the lazy river on a tube!

15. Get a new skinny wardrobe, There are so many different Fall things I want to buy, and don’t want to hunt for the skinny version.

I’m getting ready to go shopping so I can start the diet again! Today is day one and my first goal is to get under 300 again. That’s 18 pounds!! Wish me luck!!

Cheating on the Ideal Protein Diet? The vicious cycle it will create!

There are many reasons to not cheat on the Ideal Protein Diet. I'm going to share what happened to me and the vicious cycle I've created for myself that I am still trying to dig myself out of.

I've been on the Ideal Protein Diet since November and up until June I had lost 70 pounds. It's now July and my weight loss has slowed down dramatically. 

I still remember the beginning of the diet. I had been trying to follow the diet plan. I may not have had all my water or all the vegetables all of the time, but I was doing fairly well and not cheating with anything not approved. One day I was extra hungry for some reason and there were still some temptations in my kitchen that I had not thrown away yet. 

A pudding cup was calling my name! I caved and ate that pudding cup. Although it wasn't satisfying it still took the temptation away from my train of thought for that night. 

My coach had specifically said that if we cheat we will not lose weight and it will take 3 days for our bodies to return to a state of ketosis. Essentially since the diet is about $13 a day it would cost $39 for 1 cheat. Not generally worth it for most people.

My problem however started when I went in for my weekly weigh in. I had still lost 4 pounds. From that day on I noticed that if I cheat just a little right after my weigh in my body would be able to “recover” enough to still lose weight.

1 pudding cup turned into 4 pudding cups, then a slice of pie. Eventually it was a whole plate of brownies and 4 cups of milk to wash it down.  

This behavior went on and on. My weight loss started to slow down, because my bad behaviors started to increase. Now sometimes I will be driving down the road and suddenly stop at Safeway because I can’t get Brownies out of my head. And I won’t eat just one. I eat the all of them. 6 total! If I get sick and say to myself “I will never do this again, I feel like crap,” that statement will usually last for about a day. Then the next day I will want more brownies.

My sugar addiction is getting out of control. Even though I know that I shouldn't binge eat, I am outright defiant with myself sometimes. I’m working on that though. I’m seeing a dietitian and will hopefully find a therapist soon. I don’t feel comfortable talking to my Ideal Protein Coach because her reality is not something that I feel can help me right now. She doesn't think it’s that hard to stop eating like that and doesn't understand the emotional mind tricks that some people go through to kick an addiction.

I recognize I need more help and pray that I am strong enough to want to change. I do not want this attempt at a diet to be just that, another attempt. Since I have lost 70 pounds, and have another 70 to go, I know it works. And I know I can do it.

So my point is, don’t take that first bite. Find out why you need that particular food and the reasons why you focus on it. I have a lot of work to do, and right now I only know that I have to work extra hard to dig myself out of this hole I've created.

Good luck to you if you are struggling with something like this. I would love to know how you overcame it or if you are still working at it.

****UPDATE****

It took me about a year to dig myself out of that hold I created. And it wasn't easy. I ended up gaining about 50 pounds back, and its because I felt like I needed to make up for lost time. 

The trick to kicking that sugar habit is to go at least 3 weeks without having any sugar or cheating at all. I am now on week 6 again and am happy to report that SUGAR is not a constant thought anymore. Sometime I do want them, but I know that If i cant keep myself on plan this time then I need to quit for good and I'm not ready to give up. So I am going to give you a tip if you don't like veggies:

For this diet my Magic Bullet has been AMAZING!

It's easy to clean, and works quickly everyday!

I use the Mango Smoothie Premade and add it to the large blender. Then I add about a table spoon of Olive Oil (Sometimes, its hard for me to get that in too). After the olive oil I add maybe a few table spoons of water to help with the blending.

This part will turn some people off. I add 4 CUPS (Yes 4) of Kale to the mixture, one cup at a time. Its an easy way to get all the veggies in and I do it every morning. 

Now that was it, I've talked with my coach and she wants me to get at least a cup of something else in (something she just started saying, and it makes me a little annoyed). So because of that I have chopped Jicama and Sweet Peppers for my salads. 

*That's is for my update! Again this diet is not supposed to be going forever so..

"Do it right, get it over with, and move on with your life!"

Ideas For Upholstering A Headboard

So I am in no way a professional at this arts and crafts stuff. I don't even like to peruse Pinterest because it just reminds me of the fact that I live in a rental and have no money to do anything creative with that space.

Some of you are probably thinking, "Why would I cover a perfectly good looking headboard?"

Well, its because I tripped over the end of the bed once and broke the side bar on one side.  Over the year I've done pretty much all I can to fashion it back together. Finally I decided to do something about it.

So this was my headboard before.

Some of you are probably thinking, "Why would I cover a perfectly good looking headboard?"

Well, its because I tripped over the end of the bed once and broke the side bar on one side.  Over the year I've done pretty much all I can to fashion it back together. Finally I decided to do something about it.

When I took the picture above my bed had been on the floor for a few weeks and I was getting tired of looking at a messy room with an unfinished bed frame.

So anyway I bought all the fabric at the fabric store. Walking in that place is like a lost puppy in a room full of dog cookies. OVERWHELMING! There are too many choices, and not enough guidance for someone who usually doesn't plan ahead or do a ton of research. I just come up with a picture in my mind and its hard to explain exactly what I want to someone else.

This picture is me starting the "covering" process. I wanted to add some cushion to the headboard so its more comfortable, hence the pink felt. It was really just the cheapest fabric and there was plenty of it. I covered the middle in little squares to make the indents in the middle of the headboard less noticeable, and to make the surface smoother when I used the final printed fabric.

TA-DA! All done. Keep in mind I went to town with my staple gun! I tried to hide each staple as best I could in the back, but along the top to get that crisp edge I stapled it a lot. Later I covered those up with tiny brass tacks. Sorry I don't have a picture of that detail.

Anyway.

This is the inexpensive medal frame I purchased from a thrift store. They had so many just lying around in a bin, unused and unopened. It was nice and only $60. To buy a new bed that has a upholstered headboard foot board combo is around $400 to a whole lot more!!

I bolted the headboard to the frame (which I need to make sturdier). My favorite thing to do lately is wander around Home Depot and finding different hooks and whatnot which will work for the purpose I need it for. Not sure how many people actually do that, but I've become a professional. 

And this is what the final product looks like. I still need to put the cover on my down comforter, but this is the basic idea.. I love it. And the best part is, if I get tired of that fabric its pretty easy to recover and start with something new. 

Update: This headboard worked very well for several moves. I never did recover it, since I liked the material I originally picked. I've since upgraded to a new bedroom set, but this headboard had found a new home. 

I have a new house now that I've been remodeling so stay tuned for updates!

Ideal Protein Journey

Finally Deciding to Write this Down

I've been on the Ideal Protein Diet Since November 2012, and have lost 70 pounds. I've decided to start this blog because I need a hypothetical piece of paper. It's not going to be entirely about Ideal Protein, but my life as well. So let's get started.

I decided to start this Diet because basically I've done all the others. Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem.. all of them. I was even considering weight loss surgery. At the time the only thing that stopped me from the surgery, was funding. My employment insurance was less than happy to cover anything weight related, even counseling.

So my aunt had a friend who started going to an Ideal Protein Clinic. She looked AMAZING, but I thought it was just another diet, and at the time wasn't interested in starting anything new. During this time I was at my highest ever weight of 340. 

After much coaxing I was finally convinced by my Aunt to attend an open house. At the open house we learned how the diet works, and what the financial responsibility was. We even got to taste some of the food and Walden Farm's Products. The diet is expensive, but my Aunt and Grandma wanted to help. And for me it was a Go Big or Go Home kind of situation. I needed something intense if I was going to succeed in finally losing weight.

The program was not hard at all. Since I was over 300 pounds I "needed" 4 packets of food to get my necessary intake of food. A packet is what they call the food. It can be anything from soups and puddings to drinks and breakfast bars. And each one has more protein than any normal food. 

The food is pretty good. For the first 2 weeks they give you preprepared menus with about 40 different types of food. This is so you can try everything and see what you like. Growing up my mom always told me that she "has never met a child that didn't like soup." Well surprise surprise I didn't like it on the diet either. Eating the Mushroom Soup was a train wreck and a half. But this diet requires you to eat all your food everyday. After the first 2 weeks you can decide what you want to eat. My clinic sells the packets individually, which is nice because I might not want Wildberry Yogurt everyday for breakfast. Most clinics don't sell them this way, but my clinic sees the benefit of variety if you want it. I ended up not really needing variety because generally I choose 17 chocolate drinks and a handful of restricted bars and crackers for my menus. I would say the first few months my body was excited by the fact that I was no longer drinking Mountain Dew or anything else bad, and I was no longer eating crap.

My goal for this diet is to be healthy and be able to shop anywhere. I am only 27 (Just had my Birthday) and still trying to figure life out. But I'll get to that in another post.

Thanks for reading.