Another successful week on Ideal Protein! I feel myself losing more weight and gaining more energy. This by itself is enough encouragement for me to continue on this program. Nevertheless, it does help when I receive compliments and encouragement from others. A little “Hey Cody have you lost weight?” goes a long way! It certainly boosts my spirit and reminds me that I’m on the way to losing all this excess weight and learning to live a healthier lifestyle. One thing that is key for a healthier lifestyle is our food habits.

This week, we made all our favourite dinners: beef & broccoli with cauliflower rice, hamburger/meatball with green beans and BBQ chicken with brussels sprouts. Making our own home cooked meals has become a habit. Although we still look forward to cooking different items when we reach our goal. For example, Phase 4 has crossed my mind — how this would taste with that, what if I marinated with this? I am making a mental list of different meals I would like to try when we move on to Phase 4. Some of which I am sure will become an instant favourite.

In Phase 1 we have set meals for breakfast and lunch. We have actually tried many of the different items that the program has to offer. Both of us have found our favourites. For me, my favourites are Chocolate Crispy Square, Vanilla Crispy Square, Chocolate Drink Mix and Strawberry Banana Drink. Paula has very similar favourites. Ideal Protein has many different options for breakfast and lunch. Everyone has different favourites! The oatmeal for instance, tastes very similar to supermarket oatmeal and if you love oatmeal, you’re set! However, oatmeal was never part of our breakfast, so we usually have a drink or shake for breakfast.

This week is the start of ultimate frisbee winter season. Sadly, I’ll miss the first several games as this program doesn’t allow strenuous exercise (due to the fact we don’t have excess carbs to burn). This caused another challenge for me. I LOVE playing ultimate frisbee. It is a good team sport which encourages lots of cardio and I have made some great friends on the team. Normally, I would play every game, even if I forgot to bring my cleats. Because it is such a high cardio sport, I felt that it would not be wise to play while being on Phase 1 of the program. The way I think about it is: in the end, not playing will be better for me and I’ll enjoy playing even more once I lose the weight and gain more energy.

All in all, this has been a successful week. I have lost another 3lbs, which brings my total lost to 30.5 lbs. Paula may not have lost as much weight as me, but I am still proud of her.