I would love some feedback from IP'ers, coaches ... anyone familiar with the program
I was introduced to IP in June of 2010 and had amazing results. I thought I had finally found the answer and after I stopped I decided I would try and replicate the diet. This is not an easy task. I'm guessing it's not as simple as upping the protein and next to elimating the carbs. The salts and oils and all the vitamins and minerals seemed really difficult for me to figure out. An enormus amount of work with no guarantee of results.
I don't feel like I was properly prepped for phase two, lots of issues with my thoughts on this experience but I'm not here to go down the road of blaming my coach. I will say I'm writing now to you from a place that sounds like 'if I knew then what I know now'.
On with my story! Here is what my 2010 looked like:
June 10 - Oct 28 Total $2,211.48 = 6 months
141 days = $15.68 a day
20 weeks = $110.57 a week
06/10/2010 $420.00
06/24/2010 $257.25
07/08/2010 $294.74
07/22/2010 $322.84
08/05/2010 $216.96
08/19/2010 $281.99
09/16/2010 $218.25
10/28/2010 $199.45
Date Weight
April 2010 163
June 2010 156
July 2010 149
August 2010 144
September 2010 144
November 2010 148
My second try in 2011 was pitiful :
Feb 17 to Aug 10 - $3,587.52 = 5 months
175 days = $20.50 a day
25 weeks = $143.50 a week
02/17/2011 $457.09
03/09/2011 $355.61
04/06/2011 $711.00
04/20/2011 $315.00
05/06/2011 $230.38
05/24/2011 $163.44
06/06/2011 $241.00
06/20/2011 $286.00
07/05/2011 $279.00
07/12/2011 $169.00
07/26/2011 $245.00
08/10/2011 $235.00
Date Weight
February 2011 157
March 2011 151
April 2011 151
May 2011 152
June 2011 151
July 2011 151
August 2011 152
I swear ON MY LIFE the second start was easy as pie, I was psyched for it! No problems at all and was actually enjoying it but the weight loss was definitely not the same as the first time around. It seemed to not come off as consistently for some reason and it's my belief I was even better @ the diet because I already knew what was allowed, what wasn't, how to manage my kitchen etc.
So, my questions are:
1) Given the expense is it worth trying again? ...Perhaps for not so long this time : /
2) Is there any way possible for your body to remember this diet and maybe reject it the second time around? For some reason my body just stopped dropping weight in March/April. Sounds silly but I'm dying to get back on it in the hopes that I'll have the same results as in 2010. The expense is a non issue when the diet works!
I would retry it with alternatives. I'm wondering when your loss totally slowed down was it because you had stopped being so careful about getting everything in? When someone has a stall the common advice is about cutting things out. But when I put my food into a tracker after doing the plan for awhile I was getting almost no fat, having chicken breast and lean ground turkey breast for most of my regular meals and had not been getting the oil in. I had also been having a very limited amount of veggies whereas at the beginning I had used a good variety.
You have spent a lot of money and your weight is the same as when you started. I'd be cautious about doing that again but would try the cheaper alternative. good luck with whatever you decide to do.
Nine Did you stick to the program 100% in 2011? I can't believe anyone could do IP for 5 months without losing weight (Mar thru Aug)! Meaning, (1) it seems physically impossible not to lose weight on a low-carb approx 700 calorie diet, and (2) that you could stick with it for 5 months with no reward. What did your coach say in 2011?
I had the exact same thing happen to me. I followed IP for a few months in early 2010 and lost 35 pounds. Kept it off for a while but by the end of the year I had gained about 15 back. I restarted IP in January 2011 and followed the plan to the letter. Every week I stayed the exact same weight! I wrote down everything I ate and always brought it to my coach he even called someone else in the company and no one could figure it out. At that point I quit to save money. Now another year has gone by and I gained more weight. I decided to try one more time. This time it is working! I think my body did remember the diet and was not going to let any weight go. That is the only reason I can think of. I wear the body bugg that tells me how many calories I am burning and have seen a real drop in calories burned while on this diet. I am sure that is why it is important to phase off on this diet (which I did not do the first time). I agree with the prior answer to try the alternatives there is a thread to help with that and many have had great success. Good luck!
I don't understand the money totals you've listed. I'm spending about $83.00 per wk plus cost of vitamins which I should be taking anyway. I did have an initial one time small fee when I started of either $50 or $100. But for that I get weighed every wk plus spend at least 1/2 an hour of counseling with coach. In the beginning my coach even called me every evening, (Sunday included) to make sure I was doing ok and answer any questions I might have.
I would retry it with alternatives. I'm wondering when your loss totally slowed down was it because you had stopped being so careful about getting everything in? When someone has a stall the common advice is about cutting things out. But when I put my food into a tracker after doing the plan for awhile I was getting almost no fat, having chicken breast and lean ground turkey breast for most of my regular meals and had not been getting the oil in. I had also been having a very limited amount of veggies whereas at the beginning I had used a good variety.
You have spent a lot of money and your weight is the same as when you started. I'd be cautious about doing that again but would try the cheaper alternative. good luck with whatever you decide to do.
Pat
My apologies in advance if I'm not replying properly as I've never done this before so fingers crossed!
Thank you for replying to my post! Can I ask what you mean by retry with alternatives - what's meant by alternatives? Stall is the perfect word to describe my 2011 experience!
Pat means try using alternative products to IP for example Pure Protein bars ($1.59 each) and EAS carb control drink ($4.59 for a 4 pack) from walmart. Some people even use Atkin's products instead of IP and have great results
Wow... that's a lot of money. How many boxes were you buying? Also, your weight loss was actually below average. It seems like something weird was going on... I hesitate to say with your clinic/coach. Especially if you totally stuck to it 100%, you should have lost more than you did. Try an alternative product or see if there is another clinic you can go to. 5 pounds in 6 months on the protocol... that's just not normal on IP :-/
Nine Did you stick to the program 100% in 2011? I can't believe anyone could do IP for 5 months without losing weight (Mar thru Aug)! Meaning, (1) it seems physically impossible not to lose weight on a low-carb approx 700 calorie diet, and (2) that you could stick with it for 5 months with no reward. What did your coach say in 2011?
Thank you for your reply!
In 2011 I was absolutely as vigilant as possible, particularly in the start, then things just started to plateau. As things progressed into the summer I incorporated some exercise into my program. I wish I had of kept better records in terms of exactly what I ate and when but I can admit around June or July it's possible I wasn't 100% - there were times, even in 2010, that I would become so bunged up, I don't want to say constipated because it's not like the urge to go was there and I couldn't , it was more like I never went .... ever! So, occasionally, maybe once a week I would eat an actual meal and have an amazing BM! By this time, nothing was working and I figured why not, maybe I could at least get rid of something if I have a BM ... kind of embaressed to say.
I have to say I'm a little peeved with my coach. Over the course of time learned he promotes several programs, every time I went to visit he'd have a new gadget or brainwashing CD for me to consider. I get that everyone has to make a living but once I learned about the other programs he promotes and learned the ridiculous markup on IP products part of me was furious that he would even allow me to go this far with IP in 2011 without suggestion of stopping or phasing out at least....Anyway, I did say I didn't want to get into it about my coach, I really don't want to focus on his lack of support ... or bore you guys with my stories. After all, he doesn't charge for visits like another local clinic here and our relationship for the most part has been relatively casual....perhaps too casual in heinsight.
This go around will not include so many opportunities for he and I to discuss much. I'm thinking I will be more aggressive in my self-direction with the help of 3 fat chicks - I have collected more useful information on this site, in particular on the stages of IP, recipes as well that I never received in the same manner from my coach. In the beginning I got handouts from him but they discontinued after phase one which I never really finished either time. The remainder of the program were basically verbal instructions. "Oh, eat one less packet and make your meal just like the one meal you already make" ....
I thought about it last nite after reviewing my numbers and I think what I will do is commit to 2 months, see what happens, maybe go for a 3rd and phase out properly this time!
I had the exact same thing happen to me. I followed IP for a few months in early 2010 and lost 35 pounds. Kept it off for a while but by the end of the year I had gained about 15 back. I restarted IP in January 2011 and followed the plan to the letter. Every week I stayed the exact same weight! I wrote down everything I ate and always brought it to my coach he even called someone else in the company and no one could figure it out. At that point I quit to save money. Now another year has gone by and I gained more weight. I decided to try one more time. This time it is working! I think my body did remember the diet and was not going to let any weight go. That is the only reason I can think of. I wear the body bugg that tells me how many calories I am burning and have seen a real drop in calories burned while on this diet. I am sure that is why it is important to phase off on this diet (which I did not do the first time). I agree with the prior answer to try the alternatives there is a thread to help with that and many have had great success. Good luck!
Thanks for writing Mkssweetie, it's great to know others are out there with similar situations. Well not great that the results are not there but ... I hope you know what I mean. I think I will give it a try again, thanks for your well wishes and best of luck to you as well!
Last edited by nineonline; 02-06-2012 at 04:21 PM.
I don't understand the money totals you've listed. I'm spending about $83.00 per wk plus cost of vitamins which I should be taking anyway. I did have an initial one time small fee when I started of either $50 or $100. But for that I get weighed every wk plus spend at least 1/2 an hour of counseling with coach. In the beginning my coach even called me every evening, (Sunday included) to make sure I was doing ok and answer any questions I might have.
Hi PeggyG. Thanks for writing. I am posting from Canada so that may make a diff in the $'s also, my figures include the supplements and there were definitely a couple of times I picked up a few products for a friend of mine. I eliminated those instances where I could recall that I bought some product that wasn't for me but it's possible I missed $30 or $20 worth of product here and there but I would say for sure on average I was writing cheques for about $200 every other week just for my product alone.
In the beginning I wrote the same $100 cheque to cover what I figured was consult fees. My coach is always available to me ... given my last post I'm not sure if that's such a great thing lol
Thanks again for your post. Best of luck to you on the program!
Pat means try using alternative products to IP for example Pure Protein bars ($1.59 each) and EAS carb control drink ($4.59 for a 4 pack) from walmart. Some people even use Atkin's products instead of IP and have great results
Thanks, I shall check out your story. I can already tell you've had super results from your before and after pics. Well done, you look fantastic!
In the past I have done a bit of research on the alt suggested, what are your thoughts on the rest of the must do's - supplements, salts etc that are part of the program?
Hmm perhaps it's time to look harder at this alternative...off the top the variety is kind of missing, 3 choc shakes a day + ? for restricted ... I guess that's the price you pay for doing something alt though.
Thank you for the suggestion! I'm looking forward to reading your story.
Wow... that's a lot of money. How many boxes were you buying? Also, your weight loss was actually below average. It seems like something weird was going on... I hesitate to say with your clinic/coach. Especially if you totally stuck to it 100%, you should have lost more than you did. Try an alternative product or see if there is another clinic you can go to. 5 pounds in 6 months on the protocol... that's just not normal on IP :-/
Thanks for your post. I know I was always stuck in phase one which was 3 packets and 1 restricted a day. Other clinics, that I've found local to me, all charge a $15 fee with every visit ... I refuse to pay it so I'll stick with my 'coach' if I decide to give this a go again.
Overall IP Experience & Thoughts of restarting
I thought I had finally found the answer and after I stopped I decided I would try and replicate the diet. This is not an easy task. I'm guessing it's not as simple as upping the protein and next to elimating the carbs. The salts and oils and all the vitamins and minerals seemed really difficult for me to figure out. An enormus amount of work with no guarantee of results.
I will say I'm writing now to you from a place that sounds like 'if I knew then what I know now'.
: 
No problems at all and was actually enjoying it but the weight loss was definitely not the same as the first time around. It seemed to not come off as consistently for some reason and it's my belief I was even better @ the diet because I already knew what was allowed, what wasn't, how to manage my kitchen etc. 
For some reason my body just stopped dropping weight in March/April. Sounds silly but I'm dying to get back on it in the hopes that I'll have the same results as in 2010. The expense is a non issue when the diet works!
