On Ideal Protein and have not lost a pound in 3 weeks...
 

I was drawn to the diet because it promised 3-7 lb.s weight loss per week. I am STRICTLY following the diet and have not lost a SINGLE pound in the last 3 weeks. I'm HIGHLY discouraged and confused. The diet is ketogenic, meaning the body is forced to burn fat as fuel (this is accomplished by dramatically restricting carbohydrates) and promises that as long as the body has excess fat to burn that plateaus do NOT happen yet her I am; fat, plateaued and UN happy!!! Any other I.P. dieters out there that has had the same experience? If so what did you/your coach have you do to get off the plateau (that is NOT supposed to EXIST!)?

Hi Riby,

Nice to have you here. Well, this is a bit hard to answer. You haven't supplied any information about what your coach gave you for guidelines, how you have been eating, how tall you are, what weight you are, how much you want to lose, if you are exercising, are you a smoker, are you on any medications that could interfere, do you have any health issue we need to think about (PCOS, Insulin resistance, thyroid issues), etc. If you are already at a healthy weight your body may not want to let you lose more.

What has your coach or doctor had to say on the matter?

What have you tried to do to shake up the stall?

Do you measure/weigh everything you eat?

Are you journaling? What is a normal day like?

Are you using Ideal Protein products exclusively? If not what are you adding or supplementing with?

As you can see many things effect how we can answer. I am sure if you supply a little more detail we can try to work on it. :)

Thanks for the hand Carla. I was so frustrated when I wrote yesterday I didn't think to add those important details. I'm 44, 5'6, I started out at 221. (At weigh in this morning I actually went down 3 lbs!!!) I'm on my 10th week and I weighed in at 197. I only use IP products. I always weight my meat and measure my veggies. I journal my food and have been emailing it to my coach for the last 2-3 weeks. I take no medications and have no health issues. I don't smoke or drink coffee and stopped exercising when I started IP but will start back when I lose most of my weight. I skipped my period the month of July which seemed odd because my PMS symptoms were unusually severe. My tentative ideal weight is 150. I'm scheduled for a breast reduction Nov. 18th and want/need to lose as much weight as possible (for my psychological health not for the surgery per say). Three weeks ago my coach had me walk for 30 min. for 3 days and then had me focus on salads for 5 days and this week I've been eating steamed veggies for lunch and dinner in an attempt to figure out what my body wants/needs to go to the next level. I have to be militant to get a whole gallon of water in but have the last two days. I weigh every morning and seriously dislike measuring because it's so easy to accidentally have the tape a little too tight or too lose which of course alters the measurements. I'm new to the whole discussion board thing so please feel free to give me any needed pointers. I look forward to getting one of those little trackers at the bottom of my page that shows my weight loss! Thanks for any and all input! I'm so glad to have someplace to share my journey while reading of others trek along the same path. :-)

Hi Riby!

Can you post what your day or week looks like? Do you add any sweeteners or crystal light? Are you using restricted packets? If you are weighing and measuring your food you are on the right path!

You've lost 24 pounds in 10 weeks, that 2.4 a week! You should be proud. I know the scale doesn't always add up in sequence, but keep going and come here for support :)

Xanthia,

I don't understand. What do you mean when you say what does my day or week look like? Do you mean times that I eat and what I eat in the course of a day? Or do you mean list weight lost per week like you have?

I don't use any sweeteners. I have one restricted packet a day. I don't drink crystal light, just lots and lots of water! I occasionally have a hot cup of tea (without sweetners) to help stave off hunger.

Thank you for the encouraging words Xanthia. Based on IP's claims I was really counting on and looking forward to a minimum of 3 lbs weight loss per week. Didn't all you IP dieters think that would happen? Has anyone experienced a minimum of 3 lbs. weight loss per week every week? I'm trying to adjust my expectations.

I mean your food log, sorry. Like exactly what you eat. Our bodies are all different and if you post that then someone might be able to say "oh, you had veggie x, I've had a problem with this stalling me in the past" or something.

If you are doing 1 restricted, I would say cut that out, and do the "Bootcamp" phase which is no restricted packets or veggies. It might work out for you.

I know how you feel about the weight loss. I never saw the magic numbers myself as you can see in my ticker. Claims are the same for every diet. I seem to always be in the may not apply category. However, it is going in the right direction, and that's the point and the big goal.

Hi there! I have a quick question. I am new to all of this and was wondering what IP means. Thanks!

Good luck! Your weight loss sounds great! I hope you are able to get over this hump soon :)

It stands for Ideal Protein. Its a low fat, high protein diet.

I have averaged right at 5 pounds a week loss since my first weigh in 6 weeks ago and my lowest loss was 2.5 pounds, so it definitely works. It sounds like there is something going on that is being missed in your diet. Some of these ladies that have been doing this much longer can give you some ideas if you write out exactly what foods you are eating.

Don't lose hope! It will happen.

This is what I've been eating for the last 6 days. Prior to this my Doctor had me emphasizing salads for 5 days and prior to that he had me walking 30 min. per day for 3 days. He said he was testing my body to see what it needed/wanted to be able to go to the next level. Breakfast: Ip drink (wildberry yogurt) & vitamins
Lunch: barbq soy puffs & 2 cups steamed broc. caul. w. sea salt
Dinner: I will eat 5 oz. chicken & 2 c. steamed caul. and broc. & vitamins
Snack: choc. pudding.
Water: 1 gallon
This is what I've been eating for the last 6 days. I eat one restricted food a day at my doctors encouragement.

Thanks!!

I would ditch the puffs, and limit the broccoli & cauliflower to 1x a day.

A cup of broccoli or cauliflower is around 5 carbs (4.6 broccoli, 5.2 cauli -both raw) so that's 20 carbs from just the veg, plus your restricted pack (8) and drink (5) and pudding (3) add up to 36 total carbs. Try some mushrooms, spinach, cucumbers and other lower carb veg. That might help. If you are hungry add them to a big romaine salad.

I know when I was up that high in total carbs those were the weeks I was having problems and/or gaining.

Hope this helps!

Hey Riby!

Sorry to be missing. Looking at your posts, I don't see anything effect you in really. I find it interesting that out of 10 weeks. You state you lost weight week 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 10 and not any loss on weeks 7,8, 9. Even so you lost 24 pounds on 6 weigh ins!! That is a total average of 2.4 pounds per week and, and average of 4pounds a week in the weeks you did lose! VERY GOOD! :)

I also find it interesting that you stalled after week 6 when your coach added exercise and stayed stalled when he dropped you to a more "boot camp" protocol but, LOST when he added the restricted food items back. It seems that your body needs a little more than others.

Whatever you were doing weeks 1 to 6 was working. I am not sure why you changed it. I think you should go back to it, better yet, repeat what you did last week. It worked and you lost 3 pounds.

SOMETIMES, you can't make your body give up what it won't. The real totals for this program are advertised to doctors as 2 - 5 pounds a week for women. You are within what the program advertises even if you aren't at the fastest losers end of the scale.

Stay with it. You will get it done.

I have been on an average of 3 lbs per week, this is my 5th week. That was with eating 1 restricted packet a day (15 g), cereal (7 g) and skipping my last packet. I was told to accelerate my weight loss I needed to keep the carbs under 25 grams. I have cut out my restricted packet my cereal and gone down to the lemon pudding (1g) the banana pudding (2) and ready to drink mix (4). I have been nother but hungry and miserable, weak and tired. My weight this week was 3 lbs, guess I expected more for my misery. Just like thoughts on the carb issue.
Also I finally got ahold of some of the Ready to drink shake very few came in and they are out again. I'm leaving town to move my daughter to her dorm and need something really fast and easy, what is the best subsitute ya'll have come up with for the ready to drink shakes without hurting the diet.

Just wanted to ask are you going to the bathroom reg?? This was something that caused me to slow down until I got it back on track, I would change up the veggies for sure try to get in as much raw veggies as possible and lettuce (this helps if your not going to the bathroom also) I would probably ditch the restricteds, make sure you are getting in your oil in the raw (also helps get things moving) I started at 1 tsp and upped it to 2 tsps.... just some suggestions.... are u using the sticks to test? Might be worth checking.... 2 things kick you out of fat burn tooo many carbs not enough protein..... so maybe you need to eat more... sounds strange but it maybe true, my husband had to eat more in order to keep losing, fine line between too much and too little.... good luck