I'm on my 6th week of IP and loving it! However, I strongly dislike my coach. Now when I come in she seems always rushed and doesn't really seem to put the effort in anymore.
I went in today with fear of telling her about my first cheat, but she didn't offer any support and wasn't even concerned. I feel now she just weighs and measures me, takes my money, and sends me on my way.
I ran out of vitamins and I told her I was going to purchase some from Costco and she was very harsh and said I needed to buy their vitamins as others can have fillers and hinder my weight loss (even though their foods have fillers), I was hesitant but of course was scared not to see results so I bought them. It wasn't only about the vitamins - one time I only wanted to purchase 2 boxes of food and she pressured me into buying a 3rd. I'm seeking some advice - should I switch clinics? Do I HAVE to purchase the vitamins???
I'm 5'8" - started weight: 155 and down to 144 with a goal weight of 135
My coach has made all the difference IMO. Other than the ladies here, she is my IRL support and source of info. In fact, I am a researcher type but long along gave in to her instructions because they worked for me. Now, I also have been OP for 10 months with another couple to go. You have a lot less weight/time to go. Is it worth putting up with her or even having a conversation about your concerns or make the switch? If it was me, I couldn't go somewhere I wasn't happy or didn't feel like my coach cared or intimated me into making purchases I was not comfortable with.
Are there other coaches in your area or clinic? Would it cost $$ to switch? All things to consider.
As an aside, I buy the IP vitamins but others do buy non-IP brands. You do have to be careful so you don't knock yourself out of ketosis.
I'm on my 6th week of IP and loving it! However, I strongly dislike my coach. Now when I come in she seems always rushed and doesn't really seem to put the effort in anymore.
I went in today with fear of telling her about my first cheat, but she didn't offer any support and wasn't even concerned. I feel now she just weighs and measures me, takes my money, and sends me on my way.
I ran out of vitamins and I told her I was going to purchase some from Costco and she was very harsh and said I needed to buy their vitamins as others can have fillers and hinder my weight loss (even though their foods have fillers), I was hesitant but of course was scared not to see results so I bought them. It wasn't only about the vitamins - one time I only wanted to purchase 2 boxes of food and she pressured me into buying a 3rd. I'm seeking some advice - should I switch clinics? Do I HAVE to purchase the vitamins???
I'm 5'8" - started weight: 155 and down to 144 with a goal weight of 135
Tosh and nonsense about non-IP supplements. I've never used them and I've lost pretty steadily all along.
IP's success is down to two things 1. restricted calories from food that meets macros that supports loss of fat and retention of lean mass and 2. eating sufficiently low carbs to remain in ketosis, which reins in hunger so you don't feel the effects of the low calorie diet.
Supplements with almost identical values to IP's are readily available from many, many outlets - VitaminShoppe, GNC, Walmart, Walgreens ... just take your IP version and do some comparisons next time you are running low.
Thanks so much for this conversation - I have been wondering about the Crisps - they are supposed to be non-restricted, but the fact that good coaches are advising that we treat them like restricted really sets off alarms for me. I did not use any crisps until after Christmas, and coincidentally, my losses began to slow in January. For that matter, I think the unrestricted Maple Oatmeal came out around then, too... or I began purchasing and using it.
Of course I am sitting here with 2 whole boxes of IP crisps that, if given a choice between them and an IP bar or a quest bar, I will go for the sweet item every time. Fortunately I have Ready to Drinks, soups and some pudding mix... I am going to change up my IP food selections for sure, and rely more on the other than crisps and oatmeal.
Timing is another matter... We tend to eat dinner late in my household - on nights when I have dance class, it often works best to eat after class. That is usually between 8 and 9pm.... and I really look forward to having my bar after dinner. I am going to have to consider this and see if I can move the snack to the afternoon and still enjoy it.
JJTx, Briael, CenTxChk, G4H -- thanks so much for sharing your practices. This is all very helpful input.
Ro22 - you ROCK!!! 12 lbs!!!! Fantastic! I have fingers crossed for good results from your blood work - I hope there is something informative to help with your headaches and lightheadedness.
Sue -- you are SOOO close to One-derland!!! I have fingers crossed for you as well -- let's make this week the time to clear that hurdle!
AKenny - go find another clinic and see if you can find coach with solid medical and ketosis knowledge - maybe the best thing to look for is someone who has been coaching for awhile and has seen a variety of situations. It's too much money to spend not to get useful coaching and the hard sell thing is just not acceptable.
Cheryl,
I can't believe that would cause you not to lose weight - logic says it could slow fat loss as potentially getting you out of ketosis but you are still consuming the same number of calories regardless of make-up. I would say this sounds more like your body has adapted to calorie count and time to shake things up. Why don't you try phase 3 for 2 weeks? It doesn't seem like you have much to lose as your losses are slow so this will either spur more of a loss or keep you where you are at. I am just suggesting that is what I would do if in your situation or add calories via healthy fats to keep myself in ketosis. I think you need more calories.
One other thing regarding switching up IP foods...have you calculated your calories and macronutrients to compare now vs before (pre-Jan)? This may further indicate your calories are the same and make-up not all that different and give you insight about what to do. The alternative as you pointed out before is to possibly pay the money and go to workshop. I just hate to see your level of commitment without your feeling you are getting back what you are putting in.
One other idea that I have heard my coach tell others is to reduce red meat consumption when they have stalled. I'm not sure if that is applicable in your case but that would be apparent by doing calorie count as mentioned above.
Well, I had my WI this morning. I was taken off the diet abruptly by two different doctors so without any phase off, I had a bad month of weight gain and decided to get back strict to P1 protocol (I tried the week prior of following 1200 calorie more traditional ketogenic diet with higher fat and didn't like my results - I gained a pound in 2 days on it - I'm sure it was water fluctuation after a big loss within 3 days but that messed with my psyche so I got back to P1 protocol).
I was expecting a big loss and drum roll...
It was nearly 12 pounds! I went from 197.5 to 185.7.
Next week's weigh-in is really going to be key for me as I know this week's big drop was due to water, carbs, etc. I am anxious to see a fat loss result for next week to see if it compares to my 3 pound average per week from previous 7 months. I am worried because of what I know about my thyroid, testosterone and adrenal levels right now, and I am also using alternative products this time vs IP as I have tried to cut out soy entirely due to thyroid. I realized all the products from IP I was using had soy as their protein source. I hope my poorly performing hormones do not do me in!
Also, NSV victory for me. I golfed on Sat and Sun which is first time since 2 months ago on my Scottsdale golf trip. That is when I realized something was very wrong with me physically so it was nice to have this comparison - big improvement! Did you know that golfing 18 holes even while riding in a cart burns about 800 calories?! It is twice that if you walk the course - I like to walk the course but I can only do that when I golf by myself as none of my playing partners walk, and I am not sure physically I am quite ready for that anyways.
Although much improved, I am not 100% yet. I am still having headaches and light-headedness daily but at least they are duller and I am not dealing with extreme fatigue at the same time. I have my follow-up tomorrow morning with my 2nd doctor - the one I saw as a 2nd opinion to the first one. I will get my additional blood test results tomorrow - I am hoping that shows a clue as to why the headaches and light-headedness continue even though I was off the diet for a month. Even though these doctors took me off, I figure that getting the weight off I gained is going to be better for my health and I also think doing phase 1 for 4-6 weeks to get me back to 168 or so is not going to cause health issues for that short period of time (unlike the 7 months).
I hope I can do it by having at least an average of 3 pounds a week in spite of abnormal hormone levels and I hope the alternative products work as well for me...fingers crossed but so far so good with week 1 in the books now!
Plus, new company is off to a good start. I got verbal agreements from first 2 customers. We are moving to proposal stage with my NJ customer this week, and I am anxiously awaiting an update from my CA customer. I got a verbal agreement but it is another matter to turn that into an actual contract ;-)
Good Job! Funny you mention golf, I used to golf a lot. But a few years ago I found it not enjoyable anymore...too hard to do all the walking and swinging a club at 280 was not easy.... I told my family (all golfers) that I was going to try again......I am thinking it will be much easier now...
Quote:
Originally Posted by JJTx
Good morning all!!
Sorry I've been a little AWOL, on Thursday we left town for my nephew's wedding, so I've been keeping up here and there from my phone when I had time to check in. It was a fast couple of days, but huge for me in my health journey. Some of my family saw me at Thanksgiving, but most of them have not seen me since before I started IP - and I hadn't said anything. So the weekend was my "big reveal" so to speak! Two of my sisters cried, and one of them was in the know already. Both of my brothers said something to me, separately, and they would've never said anything before. It's hard to put into words but I felt amazing, and so loved and supported. And the wedding was wonderful too!!
When we got home I posted a family photo on facebook and my page has blown up. I even had one friend message me to see if I was okay and not losing weight from illness! I assured her it was planned and now she wants info on IP!
My weight is up a little post-trip, but it could be anything - salty rotisserie chicken from the wedding, incoming TOM, life... I did have one small piece of cake at the reception but I was planning that as my cheat and was OP the rest of the trip.
Oneuh2 - I am sorry that you continue to struggle! Maybe a coach shift will work for you? It's making all the difference for me, if I could go back and start over I would've been at my new clinic from the beginning. It's definitely where I need to be now! I can't say what will work for you, but if you can't get what you need from your current coach, maybe it's time to look around?
Maybe some additional tweak's? I peeked at your journal - a couple of recommendations from my coach that she's had me change are not to eat the crisps and a restricted on the same day. Even though the crisps are unrestricted she said something about that combo can cause issues. She also told me last week that some people have trouble if they have too many pre-made products in a day, so that might be something to watch. My friend that did IP last year said she gained when they had her eat a restricted every day, so she only had them 2-3 times a week.
You are so close, the last thing you need is to get frustrated and quit on yourself!!
Ro22 - what an awesome WI!! I hope that you are able to find your groove and get where you want to be, and balance your health issues.
Yeah on your big reveal! I am so sure everyone was very proud of you! You have done fantastic... And LOL I get the "are you sick" question too...
Well WI today...Home scale not so nice, hopefully the clinic scale will be better. I am still dealing the big C so hopefully after a few cups of coffee it will move on thru and I can have a good WI LOL....
Dinner out tonight @ a Mexican Place..Ugh HELP...don't know what I am going to eat...have to really look at the menu. Any suggestions?
Sue - Good luck on the WI! I love to golf - hopefully, you get back to it and find it enjoyable again. I find it super-helpful on the diet too because you are out for 4+ hours enjoying fresh air and burning calories and not thinking about food/diet. I am a bit depressed because after a good weekend the weather has turned cold and rainy with no end in sight in the forecast so I don't know when weather will cooperate again to get back out. I golf a few times a week in the Spring through Fall and itching to get back out.
Sorry, I can't help on the Mexican restaurant. I do not eat ethnic food.
Dinner out tonight @ a Mexican Place..Ugh HELP...don't know what I am going to eat...have to really look at the menu. Any suggestions?
When we go Mexican I either have a salad with fajita chicken or beef (and use salsa for dressing), or a fajita plate and split it with my son - he eats the rice, beans and tortillas and I eat the meat and grilled veggies. Watch out for hidden things that may not be written on the menu, like avocado/guacamole. Also be glad your WI is today - it will probably be salty whatever you get!!
I've been gone a while so I'm just catching up on this thread.
CenTex I am so sorry for your loss. I am praying for you and your family.
Sue We love Mexican food. My low carb recommendation is beef or chicken fajitas. Eat them without the tortillas. Instead of the rice and beans that normally come with all dishes, ask for a double order of whatever fresh vegetables they have. I've always found them very accommodating. Sorry, the chips are not on the diet. Enjoy!
Ro Twelve pounds! Wow! I am glad your body is responding so well.
My problem with IP foods doesn't seem to be soy. I think it must be in the artificial sweeteners. I am still working to try to make my diet work on higher calories. I've have a lot of my inner brat coming out lately with cheats, so I haven't been able to really access how well it is working. I've really recommitted this week to staying on plan. I am hoping that higher calories will help my metabolism in the long run and get me out of my short term rut.
I had a great NSV this weekend. I did a lot of hiking in the Smoky Mountains. One of the hikes was 8 miles, full of elevation change, rock and roots everywhere. We walked through the forest to this rocky area that had incredible panoramic views of the mountains. It was stunning. I would have never been able to do this before. It is amazing the things that we will all be able to do and see that were not possible before.
I've been gone a while so I'm just catching up on this thread.
CenTex I am so sorry for your loss. I am praying for you and your family.
Sue We love Mexican food. My low carb recommendation is beef or chicken fajitas. Eat them without the tortillas. Instead of the rice and beans that normally come with all dishes, ask for a double order of whatever fresh vegetables they have. I've always found them very accommodating. Sorry, the chips are not on the diet. Enjoy!
Ro Twelve pounds! Wow! I am glad your body is responding so well.
My problem with IP foods doesn't seem to be soy. I think it must be in the artificial sweeteners. I am still working to try to make my diet work on higher calories. I've have a lot of my inner brat coming out lately with cheats, so I haven't been able to really access how well it is working. I've really recommitted this week to staying on plan. I am hoping that higher calories will help my metabolism in the long run and get me out of my short term rut.
I had a great NSV this weekend. I did a lot of hiking in the Smoky Mountains. One of the hikes was 8 miles, full of elevation change, rock and roots everywhere. We walked through the forest to this rocky area that had incredible panoramic views of the mountains. It was stunning. I would have never been able to do this before. It is amazing the things that we will all be able to do and see that were not possible before.
L2W - what problems are you referring to? What is happening? I know you were experiencing diet fatigue but that seems normal given we all seemed to go through that. Have your losses stalled and you are trying to adjust for remaining desired loss?
Awesome NSV on the hike, btw
I made vanilla banana muffins last night for breakfast. I was so anxious to try this morning because I hadn't done that before with the Quest products (only the oatmeal packets). I used Vanilla Milkshake for batter and added banana imitation flavor - delicious! Plus, no carbs that I would get by using oatmeal packet nor any soy. Very happy, very filling!
This means I can pretty much exclusively use quest protein powders for everything as I have made pancakes, bread, cookies, muffins, shakes and hot chocolate - pretty much all from same recipe with only slight variations. This is another important point on journey as these products are easily accessible vs IP. I'll know in a few weeks if I lose the same way with these as with IP but I did my calorie and macronutrients between my daily meal plans from IP now with alternatives and they are identical so I am not expecting any hiccup from using alternatives.
I'm off to the doctor now to get my additional blood test results. I'll share if there is anything newsworthy. This doctor said he was going to research the diet for this appointment so I'll see if he did and has any watch outs.
JJTX – So glad you had a great trip. And how awesome that you surprised your family and got so many great compliments!! You must have been on cloud 9.
Sue – Agree with everyone else. Chicken or Beef fajitas. I would go as far to request un-marinated protein. The restaurant company I work for uses beer in their fajita marinade.
One – I wish I had some words of wisdom for you. You know you have my support no matter which route you take. Is it possible to meet with that other clinic you were interested in and discuss your concerns and their proposed plan for you (hopefully, before you pay to switch)? At least you know they have a great maintenance program.
Ro – WTG on your weight loss and good luck at the Dr today. Hope everything comes out good with your blood work!
Loser – I feel you on the cheat days. Sorry you are struggling but we are here to motivate you!! I had a planned cheat day followed by several unplanned off plan days. Boy, once you crack that door, it is hard to shut out the temptations! But you can do it!! We have come too far to backslide now.
Lost 0.2lbs at WI yesterday. Sadly, I look at that as a win after the week I had. I am retaining lots of fluids and should be expecting TOM this week. Double whammy! Several of my measurements were up….bummer. But I could tell by looking in the mirror that my stomach and chest were bigger. Thankfully my aria scale was down 1.3 more this morning. Took a long walk last night that seems to have “moved” things along, if you know what I mean.
I am struggling a bit with the disappointment of not meeting my WL goal by the end of April. I had “scheduled” out my losses on a spreadsheet but here we are 9 days to go and I still have 20+lbs left to lose. Kind of a letdown. Although, I am not 100% that 140 is a realistic goal for me any longer. But my BF% is still hovering around 32% (from an all time low of 29% a few weeks back) and I want to get that down to at least 25% or lower before discussing moving towards maintenance.
NSV, I look freaking hot in my jeans this morning. Now nothing else is fitting into these jeans and if I drop something on the floor, it is staying there. But they look darn good. I am walking with a bit of sass in my step today.
Thanks so much for this conversation - I have been wondering about the Crisps - they are supposed to be non-restricted, but the fact that good coaches are advising that we treat them like restricted really sets off alarms for me. I did not use any crisps until after Christmas, and coincidentally, my losses began to slow in January. For that matter, I think the unrestricted Maple Oatmeal came out around then, too... or I began purchasing and using it.
Of course I am sitting here with 2 whole boxes of IP crisps that, if given a choice between them and an IP bar or a quest bar, I will go for the sweet item every time. Fortunately I have Ready to Drinks, soups and some pudding mix... I am going to change up my IP food selections for sure, and rely more on the other than crisps and oatmeal.
T.
Oneuh, I had the crisps every day for lunch for year, in addition to a restricted bar or wafer as a snack, and it was fine for me.
Everyone is so different, it's a trial and error process I think.
I am struggling a bit with the disappointment of not meeting my WL goal by the end of April. I had “scheduled” out my losses on a spreadsheet but here we are 9 days to go and I still have 20+lbs left to lose. Kind of a letdown. Although, I am not 100% that 140 is a realistic goal for me any longer. But my BF% is still hovering around 32% (from an all time low of 29% a few weeks back) and I want to get that down to at least 25% or lower before discussing moving towards maintenance.
NSV, I look freaking hot in my jeans this morning. Now nothing else is fitting into these jeans and if I drop something on the floor, it is staying there. But they look darn good. I am walking with a bit of sass in my step today.
I am beginning to think we obsess too much on these numbers. Look at how you are feeling - place your NSV over the SVs - the endorphins, feeling good about yourself, is far more important than body fat % and especially stressing about it especially with all you went through these last few weeks!
I had my doctor appointment today.
It seems we got to the bottom of it after all this time.
My Vitamin D is at Rickets level!!! Seriously!!!
He said that Vitamin D is so critical to very body function, especially metabolism and hormones that he called it the "money result". He said he could give me 10 different diagnoses for all my result abnormalities but said that he is a minimalist and believes in getting to the root of the problem which is the Vitamin D caused by the diet (and living in Chicago). But, because I have always lived in Chicago, it seems clear this happened due to the diet (my primary care doctor had tested this a while back because of numerous orthopedic injuries I had in succession and it was normal then). He said that you have to have enough fat to absorb Vitamin D and apparently that was not the case for me. This makes sense because I eat only the leanest chicken and turkey, no red meat, etc so my only other fats would come from 2 tsp of olive oil a day and whatever was minimally provided in the IP packets. I started to feel better because I got off diet and was consuming Vitamin D in foods and more fat. He said it is going to take months though for all my hormones and such to get back to normal. By the way, in addition to everything else, my B12 is too low and B6 and B1 are high. He told me not to worry about B6 and B1 but we need to get B12 up by 50%. He also recommended IV Vitamin C for my adrenals because they are abnormal due to Vitamin D and said it will take months for my body to correct itself and the large does of Vitamin C will immediately help my adrenals (help headaches and dizziness and remaining fatigue). I am going to do this 4 times - 1 time each week for next 4 weeks.
I am now taking a massive dose of Vitamin D that is by prescription, which he said I will have to do for the rest of my life. I am taking 100,000 IU per day the first week and then 50,000 IU per day after that. And, it has to be taken with fat. I have a follow-up in 6 weeks to test again to see if this is moving in right direction.
Overall, he is not a fan of any imbalanced diet. He said the Mediterranean is the best because it has the best results and is the most studied. He said any other diet is fighting nature and that is why he struggle so hard afterwards because we did abnormal things to attain results and our body treats it as a stressor and works hard to compensate for the stress. He said he has had obese patients live full lives into their 80s and patients with 3% body fat die in their 50s. For that reason he does not prescribe diets for his patients. He said the priority order for health is 1) Sleep 2) Exercise/Move 3) Enjoy life 4) Nutrition/Diet/Food. He said the medical community in general defines health too narrowly by body fat %, weight, etc. It should be based more on your stress hormone levels, etc as these are better indicators of health or future issues.
Anyway, I am happy because it seems to be a simple treatment which should have profound results.
I will be adding more fat to the P1 protocol as a result in addition to the increased supplementation.
I had my doctor appointment today.
It seems we got to the bottom of it after all this time.
My Vitamin D is at Rickets level!!! Seriously!!!
He said that Vitamin D is so critical to very body function, especially metabolism and hormones .
A little surprised no one before had tested this in a blood panel. Maybe I am lucky...or my PCP is a very smart Dr., but it's been part of my 6 month thyroid blood work since 2008 - and when I developed a deficiency after going through some really bad stress / office move in 2012 it was caught immediately. I wasn't at Rickets level but was low and am on Rx Vitamin D. But holy moly - 50,000 IU per day! I do one per week and that's gotten me back to a very nice range. Glad they figured it out!
Maybe a coach shift will work for you? It's making all the difference for me, if I could go back and start over I would've been at my new clinic from the beginning. It's definitely where I need to be now! I can't say what will work for you, but if you can't get what you need from your current coach, maybe it's time to look around? 
