At my clinic we are not allowed to exercise while on IP. Walking or easy yoga is okay but no heart rate elevation. I thought this was an IP rule because you are losing weight so fast on the plan that if you add exercise you will begin to burn muscle. I actually gained 8.5 lbs of muscle in the first 3 months. I lost a lot of muscle over the years by extreme dieting and exercise. Perhaps your body can't handle all the activity while on such a low carb/ low calorie plan?

It's a good point, but I'm not sure I'd handle anything if I can't dance. And truthfully, it doesn't really get my heart rate up much anymore. I was dancing so long at 300 pounds that dancing at 230 is pretty---easy.

I wanted to give you the update on my conversation with my coach and doctor. The consensus is that even though the dancing I'm doing doesn't elevate my heart rate, it is likely breaking down muscle tissue and since I'm not eating much, I have nothing left to rebuild it---hence the drop in lean body weight.

What doesn't seem very strenuous to me, because I've been doing it forever, probably is. My doctor, who's very fit said that if he tried to dance for one hour and 45 minutes like I'm going to do tonight, he'd be wiped out. For me it's nothing--and 70 pounds lighter it's much easier. He says some people go jogging and feel little exertion because they are just used to it--which would kill me! Even though it is easy for me now, that doesn't negate the effect it has on my muscles which is breaking them down.

Anyway, the upshot of it all is that he definitely thinks that extra packets/protein are in order. Since I usually dance in the evening, he says, have my dinner, then a packet before I dance and one after. That will put me at 4 a day. He says I could go to 5 if I need to, but I hope that won't be necessary. (We'll cross the bridge for the weekends when I am dancing all day and all night, later!--though I'll likely be done with this before the next one)

I'm going to test this out over the next couple of weeks while I'm gone---though I won't be dancing as much and see how things go.

Marion, glad you've got a plan that makes sense to you. Sounds like you've got a great coach & clinic to call on. Lucky you!

Although the circumstances of your trip away from home are far less than ideal, what a nice coincidence that you can test the "dancing leads to LBM loss" hypothesis while you're away.