For many people, it is normal. Your body starts making the adjustments during week 3 to using ketones as a regular form of fuel/energy. Also, you may be starting to be a bit dehydrated. AND, you are starting to do a mini detox or cleanse. All of those can leave some feeling quite drained.


Some tips:

*drink more water - this helps with hydration and eliminating any toxins being released by the rapid fat loss
*make sure you are not getting too much caffeine as it can help to dehydrate you
*try using herb teas that refresh, lift or boost energy: lemon, peppermint, cinnamon, orange and green tea are some that are helpful
*be certain to get in all your supplements and SALT. The salt is important because it will help your blood pressure be a little more stable. This diet tends to cause a dramatic dip in blood pressure after week 2.
*have a small 2 -3 oz portion of real protein or another protein packet if you have severe fatigue. The protein will help to boost your brain chemistry (dopemine) if it is low and will help in as little as 30 min. It is worth trying if the other tips have failed. You DO NOT want to have so little protein that the body thinks it is in starvation and wants to take protein from your muscle tissues.

Hey Marilyn! :)

I think you are in wonderful place and she was having a very "challenged" moment. If you are happy and healthy at your weight STOP. Losing 100 pounds just to do it is unnecessary. We are a society that is often too focused on size and weight and not on the overall picture of health. It sounds like your mental and physical are both very healthy right now!
Way to go!

As for maintenance, our whole rest our our life is maintenance. Some definitions are:
*care: activity involved in maintaining something in good working order
*sustenance: the act of sustaining life by food or providing a means of subsistence
*Actions performed to keep some machine or system functioning or in service

I would say you will always be in maintenance. You will have weeks where you may go up or down, if you have a heavy carb loading week during a vacation, you might even go up 7 to 9 pounds if your body reacts that way, it will likely be water/fluids and will come off in a week or two of phase 1. That is also part of maintenance. You will be looking for the results over a week, 2 weeks, month, and ultimately annually to stay the same. THOSE are the results that say you are maintaining at the desired weight.

STEP AWAY FROM THE KETOSTRIPS! :D you really don't need to use the strips unless you have hit a long stall. You will be burning fat if you follow the program and are losing weight.

Our bodies release ketones in our breath, blood, sweat, AND urine. If your body is eliminating more ketones in one of the other areas the strips will not show you the whole picture because they are urine tests only.

ALSO, the MORE hydrated you are the more inaccurate the reading. The dilution of urine effects the results on the dipstick.

Don't worry about the weigh in. The stress you create by worrying is more likely to effect the weigh in than whether or not you are reading accurately on the ketosticks.

Thank you for the link to more IP recipes. I have a google doc started that I use to copy recipes and ideas to as I read this forum. It is a good way to keep everything in one place!

Darbs I left mine at the end of November and switched to alternatives. It has been working well for me.

You are going to look nice in that bikini on vacation!!! Way to go.


Congratulations!! Sometimes I think why isn't that darn scale moving then I remember to get my tape measure out. Settles me right down.

This program really does work (even if you do alternatives) the principal is the same.

Hang tough - the weight (or inches) will come off!

As always thank you Carla for your well thought out responses to people questions. I have learned so much from reading this forum. I wish I'm svelting would post more! Miss her.

Happy Saturday fellow IPers!

If anyone can do this without a clinic/coach and on alternatives, you can darbs!

Fabulous news. Your perseverance paid off!

Inches are just as important as pounds. I guess they catch up to each other eventually.

Congratulations to all you other losers out there :D. Really good to have you back on the boards Carla!!!

You deserve a gold star for forbearance. And do you have a lump of coal you can spare?

Thank you for taking the time to write all this out. I ate some extra protein and feel better - for now anyway!!

Congrats!!!!!!! You must be so excited and proud -- you inspire me to keep at it

What a day! Gorgeous, sunny, and warm (74f) outside. ME? I am on the sofa, blinds pulled, wrapped partly in a blanket with THE WORST allergies I have had in a few years. Eyes, nose, throat, and skin are all itchy, I have tiny hives in the roof of my mouth and, I can't breath out of one side of my nose. BLAH!!! Two weeks ago, I was covering plants against 29 degree F weather to prevent freezing. I hate the temperature up and downs this time of year. It creates pollen chaos in my world! :(

Outside of the above, my plan today is to give dogs a bath, accomplish some minor house cleaning and, watch some football. Maybe, if I am lucky and the allergy meds kick in a little more, I will try to do some yoga this evening. If I am unlucky, I will be curled on the coach with a cup of breath easy tea!

I hope you all have are enjoying your weekend so far!

I was just wondering how all of you measure your veggies by a measuring cup or do you weight out 16oz. Also do you measure pre or post cook . Im still new at this working on week 2

I agree with you -YUCK (I made them into muffins and it was even worse) I finally got rid of the flavor in my mouth by drinking some cinnamon infused water - but UGGGGGGGGG- maybe once my tastes change I will revisit these but they are definitely not going to be part of my "staples"

You are so welcome! Novak use to say that our body is our lab. She was so right. We need to experiment a bit to find out what unique things we need to do to make this better for us.

By the way, your goal is to feel good. You may never again have that same first few week "buzz". It is ok, it is just your body has adjusted and isn't stressed the same way. You will still lose. I hope you continue to feel better and, I hope you reach a nice, feeling good place.

In my case, I had that initial kind of energy come and go during the process. Overall, I spent the bulk of my time on the program just "feeling good". I wasn't too tired, I was clear headed, and I didn't hurt or ache. I had side effects ( I knew that was what they were) but, I generally felt good. I only had a few weeks out of the whole thing where my emotions were haywire and I think that was a hormonal shift taking place.

That rocks!!!!! We are about the same stats and I cannot wait to be a size 8 (heck truth told a I would be happy with a 10) -- it must feel soooooo goood --you must be so proud - wait until the students see you :)

Hi OilGurl: I use a measuring cup... before cooking. And since I cook for my husband as well I have my 2 cup measuring cup handy when I'm chopping up vegis for him. 2 separate pans for cooking. Or.. and what I love is 2 cups of allowable vegis put on top of a bowl of lettuce. That with shrimp, or fish.. or any protein.. A bit of grape seed oil and apple cider vinegar and salt... and maybe even a bit of WF salad dressings..
oh which reminds me I have a great broccoli recipe too. Have you checked out the recipe link?
I'll post it there.
Good Luck... the effort is worth it!

I use both a scale and a cup. and I rely on a nutrition website for gram or ounces information for the scale. Broccoli is a hard one to measure it is roughly 4 to 6 ounces of vegetable in a cup and that is dependent on how much stalk you leave with the floret.

I always measure precooked.

Maybe I didn't notice the taste as much because I didn't have my first restricted product until I had been with the program for 8.5months. I am sure my tastes had changed more than a little by then!

Yeah!
Down 4.2 lbs.
Hope everyone has a great week!