Overall IP Experience & Thoughts of restarting
 

Hello All,

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. :D 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. :mad: 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! :carrot: 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? :dizzy: 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!

3)Has any one else had this experience? :?:

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

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.

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

I have only used alternative products and I am having good results.... it's seems like you are spending a ton of money for only losing a few pounds!

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 :-/

Pat[/QUOTE]

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!

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!

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!

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, look at your numbers

W1: -8.8 lbs W2: -3 lbs W3: -3 lbs W4: -3 lbs W5: +1 lb W6: -4 lbs W7: -2 lbs
re-start January 6th 2012
W1: -6 lbs W2: -2 lbs W3: -2 lbs W4: -3 lbs

I'm impressed! Are you posting your secrets on 3fatchicks?

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.

Is it possible that doing 3 packets a day PLUS the 1 restricted could be a problem? I am in Phase 1 and have only done a total of 3 packets a day, one of which can be a restricted item. Plus I have my dinner meal (8 oz protein), and required amount of veggies (4 cups total, 2 lunch and 2 dinner) and unlimited lettuce. Just a thought.... I'm sure there are others on here that could answer that question better.

I am so glad you are not giving up! There is so much info here on all the phases and these ladies are very helpful and knowledgable since they are experiencing it too. I know you can be successful I only wish you could find a coach that is more honest and helpful!:hug:

I definitely would not go back to that coach. You are in Toronto so you should have tons of choices.
Did you really mean to say 3 packets + 1 restricted a day or did you mean 3 including the restricted in total?
At your height and weight you are not a big person, that is too much aside from your "regular" meal.It appears your coach was trying to sell as many products as possible.

Go to the first post in the daily thread. Under that you will find "stickies". One sticky is about using alternatives. These are products like the ones you buy at the IP clinic. In Canada most of us order from proteinwell.ca. I also order from Nashua Nutrition in the US but you have to pay shipping and duty so it is more expensive but still far less than what you would pay the coach you were using.

As WUV mentioned some people buy things such as Adkins products from Walmart but we don't seem to have as good a variety as is available in the US Walmarts.
Under the stickies you will also find the protocol sheets for each phase.
The phase 1 sheet has likely changed since last time you were on the program.

Also there are spreadsheets with all the nutritional information for the IP products and also spreadsheets with the information about the alterantive products.
I use mostly protidiet products fron proteinwell as they are closest to the IP nutritional numbers.

You have to be very careful to get all the veggies in too.

I am a smidge taller than you but my starting weight was almost the same as yours. I started at the beginning of August. My original goal was same as yours, 130, I am a pound away from that now. I have lowered my goal a bit. My progress was much slower than average but I have slowly but steadily moved down to goal.
I started on IP with a very good coach. After two months my job became more hectic and the clininc was an hour and a half away so I switched to alternatives as I didn't have time to go to the clinic. My rate of loss was the same after I switched to using alternatives.

There is certainly many benefits from working with a good coach who knows the program well. But to keep shelling out money to one who appears to be in it to sell as much as possible is not a fair trial of the real IP program.

You are adorable! Thank you for your encouragement and interest, it truly is appreciated. I'm so excited to review all the suggestions and especially the next post from patns. I'm currently on lunch at work hoovering a turkey sammich while reading all these helpful posts!

Thanks:D we are all in this together! Have a great day!

Thanks patns, what a wealth of info you are! I reviewed my paperwork and confirmed the 3 packets + 1 restricted per day. In 2010 I had no restricted for the the first 2-3 weeks at all, but I believe in 2011 I was having restricted right from the start hmmmm :dizzy: I wonder if that made a diff. I went to the stickys you suggested, thank you for explaining those. I found a lot of posts I had read last year. Where do you see the plan has changed since I was on it? I can't find that :S

Thank you for the proteinwell link, looks like someone has caught on! I couldn't find any info on their site but do you know what their products are based on? There's no ingredients list that I could find....soy? whey? .. have you tried them? And if so, in your opinion do they compare taste wise if so?

Congrats on your accomplishment! Being so close in stats I'm definitely envious of you ;) I'm thankful for your advice and feedback, much appreciated!

Wow...
 

Last year I tried an alternative product, it took me forever to find, I can't seem to digest whey very well so I went with an egg protein powder, I wound up purchasing a HUGE jar of it, without sampling of course and was stuck with a really gross tasting alternative ... needless to say that venture didn't work out.

I came home tonight psyched to review alternatives and take another stab at this. I've spent an hour reviewing page after page after post after post and have learned this much - everything tastes different to different people, I can expect much of the same as noted above if I'm to jump on the alternative bandwagon, which makes for an additional expense, also the most popular ideal alternative seems to be EAS shakes from Walmart ... which consumer reports seemed to have smacked down as containing an unacceptable amount of this n that. My head is spinning with thoughts of soy and whey and Splenda, Sucralose, Fructose, Electrolites, Net carbs, sugar alcohols, ketosis and on and on ...

jeeze I may just bite the bullet and commit to 2 months of ideal, cut out the restricteds in the beginning and see what happens IF my coach will have me back ... I think he will but as I perused the forum here I'm reminded of Ideal company protocol when it comes to having off and on'ers.

patns - I would still love to hear about the 'new phase one' if you can assist!

IF your coach will have you back??? I would not even give him a chance. I would find a new coach. One of the things that I know has changed in phase 1 is that they want us to eat 8 ounces of meat at dinner.The first time I did this it was 5 oz of meat or 7 oz of seafood. That is the only difference I can see. Also the first two times I did the diet I was with the same coach and was not allowed any restricted items. I decided to change coaches for this time to someone who had actually done the diet herself. This time I have been allowed one restricted item a day and am still losing weight. I know for sure they make it easier for me to stick with this. Toronto is a big city so hopefully you can find someone else you can work with easier! Good luck.

Hi, i was not sure which protocol sheet you would have. I think the latest one is from March 2011.
The changes as sweetie said are 1 restricted a day right from the beginning and 8 ounces of protein at the regular meal.

I forgot that proteinwell doesn't have the ingredients listed at least where I can find it.
I goggled protidiet and found the products on another site with the nutritional info there. Most of them do seem to have whey protein.

Pat

Hi Pat, The post I found in the sticky spot was dated March 2010 posted here http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/idea...et-phases.html this was what I was instructed to do as well.

Basically the new plan allows for more protein ... I'm ok with that lol

I have sourced new coaches, they all want to charge for these consults as if we're not getting hosed enough with the food. I don't mind seeing my old coach, I just need to take more control and not be a doormat when things aren't working. 3 fat chicks has been super for the recipes as I originally came here for and now it's even more obvious I can get better support here, even just reading posts sometimes.

Well see, I emailed him the other day and had to follow up with a 'hello'? email to get an answer. It's possible he's as :snooty: about it as I've been in the past but I'm not interested in making a huge deal of it with him so hopefully he doesn't make an issue with me! We both have something to gain with this transaction, I'm prepared to self direct so hopefully he will be ok with that :^:

Thanks for all your help this past week everyone!

Which alternatives have you been using?
 

Great success with alternatives. Things are getting tight with the weekly cost. Happy with the results but cannot keep it up for much longer because of the cost. Any Alternative suggestions would be greatly appreciated!:?:

Check out the sticky thread, there are several that have links not only to nutritional information for alternative products, but also the information for the IP products. Tons of help there. I've done a combination of both and I really enjoy it.

What a suckie day :( This is my 4th time on IP and I'm really regretting screwing up my initial success on the program 2 years ago. Today is my 11th day, I went for my weigh in this afternoon and granted I'm not having the best BM's and am on day 2 of my period (sorry I don't remember the short form for this but most of us are chicks here so whatever) I've only lost 2lbs. This restart is particularly hard because this program really didn't work for me last time. In speaking with my coach today we decided to try a cleanse during the program for the next two weeks and if things don't improve I'm throwing in the towel where IP is concerned and we're going to have a look at my hormones ... man I hate this.

I know that I had to look at my veggie carbs, When my weight loss slowed down alot the first time I did IP, and then found out about the different carbs in veggies once I learned to keep my carbs between 20 - 25 per day and increased my protein just a little bit my losses were better. There is a chart somewhere in these posts, I just haven't found it again.

WOOHOO -5.1 lbs this week yay!

Thanks, I'll have to take a closer look at that! Can anyone address a quantity issue I've been wondering about. I bake my veg sometimes, 2 cups of veg like cauliflower, zucchini and sometimes fried mushrooms doesn't look like 2 cups when I'm done cooking it - 2 cups cooked or raw?

My coach tells me to measure all my veggies RAW before cooking. 2 Cups of cauliflower really isnt much! But I love the fiber it provides :)

Excellent thank you!

I thought the food log was overkill at first, but it really helped me to keep track and to be accountable. It is easy to forget what you ate, and this way, you can vary things on purpose. Write it all down, the vegees, meat, salt, oil. I use pillboxes so I don't forget my supplements, or if I do, then at least I know. I measure the 2 cups of vegees and weigh the meat.

Constipation was, and is, a constant challenge and can really stall the weight loss. Drink all the water you can. I do about 100 oz, but some people do more. It all helps.

Is everything else in your health okay? Could there be any other conditions preventing the weight loss? Worth asking your doctor...

I started adding up my carbs (use IP products and a few alternatives) and it would be hard to stay between 20 - 25 with the selections I am making. Can you give me an idea of what you are eating. Thanks!

Your numbers seems strange to me.

end date 8/10/2011 8/10/2011
start date 2/17/2011 2/17/2011
days 173 173
# packets per day 3 4
cost per packet 4 4
cost per day $12.00 $16.00
total $2,076.00 $2,768.00

Agreed that supplements you should be taking anyway, and can buy elsewhere. If you were eating three packets per day at ~$4 per packet, total cost would be $2076. Even if you ate 4 packets every day, you'd be at $2768. You also have to take into account what you WOULD HAVE SPENT on food otherwise.

For me, I realized that I was spending $5 on breakfast/coffee each morning, at least $8 for lunch somewhere at work, and so really just stopped there and called it even. I also started brewing coffee at home in my Keurig and took it to work, and cut back a few others places.

Have you had your thyroid checked? Honestly, you should be losing at least some weight if you're on a less than 1200 calorie diet a day, even if it only consists of cheetos. I think you should bring your food sheets to your doctor and see if he/she will have you tested.

I totally agree and didn't consider this when I did IP in 2011.
I had my blood work done with my physical this past Feb and everything came back normal. I've been taking my basal temp and it seems I'm very borderline Hypothyroidism. I started a 2 week cleanse and that's kept things moving along nicely in the BM department. I think I've had a decent loss, my appointment for WI isn't until next week but it's been a week since my last one so I think tonite I will hop on my Wii and see where I'm at! I too wonder about the thyroid - my coach said if there's not enough of a loss at this next weigh in I will discontinue IP and we'll look at a potential issue with hormones so we shall see!

$ includes vitamins / supplements 3 reg IP packets and 1 restricted per day. Restricted costs more $ than reg ... I still can't figure out the prices of anything.

Grrr
 

5 lb loss in 19 days ... lil po'd

Even 109% op I don't lose every week. And my thyroid is fine, plus I work out an hour a day,
You need to give things time to work themselves out...