Hey everyone,

I am in my 8th week of IP now and I've lost 23 lbs. I have lots more to go but I seem to have hit a small plateau. I only lost about 1.5 to 2 lbs the past 2 weeks. My coach seemed concerned and asked that I only do non-restricteds for a week and see what happened. I did that, also had all of my allowed veggies, oil, water, and salt, and still only lost 2 lbs. So the next thing that she recommended was to have a cheat day to "jump start" my system to burning well again. I'm a little concerned about that.

I've been doing so well experimenting with new veggies and recipes, and I haven't had any carb cravings. So I'm afraid if I do this cheat day that my carb-loving monster might raise its ugly head again. But also I'm curious if anyone has done this and had it worked for them? And if you did, did you have more carbs than sugar or an even balance of both?

I want to get back on track, but don't want to derail a good thing in the process. Any advice you guys have will be greatly appreciated.

Wow, personally - I don't think a 'cheat day' is the answer - I'm surprised you got that advise. At the most maybe add in a 4th packet to stay in that vein of thinking regarding increasing calories. I know some folks have gone to Phase 2/3 for a 'jump start' when they've hit a stall, but that's usually after being 6+ months on the program and over 4 weeks of plateau - you are still losing, albeit at a slower rate than before. It sounds like you are doing really well following the program, I'd also be worried about waking up the monster - maybe I'm projecting my own worries on you - but it sounds like we may have the same 'issues' and honestly, I've read to many stories of post-cheating downfalls to even consider it.

The other worry with cheating is that you have been resting your pancreas for 8 weeks now, and then to suddenly flood it with sugar/carbs, there is a real physical reason that peoples cravings get awakened with a vengeance after cheating - it will start back in overdrive. The whole process of phasing out is to gently ease it back into operation to reduce cravings and risk of slipping back into old patterns. That's how the whole protocol is designed!

So anyways - back on point - my $0.02 (and it's probably worth less than that) - is to maybe try adding in a 4th packet or Phase 2 to follow that general spirit of what your coach recommended. I don't think a 'cheat day' is a good idea though....at all.

I agree with Liz. She gave great advice.

I did a 'shock' with higher protein but no increase in sugar and/or carbs. My cheat day consisted of 32 extra oz of chicken over 24 hrs. It seemed to work short term, but I have since plateaued again. So just sticking to plan 100% and losing inches and the odd pound slowly. Better than nothing...

Thanks Liz. I really didn't want to do that but I haven't been on IP long enough to know for sure. I think I might try having my snack before dinner so that I'm eating every 4 hours and see how that works. Then maybe add in another packet later if I don't settle out at a good loss rate.

I just think it's all very strange because I'm NOT hungry. It takes all I have to get in all my veggies in a day. Most of the time I have to add spinach to my snack shake to reach my 4 cups.

Thanks again for the insight and hopefully I'll get back on track soon.

Spirte
Why don't you stick to the plan and add more Exercise?? I agree with you..No cheat day! Good luck.

Can you give us a typical 2 days? Sometimes when you feel stuck if you do a jumble of your IP food it can kick you into burning more. So, if you only have 1 restricted a day do 2 tomorrow and than 3 non-the next, 1 restricted on the 3rd day and so on. Our bodies can figure things out so we need to change things up with out going off plan.

I have increased my losses by eating fattier meats, ie a steak or pork chop. Its helped me through a few slump spells.

I agree totally with Liz, no cheat day. I would drink an extra 3-4 glasses of water and eat fattier protein (steak) at dinner but have NO restricteds. Essentially just stick to Phase 1 with a little extra water.

I rarely have restricteds but then with alternatives, I've found some things that I really like, so these function as my special "go to" snack. (For example, Proti-Diet plain pancake mix, made thin like a crepe, sprinkled with my homemade cinnamon splenda mix - has 90 cal, 1 g fat, 6 g carbs).

This is all assuming that you don't have thyroid or other hormone imbalances that can interfere with weight loss.

I also had a slower second month, and since then I switched up my snack to after dinner, before bed. I just don't have a restricted for this snack and my losses have picked in the lbs and inches department. I think I was going too long between dinner at 5-6pm and breakfast at 8am.

I also alternate my fattier meat days with the leaner chicken/fish days. Just keep mixing things up.

FWI my coach was going to put me in phase 3 for a boost but I kept putting it off. Since I changed these things around I have picked up- even loosing weight and inch at TOM! yay.

But really I don't think I could make myself do a cheat day with out feeling bad about it-coach directed or not.

Too late for sprite but wanted to throw my 2 cents in too.

DO NOT CHEAT!! I had to cause I got the flu (week 4) and was puking for 2 days. All I could get down was crackers and toast. But that reintroduction of carbs was all it took. When I got back on the diet on day 3 (IP drinks and soups), it was like week 1 all over again. I craved everything carb and even ended up eating a choc chip cookie and cereal (that would not have tempted me previously). It really does 'unleash the beast' and I'm at 0 lbs lost for the last 9 days. It sucks. NOT WORTH IT!!!

Hope my warning can help someone else in the future.

You are at the same size and weight now that I was when I started. i can tell you from experience that we don't lose the big amounts people wmore weight and bigger frames lose.
@ pounds a wek was at the high end of what I usually lost and that was fine. I would definately not take the advice to have the cheat day (unless it's more protein like LongHorn mentioned).
Taking carbs now will set the process way off track.

Pat

This was great to read for me, too. I'm having the same issue.

Thanks, everyone, for the advice. I'm going to try adding in exercise.