I am a Newbie and have been researching the IP diet. I had a sucessful weight loss by working out and eating well- I lost 30 lbs. Over the last 4 months the weight has been packing back on and my motivation has been out the door.

I am getting married and April and my wedding dress no longer fits! YIKES! I need to do something!

My only concern with the IP diet is I am afraid I wont be able to work out like I used to. I can always tell when my "sugar" gets lows (shaky,ect). I have heard mixed reviews with working out. Need advice before I make my final desion. Thank you!

You will here different responses. No one will tell you to work out intensely in the first weeks. The doctor who created the diet dictates no exercise the first three weeks, then walking, but not intensely. If you do work out, you will need to consume a few more calories.

I did continue my regular work outs on ip. The first couple weeks were hard. I was girder than usual. After that I got a good energy boost and continued on with my normal routine. I work out 60 mins at least 6 days a week, usually bootcamp or circuit style workouts.

I usually add an extra packet or 2 eggs to my phase 1 days.

Ip works very well without exercise. I only do it because it keeps me happy.

If you were an active person before Ideal Protein, after the first 3 weeks or so you can go back to some exercise. The diet is so low calorie, that you will need to add an extra packet within 1/2 hour of finishing exercise, to give your body fuel for recovery. The most important thing is to pay attention to what your body is telling you - if you feel overly fatigued, dizzy, etc...that's a sign to dial down the intensity. Some have been able to exercise at higher levels of intensity while on IP, but as many have found that doing more than light exercise stalls their weight loss. You can't improve the results of IP by adding exercise, but if it's something you enjoy or if you want to work on flexibility/toning while losing the weight, try it out.

Here's a thought -- regardless of how you modify for exercise, maybe the structure of Phase 1 will be good for you as you start to undergo the stress leading up to the wedding. Knowing that the diet will take care of the weight, you can make your workouts more gentle and focus more on stress reduction than how many calories you are burning. You know what you are doing now is not working. Just figure 4 weeks from your wedding you are going to phase off so you will be in maintenance that last week leading up to it. That gives you 12 plus weeks of Phase 1.

As the others have said, figure you're going to add at least an extra unrestricted on exercise days. Alternate would be a hard boiled egg or an egg white omelet.
I think it is worth a shot.

Thank you for all the info! Very good points. I think I will try light work outs at first then work my way up and compensate food wise!