How much meat is too much meat?
 

Hi,
I've been on IP for two months and have lost just over 30 lbs, the first three weeks or so I lost an average of a lb a day, now I lose about 2-3 lbs a week. I haven't cheated in the sense that I've eaten restricted items, but I do tend to eat a lot of meat, including some fatty meats like sausage. I usually eat an IP item of breakfast, along with a couple hard boiled eggs and a piece of meat, at lunch I eat my IP, veggies and probably about 3 oz of boneless, skinless, chicken, and for dinner I eat the same minus the IP. Then my IP snack and bed. From time to time I snack on lunchmeat between meals. My coach says that I can eat extra protein because I am a male, plus I've been doing some light weightlifting each day.

I'm curious about my weight loss- 2 lbs a week on this diet seems a little on the low side, but perhaps I'm not being realistic. How will my meat intake affect my ketosis/weight loss?

I weighed in @ 298 lbs and my goal weight is 190, so I've really got alot to get rid of :) I was inspired by the first months progress so that is why I'm curious about my 2 lbs a week. I'm about 265 right now.

Markhenry I can only tell you what my husband is doing, he follows it to a T with only an extra 1-2 ozs of lean meat at night. He isn't use to eating breakfast so he has no problem just doing a packet in the morning.

He is losing 3-4 lbs a week so not a lot more than you really.

I just got lunch- some lettuce and broccoli, and it killed me not to get the chicken I usually get! But if I am eating too much meat, then I should probably get back to the recommended guidelines. Will too much meat throw you out of ketosis?

Overdoing the protein doesn't affect ketosis (that is affected by carb intake, not protein intake) - but too much protein can put additional strain on your liver and kidneys - so yes you can have too much! Like Wuv said, you probably don't want to do more than 10-12 oz protein per day, don't forget that you are ALSO getting protein in the IP packets as well.

2-4lbs a week is excellent weight loss, don't pay attention to the "old" marketing pitch of 3-7lbs per week that IP clinics use - that information is being removed from newer materials because it is unrealistic for the average person and NOT typical results.

P

Ok that's good to know then, I will really cut out the meat with breakfast and watch what I have during lunch and dinner, just a little bit at lunch and the rest at dinner. Thanks to you all for the info, this is the first diet I've tried to follow with any conviction and I'm encouraged that it is working relatively well. I hope to be back down to my Marine Corps weight in the next few months or so, at least by summer.

To clarify: I've been out of the Marines for 9 years- if I weighed what I do now I'd be kicked out, lol.

LOL!

Sometimes what I do when I need a bit extra for breakfast or lunch is have 2 egg whites, it does help.

Good luck!

How many total grams of protein including the packets does/should one typically eat a day?

You should be somewhere in the vicinity of 90-110 grams of protein per day on Phase 1.

Calories dictate fat loss or gain. Not ketosis.

Too much protein does not cause any problems health wise except in those people who have abnormal kidney function. This is in the short term. Long term we don't know.

To the OP: Comparing the results between different people without knowing details of their life is rediculous. Two 300 lb men can have significantly different caloric burn in a given day based on a number of factors including genetics, body composition, and activity level.

2-3 lbs a week is not slow loss. That said - calories affect fat loss. 8 oz of fatty sausagae has a lot more calories than 8 oz of chicken breast. Eggs have more calories than egg whites.

As for weight lifting - I would advise you to continue but to change what you're doing. Research shows that the best way to retain muscle is to do high intensity but low volume. Intensity meaning weight. You only need to work a body part once a week to maintain muscle but a "light" workout wont do it. (Unless by light workout you mean heavy weight, low volume) I'd advise a two way split. One day a week upper body, one day a week lower body. Only do about 75% of normal volume. So if you normally would do 3 sets of 8 reps, only do 2 sets of 6 reps but keep the weight as heavy as possible.

Finally, since you're a marine and formally in shape, I don't think light walking will have any negative effect but it will burn calories. So walk everywhere. At your size walking burns a lot of calories. In 30 minutes you could easily burn 300 calories walking and that alone would burn another 3 lbs a month if you did it every day.

There are others who DO believe Ketosis has a pretty important role and it is NOT just calories in/ calories out.

Additional protein can convert to fat, too.
Follow the protocol if you are on IP.
Some responders here are not following IP.

Ketosis can affect compliance it does not affect the energy equation. Belief has nothing to do with it.

Protein is also never converted to fat. In theory it is possible but in reality it never happens. I have no idea where you have read this but if you go read about lipogenesis in humans you'll find out that for the most part excess fat is stored as fat in hypercaloric conditions. Carbs are rarely converted to fat and protein even less.

Me following the IP diet or not is meaningless. I've never been to the moon but if I had read about the moon every day for the last four years I'd probably be a relative expert* on it.

*mean I know more than my relatives.

The process is called gluconeogenesis

Proteins are broken down into amino acids. These amino acids can be either glucogenic, ketogenic or have qualities of both glucogenic & ketogenic. Glucogenic amino acids will be converted into glucose and ketogenic amino acids can be converted into ketones or fatty acids. So right away we can see that over consumption of proteins containing predominantly ketogenic amino acids (only leucine and lysine are strictly ketogenic) can give rise to fatty acids. An amino acid is referred to as ketogenic if degradation gives rise to Acetyl CoA or Acetoacetyl CoA. These two species can be transformed to fatty acids as we discussed in an earlier post. Amino acids giving rise to pyruvate, oxaloacetate, fumarate, succinyl CoA or alphaketoglutarate are termed glucogenic as they can be used to create glucose. Fans of the Kreb's Cycle will immediately recognize oxaloacetate, fumarate, succinyl CoA and alphaketoglutarate as intermediaries in the Kreb's, a simple reminder that these amino acids are glucogenic.