Be the exception. You can do it.

Calories determine fat loss or gain. It's physics.

Maintaining one's loss means restricting calories. How one does that is really up to them but if you don't want to count calories you're going to have to follow rules that will restrict caloires.

Just because you lose the fat following the IP diet doesn't mean you have to follow the IP rules for maintaining the loss but you can read about phase 4 if you want to see the IP rules for maintinence. (I couldn't live with them)

I personally think that the primary goal all dieters should have while they're dieting is to figure out a way of eating (WOE) that they can live with forever that will allow them to restrict calories but also not make them feel too deprived.

exactly;) I dont know if I can live by those rules either. Doing Phase 1 all the time? sounds really nutty to me. I really dont want to be in Phase 1 5 days a week.

I don't do Phase 1 - 5 days a week....I do Phase 1 once a week to off set a day that I eat without rules (SOMETIMES I do 2 days - it's very VERY rare and usually because I added too much sugar on my fun day)...without rules to me means I'm eating carbs and fats together...WHICH may mean having a cheese burger with a bun or having theatre popcorn (which we all know without butter is full of fats...hence fats/carbs). That doesn't mean I eat EVERYTHING I want all in one day.

Not everyone can eat following these rules which is why they are very general...you need to figure out how you're going to eat. I couldn't eat and maintain the way others eat. It's all about YOU in Phase 4 but it's YOU that has to do the work.

There is no difference in my mindset in Phase 4 as there is in Phase 1, I'm always mindful of what I eat and how it effects me.

NOTE: Others maintain quite well without fun day...check out maile in the maintenance thread...or lizzy63...I choose a fun day because that's how I choose to maintain...it has to be offset with a Phase 1 day (super light day)

Luckily, Phase 4 isn't 5 days per week of Phase 1 :)

I agree with so many of you but particularly with Jonh. The diet will get you there but you might find a different path for maintenance.

After all diets, you will gain the weight back if you stop paying attention to how you fuel your body. Hopefully you will have changed your eating habits to improve your health and not just lose weight.

Maintenance is NOT doing Phase 1 during the week, every week. It is eating within a liveable plan for YOU and YOUR lifestyle/activity level during the week, and IF you choose to have one day where you loosen up your own restrictions to follow it with one phase 1 day. Nothing nutty about it.

This is a good thread! I like learning more about what happens in maintenance, since I hope to be there fairly soon.
I don't know who said it on here, but one poster wrote that in her opinion, the best thing about Phase 1 is it has taught her that she doesn't need all those carbs and all that fat to be satisfied and happy with what she eats. I think that changing mindset will be the key to keeping the weight off in maintenance. It sounds like IP maintenance has an eating plan, one that requires you to plan and be mindful of what you eat. I like that--I know myself well enough to know that I need structure and some guidelines.

I'm not sure where you get the idea that this happens to most IP dieters once they've reached their goal weight and are on maintenance. From what I've read on the Maintenance thread, most of them only need 1 Day of P1 after they've indulged in a Fun Day. At the most, 2 days if they really overdid it on Fun Day. I can't help but wonder if the dieters that you know personally who've lost weight on IP but then regained in maintenance, phased out properly and then followed the IP rules about separation of Carbs/Fats, etc.? As I understand it, the plan is designed to work in a certain way through P3 and maintenance and if want to give ourselves the best shot of maintaining then we need to follow the protocol properly.

This has been enlightening to read the different posts.
I plan on taking what I have learned from IP and formulating a plan that is doable for me . I know I will have to be Vigilant the rest of my life to maintain .
I think IP has given me an opportunity to see why I gained soo much weight !
Portion control, Carb intake and not ingesting food that I know medically is harmful ! No matter how delicious it is at the time ..if I'm doubled over in a half hour I got to stay away from it !
I have had no Refux, and a host of other GI issues are better while I have been on IP. So this tells be those things I was eating were the culprits. Everything I use to eat made me ill!
This diet calmed my body down . My abdomen use to blow up like a balloon and look like I was 5 months pregnant at times. I no longer wake up and night throwing up in my mouth.
I am not taking any GI meds anymore or do I have to pull off the road and run in to the nearest bathroom. I have not been sick as often requiring ABX and steroids, Headaches have improved and I have increased energy.
So for me IP has changed my life for the better and I am willing to phase off slowly to insure I maintain all the positives this diet has given me.
Losing the weight was great but not being in constant pain and sick was even better.
Roo2

I always wondered about maintenance after stopping a strict diet. I was not following a certain diet before but stopped doing what I was and regained everything plus some. That is why this time I decided it was better for me to just learn to cook healthy meals that I can make forever. My weight averaged 8-9 lbs a month but it just wasnt a pain to just make almost the same things I used to make with minor adjustments and add cardio to the mix. Just my opinion don't wanna discourage or slam ip.

Thanks Roo2. I Ditto eveything you just said. My husband used to call the bathroom my best friend as every where we would go, I would have to know where the bathroom is for fear of an emergency. aka major diarrhea. I too, have not had acid reflux, constant stomach cramping, colic, diarrhea or any symptoms. I do not experience the big C, rather I am regular for the first time in my entire life. I fear phasing off later only because of this, not of gaining weight.

This diet has allowed me to see how important it is the permanently change my eating habits to stay this healthy and happy.

Loving every day with a new energy and happiness. I can now visit places with no worries.

That is my greatest NSV.

It is interesting that we are all debating successful maintenance as related to IP, because no matter how you lose weight it is difficult to maintain. The National Weight Loss registry keeps statistics and provides ongoing advice on how to increase your odds (http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/82/1/222S.full). The fact is that maintaining your weight is more difficult than the weight loss itself regardless of how you lost it. Those of us who embrace IP know that it works for weight loss. What happens after that is not the fault of the diet! The diet works!

Thank you for posting!! Good read!!!:)

.....I always feel guilty commenting on maintenance since I gained back some of the weight after maintaining successfully for almost a year....BUT...I hope to give a little insight for new members.....

I phased out successfully "by the book" back in Fall of 2011. Like Ishbel I followed the protocol and separated carbs/fats as much as I could. I looked forward to my weekend "treat day", and always followed it with ONE DAY ON PHASE 1. I was doing so great!!! What happened? Not sure.....summer 2012....kids home, having fattening cocktails with friends in the aftn....the thought of my oldest going off to college in Sept......also having an Autistic child at home. WHO KNOWS!!! That's just life happening, and we ALL have "stuff" going on in our lives. I think I just got sloppy. As others have mentioned THIS IS A LIFE CHANGE. We can't go back to how we ate prior to IP (or prior to ANY diet for that matter). Just like brushing my teeth twice a day, I need to watch what I am putting into my mouth EVERY DAY. I'm sad that I gained some of the weight back, not to mention...umm....hello....when I was up 10 or even 20 why didn't I just get back on plan???? Guess 30 was the "number of disgust"! Grrr!! Oh well, I've since moved on and forward I shall go....
THIS time, now that I'm ALMOST at goal ( ok, so 14 lbs left to lose to me is almost goal lol), I pray that everything I have learned over the past couple of years will stay embedded in my memory for a lifetime!!!

This is an amazing plan.....a God send actually. I wish everyone the best. :hug:

.....and now, back to your regularly scheduled program....:^:

Agreed! As they say..... with age comes wisdom ( turning 50 next year ;)). Wish I had known about sugar and carbs about 30 years ago!!!!! :(