A little frustrated
 

Hi! I tend to lurk here, but decided to post out of frustration, hoping someone can give some good advice.

I started IP through a doctor's office on May 1,2013. As pricey as it is, I decided to do it because I have virtually no metabolism (nothing wrong with my thyroid or anything- I just have always had a terrible metabolism), and my friend who did this a year ago dropped 35 lbs really quickly. I know a few people who do or have done IP, and they all have lost 4-7 lbs per week. I've been averaging 1-2lbs/week, the same sort of weight loss that Weight Watchers would give, and on WW, you're not restricted from eating anything. I can't think of what i'm doing wrong- other than not really eating lettuce, as I follow the plan to the letter. Has anyone else gone through a rather slow loss? When my friend assured me this diet takes pounds off really quickly, it convinced me, as I had about 90-100lbs total that I needed to lose, and i'm a very 'instant gratification' type person, so I figured I could bear with such a restrictive diet if it meant losing alot each week- it would motivate me to stick with it, but so far, i'm losing that motivation from losing so slowly.

Thanks for reading!
Jodi

Perhaps it would be helpful to outline what a typical day looks like? Are you getting all the salt and oil that are required?

I don't think i know enough about IP to give you amazing advice. But I know for me every diet i was on that failed failed because of artificial sweeteners.. or chemicals in the food. Like i really wanted to do Medifast but i know it wouldn't work as all the chemicals slow or kill my wieght loss. I ended up doin medifast on my own from the grocery store. it has been awesome! diymydiet it may help you to check the food your eating and cut chemicals. Good luck!! :D:cool:

Don't forget the water. It has made a significant differences in my losses!

Definitely getting the oil in. Salt maybe not?

Typical day for me is:
Breakfast: Chocolate drink mix
Lunch: One of the IP soups, 2 cups of diced red peppers, zucchini, broccoli, mushrooms. I can't stomach the WF dressings, so I generally squeeze a lemon over the veggies and add 1 tsp of olive oil.
Snack: one of the restricteds- either a cookie, strawberry wafers or chocolate puffs
Dinner: Here's where I sometimes fail- it's very difficult for me to get in 8oz of protein, so I usually have around 6oz of either salmon, chicken, pork, etc; have 2c of stir fried veggies with the protein (stir fried in soy sauce, ginger, 1 tsp olive oil, salt pepper and seasonings)

I always input what I eat into myfitnesspal.com, and I had showed my coach- my typical day winds up around 650ish calories, 25ish grams of fat; 35-40ish carbs before the fiber is subtracted. She suggested eating an extra non-restricted protein, so i've been doing the Jello or a pudding cup as an extra.

Haven't cheated at all.... scared to throw my body out of ketosis and have to go through the 3 day torture of getting back into it. Any advice?

And I drink between 8-10 gasses a day. On days I exercise, I dirnk even more.

Looking at your stats you averaged 3.4 lbs over the 5 weeks you've been on IP. That is really good.

Weight loss is going to vary week to week. Try not to focus on the individual weekly WI's, try to keep in mind the big picture. You weigh 17 lbs less now than you did on May 1st!

Very true, and I am trying to hold onto that. My first week I had a huge loss...since then it's been 1-2lbs/week, and very little on the measurements...sometimes no change on measurements. I have a wedding tomorrow and completely dreading it, since in the moment, I can totally see myself falling off the IP wagon since i'm already in a frustrated state of mind.

Exercising on IP slows down your losses. Try giving up exercise for a couple of weeks and see if the losses improve.

Why would it slow losses? My coach keeps telling me to start exercising to maybe kick up the loss. I only do it 2-3x a week, and not cardio- I do Barre3 (sort of like a ballet/pilates fusion class)

I think you need to be diligent about the water. I also think that you should really get the full amount of protein - I agree that 8 oz is a ton to eat - so I split it between lunch and dinner and it's more managable.

I am bad about the salt as well, but I did find that it my losses slowed during week if I didn't get all the salt. So, I put it in my water thorughout the day. and sprinkle some on my food, but mostly in my water. It's the only way I can get that much salt in.

Hope this helps - I'm no expert, by any stretch of the imagination.

I wanted to split the protein btwn lunch and dinner, but my coach said not to. According to her, IP products are very easily digestible forms of protein, and they don't want you to mix those with regular, which is why the 1 meal has all 8oz's- supposedly it would slow the loss down. Not sure if this is true or not, but I find it difficult to eat that much in one meal, especially at 7pm when I get home from work and am going to sleep 2 hrs later.

The coaches all give different advice. The first time I was on IP, I split the protein - at my coaches advice - and I had not issues with slowed weightloss. Maybe try that and see how it works?

Also, please remember that they say "lose 4-7 pounds per week" but women generally lose in the 3-5 range and men 4-7 range. We just store more fat, generally have less muscle.

Your diet looks good. I have found that I save restricted packets for special treats or emergency use only, or when I exercise. I have a slow metabolism as well and I find when I keep my total carbs under 32, I have better success. That's just me though.

I work in fashion, so if stress causes inflammation, then it's no wonder I'm at the weight I am ;)

Thanks for the good advice! I didn't realize cooking with the oil would diffuse it so much. We can't use coconut oil to cook- my kids have life threatening allergies, but I suppose if we use the EVOO to cook, i'll use a little extra at lunch to make sure I get in the 2 tsps.

Using the olive oil while cooking doesn't count?? I've never heard this and with 8 weeks in, I'd love to know if I've been 'messing up'.

Why would having to go at wedding make you fall off the wagon.?

Sarita- my friend also told me to cut back on the restricteds...it's so hard to though.... those are my favorites. I'm a really picky eater, and the only foods I can get down on IP are some of the soups (NOT the tomato one- that was a complete disaster), the chocolate drinks, and of course the restricteds. After the wedding tomorrow i'll try doing a week of no restricted snacks and see how that helps.

Your coach is wrong about thinking it will kick up the losses. Watch the IP coaching video for some info. Close to the end is where they say it will not improve losses.

http://idealcoaching.tv/wp/archives/196

For other IP coaching video on exercising check out this thread.
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/4687166-post17.html

re: the wedding- maybe i've been following the diet too strictly, but in the last month, we've had alot of "occasions" and I wind up eating nothing at all, as the food choices for me were non existent. Most weddings i've been to have had the cocktail hour foods laden with fat, oils, and lots of carbs. I'll be ok at dinner, as I can always request the protein made without any of that. I just have a tendency to fall off the diet wagon when I get discouraged, especially when wedding cake and pigs n blankets are involved :)

Have you thought about trying alternatives if you hate the IP food? EAS advantege shakes are really good, I love the cafe carmel, the strawberry, chocolate and vanilla are all good too. Quest bars are amazing. I personally have switched mostly to alternatives and it makes me much happier. I don't want to pay a ton of money for food I hate! I'm more likely to stick to the diet with food I like and that is so much cheaper too!

Are the products you mention non-restricted? I'm ok with some of the IP foods- I do like the chocolate drink, the broccoli soup, the mushroom soup, the chicken pottage soup, the jello and the pudding cups. I haven't tried the pasta or the crepes or anything that required actual preparation, but i've been ok so far on those. I was afraid to try anything not IP because I was worried it would slow me down even more, but their foods are so expensive that I wouldn't mind supplementing.

Regarding the RESTRICTEDS - They are PART of the IP plan and are factored into your DAILY intake. Awhile back IP suggested NOT having them the first couple of weeks, but that has been changed by IP. As we can all attest, many coaches either do not keep up with changes made to the program as more information comes to light OR they choose to ignore them and make their own "house rules.

Most people here have lost quite successfully with the restricteds unless they are exceptionally carb-sensitive!

Having the restricted for most of us is something we look forward to as a daily treat and it helps with motivation and in sticking with the other aspects of IP.

In fact, for the WEDDING - take your favorite restricted and enjoy it when the cake is served!! (You'll be losing weight and everyone else won't!!)

IP average weight loss is 2-4 lbs/week for women (they lowered it some time back. Some coaches are still using old "promises) so you are ABOVE average. You don't look at it weekly, you look at the average weight loss, including the first week. You're doing great. We didn't gain this weight overnight but boy! Do we get impatient to lose it, don't we?

Just look at my progress pics. Good things come to those with patience and perseverance (especially sticking to it through "special" days - I've been through almost every holiday, weddings, parties, BBQs, tailgates, vacations, & STAYED OP with planning!)

Quest bars are restricted (and super good!)
EAS Carb Advantage drinks are not restricted.
Syntrax nectar is another great alternative. 100 calorie, 0 carb mix.

Several things;a coach who lost a huge amount on IP posted somewhere it is actually 6 to 8 ounces of animal protein for dinner for women. I am on several boards with her so can't remember where I saw it. At 5'1" I found 6 ounces was about all I could usually handle but did often take 2 ounces at lunch.
As for the oil intake this is super important. If you are using it to cook you are not getting it all in. Best way to get it is on your salad as it sticks to the lettuce and you get it all. Don't skimp when measuring it out either. It is really good to use vinegar or lemon oil on the salad with the oil.
The official IP advice is not to exercise while on phase 1 because you are taking in so few calories. Some people do exercise though but they take an extra non restricted and they accept they will lose more slowly.

Also the quest bars are really good to use because they are very high fibre. The IP plan is very light in the fibre department.

I remember WUV posting that, but can't remember which thread. I think she said officially it's 8 oz, but if the client can't eat all 8oz then 6oz would be ok.

First of all, 17 lbs in 5 weeks is fantastic. I've lost 11 in 3. DON'T expect to lose 5 lbs a week, its just not realistic.

I agree that you should be able to split your protein, ESPECIALLY since your are eating your 'big' meal 2 hours before you go to bed. Is your coach aware of this? When do you eat your snack? If your coach says you CAN'T split your protein - well I would do it anyway - but if you DON'T want to split your protein, how about swapping dinner for lunch? Have your packet for breakfast, 8oz protein and 2 cups veggies, olive oil for lunch, a packet late afternoon and one more before bed? That would be totally in keeping with the program.

I don't think this is correct. You are right that oil absorbs better if we use it to season food or on a salad rather than cook with it, but if we choose to cook with the oil we STILL have to count it toward the 2 teaspoons daily that is allotted -otherwise you are going OVER on your alloted oil. Only exception is cooking spray, which we don't have to count toward fat (as long as you don't over-spray).

No this is DEFINATELY NOT TRUE. Just confirmed with IP.

Actually the IP research shows that people who follow the protocol exactly including the daily restricted do much better and stick with it for the long run. Everything is cut to the minimum already and cutting things out upsets the balance. Making sure you get the oil in will make a bigger difference than cutting out the restricteds.

It is not that is doesn't count. The issue is that when using it to cook some of it gets left in the pan and you don't get it all in. I had a stall for over a month and my coach suggested I carefully measure out the oil and put it on my salad all at once and I started losing again. Lots of people use the oil to roast the veggies and that seems to work well too in making sure you are actually consuming all of it.

The EAS shakes are unrestricted, the Quest bars can go either way. Many are good based on carbs but are a little higher than IP foods in calories, some are higher in calories but good on carbs so are restricted. I just have one a day sometimes as a restricted often unrestricted. I'm not super active but I do have 3 children under 6 and think the extra maybe 40 calories are not going to make much difference in my losses.

Thanks for the quest suggestion- I just ordered some of their cookie dough bars from amazon :)

I've got no great insights into the workings of how IP works for you.

The only thing I have to share is that I've come to learn is that there is no "typical" on this plan. How one person reacts can not be transferred or generalized to how you will respond to the plan. My wife responds completely differently than I do. She can lose between a half a pound up to 3 pounds per week. She follows the plan exactly as it is laid out.

Myself - besides the gender difference - can't eat any of the restricted items - as soon as I do my weight loss stops immediately. as well, I don't lose every pounds or inches every week. My loses usually occur ever second week. They are also bigger than average. I was losing 12, 15, and once 20 pounds at a time. It has slowed now obviously but still not "typical" of what the other guys have experienced.

So stay strong - as I am learning this program is much more than just losing weight and scale numbers. It's also about getting to know your body and how it responds to food and how you respond emotionally to food.

Well that's all I got - take what you want and leave the rest, have a good weekend.

I didn't think so, but it seems quite a few people believe this? Is this another thing that varies coach to coach?

You will not be disappointed!
 

I just got some of those this week too. I've been eating the coconut cashew and cinnamon roll ones for months, way before IP, and thought they were really good. The cookie dough bars are AMAZING.:dizzy:

Jodi,
Look at my weekly weigh ins below. People are just different. Everyone loses differently-even if they eat the exact same things! I understand how you feel because I also did weight watchers and I also thought " I get the same weekly weight loss from weight watchers." However, I think that IP is healthier. On weight watchers I would eat junk (ice cream, French fries, doughnuts!). So, don't give up. Think about the health benefits to your body, not just the numbers. :)

Jodi,
I noticed that you said your kids have severe food allergies. If they are allergic to nuts, be careful around them with the Quest bars. Every single protein bar that Quest makes has nuts in it -- almonds in almost all of them and some with peanuts.

I have been using the Ideal protein shakes and bars from costco. Still losing with them although the wallet is staying a little heavier buying them at Costco.