I am a newbie to 3FatChicks and just started the IP Diet 3 weeks ago -- and I wanted to share my experience and (perhaps somewhat scientific?) analysis of the IP Diet (Phase 1) at least on how I am responding to it.
First off I just wanted to say that this is from my own personal experience and information that I have gleaned from others including my doctors and nutritionist (as well as my IP representative). I am not a doctor myself, nor a nutritionist, nor an IP expert! And I am sure that everyone has their own different experiences and viewpoints.
My Meal Plan: What I am eating
Also I do realize that I tweaked the official Phase 1 IP diet a bit to better mesh with my body (reactions and allergies). I have a mild to moderate allergy to soy, so I stick with the few IP products that are Whey Protein (Milk Protein) based.
Also my body has never reacted well to large amounts of vegetables (it must be some sort of enzyme issue?), so I swapped the 4 cups of vegetables for 2 heaping teaspoons of Colon Cleaner mixed with water. This last tweak was done to remove the awful reaction I was getting to 4 cups of spinach a day AND to get my daily fiber intake up to 25 grams per day (a target given to me by my nutritionist). I just couldn't get my daily fiber numbers up high enough on 4 cups of vegetables. I do realize this does add a small amount of carbs to my daily total, but the fiber increase is substantial and I was willing to make that trade off.
Also being 6'4" tall, I thought I would max out the recommended meat serving to 8 oz per day. I also cut the DINNER meal into 2 separate smaller meals ... so I could eat something every 3 hours from 6AM to 9PM ... which has really kept me from getting too hungry and cheating.
The final little tweak I did was add 1/4 c. of non-fat lactose-free milk and 1 heaping tsp. of IP Chocolate Drink mix to my morning decaf coffee at 6AM. I wanted to get a bit of protein in me first thing in the morning.
That being said, here is a summary of my "meal plan" that I have been sticking to for 3 weeks.
Looking Closer at my Daily Food Intake Totals
I was curious how my body might react to this if I STUCK TO THIS RELIGIOUSLY with no deviations and no cheating. My first major concern when I totaled up my daily intake "numbers" in various categories (like fat, carbs, sugar, protein, calories, etc) was the EXTREMELY LOW reading of calories ... ONLY 840. I had been told for YEARS by both my doctors and nutritionist to never go below a daily intake of 1200 calories (for a woman) or 1500 calories (for a man). This is to prevent your body from going into "starvation mode" where you end up shutting down your body's metabolism.
This discrepancy was explained to me by my IP representative that my body will actually be burning (or eating) my own fat stores to get the extra calories it needs. I did run this by my nutritionist who didn't really respond to that specifically (I think her brain might have fried at hearing that), but only said that she has heard that people that get stomach stapling surgery are put on 800 calorie per day diets for a few months and that no long term health issues arise out of that. (Note that I personally did not get or have stomach stapling, she was just telling me about a study group that was on a very calorie restricted diet). She also thought that a super calorie-restricted diet is probably less of a health risk to me ... than me being 126 pounds overweight -- so that I should try it out and see if it works.
My Results on the IP Diet
I just wanted to say that the first few days on IP were HARD! And I got the headaches (day 2 and day 3) that some people seem to report. But by day 4 it got easier. Between day 5 and day 10 a lot of my carb and sugar addiction had passed and I was feeling better with fewer cravings -- and the diet became much easier as I settled into the "IP routine".
So here is my daily weight loss chart for the 3 weeks I have been on the IP Diet!
A Quick Analysis of my Weight Loss Chart
What struck me first was the big weight loss for the first week (first 4 days really). This (I am pretty sure) was mostly a "water dump" due to salt/sodium being restricted along with some fat loss. There is just no way the body will lose that much fat in a few days. Once the water dump was over on day 5, my weight loss settled into a nice 0.75 pounds per day loss rate (or about 5.25 pounds per week).
I think that my weight loss rate might be higher than some because 1.) I was so overweight 2.) I am 6'4" tall and might have a higher base metabolic rate 3.) I did not cheat at all (which some might).
In any case, my total weight loss from start to end (so far) is 17.25 pounds in 20 days!
Making Sense of the Numbers
It’s great when theory and reality meet up.
My 0.75 pound per day weight loss is exactly what I calculate that I should be losing according to a simple "calories in / calories out" sort of budget.
I know that the IP Diet theory says that the IP Diet is NOT a calorie counting diet, it's all about restricting carbs and sugar. That being said, it's clear that it's VERY CALORIE RESTRICTED! Being quite a bit under what most professionals consider to be optimal.
A few years ago, my resting metabolic rate was measured at 2500 calories per day. So my body needs 2500 calories a day to live … I am eating 800 … which leaves a 1700 calorie deficit per day.
Since one pound of body fat contains 3500 calories.
My body is "eating" or "burning" 1/2 a pound of fat per day to get the additional 1700 calories it needs to live.
(Also by eating over 100 grams of protein a day, it is hoped that my body wont burn any (or very little) muscle to reach its needs)
When you lose/burn FAT from the body … WATER weighing 1/2 the weight of that fat is lost at the same time (info from my Nutritionist).
So if I am losing/burning 1/2 a pound of fat a day, I am also losing 1/4 a pound of water a day.
So in theory my weight loss per day should be (1/2 pound fat) + (1/4 pounds water) = (3/4 pounds of total weight loss per day)
This is VERY CLOSE to what I am measuring on my weight loss chart (after the water dump period) ... in the steady "fat loss" part of the graph.
The science matched my empirical (measured) results almost perfectly!
I do think it makes sense that I as lose weight, and as my body "adjusts" to this new diet, my weight loss rate could and should shrink (especially if my base metabolic rate starts to adjust downward). I have seen some signs of perhaps a new less steep weight loss slope appearing over the past few days. It will be interesting to watch.
Can this be applied to others?
This I don't really know. As there are so many variables. And the question of cheating comes in -- which would throw everything off. Plus I made some adjustments to the strict Phase 1 IP Diet, which others probably won't be doing.
But I would think that if you are not cheating on the diet, that the only variable in all this when you apply to OTHERS is…. WHAT IS THEIR BASAL METABOLIC RATE (That is, how many calories do they burn (do they need to live) a day on average?)
For men (with more muscle), this tends to be higher. For very active people, this tends to be higher.
So if someones basal metabolic rate is more than 2500 calories a day, they will lose weight faster than 3/4 pounds per day. If their BMR is less, they will lose less.
Of course if they CHEAT … they will lose less too!
What I am showing for me … is the results for a 2500 calorie basal metabolic rate and sticking to the IP diet to the letter (eating only 800 calories per day or so). And with that input, I seem to be losing about 0.75 pounds per day or 5 pounds per week pretty steadily (so far at least).
I thought this was pretty interesting and wanted to share.
Please feel free to debunk anything I wrote or chime in with your own experiences.
This is only what worked for me and how the science of all this seems to work (at least from my limited perspective!)
And I don't mean to imply that any of this would apply to anyone else.
My personal experiences with the IP Diet (analysis & results)
