Hello all, I'm Tim and I have been on IP along with my wife since April 21st.
I have lost 48 pounds; I don't know the exact inches but my pants can pull out about 4 inches in front of my waist and my belt is cinched up as far as it can go. I was sailing along great until about 3 weeks ago. I did some small cheats that weren't affecting weight loss at all.

But I quit doing that two weeks ago when my weight loss went down to 2 pounds a week for two weeks. I had a weigh in today and had only lost 1.5 pounds and it was lean mass. My coach is out of the country, but her assistant told me she thought I was out of ketosis. I did a test strip when I got home and sure enough, I'm out of ketosis.

What is the best thing to do at this point. I've seen some say to do one cheat day and then hit it hard just like you're supposed to do all of the time, I guess kind of a phase 4 shock treatment. For now, I just determined that I wasn't going to eat out as much. That's the killer for me because I've been travelling a lot more than I normally do. Any tips? Oh, one other thing. The doctor that sponsors my IP program (not my usual doctor) cut back my thyroid medication from 120mg to 90mg because of the large drop in weight. I can't get in to see the doctor who prescribed the original dosage for another week and a half. I had blood work done today to see how that's going, but I won't know the results for another week. I'm wondering if the lower dosage affected me.

If you're following the plan 100%, I doubt you're out of Ketosis.

Our bodies get very efficient with ketones and start burning them rather than eliminating them in urine.

It is VERY normal to have weight loss slowed after a pretty big loss & 48 lbs is fantastic! A 1.5 loss really isn't slow for a week. If you average out all your weekly losses, it looks like you're still over 4 lbs per week, which is high even for a guy.

My recommendation is to follow the plan to the letter. Be sure you're adding your oil directly on your food (easiest on lettuce for me). Drink all your water, take all your vitamins, add all your salt, eat all your veggies and 2 salads (lunch and dinner). Don't skimp on anything & don't add cheats.

And know that weight loss isn't linear. It doesn't happen in a straight line. It is truly jagged. Many people have experienced an up or flatline week. You're doing GREAT!

And don't put much stock in the bioimpedence scales. Their accuracy varies greatly, especially with hydration levels. The best info from them is over time, rather than from individual weigh ins.

Take a deep breath and keep up the good work.

Thanks Lisa. I know one of the parts of the bioimpedence scales that I questions is the hydration. I am not showing any improvement on that at all. Being an overweight person who had tried many, many diets before, I knew the importance of drinking water. That's why I knew full well how deficient I was in drinking water when I started IP. I drink more than the required amount of water everyday and am showing no improvement by the scales.

Thanks again!

it's not just the hydration. Those scales measure everything that isn't fat as lean body mass - so muscle, blood, organs, connective tissues, etc., etc. So many things can effect the measurement, how you hold the handles, water (like Lisa said), how you stand). They are much better for watching a trend than for actually telling you what your lean v. fat is. My understanding also is that they become more accurate when you are at a normal body weight.

I assume you stopped with the cheats - that's probably the best thing you can do and stay OP. You've had an impressive loss and sometimes your body just need a "catch up" period. I would just stay on track and relax - no need to "shock" your system or anything else.

I just want to say that losing 40 lbs is a great accomplishment. If you keep working the program, the program will work for you. I haven't had to deal with staying on program while traveling and I'm sure that represents some challenges, particularly if you are expected to dine out with colleagues. But it can be done.

[QUOTE=Ruth Ann;5039813]it's not just the hydration. Those scales measure everything that isn't fat as lean body mass - so muscle, blood, organs, connective tissues, etc., etc. So many things can effect the measurement, how you hold the handles, water (like Lisa said), how you stand). They are much better for watching a trend than for actually telling you what your lean v. fat is. My understanding also is that they become more accurate when you are at a normal body weight.
QUOTE]

I mention the hydration only because the number on the hydration part of my reading never improves and has gone negative at times even though I've been drinking way more water than I had in a long time.

Thank you very much for your encouragement. I will focus on staying hard OP. I guess I didn't mention this in much detail in original post, but I was doing small things like having one chip with salsa when I went to a restaurant. I'm serious - one chip. It made me feel like I had a taste of what I was missing and it wasn't affecting my weight loss. But about 3 weeks ago, when my weekly loss was only 2 pounds, I stopped doing that.

But I never was doing major cheats like having meat with more than one meal, eating real sugar, using real creamer, etc.

My coach who is out of country really encouraged me. She heard about my latest readings and contacted me by email and was very, very encouraging. That helped my mental outlook a whole lot to know that she would contact me while on her vacation in another country across the ocean!