I need some advice about adding an extra packet when exercising. I usually eat breakfast a little before 8, and exercise at 9:30. I'm taking classes at my gym, but modifying to make sure I'm not over exerting. I love love love to save my restricted bar for my after dinner snack ( I feel like it is kind of my "reward" for making it through the day on plan!). My breakfast is usually a 5-9g. carb pudding or drink.

I've seen the advice given to have a bar before exercising (or half before and half after), but I usually just have a 1 or 2g. carb drink after. I'm wondering if I should change up my current routine, or if my plan is OK (since I'm exercising less than 2 hours after eating breakfast). Anyone have advice for me?

MK, my coach was a Nurse Practitioner in my doctor’s office, and every time I asked her questions like this, her response was always the same: “well, you can try it, and then if your weight loss slows, you can change back”. It was so simple, it really helped me. There is no need for the food before or after exercise to be a bar if you’re not going over the top with exercise, which they don’t recommend anyway. My clinic had a younger man who was lifting a lot of weights and he stuck to three packets but added a plain potato per the doctor’s suggestion.

They offered I could do that if I felt I needed it, but I was only doing a lot of fast walking and hot yoga, so I didn’t feel I needed the potato, and something about it scared me, so I just trusted not to go there. I usually just added a drink after, but sometimes I did the bar just for convenience and I had pudding at night. There were times when I had two restricted - it didn’t mess me up per se, but it did slow the loss a little that week - sometimes but not always. For me, I still felt I was on plan if I did either one or two restricted, and I still overall lost, and for me personally I needed to keep exercising no matter what, and now being on maintenance, I’m glad that I did, because my muscle tone remained intact.

Good luck!

I'm SO confused. I thought we aren't allowed to work out on Phase 1 aside from walking and easy/light yoga.

My coach said I could exercise if I wanted to or not -- based on how I felt. She said to add IP salt to my water to taste and add in an extra packet on the days I exercised. The trick is to watch your heart rate. There are folks here that are a whole lot smarter than I am about this and I'm sure they'll chime in. The best thing is to check with your coach who knows your situation best.

In my understanding, that's what most coaches (mine included) recommend. If I remember the video series correctly, it's also what IP recommends.

Some people choose to do more, then adjust accordingly.

Little bump for our thread...

Starting into a little 90 day program of my own doing - starting Couch 2 5K and will intersperse some walking, swimming, yoga as I can.....
need some motivation so my chiropractor is going to cheer me along....

<dusts off her pom pons>

I'll cheer you, too! Yayayaya!

:spi n:

oh my muscles…… sore……. clearly haven’t been using those ones during yoga and pilates…. I’m looking at it as a very good thing -

and today was my recovery day so tomorrow….

Funny, I never thought of walking as exercising until now! I went on a 45 min speed walk this morning and then starved all day! So I had an extra packet and drank tons of water....will this settle down?

I always find the first day or two I am a little hungrier but it tends to level off.

Was able to get in 3 miles yesterday and 1 mile tonight before being run in by storms (walking).

I don't know about settling down but when you work out you want to add a packet - orange or peach-mango drinks are great choices, low cal and high protein. I drink one of those first thing in the morning when I get up and walk.


Amber - sorry you're sore but GOOD FOR YOU for getting out and moving!!

Thx JJTx

Yay Beth

Chris I needed an extra packet and/or electrolytes on P1 after walking.

I just went back on IP over the weekend, hoping to stick with it this time.

I used to be a competitive swimmer. I got back in the pool for the first time in 8 years in January and I really am glad that I did. The problem was that I actually gained weight when I started swimming again- I guess I just felt justified in eating more after practice or something. So now that I am comfortable and even happy with my swimming routine I decided to try to keep it up while starting back on IP. I only swam 2000 meters in about 40 minutes (my usual is ~3800m in 1hr 15mins 4x per week) and I am dying! Not so much of hunger, but I feel really drained! I see the advice to add another packet, but I loathe IP food so much I just don't think I can stomach it. Any other tips for what I can do? I am not strictly committed to staying perfectly OP, but I don't want to derail myself. Like maybe I could add some scrambled egg whites to breakfast or something? I would rather give up IP than swimming.

Lizzi there several people here that maybe could give advice. I'll give it a shot from how it was for me.

Do you have a coach? At a good clinic? That will be your best resource.

My understanding is that some clinics have added unlimited egg whites to the program. So you might be fairly safe adding those if you like those. Maybe also there is a protein shake that you could find that you feel good with that is low glycemic and high protein. If you swim in the morning, then maybe adding egg whites in the morning will maybe do the trick. It is probably going to be something of a trial and error for you. My coach offered that I could either use an extra packet, or a plain baked potato – so maybe the potato would work well for you.