Please don't let your coach convince you that you've lost 2 lbs of muscle. That's just BS. The amount measured is NOT fat and that is all that can be said about it.... there are many more lean tissues in the body than muscle. Besides the machines they measure with are notoriously incorrect. About the only use they have is for keeping track of a trend - 'is your fat % going up or down?' Just keep sticking to protocol and you will lose fat weight. No, it will not be fat weight only but your body will change percentage of fat to lean.
Keep on swimmin'

Liana

Oh, I'd not heard that the scales are often incorrect!
That's really interesting! So then is there a better way to measure muscle mass to make sure your body isn't using that as fuel (since that is the concern with a low carb diet like this)?

I'm going to be starting again next week after a successful loss, but not so successful maintenance after a year of frequent migraines and depression. I'm going to start coming back here as it was very helpful the first time around. I notice a few familiar peeps from around the same time as I lost CenTXchk Oneuh2 and Ro22 hello again Wishing everyone good luck in their journeys.

Hello all - I am a newbie - still in Phase 1 - am about 2 pounds away from goal weight - have now lost about 35 pounds - I started 13 weeks ago. I just want to throw out my two cents' worth regarding the messages I've seen recently about recipes and alternatives and personalization of the protocol. It's all so personal, but I've found that NOT trying to personalize the options (therefore, not having to think too hard during this Phase 1 weight loss) has made this work for me. I'm not trying to be creative with cooking and using packets in recipes. I've just selected the items that I find preferable each week and used them. My typical day is:
Breakfast - omelet from packet, black coffee (sometimes a peanut butter bar instead, which is restricted)
Snack - salt and vinegar crisps
Lunch - soup from packet and two cups veggies
Dinner - 8 oz protein of choice and two cups veggies
64 - 80 ounces of water
If I am hungry, salad of lettuce, cucumber, dressing made from apple cider vinegar and mustard
Salt
Oil 1 - 2 teaspoons
I have just found that accepting the restrictions and getting through this is Phase is what has worked for me.
Just my thoughts - and again, I'm a newbie!!!!

Hello all! I posted a couple of times last year on here, but I think coming to this forum is really going to help in my success so am planning on posting regularly! For my first post, I wanted to give you a very brutally honest account of what my journey has been so far....

I have always struggled with my weight (I'm 31 now and can remember going on diets as young as 10 and feeling that I was "fat" at age 6). 4 years ago I lost 60 pounds on Ideal Protein; for three months I was absolutely 100 percent strict. Then, I was out to dinner with my new boyfriend, was so tired of never getting to have a glass of wine on our dates and always ordering steak without anything on it, I just lost control and ate all the things one night. I had the hardest time getting back on track after that, but I ended up losing some more weight until I was at the 60 pounds lost. I was 5 pounds away from my goal weight. I didn't phase off, and slowly the pounds crept on. Flash forward to this last summer, still dating the the same wonderful guy, and despite trying every diet, healthy/clean eating plan known to man, working out twice a day, spin classes, you name it- I had put back on 55 pounds of the 60 lost. So this summer I went back to Ideal Protein with a mindset that I would do this more moderately, exercise, maybe have cheese here and there so that I could feel like it was easier to stick to and I would do this knowing that it would be slower. In 3 months, I lost only 15 lbs (compared to the 50 last time), but I was down a ton of inches. But what did I do? I started to question, wanted to go back to "clean eating" which really turned into clean eating, binge on bad foods, repeat. So flash forward to January of this year and decided okay, for real this time it's 100 percent but the occasional glass of wine and maybe if my meat is off plan because I'm out to dinner that's okay. I figured this way, I would be consistent knowing that it's more sustainable. Well, here I am at week 3 of this, and I have lost and gained the same 4 pounds. What I was able to do last time is NOT working for me.

So, guess what? it's time to wake up and be real with myself. I'm not going to get to the results I want by a) questioning something that's worked great for me when I follow it 100% and 2) thinking I can make this "my own" plan and also 3) by having a bad attitude about being 100 percent and OBVIOUSLY i think I've learned I NEED TO PHASE OFF CORRECTLY . So this is my very honest post about my journey and after a very tough love call with my mom, I'm ready to be in this 100 percent, not 99%. I'm ready to feel confident in my own skin, and to love myself enough to lose this weight! It's on protocol for me this time and I'm excited to see what comes. I'm hoping posting here as well as my "fitstagram" account will be really helpful to stay accountable in my journey and I'm also looking forward to hearing your stories too!

Thank you for sharing your journey. My heart broke for your little 6 year old self, reading that at such a young age you felt fat. My oldest is 6 and I just can't imagine how awful it would be if she felt like that.

Please continue to post here. We all need all the support we can get!

Howdy DD!! So glad to reconnect tho I am very sorry to hear of your not so successful maintenance - I too did not do well with maintaining - I spent 7 months eating my emotions and the food I ate was junk food and sugar.
I tried regular ketogenic diet and managed to stop gaining, but it seems to be a good path for me for maintaining but not for losing. So I am back here where I know what works.

Anyway - I love having old friends to touch base with as I am on my journey and am happy to be a supporter to you while you are on yours!

I started on Jan 5 and I am down 12 lbs based on my home scale - just another 70 to go.... I hope to get there by my birthday in August.

This is a less active forum today than it was in 2014 and 2015, but those of us who are here are Determined Dieters like you -- keep coming back!

Good for you to be so close to goal and good for you in just following the protocol! It does work if you work it, and some of us find that a little variety helps us hang in there. Packet recipes are so much better than cheats. But I cannot argue with your logic -- just doing what the program calls for is probably the most reliable path to take.

Hi DD! Sorry to hear about the migraines and maintenance issues but so glad to see you and say hello! Glad we can be around to support each other during our reboots!

I had a slip up tonight after 4 wks of 100%. Been a horrible week at work and I finally let it get to me and had a drink with a friend tonight. It was gin and tonic. Not sure what that will do to my ketosis. Darn it!

Welcome Jennjen!

I just had to comment that I used to experience the SAME issues with self sabotaging. I was famous for losing 30lbs and regaining. Same 30 over and over. I blamed feeling deprived but it really went much deeper. When I made the commitment to IP I eventually went to a therapist to try and figure out/deal with my food issues. I had a lot of crap that I used food to deal with. One of which was a sexual assault in college that left me feeling very uncomfortable when men noticed me. Right about the time I would lose 30lbs and people started to notice....BAM!...self sabotaging ensued. Of course, I didn't know that at the time. I thought I had "earned" an indulgence. Now when I cheat (like earlier tonight), I am trying to make it a conscience effort instead of a "I deserve this" or a reaction to an emotional issue. I am not always successful (again, like tonight) but I feel miles ahead of where I used to be.

Just my $.02.

A clarification...

I am 100% OP according to the macros. You can accomplish this by not just blindly consuming packets per packet instructions. There are up to 5 add-ins allowed per day as long as they are 0/0/0 like many of Walden Farms products. This is not deviating from protocol. And, many of us who have learned this have done at least one cycle of IP so we have it figured out and when you use this to reboot and such, you look for ways to make it more interesting but still on protocol. I did what you did my first time doing IP. I have learned so much since then and my average losses are the same of 3 pounds/week. So, glad you found something that works for you but I don't want to mislead you or others that this protocol has been *******ized in some way. You can do the things discussed and lose the same. Perhaps I should highlight that I track my macros which is how i know this so if one doesn't want to track macros then maybe that naturally leads them to need to follow packet instructions explicitly as written. To elaborate further, I do not take "freebies"; although, that is acceptable like an egg white for example. If I have an egg white to make a muffin, bread or cake then I reduce my dinner protein accordingly. I have the FAQ that has been provided to coaches where IP explains the macros on protocol and so I follow that using products that are IP compliant.

I want to make sure people aren't left with the impression that they would get worse results if they made recipes. You will even find recipes with the packets by the IP chef on youtube.

Can you share the FAQ sheet you have that explains the macros - I don't seem to have that anymore...

Hello! Have been reading along and whilst baby is asleep thought I'd jump on and comment.

This week starts week 4 for me and I am down to 80.0kg as of Monday morning. Lost 1.1kg in week three. So very excited to begin moving through the 70's!

I read above a post (I've forgotten the username -sorry!) about not hacking the packets etc but keeping it simple, have to say this is me exactly. The only thing I alter is extra water and ice to pudding mix to make a shake for breakfast.

Been getting the dizzy head thing a bit so have been extra vigilant with having my salt. Have also added in a 4th packet as of this week. Feeling really good about being 100% OP even though I would've loved nothing more than to indulge a fair few times this past week!

Cannot remember what else I was going to comment about! Anyhow, have a great day

Sounds like you are doing very well! Thanks for sharing here - knowing we are in it together and there is support when it's needed can make all the difference!

Hi CenTxChk and DD and the new rebooters I don't recognize.
FWIW, I never did recipes (except the Broccoli Cheddar Soup packet tortilla) but mainly because I'm plain lazy about stuff like that and I never ate dessert sweets pre IP anyhow, so no baking switch-outs needed for me. I just picked stuff I thought tasted OK and went with that. My 'recipes' were more about trying different veggies and different ways of cooking them. If you are keeping track of the macros, alternatives work fine. I know this too, because I had several alternative protein 'packets' I had to use as I needed to be gluten free, and most of the IP stuff at that time was not labelled GF. I used vegan organic/non-GMO protein powders, and extra eggs instead of IP omelette packets (eggs were cheaper than packets).

Liana