I am coming into week 15 and I was just wondering if there was any reason to worry about being in Phase 1 for too long. I'm not experiencing any problems (other than double length for TOM, bruising very easily, and being freezing cold - none of which bother me that much)

That being said - does anyone else find themselves always wanting more? My goal weight was originally 150. I got close and adjusted to 145. Once I passed that I adjusted it to 135. It is still a healthy range for me. At the high end for my weight actually. I was just still losing so I couldn't see any reason to phase out. I just feel like now I want 130 and I just think its getting ridiculous and I should move on to Phase 2 already. I'm scared to death of gaining weigh back and I think that keeps me from moving on to the next phases. I kind of was wanting to be in Maintenance by or by my daughter's first birthday which is the week before Thanksgiving. Honestly, I never though in my life I would be able to reach 150 and to be here is amazing right now. I love this "diet" i.e. "lifestyle"

I start phase 2 tomorrow... Yes it scares me but you know what? This is what we are going through this for, to get to the next stage. Yes I am only on phase 2 for a week and am going back to phase 1 but it is still the unknown and that is scary. I know some people that stay on phase 2 for more than a month. It is definately up to you and your coach (if you have one) but I think you would do great in Phase 2 it isn't so different then phase 1 except you provide your own protein for lunch.. how hard can that be I say... hmmmm what can I take to work... boiling eggs as we speak for a nice spinach salad for lunch tomorrow.

Yes, I find losing weight to be a little addictive. My original goal was 140. When I hit 140, I wanted to go down to 135. When I hit 135, I wanted to go down to 130. But since my husband was ready for Phase 2 and Phase 3, I started those with him. I still want to go down to 130 for insurance, but I'm going to try to do it in a Phase 3 kinda way. I don't think there is a physical problem with staying on Phase 1, but you do have to make a decision for emotional and mental reasons as to when to stop. And I think stopping has more to do with how you look, how you feel and how your clothes feel than the number on the scale. I think the IP program and coaches could do more for us to help us establish our true goal.

Actually at 5'2" 130 is a reasonable goal for you. If you are continuing to lose I'd stick with it till you make that as you may go up a bit on the next phases.

I think it depends on how your body is responding. Many people have been on phase one for well over 8 months. According to Dr. Tran you could be on it indefinitely provided your blood work supports you are in good health with kidney and liver functions in good order.

Many people live a diet more similar to phase 2, especially if they have extreme food allergies.

It just depends on how low you want to keep your carbs, are you just enjoying the convenience of the packets, etc.

I would say talk to your coach, find out how your blood work is, and determine how you feel. If all that is indicating you can go longer and you have the weight to lose then don't stop.

Thank you everybody for posting about this subject, it helps me big time reading about what you're going through since for me, it was from the very first beginning that I could not choose a target weight for myself, first I thought I would like to be 150, then 140, then I said maybe in between 145, still did not take a decision but I guess I will in time.

I still have a long way, I lost about 35 pounds by now (my weigh in is on Thursday, so I guess by Thursday it would be minus 35 already, not sure), I am so proud of myself, so happy about this diet and can't wait for days to pass by for me to reach onderland and go from there.

the only real problem that i experienced/ am still experiencing from being on phase one for too long is that my hair started falling out. i don't have any bald spots or anything, but i have probably lost about half of the thickness of my hair in the last 2 months (and my hair was already fine and thin). my body, clothing and anything near my person at the time is constantly covered in hair. i could really do without this part of the diet. now, keep in mind that this doesn't happen to everyone. i was on phase one for about 7 months and 2 weeks. i'm in phase 3 now and i am hoping that the hair loss will stop soon, but as of right now there is no sign of slowing.

Not to be nosy but what kind of supplements are you on? Losing hair is a sign that you are missing something in your diet that needs to be replaced with supplements. Just curious.

I lost hair too, especially around month 4 and after. I found that about 6 months in maintenance and I was getting the hair back and, by 1 year, I am back to normal for my hair. ACTUALLY, it is better than normal! My hairstylist keeps saying I can't believe what strong healthy hair you have. It is still on the fine side but I have much more of it than I did.

I did take supplements because I had other concerns and some of them could tie into a nutritional issue but, those were issues I also had before beginning IP. I certainly don't think talking a quality hair supplement would hurt.

Losing hair is not always a sign of missing supplements though it can be. It can also be a process called telogen effluvium. This is very common following bariatric surgery, rapid weight loss, surgery, trauma, even pregnancy can bring it on.

"Telogen effluvium. This type of hair loss is usually due to a change in your normal hair cycle. It may occur when some type of shock to your system — emotional or physical — causes hair roots to be pushed prematurely into the resting state. The affected growing hairs from these hair roots fall out. In a month or two, the hair follicles become active again and new hair starts to grow. Telogen effluvium may follow emotional distress, such as a death in the family or a physiological stress, such as a high fever, sudden or excessive weight loss, extreme diets, nutritional deficiencies, surgery, or metabolic disturbances. Hair typically grows back once the condition that caused it corrects itself, but it usually take months." http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hai...SECTION=causes


"What happens during weight loss is Telogen effluvium. It also happens after any stress to the body. Some of your hair follicles go into catagen to conserve body resources. So the hairs stop growing and "rest". Once your body feels safe again, those hairs go back into anagen - but because there was the pause in the middle, the brand new growing hair pushes the old hair out of the follicle. So in reality you have just as much hair as you did before - and it's probably far healthier hair. But the new hairs are short

Normally around 10% of your head of hair is in the catagen or telogen phase, in essence resetting itself to prepare for new hair to grow in. Because you have so much hair on your head, you don't even notice. During weight loss that percentage gets higher, but this is only temporary. Your body starts creating new hair in its normal cycle once it settles into a healthy weight and those hairs start growing again. Remember that hair doesn't reach a long state overnight! So all those new, healthy hairs need time to grow out to whatever length of hair you have chosen.

Usually it takes 6 months for your head of hair to have grown back out to typical fullness. Hair grows around 1/2" per month, so at the 6 month mark, the hair is around 3" long which is enough to seem thick on most heads. Again, it's not that the hair is MISSING during this intermediate time. It's just that it is brand new and growing from scratch." http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art16071.asp

This is happening to me right now - I'm constantly losing my hair right now. I even lost some eyelashes. !! I'm taking comfort in the fact that it's not a permanent situation. I started taking OMEGA III's....are there any other supplements you suggest Carla?

I can't believe what a wealth of information you are, I'd totally hug you some days!

If you are taking omegas also make sure to take antioxidants. It prevents some kind of, for lack of a better word or image, sludge from developing.

The recent IP recommendation for those prone to hair loss or starting to experience hair loss is:

Adverse Hair Thinning

Per the Chief Science Officer taking a treatment of 3 Omega 3's at breakfast and 3 at dinner along with 3 Anti Oxy's at each breakfast and dinner for a period of 1 week then followed by 1 each of both at breakfast and at dinner until hair returns will improve the effects and timing. He also stated this is rare and most importantly …temporary!!!!

This is of course based on their products. I am not sure how much of each is in the bottles, maybe you could check them out when you see your coach?


I used a supplement by a brand called Michael's. I liked that it was complete with biotin, insitol, choline, selenium, and many other things that offer hair strength and growth potential. I also took vitamin with Bioflavonoids. They are also suppose to help with hair loss. Given I had issues with Big C the vitamin C was good for me in both aspects.

OH.. and, entirely up to you just be aware that it is a bit stinky, I used Neem oil on my scalp at night. It is just for overall scalp health but it does help to promote improved hair growth in some literature. I was applying it to my scalp several nights a week, sleeping a scarf, and showering it out in the morning. It isn't pretty and it smells odd but, who knows. It did make my hair soft! Anyway, who know what would work and at that point I was feeling desperate!!

Now, I am better. It is nice to have my hair back to better than it was when I started IP.

That's all I got! I hope it helps!