Hi all - Over my first 2 weeks I lost 15 lbs - this week its going to be cloer to 2-3...is this normal and what I can expect?

Also - would light excersize (walking for 30 mins) what do you suggest) help increase the lbs lost per week?

Tahnk you!!

If you are a woman that is the average. The first week I know lots of my loss was water retention. I lost 25 pounds that week. I suspect many of us loos water weight the first few weeks. The amount of sodium in our diets changes significantly on IP. It is as you know much lower. So low we are required to add salt back into our diet.

Hi there,
I started on ideal protein oct 1, hoping ot lose about 25-30 pds. It was hard from the get go, I lost only 15 pds by Dec15. I was constantly blamed by the my coach, they stated it was me, I must be strange. I felt sick alot, and hungry, yet found it so hard to eat the required amt of food. I am not a large person, so I thought maybe that was it, but my coaches had no idea. Has anyone gone trough this? I started to lose 0.6 of a pd a week, which is crazy considering what I read on other posts. thanks

I was told to figure a weight loss of 2-3 lbs a week, anything over that is a bonus I figure! lol

It is completely normal to have a slowdown in your losses, ESPECIALLY if you had big weeks your first two weeks. Look at my signature - I have had weeks of big loss, small loss, no loss - but it all averages out in the end (my average over 23 weeks is about 2.6lbs or so per week).

No, exercise will NOT increase your losses. Do it if it makes you feel good (and make sure you add an extra packet within 1/2 and hour of finishing), but know that it won't speed things up, and if you overdo it or skip the extra packet, it can actually slow your losses down.

I began on Nov 26th - it's been average 5lbs a week lost
But it's been rough this week only 2 lbs this week
But I have began exercising now hopefully will pick up again.
My biggest problem is using 3 packets of IP daily
Also tired of veggies too

If you are close to your goal, it is not strange...I can't say more without knowing your starting weight, current, and goal...I mean even knowing that, I personally don't know what more to say about this.

I suggest that you maybe re-post this as a separate thread, and provide more details what you eat and if you are doing it exactly as the sheet says, not for example skipping oil or not drinking enough water...and see what other people on her may say.

In particular if you are feeling sick, you may want to see a doctor too, not just listen to people's experiences here.

My personal experience from doing this now the 2nd time is that about second-third week I feel lack of appetite and can't seem to eat all that is required (particularly meat), but appetite returns later and there is no issue like that any more.

I have had higher weight loss than you, but the other symptoms you describe sound a lot like me. I have hypoglycemia and anemia, both of which I have been diagnosed with years ago, so I knew going in. And I believe that is the cause of the complications for me. When I have talked to friends who have done IP, they say they experienced almost nothing like I have except maybe in the first week. Right now I am averaging 1 to 2 lbs per week weight loss, the first month it was more like 3 per week, then I slowed a bit in the second month, then more in the third and starting the fourth. Someone here also said their friend was hypoglycemic and simply had to stop the diet because of her complications. Do you think you might have an underlying medical condition complicating IP for you?

Your slower weight loss may be from not getting enough food in. But it is concerning that you are sick a lot too. Maybe you are allergic to something in the foods?

My average is 2.3lb per week, for a total of 57lbs over 24 weeks. The first 4 weeks I lost 9lbs, 7lbs, 6lbs and 5lbs, and since then I have been gradually slowing down to 1-3lbs per week.

According to my coach, as you get closer to goal the losses slow down. Just keep following the plan and the sheet for P1 and you will do fine.

I don't regularly exercise, but when I do, I don't notice a significant difference in losses. Over the past 6 weeks my losses have slowed (although they have picked up the past 2 weeks) and each week my coach asks if I am exercising to explain for the slower losses.

The first couple of weeks, you are losing water and your glycogen stores are depleted. After that, you are mostly losing pure fat. If you follow the diet properly, you are maintaining your muscle mass and your body is burning that fat off. Sure, the numbers may slowly decrease... but, it's 2 lbs of pure fat a week on average that is disappearing from your body. Please don't be discouraged by that. It's awesome!

This is absolutely correct - I posted an explanation of why this is in another thread as well:

IP works because we are operating on a calorie deficit (taking in less calories in food than your body needs to function on a daily basis, not including exercise). The process of ketosis is what converts our fat into energy to make up that difference.

Let's say a 230 lb person requires 1800 calories per day to function (not actual numbers, just as an example). On IP they are taking in 800 calories per day. That means ketosis is burning up 1000 calories per day to make up the difference.

That same person loses weight and now weighs 170lbs, and their body requires only 1300 calories per day to function. They are still taking in 800 calories per day on IP, but now ketosis only needs to burn up 500 calories to make up the difference.

That is why there is a slowdown in losses when you have less to lose - the deficit is smaller.

The reason exercise doesn't help is that the calorie intake is too low to fuel muscle recovery/repair, and your muscles will retain water (and weight) when they can't repair properly.