All,

Please help.

You have a wealth of experience and I am seeking some insights from you on when to transition and how you did it - advice for someone struggling with final week(s) of phase 1. Given my journey so far, I don't think my coach is going to be helpful at such a critical step, and I have tried to find this in maintainers' thread but there is way too much conversation to try and filter out this info (no offense).

I couldn't do something I really enjoy yesterday, which is to golf. I was so dizzy that I had to quit the round - tried to golf 36 holes yesterday; 18 was fine but couldn't finish another 18 even with bringing my IP packets and having them during the rounds. I'm in Scottsdale this weekend for a golf weekend to escape winter weather and this program is hurting something I really enjoy so I am conflicted between this program and enjoying my hobbies.

Also, for those who have noted my earlier thread, I abruptly went off p1 to a p4 type diet for 6 days due to dizziness, etc and gained 20 pounds which I am still working through to lose so I stuck with strict p1 protocol in spite of dizziness and just stopped the activity which I really didn't want to do - I told my nephew that I guess I need to get into p4 in order to do my more active hobbies, which means transitioning I guess to avoid rapid weight gain.

Plus, is the dizziness and fuzziness my body telling me enough is enough - that it needs carbs/energy - I just don't trust my body yet as we've had a love/hate relationship :-)

The reason I think this is my body telling me it has had enough is that I did a 3 month home remodel during p1 where I did a lot of the work and I was completely fine physically - this has just started over the last month.

Please provide your advice here. Thanks!

Hi, Ro - This isn't entirely according to the program, but I was just really burnt out, so I went directly from phase 1 to phase 3 after reaching goal. I did two full weeks of phase 3. I don't think it had any negative impact. I continued to lose even into maintenance for a while.

At one time, there was some talk here that IP was considering eliminating phase 2, but that never happened.

If you are feeling like you need more calories, that would help, perhaps.

Also, consider checking your blood pressure. Dizziness can be a sign of low blood pressure. You have lost quite a bit of weight. My first time around, I experienced dizziness and had to reduce my BP meds.

Good luck!

Thanks, Lizzy. I guess part of what you are saying is that one won't just lose on p1 - you can lose on the other phases as well. This is where I don't have any knowledge and it scares me because of what happened with abruptly adding more carbs and calories and getting a 20 pound weight gain. I swear that although most of weight is gone, my fat cells in my belly and hips/thighs are enlarged than where they were before those 6 days - I don't think this is my eyes/mind playing tricks on me as I can tell from my clothes.

Hi Ro,
I agree with Lizzy's post about considering upping your calories, possibly carbs, and also recognizing if you are burned out. The fact that you were able to do the remodel before probably reflects the fact that your body could find more fat to burn. Maybe not so now. So you need to provide it with more food on days of activity. (This is imo a big shortcoming of of the one-size fits-all approach to P1. I had low blood sugars episodes on my busier work days--totally unnecessary and not very healthy).

I'm not sure I understand your words about enlarged fat cells. If it looks like most of the fat is gone, are you happy with your shape now? Don't worry about what the scale says. The goal is pretty arbitrary, just a guide to aim for. Fwiw, I am 5'4.5 and can maintain and fit into size 6-8 anywhere from 145-154 lbs. At 5'8" I would think 168 is a great weight.

Due to your experience with p1-p4, could you try a more gradual uppage in your cals & carbs? In among the chats of maintenance, evemomma has what has worked well for her--I think she did the standard phase off and then established a comfortable maintenance by upping her food 100 cal per week to see how her metabolsim handled it. I'll try to find and paste her post. My coach told me many many folks have success without follwing the IP guidelines; some skip P2, some skop P3, some do their own thing. Gradually increasing cals and carbs from P1 was his suggestion.

Meanwhile, as long as you feel okay with normal activity, I'd suggest avoiding exertion until you increase your intake, even just a few more days while you figure out this next step. It's worth it to take your time. Good luck!

EDIT Here is evemomma's post from last week with my highlighting:

"It's a challenge to get our brain out of losing/restricting mode. Much like you I kept my calories low at the start of maintenance, mostly because I did a lot of reading about how the metabolism needs to be stoked to get back in shape after a very restrictive diet. BUT....the key to KEEPING the metabolism up and going is not to stay too restrictive. What I did was to slowly start upping my calories by about 100 after I would see a loss once in maintenance. My body seemed to go like this: I would up my calories for a week or two, and my body would stabilize with my new calories....and then I would see a loss again (a consistent loss, not normal up and downs), and so I would add in more calories. I also kept changing my ratios, upping my carbs and lowering my proteins. Currently, I have hit a good homeostasis for my height/weight and activity level at about 1700 calories a day (but my level of intense exercise is very limited)."

Your calorie amounts are not necessarily the same as anyone else's. She has lowered protein ratio and upped carbs somewhat. I think her latest post said 135g net carbs. There is no science to support the need to separate carbs and fats in maintenance lunch/dinner, btw. More important is to figure out what works for your body.

Hope this helps!

Thank you, Lizzy and Mars - your responses give me ideas. I'm just so gun shy given the 20 pound gain due to upping my calories to a "normal" amount and shifting the macronutrients dramatically.

Lizzy - I really appreciate the long, detailed post and the research to find the related post/quote.

R022, I am recently having the same issue. I'm getting dizzy and feeling unwell (and this didn't happen when I started p1). From my research, I was planning to switch to the diabetic P1 protocol if it happens again. I am not actually diabetic and went to the doctor to have my blood pressure and blood work checked just to make sure (it was fine). As soon as I decided that, I was feeling better. But you can add in a fruit, or yogurt, or cheese at each meal.

Alternatively, if you want to phase off, my coach said you could do it more rapidly if you had to. Do a few days or a week of P2, a few days or week of P3. I didn't ask about skipping it.

Everyone has given such great advise so far.

I have 2 thoughts.

Piggybacking on the BP: are you getting all of your salt? It is crucial on a LC diet because the diet itself has a diuretic effect.

Second: if p1 isn't working for you but you're still wanting to drop weight, have you though about switching to the alternative p1 for diabetics? You add a dairy, a starch, and a fruit per day (one at each meal). There is more info on it in the links in the Daily chat.

Thanks, Lisa and Shasta. I'll look into the diabetic protocol.

Lisa - I believe I am getting plenty of salt. I love to flavor my food with salt so I am pretty sure I am good there.

I am leaning towards that it is a matter of simply not consuming enough calories and/or right mix of macronutrients. I can't explain why for more than 5 months my body was ok but now I do not feel right physically with dizziness, fuzziness and headaches. My fear is that simply increasing or changing these will cause another rapid weight gain - I suppose that means I just weigh myself daily and resort back to p1 if so before a dramatic increase. I will get my blood pressure checked.

The other thing I noticed is I am either much weaker or don't have energy as I am hitting the ball dramatically less distance than before IP - 25 to 40 yards less so I think it is time to begin my weight training/working out so I need to figure out how I work that in here with the right mix of calories and macros.

Have you had any blood work done? I'm wondering if your iron is low? Checking your blood pressure at the dizzy times too. I was getting dizzy spells before I phased off.

I am eating P3 now and losing weight, just not as fast. The big breakfast keeps me going.

IMO, P2 helps transition up you to eating regular protein at lunch and gives you time to get used to the extra prep time that it takes to eat real meat at lunch and dinner. P1 grab and go is so simple. Making a real breakfast takes time too.

I might not be a single digit size, which is what I hoped for before I started, but I feel good and I look "normal". If you don't feel right, you need to stop - belly fat and all.

Ok ya'll I have to jump in here. Yesterday I didn't feel "right" I was dizzy and felt a bit off. I thought maybe I was coming down with something but then I was fine....It sounds like what some of you may be experiencing. Weird.

Yes, it sounds like it's the same thing. I make sure I eat protein every 3-4 hours, make sure I'm getting all my water.

Thanks - did you determine what the dizzy spells were from? I did not have blood work done. I am traveling a ton right now plus I don't generally go to doctor but I will check that.

I don't have any issue with eating regular protein. I routinely had chicken and turkey at lunch and dinner (I don't eat red meat) when I was following my own 1200 calorie diet with 6x a week workouts and never had feelings I do now but I thought I could lose faster and better on IP and that has happened. I've been at this weight before but not at this size. Getting to this point has been the easiest thing I have done to lose weight but for last 3 weeks or so, it is also now the toughest as I have never felt like this with the physical symptoms.

I am thinking phase 3 and then phase 4 is the way to go for me especially because I want to start weight training again. I am fine at this point of losing more slowly or even just maintaining - I just want to make sure I have removed the 20 pounds I gained while off phase 1 for 6 days which I won't know until Friday. In the meantime, I have let my physical symptoms dictate what activities I do.

Hi Ro,

You've gotten some great advice. While you are losing the 20lbs and doing high fitness days you may want to add 1/3 cup of oatmeal along with your IP packet in the morning. In discussion with my coach we came up with this for when I ran over 10km as I would get dizzy at the end of the day. I would ason add the extra packet for when I finished it helped. I think it important to take the time and transition slowly they the phases. A lot the the maintainers have found their bodies have responded differently to the added food.

Post a question on the maintainers thread and it will get answered by people who have gone thru it.

Great - thanks, Jenny!

Not really. My blood work was fine. I thought my blood pressure was li but IT was still normal. My scale tells me my water % and although it may not be perfect it its a relative number and it seemed to be lower so I increased my water. I phased offpretty soon after.