Long time no see! Hope to catch up with familiar faces, and meet some new ones with this reboot.

Hubby and I are starting an alternative IP diet again from next week.

Lost 102lbs the first time round, but regained it all over the 19 months since I stopped the diet.

Those who know me will tell you that I love the science behind the diet, and I'm always looking for both positives and negatives associated with the biological changes while existing in ketosis.

I was researching glycoproteins (the presence or absence of them determines your blood type, along with antigens) and I came across an interesting article about the effects on the mucosa (mucus production and membranes) that I wanted to share.

As I say, knowledge is power. When you know what to look for with health, you know how soon to make changes and/or see a doctor.

So, here is the link .. Dangers of zero carb diets.

As always, don't take one research document/study as gospel - follow it up with your own medical authority and do some googling.

EDIT: Will update the signature blurb sometime this week. Wildly inaccurate.

Hey there! So glad to see you - I have been thinking of you a great deal in recent months and I wondered if you might reappear with the new year! So glad to see you !

I have updated my signature line and you can see I am in for the long haul to re-lose what I regained - I am on day 12 and have lost 8.8 lbs. I am doing the real IP as opposed to alternatives right now, and the first week of 7 lbs was pretty easy but now I am afraid I am going to slog along much more slowly than I did the first time around.

But at least I have stopped stuffing face -- be sure to connect on email so we can catch up with one another -- oh you have made my day!!!!



I am so glad you are here!!
cheryl

For another viewpoint, Keto Clarity addresses this so-called problem and others that are in the attached link. Since serum glucose is maintained at normal levels almost until death during starvation, there is no lack of glucose. Amino acid imbalance is more likely the reason, which can be alleviated with bone broth and gelatin. Dr. Ron Rosedale states he has not seen this in decades of work with the ketogenic diet. There are additional comments as well.

Thanks for your reply, psjones - I hadn't read the Keto Clarity, but I'll be reading that shortly. Perhaps the difference lies in KC having more experience in the North American market, as opposed to the linked article's location in northern Europe - traditionally different diets (high sugar v high fat).

I only mentioned the study where the mucosal change is an issue because I experienced many of those same changes when I was several months into ketosis. TMI, I'm sure, but I had a non-causal discharge, post-nasal drip and mucus on the chest before I began the diet (and have since returned to those as a result of resuming my former dietary habits) and they all disappeared once I was out of the overweight category. I'm sure there are other people who experience the same, but perhaps hadn't connected the two. Without going through exhaustive restriction of different food types and laboratory testing it is impossible to know if it was removal of most dairy produce, or the biological changes in the body from ketosis.

I know from the close monitoring by both Army Medical services (full gamut of blood tests) and an Army Wellness Center (BodPod measurement of percentages lean/fat tissue) that my overall health was never negatively impacted by being on a ketotic diet; but biology is unique and I was seeking answers to why the underlying changes.

Hiya, Amanda!! Woo Hoo! Good to see you again! I haven't been on this board for about a week or so, didn't see you check in.

Liana

Hey Briael! So good to see you. Welcome back girl.

Can't wait to catch up.

Thanks very much for this information! I developed dry eye after 7 months on IP. Whenever I reboot, it returns. I've never managed to tease out which component of the diet is responsible. Btw, my ophthalmologist said it was specifically a lack of mucus in my tears. (There are other causes for dry eye).

I lost 108 pounds through Ideal Protein. I think the programme is fantastic for weight loss but not so great for maintenance.

Spring boarding from what I learned on IP, I went on a Low-Carb Cruise (Jimmy Moore, et al) and connected with a woman named Maria Emmerich (http://mariamindbodyhealth.com/)

Her principles are the same as IP. The difference is no packets. Maria has written approximately 10 cookbooks -- she is now internationally recognised. Her recipes are delicious, practical and convenient.

Her programme makes Phase 4 navigable for me.

Maria Emmerich is pretty awesome!

Liana

Just a question (I'm a newbie) and please don't take this the wrong way. I've noticed a lot of people posting about success only to gain it all back. Do you have any advice on how to not let this happen?

Thanks so much!!

For me I gained it back because of me. I phased off correctly and then had some wine, some chips, some more wine, a crappy metabolism...You get the idea.
I am very close to goal and am really scared of maintenance BUT I think I am going to try to keep low carb/low sugar as that seems to work for me and helps me not crave as much. I am going to also keep up my walking as that seems to allow for eating a bit more calories. It is such a mental issue and when I went to maintenance the 1st time I swore I would have a "scream" weight where if the scale reached a certain number I would do Phase 1 to get back in control. That didn't happen for me and I let myself go, but I am going to really try and keep to this, this time around. It's also important to reach a weight that can be maintained and is realistic.
Unfortunately I have struggled with my weight since childhood and no matter what program I have tried the weight has come back. I have to finally figure this out!!!

Thanks for the reply! You have the right attitude to conquer this once and for all!

breebliss: losing weight is actually the easy part and as we do, there are instant rewards - we see the numbers go down, the clothes fit better (or we get new ones in new sizes), admiring comments come from friends/relatives/strangers, we can do so many more activities with less weight on our joints, etc....
Problem with maintenance is its lack of constant rewards. It is steady state, no changes, dull when you come right down to it. :/
Quite a few start to add back old ways of dealing with stress, or rewarding ourselves with food, or celebrating with food, and of course if we continue with those old habits, our old bodies return, lol.
BUT, we do know that this way of eating does work to lose weight and as for maintenance.... we are all different and likely need to find a sustainable way of dealing with emotions, good and bad (the brain is a huge trigger for food issues) and a personalized food plan that still works for us. Some go Keto (under 50g carb) or continue with Low Carb High Fat, some continue with the separation of carbs and fats at separate meals 3:1 as in classic IP Maintenance Phase 4, some prefer and do well at just calorie counting/measuring portions properly. It takes a bit of experimentation to find YOUR best plan, after you've been in P4 long enough that you understand and can implement the concepts.

Successful maintenance long term really depends on getting to know ourselves, body and mind. It's easier said than done
Your turn will come

Liana

Very well said Liana!

Thank you!!!