PP works? doesn't work?

[Feelix]

I want to share my experience for the month of July and see if anyone has been like me or had the same experience.

July was my first month attempting to live the PP lifestyle. It was up and down. I averaged 5 out of 7 days eating "THE PLAN". After the whole month I was exactly the same weight & measurements.

With frustration, I started eating whatever i wanted. I have lost 3lbs this week.

Has this happened to anyone?

[meewolfie]

I am by no means an expert on this, but your experience sounds similar to those recounted by people who have tried "carb cycling". That is they go low carb for a specified period of time, then have a few, identified days when they eat a higher quantity of carbs. I've read a few blogs of people trying this and haven't seen any reports of stellar success with this method.

As I'm sure will be pointed out - averaging 5 of 7 days on the plan is not really doing Protein Power. The plan is spelled out in the books and you really need to stick with it to be successful. Ideally, your body will enter ketosis and STAY in ketosis. That is why keeping to the plan on a daily basis is so important. Every 2 days out of seven that you aren't on the plan, you're probably kicking yourself out of ketosis and losing the primary benefit of the program (fat burning!).

Mary

[mallory08]

Do you have a lot of weight to lose? If not then your weight loss will be slow... were you in shape to begin with? were you just tryin to tone up? I know for me i didnt need to lose weight when i started this WOE however the benefits and healthy aspects of the protein power lifestlye make my body look a LOT better(muscle wise and hair/skin wise) than I did before... i have a lot more energy and and generally happier!

[Ammy]

This 5 on 7 off is pretty much how I eat when I'm trying to maintain...whatever I gain in the two days OFF, is what I lose again in the 5 days on...therefore if losing is not what you want to do, it works great.
It's even talked about in the "maintainence" phase of the This so fast EARLY early book by the Eades...
Why you lost when you were eating whatever you want?? I don't know, maybe you don't work well with the "count everything-stress out about too much" eating, but when you just let your subconcious mind make your choices, you're choosing well??

I dunno...I'm guessing.

What have you eaten when your "eating whatever you want"?? What are you food/amount choices?

[~Am~]

I agree with the others. If you go off for two days in a row, it probably takes two or three to get your body back in fat burning mode so you'd only have one or two "fat burning days" in a week.

What do you think could help you stick to the program more consistently? What are the issues that are making you stray a couple days each week?

(I'm by no means an expert, I ask myself similar questions!)

[Feelix]

Thank you for all of your comments. I appreciate it.

I have about 40lbs to lose to get to a healthy place. 50-60lbs to be extremely lean and light. :-)

As far as my week officially not eating and counting PP. I had carbs through taco shells, ice cream, pasta and potatoes.

To stick to the program, it's just a matter of doing it. The shakes helped tremendously with breakfast and feeling full throughout the morning. The last two weeks were wonderful that way. the last 2 weeks I had 2 days where I was over my carbs by 5 one day and 10 the other. I happen to like cheese fries. :-) I know I can follow the program consistently - I was just frustrated after "working" the program and see NO CHANGE. I was interested if anyone has done what I did and had similar or different results. Thank you all for sharing. The next piece of the journey, is being consistent with weight lifting. it's only twice a week. I can totally do it. :-)

Thanks again!

[Gaelen]

Feelix, yes--actually--some people DO NOT see any weight loss type results for the first 6-8 weeks on plan.

I am working the plan, and have been fighting with the same three pounds for about the last eight weeks. Does that discourage me? some days, yes. But most days I try to remember that my bloodwork is better than it's been in months, I'm slowly getting stronger and healthiers, and that I can either live every day healthier, or not...but if I choose not, I have no one to blame for not feeling well but myself.

As for 'working the program and seeing no change,' you really DO need to try to follow the plan every day, all day, skipping the cheese fries and the ice cream and the pasta and potatoes every day, all day before you blame lack of progress on the plan. You CAN have a taco shell...but usually only one, and NOT the big size, and not every day! One regular sized hard taco shell is about 7g ECC. But you need to fill it with solid proteins and nice fresh raw veggies. ;) If you're going to have carbs that have little or no protein, then have vegetables. Have some fruit. Make the carbs you eat count for something (like vitamins and minerals and micronutrients), and use them as accents and spot flavoring, instead of being empty carbs which can mount up and be too easy to overeat.

[maxlharris]

This is late and already said.
5 out of 7 is 71% on plan. That's a C-. You cannot expect success with a C-. If you are doing a cycled ketogenic program (which isn't PP btw), you are supposed to load for some kind of hard workout. Or post. I'm not sure, but the idea is to have the carbs there when you need them, and not hanging around, messing with your insulin levels and fat stores.
You really have to strive for 90% compliance to expect results. That would be 3 off days spread in a month, less than one a week.
Good luck.

[WakefieldWendy]

5 out of 7 is 71% on plan. That's a C-. You cannot expect success with a C-.

Interesting analogy, and bang on the mark.

Do yourself a favour. Follow the plan, to the letter, for 2 weeks. Then decide if it works.

[amyhobbit]

I'm having the same problem of not losing anything for 2 weeks, although I've been following the plan every day. I haven't strayed and yet the scale and the measurements don't reflect anything! I'm frustrated now. :( I know that I messed up 3 weeks ago but to be 2 weeks straight on the plan and not lose an ounce? Frustration galor.

I'm starting to think I should start counting calories again and that's just depressing! I'm honestly not eating much for breakfast/lunch/dinner. Maybe I need to throw in more salads. My meals consist mainly of protein and my snacks are nuts/salami/cheese.

*sigh*

Amy

[Mitra]

Amy, why don't you post your menus in the daily menu thread for a few days, and ask for feedback, to see if anybody can spot any problems? It would be useful to have a rough idea of the quantities, too, so we can see if you're eating too much or too little overall. For instance, if most of what you eat is lean protein, it's very easy to eat much less than you realise, while nut/cheese/salami snacks can take things the other way - an ounce is probably fine, half a pound probably isn't.

[amyhobbit]

Sounds like a plan! I try not to post menus b/c I feel like I'll over obsess about what i'm eating but this week I'll do it! Thanks for the idea! :o

Amy