Week 3 of Ideal Protein and I'm losing too much muscle mass

mckinnon525

I decided to jump into Ideal Protein with my wife, who was actually under the advice of her endocrinologist, in order to lend some support and also shed about 20 pounds I'd been carrying since kids came along and I had to give up my gym membership.

Long story short, I had been at about 205 with a BMI of 28 for the past 2 years. I have a couple of herniated discs and a rotator cuff problem, so for now the kind of exercise I can do is limited. I knew diet would be a solid way to get a head start on any weight gain I might experience due to my increasing physical problems (which I'm undergoing treatment for), and my doctor concurred. We ate really well to begin with (sort of a hybrid Mediterranean/Paleo diet with no processed foods and limited carbs and sugar), so I find IP easy enough to follow. After the first week I was largely over hunger pains or other side effects of the diet. I also saw an almost 10 lb loss after that first week, about 6.2 pounds of which was fat. Good deal. The second week though, I lost 6 pounds total, but almost 4 pounds was muscle. I only dropped 1% body fat - still at about 22% total, shooting for 18%.

My coach was concerned and upped my IP intake to 4 packets a day, but said we might need to make more drastic modifications next week. I'm not really in danger of losing too much muscle yet since I started off above average, but I'm concerned about the ongoing loss ratio because I really can't exercise until I know more about my back and shoulder. My GP doesn't want me jogging or even walking much so that I don't put too much pressure on my spine and the pinched nerve. My orthopedist doesn't want me swimming due to my rotator cuff. He also nixed yoga, lifting, or anything that requires much usage or extreme range of motion of my left arm. I dunno - bicycle? I have an appointment with a neurologist in 2 weeks about my back, but until them I'm advised to not "try anything new" and am basically sedentary.

Any advice? For a bit of additional info, this pas weekend I did walk my girls to a park, pushing them in a stroller. It was about 1.5 miles one way, and by the time we got home I was TIRED. Felt like I'd just run an 18 minute 5k.

mochocki

Hey! How did your last check-in go?

4 years ago, my hubs and I did IP, both lost 50 pounds. I ended up working for the distributor for a year, then moved onto a new job. I have managed to gain back all plus. YAY :sad: but I'm back on the wagon because I know it works - I'll just be smarter about my Phase 4 lifestyle because I know how much of a pain it is to go back on the diet.

With all that said, I wanted to offer you encouragement. My husband is 6'3" - at his lightest (200), he could not lose any more weight (nor should he have). But almost the entire time, he was doing an extra packet or supplementing it with an EAS Carb Control Protein Shake (we buy them at Sam's - helps cut down on the costs of the program). Depending on the day, he'd go about 3-5 hours between each "meal" for a total of 5 per day. It helped stop the hunger issue and he stopped losing muscle. Men are different then women - most are built bigger - and every man is built different from another. You may just need more protein. Hopefully the extra packet worked! I know over the year of working at IP, I saw sooo many success stories, so I know they can find a way to help you lose fat and not muscle!