Medical Weight Loss FAQs
Answers to commonly asked questions about our medical weight loss program.
How is the Ideal Protein Weight Loss Method different from other protein diets on the market?
The Ideal Protein Weight Loss Method treats weight issues at its source. When you reach your weight loss goal, you will have transformed your body’s ability to metabolize sugar by re-educating your pancreas to produce only the insulin you need.
The Ideal Protein Weight Loss Method aims to reduce carbohydrates and fats, not protein. In so doing, it preserves muscle tissue and protects vital organs to secure their proper function. In other words, you will lose fat, not muscle.
The Ideal Protein Weight Loss Method features up to 20 grams of protein per portion, twice as much as most of the competition.
The Ideal Protein Weight Loss Method features a high biological protein, complete with eight essential amino acids, which recreates 100% of the biological value of a complete protein for maximum assimilation and absorption.
The Ideal Protein Weight Loss Method is less toxic than other protein diets because it features less saturated fats, no trans fats, no aspartame, no Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) and no Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs).
What should a dieter know before starting the Ideal Protein Weight Loss Method?
Although many people do not experience any discomfort and feel utterly satisfied throughout the protocol, some may experience “withdrawal” symptoms during the first few days of the diet. This is absolutely normal and should even be anticipated, especially by those who are used to consuming a lot of processed foods, sweets and salty foods.
Can a dieter expect consistent weight loss?
Yes. Women will lose 2-4 lbs., Men 4-8 lbs. a week. If you follow the protocol without deviations and do not lose weight in a given week, it is due to one of the following reasons:
- Intentional or unintentional deviations from the program (cheats)
- Pre- or Peri-menopausal women
- Constipation
- Muscle gain vs. Fat loss
Is the Ideal Protein Weight Loss Method considered a high-, medium- or low-calorie diet?
The protocol would be considered a medium- to low-calorie diet. The Ideal Protein Weight Loss Method offers the optimal quantity of proteins, vitamins and minerals required to ensure the proper functioning of all body systems.
Why are the supplements compulsory during the Ideal Protein Weight Loss Method?
It is important for people following the protocol to take recommended supplements as specified to compensate for nutrients otherwise present in foods that we are temporarily cutting out in Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the Ideal Protein Weight Loss Method. We use Standard Process supplements, to provide the best, all-natural supplements.
Why is sea salt required during the Ideal Protein Weight Loss Method?
The USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Guide) recommends that people consume 2,300 mg (approximately 1 teaspoon) of salt, per day. That quantity is often exceeded in the industrial foods consumed in North America, including breads, pastas and cheeses, all saturated with salt. That’s why most doctors tell patients to move away from salt, generally speaking. With all that salt, you need not add more salt to your food.
The Ideal Protein Weight Loss Method has none of these industrial foods. Even if choices of the Ideal Protein envelopes are salted, you need to add sea salt to your diet: lightly sprinkle your vegetables and your protein source, whatever it may be, meat, poultry, fish, seafood, eggs or tofu, with sea salt to ensure that your body has all the sodium it needs to function properly.
Is the Ideal Protein Weight Loss method safe?
Our protocol is safe for just about everyone. Women who are pregnant or breast feeding should only use Ideal Protein’s protein foods to supplement their diet.
Why is exercise NOT recommended during the Ideal Protein Weight Loss Method?
Dieters on the protocol are on an extremely low-caloric diet, yet their bodies actually get more calories than before starting the protocol. Why? Because they are burning (using their fat stores) fat. They get about 900 Kcals per day from the foods they eat (on Phase 1), but if they lose 4 lbs. per week (on average) 4 x 3500 Kcal/lb. of fat means 14,000 Kcal/week, divide by 7 equals 2000 Kcals per day. They are actually consuming 900 Kcal + 2000 Kcals = 2900 Kcals per day. Dieters’ bodies must make the necessary enzymes to fully burn the ketonic bodies produced from fat metabolism (beta oxidation). It takes about two weeks for this to happen. During the first three weeks, the body gets the necessary “enzymatic machinery” in place so it can use 100% of the ketonic bodies (for cellular fuel) produced by burning fat.
In the first couple of weeks, the body cannot use all of them, and dieters’ breath them out (acetone breath), “pee them out” (ketostix turn purple when dipped in dieter’s urine) or excrete excess ketones in feces. If blood sugar dips too low during this time period, the proteins we supply and muscles can undergo gluconeogenesis, and glucose can be produced.
If dieters increase glucose demand (i.e., exercise vigorously during these first three weeks), they increase gluconeogenesis markedly. This can result in muscle loss, which is something to avoid. If dieters must exercise during the first three weeks, they should do it lightly, (1/3 to 1/2 normal intensity) or not at all.
Here’s the beauty of the program. During this period, dieters are “peeing out calories” without having to exercise. They lose the same amount of weight without losing muscle. This is not about calories in/calories out, it is about hormones and metabolism. They were fighting a hormone (insulin) before. People cannot exercise their way out of that. The hormone always wins. After the first three weeks, dieters can exercise, but please keep in mind:
- Do not get overly tired.
- Supplements are necessary.
- Keep well hydrated, if exercising you must increase your water.
Why is fruit not allowed on the Ideal Protein Weight Loss Method?
While fruits do not make you gain weight, they can slow down and even prevent you from losing weight. That’s because once metabolized by the body, fruits transform into sugar or glucose, and the glucose reserve is precisely what you want to deplete in order to get your body to burn calories from your excess fat supply.
Fruits are denied on the protocol only until you reach your weight loss goal. Fruits are introduced in the stabilization period once your pancreas’ proper metabolizing of sugars has been restored.
You should know that the body stores no more than three days’ worth of carbohydrates in your body. The goal of the protocol is to empty the body’s reserves of carbohydrates so that it can begin to burn its reserve of excess fat, all the while remaining alert and vigorous through muscle-building and organ-protecting protein foods, such as Ideal Protein foods, eggs, lean meats, poultry, fish and seafood.
Why are protein foods so vital?
The immune system, which includes all vital organs, eyes, nails, hair, skin and muscles, are made of protein. Muscles are the engine that burns calories. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn. The more calories you burn, the more fat you burn. That’s why men lose weight faster than women, because typically men have greater muscle mass than women.