Ladyonadiet,
You mentioned that you don't eat meat.
Did your nurse give you the suggestions for vegetarian alternatives in addition to eggs?
It sure sounds like your nurse is acting as a great coach and passing along the latest information she gets from Ideal Protein.

I do eat some fish. But no, I do not have any vegetarian alternatives. Do you have any advice on where I should look for that information? I didn't see any on my IP sheets.
Thank you, she is wonderful! :)

The alternative that should be on your sheet is tofu.

Did you typically eat any vegetarian faux meat such as boca burgers, Quorn products or Gardein ones?

My apologies, tofu is on my sheet.
I have never had the products you listed. Are they acceptable a a protein source?

I worked closely with my coach to come up with vegetarian combinations.
I strongly suspect your weight losses are going to be better using the fish and eggs. You can PM me for the details if you would like.

Hi - My coach said to do 4 packets/day instead of 3, or 8 oz tofu. She also said I could have the Morning Star Prime grillers and have 1 1/2 of the patties to get the right amount of protein. I think she was trying to find ones with the least carbs, but there may not be alot of choice, depending on where you live.

I'm in Phase 4 now and am using some of the soy or whey protein isolate powders you can get that have little to no carbs and lots of protein - you could create your own concoctions/soups, etc., with that.

PS: Your NP sounds wonderful. My coaches were, and are, terrific, and I know what a difference it can make. Good luck to you!!!

I make a crepe into a wrap...then scramble two eggs and put them inside like a breakfast burrito! Get lots of protein that way. :)

I was just asking about Vegetarian alternatives yesterday. Here is what I have been told:

From my coach:
Hi ,

Well I looked through my manual and there is no specific vegetarian program. Does she eat fish or eggs? This could be an option. The packs have protein in them and are all vegetarian.
There is no animal product that I know of. She could substitute and extra non-restricted pack for her evening protein. She is welcome to give me a call. Talk to you soon :)

From searching the Forum threads/posts:

longdivision
Started IP 1/07/11
hi! i'm a vegetarian and i've been on plan for almost 6 months. here is what you can eat:

smart dogs
veggie burgers
non-breaded soy chicken
seitan
tofu
morning star bacon

there are tons of meat alternatives (boca, morning star, quorn, etc.) that you can eat. most are pretty high in protein. just try to keep your servings under 5 net carbs and watch out for sugars in the ingredients. always read the labels and stick to the serving sizes on the box. enjoy!

Don't know if this thread is still going, but the dietician told me that 1 egg counts as 1 ounce of protein, so the coach who said to have 5 eggs to replace the meat protein is correct.

Here is what longdivision said to me this am via PM:

hi kevin! yes, i've don the plan twice now as a vegetarian. there is nothing extra to add, you just switch your own proteins with things like tofu, veggie burgers, smart doggs, seitan, eggs (if you eat them), tofurkey, soy grounds and non-breaded fake chicken cutlets. read the back of these things before you buy them. i always make sure that they have less than 5 net carbs per serving and are no more than 120 calories. go by the serving size on the package and stick to that for your meal. i've found that i lose weight quicker than most with a vegetarian diet. you get a little more carbs than you would from eating meat, but the calories are much lower and for some reason it just works really well. oh, also, if you get hungry between meals, my favorite thing to eat is kelp noodles. you can buy these at whole foods. they have 6 calories per serving and 0 net carbs, and they are crunchy, which is a nice thing to have every now and then.

good luck! and let me know if you have any other questions.

At my WI last week my coach told me that you could have 4 eggs and count it as your protein. This seems to coincide with the 3-5 range.

Wow!!! Thank you so very much for all the information!!! It is truly so helpful!!!! This makes a world of difference for me! :)))

Mr. Yankee Fan.....I would love to talk to your coach! That would be great! I have no idea how to get her information from you. Please let me know. Thank you so very much!!!

And Congratulations to Everyone!!!! :)))

I am so new to this forum. I have no idea how to pm you...I added you to my buddy list, but I have no idea what else to do. I am sorry, please forgive my lack of knowledge. I would really love to hear your alternatives!!!

I think you will be able to PM once you have 10 posts. I will try to PM you so you can tell me your city and we can figure out what products you have available there.

I love that your questions generated so many wonderful vegetarian responses, and that others were able to see quicker losses on their vegetarian IP journeys.

I was hesitant to post the info similar to what others have posted, but now I am comfortable adding to what they have said.

First, the advice from longdivision thru yankeefan is similar to the products I used for the first 13 weeks. The first week or two I had salmon but then it kind of upset my stomach so my "go to" stuff was Gardein Chicken Scaloppini, Quorn Grounds, Gardein Beefless Tips, eggs and maybe a Quorn Naked Cutlet. I used the "serving size rule", like longdivision, so dinner protein was about 90 to 120 calories and about 14g of protein. I really felt that I wasn't getting enough protein, but that clinic (and especially my coach) didn't have any experience with vegetarians on IP. (I changed coaches starting at WI #13.)

My current (awesome!) coach gave me these parameters:
*target is 40 grams of protein at dinner
*can use 2 non-restricted packets for dinner protein
*the Vegetarian Product (the ones everyone has listed) has to have less than 10g of Carbs. If over 15g of Carbs, then don't have a restricted packet that day.
*if the Product has less than 15g of carbs, then can have it PLUS a non-restricted packet

Using the "serving size" replacement method:
Weeks 1-12: 30.4lbs (15.6% starting weight) and 5.6% body fat lost

Using the "new (awesome!) coach" method:
Weeks 13-25: 21.2lbs (13.1% of week 13 weight) and 8.9% body fat lost

(week 12 to 13 not included in calcs as I only have 25 weeks of data)

I would love to hear how you are doing trying to process all this info, ladyonadiet, and look forward to seeing posts of your success.

My coach told me depending on the size of the eggs that 3 large eggs would work. But what I usually do is 2 eggs and then add some other type of protein to make up the difference, like a couple of ounces of grilled shrimp or a few slices of Proscuitto ham. Again like everyone else said, you don't have to count calories, just follow the protocol and you will lose weight.