Thank you all for your replies! You've been so helpful, I'm so glad I found this site :) I know it's going to give me all the support I need through this journey.

Originally Posted by paulimapi:
Thank you all for your replies! You've been so helpful, I'm so glad I found this site :) I know it's going to give me all the support I need through this journey.

It is really a wonderful place with so much support and so many people willing to share their knowledge.

My Coach never told me anything about restricted packets. I just got a big bag of variety packets - which included the bars as well. I was told they are all interchangeable and I could just pick one packet/bar for my meal. Interesting to know that they are restricted. But I am a vegetarian and I guess coming out of such high carb diet, my coach felt like it was okay to use the restricted. :)Good to know these points that you all have mentioned.

Originally Posted by PaperPetals:
My Coach never told me anything about restricted packets. I just got a big bag of variety packets - which included the bars as well. I was told they are all interchangeable and I could just pick one packet/bar for my meal. Interesting to know that they are restricted. But I am a vegetarian and I guess coming out of such high carb diet, my coach felt like it was okay to use the restricted. :)Good to know these points that you all have mentioned.

FYI - This is an old thread. Many of the products have been reformulated and some that were restricted are no longer. The protocol has changed a bit too.

Some clinics have in-house rules about avoiding restricted for the first few weeks (or entirely in some cases) but the official IP protocol allows for one per day. This diet is already very low in calories. Taking out the restricted may make it too low for some people. If you are not extremely carb sensitive, there is no reason to mess with a protocol that works very well for most people.