Starting IP on Monday. Glad to know that there is support for when I turn green from spinach and lettuce! Luckily where I am joining the program requires weigh ins every week as well as support or else I wouldn't make it. I am a little excited and a little intimidated by IP and all of your success stories!
My biggest concerns:
How do I get from 5:30am - 1pm without eating anything?
Does the program let u use anything in your coffee? I hate black coffee!

Just a thought....How many medals did the french win in the olympics since this is their diet???!!!!!

Welcome! Read the top 2 threads that have answers to all the questions you need or go to "google" and google your question with"ideal protein" in the search and it'll take you to a thread that has that discussion too.

I'm having a hard time with your exact problem. A lot of people make shakes in the morning so those are more filling -- if you add spinach or ice to your choc shake you can get 2-3 shakes out of it. But no one in my house wants to hear a blender at 5:00 am! Remember you can have eggs and egg whites as a protein source, so many people are boiling eggs, or making egg white omelettes for a more filling breakfast (w veggies as filler)

Personally, I love my coffee and so have switched to decaf and am drinking way too much decaf, with a bit of 1% milk in it, and so I'll have several cups a day, as well as my water. If you have regular coffee, you have to drink 1 (or 2) cups of water to counter the caffeine 'diuretic' effect. I love the taste of coffee, not the caffeine, so I was ok with the switch. The flavour makes me feel like I'm fuller than jsut water. 100% die hards will skip the milk in coffee, or do alternatives like adding the vanilla shake in or whatever but I don't like black or sweet coffee. I tried. I end up with a wee bit more milk than the daily allowance, but it gets me through without snacking on bars etc. so I'm okay with that but my losses may be less than others so I'm not advocating it as a choice for you. Chop veggies etc. too so you can have some non-IP snacks when you need them. We're here if you have questions, but there are tons of answers in the top 2 threads for new people so you'll learn a lot from reading those.

Are you saying you can't EAT anything between 5:30 and 1 or can't fix anything? If you could snack, I would suggest making some pudding muffins, of chocolate drink cookies, or my favorite the crispy cereal pancakes and spread WF apple butter between them like a sandwich and eat when you can.

Yes, you should eat a shake or a bar for breakfast. Don't go without.

I have the exact same issue with the times..I get up at 4am and try to put off eating as long as I can. I am not doing IP but alternatives so I have a RTD shake from Premier with 30gr of protein at about 630am and then at 1030am I am eating a salad. Only way I can do it is to have that lettuce to tied me over.

I hated black coffee too but I learned to like it if that was the only way I could have it. Not much for using a vanilla shake for "creamer" so it was just a matter of giving it a chance.

Good Luck with your start on Monday, it's a great way to lose the weight.

egg beaters & canadian bacon are your friends OR always keep a shake & bar handy. I found on this way of eating you HAVE TO have a plan or your sunk (atleast I was)

Is the time frame you are asking about because of your work schedule, and not being able to prepare anything at work? There are plenty of options that are "portable"! For one, I know the shakes might not seem to be much, but they are packed with protein and THAT is what fills you up - not necessarily the "bulk" of what you are eating. Here are a few portable breakfast options:
- Crispy Cereal made into pancakes ahead of time. Nuke for less than a minute when you are ready to eat them.
- Pudding or oatmeal "muffins" (there are tons of recipes in the recipe threads!)
- IP bars (just remember that would be your one restricted allowed per day)
- Omelette - cook up the night before, reheat when you are ready to eat

RE: Coffee - I actually use a vanilla Ready-to-drink shake as "creamer" in my coffee. BUT in the beginning I did drink it black - I was so used to the taste of the Coffeemate flavored creamers, I needed to "break" my taste buds from the sweetness. When I re-introduced the vanilla shake as creamer it wasn't as sweet as what I had been used to but it worked!

my coach said I must eat within an hour of waking up.

even if i wake up at 2am, i have a quarter of my shake

and after that to eat every four hours, they want our blood sugar to be stable

sonya

It's interesting how different coaches can be. Mine had no suggestions as to when to have breakfast (I usually eat around 8:30 but I'm up at 6:30). I do eat every 3-4 hours, but the only time restraint she mentioned was to have my bedtime snack no later than 1 hr before going to bed. It's worked for me so far!

THANKS SO MUCH YALL! ( yes I am a little yankee and now a little yall!) Yes, my work schedule is such that I barely get away from my desk from 7am thru 1pm but I CAN and WILL plan ahead and maybe since I am doing this for me, I might learn to walk away from my desk and say I have to take a break! Hmm....might be how i got in all these bad eating habits in the first place! I am so in awe of all of your successes and hope maybe one day I can share mine as well!!!!

I leave early in the morning too but not that early. I mix up a spinach shake the night before and use lots of ice. Then I put it in the fridge in one of those ceramic commuter cups with the silicon cover. I grab it in the morning and drink it while driving to work. Maybe you could have one at your desk? It is just as good as if I had just mixed it.
I like my coffee black but lots of people keep an extra RTD vanilla drink in the fridge and put a bit of that in their coffee.

Coffee..I use the EAS Carb Control Vanilla RTD as creamer in my coffee, a little goes a long way and gets some protein in me immediately when I wake up. As far as the planning your food around work, I'm clueless and in awe of all these people who do that, they've given great advice. I do work, but my schedule is a little more flexible. I try to have something in my stomach every 3 hours, shake, veggies, bar, dinner, shake is my routine. Stick as close as possible to the protocol and you will love this program and the results you get. Looking forward to success stories from you.

Your coach is wrong. Eating more often does not make your blood sugar more stable unless you're suffering from a medical condition.