Hey everyone.

I'm struggling a little bit here. I've been following plan exactly. I have not cheated. I'm finding it very hard to make it to dinner from lunch. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm still in my first week, and so I've been eating 1/2 of a bar and then just halving my bedtime snack, although they said during the first week we could have up to 5 packets a day. I really don't want to do that.

Also - I'm on day 6, weigh-i is Wednesday at noon. I made the mistake of stepping on my scale at home (I weighted here before I went to my first appt so I had a baseline on my own scale) and it has NOT BUDGED.

So here I am, hungry and no loss that I can see.

Words of advice/wisdom out there??

Thanks all...Jenn

Jenn, there are a lot of little "tricks" to deal with the hunger. First off, lettuce is unlimited, so you can always eat lettuce with some Walden Farms dressing. I believe you can also have two eggs whites per day - sometimes scrambled egg whites with salt & pepper helps. Then, of course, there's water . . . which doesn't help with the hunger, IMO, but it keeps your mouth busy .

If your schedule permits it, you might try having your IP packet for lunch, then a couple hours later have your 2 c. veggies, and/or you can split your protein up and have part of it with lunch and the rest with dinner. Some people do better eating small amounts throughout the day, rather than waiting five hours between meals.

Or, take John's approach and just learn to embrace the hunger. It'll come and go while you're on the program.

Oh, and stay away from your scale! As tempting as it is, it's a really inaccurate way to judge your progress, because your weight can fluctuate so much from day to day, and so much from morning to night. You'll just drive yourself crazy if you keep stepping on the scale to "see if this diet is working."

The first couple weeks are the hardest, because everything is so new and you're probably obsessing constantly about the diet . Just hang in there, and it'll get much, much better!

THANK YOU!

I was under the impression I couldn't split anything up. I'll ask when I go on Wednesday. Any other thoughts on this? Has anyone been told it's restricted?

How are your timings? You should be eating every 4 hours starting within an hour of waking up. Make sure you consume a full packet for your meal (excluding the meal you cook). Also make sure you are getting your full 4C of veggies for the day (you can spread these out between meals to help with hunger).

You can absolutely split up your proteins and your veggies however will work best for your schedule. As long as you get all 8oz protein and 4 cups of veggies every day that's the most important thing.

Hi- ok first of all, you're tall and I'm not sure if you're muscular at all but that matters too. I was dying the first 5 days and I added a 4th packet and boom! It worked. My coach said if I'm hungry I must eat. I am on day 8 and am down 6.5 and have no hunger- never in my life have I had this. Don't cheat or you'll be back at square one. My best friend told me this:
"This us an expensive plan. Whatever you cheat with, will be the most expensive thing you have ever eaten"
She's right- I'm not interested in an $80 cookie

Why is that? Science disagrees with this.

I had a lot of hunger for a while but it eventually went away. Try different things to help you out like having 2 egg whites in the morning and moving your packet til mid morning( I did that for several weeks) I have soup for lunch w 2 cups veggies and a salad then have my snack around 3-4pm. Dinner is at 6 and then i have some tea if I am needing something sweet. The hunger will pass and the scale will move if you stay OP

Thanks everyone for the clarifications!

I sometimes have 2 hb egg whites before breakfast packet, and I always have my 'snack' around 4pm since I get hungry around then, and I eat dinner around 8p. I have also split my veggies up between meals as well. Whatever you need to do to get your satiety while getting all of your requirements in!

Hang in there. The first week is the worst! There's a lot of good advice already, so try one of the suggestions. If it doesn't work, try something else I started on October 1st and told myself I would give it a month. I stayed 100% OP and lost 23 lbs and countless inches. Now, I'm hooked! YOU CAN DO IT!

No offense JohnP, but maybe you'll be happier on the men forum rather than on the women's one.

I hope he doesn't leave. I appreciate his insights. I don't always agree with him (in fact, I often do not), but I like having a different perspective. Besides, I love the east bay. GOOOOOOOO BEARS!

I don't think this is a women's forum! Anyway to the Original Post...I also have to spread my food out. I eat breakfast late but eat every 2-3 hours after that.

If science disagrees that meal timings are irrelevant during ketosis I would be very interested in reviewing the clinical studies you are referencing.

However, seeing that diet related trials rarely follow the true scientific process of experimentation due to the uncontrollable amount of variables, they're rarely more than just pseudo-science.

That being said, this is a forum for the Ideal Protein plan and on this plan not exceeding 4hrs between meals is part of the guidelines. From what I have seen from your posts, you are not on IP and you often provide contradictory advice to newcomers to the program.