I suggest doing A LOT of reading on the forum.
Past threads will give you lots of ideas. I read for a month before I started IP so I had the knowledge base.
You'll read about how people get veggies into breakfast. I've had to back off on that b/c as you move through the program, you become more and more fond of veggies. If you have veggies at every meal, it's easy to get in 4 c. They actually become a go-to snack, especially when you get away from just eating raw veggies. Read all the recipe threads in the stickies and in the first post of the daily chat.
If 8 oz is too much meat, aim for 6 (that was the previous protocol). Or split your protein into 2 servings and have half for lunch and half for dinner. If you do this, you'll need an extra snack somewhere along the line.

Not really - this diet is really low calorie and we need every bit of "real" food we are supposed to have - for the digestion, and for the nutrients. If you find that you are having trouble getting in all the veggies, try spreading them out more over the course of the day. Some days I'll have 1 cup of veggies in my omelet packet with breakfast, 1 cup at lunch and 2 cups at dinner. Some have found blending spinach in a shake for breakfast works for them, or using purees instead of eating whole veggies.

The meat portion can also be split up if you need to, like having 2oz of meat at lunch and 6oz at dinner. also remember that the measurements are RAW- and food shrinks when it is cooked.

Welcome!! You'll love the support here, and get answers in the old (and new) posts. I second the notion of eating all you are supposed to eat, don't shortcut! Drinking all of our water everyday is essential for a good loss, too. So glad you are here!!!

I have done 2 oz of protein at lunch and 6 oz at dinner, helps me get through some of the tough times (TOT especially).

I will admit I don't get in all my veggies everyday, but I try my darndest. I usually get in 3 cups total at least... but yes sometimes at dinner it's hard for me to eat them all.

Ok, well I eat most of it, just sometimes I'm not able to eat the last little bit.

I am really hungry right now.Can I have one of my restricted snacks, even though I had a bar for breakfast?

No, only 1 restricted per day. Don't forget that lettuce is unlimited.

:welcome:When you're hungry, go to the veggies you can't get in at supper! Make an egg white omelette. Put Zuchinnis in the muffins. Add spinach to your shake.

If you get a grrrr moment (as in hung-grrrr), grab a cup of tea and come here and do some reading to distract you. The "stickies" that Lisa was talking about are the two threads at the very top of the page that have all the info you need to get started.

One way to get the veggies in is to have some veggie puree in the fridg at all times. Each week I roast 1 head of cauliflower, 1 red, 1 green, 1 orange, 1 yellow, 1 HOt pepper, 1 head of garlic, some sea salt & pepper. I puree it with some low sodium organic chicken broth. Actually about 1 cup of this puree equals 2 cups of veggies!

As far as restricted, I did IP a couple of years ago for 5 months and I lost better the weeks I actually ate the restricted, I think my body needed the extra carbs and calories, although it is not "alot" more it is a little more. I also eat my restricted at 8PM, that is when I get my "hungries", so as you can see, everyone is different, you will get a rhythm. Good Luck :)

Nope - only one restricted per day.

As someone pointed out - if you're having trouble getting all of your veggies in, NOW is a great time to make 1 cup of veggies for a snack! Then you only have 3 cups to get in for the rest of the day. Toss it in a bowl with some lettuce, have a big salad and you should be good to go. You may also want to browse through some of the other threads posted by people just starting out, there is a lot of good advice on hunger and how to deal with it and STAY ON PLAN.

Is Crystal Light and Mio allowed?I've heard that they are, but don't they contain aspartame?

Do you eat this puree on its own or do you add it to soup?

Mio does not use aspartame as its sweetener - there are many Crystal Light flavors that also do not use aspartame. Dasani Drops are another that uses sucralose not aspartame. This is one of those things that teaches you to read ALL nutrition labels and ingredients lists :) You are going to find sugar, starch and other stuff in the strangest places, so it ALWAYS pays to read the labels.

If you are not carb sensitive or insulin resistant, you shouldn't have any trouble using sugar free/carb free drink flavorings IN MODERATION. There are still small amounts of carbs in these products (pretty much anything labeled as 0 carb still has small amounts of carb, but if it's under 1 carb per serving they can legally say zero). Those partial carbs add up if you use too much or don't follow the serving sizes. I limit myself to 6 servings of "extras" like that every day - that way I know I am never adding more than 6 carbs to my diet for the day.