I would say no to the tortillas. That is not enough protein and it is either going to contain corn or flour, and both are not allowed.

Thanks I'm new and trying to do this myself.

I am having a hard time gagging down 4 cups of salad a day because of the atrocious dressings. I bought all the Walden Farms dressings and whoaa - that's bad! I'm a Hidden Valley Ranch kind of girl. Any suggestions? Also, do we HAVE to eat all that salad or can we skip it once a day if you replace it with, say, Benefiber?

you should be having 4 cups of veggies.... lettuce does not count toward your 4 cup a day allowance

Have you tried this kind of menu set up:
B: shake or ip packet.
S: 1 cup veggies
L: shake or ip packet
S: 1 cup veggies
D: 8oz lean protein & salad [include 1 cup veggies]
S: 1 cup veggies + shake before bed.

That's what I'm going with to space mine out a little more.

First off, take anything I say with a grain of salt, as I've only been on this diet for one week. But I lost 7 pounds!!!

I've been looking at the Ideal To Go website, on this page, which lists all the products and their nutritional info. Some list the ingredients as well. It's a good resource if you're trying to compare other products.

So far, I have used the EAS AdvantEDGE RTD (Ready to drink), PureProtein RTD (small can), and a generic store-brand whey/soy protein drink mix for drinks. I made sure all the drinks and the drink mix were comparable to the nutrition info and ingredients on the Ideal to Go site. Also, I found ProtiDiet oatmeal and ProtiDiet chicken soup on the Nashua Nutrition website. Just be aware that even if the product looks the same as and IP product, make sure to check the nutritional info and ingredients. The ProtiDiet oatmeal is nice because it has less carbs than the IP oatmeal. I'm using it as an unrestricted, whereas the IP oatmeal is restricted.

I've also purchase this CNP pudding, which as a pudding or a drink was hard for me to choke down. However, I've found that mixing it w/ 2 egg whites and a little bit of water, then spreading it on a sprayed pan, it's kind of good as a pancake. I think you can also make it into a waffle if you have a waffle iron. Check out this waffle recipe for something similar.

I'm going to try the waffle recipe with a packet of pudding and a packet of oatmeal tomorrow, and split it with my husband. Seems like it would be good, but I'll let you know.

I try to include some romaine lettuce in my lunches and dinners (usually I use it like a taco shell for my dinner meat), but I'm not a big salad fan so I don't make salads very much. I used to LOVE ranch dressing. I like the creamy bacon WF dressing, but try not to use it too much. If I do make a salad, I love to use my teaspoon of olive oil as dressing (with sea salt, pepper, and maybe some lemon juice or apple cider vinegar if I really want a dressing). I much prefer to eat 2 cups of steamed or roasted veggies, with my olive oil, sea salt and pepper. It seems much healthier to me than the processed WF dressings, more delicious, and I definitely feel more satisfied.

I've been using oil and vinegar (plus herbs, salt, etc.) as my dressing. I don't think I could handle the WF dressings (I tried their alfredo sauce once while doing Weight Watchers 2 years ago and YUCK!). Today, I added some DaVinci sugar-free raspberry syrup to make a raspberry vinaigrette.

I have "cheated" a bit though and used this Bolthouse yogurt dressing for Big Mac in a bowl. I used 1 tbsp instead of 2 and stretched it with vinegar. Wondering what others think - is this okay for once a week ('cause I'd really like to try it w/FinnSteven's recipe for a NY deli reuben)?

I dont' use any of the walden farms products because I don't like the taste or texture of any of them.

For dressing, I use fresh lemon, EVOO, salt and pepper. It's fresh, light and delicious. I used to love ranch, blue cheese dressings...but now I'm happy with my lighter/healthier dressing.

Personally I hardly eat any salad. I am usually on the go and like things that I can pick up and eat in the car (sliced peppers, cucumbers, ect). You do need to make sure to get in your 4 c veggies though.

I personally wouldn't but I know that some people play faster and looser with the rules and substitute 1oz of non fat cheese for their 1oz skim coffee milk in things like big mac in a bowl so I don't think 1 Tbsp would totally do you in. Like I said though I don't do the cheese and I wouldn't do that.

I am really pleased with my first week on alternatives! WI this morning was down 10.8lbs!

Since some people are keeping track of what they've been using to help others I thought I would too. I hope this helps someone!

This week I've used:

Proti Thin Cappuccino

Vanilla Peanut Bars

Chocolate Soy Puffs

Pure Protein Gelatin

I'm also putting together my order for next month and here's what I'm planning on ordering:

Proti Thin Cappuccino

1 Box Proti Thin Chocolate Peanut Bars

1 Box Proti Thin Vanilla Peanut Bars

1 Box Proti Diet Vanilla Wafers

1 Box Proti Diet Chocolate Wafers

10 Packages (5 of each flavor) Pure Protein Gelatin

These new wafers are on sale this week. They still have a little more fat than most IP products but they're closer to the calories then the other ones I was buying (only 150 calories). Plus they're a better buy because you get 7 in a box, whereas with the other brand you only got 5. Plus, they DON'T have fructose in them, which I know we were talking about earlier. I eat white fish for dinner almost every night so I'm not to worried about the few extra grams of fat (and I like that they're lower in calories) but I probably wouldn't have on the same day that I was eating beef or salmon for dinner because of the fat.

And a word on the Gelatin, if you're used to the IP Raspberry Jelly it is not nearly as good, the taste (at least for the cherry punch, which is the only one I ordered last time) is much more artificial and almost tastes effervescent on your tongue which is a little strange to get used to. The advantage is they're already made up, but I would ALWAYS eat them cold, when they're room temp they have a funny texture. I hope Proti-Thin gets on the gelatin bandwagon soon and makes one without aspartame.

THANKS FOR THE HELP. The IP page is just what I have been looking for to compare ingredients.

What if you had two hardboiled eggs and then had a small portion of chicken or fish is that too much protein? Does that hinder the weightloss?

Thanks uolecrab... I order from Ideal to Go and never realized that the nutrition info was even there! How embarrassing for me. LOL. I ORDERED 3 packs (21 boxes) of RTD Vanilla in Feb last year and haven't had but two since. The expiration is Nov '11 and I'm hoping they are still healthy. I just had one for breakfast and it tastes great. I'm in shock that there is only 2 gr of carbs to 15 g of protein. I've been way over my restricteds daily since mom (94) broke her ankle and went into nursing rehab last week. I'm gonna make these vanilla shakes my go2 food till they run out unless I get word from someone not to consume them after the exp date.

Also, I've never met anyone else who orders from Ideal to Go. Anyone else out there?

I think 1 hard-boiled egg plus 1/2 serving of chicken or fish (4 oz) would probably be okay. I think 2 eggs is considered a full serving of protein.