@ Stephascope & Paulitens
I started Ideal Protein about 9 weeks ago using the real IP food. The first few weeks I didn't get hungry but for about the past four weeks I get hungry...rumbling stomach hungry. I was seeing a not so good coach and he didn't give me any advice (that's why I dumped him and am now switching to alternatives) I still have been losing so I'm not worried about it. Maybe I will add a bit more protein because of Stephascopes post (not sure) I was having all kinds of thoughts about donuts...cookies...fried foods etc The cravings come and go but Paulitens you are not alone here Hang in there! Besides I guess I'd rather feel what it truly is to be hungry than to be bloated & lethargic from carb overload Just keep sipping your tea

Oh, yeah! I forgot about Nashua! I'll look it up. Thank you!

I'm sipping my tea as we speak . That's crazy. I'll keep an eye on that. I haven't felt like that with my tummy rumbling yet (thank goodness, because I seriously am not me when I'm hungry, hahaha!). This was a craving and just the need to chew on food. I even thought if maybe chewing gum would help but I didn't want to go down that path. I'll check Nashua, and keep fighting the good fight. Thank you for your encouragement! I know I'm not alone that's why I came to you yesterday for answers.

Paulitens:
I would say that my best trick was to stay away from the sweet bars, they made me more apt to want sweet things. I usually buy a rotissery chicken at Sams or the grocery store check if it is high in sugar and see if they add anything to cooking process. The one I found has no sugar, so I debone and de skin it due to the skin being my favorite part....i put all the meat into a tupperware container and take it with me to work in the morning if I feel hungry I grab some chicken out and that will satisfy me and I just incorporate the amount of chicken I eat in with your nightly portion and subtract the amount you ate at lunch from the 8 oz.

Try adding a bit more protein and see what happens. If your losses slow down after a couple weeks then by all means, go back to the 8 oz per day but it's not protein that makes us fat. It's the carbs. I tend to drink extra coffee to curb my hunger until meal time but that is probably worse than just eating a hard boiled egg. You don't want your body to go into starvation mode. That's when your lean mass starts deteriorating. Let me know how it goes!

I've never heard of these bars..... I wonder what the '100' referees to??


Good luck Paulitens! I think you're going to do awesome now that you edit he'd those bars!

You got me lost with the addition and subtraction there. LOL. Because When I look at the IP daily eating schedule, it doesn't say to eat 8 oz of protein at lunch (it says IP envelope, 2 cups of green veggies, unlimited lettuce, water, and the vitamins). What do you mean by 8 oz? Are we supposed to eat 8 oz of "solid" protein (meats, eggs, poultry, fish, etc.)? I thought they were only 5-7 ounces, at dinnertime. I'm lost.

Well, today I made myself a two-egg omelette when the need to chew started to kick in. It worked like a charm! I added it to the lunch. Should I subtract the egg from the total amount of ounces permitted for the day, or do I eat it additionally?

Those bars are awesome. They are delicious, and they are sold at Walmart in the pharmacy section, with all the muscle supplements and all that stuff. They are a meal replacement, and they are for people who are working out. They have 420 calories each, imagine that. It SO doesn't fit into IP, but they are just so chocolatey and so scrumptious! LOL Sounds like I'm craving one. I'm glad to say that's not the case.

As for the 100? I don't know, maybe how many lbs you can pack on in a month if your diet consists of that bar? Hahaha!

Glad that helped. You can subtract those eggs from your daily 8 oz protein allowance to follow the IP protocol. You can have 4 eggs plus 2 egg whites total to make up the daily 8 oz. If you had 6 oz of a different protein, that would be okay too. You're supposed to measure your animal protein raw. It shrinks after cooking.

I am eating an extra 4 oz of protein during the day to combat hunger and keep my lean mass up as per my coach's advice. My losses seem to be great since I started that. Everyone is different though. Might not work for others.

Ok. I'm just adding them at this point. Maybe later I can get to a point where I can subtract my eggs from the dinner ounces.

I felt like I ate too much today, though. Not very happy. I made myself a two-egg omelette for my late morning anxiety/hunger/need to chew (lol). And then I didn't have a proper lunch because I ran out of green veggies other than lettuce and lettuce alone is just blah. So I had a shake instead. And then mid-afternoon I got a really bad craving, probably from going for a walk, so I ate one hard boiled egg. And then had chicken and salad for dinner, and a shake for evening snack. All those eggs satiated my chocolate craving (weird, huh? it was probably the protein) throughout the day, but I feel it was a lot of food and a lot of fat and cholesterol.

It's like when I enter my food intake on the Loseit! app, I consume almost as much fat as protein throughout the day, and those two are more than the carbs. I don't know -- am I supposed to eat all that fat?

Anyway, rant over. I will be lucky if I lost a pound by the end of this week, which will depress me and make things tougher, and will make want to quit by week three as usual. I don't want to quit or feel like quitting!

Paulitens - it is very important to get those veggies in! If you follow the Phase 1 sheet you'll be fine - honest! Just do one week making sure to get everything in and sticking to the sheet and you'll feel so much better and motivated. It will get easier and easier each week and you'll be so glad you did it!

Don't worry about the fat or cholesterol. Don't even worry about the calories too much. Even with the extra couple eggs you shouldn't be going much over 900 calories. It's the carbs you have to watch. Make sure you get your veggies!

Great tip... Stephascope...I was wondering about adding more protein on the days I'm super-hungry....Thank you

Well, I followed last week (my first week) to a t and lost 4lbs. And then this week I was starting to feel a bit more hungry than I felt before, so I would nibble on those big protein bars throughout the day (usually just half of them, which would be 16 g. of protein, 20 g. of carbs, and 205 cals; I know, so not part of the IP program, so I quit). And the scale isn't moving much as opposed to last week that it was moving pretty nicely, so I'm feeling quite discouraged. I know it's too soon to jump to any conclusions, but not feeling excited about this as I was last week, and feeling a bit hungry/with cravings I didn't have last week bugs me. I will keep going. I trust everything will get easier.

Yeah, even with the extra eggs, according to Loseit! I haven't even reached 900 calories. I have learned that I have to watch the calories above everything else; I'm getting myself some more green veggies tomorrow and I'll try some Nashua products for those days when I'm absolutely craving chocolate. That is the only craving I'm having! It's driving me nuts because I am a chocolate person but not THAT badly. LOL. It's nutso.

Thank you for all your suggestions and advice, stephascope! You rock!!

I agree you cannot jump to ANY conclusions yet. Really, eating those bars probably set you back to day one by having way too many carbs.

I also agree with Ruth Ann - you need another full week following the P1 sheet ... You saw four pounds drop when you followed it and as soon as you added those bars, you stopped losing. Go back to what you did week one and get EVERYTHING on the sheet in every day. If you are Hungary you could add one non restricted packet OR one egg OR two egg whites... But not all of those in one day. Beyond that, only lettuce is free (as much as you want) and you can top with WF dressing (watch serving size and only 5-6 WF servings per day). Perhaps try a dill pickle spear or two. if lettuce or pickles don't sound appealing, then you are NOT actually hungry, but rather board or wanting to eat something out of habit.

You keep referring to "green" veggies, but you can have peppers, onions, yellow zucchini and the amazingly versatile cauliflower, so start adding some variety. Have a half cup of peppers and cukes between breakfast and lunch for your chewing snack (subtract from lunch veggies).

Freeze an IP chocolate pudding and top with WF chocolate syrup for your chocolate fix. Or Try chocolate soy puffs... Super chocolaty!

Are you having more than just shakes for your IP packets? You will probably feel more satisfied branching out... You may have said you are doing Alternatives and there are so MANY options... Omelets, chili, soup, bars, chips, pancakes ...(does this sound familiar - I posted quite a list several posts above).

But most of all, you will have to go through some hunger and cravings to get into Ketosis and reach the best part of IP - losing weight and inches. We all went through it... Use the info on these boards for ideas to get you through and read the daily chat and other threads for inspiration when you are going through a tough craving! I venture to say a good solid week of 100% OP and you will feel way better about everything!!!

YOU CAN DO IT!

Hi, JLus, thank you for your answer!

The thing is, I am doing an alternative IP as in I am not buying IP products. I simply don't have the money for that kind of thing, so suggestions of replacing this and that with IP products don't help me much. LOL. But in any case... I did end up losing weight last week. I was just being really paranoid because I kept checking my weight every day (which I know I SHOULD NOT DO! ). I lost 5 lbs actually. So no, I am not eating those bars anymore and yes, I am eating more eggs when I feel the need to chew on something in the morning, and I eat peppers and cucumbers and all that, as per the list of permitted vegetables (I just call them "green" because cucumbers, asparagus, broccoli, celery, etc., happen to have green in them ). And I'm going great, I'm very excited, very motivated to keep going... Last week was a downer in general but I pulled through. I can't complain, in the first two weeks of the diet, even with my own tweaks and what seem to be "breaks" I lost 9 lbs. But I don't intend to make those "breaks" a habit (they were not really breaks, I wasn't eating a Snickers bar and Oreos, I was eating a healthy product with just more carbs than I'm supposed to ingest; it is still a great, healthy product for people not on IP who want to build muscle).

I think you are onto something about getting used to some hunger. That said, here is what I experienced, in case it might help:

After some time in ketosis on IP--don't really know how long--I also experienced more hunger. Many reasons--each of our unique metabolisms, variation in activity level, etc. I stuck to the lower carb choices of packets, lower carb veggies, and have a physically demanding job. To stay OP more or less, I "cheated" with chicken. Once I was firmly entrenched in ketosis, I often ate a total of 16 oz of chicken in addition to the prescribed packets & veggies. I was satisfied with my 3 lb/week on average weight loss and shrinking size.

I advocate sticking to the plan and not tweaking too much, as that can be a slippery slope into eating chaos. And, as you wisely pointed out, getting used to the sensation of hunger without immediately running for food is important. It's part of the natural process that stimulates the liver to release stored energy.

Hope this helps