I am starting IP tomorrow, I have my first appointment and weigh in. I sort of started with some alternative shakes this week and used egg white only omelet (4 whites and 1 yolk) as an alternative to breakfast protein and have lost 4 lbs so far.

I am excited about starting, the shakes I found weren't the greatest, and I am not sure how much of the foods I get to choose with the starter kit.
2 things
1) What IP foods do you like the best?
2) What do you do when you go to a party? We have a dinner party on Saturday, I was wondering if it would be really rude to bring my own food - but I don't want to set myself back when I have been so good. To complicate things, the party is a going away party for us (we move in a month!)....

HELP HELP HELP! I have been checking out all your posts - you are such an inspiration.

First of all, good luck!!!

I've been on IP for a little over 3 weeks now and officially lost 15.2 pounds (and another couple since weigh in).

My favorites are: butterscotch pudding, the orange drink, vanilla pudding, and the chocolate drink. The rest of the unrestricted foods aren't great in my opinion. My least favorites are the wildberry yogurt smoothie and the strawberry pudding and the herb and cheese omelet. All of those make me sick just thinking about them.

When it comes to parties, I normally ask what is being served and if it doesn't fall in line with the diet plan, I politely inquire if it would be ok for me to bring my own food. When we travel, we do the same thing. If they're serving a type of meat that is ok and a veggie you can eat, I don't see anything wrong with eating what is prepared!! This is probably the hardest part of the diet--explaining to other people that you have tight restrictions!!

Again, good luck!! You can do this!

I have only really disliked the cream of chicken soup, but I think I over cooked it, so the texture was gross. The puddings are fine, but I add sugar and flavored syrups to them. I like the cereal with one Truvia sweetener and cinnamon - it's nice to get the crunch! All the fruity drinks I like, and I just got the cookies & cream and chocolate pancake "restricted" meals this week. Not too bad!

I have only had to eat out once, and I called ahead to make sure I could just get a stir-fried veggie meal. At a catered lunch for work, they had salad and a veggie wrap that I pulled out of the wrap... I have decided that I would feel worse eating food that I shouldn't eat, than if I let my host know that I am on a restricted diet and do my best to work around it. My coworkers are starting to notice (~13 lbs down so far) and it just feels too good to let one meal bring me down!

I'm sure you will do well. Let us know how it goes!

i have been on IP for 10 weeks and my fav non restricted foods are... chocolate shake, peach mango drink, lemon pudding, vanilla pudding.

for restricted my favs are: south west cheese curls, apple cinn puffs, peanut puffs, all the bars are delicious.

dislike: omelet (I had it too many days in a row and can't even think about it without getting sick), strawberry pudding (strange chemical taste), pink lemonade (never shakes up right for me, leaves weird foamy stuff), yogurt.

Hate: all the soups.


for parties, I let them know that I am on a "medical diet" (I haven't really told many people I am on this, I found the few I told were negative, so now I say it is a medical diet) Then I ask them what is being served. If I have to, I will explain that I can not eat that, and ask if it is okay if I bring my own food. No one has had a problem with this.

Everyone has different tastes for sure, I for one, LOVE the omelette, but I add 2 cups of cooked veggies to it...celery, peppers, mushrooms, green onions, and some grilled tomatoes once in a while.
I HATE the soups, even tho I only tried the tomato, and Leek...both disgusting in my opinion...the ready to use Chocolate pudding is my favorite, and the ready to use vanilla is awesome as well. The puddings are just OK, and I do eat them at lunch time if I don't have an omelette.
I like all the bars I've tried caramel delight is my favorite, or chocolate peanut butter, and I like the southwest curls, and Salt and Vinegar ridges are great too.
Hope this helps

I like most everything, except the tomato basil soup. Thankfully I am not a picky eater, so I will generally try anything. I love the omelet and have it for lunch with asparagus in it. It's easy to make in the microwave, and it's nice to have a hot lunch that I can chew. The rest of the soups are good as long as they are cooked right (again I make them in the microwave). I ate them everyday at first, but have gotten burned out on them, and haven't had them much in the last month.

As far as it being rude to bring your own food, don't worry about it, just do it, or eat before you go. Some people may not like it, but this is important to you, and you don't want to be starving and tempted with non OP food. Don't be tempted to cheat just to save someone else's feelings. They will get over it quicker than you will get over cheating.

Thanks, I will be bringing veggies (probably cauliflower rice) and salad with me - I know they will be serving some meat, probably dry meat as well. In the emergency they dont, I will bring a shake. I am also saving my snack so that I can have a lemon pudding as dessert - we will see what happens!!!! Wishing me luck - you guys inspire to stay strong and focused on the price (i.e. my high school body back!)

Well, everyone's tastes are different...

Here are my reviews:

- Chocolate RTD drink box: my very favorite. I usually have it for evening snack.
- Vanilla RTD drink box: one of my favorites. I like it for breakfast (and I put some in my coffee too);
- Vanilla RTD pudding: I just recenly tried one and I like it;
- Crispy Cereal: strange texture but I like it for a change at breakfast sometimes (I usually add a dash of unsweetened cocoa and some cinamon when I have it);
- Omelet: very tasty! Too heavy for me to have for breakfast but I like it for lunch on weekends;
- Soups: I prefer the mushroom (with cooked mushrooms added to it) and the broccoli as is. Not crazy about tomato basil but have doctored it up and was able to tolerate it. Did not like leek soup. Did not even try the chicken one;
- Chili: I love it!
- Spaghetti Bolognese: I love it - especially over House Foods Tofu Shiratake Spaghetti noodles with cooked mushrooms;
- I love all of the bars that I have tried: lemon poppy seed, choco-raspberry, caramel crunch, Cookies-and-cream, peanut butter
- I love the sea salt and vinegar ridges; I like the BBQ ridges; I am not sure about the new white cheddar ridges; I really love the Southwest cheese curls!
- I don't like the mango peach drink;
- I hated the pomegranate blueberry drink (tasted like medecine to me);
- I love the pina colada drink;
- I love the pineapple banana drink;
- Soy puffs: the cinamon apple ones are nice, the chocolate and peanut butter ones are too good... I stopped buying them because I had a tendency to go overboard on them! They were too "more-ish" for me!
- Chocolate muffin/pancake mix - I've only had it as muffins and I like it.

Awesome - thank you. I had mushroom soup yesterday - it was decent after sprucing up with real mushrooms. I went to a party, brought my cauliflower rice. I was SO good - didn't touch the tortilla chips wiht salsa, spinach dip etc, didn't touch the cakes, tassies, red velvet, didn't eat teh restricted veggies. However, the meats weren't really lean, so that was my only but I am sooo proud of myself. No soda, no alcohol. And the weirdest thing - no URGE, no super craving (which I normally would have) I wonder if the ketones are doing their magic (tested yesterday and YES , I am in ketosis!).

Phew, will do oatmeal for breakfast I think adn maybe treat myself with some pudding later...

My favs so far are the chocolate drink, dark chocolate pudding, omelette with tons of veggies, wildberry yogurt drink, mushroom soup with mixed mushrooms, southwest cheese curls.

Dislikes: all the other soups, banana pudding, fruity drinks are tolerable

Still on Phase 1 so havent tried the chili or spaghetti, oatmeal, pancake mixes.

Just okayed to have one restricted item if I wish so just dabbling with the bars and the other munchies so I will send you an update in the next few weeks.

If I go out to a party, I tend to eat before we go so I am not tempted and I bring my shaker and a IP drink packet in my purse. If there are munchies, I bring my on IP packet of munchies so I dont feel left out. I find out also what will be served such as this past sunday, my family and I went to a BBQ and they had hamburgers. I had the patty, mustard, relish, lettuce, tomato and raw onions - condiments were nearly 0 carbs and sugar.

Interesting, I was given teh pancake mixes (restricted) and the spagetti (max 1x/week) already. I haven't used them yet and thought I would wait until at least a week had passed... Thank you for your advice. I was not a big fan of the fruity drink (peach mango) so I am guessing I might not like the others.

There is such a discrepancy in Phase 1 - restricted items permitted or not. I am hoping at my 3rd weigh in that I will be able to use the remaining restricted items as I am dying the try the zucchini pancake recipe using the maple oatmeal packet. I am going to pick up the pina colada drink and also the pineapple banana drink as Susie Bee mentioned. I find everyone likes and dislike different packages - guess it is up to personal taste.