Ok so i've been reading the past few days different things like...no more than 3-4 hours between protein, no eating after 8, having your last IP right before bed, its getting confusing.

How does one have an IP right before bed AND keep eating protein every 3-4 hours?

I get up at 6am and usually have my breakfast than. Lunch at noon, snack at 3, dinner at 7...i don't have any other food to have before bed!

If i wait to eat breakfast until i get to work, than its 8:30 and i would have been up for 2½ hours and i think we're to eat within 30-60 min of getting up.

So what happens if you don't have protein before bed for during the night?

GIRL!!...don't worry about the time lines.....LOOK at your losses....YOU are doing GREAT!!.....keep doing what you are doing, its working for YOU!

lol thanks. I just wanted to make sure that i don't lose lean muscle mass for going without protein for too long.

Scheduling can be a problem, I know first hand. I can only tell you what my coach told me and what I follow. She said to have protein ideally every 3 to 4 hours during your waking hours. If not your body will go start looking for it and if not available it will go to your lean muscle which you really don't want to loose. This diet was created to loose fat, not lean muscle. So given that info I eat breakfast around 9am, lunch around 1pm, dinner around 6pm and then a snack right before bedtime. My coach suggest right before bedtime because then at least you have protein in your body while you sleep at night. Of course looking at my schedule you can tell at times I go longer than 4 hours without protein, but I do try and stay as close to that schedule as possible.
The clinic I visit is more about BMI than the scale. I know the weeks that I watch my schedule more closely I loose more fat than muscle. However last week was so crazy for me and I couldn't follow any schedule. I did loose 3 pounds, but it was muscle, and as a result I gained in body fat. For obvious health reasons you want it to be the opposite way around. My goal is to be 130 pounds of lean muscle and low body fat. Not a 130 pound weakling. Just my .02 cents YMMV

Thanks...do you have any idea on how i can adjust my schedule? I get up at 6 and have to have lunch at noon.

Can you eat your breakfast around 8am? I know with your hours it doesn't seem practical to eat protein every 4 hours at least, but I would try to even out your schedule as much as possible. If not I would have my snack right before bedtime just to spread it out a bit. Otherwise you are having your last three meals all within 7 hours of each other, where if you could spread them out it would be more like 10 to 12 hours total spread between the last three meals. Does your clinic measure your BMI?

Here is my schedule. As you will see, it doesn't always follow the "exact" way, but it works for me and my life. As far as I can tell, it hasn't affected me at all.

7:00 am- wake up (start drinking water while I get ready)
8:45 am- breakfast
12:30 pm- lunch
4:15 pm- snack
5:30-6:30 pm- Workout or run
6:45 pm- post workout snack
8:30 pm- dinner
10:00 pm- bed

I would agree with Wuv.... You are doing great. I remember when you first started and you had to change coaches... Keep doing what you are doing!!

Hmmm its like trying to solve a puzzle, lol. The earliest i can have my breakfast if not at 6 its at 8:30 which is ok as i have my coffee and water earlier. Lunch has to be at noon. So is it best to have my snack at 3 and dinner at 7 and than that's it or go 7 hours between lunch and dinner and have a snack 2 hours after dinner (9ish)?

Btw, i feel hungry for my 3pm snack but i'm never hungry after dinner.

And no, my clinic doesn't do anything beside the weight and measurements.


Oh gosh yeah...you know, sometimes i wonder if i would've continued with IP had I not been able to change coach... what a nightmare!

Busy, you are doing fantastic, so if you are comfortable with what you are doing, stay with it. I can't see changing if you are not hungry and you are losing. Keep up the good job.

What's helped me is to get a set routine, as best I can and then to stick with it as close as I can. As other said you're doing great so don't sweat it. But as things slow down you may want to revisit your schedule. Having the last IP at night before bed is helpful so your body can use the energy to burn off other fat from your body while you sleep.

Here is the schedule that works for me
6:30 AM, water and 1/3 cup Egg whites
8:00 AM IP Drink Potassium/Multi
11:00 AM IP Drink or BBQ snacks/bar
11-1 2 Cups Veggies
1:30-2:00 IP Drink
6:00 Dinner 2 Cal Mags, Multi, Fish Oil
8:30 IP Pudding, 2 CalMags
Bed about 9:30 or 10, longer I'm on IP I feel I get tired earlier.

I guess at that point it would be a judgement call since you don't really know how you are doing with your lean muscle vs. body fat. I guess I would say go with your gut and how you feel. But I have to say once again I just don't get how some clinics aren't checking to see how their clients are doing when it comes to lean muscle vs. body fat especially when this diet promotes that so much. I guess all I can say is just spread your protein out as evenly as possible and talk to your coach and see what he/she says. Although I'm guessing since they don't measure your BMI they can't really say much.

For those of you who've been on IP 2 months or longer, How much protein should we have before bed?