Honestly, I am just NOT hungry for the snack. I eat dinner late (3 kids, bath, bed) so by the time I sit down to relax for the evening, I'm full. Not too mention, the plan has really shrunk my stomach. The two cups of veggies are actually hard to finish and I rarely have salad.

My coach said I need to eat every four hours, maybe that means moving this snack to the afternoon instead of evening? But do I really need it? Wouldn't it be better to just skip the calories? I usually drink herbal tea at night.

You need it for the protein most importantly, and no you cannot skip it. You can have it between lunch and supper, most of us seem to have it after supper before bed.

From my understanding if you skip the snack you'd be losing out on protein most importantly. And if you don't get your minimium daily recommended protein your muscle mass is what your body is going to attack first (ie. where the weigh loss will come from) instead of your fat stores. Also, think of your metabolism as a fire and protein as the wood. You need to keep adding wood or your fire is going to slow down and extinguish itself.

I'm fairly new to this, but that is my understanding. I'm interested to see someone's thoughts who's more experienced.

Hi Sangria,
My coach said to definitely do your best to get in your proteins if at all possible. My plan has me eating 4 IP's a day (will go to 3 after I get to 220). I can have the snack either afternoon or evening once I have to choose. Knowing me, I'll save some veggies for the afternoon snack (dill pickle chips are awesome!) and have my snack in the evening, since I eat around 6pm and it'll carry me through the night that way.

Good luck!!!!!

Great explanation...

What they said!

I tend to have my snack at about 3 pm - (lunch for me is at about 11 am or so, depending on my work day) and then dinner at 7 pm.

Whichever time you decide to have it, just don't leave anything out that's on that sheet in Phase 1 - you need that protein so you don't metabolize you own muscles...

YES YES YES!!! All of you are correct. The program is laid out to give you the best fat burn it can so you need to eat all the food or you run the risk of slipping into starvation mode which causes a whole set of issues. Trust me, been there done that and it will waste a good 2 weeks of being on plan.

I need a snack around three too. I don't have one after dinner and I ate around six, six hours ago. I am still full! Follow the program and you will have success. Change it and you may have success but it may be lower.

It's not about the calories as much on IP, but low carbs and high protien. You need the snack of protien to prevent muscle tissue loss

This might be why I haven't lost anything this week...First the accident, and I am just not hungry anymore so I have been skipping the snack...I didn't think about that I was missing out on protein.

I have MRI's for the next three days. I hope all the stress doesn't wreck my week. I still weigh the same thing I did last Wednesday. I have not had one tiny morsel that is not OP, maybe just not enough protein.

Starting today, I'm going to cut out all the WF, and Splenda. Drink tons of water and eat only the lowest carb OP products the rest of the week. Any other suggestions are welcome.

I know this program works. I know I can do it.

I eat my snack at around 3pm too. I am never hungry for it at night. Saturday night I spaced my meals so I could bring my snack to the movies when DH went. Other than that my snack is mostly around 3pm.

Cydnie - Sorry to hear you were in an accident (I haven't read anything about it yet but I'm sure it wasn't fun!). I agree with everything everyone else has said but wanted to make another point (that you probably already know). When you hurt yourself, whether its something as minor as a sprain or something more serious, your body will start to produce something (I can't remember the technical term, sorry :/) that will cause you not to lose weight. My mom hurt her elbow pretty badly and that week had like, .2 lb lose (compared to 5-8lbs). She was pretty discouraged even though the doctors told her it was a normal response for her body given the "trauma" and the following week she lost 8lbs. I guess what I'm getting at is don't stress if you have a bad loss this week. Given the accident it's VERY normal.

Okay, thanks everyone! Makes sense. I do get hungry around 3...so I'll move it there. I don't want to lose muscle mass and the scale isn't really moving. This makes sense.

Cyndie are you okay? That is so frustrating getting hurt and being out of commission. Hope your own the mend soon.

I'm new to the program, started on June 21. Like you, I believe my stomach has shrunk. I have difficulty eating my 7 oz of food and two cups of veggies at night. (Actually, it's more like one cup of veggies - never have liked them, but am starting to like a few of them.)

Also, I usually eat my snack around 3pm. I eat lunch at work around 11am, so the snack helps me out until dinner around 7pm.

Hang in there, we can do this!!!!

That thing your body releases is Cortisol, Shawna told me about it. I just didn't realize it would affect my whole week. Oh well, I will keep following the program and not stress about it. Next week I will probably have a nice loss. BTW, I will be fine, just a little bruised and battered. Thanks for all the concern and support.

Hope everyone has a great WI today.