Good morning,
This is my second week on Ideal and have a few questions. I keep forgetting to take the last two vitamins of the day, can I take them in the morning? Also, what if I do not want the snack? Do I have to eat it? or can I skip?

I am also looking for some dressing recipes. If anyone has some suggestion I would love them.

Welcome. It looks like you are new to the forum.
All 3 packets are required daily so you don't go below required protein amounts. You might want your third packet at a different time of day.

Check out the first post on the daily thread. There are MANY links to recipe threads.
Pull up a chair, take some reading/learning time and you'll probably see many useful things.

I actually read this forum for a month before I started IP so I had a pretty good feel for where to find info.

Welcome! I had a really hard time with remembering all the supplements at first, too. Now I take half in the morning and a half with my afternoon Ideal Protein snack. That's not the way my coach told my to divide them up, but it works for me. You really need to try to get all the packets in, it will get easier once you find a schedule that works for you. I keep my lunchtime packet for my after work snack, and eat my "snack" after dinner--something sweet, so it's like dessert.

I use a dressing recipe that I found online. I just googled "home made Italian dressing" and found one that I really like--vinegar, olive oil, and lots of herbs and spices. I just substitute splenda for the sugar--since it's half a TBSP of splenda for about 2 c. of dressing, I doubt I am going over my daily allowance of artificial sweetener.

Good luck!

I got into the habit of drinking 8 ounces of water before I eat. This is when I take my supplements. I eat Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snack and take the supplements as laid out on the sheet. The water helps me remember the pills.

The only salad dressing I use is one tablespoon apple cider vinegar and 1 tablespoon Olive Oil I add real salt too.

i sometimes forget to take my last two cal-mags at the end of the day. You can take them at different times, split them up, whatever works, but remember, you can only absorb 1200mg of calcium at one time, so if you pair them with the pot/mag or the MVI - it may be too much calcium at one time. Just check the labels.

Thank you

How do I add a ticker?

That info is in the sticky threads at the top of the forum. Lots of good info there so please read the stickies.

Short answer: minimum number of days here and minimum number of posts required (20 each? It's in the sticky)

Welcome! Regarding the vitamins, just remember they are not like medicine where you can take what you missed the next day because it is building up in your system. Your body absorbs what it can from the vitamins and eliminates the rest, so if you miss your vitamins just start fresh the next day.

Regarding skipping packets - big no-no. This diet is EXTREMELY low calorie and we need every bit that we are allowed to have. You may actually stall your weight loss if you don't eat everything you're supposed to. If you are missing your snack at the end of the day because you're not hungry, see if you can get it in earlier in the day and have dinner as your last meal of the day. Or perhaps the dinner protein is filling you up too much - in that case you might want to try having some of your meat protein earlier in the day and having the rest at dinner. As long as you get all the food that you are supposed to have every day, you can break it up however your schedule and stomach will work with it

Oh thank you EPAPRN..I am day 18 into IP and I too forget to take the 2 Cal Mags at the end of the day, but I was taking the Pot Cal and 2 of the Cal Mags together...glad you said something..now I will separate them.

I keep forgetting the 2 cal-mag at snack because i usually have the drinks for snack and just take them with me for the day. I keep a little baggy in my purse so i dont forget. as for the packages, im having the same problem. I cant eat that much sometimes, especially at lunch and dinner when there is the veggies and the salad. I have to split my 4 cups of total veggies for the day through out the day, and i usually dont eat very much salad because im so full.
I did however lose 11lb the first week! so i guess its all worth it!

There area few days I have skipped my snack too, I have switched it up sometimes where I have it mid day (around 4) because we are going to eat late (7:00) but if I leave it to eat after supper it's hard to fit in/remember because I am not hungry.

I bring my vitamins, packets, shakers, salt, herbal tea in a pretty bag with me pretty much everywhere I go. At work, I usually take 2 of the cal-mags with lunch, then I remember to take them at dinner, rather than 2 at dinner and 2 before bed - I eat my snack in the late afternoon, not before bed, so I never remembered to take them before bed.

carissal: Lettuce is unlimited but salad is not a requirement, according to the sheet. The 4c of veggies are required daily but you may eat them however you want. You don't HAVE to eat salad. I save those for days I go out to restaurants or days I'm VERY hungry (there ARE those days).

I split my veggies up throughout the day, too. I start with spinach in my breakfast smoothie M-F or veggies in an omelet or zucchini in a pancake on the weekends.

I was doing this too and my coach had an issue with it. He explained that there are some carbs in veggies and so that will cause an insulin spike. We only want that to happen 2X/day since this is a diet that promotes pancreas rest. I was adding the veggies in the AM more because it helped keep me full before lunch. He suggested an extra drink packet instead since there are virtually no carbs in those and having an extra 100 calories mid-morning is better than the insulin spike at breakfast.