I love Ideal Protein's food and the convenience but I just moved into my own place so I have more financial responsibilities meaning I can't afford Ideal Proteins food anymore. Im going to do my shopping on Nashua Nutrition, my question is what are the qualifications of a restricted and non-restricted and do they sell the proper vitamins at a decent price? Im scared im going to gain weight

All of that information and more can be found in the Alternatives threads.

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/idea...phase-1-a.html

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/idea...s-vol-1-a.html

And don't sweat it - I switched to alternatives in week 8, I just weighed in for week 28 and am about to phase off

I don't know what your budget is. But I am on Proti-Diet. And they are prtty much the same as IP. I buy my products on dietdirect.com
They are 8 bucks cheaper than if I get the food from my coach, and they have a grat rewards program for free.

Thanks Scorbett and Icheech!!

ProtiDiet is one of the alternative brands that many of us use, available at Nashua Nutrition. There are quite a few former "IP" clinics that now sell ProtiDiet, but there are several other brands that are equally good as IP substitutes. I buy my ProtiDiet products for about $10-$11 per box from my local nutrition store, that price is pretty consistent with Nashua Nutrition's pricing.

This could be a blessing in disguise. I've also used pure IP products for 2 months and then moved to alternatives and discovered a number of products that I like better. The variety is greater and the savings is amazing. My weight loss on alternatives is just as good as it was on IP branded products.

One other thought - at least from my perspective - is that in maintenance I will most likely use a few of these products to keep me happily in check. For example, I have a sweet tooth and that has been my downfall in maintaining weight. Plus I found through this protocol that a low carb regime really helps my body feel painfree from an arthritis perspective and I also have lost bloat (probably due to a no-gluten diet).

That said, in maintenance, I can have my cake and eat it too, so to speak (that's a crazy phrase, now that I think of it...). Using Nashua Nutrition's Healthsmart Variety pack, I can have what tastes like a candy bar every day. I love all 7 in the box, love the variety, and the price is around $11.00. Very reasonable price to pay to keep my weight where it needs to be.

So, if you didn't learn firsthand about alternatives, you wouldn't have this understanding of just how helpful they could be in maintenance, and importantly, how affordable - important for the very long term.

Re vitamins, I only buy the IP branded potassium from www.plainprotein.com since it is highly concentrated; any other brand would require taking so many pills. The other vitamins are easy to replace from most any source.

Almost immediately after joining IP I started looking for cheaper alternatives. I have ordered so far from Nashua, Diet Direct and Plain Protein. I also am planning my second order from DD and one from Netrition. I'm still experimenting with what I like and don't like.

First month on IP from the clinic cost me just over $400. I think by next month I will have cut that in half, and I'm still buying a few of my favorite IP products (pre-made chocolate drink and chicken ala king) but HealthSmart from Nashua...the products TASTE SO GOOD compared to the comparable ones from IP. At least in my opinion. And the price is under $12/7packs compared to $28/7packs at my IP clinic.

Anyway, I'm about 2/3 on alternatives, and the weight loss is the same either way.

I've found Diet Direct and Nashua - but not Plain Protein. Is is online?

I began alternatives when I hit P4...(now back to P1 'cause of some 'SOME' LOL gain)... They are not bad at all!!! The only problem I have is not overeating them...Because with IP they were so expensive and I only ordered one week's of food at a time...Now I have a cabinet filled with great alts and need to be more disciplined!!! Great options!

Put plainprotein.com in your seach engine.

Plain protein has stopped selling IP supplements? I am almost out of supplements and when I went to their site.. I don't see the regular IP supplements anymore... Is there anywhere else from where I can order?

I also switched to Alternatives. Nushua Nutrition. I purchase the Protidiet products and a few others. Very happy and saved a ton of money.

Just FYI, my boyfriend and I discovered that if you go to protifoods.com and call the number on the site directly, your boxes are $8.50/box. Sometimes one or two cost a bit more, but they are substantially less than if you order online. And the online pricing is already cheap!

Just a tip

thanks I actually buy from a local store, so no shipping and no waiting but I'm sure there are folks that will benefit from that!