I am starting tomorrow and doing alternatives. What vitamins do I need to purchase? Excited to get this weight gone , for good.

Kerrie, you may want to check out the Alternatives thread, as there'e a lot of information about IP replacements there. (I would assume that would include the vitamins). You can do a search for Alternatives or there may be a link in the sticky FAQ thread (at the top of the forum board).

The latest phase 1 sheet is posted in the stickies, and that will tell you the dosage & types of supplements.

Basicallty you need to take multi-vitamin, cal-mag & potassium. You can buy the actual IP supplements at plainprotein.com. If you want to use another brand, check the alternative threads as rubygirl suggested.

In addition to the 3 mentioned by ragdoll, you may want to consider picking up some biotin and an omega. I get my potassium and cal-mags from plainprotein.com, and the rest I pick up where ever...Costco, online, etc.

Welcome and good luck!

I have fish oil and biotin. I will be shopping at Walmart. Wish someone would just tell me what bottles to buy. LOL!!!!

I have Potassium 99, how many do I need to take?

This is all confusing to me. I just wish someone could say, " go to drug store and buy xyz". Too much info to sift through and process.

It is worth it to find a couple quiet hours and just sift through the info in the various stickies regarding alternatives, recipes, protocols, FAQs. Personally I never added the vitamins to my plan as I hate taking pills all the time and whenever I try to add something for awhile like fish oil, it just ends up being something I do for a week and then the bottle collects dust until the next drawer cleanout years later. It's recommended to do the vitamins, but certainly people can lose the weight without them, but that's just my opinion. My 30 lbs lost on this plan opinion.

Thanks. I am a mom of special needs twins, no quiet time here. Maybe I will just do a multi and omega 3 6 9.

Print out and put on your fridge this --> Phase 1 Sheet. You can find and download the phase sheet via this link (its the 4th post down) http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/idea...ml#post4674003

I suggest taping it to your fridge until you get in the groove. Maybe print two and bring one to your office.

I understand starting can be overwhelming and eventually you'll have it down. I gave you the link to find what you need to get started. Then you have to read read read. If you have questions, posting in the Daily Thread usually gets you the answer you need. And the alternative threads have heaps of good info. Good luck

The problem is there is nothing out there that is just like the IP supplements, so you aren't really going to find a list of exact products to substitute with. If you go to plainprotein.com you can view the labels for the supplements to see the values.

You can do One-a day womens, then at Wal-Mart just look for a calcium-magnesium supplement that is similar to the IP one. Use the potassium you already have and the dosage recommended on the bottle.

Be careful!

The vitamins don't help or hinder weigh loss. They are essential to help replace all the vitamins and minerals from the food groups you are cutting out on Phase 1 (fruit, certain veggies, dairy, etc).

Taking them is important for your overall health and well-being, not weight loss.

This.

The vitamins are not for weight loss. The Ideal Protein diet is NOT a nutritionally balanced diet and you need to replace essential vitamins and minerals in order to prevent bone density loss, body chemistry issues, etc. Just a multivitamin is not enough.

www.plainprotein.com sells the actual Ideal Protein vitamins - you can either purchase from them directly (which is what I did when I started using alternative products instead of going to a clinic), or look at the components of the vitamins and find something at Wal Mart that matches.

I understand the time crunch, I have two children under 6 years old, work a full time job, a part time job and run a small baking business out of my house. The time is hard to find, but you just need to do it. The kids eventually sleep

Is doing alternative really that much cheaper? I was thinking about letting my daughter (teenager) try the diet but I was going to wait until I was off of Phase 1 because it would be too expensive with 2 people in the house on it at once! (BTW- is there a thread about teenagers doing IP - we haven;t thought or researched the whole thing through, but she is seeing me lose weight and wants to also!).
Thanks!

What a blessing! I have twins as well and I understand having 0 time to yourself. Honestly my doctor only told me to get a good multi vitamin. I am taking the One a Day Women's.