Hi all!

I've just joined IP and I love this forum. I searched the forum for these answers but they were hard to find so I had a couple questions I was hoping someone could help me with.

1. Do you feel that eating extra lean ground beef leads to slower losses than ground turkey or chicken or eggs (I've heard people who eat mostly eggs for their protein have seen the best loss but I wanted to run it by you all!)

2. Has anyone drank diet soda and stayed in ketosis or is this an absolute no-no?

3. Does it matter if you eat pudding desserts most nights instead of jello or the shakes? I just like the puddings better. I'm not talking about restricted vs non restricted. I mean all of these are non-restricted.

4. Is there any restricted or non restricted powder that people felt hindered their loss?

THANKS!!!! And happy thanksgiving!!!!

Hi Apple,

I find that I lose more when I incorporate a little red meat into my week. Not sure why.

My clinic says no soda, so I trust them.

Pudding is fine. Some clinics tell their people not to have restricted items at night. Mine lets you choose.

The weeks that I ordered the brownie, I have noticed smaller WI numbers. Might just be a coincidence.


Good Luck and Happy Thanksgiving!

I usually eat extra lean ground beef since there are so many ways you can fix it and have no problem with good losses each week.
I also eat pudding almost every night and rarely eat the restricted products
I have never drank diet soda since I've started this diet and I was a real addict before. I've been on the diet for about 10 weeks.

Welcome!

Red meat: a lot of people found it doesn't hinder losses and may actually help. The more I'm learning about lowcarb lifestyles, the more I see it isn't the fat making us fat, it is the carbs and the insulin resistance ( metabolic syndrome).

Diet soda can hinder weight loss. Many people find too much Sucralose (Splenda) will also

Pudding is fine at night. I liked the dark chcolate pudding mix best. It is low carb and not so sweet. One thing I knew I needed to do was cut sweets. It isn't the way we eat in real life so I didn't want my body to always be wanting something sweet. I'd mix my pudding when I made dinner so it old ve all set up for later.

Any product that made me crave more hinderd my losses. I quickly learned what to buy and what to leave alone.

Never had an issue with red meat. In fact, I probably had ground beef (BMIB) once a week on phase 1 and also had strip steak once a week. ITA with Lisa - it's not fat that's the problem for most of us...

I've never cared for soda and did not use the pudding mixes.

THANK YOU for all these awesome replies! it REALLY helps me.

Last question, can we use vegetarian cheese (0 carbs) on phase 1? I've seen lots of people put it in the recipes but I wasn't sure.

THANKS AGAIN! You guys are SO incredible, supportive and helpful!

Some people use small amounts of it. It is NOT on the Phase 1 sheet so the party-line answer is no.

Well here I am... Day 2 on the IP, feeling good. Lots of questions with many of the answers here on the site.
Here is my dilemma, I work on the North Slope of Alaska in a camp setting 2 weeks on at work and the 2 weeks off at home. Is there any one on here that has this type of work schedule and how successful were they on this program?
My second question, can I meet my 8 ounces of meat protein daily by eating 4 oz. of chicken at lunch then 4 oz. of meat at dinner?
Wish me luck, I head back up on Tuesday...

You can split up your protein any way you like it, as long as the total is 8 oz.
AS far as working at the camp - do you have access to kitchen/ fridge? can you have prepackaged cutup veggies? cans of tuna or sardines? you can definitely stock up on IP RTD drinks to last you two weeks.

There is not a IP center near me. From what I have read it sounds very similar to the MRC program. Does anyone have information for me as to their success or opinion about MRC program? It also is high protein/low carb with protein drinks to buy.

I was wondering how strenuous your work is in this setting... If it is a labor-intensive job you may need to add an extra packet during your work day. You might not have responsibities that require a lot of physical activity, but just in case you do I wanted to mention it.

Thank you for the response masenki and JLUS... My doctor has already advised me to take an extra packet due to the work activity and just having to have enough resource/energy to deal with the extreme cold temperatures out on the ice. I do have access to a fridge. The cooks will be very supportive and prepare me what ever I want... And that's the problem. The cooks will cook everything and anything the crew wants. Most the guys are in their mid 20's to 30's so they are burning 5000+ calories a day. As a manager I do more sitting in the truck and computer work, so after many years of this I have gained 100lbs and developed what we refer to as the North Slope figure... I'm 6'3", 325 lbs. Time for a change and I believe this is my ticket.
Thanks again for the support...

Check out the alternatives thread on this site. There are a lot of people that use EAS ready made drinks and some of the quest bars.

I'm from my 3 week hitch and am down 21 lbs. Yessss!!!! Wasn't as hard as I thought it would staying away from all the temptations. Question, restricted items, are those one a day or one a week?

Congratulations Alaskan!!!!! It really is an easy "meal plan" once you get the hang of it. I find that a lot of what I miss was the "instinctual eating". Like if cookies/muffins/extra sandwiches are put in front of me I would automatically eat it just because, lol. Now I find that I have constant inner dialogues with myself before I put anything in my mouth. Funny, huh? Anyways, restricteds are one per day. And like Lisa said, you will learn which IP foods to stay away from. I loved the Strawberry Wafers but realized they made me crave more sweets...so ix-nay on the afers-way :-(