Does anyone know if on the IP diet, are you allowed to have fat free, sugar free creamer that has 15 calories, and 3 carbs in it?

I was told at my clinic to use fat free half&half or skim milk. I use a tiny bit of the fat free 1/2&1/2 in my coffee and have been the entire time I have been on IP.

Three carbs is a lot! I don't think it is on the protocol.

the only things that are allowed outside of what is on your sheet are items that are 0 fat, 0 carbs and 0 sugars. Fat Free, Sugar Free creamers have a lot of filler and are often not even made with dairy products (they're basically flavored oil). If you are following the plan 100%, then that creamer would not be allowed.

You can use a splash of fat free half and half in your coffee if the little bit of milk on the protocol sheet isn't enough....OR you can use some of a vanilla shake as creamer! I buy French Vanilla EAS Carb AdvantEDGE RTD shakes specifically for this purpose - the shakes are on plan, and 1-2 ounces of that in my coffee with a little Davinci or Torani Sugar Free flavor syrup does the trick! I get the Davinci syrups at Wal Mart.

I'll second Scorbett's comment there. Hubby loves a coffee made with Torani's Carb-and-Sugar-free salted caramel syrup with a single tablespoon of the vanilla drink mix powder. Makes a super yummy hot treat on a cold day.

I slosh in a lot of sugar-free, hazelnut-flavored Coffee Mate in my 2-3 cups of coffee every day. And I've been doing that for 2.5 months and I've lost 31 pounds -- I know its not strict IP P1 -- but I don't think it's made much difference in my losses.

However every person and every body is different -- when in doubt just follow the sheet and protocol exactly. At least until you have found your way around a bit and have found a good rhythm in losing weight. Your body will tell you when you screwed up! And your losses will stop cold, which is punishment enough. Some of it is trial and error in terms of tweaking things -- but certainly if you are newbie to IP, I wouldn't try to wing anything.

What has helped me lose more weight recently (down 13 pounds in the last 19 days) is walking nearly 3 miles every morning. So perhaps how much leeway your body gives you (in terms of tiny deviations) is related to your activity level.

When in doubt, follow the protocol -- that's probably safer.

We definitely all make the choices we need to - though my first time on IP was when I swore off the Coffeemate forever...once I realized what it was made of, I just couldn't stomach it anymore!

Weight factors in IMMENSELY as to how quickly you lose. At your original weight, the gap between what you eat on IP (even WITH added calories from the creamer) and what your body needs to function is VERY large. The weight loss happens because you eat less than your body needs - and because the diet is ketogenic, your body burns up fat to make up the difference. Just be aware that there will likely come a point when you are small enough that those extra creamer calories DO cause loss issues, because your smaller body will need less calories to function and the gap between what you need and what you eat will be smaller too.

Please don't take this as a criticism - we all have to make the diet survivable! I just get a little concerned when the "it's not affecting my losses now" statements come up, because I don't want to see that become frustration later on

The only milk the protocol allows is 1 oz of skim milk/day in your coffee. I'd caution anyone against confusing people by suggesting any other creamers. Just because it "works for you" (for now) doesn't mean it is on-plan and these suggestions often serve to confuse newcomers regarding what is truly "allowed"

Even the sugar - free syrups should be limited (most suggestions are no more than 3-5 servings of Splenda/day)

As scorbett mentioned, a splash of vanilla RTD is a good alternative, if the skim milk doesn't work for you.

For using coffee mate or other creamers: read those ingredients! That stuff isn't healthy. Nor is all that Splenda, which is well-known to disrupt gut flora. Consider re-training yourself over time to drink your coffee/tea "black". I did this. It took some time of making the change gradually but now I'm not adding extra artificial ingredients or fat to my coffee or tea

Just like I'm having to retrain myself about other healthy lifestyle changes, this was one I chose to address.

Well said! I will definitely watch that!! Thanks for the heads up.

BTW I did try lots of other "coffee lighteners" ... like coconut milk, almond milk, fat-free milk etc, but none tasted as good to me. 1 Tbsp of the coffee mate I use has 15 cals, 1 g fat, 2g carbs, 0g sugar, 0g protein. If I use 3 tbsp in my coffee, it's adding 45 cals, 3 g fat and 6g carbs ... so with 3 cups of coffee that's adding 135 cals, 9g fat and 19g carbs to my day.

I bet you are right, the fact that I am 6'3" tall and weight over 290lbs and that I am walking up and down hills for 3 miles every morning is allowing me to burn that off. But for a more diminutive 5'6" girl that weighs only 170 lbs, she might not be able to burn off that addition.

I have read some protocol sheets saying that I should be eating 5-6 IP's a day at my weight ... but I am only eating 3 IP's a day ... perhaps that is helping take up (burn off) some of those excess 135 calories. Three extra IP's would add about 400 calories to my daily total and I am only adding 135 -- so I am still in deficit. I am watching for muscle loss too -- but with my waist shrinking so fast (down 2" in 20 days) I am sure that most of my loss is fat loss.

I have to admit that sometimes I feel like a walking scientific experiment -- trying to figure out what works for me and to get into that "weight melting zone" we are all looking for. I know that I spend a lot of time trying to find things that taste good enough to me and are satisfying enough for me not to have big cheats and keep me on the path to weight loss. And for now my coffee splurge is allowing me to do that. At some point maybe I can start to kick my coffee habit completely and just drink water all day -- I am sure that is healthier!

In any case I feel SO MUCH BETTER at 294 pounds than I did a few months ago at 326. And if I can keep my current loss rate going, I might be able to hit the 260's by New Years ... that would be AMAZING!

I usually make my tea with skim milk and no sugar.

Avalon - I feel the same way, my body is like one LONG scientific experiment! And I don't think that changes in maintenance....we see what foods our body responds well to, what causes weight gain or bloating, adjust....and then we get a little older and hormones change, life circumstances change our stress levels, a billion other outside factors affect us...and we re-tool again But I think that's the right mindset to have in maintenance - we are not naturally thin, so we have to be constantly conscious of the relationship between our bodies and food. But by keeping track of what we are doing and how it affects our weight/well being, we remain in control of the process and can course correct along the way.

I found it interesting that on the newest June 2014 sheet, it no longer specified skim milk for the 1 oz. My coach allowed me to use ff half and half for my 1 oz.

I agree, I prefer to stay away from all the chemicals that make up the fake creamers!

I use Capelka drops to flavor my coffee. AMAZING flavor drops. They are not sweet but add the flavor. Hundreds of flavors to choose from.

Watch out for ff 1/2n1/2: Ingredient list:

"In the U.S., half-and-half is typically half milk and half cream and contains about 12 percent fat, so how can such a product be rendered fat-free? Answer: by replacing butterfat (a mostly saturated fat) with corn syrup and adding chemicals and thickeners to simulate fat's texture and mouth-feel. The ingredients list: skim milk, corn syrup, cream (this is accompanied by a footnote reassuring the consumer that the cream adds "a trivial amount of fat" -- I assume because the product contains a trivial amount of cream) and "less than 0.5 percent of the following: Carrageenan, Sodium Citrate, Dipotassium Phosphate, Mono and Diglycerides, Vitamin A Palmitate, Color Added (Ingredient not in regular half-and-half)."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew...b_1474570.html
High fructose corn syrup is implicated in metabolic syndrome - be careful if you choose to use this .

Liana

It does specify MILK, however.
It says "regular" milk.

I pretty much only use skim milk anyway these days... I just wondered why it no longer specified skim.