I am thinking of joining ideal protein but had a couple of questions. I was wondering how most people feel physically while on this diet. I have a four year old who is high energy so i need a diet that i will feel good on.

Secondly, I see that dinner on ideal protein requires cooking meals. are there any alternatives to this on busy nights. can you use IP packets instead?

Lastly, I have a huge diet soda habit. I have read it's not allowed on IP protocol. Do nay of your coach's allow it in small amounts or is it striclty off limits?


Thank you in advance!
Jennie

The real food is part of protocol. If it issue it best to cook up a head of time and store in fridge. Probably not best option but stores have the grilled precooked protein also. I know some swapped dinner for lunch on real food.
Your energy. It is a sub 1k a day diet you energy depends how you adapt low carb/ ketosis.
best on soda is nix it. It will slow you and eventually halt progress. Some people use flavored waters. I don't only water and coffee, I used to consume liters of soda a day before ip. Yes liters. Before my reboot a steak raw kombucha, it off my list for a while. I make my own but can count is pretty low in kombucha in raw form.

It is not cheap so deviation and any lack of it become a questionable endeavor.

Energy levels are hugely variable - some people feel tired and drained, others have more energy than they know what to do with. There are many factors - but much of it will boil down to your metabolism, your hormones and your lifestyle.

IP is an expensive program to get tied into if you aren't going into it with 100% focus.

If you don't want to spend time cooking every day - then do a batch cook of chicken breasts, fridge/freeze them and pull them out and have with veggies that you can eat hot or cold - bags of steamed broccoli/cauli that pop in the microwave are easy to do.

There are alternatives - there is the IP alternative protocol (designed for diabetics) and there is an Alternative to IP - where people use non-IP branded foods and some regular food sources and try to make the same calorie/carb/fat/protein/fiber counts as the IP program. If you check out the Alternatives thread you will get a realistic picture of how many products you COULD use at half the cost of IP (in some cases much less than that).

Check out the What Are You Eating thread to see what the IP diet looks like for most of us. Call your local clinic and ask them to walk you through the program before you commit yourself.

However, one thing most people experience is a crappy first week to 10 days, while the body adjusts from being carb run to burning fat as your fuel. If you have help available for your child for that period, it may make it easier for you. Either way, it's just a week, right? We can all live with short term pain for long term gain.

The diet soda is a big no-no. Even if it contains the allowed sugar alternatives (sucralose/splenda, acesulfame-K or stevia) it will contain huge amounts of sodium, which will make you retain huge amounts of water and slow down your loss. When people slow down loss they tend to lose the momentum of the program and quit.

I was worried about starting (I'm about 8 weeks in) IP, it seemed a diet only for women, and it seemed I would be starving myself. I had a lot of doubts, especially coming here and seeing a somewhat rah-rah attitude from many posters.

I lost almost 20 lbs the first two weeks and my knee pain was gone. After 3 weeks I noticed much more flexibility in my torso, turning etc. I could easily turn around in my car seat to check on traffic which would sometimes hurt before.

I'm down about 40 lbs now, aiming for 50 (and ultimately 100) and am one of the lucky ones who got more energetic the longer I was on the lifestyle change (its more than a diet to me).

The drawbacks? Expense of the food, headaches (killer ones) the 3rd and 4th day for me, and some constipation. Other than that it's been great. The more I have focused upon cooking and doing recipes, rather than just dumping the powders into the shaker cup, the better I am doing.

I tried the recipe with potato puree "bread" today and have all new hope that I can do this.

I see now why the board is so pro IP. It's because it really works.

That is true, it isn't just for women . I put my hubby on a modified Alternative Plan last winter so he could lose his (seasonally retired) winter tummy in time to fit properly back into his work clothes. It works, but it really works best if you commit to it, otherwise you are wasting your money by sabotaging and slower losses while not learning properly about how to control your eating after you lose your weight and get to goal. The very important part is preparation for maintenance, because the weight loss phase is only temporary...
You have to learn proper food habits to KEEP IT OFF.
Learning to drink more water and less 'other' is essential. You are also retraining your taste buds and brain reaction to sweet flavours.
Batch cooking is a great help in a busy person's lifestyle, as is being able to switch out your packet & veg meal for dinner and use cooked protein & veg for lunch instead.
Come join us - give it a try and you won't be sorry... if you have any specific questions ask us in the daily chat thread if you like.
Welcome (I hope )

Liana