Hey everyone! I'm just finishing my seventh week of Phase 1 and am starting to find it very difficult to get in my 8oz of protein for dinner. I usually go with chicken but have also had steak, lean ground beef, eggs and lean ham. I think my problem may be that I'm just sick of eating the same meats over and over, after a few bites of whatever I've made it starts to trigger my gag reflex and I just can't force it down. I never ate a lot of meat before IP (just lots of pasta!) so it's quite a change. I've been poking around and see that sometimes vegetarians substitute a fourth packet for the 8oz of protein - do you think it would be okay if I did the same? Ideally it would only be temporary, to give myself a break from the meat. Would this make my carbs be too high or calories too low? Thanks for any advice!

You know that it's 8oz raw, not cooked, right?

You can also break up your protein between two or more meals. Try fish - salmon is great, plenty of healthy omegas and no need to take Omega3s on those days. Rainbow trout is lovely and light, if you aren't a fan of the white fish. Tuna works, too. Have you looked at the tofu offerings? They're considerably better these days.

The only other recommendation is to be creative with HOW you cook meats - change up spices, coatings (if you buy the peanut soy balls you can crush them and coat chicken and bake it, or use the PB2 powder VERY sparingly) or try some of the Walden Farms 0/0/0 dressings.

The only thing that saved many of us on Facebook, was subscribing to https://www.facebook.com/groups/340015849538224/ (Janeva's Ideal Protein recipes - now a printed cookbook and also recipes online).

The other thing that we do is have two eggs with salad and veggies at lunchtime.

My sheet says 7 ounces for fish/seafood, and five ounces for meats. Is it more now?
I also struggle with dinners sometime - mostly with the veggies. I used to love broccoli, now I can hardly choke it down. I'm
happier just having a cuke and some radishes!

Change up your veggies, roast them with garlic & olive oil, puree them into thick soups/sauces for your meat, stir fry them with soy sauce, spiralize them for noodles and top with crumbled ground meats (turkey/chicken/or beef) and a bit of no-added-sugar salsa or tomato passata sauce, make them into a stew in a bit of broth, use cauliflower riced as 'rice' or make it into a baked pizza shell & top with other fresh veg & shrimp or meats, microwave them into 'chips'. Etc, etc.

Liana

here links to the latest protocol sheets...I think yours is outdated...
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/5040423-post79.html

Happy Birthday, Frawnie! 4lbs short is amazing. Keep going strong!

Glad to see you still rocking it Frawniemae, Happy Belated!!

I know at least a few IP coaches say that if you're short-statured, you can have 6 oz instead of 8 oz of meat.

Frawnimae - thanks so much for the updated protocol! Mine was from a couple years ago when I did this diet. My husband and I have restarted and used the protocol we had from back then. So nice of you to catch me up!

Not only would your calories be too low, but more importantly your protein. 8oz raw chicken has ~35 grams of protein. One IP packet has 12-20 grams. If you are going to replace you meat with a packet, you would have to add two packets.

You could have a second snack during the day using a packet then only eat 4-5 oz raw meat for dinner. Or, simply split up your meat serving throughout the day. Have 2-3 oz on salad at lunch, have an egg or two for breakfast and your breakfast packet later in the day.

I find it easiest to "hide" the protein with the packets ... I add 2 - 3 oz of ground turkey to the vegetable chili, I add 1 egg (2 oz) to the omelette, I add 2 oz of chicken breast to the chicken soup and ground beef to the mushroom soup.