I am an engineer. I have spreadsheets to record everything... Bit with ip I just eventually accepted the protocol!

It's on there under "Summer Squash" which is how they had it listed - which is either the zucchini or the yellow squash.

Wonderful, thank you!

Yes and zucchini season is coming up! There will be a seemingly endless supply in the garden, from neighbors, co-workers.... looking forward to that!

Hi Cassie,
I eat a lot of zucchini - every day have 1 steamed and added to my soup. It adds filler and I need to have filling foods. Despite drinking 120 oz water/day, I still need to make sure I feel full to be satisfied, hence the celery and cucumbers daily as well. However zucchini has more carbs than celery, cucumbers, white mushrooms and asparagus. Asparagus is another staple, especially this time of year. I was eating a lot of broccoli but cycled off that for now.

I spent so much time in the beginning calculating carbs, salt, protein fiber...you name it (In my case, I was obsessing...and sometimes still do). After a while, I realized, IP had done all the stuff for me and I really didn't need to count anything...all I was doing was increasing my cortisol which really does add weight. But I think there are valid points everywhere in this thread. Yes, some are more sensitive to carbs than others. Yes, some need to calculate to "know" they are doing the right thing. But the most important thing is that we are following the protocol 100%. If you like the lower carb veggies, it only makes sense to stay with those first. If you find you need to tweek it within the protocol, great. There will be weeks, often weeks 5-6 or 7-8, where there is little or no loss...even if you are 100%. Age, health concerns, medications, activity, genetics all play a role...and that part, we can't control. We can control stress, to some degree, and we can control what we eat. I think it is really important to also watch the "free" things since nothing but water is really "free". Since anything containing .999 carb can be labeled as 0 carb, those "hidden" carbs can add up fast and do damage. WF products, gum, Mio, splenda, stevia, truvia...all have hidden carbs. These products are vital to the success of some folks and others can "take 'em or leave 'em". It is what works for you. I think, if you feel you can, you set yourself up for greater success by using the fewest number of chemicals you can. Just my 2 cents worth.

I'm wondering about the videos and how old they are. I noticed there was advice on them about about limiting the carbs. It seems to me if one followed that advice exactly you would be below recommended amounts on the protocol sheets.
I saw another video that a coach posted somewhere. I can't for the life of me remember where. But it was one of the IP advisors and he said their latest research was showing that people who had a restricted everyday and made sure they got all the veggies in had the best losses in the long run.
So personally I would be careful of cutting back on the amounts on the protocol sheets.

I am taking it day by day! Staying OP, and its become so enjoyable and enlightening as far as figuring out my "triggers" and learning new foods! I am expecting ups and downs, but seeing everyones success just helps the willpower and wait for the 'whoosh'. There have been several times where I felt blah & bloated, but I know I am OP and its working!

Just remember we all lose at different times, I was taking a hardcore weightlifting class and think I built up some 'reserve muscle' that helped (I've lost some muscle mass, but lost more fat!). I changed my siggy to show the different stats since I've seen patterns arising in others history and want to track mine!

I eat on average about 50g of carbs (gross, not net) a day. My coach said that as long as I'm in ketosis, it was fine and not to worry about sticking to a certain amount. Since, I'm still losing, I figure I shouldn't worry about it.

That being said, I do still stick to the lower end of the carb choices if I can and diligently pee on my little stick to make sure I don't fall out of ketosis.

I think the original intention of my post has been lost. I agree one of the beautiful things about the IP program is not having to obsess over counting every calorie, carb and fat that goes into your mouth. You stick with the 3 IP packets a day, the 4 cups of veggies, and the water. Great! Let me clarify - I DON'T PLAN ON COUNTING MY CARBS OR STRAYING FROM ANYTHING OUTLINED IN THE IP PROGRAM. The ONLY thing I am going to TRY, armed with the information I have, is to choose veggies on the lower spectrum of the carb scale. This came naturally for many of you and it seemed to have worked well for you. It did not come naturally for me, and I've not been doing quite as well as I'd like. Unknowingly I gravitated to the high carb veggies. Just about everything I ate was on the high end of the carb scale, including the IP products, so it made sense (to me) to assume this MIGHT be something I could look at to try to maximize my results within the rules of the program. So, I'm going to make the effort to choose different veggies to make up my 4 cups than I had been choosing before to see if that makes a difference for ME. That's really not so bad, is it? The End!

Thanks for the list, I love having more information and this might come in handy at some point. Right now I just throw whatever approved veggies I am hungry for in the measuring cup and eat it without trying to figure out how many carbs I am eating.

They changed this. When I started back in December 2011 only the green bell peppers were unrestricted with the colored ones being restricted to 2 times per week. Then in 2012 that changed and ALL bell peppers became unrestricted. Yum!

That is exactly the point I wanted to make too. We can tweak and tweak and tweak all we want but our bodies still seem to have a mind of their own because we aren't machines. Just because I do "A" doesn't mean my body will do "B". An example would be if I was stuck at a particular weight for a week or two and nothing was happening. I decide to "do" something about it and I lower the total carbs I am eating. I then lose 4 pounds that week. Did I lose that 4 pounds because I lowered my carbs? Or did I lose that 4 pounds because I was no longer PMSing? Or did my body finally decide to just let go of the weight? We often don't know exactly why our bodies finally let go of the weight.

I, personally, have learned to just be patient and eat according to protocol without worrying about all the little details and eventually my body releases the weight. Sometimes fast & sometimes painfully slow. But that is what I love about this diet...I don't have to figure it all out. I just need to stay 100% on-protocol and eventually it all works itself out.

Good post. ITA. While I'm happy to have some MIO and other flavored syrups, etc. on hand to use when I want/need a change of pace, I think it's important to minimize the chemicals and use natural products as much as possible. I found some great pure crystallized lemon crystals (also lime and orange) which I love because they are natural. It just needs a drop or two of stevia to sweet a big glass of lemon-orange-lime flavoured water. I also seem to gravitate to wanting several plain glasses of water each day, with just a splash of ACV. I admit though, that I enjoy many of the WF products, and can see where I'll have to be careful to use them moderately.

WOW!!! I have read thru all the posts and I hope everyone is having a better day. I don't know where I am in the program: if Ketosis has kicked in or not. I know I had a terrible weekend: headaches, nauseated, fatigued, etc. I have been the "Big C" for about a week know which is miserable. Just hoping all of this will past. Having had an appetite at all. Barely getting in a mango drink. Couldn't eat all my salad for lunch either. I'm just taking it slow.

I do agree though that there is a lot of information out there on IP, but there's alot of inconsistencies. I just take it as it comes, and use what I can and try to not stress about the rest.

Hope everyone has a good evening.

Smooches

PS - and remember that this information about carb limits and possible reasons for slower losses first came to me from the physician in the videos. So actually, that IS coming from the IP Program, yet it's not something I heard in orientation.[/QUOTE]

Those videos are NOT from Ideal Protein. They are from a doctor that has the program in his clinic and started the videos as a tool to help his clients. He has since offered them to other clinics that use Ideal Protein. Just want that to be clear that the videos are not put out by the Ideal Protein company but a clinic that uses the program.

Those videos are NOT from Ideal Protein. They are from a doctor that has the program in his clinic and started the videos as a tool to help his clients. He has since offered them to other clinics that use Ideal Protein. Just want that to be clear that the videos are not put out by the Ideal Protein company but a clinic that uses the program.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the clarification. There were somethings that seemed confusing to me on them.