My original coach the first time I did IP was not very tuned to the science behind the diet. She had very little advice for me, and at the time, I was able to just follow the protocol of P1 and lose pretty nicely until I was down 72 pounds. Things slowed greatly and my hunger went up as I worked on the next 10 lbs. But at no time was there any discussion of timing of food intake. I ate my requisite packets, veggies, and natural protein whenever my schedule permitted - never really even thought about the clock and how much time elapsed between meals.

For those who don't know - my husband did a year of miserable hospitalizations due to a fall, a serious loss of appetite, another fall and finally the inability to fight the battle any longer - I spent 8 months eating my emotions and regained all but 10 lbs that I lost on IP. My fault, not the Ideal Protein program.

Now, for my reboot I am going to a clinic that prides itself on having real nutritionists, nurses, and exercise science specialists.... so I get a lot of feedback about the presence or loss of glycogen, and predictions of the next week's results - e.g., after serious loss of appetite and eating less than protocol the coach predicted a stall the next week. She advised that I concentrate on getting all veggies in plus being sure to have salads too. That was to help avoid the stall. I did not follow the guidance, and I gained 2 lbs by cutting corners from the protocol. My fault -- and when I went in the next week for that weigh in, the coach told me I was out fo ketosis. (Not a good thing for me to hear because my inner saboteur suggested a mini face stuffing episode that I indulged in for 2 days before getting back on track.

But I did pull it together and I am back in ketosis and on track and back working on new pounds for this reboot.

But... the coach emphasizes letting at least 3 hours and no more than 4 hours pass between meals/snacks involving protein. If I eat too soon, it's too much protein in the system at one time, so the metabolism will store fat.

I guess I understand that, but the coach also says that delaying beyond 4 hours will convince my metabolism to store fat when I do eat the protein, because of the delay. This makes me wonder - how do those who do intermittent fasting manage to lose weight? And what about 8 hours of sleep when there is no protein intake?

I need someone to point me to some explanatory info on timing of meals, or someone to explain this stuffe -- my curiosity about what seems contradictory is causing me to question the process....

Wow, Cheryl, I would be confused as heck too and I don't buy what they are saying because if you alter your eating by just 1.5 hours, you will not store fat???? - I don't think our bodies are that sensitive. Plus, a ton of us have lost a bundle of weight and inches and we didn't pay attention to timing to this specification. For the science part I accept that it is simply a matter of if your body needs energy and you've depleted it of its most efficient sources, first glycogen and then second, muscle (by eating enough protein), then the body turns to stored fat for energy. So, even if they are right, we all fast overnight but still need energy so our body will draw on the stored fat. Plus, I have done blood ketone and glucose testing on myself and I didn't wait 4 hours to eat - I measured in one hour increments after a meal and there was not an insulin response that would cause fat storage (remember you need insulin to store fat) even though I had my snack 2 hours after lunch.

And, to your point, this also contradicts successful intermittent fasting practices which is about getting a longer period of drawing on fat storage as I noted above as we all do a fast when we sleep so we all benefit from this.

From the sounds of it I highly doubt anyone of them have even done the program. This program is restrictive enough and at times mentally challenging - I don't think you need to exacerbate that with this type of thinking too.

I appreciate your posting Ro -- when I hear these things and they don't make sense based on my experience and the stories of others who have been posting as they go along, it makes me wonder if I am really off base. But I know you are well read and you have gone beyond the norm to test blood sugar etc.

Interestingly, one of the coaches was a competitive body builder who followed IP to take really get buff before competitions... getting rid of the glycogen really contributed to her success on stage, I guess.

The nurse who has a degree in nutrition often meets with me and I know she has done the program too and lost at least 60 lbs.

But both of them are obsessed with the timing of meals.... they want to see the times in my food diary -- there is no way to do that in MFP unless I add a food note each day with that info. I got so exasperated that I stopped posting my food intake in MFP which is not a good thing - getting that posting habit going and keeping it up is so helpful in phasing off and in maintenance.

The question re intermittent fasting came to mind after i left the clinic on Monday - I am going to bring that up next Monday and see what kind of reply I get.

Meanwhile - is anyone else who is going to their coach weekly getting a lot of attn on timing of meals? particularly timing of protein intake?

All of the weight/blood sugar management info I've ever read has said to eat every 3 to 4 hours, so that makes sense to me. However, my coach has never expressed any interest or concern over when I'm eating or the amount of time between meals. In fact, she's told me a couple times that it doesn't matter when I eat, as long as I do actually eat all the required food each day. So she's fine if I have 2 ip foods (say a drink and a packet) for breakfast, just veggies for snack, just a packet or meat for lunch, etc. I try to keep it about 3 hours between each time I eat, but honestly sometimes (especially if all I've had is an ip drink) I'm hungry within an hour.

That said, I know the ip company encourages a much more strict meal plan than my coach and I achieve. I think their ideal is ip breakfast, ip and veggies lunch, meat and veggies dinner, ip snack. Today I did IP breakfast, ip snack with coffee, ip lunch, meat with the entire day's veggies dinner. Yesterday I followed the ip layout, but I had my evening snack no more than an hour after dinner. *shrug*

As long as you are losing I wouldn't stress too much about this.

Just a quick question while I'm thinking of it, are we actually required to eat a certain amount of unlimited veggies each day? Or is it just that we can choose to eat them if we want? Because to be honest after the first 2 weeks on the program I stopped eating lettuce and spinach completely. Used to be some of my favorite veggies. Now I can't stand either.

I hope you get other answers here. But, here's another suggestion - why don't you post this in the IPA group as that seems to have many more people and much more active and see what they say about it. I think a good number of them did IP with a coach at one point in time so maybe you'll get more responses there.

I just hate that the clinic caused doubt in your mind - I feel that is so wrong. I know when doubt creeps into my mind - it wreaks havoc!

I am surprised to hear they did the program but given what your shared about them, they sound militant and extreme.

I am very curious to know the answer to the IF question when you pose it to them.

I am not sure that the FB IPA group is as science-knowledgeable as you are... I want to see what the clinic has to say, though. And i won't be going there until a week from Monday as I am heading for Delaware to see accountant and some friends for a long weekend.

The following week I will ask though -- I am not done with this question.

Another person to ask might be Dr Eric Berg -- I am on his email newsletter list and there are various webinars he does where Q&A is possible...

Stay tuned - we will discuss this further at some point before too long!!!

I've read comments a few times now about too much protein at once. I'm trying to understand what the issue is. I have a friend that has been using one of the ready to drink protein shakes from Costco that have 30g in each. She has been losing very well using those. So I'd like to understand why some on IP say some of the shakes have too much protein.

This guy knows what he is talking about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV_hwaXbP4M 15 minutes long but especially from 6 minutes in.
Here's his podcast site too. http://www.primaledgehealth.com/cate...odcast/page/2/

I intermittent fast with IP, but I do push my meals out some. For example, I eat at 12, 2:30, 5, and 7:45. My coach is a registered dietician who also oversees the hospital nutrition. She is perfectly fine with the way I spread out my meals with intermittent fasting.

I personally wouldn't stress timing. I try not to go longer than 3-4 hours because that is when I get hungry. Sometimes my schedule dictates a different eating schedule and I work around it. Life doesn't always allow for a perfect pattern.