OK, so what is “My Alternative Plan”? What is it that I do that I can save $$$ instead of shelling out tons of it for Ideal Protein? Well here it is, broken down, including the price of items roughly and my total cost per day, and per week, and per month (My food cost including dinner is roughly $300/month). I will advise that IF I do the snack items I have listed, those run about $11 for a box of 7, so that’d be an exchange from the cost of the shake to the cost of the snack on occasion. Just putting it out there.
Breakfast Shake – GNC Amp 60 Wheybolic Protein powder, one scoop (a serving is 3 scoops and is 60g of protein, so I cut it into 1/3)
Lunch Shake – GNC Amp 60 Wheybolic Protein powder – I recommend chocolate, as the strawberry tastes like Pepto Bismol…yech, and 2 cups veggies, which I usually end up slicing up a cucumber to munch on the rest of the day at work.
Dinner – 6-8 ounces of meat, preferably lean, 2 cups of vegetables
Snack – Wonderslim product, either pudding, oatmeal, or a meal replacement bar, but more likely Proti-Diet chocolate dream bar, which is lower in carbs, higher in protein, and tastes better.
My “Daily cost” is as follows:
Shakes ($0.86/shake, so total $1.92 in shakes)
Lunch veggies: Cucumbers usually run about $0.75 or so
Dinner Meat: OK this varies, obviously. Canned tuna is like $1, and steaks are obviously more, so I won’t try to break THAT down.
Dinner Veggie: Most commonly a mix of green and red bell peppers, red or yellow onion, or asparagus. Typical cost is AROUND $3 total for the veggies (for me and hubby)
Total cost per day for me? $1.92+$0.75+_______+$3.00= roughly $5.67 before meat, ends up being probably about $10/day on a given day if I do steak, and closer to about $8/day for chicken or fish…ball park on that gets me to about $10/day=$70/week=$280/monthish+supplements ($9/month)=$290/month total
I also take supplements, including One-A-Day, Calcium Magnesium, & Potassium Gluconate. These run me about $15 for the three bottles, and those bottles last me 50 days, as they contain 100 pills and I take 2 pills per item, per day.
I would now like to point out that one PACKET on Ideal Protein (keep in mind you’re supposed to have THREE of these / day) is $4.00, so you’re looking at $12 before you add in the 4 cups of vegetables and 6-8 ounces of meat…just saying…
Wow I can’t believe I wasn’t going to do the math for this, $12+$0.75 (cucumber)+MEAT+$3(dinner veggies)=$15.75/day pre meat, we figured about $4 for a steak and $2.50 for chicken etc. (I rounded up I think)so say $20/day, just about double my cost. Their supplements are also more expensive, sold in 30 day supplies. I rant about this in another post, but suffice it to say the cost is like, $50/month or so, an additional $40/month compared to what I pay, roughly. So IP cost is…20*7=$140/week+$10/week=$150/week total cost*4(weeks)=$600/month total
So I can say “neener neener I save $310 on food every month”. Also unless I’m mistaken, folks have to go pay to weigh in on a special scale that’s like $15/week or something, but that could be specific to the clinic.
I wanted to thank you again for your wonderful alternative plan. I have now been on this plan for 4 months and have lost 80 lbs. This is truly the only way to diet. And for those who think I’m losing too fast, men generally lost weight faster.
Thank you for sharing this – it looks like a great alternative plan. I just ordered several products from diet direct and I’m planning to get started once I receive them.
Sounds like a plan! Let me know which products you try 🙂
Kara, I’m wanting to give this a try… how long have you been off the diet and did you gain any weight back afterwards?
Gina – whenever you go off of a “diet” you’ll regain weight, and yes I regained the weight I had lost while on the Ideal Protein alternative approach. However, I attribute this to my lack of discipline once I had to go back to controlling what food was available to me for eating.
Great advice, thanks for sharing!
I’m curious, have you tried Premier Protein drinks as an alternative? I read somewhere on another blog that people have used those as an alternative.
I’ve never tried them but may look into it.
What do you mean by Packet? I am doing research to try this on my own as well because I would love to loose weight but definitely cannot afford the program! Thanks for this blog and your help!
What do you mix with the morning shake? Do you HAVE to mix a cucumber with the Lunch shake? That sounds disgusting!
I just went yesterday to check out IP and I all most died when they told me cost. I am going to try your way accept I am using Garden of love protein shake as the carb count is very low around. What supplements are you taking if you don’t mind me asking as I won’t be buying theirs.
Thanks Gloria
Hi Kara this is Billy I am on IP about 1.5 month so I lost around 12 Lb thanks a lot for sharing this article first of all. I was little confused the shake measurement so for instance, how many gr should I put in a shaker before add water and how much water should I add after I loaded with protein shake ? Thanks again for your time
I have been in ideal protine 5 months now . However i have to change due to a loss of income to support it . So now I am forced to make changes . But i do love the diet . Looking for seggestions. Of what i can do .
Thank you
Wow, I need to try this – no fruit right? And no bread. What does a week’s menu look like for you and hubby. We’re both allergic to whey protein- can do pea protein though.