I think increasing your water intake was smart. We are required to drink at least 3 liters on my plan, but preferrably 4 liters per day and up to 5 liters per day.

Personally I'd not eat the bars at all, we weren't allowed to have them until maintenance because the carb count is so high and they aren't nearly as filling as shakes. Does your clinic offer the puddings? Most people at my clinic drink the puddings vs the shakes because they are thicker and more filling. We mix the pudding with 12-16oz of water. 12oz of liquid is more like a milkshake and 16oz is more like the traditional beverage/shake but you get a lot more quantity wise. Another way to make you feel like you're getting more is to make a 16oz shake using the pudding and drink half and then 30-60min later drink the other half.

I know boullion isn't required on all plans, but it was on mine and it saved me the first few weeks. When I was hungry I'd have a bouillon which was quite satisfying. We could have up to 3 per day and there were days I had them all.

I took a pretty hard core approach to the diet. I didn't allow myself to have any food at all, no cheats big or small, until I was about 6 mos into the program. But I'll tell you cheating is just a slippery slope in my opinion. The more often I allowed myself to have food the harder the program got. Sticking to it and not having anything not on the plan was the easiest route.