[purple sky]

Phase 4 is maintenance. It's how we will be eating for the rest of our lives. I move to phase 4 tomorrow and I have to admit I am pretty nervous. I started this thread largely based on some Phase 4 type discussion in the Phase 3 thread. And realized that perhaps a transition to phase 4 thread might help some. Based on what I have read it is a much more broad and less focused phase than any other.

So, if you have any thoughts, tips, advice or suggestions I would love to hear it. What I am seeking is assistance for the first few days and weeks as we transition to the rest of our lives. I know maintenance is a challenging balancing act and that ultimately we will have to figure out what works for each of us.

Right now I am just planing for a modified Phase 3, where I don't make myself eat all my breakfast in one sitting.

It feels like starting over, in a way. A new beginning.

Turns out I have some kind of food sensitivity with some of the foods I added back in P3. As a result my energy and focus aren't quite where I would like it to be in order to transition to this new phase successfully. That is also something I am going to have to play with.

[CassiR]

Thanks for posting this purple! I will find this thread extremly valuable as I transition as well.

[CassiR]

So this is what i've gathered from other threads i've read:

• ‘real’ salad dressing and cheese at lunch
• Breakfasts same as p3, but can be spread out
• Pasta or any other high fiber carb with dinner
• Yogurt, fruit, nuts, bars, RTDs for snacks
• TRACK! Continue with journal/online food tracking
• WI at least once a week

Anything else? I think adding things slowly is the main idea. Also, any input on the "free" day? I hate to use cheat.. it is allowed and recommended.

[Momto2cs]

Come check out the maintainers thread. You can see a lot of people struggle with adding the carbs back. But there is lots of interesting discussion!

[purple sky]

Originally Posted by Momto2cs

Come check out the maintainers thread. You can see a lot of people struggle with adding the carbs back. But there is lots of interesting discussion!

I do. It's a great thread but it's a little to hard find beginners information. I love it for down the line but I am anxious about day one and week 1 of P4. And I can't seem to find that or I am not looking well enough. As well, I wanted to pull the transition to P4 discussion out of the P3 thread because that one has a wealth of information for those transitioning to P3 and the P4 info. would only confuse them.

I was definitely hesitant about starting a duplicate thread but appreciated the focus on transition in the P3 thread so we'll see. I think a lot of people who started at the beginning of the year are starting to phase down.

By the way I am reading about food combining. More on that later.

[VickiR]

Hey Purple sky, I agree. It was time to start a new thread. I'm sure there are a lot of people reading these posts but don't comment like I used to not comment. I still found a lot of the information very useful. You, CassiR, and I are here again! The transition is scary.
I'm confused about something you keep saying- that you can spread out the breakfast. Are you sure about that? I've always read it has to be eaten in one sitting. Maybe I'm missing something.
I'm also really confused about the snacking throughout the day. That makes me really, really nervous. I don't think I'm going to do it.
My first P4 lunch is going to be chicken salad. I think that one should be easy enough because the chicken will count as my protein, celery and pickles as veg + 1 cup of raw baby spinach, and a little mayo for the fat. Dinner will be some sort of lean protein, 2 cups veg, and 1 cup (5 oz cooked) pasta. I wish there was more info like how much fat exactly at lunch.
What will your meals look like?

[GoodEatsandWine]

I've been in P4 for about 3 weeks now and I'm finally getting the idea of how it works. I attached the Meal Planner my coach gave me to help with planning P4 meals.

She said I can keep breakfast the same as P3 or break it up. I break it up because I usually want something midmorning. For example, this morning I had eggs & bacon and later around 10:00 I had yogurt/fruit/oatbran mixture.

For lunch I struggled with trying to figure out what to add as a fat. So far I tried cheese, nuts, bacon and full-fat salad dressing. My favorites are cheese and/or bacon. From the attached Meal Planner it is suggested we have 1-2 servings (10-20g) of fat. It's up to us to figure how much we can handle before we start to gain weight, so start slow and increase the amount until you notice an increase in weight and then back down.

For dinner be careful of the carbs! It is so easy to eat more than you can handle. I tried sweet potatoes, beans and only have wheat on my cheat day but I've found I'm really sensitive to carbs so I keep them pretty much to my cheat day now.

BTW, take it really easy on your first couple of cheat days! On my first one I only allowed myself two things a cinnamon roll and a samosa. I had the worst hang-over headache and queasy stomach for 3-4 days afterwards. Now on my cheat day I just add more cheese and I have a glass of wine for dinner (my cheat day is spread out Friday thru Sunday but only the dinner meal). So far it works for me and I don't have that terrible 'day after' feeling.

Regarding snacks, I typically don't have snacks because I eat pretty big meals; except for breakfast that is split into two.

This blog is a wonderful source for hearing how people are going thru the same thing you are, I love it! Good luck!

[purple sky]

Done. :c arrot:

I'll be back tomorrow to share what I learned about P4 eventhough I won't fully be in it for a few days (vacation). Now, it makes more sense. Just wish I were fully starting. Vacation makes me nervous but if I have to do P1 for a bit then I will.

:c arrot:

[Ishbel]

...phase 4 newbie thread? great idea! Thanks for starting it!

[VickiR]

Thanks so much, GoodEatsandWine. Good luck tomorrow Purplesky! I can't wait to hear how it goes.

[VickiR]

GoodEatsandWine,

I just looked at your P4 meal planner. I love it! I have a couple questions, though. 15 grams of S Carbs- that's about 1/2 oz. Is that 1/2 oz dry or cooked? About how much is that in pasta? 1/2 cup? 1 cup? 10-20 grams of fat is kind of a lot. Can your protein fat be included in that number?

[purple sky]

Originally Posted by VickiR

Hey Purple sky, I agree. It was time to start a new thread. I'm sure there are a lot of people reading these posts but don't comment like I used to not comment. I still found a lot of the information very useful. You, CassiR, and I are here again! The transition is scary.
I'm confused about something you keep saying- that you can spread out the breakfast. Are you sure about that? I've always read it has to be eaten in one sitting. Maybe I'm missing something.
I'm also really confused about the snacking throughout the day. That makes me really, really nervous. I don't think I'm going to do it.
My first P4 lunch is going to be chicken salad. I think that one should be easy enough because the chicken will count as my protein, celery and pickles as veg + 1 cup of raw baby spinach, and a little mayo for the fat. Dinner will be some sort of lean protein, 2 cups veg, and 1 cup (5 oz cooked) pasta. I wish there was more info like how much fat exactly at lunch.
What will your meals look like?

My understanding is that we needed to eat all (most) of our carbs during breakfast to get our insulin to release only once a day. And that P3 was sort of like a practice session for getting our bodies to produce insulin regularly and correctly. But, going forward we no longer needed to have all those carbs in one sitting. I could be wrong, though. I was planning on spacing that meal apart so I would not be overfull and delay lunch or too hungry an hour or two after I ate. So, I would do the full breakfast to be on the safe side. Personally, I think I will experiment. Something did not work this week and I don't which foods or which combinations of foods were the issue so I thought I might start by separating out items.

For example, I might have my cereal and almond milk in the morning with coffee and then mid morning have my yogurt and fruit. So, in that it is more like a snack than double breakfast. P3 breakfast was too much for me to eat in one sitting on a weekday. I graze.

I did get the P4 sheets and I think I will start by trying to eat the P3 way for the most part. At lunch I can add cheese to my salad. I think I can also add it at breakfast to my eggs but would need to watch my other fats butter, etc. And dinner is when I will add carbs. Don't think I will add pasta early on. I just have a funny feeling we might not get along. I don't have a clear sense for the snack options but based on what I have seen from others, it sounds like fruits and nuts might work.

So, it's basically an enhanced P3 if that make sense.
Same breakfast
Lunch with a little fat (cheese on salad)
Dinner with a carb (no fat)
Snack.

I have to play around with it but may just stick to P3 tomorrow.
Your meal looks good to me. Sounds like it is key to keep the fat and carbs separate.

I remember P3 making absolutely no sense until I sat down and wrote it all out.

[CassiR]

Purple, good luck!!! Let us know how everything goes! Have fun on vacation!

Goodeatsandwine, Thank you so much for your input and posting your meal planner. This helps so much! As for the snack, I see it says protein/fruit/veggie, so where does yogurt or nuts fall into? I know a lot of people love greek yogurt but i'm a plain yogurt fan. Also nuts, are they a fat?

Vicki, good questions. I think I'm going to start off with quinoa and then incorporate a sprouted pasta or some other low glycemic carb for dinner. What will you be having with your pasta? I seen some people say they made their own tomato sauce but all the recipes i've looked up have oil in them. I guess that means pesto is out of the question as well? As for lunch, i'm not sure how much fat i'll be adding back in. My current meals dont really need fat and if I were to add fat it wouldnt make the dish much better. I will indulge in ceasar salads though! The cafeteria in my office sells all kinds of specialty salads and looks like they all fall under p4 guidlines. That's exciting!

I'm still unsure about snacks. Are we allowed just one still? I'd like to have a small mid day snack and then another before bed snack. Hm?

[New Englander]

Hi all, I too was concerned with beginning maintenance, (as with all the phases). But after a few days I got into a grove and now have some favs.

I'm still learning and tweaking. For breakfast I have a shake, two pieces of whole wheat toast with 1 serving of peanut butter with sliced bananas on top! YUM!!!

And throughout the day I'll have two snacks (an apple, protein bar, slice of cheese or grapefruit)...

I was able to get some clarification from my coach too in regards to lunch fats. I can have two servings, whether it be avocado, mayo or cheese (which can also be considered a protein), then I'm all set. Today I had 1/2 an avocado with some chicken on a salad. It was delicious. Some days I'll have a salad with a can of tuna with two tbsp of mayo. If I use one tbsp of mayo than I'll use a slice of cheese and make a tuna melt (without the bread)!

My dinners have been a serving of whole wheat pasta (2 ounces), one serving of pasta sauce (1/2 cup) and some protein. I'll sprinkle it with a hard cheese (parm, Romano etc) and it's amazing! I've never had a box of pasta last me so long. I use to think a 1/2 a box was a serving!!! LOL!!!WRONG! And to my surprise the amounts we're suppose to eat fills me up! I bought a food scale at Target and weigh what needs to be weighted (i.e. the pasta). For my protein I don't eat 8 ounces, but I try to offset my protein with a shake at night. I need to start tracking more thoroughly to make sure I'm getting all my protein each day.

I've been maintaining just fine even though cheat days do make the scale go up...and then right back down within 3-4 days...I have to admit it has been hard to have just one cheat day...I've been doing 1.5 days...

The day after my cheat days I don't even want to eat anything and my coach said you still have to eat P1 or your body will go into starvation mode (a theory some believe and others don't...) After a cheat day (especially if I've had Chinese I'm so flipping bloated I don't want anything...)

can't wait to see what others are doing...

[purple sky]

Thank you guys. This is Sooooooooooooooooooooooooo helpful. I was overstressing. Now based on your comments i have a much better picture for P4. It's less scary now. You just step in there, dip your toes and see how it works.

I like that I had some weird effects in the second week of P3. It's telling me that I need to tread lightly and carefully with meal exploration.

GoodEatsandWine - Thank you, thank you for the worksheet. This type of document really helps a lot with meal planning. I will also be breaking up breakfast. I think I may have learned that from you. I know I got it from the maintainers thread.

New Englander - Thank you so much for the clarification. I was like do you eat your pasta without fat? Dry pasta just did not sound appealing.

You guys are so awesome. I can't even tell you.

I am going to start adding Food Enzymes to see if it assists with some of my issues. I really think my body does not like change and does not like different foods at once. I have had GI issues my whole life, top to bottom. If I could I would eat one food item like every half hour but that's not realistic.

We got this...ladies. We got this!

Still stumped on the fat/carb deal at dinner though.

I have a recipe with quinoa that I like. Basically toss it with roasted veggies of your choice (super yummy with turnips, carrots and cilantro, sometimes garbanzo beans) and a dressing. The dressing has olive oil in it. Is that considered a fat then? Or maybe this would make a better lunch. I believe quinoa has a lot of protein.