Quote:
Originally Posted by mama2three
As a newbiew to IP, I'm wondering what your experiences have been with holidays? Do you stay on the protocol or do you phase off and then back on once the holiday is over? )
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Hi Mama!
I am so glad you brought this up.
Please do not take this as any kind of harsh message, it is not meant that way, but instead to cheer you on to success.
There are a lot of different opinions, and you'll have to decide what you think is best for you. That said, as a person in Phase 4 (and no weight gain 5 weeks in...) here is my take on it....[WARNING: SOAP BOX HAS BEEN PULLED OUT FROM UNDER THE COUNTER...
]
(ahem...) IMHO
The whole point of IP is to learn to eat differently. FOREVER.
If you are not ok with that idea, you will ultimately gain back your weight and have wasted all the money (and hard work!) you are putting in now. So if that idea makes you think, "holy cow, I thought I was just going to use this to lose some wait for x months, and then I could eat 'normally' again!" my personal advice would be to quit IP now and save yourself all the money and time.
If, however, you really want to take control of your life for the REST of your life, and you are OK with the idea that you will NEVER go back to eating what was "normal" (for me that meant pasta-based meals, cheesy or creamy sauces, wine every night with dinner, french fries or fried food 1-2 times a week, potato-based casseroles and dessert at least 3-4 times a week) then IP is for you.
SO: for me, the whole point of IP was to use the weight loss time/process to learn how to cook and eat differently for THE REST OF MY LIFE.
In that world view, going off plan for holidays is self-defeating.
Instead, it's important to use that time to figure out how to eat well and love your life through the holidays.
How to find what parts of the food around the holidays are actually
important, and which are not.
AND really importantly--to disconnect the love and comfort and family and spirituality (and whatever else the holidays mean to you) from the food. They are NOT inextricably linked, but you need to decide that they can be unlinked--or at least most of them can.
In my life, based on that measure....
Christmas cookies...not important
Sugary and other bad food at Christmas parties....not important
Eating a reasonable portion of my 80-yr-old dad's molasses baked beans at Christmas dinner...pretty important.
For you it could be a special Hanukah meal, or some ritual food that is important to your core values. But you need to make those priorities and separate them from the typical 6-8 week excuse for eating bad food which we typically call "the holidayz"
So, I would urge you to consider staying on plan through the holidays. Will it be hard, omgosh yes! But if you stay FULLY on plan, you can also be taking serious stock about what matters to you and what you will or will not engage in NEXT year, and every year after...by deciding what is actually important to you--and why.
And my opinion is that if you go off plan during the holidays, then you are giving yourself permission--now and for the rest of your life--to eat badly every time the situation is just "hard". So I would urge you to just quit IP now and save the money.
Of course, its easy for me to say, because I am in maintenance now. And I can pick one day a week to "splurge" in the holidays.
But to get here I had to live through months and months of weddings, vacations, my daughter's graduation and accompanying series of parties, 4th of July and Memorial Day picnics, etc., etc.
My point is that there is always a reason to eat badly (overeat or eat the wrong foods), no matter the time of year.
If IP is going to be the last diet you are ever on, then you need to learn how to make it permanent.
I wonder if we need a new thread to just talk about the holidays. Even for those of us in maintenance, it presents a whole new set of challenges. And it is pretty dauntingly looming in the future. So, maybe we could all help keep each other focused through this next few months? [because I talk a good game, but this is going to be a challenging and interesting time of growth for all of us!]
ok, returning soap box to under the counter now....
Inquiring minds want to know.
IT is great to be able to read thru the posts everyday tho! I have def been lurking!! 
Normally I would have been right on it or thinking "only just one bite". I am truly loving the way I am feeling -- and only after one week 
NCgirlie ! I was going to refer you to the week 1 introductory package but ... I just checked my introductory package of information and oddly, there is no mention about exercise. Nor is there a prohibition against exercise in Tran's book 
Chapter 15 discusses exercise, but to my eye, it seems more about the benefits of moving your body in maintenance.
I crack myself up sometimes.
