Okay, so I'm in week two and really surprised at how much I'm liking this diet. I'm 100% OP and plan on staying that way.

However, here's my question. I have an event I'm going to Sat. night, a wine tasting of Cabernets. I love wine and this is something I've been looking forward to.

If I limit myself to a glass of wine, how much will that set me back? If I'm 100% otherwise? My next weigh in is on Tuesday.

Can you plan ahead for something like this knowing you will go a little off plan?



Thanks,
Pam

DON"T DO IT!....NOT worth it!

And here is why.
This is a no cheat protocol.
There will be MANY opportunities to cheat. You can give in to each one and prolong the diet or you can suck it up and know there is never a good time to diet and stick with it. Those of us who stick with it through many challenges have the best results!

Thanks Lisa.

Here's some more info for you which will underscore why not to drink any alcohol:
The main problem with alcohol is not the number of calories it contains but rather the effect is has on fat metabolism. A recent study, for example, has shown that even small amounts of alcohol have a large impact on fat metabolism.

SIMPLE SHORT EXPLANATION:
Alcohol and Food
During the dieting program, the main focus is how to reduce the body fat without disturbing your body’s metabolism. This process will run smoothly, if you can avoid consuming alcohol. Why? It’s because when the alcohol enters your body, it doesn’t need to be digested, it goes into your stomach and then reaches your liver and brain in minutes. At that point, your liver will be totally focused on the process of metabolizing the alcohol and the immediate impact is that carbs and fats from your food will be directly stored as normal fat. This is because your liver has no time to process them. The fat will be passed to the fat layer and stored in your body permanently.
The story is different if you consume only food. When carbs and fat enter your body, they go to your stomach and will be digested better, and as the result more of them can be converted into energy.
For several hours after drinking alcohol, fat burning drops 73%. Also alcohol has 7 calories per gram while carbs and protein have 4 calories per gram. Fat has 9 calories per gram.

and here is more reason's NOT to do it....

The Real Costs of Cheating on the Idea Protein Program By Tom Ferguson

I was on the Ideal Program about a year ago. From December 1, 2006 to March 1, 2007 I lost 50+ Lbs. That was pretty amazing, but I could have done better.

How could I have done better? By not cheating, that's how. Oh, I didn't cheat big, but I still cheated. I didn't think it was a big deal, because I was still eating so much better than I did in the past. But I wasn't 100% compliant with the diet, so I was cheating. The thing is, I was onlycheating myself.

So, is it ok to cheat? That depends. You have to answer that question for yourself. Before you can answer that question, you have to understand the real costs of cheating.

If you cheat one day on the diet, you might think to yourself, 'I've lost a day on the diet, but that isn't so bad.” Not true. First of all, you lost that day, but you also lost the “momentum” of the progress you made up to that point. If you get back on track immediately, then you will take at least one more day of compliance to get back to where you were before you cheated. It's like climbing a hill on a bicycle. If you stop pedaling for a period of time, you're going to roll backward. You will have lost ground, and it will take an equal period of time, or more, to gain back the ground you lost. So, one day of cheating, will cost you at least two days. In that week, instead of 7 days of progress, you will have only 5. Think about it.

Next, if you cheat a little on the Ideal Program you will still lose weight. That's a good thing, right? Well, yes and no. Yes because your objective is to lose weight, and that's good. But when you cheat, your pancreas has to work overtime again. Remember, weight loss is one of our goals, but equally important is to get our bodies functioning in a healthy state, and a healthy pancreas is essential to that.

From a psychological viewpoint, if you cheat and still make progress, you may think it is ok to cheat since there were no consequences. Next time it will be easier to cheat again, and perhaps you will cheat for two days instead of one. But there are consequences. You didn't make as much progress as you could have.

On the other side of the argument, if you absolutely have to have that one day of cheating as a “reward” or you can't stay on the Ideal Program, well the obvious choice is to cheat.

So, is it ok to cheat? You'll have to make the decision for yourself. Think about it and weigh the consequences. Just remember: when you cheat, you're not cheating anyone but yourself.

Something else to think about.....
Ingestion of alcoholic beverages is forbidden on Phases 1-3 of the IP Diet. Having a drink constitutes a “cheat”…first cheat,
dieter gets a warning; second cheat, dieter is disqualified from the program. REMEMBER: this protocol is about changing
behaviors, so if they cannot give this up for a short period of time, do you think they will be successful in Phase 4? Put it in
perspective: If the dieter is a woman who wants to lose 30 lbs. and wants a glass of wine, ask her, “Do you have children?”
If she says, “Yes,” then ask, “Did you drink while you were pregnant?” The usual reply is, “My God, no!” Then ask, “How long
were you pregnant, nine months?” “We are just asking you to give it up for 10 weeks in order to lose 30 lbs., then you can
enjoy it in moderation forever!” Suddenly, it doesn’t seem so bad after all.

Diet aside, along with all the real reasons for not cheating, but, how in the world do you plan to go to a wine tasting and only have ONE glass? This is both unrealistic and just plain torture. Why do that to yourself???? Maybe still go to the event, but don't even have that one glass. Enjoy the company of your friends. And, most likely, you will be the talk of the evening by being the 'water drinker' at a wine tasting. Drive your friends, then you can say you are the DD and not even have to bring up the IP Program.

Giving up wine with dinner was one of the toughest parts of committing to this program for me. I started just 2 weeks before Christmas, and had a number of parties and dinners to attend over the holidays. It didn't take long for me to realize that everyone really appreciated having a DD available, and I found that I didn't miss the wine so much after all. In fact, despite telling myself it was okay to have a few sips of champagne for a toast on NYE, I decided not to when midnight actually rolled around. It was pretty powerful to me that I was able to give it a pass, purely by choice.

Being "disqualified" somehow from the program was never a concern of mine. To me it's more about sticking to a commitment I made to - and for - myself. It's just not worth blowing that for one night or one drink ...

(BTW, I have to say that at this point I'm seriously rethinking whether I want all those empty calories to be part of my life again once I finally reach goal. I really can't say I even miss it anymore. Amazing what just a month can do!)

Exactly me too! But it was for Christmas at my mom's. My sister got some really good wine and everyone was drinking it. I thought, okay I will let myself have one sip if she asks. I smelled the wine out of the bottle, smelled exactly something I would like. When she asked me if I wanted some I said no.... it wasn't a struggle it was just a no... I do not want to throw myself off even a bit for that one glass.

We really can do this!!

On a related note, I have to say that this diet has done as much (or more) for my self esteem as it has for my physical appearance. I had been so disgusted with myself for my inability to stick with a diet and lose weight before I started IP. I feel like I'm earning back my self respect. And part of that is sticking to the things I say I'm going to do - like staying away from wine/alcohol. It's nice that IP makes the decision a little less difficult!

This diet seems to have reset me somehow so that I don't even want wine anymore... and I'm a person who drank a lot of wine before. That's a big plus for me, as I certainly don't need those empty calories. And now that I've learned how having wine with a meal preoccupies the liver with metabolizing the alcohol and allows the carbs and fats in the food to be directly stored as normal fat, I definitely think twice about that glass of wine. I'm back on P1 so it's a moot point anyway - but this is something that I'm glad I've learned for my maintenance days to come.

Maybe take a bottle of say Cherry Pomegranate Crystal Light with you. You can be drinking something fruity along with everyone else but won't set you back a bit. It may seem worth it the night of the event to indulge in one glass of wine but it only takes a little while to drink it and then 2+ days to catch up with it on your program.

Thank you so much for this information! I'd lost 105 pounds in the past (different methods) and when I tried to maintain, I gained 60 back. It took several years, but I still couldn't figure out why I was gaining so easily, as I was a reasonable healthy eater. But I ALWAYS had a glass or 2 of wine with dinner (the biggest meal of the day). I accounted for the calories (at least in my head), but had NO idea that the wine was letting the fat and carbs I ate pass directly into my cells. A light bulb has appeared above my head!

Me too. I had no idea what I was doing to myself weight-wise either, with my wine drinking.