Thank you so much for all of the details!! We are going on vacation to Las Vegas in October and although I REALLY hope to be in maintenance at that time, even if I'm not, your information and insight gives me a great deal of comfort. =)

bumping this for Danif

thanks for this I'm going to florida at the end of may and was worried about it as i don't want to be worrying about sticking to IP while at disney universal ect ect!! I am going to talk to my coach next week about a plan to phase me off for my trip!!

Glad my post is still floating around and still helping people!

As a side note, I have been in maintenance for 4.5 months and I am still at goal. I still do a week or so of P1 after a vacation and I still able to maintain my weight. I am always up after a vacation, but usually within 4-5 days of phase 1-ing it, I am right back to goal.

*Bump* for those asking about phasing off for vacations.

I want to thank Jenny for the post and Molly for the bump...I am phasing off for a trip to Ireland the end of June but my coach hadn't given me any details about it...so relieved to have read someone's experience!

So glad I read the first post. I'll be phasing off for a vacation to Las Vegas in late June (where alcohol will be my biggest indulgence), and was feeling a bit nervous about it.

My coach and I recently established a date for me to begin Phase 3 and I'm already doing research, even though it's still 6 weeks away. :p

Thanks also to Jenny for the detailed post and to Molly for the bump.:hug:

DH and I will be going to NYC for 2 days in July (and as my DH is a chef, we'll be eating at three restaurants he's dreaming of (and well, me too!)), and then in August we go to Banff for a week. Glad to hear that the phasing off pre-trip is the way to go.

Not sure exactly how I'll handle NYC as it's such a short trip, but for a week in Banff, definitely want to be able to enjoy food/wine as part of the vacation.

Going to download the phase 2 and 3 info sheets and get to studying. :-)

Thanks for sharing your experience. I will soon be phasing off for our two weeks in Costa Rica in July and it helps to read about your experience ;-) Thanks!

Im phasing of for vacation too. My coach had me do two weeks of phase 2 and now two weeks of phase 3. I actually gained 1 pound in my first week of phase 2, lost 2lbs in my second week and now on phase 3, my weigh is on wed, but my home scale says i've dropped 4.5lbs. I actually love phase 3, the breakfasts are amazing. I cant wait to go to sleep so i can wake up and eat them. I have a question, did any of you adhere to the phase 4 rules or did you just eat whatever you wanted?

bump

So glad I could help you all out. :)

save

Thank you so much jennydoodle!! Your post is a big help and very encouraging. Reading it really gives me such a positive feeling about the future:) Thanks again for sharing.

I thought I would bump this again, as this is the summer holiday season. I started phase 3 today to get ready for my holiday's next week. Great read from Jenny, and very encouraging as I plan on eating what I want while on holidays, and going back to phase 1 in August. Thanks Jenny!

BUMP for all those who have been discussing vacations and phasing off.

bumping again

I'm bumping this vacation thread again. I can't thank JennyDoodle enough for starting this thread, as I used it (along with other vacation threads) as a resource for my recent vacation.

I wasn't sure whether or not I wanted to stay OP on my vacation. I phased off (1 week in Phase 2 and 1 week in Phase 3) thinking that I would try to eat Phase 3/4 on my vacation, because I didn't want to take a lot of packets (I didn't end up taking any packets). About a day into my 9 day vacation I decided that I would just enjoy myself and not worry about eating OP. This doesn't mean I went crazy - although I indulged in carbs and other things that aren't OP, I did it in moderation (splitting a meal versus eating a whole meal, not snacking all day, not eating dessert every night, etc.). The other thing I did was to make sure that I drank a lot of water (not an easy task when you're on the go) and I walked A LOT. I walked probably on average 4 miles a day (lots of stairs too).

As soon as I got back home I got right back on Phase 1. I didn't weigh myself the day I got home, but instead waited a day (I was scared!). To my surprise, I was down 2 pounds. My weigh in this morning (after 4 days back on phase 1) has me down 4.6 pounds from my weigh in the day before I left on vacation.

Anyways, that's my story. Hope it helps someone.

Bump

Thanks for the bump, we just decided to go to Orlando in early March, so I plan on phasing off for the trip. This is a great resource!

This is amazing! I'm heading to Vegas for New Years and the World Series of Beer Pong. This will help me tremendously to enjoy myself (in moderation) and not worry so much about being OP.

This whole discussion has been very helpful! I wont be phasing off until February for Mardi Gras and then only for a few days. My big phase off will be in June. Im wondering if I will be near my goal by then? hmmmm

Are you doing the big phase off for a trip or what? :)

I bet you will be at goal!!

I'll be phasing off for a cruise in a couple of weeks. I've been reading the Phase 3 breakfast ideas posts and the Phase 3 and 4 sheets to prepare.

I'm not going to do phase 2, but going to phase 3. My question is - can I still do the shakes for lunch? I was just wondering what that would do. I was thinking I might still loose some weight while I'm doing phase 3 breakfasts.

Thanks in advance.

Where's Jennydoodle!!! Hmmmmmm. I'm glad this post made its way back to the top...I'm vacationing for 16 days in Ireland and don't want to do to much harm... :)

Woo hoo!!!

Hi there, you may want to post this in the daily thread or under the maintenance thread. I don't know if this thread gets that much traffic. (And I don't have an answer...but I think you sh ould be fine doing it...)

Phase 2 is meant to help your body start coping with the added calories of protein instead of packets for lunch. Just as Phase 3 is meant to help cope with added calories and carbs for breakfast. I can see the idea of not doing a full Phase 2 but once you are in Phase 3 I would stick to that which includes the changes to lunch protein that you should have made in Phase 2.

I phased out in the fall for a cruise. I did 2 weeks of Phase 2 and 2 weeks of Phase 3 then went into maintenance 2 days before the cruise started. I found phase 2 a learning time for me which was valuable. I don't know if I could have handled adding the large Phase 3 breakfast and a Phase 2 lunch at the same time. When I reach goal soon now, I will probably do a more limited 1 week Phase 2. On the cruise, I did some maintenance principles but ended up more relaxed. It was amazing how quickly the added carbs did me in (not to mention I have a gluten sensitivity and still ate regular bread!). However I only gained 5lbs over 3 weeks and lost that within the first week back - I believe this is because I properly phased out and jumped back in really quickly.

Most importantly, think now about what will happen when you get back home. Lots of people have taken breaks for whatever reason, with or without phasing out, and experienced challenges getting back on program. It seems that it is harder to stay 100% the second time around. Before I left I made up my mind as to what would happen when I returned. I had my packets ready and menu planned for the first couple of days. As soon as my plane touched down, I was back on program. Others have talked about setting up reminders like pictures or posters as to why you are on the program now so you get a fresh renewed focus when you get home. Planning now as to what you need to get back on track will help you be successful.

Good luck and happy cruising!

Just wanted to say thank you for all the valuable info, not to mention the inspirational progress pictures some of you have! Awesome work ladies!

Thanks for the advice. Maybe I'll do a week of P2 before P3. I've been reading the P3 breakfast ideas, and have plans for work week breakfasts.

I'm going to try to keep track of my eating while on the cruise, I'm going to bring some bars wih me and must be my shaker and packets for a snack before bed.

I do plan on going right back to P1 when we get back, I'm almost here, and want to finish.

Love this thread, have a 6 day trip to costa rica coming up and an 8 day cruise.

will be in p4 by costa rica. coach has said do a few days of p1 before costa rica after costa. rica three weeks later is the cruise, so 4 days prior to cruise will do p1 again

love vacations, hoping to have learned a lot and not go beserk at the sight of food on vacations

bump for Curliegirl

Hi Jenny
Did you exercise while you were on Phase 3 for your mini phase off?