Good morning everyone! I'm back.. maybe not quite back to maintenance.. but soon I hope.

I properly phased out in December. I finished phase 3 Dec 7, and Dec 8 I went on a vacation until Dec 28. It wasn't my goal to eat moderately or avoid anything, as this kind of trips don't come by often for me. Interestingly enough though, I think in general I did eat moderately, mostly I tried -not devoured- all the things that I wanted. Although there were a few times when I did eat until I felt stuffed up.. not a good feeling.

So my final weigh before my vacation was 126. I didn't gain anything during phase 3, so I was thinking maybe I will gain the dreaded 3-5 lbs during phase 4.

Even though I was quite happy with how I ate during vacation (it wasn't the healthiest... but it was healthier than I would have done in the past), I'm really disappointed that in anticipation for my phase 1 reboot, I felt a little out of control.. eating things for the sake of having them "one last time". I kept trying to reminding myself that it wouldn't be my "last".. but it didn't always work.
I did a few days of phase 1, lost the water weight, and then I decided to enjoy one social gathering, and restart again. So now I'm on day 2 of phase 1. I know I should have continued once I started a few days ago. I wasn't hungry or craving anything. I was just really annoyed at the inconvenience of having to find food I could eat that day while socializing.

My weigh today is 131. That is 5 lbs heavier than my lowest, and it doesn't bother me that much, although I definitively want to be in the 120's. The main reason I want to do phase 1 again though is to reset my pancreas again after the vacation and post-vacation indulgences. I want to phase out properly and follow phase 4. My question for you guys is, how long do you think that I need to do phase 1 for, so that I can properly reset my pancreas again? I know that I will need to do the 2 weeks of phase 3 for that to happen, but I'm unsure for how long does the pancreas need to "rest" before it is reawaken. Also, I hated.. HATED phase 2, as I disliked eating so much meat, so would I need to do phase 2 again? If so, for how long?
I was thinking 2 weeks of phase 1 followed by 2 weeks of phase 3 would be enough, but I"m really interested in what you guys have to say.

Hope everyone is having a good reboot or maintenance day today!

Gika- I would say you could skip Phase 2 as this phase is mostly to wean phase 1's off of packets and back onto the higher calorie count of normal food. Stay in Phase 1 long enough to hit ketosis and a weight that you're comfortable at then move along to Phase 3. Just my thoughts...
JoLo- I meant to say in my last comment that this is very true of all of us... When it is unimportant to take care of oneself that is showing a genuine lack of love. It can be so hard to understand with food because so often food is portrayed as love. But bad food is like bad love- it should be tossed. When it makes you cry, think negatively of yourself and detracts from your self esteem these all showcase an abusive relationship with food. BCgirl, Jenny & Maile I like the systems you have implemented for yourselves of counting calories & carbs with no all out free day but rather an occasional indulgence.
There is something so comforting in consistency and routine. Having been thrown so far out of mine with the move has exemplified this to me. Every week that I have a free day where I do not overindulge I feel proud. This is a learning experience for all of us but thank you to everyone for your contributions it makes it that much easier when you have others experiences learn from.

Nice article Maile. I have mixed feelings about it. I think it's spot on with the negative feelings when 80% of your clothing is too small and you've kept it there to mock you every day. Hanging onto it however, ended up being a smart move, as I wore most of it during my IP journey. It all ended up being good transition clothing. The smallest "skinny" clothes that I kept from my college days ended up being ugly and out of style when I was able to get into them again. I need not have bothered keeping those. I ended up going out buying new skinny jeans, that really are skinny jeans!

It's snowing here too. That's funny that school's on time for you Maile. School is cancelled everywhere over here! Lots of sledding in my back yard. Of course not by me... I'm in the office as normal.

Tomorrow is my first day of Phase 3. Can anyone please give me an example of what you eat for breakfast in Phase 3?

I'll admit to exaggeration. Maybe even on full-blown saddle bags. But that's what I thought at the time. How we see ourselves!

And like 2 Ride I wonder about posting here because I'm not back in maintenance yet. Close, but no cigar. But I think this is the best thread, by far, for projecting, incentive, knowledge, out-and-out basic information, you name it. So I was wondering, and this really is an imposition, if it would be possible to post the instructions for seeing the Phase 3 breakfasts n Fatsecret oagain -- since there are a number of new people going into Phase 3. I'm afraid I never mastered it the first time around. Do I need to ask each of you to acknowledge me for me to see them? Would this still be valuable now? I'd cite PxylK's original post but I've searched a lot and just can't find it.

1 greek goddess plain yogurt
1 cup blueberries
1 hard boiled egg
1 slice of the highest fiber bread you can find toasted- mine is sunflower/flaxseed and has 7 gram fiber
1 tablespoon peanut butter on the toast.

There are others-this is my favorite.

Thanks for posting this. I am just nervous about getting the right combination in for breakfast. I worked too hard to mess up during this phase.

I hear you. 83 pounds is a bunch! If you go to the stickis under phases there are other examples. If you have a ideal protein coach, they generally have a phase 3 handout with several examples of phase 3 breakfasts.

Maybe this will help you out.

My favorite phase 3 breakfast is: 8 oz. non-fat plain greek yogurt, and a sandwich made with:
1 tablespoon peanut butter with 1/2 of a banana sliced on Nature's Own multi-grain sandwich rounds. I also indulge in a sugar free mocha capp with 1/2 and 1/2. I make sure this works into the guidelines for phase 3. So filling and so good!

Louisiana Chick- CONGRATS!!! Well done on reaching maintenance! My favorite phase 3 breakfast is:
3/4 cup plain 0% fat Greek yogurt (I like tart)
1 cup Blueberries or raspberries or mix
1/4- 1/2 Cup Kashi Go Lean Crunch mixed in the yogurt (I only really enjoy yogurt when it's crunchy)
1 slice WW bread or rye bread
1 Tablespoon Kraft Natural Peanut Butter
I will sometimes have a few slices of banana on top if I'm working out, if not sugar free jam.
I also like 2 eggs with 3 slices of turkey bacon, 2 slices WW bread or rye with light cream cheese and half a grapefruit.
Paint Lady- I liked your portabello mushroom recipe. I've been craving that for awhile- will have to try making it next week when the deep freeze let's up.
Pauley - it is freezing here too. The school buses will not be running tomorrow as it's forecasted to be -48 with the windchill. Brrr.
Maile- good for you for only having 4 scallops at Ruth's Chris. I could only eat 4oz of my 8 oz tenderloin and I was regretful that I didn't go with my initial instinct of ordering the portabello mushroom. There was so much butter on everyone's plate.
Jenny- are you back on regular maintenance now? Done with the reboot or no?
Linden- you have always been seemingly omniscient to me... I would never question you posting here...

Hello Maintainers...I'm in my 2nd week! It took all week to convince myself to have the "cheat day" to come here today and see that it's kinda subjective. I'm glad I did it though. I proved to myself that it's possible. My fear was the taste would be in my mouth and I wouldn't be able to get rid of it. But it wasn't like that. ( I had Perkins Pancakes-short stack, 2 slices of pizza xtra cheese and mushroom and 4 entemanns chocolate/devil food donuts)

I love what I've done for myself and am very proud of my 54lbs!!

I'm reading that I'm not alone in the "maybe I wanna go thinner but I look ok, others are saying I look fine" type of thinking. My orginal goal was 165 and my couach said too g o 5 below because of the flucutation. And thinking about how easy it is to lose...I'mseriously considering 10 more...but I don't want to get obsessive.

I posted in a separte post for snack ideas as nobody seems to talk about that. I decided for this first month to stick with IP products but going forward I need some options that are not fruit :-)

LASTLY, Congrats everyone! We rock :-)

Yep...hit the same ice/snow storm trying to drive up from Portland to Seattle. What a nightmare drive that was! Won't be able to get to my daughters till Thursday after the snow that we're supposed to get dumped tomorrow gets washed away by the rains to follow! In NY, it'd be a walk in the park, but with these hills, it's really treacherous.
Trying to watch my food while on the road. My protein bars, cereals and shakes are really helping. I've not done my weigh in for past monday. I was driving up and not near a scale, but from what I see in the mirror and from my food intake, I'm looking pretty steady to myself.
I'll be able to weigh in next monday for sure.
Hope everyone's well and safe as winter has finally decided to kick in just about everywhere!

Good for you losing two pounds. Hope you have a great day on Phase 1 and get a good cup of coffee.

More snow here and i am seriously wondering if I will make it out of the driveway so this will be very short.

I really appreciate everyone who posts here for their ideas and support. I think people who reached maintenance and then are back in Phase 1 trying to get a few pounds off again, should be here as this is so much a part of the maintenance learning. We are all trying to figure out how to maintain in our own ways and each person has a different journey.
Linden and 2 ride keep posting..We love to hear from you as well as anyone who has posted here in any stage.