I know you are not happy with that one pound, but it's really nice that it's not more than that! and to see your determination to lose it is inspiring. What do you usually do at the gym?

I'm intrigued by this book. I will have to read it soon. I'm type O- but I'm not sure I've noticed any significant problem with grains. I love all sorts of lentils, beans and corn. I guess when I re-introduce them I will have to pay attention to how they make me feel.

Haha, the term "hangry" really makes me laugh.. it's so true!
Glad your reboot is going well!

In my opinion.. you should probably continue doing what is helping you lose the weight! That was a great loss in such a short time.

Unfortunately I don't have much experience with phase 4, but my plan is to follow it as it is outlined and then tweak it as needed. The old thread "Life after phase 1" has some info on what other people have done during phase 4 that works for them. My thoughts on the amount of carbs.. well, I think that it is wise and necessary to reduce the amount of carbs in phase 4, but to what extent will probably vary from person to person. The good thing about the program is that your pancreas is reprogrammed to deal with them better. Personally if I were to eat muffins I would probably have them as a once in a while treat and therefore choose to make them with regular sugar.. but that's just mostly because I'm not a huge fan of using splenda so much... that is the one thing about IP that I'm not thrilled about -the amount of splenda used in the packets- but I understand it is necessary.
Glad to hear your reboot is going so well!

Well, re-reboot is going well so far. I'm staying away from the scale for now though.. I really don't feel I could handle to see something higher than 128, so I'll wait a couple of days.

Once I am done with the Advocare cleanse, I am going to go back to what I was doing before the holiday madness and aftermath. Which is pretty much following P3 during the week and letting up a little bit on the weekends. I do not have full blown cheat days, except for special occasions. I am just a little less strict on the weekends, and usually have some extra carbs.

This works for me on so many different levels. 1st- Now that I am on maintenance, I absolutely hate doing P1 days. So following this format, I very rarely have to do a P1 day because my weight is stabilized. 2nd- For me, too much cheating leads to excessive cheating where I start down the path of feeling like I need to eat everything under the sun on that one day. I fair much better with treats here and there and small indulgences on any given day than to load them up on any one day.

Yes, I plan to try to stay as "sugar-free" as possible, and absolutely wheat free. Both wheat and sugar do bad, bad things to me and I do not like the way I feel, so I do try to avoid them. Only on the above stated "special occassions" do I indulge.

You mentioned about finding your "carb threshold". I have found that I am very sensitive to carbs and that found that by eating lower for a majority of the week (P3), then if I eat a little more on the weekends (not mega cheats, just a small indulgence), I do not gain weight. So I feel like I have found my threshold and found the way I will eat 95% of the time.

I also don't really worry too much about the separation of carbs and fat. I feel like since I mostly follow P3, the 1 or 2 meals that I have during the week that are more splurge-y, aren't really going to make a difference. And quite frankly, I haven't seen a difference at all. Even through all of the holiday eating, I was still able to stay in my comfort window the whole time. I just felt like I needed something to help reign me in and get me back to healthy habits, as I was getting very liberal with bites and nibbles.

Okay, I am no longer interested in Advocare. No coffee for 10 days would turn me into a screaming shrew!

Passport - way to go on the quick weight loss! Glad you made it back to maintenance weight so soon.

Paint Lady, thanks for sharing the info about sausage making. Very interesting. What is "boucherie?"

2Ride - ate more/lost more??? Why doesn't that ever happen to me? Congrats on your big loss.

There hasn't been one bit of chocolate here at the office yet, thank goodness. I'm sure my husband is getting plenty of treats. He just better not bring them home! I think he's taking his girls out to Thai for V-day tonight. I should be able to eat reasonably there.

Holding steady, no gain or loss the last month. Maybe 158 is where I'll stay. Frankly though, the only reason I'm not gaining is the copious amounts of exercise. Hope I can keep that up!

Joanne, maybe next time we can get together to put in a Nashua order.
On another thread a group of 3 from sask said they do that. They said it really cuts down on the shipping costs.
I sent for an order the third week in Jan and finally got it yesterday. It was $95 for products, $34 for shipping and $13 for duty at the post office.

As for which of the products are the same as IP, so far any snack items I ordered from there are the same. The bars were wrapped and marked the same. This time I got chili lime soy puffs which is again packaged and marked as the IP stuff is.
gettingmygrove...very interesting on your comment about dairy creating too much mucus. i noticed as soon as I have much yogurt which I love I soon get sinus and ear infections.
My doctor at the time told me there was no connection between dairy and those infections. But I knew if I watched the dairy I didn't get them.
I actually lost my first 40 pounds by cutting out wheat 10 years ago. I was 204 at that time when I realized wheat was giving me sharp weight gains and draining my energy.
So with the double whammy of wheat and dairy I'm not looking forward to phase 3. I'll have to work it out without those two elements.

Hi, I am still a phase 1 IP'er but thought I would share this "potato" salad recipe using cauliflower for those on maintenance.

2 Cups of steamed Cauliflower
3 Hard boiled eggs
1/3 C. Mayonnaise
1/3 C. Miracle Whip
1 teas. Yellow Mustard
1/4 Cup Chopped red onions



Directions
Makes approx. 8 - 1/2 cup servings.

Chop steamed cauliflower the size you would chop the potato pieces. Dice hard boiled eggs very finely and add to the cauliflower. Add chopped red onions then mix in the mayonnaise, miracle whip, mustard and then add salt and pepper to taste and finally sprinkle with paprika for color.

Store in refrigerator. (makes 8 servings)

It is 94.3 calories, 7.4 fat grams, 2.8 net carbs, 175.4 mg sodium, 82.9 mg cholesterol adn 3.1 g protein per serving.

I am thinking I might need a reboot for exactly this same reason... I was doing so well from Sept-December last year. The holiday madness got to me, and I had two weekends in December where I had 1.5 cheat days. I think the reboot might get things back under control. I'm also feeling too guilty about food. I want my cheat day but don't feel like I deserve it... go a few days of being good, then blow it on something small and the weight goes back up. Hmmm. Haven't decided exactly, but I'm going to give it some serious thought.

We are going to NY this weekend and I will consider starting it when I get back.

Hi Maintainers
 

I will be starting Phase 3 tomorrow. My coach said I might see 2 to 5 pound gain, but I am okay with that. I thought phasing out would be very exciting, but it is turning out to be a little anxiety-causing. Life on phases 1 and 2 was so easy once I got into a routine, which was months ago. Now, something new. My palate has changed to the point that I can detect hidden sugar in food, regardless of the amount. I feel like I am one of those truffle-smelling hogs who can sniff out truffles under several feet of dirt.

So, any advice or resources you would like to share or point me to would be great.

Thanks. Don.

I have the same discomfort with too much artificial sweeteners. I feel like if I've lost weight to be healthy and want to maintain to keep healthy, why would I make artificial sweetners a regular part of my diet? I guess I should research the dangers.

The best advice I can give you is to enjoy phase 3. It's absolutely wonderful. I love breakfast now and really miss it when I have to do a phase 1 day. Stay away from the scale and just eat what you are supposed to eat. Do you have the sample menus for phase 3 and the guidelines? If not, I believe they are in the stickies.

Boucherie is basically a "butchering a hog/pig party". It takes help, so a few friends and family show up to help. I can go into really graphic detail, but that may not be appreciated by everyone here. If you are interested in the details, send me a PM, lol. Or, you can google cajun boucherie.

Ha! I don't think I want to hear the gruesome details! My husband has really been wanting to raise a pig to butcher, but I don't think I or the neighbors would like it! Plus all that bacon would wreak havoc on my diet.

Don, you cracked me up with your truffle smelling hog comment! I feel that way about sugar too. After phase 1 - you can taste even the smallest amount! Phase 3 is awesome. I still lost on phase 3 and 4, so not everyone gains.

Thanks for the cauliflower salad recipe Mustang. I am going to try it. I love love love potato salad, but haven't had any in 8 months!

My advice for P3 is enjoy it, stick to the plan, and figure out what you're going to be eating on P4! P3 is still very structured, it's P4 that's a puzzler. Ask your coach for the P4 materials now.

Hi Gika..I do a weight lifting circuit, then elliptical or treadmill. It is funny..that 128 is what I also want to see on my scale. I am down the pound and seeing it. I am glad your reboot is going well.

MustangMollie: Thanks for the cauliflower recipe!!! Much appreciated.

Ok girls..My motto for the day is old trigger new response. So I was doing fine surrounded by V goodies in every class I went into. Then I went into a speciality candy store for my son. There it was..I thought to myself you know I could eat all ten of these things. So I got out of there and later had a package of cocoa almonds.

Don..I would say everyone here felt anxious about changing phases! You really do get used to the new Phase pretty quickly! You do not necessarily gain in Phase 3. That is funny about sniffing out sugar. I try to stay away from it also. I tried to stay low calorie low carb on the Phase 3 breakfasts.

I'm going off wheat. Stay tuned for my report in a few days. Weight is 153.0. Grr. I have a cold and work is stressful. Mother in law comes today and I have a lot to do before she gets here. One of those days where I really wish the full time job was a little less "full".