How was the pizza? You're a braver woman than me.... I couldn't face a whole pizza by myself - had to bring in the reinforcements. LOL.

I've attached the Phase 4 Meal Planner for you.

That sounds scary Beck. I know somebody 'in passing' that has Raymauds disease... Her hands are constantly freezing & she wears gloves practically all year round. Hope your Dr. can help solve the mystery asap.

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We have a bee-oo-t-ful day here! Absolutely gorgeous! Hmm... what am I doing inside?...... it's beckoning to me - gotta go for a walk.

Cheers everyone. Hope you are all having a great day.

Hahaha, I say Revenge of the Fifth! lol

LOL I was going to say that at first, but the 5th is Cinco De Mayo, much too happy a day for a Sith holiday

That's exactly how my first TOM on Maintenance was... the scale is less jumpy now, but the cravings are still there and it's by far my hardest time. You are not alone!

Malie- I love that post! I've had a change of "lifestyle" and I'm trying hard to teach my kids that "diet" only means what you consume. For instance, some people have a fat and carb rich diet, others focus on whole food diets, while others have a gluten free diet. Food is food, and "diet" only means what food you eat...you just have to make (and live with) your choice of your diet.

A little me info... I have noticed that all refined flours and sugars set me into a scary place of little control. It's something that I'm always going to need to watch now, but I'm thankful that I am eating "clean" enough to realize it and that a good very low carb day puts me right again. Before IP I would have not realized that all I needed was one day of serious self control to set it straight, and would have given up (there's that lifestyle change popping up again!).

Have a beautiful Spring all...now that it's finally here!

I've already spent a few hours browsing the forum for what seems like a very FAQ-like question, but I'm failing, so I'll poll the maintainers.

Yesterday was my first day on phase 4. A lot of my friends had planned a huge bash to celebrate "May the Fourth" so I decided to go straight to the treat day for that. Now that it's the day after and I'm doing my phase 1 day, I find myself questioning the best way to handle it.

I think the safe way is to just treat it like original phase 1. Surely can't go wrong with that. I have some protein powder that I use to make some chocolate drink type shakes, so I feel like I'm good on that. I had compared the ingredients and nutritional information and it's very comparable to the IP products (more fiber, less sugar).

However, I originally had it in my mind that I read on one of the numerous confusing / contradicting handouts for phase 4 (with great freedom comes the ability to screw it up greatly) that all vegetables were back on the table, but now I'm not so sure of that. I was planning on having carrots as my vegetable for lunch and dinner today and I'm wondering if that isn't a mistake.

I am convinced a huge part of success for this diet is planning. If you plan your meals properly when you shop, your success rate is going to significantly increase. So the phase 4 'freedom' has me constantly second guessing my choices. The other phases were rigid, but at least I knew I was doing it right!

I'm also laughing at myself because I think if I had heard myself ask "Is it OK to eat carrots?" a year ago, I would have kicked myself in the shin.

TL;DR: In Phase 4, while doing your phase 1 day after treat day, are all vegetables on the table, or is it back to the restricted ones?

Conine - I've just been in maintenance for 1 month and 4 days now, but I stay away from the 'occasional' veggies on my P1 days.

I've attached a couple of documents that make me believe this is correct. It's referenced in the 'Glycemic Load Portion Sizes' sheet I've attached.. which says 'keep 'treat' day to once a week, and always follow wth a P1 day - no grains, beans, dairy, fruits and higher carb veggies'. Also the 'Phase 4 explanation' refers to the need to keep carbs (and sugars) really low on the P1 day. So - just those veggies & other food items that were allowed on P1.

Conine: I have a ways to go before being in maintenance, but I "lurk" here to mentally prepare myself.

Carrots wouldn't be allowed on the day following your "fun day" nor would any of the other veggies not allowed on Phase 1 (peas, beets, avocado, artichoke, etc).

When I do my Phase 1 day after a fun day, I do Phase 1 by the book - I do not have any disallowed veggies, and I have my 1 restricted and 2 unrestricted packets just as if I were still on P1. I don't avoid the restricted veggies (but I will only allow myself 1 serving of 1 cup if I am going to have something on that list), though I know some folks do ALL unrestricteds (veggies and packets) on their post-fun day.

The more you get into maintenance, you will figure out what works for your body. I am pretty tolerant of carbs so if I have tomato on my P1 day it doesn't affect me. It's definitely tough to go from strictly regulated foods to "open season", but it gets easier!

I had a laugh at your carrot comment - one of the first things that excited me my first day on P4 was that I could have carrots! And as much as I wanted! The things we get excited about now...

Officially in maintenance as of this weekend. Went a little crazy yesterday and had a single hershey kiss that I found at the back of my husband's snack drawer. It was good, but the one was definitely enough. Followed that up with 1/3 cup rice with dinner. Realized 2 things as I was eating: First, the rice didn't make my chicken and veggies any better....it was just a filler/something to absorb the little bit of sauce. Second, to eat the rice I had to scoop it or "shovel" it up with my fork instead of spearing it like I did with chicken and veg. I do not want to shovel my food!

This afternoon I needed a snack after working out in the garden. Spent almost 15 minutes debating whether to have a granola bar or not, and once I decided I would, which of the 3 different options (again, from hubbies snack drawer) to have! Finally decided on a Kind dark chocolate cherry cashew. It was quite good. Since I had the granola bar at snack time, will not have carbs with dinner.

Am continuing the P3 style breakfasts....they keep me very satisfied until lunch time.

I have tried it both ways. Today I am of the opinion that the "clean day" protocol is valuable to me, so I am trying that. As long as you do something that resembles p2/p3 (that is, low carb and lower calories than a p4 day) I think the concept will work

ps Found a reference on another site to the whole thing of eating the carbs in the evening meal as being beneficial and that keeping carbs (starchy ones, vegetable ones are OK) out of the main portion of the day will have hunger curbing benefits. I find that this is true, although sometimes those carbs can go on all night, which is what I am working on (again!).

pps Really appreciate the latest strings with the lipase stuff, the Beck quotes and the p1-after-fun-day methodologies.

I think that must be where I was confused. I must have read that the restricted items (green beans, etc) were allowed on the phase 1 day, and I somehow interpreted that to be the forbidden veggies.

I understand the concept and necessity of a low carb day following the treat day, so of course it makes sense to not allow the high carb veggies. OK. Got it.

Evepet, Thanks for the worksheet! Glad you finally have spring!

The pizza on Friday: My student brought me two small pieces, which was like one regular slice. Apparently he woke up early the day of his final and make the whole thing from scratch - crust, sauce, etc. I'm really glad he brought me only one portion. I took it home and had it for lunch.

It tasted good - but not as good as trying on size 6 clothes tastes! I know I will still have to remain vigilant and will have some "trigger foods," but being thinner is so much more fun than a few minutes of yummy tastes in my mouth. I ate the pizza, packed, and drove 4 hours to Houston.

I've been here this weekend visiting and helping my daughter with the little twin girls. They are 22 months and just wonderful!

My first weekend on maintenance brought some new foods back into my diet. Along with my usual roasted veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, rutabaga, zucchini, my daughter had me add fresh organic carrots, beets, and red potatoes to the mix. I added some avocado to my lunch salad and a little bit of cheese to my omelet in the morning.

Here's my question: my P1 day won't happen until I get home. In fact, it won't happen until Wednesday. I've got to be able to travel and eat sensibly and defer my P1 day until I'm back home.

Yes, Scorbett, this is all so true.

Hi Maintainers,
Hope everyone had a nice weekend.

I've been enjoying a Protidiet vanilla shake with some add ins(extracts,fruits,etc) for my evening
snack, in the blender, its great tastes like a milkshake.

Well I wanted to order the Syntrax vanilla bean , cost wise much better, but
I wanted to see if anyone else has used this flavor and if you liked it before
I order.

I appreciate your responses!
thanks so much!!

D

Hey everyone! I had a busy but great weekend in the sunshine. Saturday I spent 4 hours in the car travelling back and forth to my niece/goddaughter's 2nd birthday party and then yesterday I worked in our yard for probably 8 hours before heading to play with my ponies for a bit. The scale was down 2 lbs this morning even after eating cake and goodies at the party. So far I haven't had to do any P1 days after 'fun days' and the scale is staying the same or going down (can't complain about that). I think for me the biggest change is I still eat my P3 breakfasts and my body is using the food properly. I never ever ate breakfast before except occasionally going out on the weekends for brunch with my hubby. I pretty much have been eating whatever I want just in moderation. I still track everything I eat and I haven't been going crazy but I'm happy that I don't seem to have to be as vigilante about things as I thought I'd have to be. I do still breath a sigh of relief every morning when I step on the scale. I hope that fear goes away at some point. I think I keep expecting to put all the weight back on overnight which I know is silly. I was at a family party with my twin sister who's always been wayyyy skinnier then me and now we are almost the same size which we haven't been like that since high school. She's still a few pounds lighter then me but I seem to have a lot more muscle then she does....it's nice to be able to share clothes with her. Oh and I went to Joe Fresh yesterday and got a TON of new clothes. The sales girl asked me what prompted me needing a whole new wardrobe and I told her that I'd just lost a bunch of weight. I talked to her a bit about how I had done it. It was so nice going in to the change room with a gazillion things and pretty much everything fit! It was quite the NSV.

My pizza wasn't home-made - I enjoyed it, but didn't find it as tasty as I remembered. Maybe it was the brand though. However, my friend has indicated she's willing to share future pizzas. LOL. (She's very slim). We may have a regular monthly pizza night so I get to 'sample' different pizzas in a 'controlled' way.

Sounds like you're having a great time with your grand-daughters. They are at such a cute age. Isn't it great, being able to add back in all these *new* tasty veggies and cheese... fruit.... etc. I still salivate over apple slices and ricotta cheese.... and strawberries... Yum.

You can pretty much wait and do your Fun Day whenever it best suits your schedule. And you don't need a P1 day until the day after your Fun Day. So just fit it into your schedule at your preference.



Glad to hear that things are going so well for you. BTW - you're looking pretty fantastic in that bikini!