Hi all and especially Chip,

It was my understanding of going back to P1 for a day was so that the carbs would not be absorbed from the fun day because our bodies would not produce insulin that next day.

I am new to p4 and struggling but my DH is still on P1 so our dinners are still P1.
I can not eat stuff he can not have in front of him,it's kinda of cruel.

I eat a modified p3 for breakfast something like two high fiber toast with vegan cheese and a piece of fruit. I go to the Y for an hour and a half for exercise,when I come home I have yogurt and two hard boiled eggs. My coach suggested I have protein after exercising. The lunch is some kind of lettuce wrap with veggies and protein. Quest bar for snack and supper with DH
I have read the Beck book and also Dr. Trans book. I have also read Refusing to Regain.
I find I have to put myself in the mindset of its only food. We eat to live not love to eat. I also try not to have the stuff that I can not control in the house.
On fun days ,I have only had one on Thanksgiving, it did not go well,I felt sick .
So now I do fun meals or planned fun treats. Tuesday night I also myself chocolate, I had five dark Hersey kisses and put the package away.
I tell myself I can have things I want but not the way I used too. Moderation and portion size do matter if I want to keep this weight loss.

When I sarted IP last February I kept saying to myself this is the last diet I am going on and I will make positive life style changes.

I want to live my last third of my life heathy and active not sitting watching that TV waiting for God.
Sorry to everyone for being so long winded but I know how hard Chip worked and do not want her to gain back the weight and the misery that goes with it.

ChipnDip - hang in there, maintenance is hard! I heard someone describe maintenance recently as "gaining and losing the same 5 pounds over and over again." I think that's so true. And I totally get thinking "I can eat this now because I can take care of it later." I work hard on that one - sometimes successfully, sometimes not.

I find planning meals and snacks out ahead of time really helps. If I have a plan I'm usually pretty good about following it. Weekends are my hard time - less structured time and I'm always trying to get too much done. Think I need to start planning my weekends too!

Also trying to teach myself not to panic. Got on the scale this morning and I seem to have gained 2 pounds in 3 days. Now I know I didn't eat that much! Went back through my diary and realized I went over on sodium all three days. Plus they increased my weights in PT, I ramped up my treadmill time and it looks like the surgical site is going to have to be drained again. Hm..... think that could do it? So I'll keep an eye on my sodium, up my water and try not to worry too much.

Not so fat anymore - Love all the exercise you're getting! I see a gym membership in my future - after the physical therapist releases me. Still need adult supervision so I don't hurt myself (which I would do!).

Hope everyone has a great day!

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to pop in and say hi to everybody! I have been doing P4 now for 4 weeks and am finally getting the hang of everything and feeling like I have this down! My weight has been hanging out around the low 130's, so well within my range. I have been busy with everyday life - work, kids, one of my kids' bday's last weekend, and Christmas. But I am here and reading when I can.

Catlady - you look GORGEOUS! LOVE the pic!!!

I hope everyone has a great day!

Liana Thanks for suggestion. I looked for Liberte when I was checking out what local stores had. I don't recall seeing it. But the "speciality" yogurt sections are so small compared to the 0% sugar loaded Dannon and Yoplait sections. I'll look some more. Right now I'm using Greek Gods and it's pretty good. I can get 0 and full fat versions.

Chip First...a hug I think we can all agree that loosing all this weight does a number on our mental state. If there was something wrong with our physical state we would go see a doctor, so this would be just another way to take care of yourself. I have gone to a therapist at several points in my life (issues other than weight) and am so glad that I did. Lessons that I learned from her I am still using today. Look at it as another tool in your arsenal to get to a totally healthy you. It's ok to ask for help.

Jenny I totally am doing a rotation of simple quick breakfasts. Today was Dave's Killer Bread with 1 TB of cashew butter, 1/2 a banana, a hard boiled egg, and 1oz. of Tillamook cheese. I have to admit I teared up when I took that first bite of cheese. It was AMAZING!

Slip Good for you for catching it so fast and doing P1. Since I'm not there yet so I'm not sure how I will react to the "bad stuff" knowing that I can fix it with a couple of P1 days.

SallyE Thanks for the pic love! I had such a good time at the party. I need to find more parties to go to!

RuthAnn Boo to misbehaving surgery site. Hope that gets cleared up soon.

evemomma Oh no! The flu! Yikes. Has everybody at your house had their shots? Hope you all stay healthy.

I saw 139 on the scale this morning! Granted it was 139.9, but still. I was pretty excited.

Hi all you maintainers!

I haven't been having 'perfect' days these days, at the top part of my range right now but am also dealing with that time of the month so its never an easy time, I gain water weight and am exhausted so my exercise doesn't happen. I did get my long run in on Sunday Jenny! Love my runs, I feel so good after. But, didn't get to zumba on Monday and nothing since. So, my goal is to do a run tomorrow, probably 30min. My hubby will have some time off starting next week so I hope we can get to the gym.

Chip; I totally can relate to the 'maintenance is hard' mentality. Some days are harder than others. I just am more tired and not as motivated but I try not to have that all or nothing attitude that the Beck diet solution book talks about. I realize that I did before. So, if I'm up a few lbs, I don't panic. I try a few days with low carb, lots of water, protein and vegies and not eating after supper. The scale goes up and down but as long as I don't go past my scream weight, I'm ok. Even then, I know I have the skills and knowledge to get those unwanted lbs down.

Hi Ruth Ann, love hearing from you too! And all you maintainers! I keep reading and appreciate all that you have to say! Have a great day!

Hi everyone, things have been really busy and stressful at work and with the holidays approaching, so haven't been able to post menus and on here as much, but I read every day and soak up your awesomeness. Hawaii, I can commiserate, haven't been doing as well either. TOM and stress have been working against me, as well as making not so great "in the moment" choices.

Yesterday, I had everything planned out, but realized my ratios were off for my fat meal at lunch. Ran across the street to get a fat snack - a couple of string cheeses and a bag of almonds. Well...I ate the WHOLE bag of almonds, so I had a 4 oz serving rather than a regular 1 oz serving. I was 200 cals above my daily allotment before I even got to dinner, I won't even mention the macros. Had a small piece of chicken breast and brocc for dinner, but then I was baking cookies and had a few tastes of the batter, and a couple of pieces of broken cookie. I know it's not the end of the world, but definitely makes me feel defeated. Sitting WAY at the top of my range today at 169. YIKES.

So today is P1 for most of the day but I have a wine and cheese event tonight that I booked months ago. Will see if I can test my willpower and just stick to a couple bites of cheese to keep it lower carb. Tomorrow I have a lunch with a friend and date night events but I will keep it lower carb as well. P1 on Saturday and Sunday for sure. Monday is the annual brunch and shopping trip with my mom and grandmother...mom is on the diet (and doing fantastically!) so it will be easy to stick to an omelette and not be tempted by all the other stuff. REALLy trying hard not to give in to the "oh it's the holidays, have fun and reboot in January and get it all off" voice that keeps creeping into my head. Such a challenge. Wishing myself and everyone here a sleigh full of willpower dust to get through!

Hey ladies - so I know maybe I should be posting in here, but I also know that making a new post is 'strongly discouraged' so I am wondering if anyone can tell me 'WHAT IS MAINTENANCE'?!? I honestly have no idea what it involves, I am ages away, but I would like to have a basic understanding of it nonetheless!

Thanks in advance, and sorry for hijacking!

Maintenance is that dark forest known as "the rest of your life" It's what happens after you move through the phases of IP (P1-weight loss, P2-weaning off packets, P3-reintroduction of complex carbs and more normal eating).

IP advocates approaching maintenance like this:
Healthy, balanced breakfast
1 fat-poor meal (meaning, higher in carbs than fats)
1 carb-poor meal (meaning, higher in fats than carbs)
Small healthy snacks if needed
1 cheat day per week, followed by a regular Phase 1 day

How you do maintenance is really up to you. Some have followed this plan, others have gone Paleo, others have just found a healthy eating plan that works for them.

The MOST IMPORTANT thing you can do in maintenance is track your eating. If you don't know what is going into your body, you cannot adjust your eating plan to help you maintain your weight. Losing all this weight does not make you a naturally thin person all of a sudden - your body doesn't start acting like a naturally thin person and if you go back to old eating habits, your body will bounce right back to its old shape. Weight management is a life-long process for us. But we have the tools to make it work

As you get closer to your goal weight, read the maintainers thread - there is a TON of good info there. Ask questions. Plan your food ahead. Pay attention to what your body does when you add back in carbs (there may be some foods you are more sensitive to than others, some that cause gains and some that don't). Most of all DON'T PANIC. Maintenance is a journey just like weight loss is

That was perfect! Thanks soooo much.

That helped me too Scorbett. My current thinking for when I start maintenance in a few weeks is tracking my eating in MFP using a paleo/ abascal way (anti inflammation) eating strategy. We'll see how goes.

Has anyone here started to phase off and then decide to go back to phase 1. I am two days in on phase 3 and I am being reminded of why I need to stay in ketosis.

I can see I have some work to do before I can live in maintenance. I have hashimotos and gluten intolerance. IP phase 1 seems to calm down my autoimmune response, ketosis keeps me from binge eating, (which I really struggle with), the carbs are reawakening that monster.

I am also not at my goal weight, I was hoping to be one of the lucky ones to lose weight as I transition, but I'm up 4-5 pounds after 1 day of phase 3. I am severely insulin resistant, off all medications due to IP working so wonderfully and at this point I do not want to go back on.

I no longer have a coach, but I don't think re introducing all these carbs is going to work for me. I want to go back to my safety net of phase 1, get to goal and in the mean time research a plan that is going to work with my autoimmune response and insulin resistance. Possibly the AIP paleo. Do I have to phase out with carbs or can I go straight to paleo?

Thanks for all of your help

You don't want to stay in the combined low cal/low carb phase unnecessarily - being on Phase 1 DOES slow down your metabolism, and it takes time to build that back up again. Phase 1 is so safe, planned out for us....it's very tempting to jump back on at the first sign of trouble.....but it is NOT a lifetime eating plan and should not be treated as such. You do not need to stay in ketosis, nor should you in the long term.

I have Hashimoto's and also find that gluten disagrees with me, so I can't do all the grain carbs in P3....but there are LOTS of gluten free products that can be used for "starchy" carbs, and if you are going to follow AIP/Paleo you can phase off and then follow that plan to see how it works for you. But I wouldn't recommend a "holding pattern" in P1 while you figure it out...that's not what it was designed for. Too low in calories to be a long term solution.

Have you talked to your endocrinologist or primary care about it? I'm quite confident they could recommend a reduced gluten diet or refer you to a dietitian that could help you figure out what will work.

Hi Kristin: I second scorbett's reply! Don't get caught in the 'Easy P1' trap. That is only a phase for weight loss and we need to get back to healthy normal eating in the long term. 'Normal' for your biometabolism WILL be different from another's - but I do understand the GF issues. Although I am not carb sensitive or insulin resistant, I must stay completely GF or I will be in severe joint and GI pain and bloat up several pounds which takes a week to get off. Binge eating has emotional/psychological ties and not just food chemistry related... you might want to look into therapy for this as well. Be patient you can do this.

Liana

Hi Chip. Thanks for posting this. Lately I've been feeling exactly the same. Frustrating. In the beginning, maintenance was easier but I think vacation kicked off a spree that I haven't seriously reigned in. I'm trying but think I am not being as diligent as I need to be.

I think someone else posted too...holiday season can be hard. Busiest month at work, lots of holiday parties and celebrations plus I'm back in a city I love with my old friends. There has been way too much celebrating.

I think I'm doing a little too much 'all or nothing'. One night out leads to two. Or instead of having two glasses of wine and watching the food carefully...it becomes a food free for all too. And it certainly doesn't help that I'm tired and not exercising as much.

I'm just going to keep at it. That's the only choice worth making.

Happy Thursday. Can't believe next week is Christmas already.

Hi Kristin,

I'm sorry you're having so much trouble with Phase 3. Maybe you just need a bit more time with it. I think we all felt super full and bloated for the first few days with those big breakfast and introducing the carbs. I just want to let you know that I've been doing a reboot by doing Phase 3 and I've been in ketosis the whole time. I didn't believe my coach that it was possible but I check with the Ketostix all the time and it confirms it. I know everyone is different and maybe I'm not as carb-sensitive as others. Perhaps you can still have a bigger breakfast without eating much of the carbs? Maybe keep the fruit with greek yogurt and some whole protein? Phase 1 just isn't enough food to maintain. I hope you can figure out a plan that works for you!

-Steph