Thank you Liana and "want2bskinnyagain" for your ideas. I see my coach this afternoon again & will talk over both options.
They both sound very do-able and much more manageable for me. Maybe I can now make it to the finish line eventually.

Hi Slipfree: I live in the 'California' of Canada so our weather here has been very hot & dry, very little humidity. Last weekend it was 40C (104F), this week we are off to a cooler start only expecting highs of 28C (82F) today. We did have a bit of rain a couple of nights ago so that has helped with the forest fires around here. Still a bit hazy from the drifting smoke though. I said to my DH this morning that it suddenly felt like autumn had come, because no matter how hot it gets during the day, it had dropped down to 12C last night (55F) and you get that cooler, fresher feeling in the air even though it's sunny and hot during the day. We leave all our doors & windows open all night (just the screens, lol) to cool our place off and then close everything up by 9 am. We have still had to use the central AC pretty much every day this past month, though. It usually just runs in the late afternoon/early evening after the heat of the day has been baking the house and the inside temp gets to 25C.

Liana

Okay, I lost 2.4 pounds this week on Phase 2 so my coach and I decided I should just stay on Phase 2 for awhile & see how it goes. 27.6 more pounds to reach my goal.
After 10 months of Phase 1, this Phase feels like a vacation. I think I can do this even if the weight loss is a little slower.

Peppergirl! 2.4 pounds is great.

Pepper girl that is great. Good for you. Maybe P2 is something I should try as well. Maybe I need the break as well. My coaches said I could do it.

Luccilove, Want2b has lost all her weight on Phase 2. It was my least favorite phase because it is 16 oz. of real protein a day, but if you are slipping because you are hungry it may be the way to go.

Other than the moving stress which is huge, what is bugging you the most about the plan?

Slipfree

I think I am burnt out from P1. I am also again not sure what my goal weight I want. I thrilled with what I weigh now but that is because I have always been bigger anyways??? Then I think I should phase off and when things settle and I move to the new house I can go back on P1. But I know life is stressful in general so maybe that is a cop-out. Just confuse and tired. I also fine summer is harder for me to be on IP then fall and winter. Anyone else feel this?

Summer is definitely more difficult even in maintenance. So many social events, it feels similar to the winter holiday time.

I am just not a fan of phasing off and restarting. Mainly because I have read so many restarters say how hard it is and that they wish they had never phased off.

Of course you are sick of phase 1, you have been doing it for a long time. Time to change it up a bit. Plan fatigue is hard. Each Newbie on Phase 1 is struggling with it right now. To be completely honest, it is not much easier in maintenance. There are rules, limits and planning there too. But- go back to Oct. Think about why we started this journey in the first place? Have you achieved your goals?

I am glad that you are happier with your body at your current weight, that makes the work-worth doing. What do you hope will happen if you Phase off now? Are you looking for more food choices? The "free day"? I fear that during this stressful(in a happy way) time that it will be hard to stop the free day from becoming a slide. I may be projecting my patterns here, so feel free to ignore my fears.

Life is stressful at times and each of us has a history of using food for something other than for physical nourishment. Newbies, how do we handle the stress differently?

Slip: We are having cooler day today, but I prefer the heat. It is smoky here too, from all the forest fires.

Peppergirl: Congrats on the loss.

Lucci: I think everyone is finding summer harder to stick to plan. I think there are more social occasions in the summer. I think you need to do what ever is right for you, but do some research from others who have phased off and restarted. From what I have read it is harder to restart. I too thought about phasing off for the summer, but decided not to for a few reasons. 1)I was close to my goal and just want to get there for once in my life. I have always been close, but never gotten to goal. 2) I wasn't sure I could get the motivation back to go back OP after having freedom in the summer. I now know this was the right decision for me. Talking it out with others in our group may help in your decision. Posting more often keeps my motivation up, posting in Pinterest is also good, and reading weightloss/maintenance info keeps me motivated as well.

How do I handle stress differently now? Sometimes it is a struggle to not go back to my old eating ways in times of stress. But I tell myself that food is not the answer, it will NOT help me get thru this. At times like this I try to find things to keep myself busy, usually reading weight loss/maintenance info and pinning motivational quotes on Pinterest. And every time I get thru a stressful time I tell myself that I am proud of me, I have come a long way. And this is the "new" me and she does things differently then the "old" me.

Hey all... Found out that "due to new FDA regulations" that my center will no longer be selling individual items. So if I want something, I need to be sure that I want 7 of them.. So frustrated with the center, their ridiculous costs, and the absolute lack of coaching. I told my coach last week (I only go every two weeks to stretch out my visits) that I could teach this stuff.. He told me well if you do that, you'll get $1.00 a packet discount. I wasn't expecting that.. I mean this diet is expensive.. Don't get me wrong, the investment is totally worth it, but at this point I'm not sure on the ROI regarding the coaching and my particular center. There's part of me that doesn't want to quit with hem, cause I damn well want to "get to goal". I don't want it hanging over my head that I "quit.".... Argh!!!!!!

Hi Kawaii,

Did your coach at least explain to you why this happened and that it's only temporary? Apparently someone in TX had an anaphylactic reaction to a packet and claims that because the packet didn't have the ingredients listed on it, she didn't know that it contained whatever she was allergic to. This led to a lawsuit and an FDA investigation. My coach says that IP is scrambling now to print all of the nutritional information on all of the packets instead of just on the box (you can buy single packets of those for which it's already printed), but it's going to take time and they need to sell the inventory that's out there already. Here's hoping they move quickly!

I started December 1 and we don't have a very strong group, so I have been lurking here. Thank you so much for all of the great information! As someone who is two months behind all of you, it is so helpful and inspiring to hear your stories and hope that I will join you soon in weight loss numbers and maintenance!

Slip,

How do I handle stress differently? Firstly, I go to the gym. Weight lifting till muscle fatigue then a nice slow even walk or doing the elliptical. Second, I'm finding I reach out to the support people/groups I've set up. Third, I will listen to music and write. If I absolutely must have something to eat, I tell myself to wait 10 minutes... Then I reassess if I'm still "hungry". If so, wait one more 10 minute block.. If at that point I still want something, then good chance is I'm actually hungry... So I have something. Something on plan... Never a restricted, or chocolatey things.. Do not want to set up that body memory expectation!

Kawaii, if you stop going to the clinic but stay with the protocol- then you are not quitting. But if you stick with them then I say that you should rotate around with some of the coaches. At the end of my phase 1, I was buying boxes. (Peanut vanilla bar, BBQ crisps, strawberry banana drink)

Welcome Hopeisallthereis- Thank you for the background info on the packet change. Feel free to join us. This is a great group of people Congratulations on your IP success so far. You are rocking it!

Slip,

Thanks for the perspective. For awhile now I've been thinking I could stretch my sessions to once a month while on phase one, and once I get to phase 2, go back to seeing them when I need to. Not quite sure what happened, but I'm up (by 9lbs) today... Feeling hit and sticky... Trying to combat it by drinking liquids all day long.. I haven't cheated, even cut the dairy out of my diet. Have an appointment with a cardio to see if they can see anything as to why I was having the blood pressure issues. I don't want to leave it just hanging..

I think that what I might do is start buying from Nashua Nutritionals and getting different things. Then I only have to order once a month, and it's all set! Plus they have unrestricted oatmeal... Sad, but I want oatmeal even with it being 80+ degrees.. And they have different "treats".. I'm on the go most of the time and I don't want to eat soups in the car..

In any event, I'm not giving up on the protocol!

Hope,

Welcome to our support group! You're doing great! Thanks for the info, my center never explained why the change.. I hope to see you here with us more often!

Kawaii- TOM? It is def. hot and sticky here. It is the first day this summer that I felt really hot. Good luck with the dr. follow up.