I am almost at my goal and I'm dropping weight fast. I had to cut my P1 short because my body is back to normal after a brutal December with massive water weight gain, HBP and migraines.

Once I hit 170 that's where I want to stay so how do I stay there eating the way I am. Anything under 170 will make me too thin and that's the part where I need to really get into toning and sculpting.

I'm so used to eating the P2 way and I don't think I can eat what P3 says to eat because my appetite is just not that way anymore. Will I get to a point where I will stop losing weight if I eat all of my full P2 meals (right now I do it 3/4 of the way? It's hard trying to get at 1800-2000 calories a day (I do count).

I never thought I'd make it this far so I'm concerned now that I'm really close to goal. Transitioning from P1 to P2 was a little rocky for me too, I remember. I hope I can smoothly move into P3 with minimal problems too.

Any advice will be appreciated.

We have several chickies who are at goal. I hope they can help you. Anything I could say would be strictly theory!

First, Congrats on getting back to normal after the holidays!

I don't know if I have any good advice but I am in the same boat right now. I decided to start transitioning to P3 in Dec. I keep making new goals and have been avoiding the switch. It's scary! Anyway, I have been introducing some "real" sugar back into my diet. Example, I've started eating some Kashi cereal bars for snacks which have like 8g of "real" sugar per bar. I've been adding sugar to my ricotta cheese instead of splenda, ect. I have also tried to add more grains. Eating whole grain crackers for a snack or eating a regular wrap one day in the week. I also eat 2% cheese instead of FF. I actually started doing that in P2 but now I don't really worry about how much of it I eat.

So far, I am still loosing. I lost a pound in Dec. I was loosing about 1 - 1.5 pounds a month in P2. I'm not sure what to do. I really don't want to eat anything "bad" now that I am eating so healthy and I'm afraid that if I increase my portions I will start a downward spiral. Or I guess that's upward spiral, when it comes to weight

Does the new book have any advice? I have an old book that basically says, P3 you know what to do!

I seem to be permanently stuck bouncing 3 lbs above goal and back, so not sure I have anything useful to add. I had originally set a higher goal but kept losing and decided to let my body pick it's own weight. That made it easier to stop losing because I just stopped. I've also increased my calories (it's my backup system) and added a regular serving of nuts back in. I think Cat is right though, P3 is like P2 only with an occasional off plan meal or treat. Basically everything is the same for me. If you want to stop now I'd suggest adding in one item at a time - maybe a larger serving of nuts/nut butter or cheese. Do it gradually though so you catch it before the weight edges up!

For the most part, I stick to the SBD way, but have splurges occasionally (esp. at the holidays!), esp b/c it often makes it easier for family or eating out. I'll have a bite or two of those red lobster biscuits, not worry if there's honey in the barbeque sauce or not, things like that. In reality, I guess there's a lot of little things (I also switched to 2% milk; we would throw away my skim b/c I didn't drink it fast enough), but nothing to cause me to gain weight back.

I think everyone's going to be different. Start tinkering with what you can handle. If anyone remembers Matt, he splurges A LOT and has still kept the weight off (that's a 20 something year old guy for you though!).

Good luck!

I reached my goal last May and basically still eat Phase II 90% of the time or more which means 1-2 fruits/day and 2-3 grains. My weight continued to slowly drop below goal (got down to 112# before Christmas). People were telling me to stop losing weight. I would explain to them that I wasn't trying, but I also wasn't hungry and was eating to satisfaction. I am convinced that the foods I eat on SB are so healthy and filling, that I was totally satisfied, yet still losing very slowly.

Well I pretty much enjoyed myself over the holidays - not every day, but for 2-3 days at a time when I had a party to go to or a relative to visit, I ate what I wanted. Everything I wanted. I did gain a few pounds, but again after going back on Phase I for a day or so, then right back on Phase II, my weight seems to settle back down again. So maybe that is Phase III for me...going off plan occasionally...then back onto the straight and narrow. I dunno, it works for me. First time any food plan has worked this well for me, so I'll take it.

Thank you for the advice. This is going to be a tough one.

Oh, I miss Matt! Please tell him we said hello.

He's a good guy - he made a chocolate cake for that client that we put her dog down yesterday.

OK so I made it to goal yesterday and I went out for lunch to a diner. Normally I would never eat a pancake or home fries but I did. I had six silver dollar pancakes with syrup (no measure - just took what I needed) and I ate the full serving of home fries with my veggie and egg wrap (ate a half of that)...so far...no gain and I'm maintaining. I won't do anything like that again until Wednesday. So far so good.