Hi All
My program is through a physician who is also a neighbor. I told her before I started that I almost didn't start because I was going to be on a cruise for Thanksgiving and there was no way I was going to stay OP during a cruise. She said that I should start anyway, and that if I did a lot of exercise at least I should try to maintain and not gain anything. I was fine with that, I haven't had a vacation in about 4 years so I was willing to exercise a few hours a day if I had to.

Now I am reading here about people "phasing off" for vacations or holidays. I have no idea what this means? If I just eat whatever will I get sick?

I'm concerned. I don't want to be sick on this vacation, I've worked too hard for it and waited too long.

Thanks.

You won't get sick. You can gain quickly, if eating tons of sugars and carbs. So I would really watch. Probably best if you eat low carb and if necessary have small amounts of sugar.

If I understand it correctly, you might not get sick (although you might), but you might gain quickly.

Before I moved to alternatives, my coach told me when it's time to phase off, you spend no more than 2 weeks in each phase. You might want to do an accelerated version, to try to minimize any problems.

I'm still on phase 1, so someone else who's actually done this will probably have better info.

Have fun!

Still going to try and stay as low carb as I can. I read someone wrote "waking up the pancreas" and it sounded very serious.
I can skip alcohol completely without a problem. I can also have a spoonful of dessert or 2 and that's fine. I worry about my 3 big weaknesses- pizza, pasta and bread.
By then I hope to have lost about 15 lbs total, and I'd have another 18 to go. I know me, even though I say I am not OP, I also know I don't want to do that much damage. Truth is I need the relaxation more than the food!

Stage 3 where you reintroduce carbs is a critical stage of the plan - the 2 weeks of allowing your body carbs in the morning only and the entire day to process them while you eat phase 2 lunch and dinner. The pancreas starts producing insulin again (in just the right amounts) and "learns" a healthy way to operate. It's in Dr. Tran's book (linked in the stickies) and for me it worked really well, my metabolism runs even better than before.