I am sooo confused about phase 4. I am trying to get my head around it.

1.Breakfast we can mix fat(cheese/yogurt) with bread...
2.We can never again have bread/tortillas for dinner, or lunch for sandwich
3. We can have pasta/rice, but with no cheese sauce or alfredo

Is cheese only allowed during breakfast?

I used to put cheese in everything, i know I need to limit that.

Can we have any amount of fat for dinner?

Hope this helps: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/atta...4-workshop.pdf

Thanks LizRR

So I was reading that sheet, and can anyone answer how many grams of fat/carbs they consider "rich" and "poor"
I'm trying to make good choices after my weightloss.
For example a meal/snack I love has
30g fat, 12g total carbs, 4g fiber, and 18g protein

Is that too much carbs for the fat? I wish they were more clear by "rich" and "poor"
Can anyone give numbers?

I'm still doing a lot of learning about phase 4 for when I finally get there, but I would think that 30g of fat for a snack would be WAY too much. As a meal, it's hard to say what kind of choice it would be without knowing what it is - and what the total calorie count was.

It's a piece of flax seed bread with butter and almond butter on it. I can have this for breakfast with my coffee and feel satisfied for a while or I have it as a snack. Together it's 370 cal. (mostly the almond butter) But I think the carb numbers are low (8g net) and the protein is up there. Plus it's unsaturated fat (canola oil butter, and almond butter) And it's so good. My crazy fitness friend got me hooked on the trader joe's almond butter, the ingredients are literally "almonds, sea salt"


You should have seen how much fat was in the Philly cheesesteak I split with my son yesterday :O I don't even want to say.

I'd just like some maintance numbers as a guideline, anyone?

There are no numbers, it's your body and how it responds to the food you give it. Some people can have pasta, I can't.

For me, I started where I was at goal and X'd by 10 to get a 'starting' calorie count (but that's just an idea I found on 3FC's in the maintenance forum(s)). HOWEVER, I naturally follow the rules of Phase 4 by keeping fats and carbs separate. I think some maintainers have collected their numbers based on their bodies, ie, I know I'm naturally low cal because I track my food and I am good anywhere between 135-170 carbs a day...it all evens out in the wash.

When it comes to making a choice....FOR ME...if they are equal in carbs and fats then it's probably not a good choice as they aren't following the rule of keeping fats and carbs separate. HOWEVER, that's just me and I'm really just a newbie maintainer!

I do VERY MUCH so, keep the refined sugar OUT, I still use stevia and splenda (limited quantities) and I do keep my protein count a little higher. Ie, an evening snack is fruit and greek yogurt (plain, fat free sweetened with splenda syrup).

Maybe some others might jump in.

IP doesn't give you "#'s" because it can't...every one is different. Phase 1 everyone can lose weight on....Phase 4 if you handed me some 'rules' and you some 'rules', they wouldn't apply the same way as we have different bodies and we assimilate our food differently. (I can have potatoes….some people can’t)

It's all about making sure you take the time to listen to your body and how it complains.

Sorry, you probably wanted more...do you have a coach?

Nope, I lost with alternatives. However from most (not all) of the coach posts here, I figure I would get better answers from all of you.

I've been eating this daily for over a week and my weight hasn't changed, so I guess I'll keep doing it.

So I've been as confused as you sound I'm in Phase 3 right now and my coach wanted a small twist on things that confused me even more! LizRR helped me out yesterday with the literature she gave to also. I poured through everything and determined this ...
If you have a high fat meal - have very low carbs. If you have a high carb meal, have very low fat...
In regards to the cheese, our body will treat a dairy as a fat, regardless of whether it's low-fat (strange huh?)
So ... try to find an alternative to the cheese - maybe a veggie cheese, if you want to mix it with carbs.
Finally - I believe that "moderation" is absolute! I'm very nervous about gaining the weight back (especially after the last couple breakfasts I've eaten ) ... but I'm sure we're being overly paranoid to a point too.

You're right, I'm thinking too much about it. At least I know I CAN lose weight should I need to. I don't want to become one of those crazy, no fun, obsessive dieter people.

Except I disagree on the cheese. I'm opting for real cheese. I love cheese!

LOL - That's almost exactly what my husband called me for a while "crazy, no fun and obsessive .." Don't know if he meant the diet or not

And I don't blame you on the cheese. I can't wait for a real fajita with real cheddar cheese

Keep us posted so if you do mess things up I can learn from it Sorry - that was mean but I couldn't resist - just to lighten it all up a little ...