I know that everyone strives to not cheat, but I am curious (especially the long term beachers) when you cheat do you get right back to phase 1 or keep going on phase 2? Would eating a piece of cake make you go back to Phase 1 or more of a several day cheat? Like vacations? Thanks!

I didn't go back on phase 1 after just one mistake, but more like when I realized that my diet no longer even resembled any phase of SB. This was primarily after the holidays. If you are still losing weight on phase 2 then I would stick with it, but if the cravings returned I would do a phase 1 again until they had subsided.

I don't go back to P1 unless I've been bad for a long time. Idid it after the holidays because I put on over 10 lbs!! Yikes! On P2 if I start getting cravings I just reduce the carbs for a day or two and then everything gets straightened back out. As long as I watch portions and calories Ican lose just as well on P2. I'm one of those people who never did lose tons of weight on P1, it just helped to get rid of cravings. P2 is supposed to be the main part of the SBD. P1 is only a temporary stage. Unless you're cravings are really bad I'd just stick to a very careful P2. Good luck.

This may not be for everyone, but once we were into P2 for a couple of weeks (after the recommended 2 weeks of P1), my hubby and a I do maintenence like this: During the week, we pretty much stick to P1/P2 for meals, avoid non P1/P2 snacks and on the weekends, we don't worry about. That's not to say we're eating pizza and drinking beer after work on Friday through Sunday - it's just that if we go out to eat, we have dessert and if we make dinner and want ribs, we make them and if we want to have buttery popcorn at the movies, we do it. Things we have altered permanently and never back track on, even on the weekends:

no sugar drinks at all - limited juice and if so, only 100% juice - usually i mix with water or sparkling water
no white bread except the occassional sour dough
no fried/deep fried anything
avoid potatoes - i love them so, but they are a slippery slope for me
no candy except the occassional dark chocolate

There have been several times (during the holidays), where we've gone completely off track, and then, going back to P1, even for a week, helps tremendously.

Oh, and if I eat a piece of cake in the timespan of a week - I certainly don't worry about that as long as that's my one weakness of the week. It's th slipery slope of eating a piece of cake on Monday, french fries on Tuesday, 2 beers on Wednesay...

Hope that helps!