Hi All, I'm new to the board. I am a LA Weight Loss drop out - lost 12 pounds on it, but struggled every single day, plus the cost is obscene. I did enjoy the boards on there, and was very happy to find this website. A co-worker gave me this book last week - I started yesterday. I have a few questions. I have about 40 pounds to lose. Maybe I missed it in the book, but how long do you stay on each phase in order to lose the amount of weight you want to lose? Do I stay on phase 2 for the majority of the plan? Also, must admit, I didn't give up my morning cup of coffe - is that a huge deal? I don't know if I can deal with that?
Thanks

I've been reading through the posts and can see drinking the coffee is a no no. I'm going to stop tomorrow and just deal with the caffine withdrawal headaches.

Phase 1 lasts 9 days.
Phase 2 lasts 3 weeks.
Phase 3 lasts 4 weeks
Phase 4 lasts for life. You'll continue to lose weight on this phase until you reach goal. At that point, you'll increase your portions a little so that you maintain your weight and stop losing. I guess this is a good lesson that we never really go off the diet, no matter which diet plan we choose. We just learn to eat better

I think most people are giving up coffee, but it's a personal choice. If you drink a lot of coffee, you may find that you need to wean yourself off and not quit cold turkey.

Hope that helps

Hi,

There is no real info on this in the book. I am starting Phase 2 tomorrow and have decided I will stick to the number of weeks on each phase the book suggests and see where I am at the end and how I have been losing in each phase. If I still need to lose more, I will go back to the phase(s) where I felt like it wasn't too restrictive for me and I was losing the most weight. Of course you could always throw in a day or two each week of Phase 1 in each of the phases to kickstart more weight loss like the book suggests. I honestly think if you do your cardio daily (I do 1 hr per day) that even in the latter phases you should still be losing, especially throwing in the occasional day of phase 1. Of course everyone is going to be different so don't stress over it, just do what works for you. Good luck on giving up the coffee. I had to give up the gallon of tea I probably drank each day and I somehow survived. I think the detox phase is the most important in my opinion. Good luck to you! Lem

My dh has drank his 1 cup of coffee every morning and he has lost 40 lbs. SO, I agree that it is a personal choice. You won't get all of the detox benefits... but it shouldn't hinder your weight loss.

Sherry

Since I have not lost as much as I'd like (and I JUST started phase 3) I am going to do the process over again, throwing in Phase 1 as Dr. Ian suggests.

Run through the plan for one full 90 day cycle. He says you can start over until you reach goal.

Thank you all for the quick answers. I just couldn't go without that morning cup this morning at 5:30 a.m.! I mixed 1/2 reg w/ 1/2 caffine. Today is day 3 and so far so good. I am not hungry at all. I have been sick with a sinus infection for about a week now, so it may be that, but hopefully the non hunger continues!