I'm about to start Phase 2 in 4 days, and since I've been having alot of success because of a ton of pre-planning, I just wanted to make sure I'm doing it right by getting prepped for it.

I'm slightly confused as to how to transition into P2... Enlighten me?

Please check out the stickies in the FAQ Section for help. Most people do a slow transition - we call it Phase I.5 and add a single thing at a time e.g. fruit every day for a week and then keep the fruit but add a slice of ww bread the next week.

Oh! Found it, it was hiding in a sticky. Thank you!

Okay, I read it and I understand about 90% of it. When beachgal mentions ONE thing.. does she mean one type of food (fruit or starch) or does she mean one ITEM of either category??

For example:
Week one - 1 serving of cherries, then track weight
Week two - 1 serving of WW bread, track
Week three - 1 serving apple, track
Week four - 1 serving WW pasta, track

And then going on until you find a combo that works for you?

I know I'm being a pain in the ***, but I really want to get this right.

Can someone clarify?

Everyone does the transition a little differently. I added oatmeal every day my first week of Phase II, then kept the oatmeal and added a fruit every day the next week, kept both of those and added another grain the following week and stayed there for my Phase II program. I added extra grain/fruit in for Phase III. The key is to go slowly. See what works for you. If you start to have cravings or weight gain, you may need to try the food at a different time of day, or eliminate it and try a different food.

It is interesting to read how others have done this. I also started with oatmeal (steel-cut oats) my first week AND 1 fruit/day. This is my most successful weight loss scenario but it's hard to have one starch a day so sometimes I have two. If I have two starches/day too often my weight loss slows. With the spring/summer fruits coming in season, I sometimes have 2-3 fruits/day but that doesn't seem to affect my weight loss.

I think that it can take a couple of weeks for your body to stabilize after PH1 so my advice is to just watch the scale and if weight loss slows/stops, make the necessary adjustments.

I always find it fascinating to see how differently we all respond to the same program I could not eat a grain in the morning for almost a year. It I did I would go off the rails in the afternoon. Happened every time I tried. Even now in Phase 3 I stick to 1-2 grains per day and usually only have a morning grain once a week (love my crockpot oatmeal!). OTOH I can eat all the fresh fruit I want with no negative consequences.

It makes me appreciate the flexibility of this program and the uniqueness of each of us

I started with whole wheat cereal. I SO missed cereal. It was nice not to have eggs every day. I also added one apple a day.

Makenopromises, no worries! You're not being a PITA...it's much easier to help you prepare than to deal with you freaking out if what you tried didn't work because you didn't prepare. KWIM?

One thing means one serving of the same type of food. While it seems like a lot of people started with oatmeal, Dr. A suggests (and I think it's a good idea) that you start with berries, as they have a very low glycemic index. Plus, they're fresh this time of year. You'd have one serving of berries (same kind, technically) each day for a week and see how you feel. Ideally, you'd have them at the same meal/snack each day--like at breakfast every day--so that you could judge whether that time of day worked for you. If it did, you could keep that and then add a starch (like oatmeal or WW bread)--one serving a day only--that you eat every day for a week at the same time.

Granted, this is all the "ideal" plan. Some of us can tell in a couple days if something is causing problems. If so, ditch it and try it at a different time of day, in a different incarnation (i.e. try sprouted bread instead of plain WW), or try something totally new.

Hope that helps!

I'm with Cyndi...but still can't base the bulk of my morning meal with grains..makes me ravenous..If I ate oatmeal in the morning, I'd be heading to the closest bar of candy I could find..

The best thing to do is to experiment and see what works for you. Try fruits at different times of the day and also grains at different times of the day and see how you react to them. Your body will let you know how it deals with each new "addition". If it makes you hungry not too long after you eat something new, then try it at a different time of the day. If it always makes you hungry not long after you eat it no matter what time, then you may want to avoid it. Everyone is different and what works for others may not work the same for you.

Thank you guys so much for the clarification! I really wanted to get prepped for it with the fear that I may sabotage all the hard work the last two weeks, I came to the realization that the reason why I gained so much weight was because of the convenience of horrible food, not because of overeating. I had a habit of eating only once a day...

Time to experiment! I'll be a PITA (Cute, Laurie! Hahaha ) again if necessary!!

Also, I dropped 8lbs in the first 6 days, then 1 more pound since then (12 days into PH1 now), haven't lost anything since.. Is that normal?

The first 8lbs was probably due to water, so you're losing more slowly now. Nothing wrong with that. Slow weightloss is actually very good.

I am so glad I joined this forum, or I would be pulling my hair out by now. Thank you so much Laurie -- you sure do know how to put someone at ease!