I'm 21 and have been doing the Ideal Protein diet for about a month now, and am planning to stick with it until I lose about 50 pounds. I have been strictly sticking to it and have had some great results. I found out recently that my family is getting together to go on a cruise this August, though. And that means lots of food that I shouldn't be eating. My dad says taking a week off my diet won't be a big deal, and that I can get right back on after and it'll be okay, and I'll lose the weight gained quickly, but I am really afraid to. I don't want to ruin months of dieting with one week. Is it possible that I would gain all the weight back? I won't mind being behind by a couple weeks, but I don't want it to put me months behind. I don't want to miss this time spent with my family either, though. Anyway, I guess I am just asking, from your experience/ what you know, how bad is it to take a full week off of a strict diet?

IMO, not a good idea.

That said, there is NO reason you cannot go on the cruise and have lots of fun. Food should not be the source of fun, people, activities etc should be your fun. I'm sure the cruise will have salads, lean meats, veggies, and fruit.

Try to find a balance to it. I gained 7 lbs on my cruise, I. Sure some of it was water weight. But I was eating all the time and tons of super rich food. I'd try to have a light healthy breakfast and lunch and maybe indulgent dinner one day. Aim for one indulge meal a day, that would be my suggestion. It's going to be hard to resist the good stuff all the time. But you don't want it to ruin the trip. There's also tons of activities with swimming pools and port destination activities.
Enjoy your trip and try not to get hung up on just the food.

I don't know how much water weight you quickly dropped during the first two weeks of your diet, but you can count on regaining that water weight back for sure, because your body will replenish those stores of water as soon as you start eating carbs again, and then more as you continue to eat high-carb foods. The way I see it, if you cannot take that week off and go right back on plan when you get back, if you think you'll end up just throwing in the towel, then you have something to be concerned about. If, however, losing and keeping weight off is not a race for you but a life-long pursuit, then you can take a week off your strict plan, jumping right back on it when you return and continuing that pursuit. I'd like to be able to tell you to stick to your plan, that you can do it, to go enjoy the cruise but don't make it about the food; however, since cruises and buffets go hand-in hand and everyone around you will be digging in, I don't know how realistic that is. It's not impossible but I think it's going to be extremely difficult, especially if you'll have family members urging you to ditch the diet for a week. If you decide to stay on the diet, it is going to take a WHOLE LOT of willpower and determination.

You're young, don't diet! Please don't diet! I wish someone would have told me that when I was young and it wasn't too late. Do you know what diets lead to? Yoyoing. And then more diets. And then more weight gain. It's a cycle that will never end unless you step off the diet merry go round. Trust me, some people diet from adolescence until the day they die, never at peace with food, never trusting themselves around food, always one restrictive diet after another and only weight gain to show for it.

Please be young, enjoy your time with your family. Eat when you're hungry and stop when you're full. Spend time doing fun activities and let the food only be an accessory to your day, not the focus of it. There is a place for food in our lives. It shouldn't be feared, it shouldn't be avoided, it shouldn't be controlled. It accompany our day to day life and should not be the source of anxiety and self loathing. Life is too short and I spent way too many DECADES being afraid of my own hunger, being afraid to eat for fear of gaining weight and then binging because of overly restrictive diets. It's not worth it!

You know, my first thought was "how are you going to live your life after you've reached your goal with Ideal Protein?"

I know nothing about the IP diet but I've seen it mentioned here. Life is real though and you're going to have other situations like this during and after your "diet" phase. IMO might just as well know now how you'll deal with these kinds of situations and develop a game plan for your future!

I would say to figure out how you plan to plan your eating after you're done with IP and do that for the week.

I went on a cruise last summer as an IP maintainer with lower carb life style. I went with the idea of enjoying good food but not throwing caution to the wind. I brought with me my favorite protein snacks too so that I could have choices and avoid hunger while doing off ship activities. I used the stationary cycle 30 min each morning, too.

The result was that I enjoyed myself thoroughly, including good food indulgence. Sure I could have eaten 10x more but my net gain was 1 lb and I felt great. No food-induced coma during or after, no longings. There was a lot of asking myself 'is this something I will really enjoy or is just because it's there/everyone else is eating it, etc." My protein shakes helped a lot & were worth every penny of the checked baggage fee, worth every silent judgement of my family members (who I dearly love and who all gained on the cruise).

You probably know by now that it takes a month or so to get firmly adapted to ketosis. Those fat-burning enzymes take time for your body to synthesize. My experience in phasing off is that they hang around for a while. Also your metabolism may get a fat-burning bump at first from the influx of calories. To get back into ketosis, you will have to tough out those first few days to use up your new glycogen stores. One week shouldn't do much damage if you get right back on program.

That said, it can be difficult and distressing to experience the return of cravings that ketosis suppresses. They come back with a vengeance when you are exposed to highly palatable, nutrient-dense foods. It's a common reaction to rigorous calorie restriction and if you can ride it out without heeding the urges to binge, they will quickly recede. It might help to talk to your coach and have a phase off plan to help your body handle some extra calories in a gradual way. There is no magic about phasing off or ratios though, people have done it every which way. Also it will help to know your coach is supportive so that you don't dread returning to weigh in.

You can look at this as an opportunity to practice what it will be like for the rest of your life as VickieChickie said.

The more restrictive the diet, the harder it usually is to transition from periods of caloric deficit to periods of maintaining or excess calorie consumption.

If you are doing a ketogenic diet you can expect to see large weight fluctuations upon reintroducing carbs to your diet. If you were my client, I would have you start adding carbs into your plan a couple of weeks prior to your trip, not only to lessen the shock when you step on the scale, but to prepare your body and mitigate some of those increases.

I would also not put a client on a keto diet unless there were a medical reason to... it can be very hard to maintain and it isn't good for active individuals.

Food is the part of fun. Food is a part of life enjoyments now and through all our history. There is a reason why food is central to our celebrations. It brings joy.

I'm with the majority, don't diet. Or at least, don't stay strictly on a diet. You don't have to go hog wild, but don't stop living life because of being on a strict diet.

I would just eat stuff that was good for me. When I travel for work, I often spend time in great hotels. So I just eat tons of the best stuff I would normally eat on my diet.

That means scrambled egg and smoked salmon for breakfast or smoked trout if they have it with broccoli. I have been known to eat a hotel breakfast buffet out of smoked salmon. Followed by a porridge chaser with dried fruits. Finished with plain greek yogurt and more dried fruit.

I would then have another big lunch, normally fish and vegetables or a salad and then go light for dinner.

So I would have a ball but work in food parameters that work for my body.

The only thing I would watch now is desserts. They would have to be really special. But in Thailand they were so I took three courses of those as well when I last went there.

I actually came back lighter after that trip.

This is what I'm doing this precise moment. I'm at a conference where the food is great and it's already paid for. I am eating great food, but sticking to my way of eating as best I can. Like tonight I had poached salmon and grilled asparagus with a capris salad. Lunch, I grabbed a thin slice of roast beef and a couple of pineapple slices. I just tallied up my calories the last couple days and while I enjoyed my food, I stayed witin my calorie allotment all days so far and that was with eating dessert tonight as I "saved up" calories from earlier in the day.

I don't see it that way. Food is fuel, not fun, not entertainment. I feel that actual life, people, new experiences, those are the things that are fun and pleasurable.

We're all different and we all see things in a different way. Food is part of the enjoyment in my life. I cannot go to an event and force myself to only derive enjoyment from the dancing or the other activities. Honestly, people who derive no pleasure from food are not the norm, I know a couple of people like that who think food is purely fuel and they've both suffered for many years with eating disorders.

Only for very few people is that actually true. If food were only fuel, we'd all just live on soylent and be done with it.

Most of us do (and have since the beginning of time) incorporate food into celebration, social activity, and use it to self-soothe. Food for us is naturally a source of joy and comfort, and to try and deny that is futile.

There is a middle ground, however. No, you do not have to go hog wild and eat everything just because it is there, but you also don't have to eat strictly for "fuel".

You can choose to fill up on mostly "clean" healthy foods that fit your diet (lean proteins, dairy, vegetables, fruit, etc.) and pick a couple of "treats" each day.

Example might be;
- A latte with whipped cream along with an egg white omelette for breakfast
- Having the grilled chicken salad, and then splitting a side of fries with someone during lunch
- Having a steak and veggies for dinner, and picking one reasonably sized dessert for dinner.

There is ALWAYS a middle ground.

GREAT advice!