If you’ve been following our posts for a while, you know that Cody and I went to Winnipeg to visit family for Christmas and decided to phase off the Program. December 20th, we completed our phasing off and on Dec 21st, we landed in Winnipeg. We had all these big plans; going to the Olive Garden, enjoying some popcorn and hot dogs at the Jets game, having a big Christmas dinner including a lot of dainties (this is a new term for Diane and me; I had to look it up! Hopefully, St. Thomas folks understand it!) and so much more!
We had a great trip! You know what is one thing I realized though? I didn’t really miss the junk food. Well, not as much as I thought I did when I was one phase one. As I bit into my burger from Wendy’s I just thought, “Yep, this is good. Not very healthy though.” I didn’t enjoy it as much as I had before I started Ideal Protein. The same thing happened with everything else that is forbidden on the program.
Will be honest with you though. I went into this break thinking I would be super healthy, it would be practice for when I reach my goal and phase off for good. This did not happen. I ended up treating the break like a vacation from healthy eating. “I’m on vacation, I should enjoy it,” I would say to myself as I took a bite of my favourite chocolate that I got for Christmas. That being said, I still think I made healthier choices than I would have otherwise. More veggies made their way onto the plate and my portions were certainly more reasonable.
Now that we’re back home, I’ve been thinking about whether or not I regret taking this break. I still don’t have a solid answer. I think in some ways it was good; I now know what I’d do with my freedom, so I have better expectations for what life will be like after the program. Was it worth halting my progress? Not really. In the end though, do I regret taking the break? No. I think what I learned from this break will help me over the coming weeks to lose the second half of my goal. Before going on the break, I lost 30lbs. However, I gained five back. This was expected. I’m actually surprised I didn’t gain more. This means I’m back at half way to my goal of losing 50lbs. I don’t think this minimizes the fact that I’ve lost 30lbs already.
I know the next week is going to be very challenging. I am going back on phase one, which means I’ll face the same symptoms of withdrawal that I experienced the first time. Cody has been struggling with the decision of whether or not he will go back on the program with me. He has lost so much weight, that I personally don’t think he should lose any more. If he doesn’t go back, doing this without him will be another challenge that I will have to overcome. Stay tuned!
