Well, folks, I'm on to Phase II. I'm starting off slower than recommended. I'm going to eat 1/4 cup berries a day for the week.

I'm scared to death that the strawberries will set me off and ruin the plan for me completely. I had a bite of sugar last night (in the dark chocolate, as described in the Lindt thread) which was so not worth it to me taste-wise, and then made me a MONSTER for carbs. It was a horrid feeling--I wasn't even enjoying what I ate. I can't describe the reaction at all.

I'm hoping fruit won't have this effect on me. I'm pretty scared to be starting Phase II. I almost wish I could just stay on Phase I.

Anybody have any words of wisdom? Was it easy for everyone here to move on to Phase II? Did anybody gain?

I find it very hard adding anything back it just starts that vicious cycle. This time I am loosing the weight on phase one then adding back. You should be ok with the berries only anything after that I have no experience because I just loose control I will be reading for advice from someone with a success story and watching your success story role out.

Loretta

I just realized that I did not eat any sugar at alll, until I reached my goal and was in maintenance. I think that getting your plan solid before you add sugar is wise...and now that you know how you did with that little bit, you know you need to steer clear.

But strawberries are a good place to begin....you should not have any trouble and if you do, just back right away from them the next day, OK?

So that's the secret. I kept looking at all the "oohhhhhh, dark chocolate" posts and thinking, "What kind of fool am I to be deliberately missing out on a bite of dark chocolate here and there?" but I should have looked more carefully to see WHEN the chocolate was added in!

It's cool because I'm not really craving chocolate as in a chocolate candy bar anyway. I had mail-ordered the 85% cocoa bar and thought, Cool, I'll have my bite and see how it tastes. YIKES. That was a bad decision. I'm just going to wait, and eventually have a lower-cocoa chocolate at some point, maybe 60% or whatever, as an occasional treat. But for now...the combo including sugar isn't good for me.

Thanks for the advice, girls.

Geldora, you're doing the best thing possible in my opinion; you're adding things in gradually. You really can't be too careful when adding in a new food, because if you add things in all at once, you never know what is going to cause you problems!
You added in the choc, and you knew immediately that it must have been that which triggered you off, if you had added in 2 things or 3 that day you would have been left guessing!
I think you're doing really well, keep it up and don't be too afraid of strawberries, they will probably be fine

If you're freaking for chocolate, maybe you should try that recipe in the SBD book for ricotta and cocoa and fake sugar?

I know that several weeks ago, I wanted chocolate, so I made some hot chocolate w/ skim milk, hot water, unsweetened cocoa and some fake sugar (sweet n'low).

Atkins followers would have made it w/ real cream rather than the skim milk, also low carb.

Don't be afraid of stawberries (says she who a few weeks ago was afraid to eat an apple now and then).

You're doing fine! Don't be afraid of Phase II. Just go gradually, and introduce fruits not grains. Remember, overall it's calories in minus calories out. The fruit doesn't magically change that formula.

Just as the previous poster mentioned, I HIGHLY recommend chocolate ricotta for dessert if you crave chocolate. Here's my basic recipe that I just LOVE - I call it chocolate brownie batter.

1/2 c low fat or part skim ricotta cheese.
1 heaping teaspoon of DARK CHOCOLATE cocoa powder. I usually get the Nestle's Special Dark cocoa powder. Regular cocoa powder will taste nasty - make sure it's the dark chocolate stuff (dutch processed).
1/2 tsp or so of vanilla extract
Sweet N Low or SPlenda to taste - roughly 1-2 packets of snl will do.

Mix them all together and what results looks just like a brownie batter and it tastes rich, creamy, and chocolaty! Best part is, the cocoa only has somethign like 20 calories per TBSP.

Enjoy!

Thanks so much, everybody. I'm going to try to find that dark chocolate cocoa today.