You’ve made it! How brilliant is that? We take our hats off and throw them in the air, whooping with delight on your behalf.
You’re looking and feeling miles better. Your clothes are getting looser by the day. You may even have dumped those horrible tent-dresses and gone to buy something more fitted (one of the great, great joys of this diet for us was when we could suddenly wander into any shop and buy clothes – not stretchy clothes, or things made of cotton jersey, but real, proper clothes, in real, proper sizes).
Congratulations. We really mean it. We know how far you’ve come, just as we know that the whole process may have been a bit up and down emotionally. But we hope you’re now firmly entrenched. We hope you’ve got the bug. Now, a confession. We lost 70 pounds each. Obviously, we didn’t do this in two weeks. It took us a year. And this is what we did: we repeated Phase One for several months – six, to be precise.
Now, you’re either thinking, “You’ve got to be joking,” or you’re thinking, “Okaaaay … I can live with that.” Your reaction will determine what you do next. If you didn’t have that much weight to lose to start with – about 25 to 30 pounds, say – move on to Phase Two tomorrow. If you have more than that to lose, do consider staying on Phase One for a while longer. How much longer? Only you can tell. We suggest moving to Phase Two when your goal weight is within reach – say when it’s about fifteen pounds away. Things slow down very slightly on Phase Two, and you have to ask yourself whether you’re happy for that to happen in exchange for a broader menu and a wider variety of things to eat.
However, if you do decide to stay on Phase One – and really, you could stay on it indefinitely if you were so inclined – we’re going to allow you alcohol. From tomorrow, you may drink DRY white wine, red wine and champagne (not all at once!). Better still, develop a taste for vodka, and have it with either diet tonic or with soda water and a twist of fresh lime. This equals zero carbs.
Whatever your decision, pour yourself a drink. Cheers! You’ve achieved an amazing thing.
Time to buy a full-length mirror, if you don’t own one already.
The Goals
Neris:
• I wanted to buy nice underwear.
• I wanted to wear V-shaped T-shirts at the gym, not old baggy crappy ones.
• I wanted people to notice more weight loss and I wanted more compliments.
• I want to lose my tummy fold.
India:
• I wanted more compliments too – they became addictive.
• I wanted to look hot in a swimsuit.
• I wanted my stomach to shrink more.
• I wanted to buy smaller bras.
What are your goals?
Write them down here.
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