Ems.I basically kept eating the same way that I did when I was losing, and just added a carb with dinner..or had fun meals now and then. I eat fairly close to p3. I have not tried WW but Ishbel likes TOPS. The key is to take small steps and add things back slowly.

Ishbel: I do the same..only have all of them together with breakfast. I sympathize with you on your hormones and your baby weight. You are amazing not having any treats. You are going to have one healthy baby!
I am not giving up sucralose either..maybe some day.

Dak1lls: Water retention is something I struggle with. I have just learned that koser salt has less sodium than other salts..I am definitely carb sensitive.

Hi Maile, Same here, although i'm not using it as freely as before--my mango peach Mio water is now pale instead of flaming orange. When I follow your advice re sticking closely to P2 or 3 I feel energetic without hunger or cravings. The weekly fun day has been a binge trigger so I avoid it as much as possible. I don't miss it.

I will try the cottage cheese as a snack. Thanks for your comments and support.

After 3 weeks on P1 I spent a day or 2 on P2 and 2 days on P3. Phase three seems to be where I hang out, generally. Initially when I phased off of my nine months, I spent more than 2 weeks on each of them!

Thanks for the hug. I needed that! It s great to have support! And yes, I am seeing that I am more sensitive to carbs now, although I would bet that I was always carb sensitive. After all, I did manage to have 80 additional pounds on me!

Never intruding, ems! Welcome! I lost and gained WW weight throughout my life. I'm trying the IP maintenance with suggestions from these wonderful folks.

Hi LizRR! Good to see you! I know you are enjoying the baby! Wow! Five months!

Be safe, everyone!

Maile I'll look into TOPS. Thank you.

@infoplease I must have ketosis head too because I cannot for the life of me find where I posted my response. I have been all over the place mentally and here too commenting in one thread and then to another. Anyways, back on phase 1 to drop 10lbs that I gained since September and to hopefully kick off an additional 5. I am set on 30 days of phase 1 so whatever happens in the time happens. Also, I just need to get some healthy habits back in place...more veggies each day, less eating out which I got caught up in with all the holiday madness, etc. I have been on the reboot for 8 days now and I feel differently than I have in the past. Not as hungry, no spotting, etc. which is slightly concerning to me.

Liz... so awesome our boys are super close in age

Mailie - I thought about getting a pedometer or fitbit for tracking my daily routine - but honestly, I'm an engineer and sit at the computer most of the day so outside of running the feet don't get much mileage. It is HARD to lose weight without P1 to jump onto!!! I have to basically stick to portion control & exercise - nursing makes me SOOOO hungry that I'm really working on using what I learned as far as veggie prep to make sure I satisfy my stomach on good, filling vegetables and not bad stuff. I want to nurse for about 2 years (I nursed my son for 16months) so I better get used to this slow pace of weight loss.

Ishbel - I TOTALLY hear you on the mind game of gaining weight for a "good cause". It was especially tough third trimester when it really starts ramping up (at least for me it did), but at least then you know it's actual "baby" that is gaining the weight. I shocked myself several times catching accidental side glances. And yeah, the Pregnant/Nursing forum is slow, I feel like I talk to myself a lot in there - but hey, sometimes it's good to just blab I guess.

dak1lls - Thanks for the sweet comments! That really made my day! I worked hard trying to come up with creative P3 recipes so it's good to hear that other people actually use them! I am trying to stick close to a P3-type eating (with more allowances) now that I am nursing so I fall back to those recipes for my big breakfast.

Tigerlvr52 - Gotta love those IP babies!
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I ran 4 miles this morning, my daughter graced me with sleeping through the night, we've had a week of errant wakeups, so I am still fresh. Doing 6 miles tomorrow, then resting on Saturday - then...my big race on Sunday. I don't feel very prepared for my half-marathon, but I know that I will finish it, just may be a little more sore than normal. We are meeting my folks in Austin and my mom is driving back with us to Dallas and staying the week to watch my daughter (usually my MIL watches her, I work 5hour/day). It's always nice to have a "live-in" nanny!

Here's my menu plan for the day in case anyone is interested:
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/4943073-post50.html

Thanks for the responses and suggestions.
I'm not sure on the pb2 as a substitution; some of the ingredients are a little weird. I think it is the texture and fat in the peanutbutter and not the flavor I crave, when I need it. Maile, do you just sprinkle it or do you reconstitute it with water?

Good to know that many people (or at least 1!) just do a couple of days of p3 as part of the reset. I feel so much better on p3 and am curious if I will gain the glycogen weight back so I hope to stay on it for a week. I just did a few days of p2 the first time but did a full two weeks on p3, then we went on vacation, where I probably ate less than p4 at home would have allowed (but had a great time anyway).

Info: I am glad you had a great vacation. I am not sure on the pb2 as to what it is.. I just use it dry sprinkle on cottage cheese or yogurt. Some people mix it with water. It does have a small amount of sugar. I just use it for the pb flavor and lower calories. However, it does not come close to almond or peanut butter both of which I love the texture and flavor.

Lizzyrr: You are doing a great job of losing weight slowly..even though you would much rather be in P1 and losing faster. It is hard, but nursing that baby will give your child such a boost in health! I am on my feet teaching and put in a lot of steps. I find the it motivates me to get awards for my steps and makes me move on my lazier days.good luck on your race...

eandc: Hope your 30 day p1 goes well. It definitely will get your loss going again.

ems: I have heard TOPS is friendly and inexpensive. Some people love WW. I tend to use online support.

Joysh: thinking of you. I know you can do it.

Mars735: T try to cut back on it as well. I do not do fun days for the same reason. I have stopped bingeing and do not want to start again. Others seem to be able to have a nice moderate fun day.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone.

Happy Valentine weekend...hope everyone is getting to spend time with loved ones!!

I hope you don't mind if I express some concerns of mine. I've been on maintenance for a little over a month now. I was doing well until this weekend. On Thursday I weighed in at goal, which was good considering on the 8th I threw my parents a surprise Anniversary Party...with awesome food, cakes..the works. I splurged & drank for 1 1/2 days (we all stayed overnight at the hotel)..I then did P1 days from Monday to Thursday. (The scary thing is that on Tuesday, I craved the sweet stuff). From Thursday afternoon until now I have eaten A LOT of food. I will most likely have to do phase 1 for a couple if weeks (the way I feel...so uncomfortable). Today I ate due to family stresses...BAD SIGN. I can not let this get the best of me. I have lost weight before...all to gain the weight back. I don't want to go down that road again. I think that I will forgo future fun days...since it seems to lead to "free-for-all" eating behaviors for me. Any advice?

Thanks for listening & for any support. Sometimes I feel so much pressure to be a good role model for my girls, that in doing so, I'm a bad one.

FitMom02,
You are modeling taking care of a problem, so don't be so hard on yourself.
If you have read thru the maintenance threads you will see that some people do the p1/p2 during the week, relax on the weekend style; others do no fun day with an occasional treat item; others do things that work for them besides p4.

My thought for you would be to look at being 100% on p4 (and forego the fun day if you choose). Focus on that in the same way you would focus on p1. Look at a p3 breakfast (great example for the girls), look at a p2-like lunch with some added fat (cheese, nuts, full fat dressing, coconut oil, etc) and a p2-like dinner with ONE carb--a fruit, about a half cup of a carb. Plus, maybe one "mixed" snack of no more than 200 calories. Keep a food diary and commit to "just" two weeks. Re-evaluate in two weeks.

Your goal weight is at the low end of the range for your height; have you been at this weight before? I only ask because it may be that when you "hit your groove" you'll end up just a few pounds higher. It really depends on your activity level and metabolism.

Could you be putting too much pressure on yourself to either be on the diet or off?

There's a little leeway in p4 (you can add a glass of wine a few times a week), you are never very far from a piece of bread or a piece of cheese or a snack or whatever keeps you from feeling deprived so you can eat appropriately the rest of the time.

Will something like the above work for you?

FitMom02, I might be one of the first to respond but there will be others with much more experience maintaining....I found myself more easily triggered to binge after getting to maintenance. Then i would panic and do P1, but found it hard to restrict my calories again and that set me up to binge again. I'm not sure if your are actually experiencing binge-type eating, but your brain may nevertheless be reacting to the "famine" of P1 and urging you to store up now that are allowing in a little more food. Hope that makes sense. Someone on this thread recommended a book that's really helped me "Brain over Binge" by Kathryn Hansen (thanks Maile!)

If you find P1 sets you up to overeat, I'd suggest using P2 for course correction. If you are experiencing cravings, don't be discouraged. IP never claimed to get rid of those forever so there is nothing wrong--you just have some more work ahead of you! Watch to see if P1 sets you up feel too hungry to resist the cravings.

It sounds like you are a GREAT role model for your girls--a real person who makes mistakes and figures out what to do to fix them; someone who works hard to take care of herself.

Mars: I am glad you like that book. i have also been watching www.fatlosers.com videos. He has a hard line but inspires you to stay mentally tough. I agree with you on using P2 for a more moderate correction.

Fitmom: Hang in there..I was frantic when I first started to maintain. If the scale moved up a few pounds I felt like I had gained all of my 100 pounds back. I then shifted to the range idea so I could be up 3-5 pounds and still feel like I was maintaining.
Another concept that helped me was Beck's definition of achievable weight verses maintainable weight. She says what you can achieve at your lowest weight may not be the maintainable weight for your body. With weight lifting and new muscles, I upped my original goal weight by 3 pounds. That helped me as it is maintainable.

I stay away from free for all fun days. I simply cannot return to eating sugars and refined carbs. I have much control if I stay away from them. Once in awhile I have a fun meal.

Your children will see you trying hard to eat healthy and to figure this out. That is being a good role model. I am hoping my children will learn from my present healthy eating habits.

Infoplease: I thought that was excellent advice!

I am increasing my steps and exercise. The pedometer and virtual trophies are helping. Here's hoping that there are no new winter storms until the end of February.

Hi all, so on my first week in 'maintenance.' Sunday DH and I had our Valentines, with chocolate and champagne in the afternoon, a fancy dinner with 2 martinis for me, plus lots of yummy small plates at a Greek restaurant. Needless to say, I felt yucky yesterday, no hangover from the alcohol but a hangover from fatty foods and too many sweets. I did a P1 day yesterday, had a P3 breakfast this am and have just made a salad from the work deli with a sprinkle of blue cheese, roasted onions and a some artichoke hearts in addition to OP veggies, dry tuna and hard boiled eggs. I used 1 teaspons of bleu chees dressing and a little olive oil. I know I'm going to struggle with P4 - it's sooo much easier if you have a detaled do and don't eat list but P4 is a bit too free wheeling for me! how do you navigate? I know I shouldn't mix fats a carbs - so does that mean no corn or sybeans on my salad or just no bread? How do you guys figure this out?

Thank you. I am two weeks in and sitting at 135 today so my weight is hanging on this time but hey, its a journey and I have the time. I have been dealing with the big C (did not experience that in the past) and its been rough. I will be chugging water this week to see if that get me moving on the scale and in the bathroom. Looking forward to being back with you all here.