Just a thought and of course we'd have to ask Elizabeth if she'd be willing to participate but it might be nice if there was a thread dedicated to posts about exercise and Elizabeth's answers...so she doesn't have to keep re-posting every time someone asks something. I know a lot of the same exercise type questions come up....

I really do like the idea of a life in maintenance area. I don't believe all people will slip into maintenance and stay there easily. Just because we reset our body, sometimes we still are doing work on the other elements/habits/emotions that contributed to our becoming overweight or became defenses for our self esteem.

I think it might be a less active thread but a still valuable one. We could even ask Ruth or Leenie to help us create a still for Maintenance Recipes. Things that are ok for the 6 days of non indulgence but obviously allow more creative cooking than phase 1 and 2 permit!

This hasn't been posted on for quite awhile but, with all the talk of a new thread about technical tips, I thought I would bring it to the front again for review.

:( yes! Second day of phase 4 and have lost control with chocolate and rice and fruit.

Yes???

Ellie, are you saying you need maintenance recipes??

HONEY! Have I got recipes for you! I have about 1000 low carb recipes that I can't wait to have in phase 4. They are even good in phase 1 in most cases.

I made a "breaded" fish with a chili lime sauce the other night that has 2.5 net carbs per serving. It was so YUMM, BF asked if we could have it again!

I have breads for phase 4, desserts, drinks (my girl friend makes a killer low carb margarita), and lots more. I know not everyone collects cook books like I do. Maybe they don't even check them out from the library or read low carb recipes on line. Some people like the quick and easy single place to look.

If that is what people want, I am happy to help start a recipes for after phase 1.

Let me know what you think. I know when I get there, in about 7 weeks, I will be wanting easy things to do at my finger tips. :)

Carla,

I would LOVE that. I have to say I think I faltered on the way I had planned the first few days were going to go because I came to visit my parents and their coffee table is full of sweets. BUT yes I am fully worried about how to approach this added carb to dinner. All I know is rice and pasta.

I'll be back in seattle tomorrow night and plan to seriously take control of this.

GOTCHA! Stay here and I will respond!

Aww. I am sure you did ok. Just jump back on phase 1 and 2 for a few days. You'll be fine.

I am totally open to starting a thread. It doesn't have to be a sticky. If it gets enough of the required action, moderators will make it a sticky. If not, if we are using it enough, it stays on page 1 anyway.

I know it will be hard for some to make the switch. If you aren't a researcher, cook, or someone who obsesses about what to cook (like I do :o) it could be daunting to figure out the "so, I have freedom to cook new things with new rules but, I don't know where to begin" thing. For some people it may be a real departure from the way and ingredients they cooked before.

So, what would you want to have first?

Fine with me...thought we kind of had one already. But on a Sticky it may be better as it would not disappear from the top of the thread?

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/idea...-exercise.html

I am also coming up too maintenance so i would love to get involved in a recipe swap type thing or if Carla would let me move in... even better, I am not the greatest cook but I try, sometimes it works sometimes it doesnt. I dont really miss the carbs I think that is gonna be the hardest thing for me getting in a balance..

The idea of a Phase 3 & 4 Maintenance Recipes thread really appeals to me! I should be transitioning to Phase 2 soon and already I'm nervous about being left to my own devices in Phases 3 & 4. I've been reading the Life After Phase 1 thread religiously and the ladies there are so awesome and helpful, but what I would really appreciate and use is various sample meal menus with specific name brands and/or nutritional information, as well as recipes. :)

Just a bump and a cross post to the other new organization thread.


Hi Everyone!

I have been thinking about something I started back in June and can see a reason to finish.

I have been reading all the posts in the past 2 or so weeks (some of them I had to play catch up on ;) ) and it seems a common theme which, is settling down a bit, is the confusion about what posts go in what thread category, how do I find something, when should I be creating a new thread.

I would like to try and clean up the forum. I have been with it, first as a lurker since last fall, then an active poster around New Years. I have a strong knowledge of what those threads were intended to offer originally and what has repeatedly come up for each new group of people to join IP and to join us.

With that said, I am intending to pick up where this left off and slowly put some of the points, discussed above and in the new subforum link, in place. I greatly appreciate any feedback you might have along the way. If you are shy about posting in this or other threads related to the changes, please PM me. :)

Also, if it isn't to late, I wanted to add my "two cents" about the daily thread closing time, assuming it is not too late.

Like others, I do wish the daily thread was open a bit longer, even an extra 24 hours would be nice. This would be really nice for those of on the west coast who can not get on as easily during the day and feel somewhat "obsolete" in answering other posters or, posting our own daily inputs by coming in at a point when the thread is about to close and we realize many may not even look back to the previous day to see what we said or accomplished. Is this something that can be coordinated without it becoming something too challenging to maneuver for others? I only ask because I was trying to post my reponses to Saturdays posts this weekend during the same time frame that the thread was closed out. Kind of left me feeling deflated after having taken the time to catch up on and read about everyone else's great day or, challenges and questions and then left unable to participate without doing a giant cut and paste process to the next day.

Daily closing
 

I've given a lot of thought to when the daily chat closes, for a number of reasons, not the least of which because I know that most of what I post after 2:00 pm HST gets lost in the shuffle to move on to the next day. Put personal observations aside, I think I can see a pattern that we might capitalize on.

By 8:00 pm Hawaii Standard Time it is 2:00 am the next day on the east coast, 11:00 pm the same day, with time gradients on 3 hours in between. By the time I see Jessica's last post of the day, I generally say to myself, Well, that's it.:( I'm not at all against keeping the post open a few, up to 24 hours. On the other hand, I think many people won't bother to go back and read the yesterday posts if for no other reason than the fact that they can't remember where they left off.

My suggestion, based on daily activity and because we are committed to a daily thread, is to start the new thread at 2:00 am Eastern time. That way, no matter what time zone one's in, most people's posts will be encapsulated into a time frame that gives everyone a logic unity and Pacific and Hawai'i "late" posts get read. Like every other suggestion, this one has flaws, but I also think it is the most inclusive in that it gets more people's posts read.

And while I'm at it, is it possible to bring up the idea of a weekend post again?

Linden: While you're still in Hawaii, would you be willing to start the next day's thread at 8 pm your time?

From the perspective of an early riser on the East Coast, I don't read many of the previous day's posts until the next morning, and that's when I actually have time to respond. If you shut it down at 2:00 AM, I don't get my shot. I'm SURE you don't want that! ;)

Can we start a new one and direct people there, but leave a half day for those in the "Far East" (as we used to call it in Alaska) to respond to the posts of the previous night? :?: