Today's motto for me is : Old triggers, new responses. Yes, I can be surrounded by trigger food, but I can create new responses. This includes grandma's pie..which now my husband wants!!!

At least as I struggle to plan and stay focused, I would say this is a very good holiday season. Even if I have strong fears and am not perfect, it is still a very mindful holiday. Last year was a mindless blur with no healthful planning or exercise.

Yesterday I saw an old friend. Her daughter said," You have shrunk to half your size." I thought this was an over reaction..so when I got home, I calculated my weight loss. It was 49 percent. There are times when I cannot believe that I carried that on my body.

Cap..I also have big fears about so many events. It seems like you have figured out the best approach to handle next week. I am glad you are feeling better. I liked the tips for the holidays.I am doing 45 minutes of exercise..an hour sounds like a lot..But I agree..keep exercising to keep that metabolism burning.

2ride: Look at your progress..stopping after one half a cupcake..planning to eat lighter later. I like your idea of reviewing the holiday season and learning how to prepare for the next one. I love Indian food and would like to learn more cooking.

Itsabouttime..Your exercise is inspirational. Working it in while being so busy is excellent. That is nice that people are noticing your great loss!!! Good luck with all of the parties.

Happy Xmas eve everyone! Today is not a free day, so I am holding on. I have a plan for tomorrow..with a controlled free day!

Good Morning and Merry Christmas! I've now had 2 bad days in a row of eating and am trying hard not to have another one today. I did get up and run 6 miles this morning to burn the mound of chocolate no-bake cookies I ate last night. Those are my favorite and my niece makes them every year. I couldn't resist. Sounds like we're all have the same struggles right now.

It was painful this morning to log onto MFP and put in the cookies which totalled 1400 calories! Over a days worth of calories just for the cookies! There's a wake up call for me. I guess that's why tracking is such an important part of maintenance.

Its about time - it has to be muscle in those legs. With all the weight bearing exercise, they've got to bulk up a little. There's no way you can possibly be gaining fat on your legs with the exercise regimen you've got going on!

Cap - the 5k was a lot of fun. I took my dog and he made about 100 new friends. Everyone was dressed up in Christmas outfits and it was very festive. Being an introvert, it's good for me to take Otis. People gravitate to him and it forces me to be friendly and meet people.

Good luck with the dieting today everyone! I'm heading out to another Christmas party and not planning to eat any sweets today or drink any alcohol. Meat and veggies. We'll see if I make it.

Had a bad eating day yesterday and today as well as tom and Monday are "holiday" celebration days that will be filled with food and drink. I have decided to go with it, not deprive myself of treats that I may want and back to phase 1 after the festive season is over- (Tuesday). I started ideal protein last January at over 200 pounds and so getting the few pounds off that I may gain will be no sweat. I do not want to stress over it because that makes matters worse. I am just not in the mood to chop and eat 4 cups of veggies a day while everyone else is enjoying family favorites. Have a very happy and blessed holiday everyone. Jesus is the reason for the season.

very sensible approach, I second that!! Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! I also am going to enjoy sharing the day with my family. No stressing..just experiencing the joy of being around my loved ones!

Hi Ladies and Lurking Gents,

I've been MIA. I have one word to say for my eating and drinking these last few weeks...Oyoyoy.
Last year I cruised thru all the holidays on ph.1. Much easier than making choices for my first holiday season on maintenance. Pounds are piling on. I've been making healthier choices in between parties and plan to do that thru New Years, then I'm ph. 1ing for January. I know that will help and I pray big time that I can get back in the ph.1 bubble for that time. I know it can be tougher 2nd time around, but being in a group challenge and tracking on fatsecret help an awful lot. Has anyone started a ph. 1 re-maintainer re-boot for Jan? I don't want to miss that one.
So as not to be a holiday bummer (sorry about the rant) it really has been a beautiful time for family and friends. Cooking, laughing singing eating and all that great stuff. I have to keep learning about balance and feeling sane as opposed to insane, when I'm surrounded by massive amounts of my favorite treats, same as the rest of us. If you can do it, then I can too!!!!
Happy and Merry to All You guys rock!
Sunnymae

Happy Boxing Day Everyone!!
I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and enjoyed the celebrations with friends and family- I know I sure did! It was such a warming feeling to visit with so many of my relatives the past couple days. And it felt, truly, like a gift that I didn't need to partake in the feasting on Christmas Day to feel included...
Christmas Eve was my free day. I couldn't take the pressures of resisting all the treats and 'cheer' anymore. My MIL made a fabulous almond roca that I couldn't keep my hands off of. I missed the stuffing and the candied sweet potatoes the next day at my family's celebration but the turkey was fabulous and the company was even better.
Tomorrow we leave for Jasper for a couple days with friends. I always find it challenging to be away from home and unable to prepare food but all I can do is try to pick things from the menu that are the closest to p4 right?? I'm really hoping not too go up too much from this short getaway as my anniversary is fast approaching on the 30th and I'd like to be able to have a free day for it
My loving and thoughtful husband was listening to me complain about my scale not being accurate and bought me a fancy body fat calculating one for Christmas. I'm a little afraid of it... It seems to me that having to worry about weight is bad enough without adding in body fat to the mix.
We just got the batteries for it today as it takes 4 AAA's and I have gotten my daughters to 'test' it- as I have to admit I'm an 'in the morning only with nothing on' kind of a weigher. There is a disparity of 1.5- 2 pounds with the old scale being the one that weighs heavier. I'm interested to see what it has to say in the morning.
Making turkey soup and soooo looking forward to it. I love turkey soup but there is no way I'd ever make a whole turkey just to have it so it's a twice a year deal for me!

It's so good to hear that everyone else is going through the same things that I am. I must admit that I felt more deprived this past week than I have the entire time I was on the diet. It was REALLY hard. I gave in on Christmas Eve, and had a free night, followed by a free day on Christmas. I vowed to do Phase 2 today, and I've been really good except for two french fries at dinner tonight. This time of year is SO hard... I plan to hop on the scale tomorrow morning and see what the damage is. I might have to have a few Phase 1 days this week.

Good for you! I have to work on my stress. I feel guilty all the time, and I really need to get over that.

I can completey relate to this. I felt like I was in a "bubble" the whole time on Phase 1. My eye was on the prize and I was unstoppable... This maintenance thing is so much harder, in a way. Good to hear that you are going to refocus in January. I have to keep in mind that I KNOW what to do now, and that was 90% of the battle. DOING it is in the other 10%. Ha ha... I think I will get my willpower back soon.

Have a great time in Jasper. I did mostly Atkins-type eating when I was on my cruise. Fat is harder to spot than carbs. Just keep that in mind if you are eating out a lot.

I've been doing some serious thinking about New Year's resolutions today. I think that I have another 10lbs to lose, and I am considering going back on Phase 1 for the month of January to see how close I can get to that.

I also want to work on how I feel about food when I am around others and how I am on my strict maintenance days. I find that my being careful is causing me to feel like I am obsessing about food... I think that I just need to do some more careful planning and shop ahead for more meals. This last month has been tough -- I think because it's the season for shopping, ordering pizza, and going out to celebrate. I have often felt that, while I am doing ok on maintenance, it's a sacrifice. I feel like I swap between feelings of total control and then spiraling out of control. The two extremes have to stop.

Phase 1 today. Thank goodness! Maybe tomorrow too, depending on what the scale says. I did a mix of things Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I ate phase 1 until it was time to eat at whatever party I was attending. Then I just ate. I had my gumbo with no rice Friday and Saturday, but I did eat some fats and carbs together. I'm not worrying about it. If the scale is up tomorrow, I will just continue with phase 1 for another day. We all know how to get it off now and it's not like we will continue to be around all of this celebrating forever. If you're up, do what you need to do to get it back down.

Thanks for your no nonsense attitude. Did me good to hear...and you're right!

Thanks. I needed this too... No more wallowing. It is what it is. I am on Phase 1 today, and probably for another few days.

Whew, made it through the 4 solid days of eating and survived! The last party was yesterday but I did Phase 2 all day and ate none of the treats at the boxing day party. Up about one pound from where I was before the free-range eating as of this morning. I'll phase 2 with exercise again today to see if I can get back down to 160. I was kind of afraid I'd really spiral out of control and not be able to reign the eating back in after 4 days of eating like I did when I was heavy-set. Glad to know I can get right back on track! The one pound gain wasn't a surprise after tracking all the eating on MFP, I knew I'd eaten about 1.5 lbs worth of extra calories.

Pxl - I feel like I'm obsessing about food most of the time too. The constant tracking and having to make tough choices puts a lot of thought and effort into eating. It doesn't seem like it should be that way, but I can't find a way around it. It always bugged me that my skinny friends were so obsessive about food and calculating everything they put in their mouths. They almost seem to engage in competitive starving. At least that's how it appeared to me when I was the big one eating whatever I wanted. Now I've turned into one of them. I'm not happy about it, but it's worked for them for years of maintenance and it seems to be working for me now too. I am certainly happy wearing cute little jeans to all my parties!

That scale sounds pretty cool Cap. Let us know how you like it!

I am thinking about Maile today lying on a beach in Hawaii.... wish I was there too!

Aloha. I love, love being in the warm sun. I had a wonderful Xmas I was able to get on the plane happy despite an airport guard not believing I was the person in the picture Id.
I am pleased to see that I can take bites of things and stop...or that if I felt like I was getting out of control I physically moved the plate away.
Pauley, I just read that skill power is more important than will power. I am thinking that obsessing and planning food will be a skill we need.
Sunnymae,Pixl,Paintlady. Hope Phase 1 is going well. I just keep thanking ip that we have tools to use. A friend lost on those hormone drops and has no tools or support to keep it off. I always feel more in control on phase one.
Someone recommended The End. Of overeating as a good book..going to check it out.
The question is can I consider a maitai a fruit???lol
Cap...good luck on your vacation..you are probably doing the same..trying to find low carb healthy foods at restaurants.

I am also up 1 lb this morning from where I was before my 3 days of Christmas parties. I did phase 1 yesterday and was relieved to not have to think about what I was going to eat. Today, I am eating a phase 3 day, mainly because I really missed my breakfast the last 4 days. My goal today is to drink all of my water. I've been having a hard time with that since we were driving all over the place for the holidays.