busymom glad everything's working out for you and you're finding your 'groove'

purple pasta is bad for me, I've actually only had it once since I've been in maintenance...I blew up like a balloon...and with how I felt that one weekend (pain) from eating too much flour I'm just naturally staying away. I don't miss it, rather have something else anyway. When I get the urge I'll have lasagna on my fun day

momto2c Welcome back from vacation...I'm not much of a golfer but I have to admit using the golf cart is the most of fun I have golfing Course, that's also after having a few too...tee hee

SO, I had a family/friend weekend in Calgary. I had two nights of boose, didn't do too bad on the first night, just chowed down on veggies. Then the next day was my fun day and I indulged in a glass of rum...MMMM (ok it was two!). I did however find a really good vodka, grey goose pear...YUMMO! That with some diet gingerale or sprite...pretty nice.

I also had an interesting table conversation with my uncle and family (day after fun day). He had made a fruit salad for dessert. Technically "healthy" and actually said THREE times...THREE..."I'll be offended if you don't eat any" it was 'strange' so I just said "I'm sitting at the table enjoying your company and having some tea I don't need to eat to do that, it will be ok I promise". He said "well, I guess you'll live longer" and I said "not necessarily, I just won't be on any meds"

It was interesting to feel that pressure and to say "nope, that's your issue not mine"...also interesting that a few years ago my sister/auntie/mom and I walked a half marathon and he said "what's your team name, tonne of fun?" (which was shocking and he got crap for it)

Family dynamics hey??

My first post on the Maintainers thread (today is day 3 of Phase 4), although I have been lurking for weeks in preparation.
Ishbel, I love how you stuck to your guns and didn't eat something to please someone else! I am so going to remember your response as I know this is something I will come up against.

LOL! Worded so well. Worded so well.

Welcome to maintenance! Try to take it slow so you know what your body is complaining about (if you gain or feel like crap at least you know from what)

Oh yeah, my body immediately began complaining in Phase 3 with the addition of grains. I am upping my carb intake mainly through fruit and legumes at this point. When the inflammation settles down, I'll give some brown rice a try; will keep you posted.

Ladies, I need your input. I'm technically on Phase 3, but I've had two cheat days which were disastrous... Not because I gained (I didn't), but because I got SO sick. My cheat day last night I over did it so bad I was vomiting and having diarrhea at the same time- it was HORRIBLE!

So, my question is this... I don't think I can have a cheat/fun day. I cannot overcome this "Fatten up for the famine" mindset. I KNOW I don't need to eat 3 blueberry muffins, but I do because I know I have a week before I can have another. So, I'm thinking I need to just push myself into this maintenance healthy eating for life, where if I have a muffin FINE and if I want one tomorrow, FINE, I just don't need to eat all six today.

I'm that kid who when you tell them not to try something because X, Y, and Z will happen I HAVE to try them out to prove you right... its so insane, but I'm finding the more I tell myself to wait the MORE I eat.

Am I crazy??? Is this something everyone goes through at some point?

I've always had a pretty healthy eating style. I gained my weight with a pregnancy, so I know that my cooking and habits are good (and have improved with IP!), I just need to get my "rituals" down.

Novascents
Maintaining is different for everyone. Try it your way and see how it goes. There is no secret to the cheat meal or day. Some people can just save up all week for the splurge. I know I have no problem eating phase 1 or 2 on weekdays, knowing on the weekend I can relax. That said, if there was a sudden event mid week I might indulge. I weigh daily, so I can tell pretty quick if I am off track.

I find phase 1 easy at work, and it fits my gym schedule very nicely. I often question how other people can eat so much more than me, and exercise so much less and not be huge. I guess it's age

I have that same mindset and i'm working really hard at trying to change it. We're all food addict and its really hard to think that the food will still be there next week and we don't need to cram as much as we can while we can. Every cheat day, i try to control myself more, its a learning process.

I'm glad I haven't just lost my mind. Today has been more of a maintenance day. I had a phase 3 breakfast (which I plan on keeping up, so YUM!). Worked out and then had 1/2 banana with 1 T Sunflower Butter (9am). Then around 12:30/1 I had some cheese and had planned to eat my salad, but where was a crisis so I just now ate it. Having a normal meat and veggies dinner (Salmon and Cauliflower stuffed bell peppers) and then plan on having my normal protein smoothie. I just feel like when I don't restrict myself I do SO much better. Now if I could get my water intake up we'd be good (I had 4 glass pie dishes break in the kitchen and it went EVERYWHERE- spent two hours vacuuming!)

I'll defiantly watch my scale- I'm doing to put a little notepad in the bathroom to write it down in the AM.

Now to turn the oven and begin cleaning up the mess of dishes that I still haven't gotten to! What a day!

Wow. I made cauliflower fried rice today for the first time. We eat cauliflower at lunch usually...but yum!! Just like real fried rice!

I need to branch out in the cooking department. We eat grilled meat and green veggies almost every night.

Don't know if this interests you but I have been looking at this. I have not tried it yet so I cannot vouch for it

http://paleomg.com/buffalo-chicken-mini-meatloaf/

As well, I don't know if it is better to put the meatloaf in a pan or on top something (grill like) to catch the drippings and make the bottom less moist/mushy

http://paleomg.com/chicken-basil-meatloaf/
I was first looking at this one which is the chicken basil meatloaf but it does use quite a bit of almond flour/meal. But it's not grilled meat.

I found some like hotdog/sausage meatball at Costo. They are made with thigh meat so it gives them a nice texture. There are things they add to them though which make them more of a treat for me. The meatball had sweetener in them (I think they were Teriyaki flavored) and so I had like half a bag at a time. But, I really liked the idea of them. Using thigh meat was a really good idea in terms of flavor and texture.

http://paleomg.com/creamy-avocado-sp...chicken-pasta/
This one also looks really good and you are using a yellow veggie (spaghetti squash) but the avocado makes it green. Good activity for kids or hubby to scrape out the inside of spaghetti squash with a fork to get something spaghetti like.

I am a big fan of bell peppers. Have been eating them all year. I like the sweetness of the yellow and red ones.

Purple Sky: Thanks for those recipes. I love avocado.

You guys might check out the posting on vege puree here. She has some really good looking puree recipes. You can use them as gravy or soup. I am a gravy fan so this could be exciting.

I keep meaning to try that...was it hard to make? Glad to be back