Thank you Ishbel I look forward to joining this wonderful group

Holly congrats on making it to p4

Way to go, Holly!

Thank you ladies! :)

WOW...8 months already! I remember when you hit goal I was just starting on the 3FC forum and you & Busymom were my inspiration, I would gaze at your goal posts like the stalker I am....

I had a great time at the Half Marathon in Shiner, TX www.shinerbeerrun.com! That was a definite Fun Day! I finished it in 2:10 while gossiping/catching up with a good friend who is moving from Houston to Chicago and getting married in 2 weeks in Cancun - we can't go due to finances, but it was great to to be able to 'send her off' in a total Texas race.

I am going to 'lay low' this week and stick with Phase 1. I have found myself in a scary place scale-wise and was putting off doing Phase 1 until I did my race yesterday, even though I have been at the high end of my 'safe zone'. But now that it's over I jumped on the Phase 1 wagon today, pulled a rookie move with 2 restricteds in 1 day (Bar at breakfast and Spaghetti at dinner), but oh well.

Thank you for the welcome back. I haven't really posted or even lurked in here because to my way of thinking I need to shift gears from maintenance to weight loss mode. Seem to be following a pattern of 3 weeks phase 1 get down to a comfortable size and then get waaayyyy too lax with my eating. Felt like I need a complete overhaul this go round and am bound and determined that I will make it back to goal this time because that is what makes one really value the loss. And too I need the reset of going through all the phases. Each one has something valuable to offer and I really do feel that P3 is the platform for healthy eating with P4 there are still some question marks for me (obviously) but I am working on reorganizing my eating again see: 3 meals, 1 snack per day. And tracking everything that goes in. The beauty of phase 1 is that it does remove so many cravings. And my body and mind are very harmonious on it. The thing I really really really need to learn to do is not eat to make others happy. My people pleasing leads to displeasing myself. Going to take my Grandma's advice this time: " you can't please everyone so you
May as well please yourself". By far the hardest part of maintenance for me was continuously having to defend my food choices. Guess I just have to hang in there long enough everyone gives up :P
Fitgirl- there are no hard and fast rules for carb/ calorie/ fat count but if you read a website called Mark's Daily Apple he expounds upon this a bit http://www.marksdailyapple.com/press...#axzz2FNEz25iD
My maintenance for the first four months was:
1500-1700 cal
100-150 carb
55-65 fat
For the days I was following P4.
I would have. Whopper of a free day only once per week and this would be followed by 2-3 days of Phase 1 until my weight returned to normal.
And while the fun day is completely optional I would strongly encourage a Phase 1 day/ very low carb day once per week as being an absolute. It is good for both the mind (it serves as a reminder of whence you came/ reinforces self discipline) and body (it has been shown that having one very low carb day per week is beneficial to both weight loss and maintenance).
The fun day's physical benefits are tied up with Leptin and Ghrelin. Leptin can help increase the metabolic rate which is a major benefit in maintenance especially after a VLCD such as IP where the metabolic rate has slowed quite a bit. But a fun day should still be controlled, tracked and have a time limit. Or it will spiral into bingeing and that just sets up a whole slew of other negative patterns. There is a big question mark over my head as to the fun day. I see pros and cons to having it and not having it. I look at Maille's example and it strongly encourages me to believe that the free day is not worth the roller coaster you end up on.
Maille- are you making Grandma's pie again this Christmas?
Ishbel- I'm sorry to read of your issues with bursitis. If you get the. Ortisone shot will alleviate it permanently or only temporarily?
Congrats Holly on maintenance!

Cap: It was good to hear from you! You sound determined and positive about rebooting and going through the phases again. I am glad this is working for you. This maintenance is not easy and everyone goes through rough patches.
Having people pressure you about your food choices is difficult..especially if they are close friends or family. I think people at work have given up on commenting on my salads..however, some do feel uncomfortable around me at holiday parties where they are indulging and I am not. My own lovely children are planning on making homemade pizza tonight, which I will not eat!
I hope you figure out a way of doing Phase 3/4 that works for you. For myself, I am think I am addicted to sugar and try to stay away from it as much as possible. Others here seem to do fine with it!
No, I am not making my Grandma's pecan pie as of yet. I have to work through Friday so I really have not been planning holiday food, yet. I do hope your legs are better!

Lizr: I am also trying to eat low carb and get a few pounds down before Xmas.

Ishbel: hope that ultrasound helps you!

Holly..way to go on reaching Phase 4.

Sonyainva: welcome to maintenance!

Evepet and Greeniris: Yes it is crazy around here with the 3 adult children, but I love seeing them!

1 pound down and now for the other one! Have a great day everyone. I avoided eating bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers last night.

My kids want massages for Xmas. I am thinking that sounds like a good gift for me as well! LOL.

Wow...I've been gone for awhile & missed a ton!! :)

Lizzy63...I'm with you on needing to learn the correct # of calories to maintain. That pizza sounds great for a cheat day!

Evepet - congrats on losing those last 6 lbs! I hope that the phasing out process is going well for you...and that you are getting well!

Ishbel - good luck with the Laser therapy over the holidays. I hope that you are happy with the results. Congrats on maintaining for 8 months...what an accomplishment. :carrot: I am also saving my cheat day for Christmas. I have not had one yet, so that should be an experience! :)

Greeniris & Hgamroth - congrats on surviving your first cheat days!

Capricious - Thanks so much for your input & the website suggestion. I'll be sure to check that out! I think my maintenance numbers are similar to yours. Also, thank you for your insight into the importance of phase 1 & 4 days. It's wonderful hearing this advice from someone that's "been there." I hear you on not eating to make other people happy; people seem to always push food in my direction. Those can be tough situations, but we CAN do it! :)

Maile - congrats on losing that pound!! You SHOULD treat yourself to a massage...it sounds wonderful!!

Well on Monday, I decided to really try out the phase 4 day as written. In total (on Monday), I had 1492 calories, 54.9 grams of fat, 100.6 carbs & 155.8 g of protein I felt sooo full by the end of the day, and was scared to weigh in on Tuesday. I did not gain anything...whew! Yesterday, I was back down to 1291 calories, 37.2 Fat, 105.2 carbs & 139.3 g of Protein (I was in meetings all day). This morning...once again my weight was the same. Today, I'd say that I'm back up to around the 1500 calories. So...so far, knock on wood, my weight has been stable. I've really tried to separate those carbs & fats after breakfast!!

My typical phase 4 day looks like...

5:15 - 6:30 a.m. P90x workout :) with an IP vanilla drink right after!

7:30 Breakfast - 1 HB egg, 1 c berries, 6 oz greek yogurt, 1 whole english muffin with 1 TBLSP peanut butter.

12:00 Lunch: Salad with veggies, 3.5 oz chicken, 1 cheese stick (light), 1/4 avocado.

3:00 Snack: 2 HB egg whites

5:30 Dinner: Lettuce with veggies, 3.5 oz chicken, 1 medium sweet potato with 2 TBLSP greek yogurt.

9:00 Snack - IP pudding.

Does this look ok? (My coach hasn't offered as much advice here.) My greek yogurt says that it has 0 fat, and has about 9 carbs...so I include a little on my sweet potato. I don't use butter.

Sorry for this long post! I hope that you all enjoy your evening (I'm in a blizzard warning right now)!

Cap
Do you think at one point you were trying to just maintain too low? I find allowing myself to be 145-150 allows for much more flexibility. But I do remain more a 6 than a 4....but probably no one notices that but me.

Maille - not in p4 yet, just lurking, few more pounds

Hi everyone. I haven't been here much lately, but maybe I need to be. I started P4 a few weeks ago and have been doing well. Got on the scale this morning and noticed that I am 4 lbs up from my goal. Guess I need to buckle down a little. I want to keep my weight within a 5 lb range, so I'm still ok. But, this is near the top of that range. ;)

Hi everyone. Just wanted to check in and report that all seems to be fine from my end so far. I have gained 1 lb in P3, but I can live with that. Still definitely enjoying the P3 breakfasts. :)

The bug I caught is slowly going away, but I'm still feeling somewhat weak. It hasn't made me feel much like exercising, which I otherwise would have added back once I entered P3. However, I'm sleeping well again and that's a big plus.

I was out yesterday looking for a pair of casual jeans or slacks, as the pair that have been my everyday main ones for a while are looking too sloppy at this point. I was hoping I could fit into a 10, but I seem to be right between 10s and 12s. It's because I still have a bit of belly pooch - hips and legs are very slim, but that tummy is still taking up too much room to fit nicely into a 10. I can't help but think that this may be the thing that makes me decide to go back to P1 for a few weeks in 2013 and aim for another -10 lbs or so. It's difficult being between sizes. I definitely was ready to phase out now though, and don't regret the decision to do so.

Guess that's all for now - hope each and every one of you is having a great day.

I, too, am up and I'm pretty sure it is because of what I am doing at dinner along with a dinner timing issue. I was also playing around with intermittent fasting in that I was keeping food in a 10 hour window, mostly. Not eating more, just eating within that window. Uh, not working.

I am going to suggest to you what I am trying to suggest to me. Are you still tracking what you eat? If not, do you know (as in, I know) what you have added (popcorn and arctic zero nearly every night, for example) that you need to stop?

I was able to stay within a tight zone before I added stuff I need to moderate/eliminate and before I got sick (which is still in the background) and before I started timing meals differently (some as an experiment and some just poor planning).

Do you have any of that stuff going on?

I personally really need to work on dinner. I think it is too low fat due to vegetarian meat sources or no meat source and I'm not getting a signal to stop eating carbs. I'm considering flipping lunch and dinner or cutting out carbs at dinner altogether, but I don't see this happening consistently until after the 27th of December. I'm playing with breakfast a little, sometimes bigger/sometimes smaller to see if more food during the day will help.

Sorry to make this mostly about me, but what seemed straightforward for a few months is now not so automatic.

I think this looks pretty good. I think your calorie range should work for your body weight.