Hey all - just thought I'd drop in after a few days of maintenance. I just had half a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch made with light cheese - I hope that was OK. Friday night I had a Christmas dinner with fellow coworkers - first time I had pasta in months and it was awesome. Had a cookie for dessert. My Coach told me I didn't have to do a P1 day because of one meal but I did a P3 day. Still working on trying do watch it somewhat without feeling deprived.

I don't get that whole sick feeling when eating carbs that some of you mentioned. I'm pretty sure I could go and pig out on pizza and burgers and I'd feel just fine.

I am 6 days in - decided Sunday would be a good weigh in day, since I am not rushed like during the week. I was up 0.4 pounds, and I am pretty happy with that, since I am still trying to sort out how many calories I need to maintain. Could just be a little water weight, but I'll keep my eye on it and keep tracking things in MFP, maybe cut my calorie goal back a bit.

Slow2lose - I have not had any issues with feeling bad after having carbs either. Had pizza for a cheat day this week - felt like I could have had more with no problem, except of course that I would have gained more than 0.4 pounds! :)

Hi everyone. You may recall that I posted here around three weeks ago, when I was seeking advice about whether or not to begin phasing out. My weight loss had really stalled, and I was feeling pretty grumpy. LOL. I did P3 for just 5 days at that time and decided to return to P1 to see if I could get closer to my goal. Doing that temporary P3 stint got the weight loss going again, and I managed to lose a further 6 lbs over the past 3 weeks. I'm now well within the range recommended by my Dr. and decided to begin the 'permanent' P3 phasing out process. I started P3 yesterday.

I've also been fighting a bug all week, but slowly improving and feeling some energy returning again.

Just wanted to say 'Hi'.

Welcome Evepet!

I may go back to phase 1 after the holidays. We'll see what I'm feeling at that point. My coaches got switched and I'm very unhappy so I'm just ready to be done with my IP center and try it on my own. Scares me but I think I can...!

That is excellent evepet. I'm glad the phase3 bit got your weight moving again.
I am looking at the low carb mixes and thinking I might try your muffins again if I remember to get tofu.
I am wondering if there is anyone in Canada who didn't get that bug???

We have lots of sick people here in the US also. Lots of kids home from school.

Welcome Evepet. It sounds like you are ready for maintenance!

Patns: I like the Dixie Counter low carb carrot muffin mix.

LoriKay: I think you can do it. I see my coach maybe once a year now.

Lizzy83; great job of only going up .4 pound!

My sons and daughter are coming in today. Life is going to get crazy around here.

Hey evepat, I am still losing, about 6 to 13 pounds from goal. Wearing size 2 pants. But this is also about health and not just vanity. Most of my weight is in my tummy and boobs. Tummy fat is not healthy so I do want to lose that.

On a positive note I used to have really fibrocystic breasts, there was a walnut sized knot on my left breast that is gone because of IP. So very pleased.

My coach has asked me to do P1 until January 9, 28 days total, and then we are going to reevaluate and I may do what you did.

Lurking and loved seeing your post.

evepet:wave: Welcome to maintenance! I always remember you! :)

maile I am going to try laser therapy over the Christmas holidays, it's kinda that time that there is nothing really 'open'. My VIPF (VIP's Father lol) has an at home laser therapy kit (GO FIGURE) and since he's off booting around the country for Christmas he's let me borrow it. One session down and I feel a difference. So I'm looking forward to a few weeks of that with ice packs. Even the ice felt better!! I thought it was all muscle, I could have been icing it for the last few weeks and I may have been better by now. I actually forgot about acupuncture...when I used it before I responded very well.

sonyainva Good to hear your positive gains in your health. LOVE hearing about those too, IP did a lot for me in many different forms! Welcome to almost maintenance! :)

LoriKay I agree with maile, you can do it as you've had enough experience now...use the forum as your 'support'.

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So I've decided that I will have no free day this Saturday, my usual free/fun day. It will be strange and quite possibily slightly difficult as I've had Saturday as my fun day for the last 8 months (that's right - 8 months in maintenance today baby!! woot woot) I am saving my free day for Christmas and then again for New Yearsn. We'll see what the New Years brings...I'm sure I'll be doing a few 'light' days! lol

If you decide to stop working with the clinic, I'm sure you'll find lots of support here. There are so many experienced IP dieters here who seem in general to be much more knowledgeable than many coaches. (And from the sounds of things, sometimes more understanding too).

Thx Pat. I've been avoiding the muffins, etc. for the past few weeks but will certainly enjoy them again in moderation once I'm in Maintenance. While I'm feeling better, I'm still awfully congested. This bug seems to hang on well. I think I picked it up over at my Regional Hospital while visiting - the incubation time fits - no doubt didn't do a thorough enough hand washing job. :devil:

Thx for the welcome Maille. I'm glad that I reverted back to P1 and got those -6 lbs off. I do feel more confident and satisified overall now about phasing off... don't feel like I'm compromising, but have actually acheived what I wanted to weight-wise. Sounds like you've got a busy stretch again - lots of family and activity! Crazy-making, but fun! :)

Wow, that's good news about the knot in your breast disappearing. What a nice side benefit of IP. As you can see, the temporary switch over to P3 definitely helped me get some weight loss going again. My weight losses have been slow all along, and when they finally stalled out it was getting hard to keep motivated. I remembered Wuv's coach had her do this back a few months ago, and decided to try it too. Thankfully it worked. I am more satisfied going into my permanent phase off at this weight than I would have been before. It was my exasperation showing. Now I'm feeling very comfortable with everything, and happy to be proceeding. That last -6 pounds also have slimmed down my belly area significantly, which was an additional bonus.

Hope everyone here has a great day. Thanks again for the acknowledgements and well wishes. :) I appreciate it.

Crazy fun! Enjoy your time with everyone.

Great WI Lizzy, for first week on P4! I don't know whether to count calories, carbs, or protein...need to figure out which is going to work best for me I guess. My first day of P4 happened to be a day with 2 evening Christmas parties, so I stayed P3 during the day, then had a 'free meal' at one party, and dessert at the 2nd. Am doing 2 days of P1 as I gained almost 3 lbs! But 'C' is an issue again, so not going to freak out. It is slowly going down. Not going to have another free meal until Christmas Day, then a free day on the 28th, both followed by P1 days. Then will get on the once a week schedule.

Mmmm - grilled cheese! But isn't that mixing fats & carbs? Unless it was fat free cheese. I'm really looking forward to some spaghetti tomorrow night. I can see maintenance is going to take just as much pre-planning as the other phases, at least for a while.

Glad to hear your treatments seem to be helping.
Congratulations for being in maintenance for 8 months! That is great!

Hi Ishbel. I'm not sure how I missed your post when I responded a bit earlier - not intentional I assure you. :) I'm glad to hear that the laser treatments seem to be helping your hip situation. Nothing like being able to do it in the comfort of your own home too. It also got me to wondering if you've tried ultrasound? I've had lower back problems for years and have tried all sorts of therapies/products as a result. One thing that does seem to help is ultrasound - it breaks up inflammation. And there are portable at home ultrasound machines available that make life easy - no running to PTs for sessions, etc. I have one, and treasure it. This is the one I have - http://www.sonicrelief.com/

OOOOOOOOOOOO, that's exciting! I could NOT afford the laser so I'm just borrowing it. How long have you used this one specifically? How often do you use it, how fast do you go through the gel? (lots of questions I know but I'm SUPER DUPER interested!! There's a sale on right now! lol

fyi - I'm ok that you missed me lol...I try not to be THAT needy lol! :D

So I just got back from my holiday luncheon office party. We went to a fancy burger joint. I decided to make today my cheat day for the week. I had a cheeseburger with mushrooms and bacon and a ton of fries. I only ate about 1/2 of the plate. But right now I feel awful! It was so not worth it. I need to remember this for next time.

I noticed it's on sale. :) That's a good price.

As to how often I use it, it depends on whether I'm actively experiencing any tightness or actual pain in my lower back area. When I feel tightness there, I'll pull it out and use it daily - or if in actual pain, a couple of times a day. So my usage tends to be sporadic, for a week or two at a time then then not so much until it's again 'needed'. The unit works on a 10 minute timer and automatically cuts off at that time. The sessions are cumulative. It does take some time for the treatments to 'take hold' though, so if you get one don't expect an immediate result after just one or two treatments ... give it at least a week of regular sessions in order to see some result.

I bought the 4 bottles of the gel when I bought the machine, and still have about 1.5 bottles left. And I've had my machine for around 10 years now. It's still going strong. No problems. The Company is reputable (and Canadian). I seem to recall them being located in the central Ontario area. They also show good customer service and reliability - I remember that the unit I originally received had something 'rattling' in it, and it didn't work right. I think (even though it was well packaged) it got broken in shipping. They replaced it with no difficulty whatsoever, and I've had no problems with it ever since.

I need to get caught up on reading posts on this thread! I still can't believe I am posting here now. I used to look at this thread and think "someday." I survived my first FUN day. I didn't go crazy, typical phase 3 breakfast, phase 2 lunch and I allowed myself a popcorn snack and enjoyed wine with my dinner at the hubby's Christmas party. I filled up on shrimp, steak and salad, passed on the potato AND dessert! It really isn't hard for me to resist the sweets anymore. I glanced at the scale this morning and did not gain anything this week, I LOST 1 pound! I am starting to believe that I CAN do this. :) Now I need to get caught up with my post reading. :)