Evepet; re the flaxbread, I tried a few recipes for bread made with flaxseed in them. Do you find the really smell bad when you toast them? I am wondering if mine did because of the flax or another ingredient.

Hi Patns. No, I didn't notice any bad smell when I made the toast. I wasn't particularly happy with it, but it wasn't because of it's taste or smell. I don't know whether I got a bad loaf, or whether it's what this particular brand of bread is always like... it's been frozen for a few months too, though - maybe that made a difference. I'd bought it last fall thinking I could sneak in a slice now and again, used one slice, and then guilt got the better of me and I decided against using it again. :) The bottom half of the loaf was really heavy and dense (kind of like when I make a protein muffin and don't combine it well enough.. the protein seems to settle in at the bottom and is like a lump). That's what this loaf was like. So once toasted, I cut off the top part of each slice and just ate that half, which was light and quite tasty. It's the Baker's Deluxe SuperFlax bread from thelowcarbgrocery that I had. I just noticed that while flaxmeal is the first ingredient listed, it does have some rye meal and wheat gluten in it too.

Happy Easter and Passover everyone!
I haven't checked in in a few weeks. Just been very contemplative around the holidays and on a few deadlines as well. I have managed to stop WI every day and that has unburdened me bigtime.
I'm going by my pants and how they feel. They feel fine. I seem to have settled in at 127-128 with free days/ph 1 days (with real food) and spurts of exercise according to the Paleo philosophy which makes a lot of sense to me.
I spurt up five flights of stairs and down to and from my apt. I take more stairs, speed up walks to wherever I'm going, do housework with more of a vengeance and then drop for some push-ups and tricep dips anywhere in the house that is the right spot. Stuff like that. I sit at my desk, hold the arms of my chair and lift my legs knees bent for abs. Little wonders that work.

I've been focusing a lot about letting go of self deprecation and overall dogging myself for what I just ate, what craving I caved into,what I could have done better and so on based on an article I read. Jeez.....unbelievable! It works.
Worry, angst, dogging equals bad hormone spikes equals less fat metabolism and adrenal exhaustion from the roller coaster ride. Then try dieting against that...takes 10 times longer.
One thing I know for sure. When I drink alcohol I always crave tons of sugar for the rest of the night. I can step back from it better than I did before with a more loving attitude towards myself. It's amazing to me, just a shift of my thinking towards compassion. My study on myself has revealed that I actually stop sooner and give in to the craving way less, when I enjoy it in the moment. When I give in to craving and dog myself, then I become defiant and eat more as if to say 'screw you (wonder who "you" really is) I'll eat what I want. When I remove that whole scenario, I eat less of whatever it is I just grabbed out of the pantry.

So..during this Season of renewal in Nature and in Heaven I wish you all peace, contentment and self appreciation for how beautiful you all are inside and out. Good people with good hearts and good souls. Ain't nothin' wrong with that!
Peace out
Sunnymae

Ps. I in no way mean to preach to anyone at all. I speak strictly for myself and just sharing my thoughts. I always take inspiration from all of our stories. We worked real hard to get here! Hope that's OK :0)

Evepet: thanks for the flaxseed wrap recipe. I used to make a flaxseed cookie recipe from my naturopath that helps to keep things regular and I’m hoping to use it now in maintenance but was looking too for P3 friendly version.

GreatLakes86: our gluten stories sound so similar, I used to think I was alone in this. For a long time I felt like I was exaggerating my problem because I wasn’t really Celiac like runs in my extended family but I still needed to treat myself as such.
Phase 3 avoiding gluten hasn’t been difficult for me. First I still eat oats (I buy the certified GF type) and I make my own granola for I can control the sugar and fat that goes in it. I’ve used the granola with yogurt or almond milk in its usual way or as the crust or topping for the custard or pie like recipes from the P3 recipe thread. I have also researched GF bread options to find ones that are decently low in carbs. I have recently settled on Kinnikinnick’s multigrain bread, 2 slices are 150 calories, 20g carbs, 5g fiber, 6g fat, 3g protein. I’ve done toast and used it for the Peachy Bread Pudding. Quinoa has been another great option for pancakes or as a hot cereal. I’m looking forward to coconut or almond flour pancakes one day too. I avoid rice flour because of the high glycemic index and I believe it was what set off my sugar cravings when I originally went GF.

Maile: I love your articles. I wish I had more time to spend reading those but since I don’t, I can enjoy your highlights!

Sunnymae: thanks for sharing your thoughts. I can identify with them and especially have tried to work on the self-deprecating ideas in favor of giving myself credit for the good things.

Today is my first official day of maintenance and I was excited to finally start trying out new recipes. I posted today’s lunch Chicken Coconut Yellow Curry in the recipe thread. I think I really missed the mark on planning snacks today though. Last night as I was making Banana Oatmeal Muffins for breakfast, I made a batch of spinach oatmeal muffins using the IP pack for my snack. I wasn’t thinking that I can have nuts or yogurt and fruit or cheese as a snack option! Oh well, I’ll still enjoy the spinach oatmeal muffins too. Dinner is my first attempt at ever cooking a roast beef. I'm using the slow cooker.

KitKat, it is always nice to hear about people who have walked in your shoes.

I started anti-depressants during my final year of undergrad and I was lucky enough to have a doctor who recognized that depression was a symptom and not a diagnosis. She started testing me for low vitamin D, low B vitamins, anemia, thyroid disorders, etc. Thyroid issues are rampant on both sides of my family, with many relatives testing on the low end of normal but being told that they did not need medication. I would go into the doctor every couple months and we'd test out something else but each time I would still be depressed and she would try to up the dosage on the antidepressant to compensate while we searched for the root cause.

Eventually we'd ruled out a lot of potential things, and I'd maxed out the dosage. That's when she said that the next steps involved some expensive/invasive testing OR....might I be willing to give up wheat for a week just to test a hypothesis? I felt like a new person within 4 days. And I was off anti-depressants entirely within 6 months. I only wish she had suggested it sooner. And as an added bonus, my mom gave up wheat with me for that week (in solidarity...love my mom!) and SHE felt a million times better!

That was 3 years ago. I rarely "get glutened", but when I do, I get an awful pain just below my ribs on the left side, and I am horribly nauseous. I've never ever thrown up, but I will dry heave without any warning. It's a super fun party trick.

My clinic said that the IP Maple Oatmeal was GF, but after I'd gotten some I saw that the package says differently. I had the gluten reaction when I tried it.

As for bread, I checked the Kinnikinnick out. Have you tried the Udi's Omega Flax and Fiber? I've had great luck with Udi's in terms of taste/texture. Stats: 2 slices, 150 cal, 6g fat, 22g carbs, 6g fiber, 3 g sugar, 6g protein. I know I can get it locally and I think that will be my go-to for P3 breakfast.

Good luck with your roast! I love my crockpot. I think the main problem people make is adding liquid. I always just put in the meat and maybe some onion and it makes it's own liquid and keeps things really flavorful.

I don't have a problem with the IP Maple Oatmeal but I can also get away with the bars on occasion too. I need to be careful but not celiac level strict.

For the bread, I looked at Udi's on the weekend but the loaf was only a mini-size look so I bought the Kinnikinnick thinking it looked more like a regular sized loaf. I don't eat a lot of bread so I like the perception that I'm getting a good slice when I do.

I have a question for everyone: Are you doing a fun day? Fun meal? and if you are, are you calculating calories (logging in MFP)? Do you follow with a P1/2 day?. I am still trying to figure out what works best and wanted to see what everyone else is doing and how it has worked. Thanks!

Gazelle, I can't really help as I'm only on day 3 of maintenance and so far have not had a fun day.

I made a decision for WI days in maintenance to be at home on Sunday and Wednesday mornings. Today I woke up, felt fat and backed up and my first thought was "no I'm not weighing today!". That lasted about two minutes until I realized that those thoughts are exactly why I must weigh today. Got on the scale and pleasantly surprised to see it was the same as a week ago. So what felt like a monster eating fest for the last two days was not really that bad.

I still log everything in MFP - even my fun days!

Whether I do a P1 day or just a lower carb P3-ish day depends on what MFP tells me, and what the scale shows the next day. If I'm not up too much and I didn't go too nuts on the calories, then I do a P3-ish day. If the scale is up more than a pound or so, or if I REALLY went overboard on calories (like I did yesterday) then I do a strict P1 day. So far so good! Other than this morning, I have stayed below my goal weight consistently. And I know the increase today is not fat, and I'll be fine in a day or two :)

I had a normal P3 type breakfast & dinner yesterday, but lunch was definitely my first 'Fun Meal'. I was at a family Easter dinner, and didn't go overboard, but definitely indulged in a few things I wouldn't have otherwise had.

I did my best to log everything in to my Fatsecret.com Daily Diet Log when I got home last night. Since I wasn't the chef, some of the entries were generic and probably not 100% accurate for the recipes actually used, but for my purposes it will be close enough - it still gives me an idea of the calorie and nutrient loads for the day. For me, I think it's important to keep track.

In spite of yesterday's 'extras' I've gained only .5lb this morning, and it's no doubt waterweight, as yesterday's intake was very high sodium. If the scale had jumped up by more than 1 lb, I would have done a P1 day today, but with that small of a gain this am (and this was before a BM), I'm just going to follow the normal carb/fat separation rules today, and watch my calorie intake. I'm going to stick to following the Maintenance protocol the way it's been presented to us and see how it works for me, before I make any 'alterations'.

BTW - lots of lovely NSRs yesterday on my newly slimmed down figure. Family members who haven't seen me since this time last year were astonished... and even those who saw me at Christmas said I look quite different now, with the extra -10lbs I've lost since then. One person didn't recognize me. :) And of course, I made it a point to wear slim fitted jeans and slacks... and high heeled boots to give myself an even longer, leaner look. LOL. :)

Over did it on the kids Easter chocolate....phase 1 for today and probably tomorrow too....blah.

How was everyone's holiday? Hopefully surrounded by friends and family like mine was! :hug:

LOL you and me both! It wasn't the candy though, it was the french toast bake, the hash brown casserole, the portuguese sweet bread.....definitely carb loaded :-)

P1 day today, will see what the scale has to say tomorrow, if it's moving in the right direction I'll do a P3 day or two before getting back to normal.

Throw away the rest of the candy. If its not in the house you won't eat it!

We ate some extras at brunch yesterday. I still avoid breads, desserts, etc, but there were a couple mimosas.

I find after a day like that I am not hungry, so today is and easy p1 kind of day, but I need to make sure I do eat as tomorrow I will definitely feel hungry otherwise.

Thanks for all the advice! I guess I am still worrying if I am doing things "right"! I did not eat any candy, but went overboard on Indian food the night before. Stuck with a P1 day yesterday and all is good.

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter!

I thought yesterday's dinner with extended family might be a fun meal but it was very restrained so I counted it as a regular P4 meal. Dinner was ham and veg (all low carb) and a single spoon of a quinoa salad. I had 2 easter sweet buns for dessert, gluten free with goat cheese icing. They were very small though, both together were the size of a dinner roll. And the icing was low fat and with sweetener rather than sugar.

Tonight I went on a baking spree to prep my next 3 P3 style breakfasts and snacks for the freezer. I'm going to post a couple recipes in the maintenance thread.