Joysh: I think you are maintaining. What you are eating is working for you! I am glad your wedding went well. Good for you passing on the wedding cake.

Evepet: Ethopian food is spicy! It uses berbere..a blend of twelves spices. It is like Indian but different. The fun part is that you get served all of the dishes in a giant basket with a buckwheat tortilla on the bottom. You don't get a fork. You just break off the bread and use that.

Joysh: I'm similar in terms of staying fairly close to P3. For instance, so far today I've had an egg/sausage sandwich along with yogurt and berries for breakfast, and a big salad for lunch. I had a little extra vinaigrette, avocado and gorgonzola on my salad. I'll have a bar in the late afternoon as a snack and then salmon and veggies with wine at dinner. Oh, and I usually chomp on 3-4 almonds with my Vitamin D. I'm usually just not hungry for more, and my weight is staying very stable. Maybe I'll add in more carbs as I start exercising more, but at this point I'm figuring if it ain't broke, why try to fix it! :)

I'm going to take a mental health break next week and get underwater with my DH for awhile. Hopefully my wetsuit still fits! (Good thing they're pretty stretchy.) For now, I just have to focus on getting through this week at work. Things are ugly these days and everyone is under a lot of stress. Not fun ...

Hello everyone,

Been a while. Lots of good stuff going on. Closed on our home in Nassau, Bahamas. Spend half my time renovating the home. Traveling is hard on ones lifestyle. Easy to make "bad" food choices.

Lowest weight was 123, maintaining between 127 and 130. Day 8 of eating what volek and phinney suggest. High fat, moderate protein, low carbs. Bought a ketone meter and learning how carbs affect me. So far I think I am very carb sensitive.

Bubbleblower sorry to hear about your mom. Hugs to you. :hug:
I understand about clothes across homes. Congrats on size 4s.
120's with your height is awesome. I am trying to get into 120's myself.

Scorbett 3 hours of zumba, good for you. Great cause too. How was recovery?


Ishbel I like two and three. Love the pink ones.
Joysh, congrats on the size 4, great job. Incredulous feeling right?


I still suffer from body dimorphia. I cannot see the skinnier me. My quest is to be grateful of my losses.

Currently doing sprint 8 workouts every other day. My lung capacity is not much. This helps with that, a true workout for my heart. Releases growth hormones. Since ip learning to workout smarter not longer. Every other day 20 minutes. Need to add weights saw my arms I the mirror, bat wings?

Maile - love your posts. Nice to read about lowest weight and maintainable weight. Inspiring to read about your ongoing success.

Lizrr, glad to hear about your baby girl. Amazing how well your son responded to diet changes. We are what we eat.

Sonal

I still have a little of that also. I find when I am in front of a full length mirror anywhere, I tend to study my body to see if I look fat. I learned a new term from you. It was good to hear from you!!! You have been busy traveling. Your sprint workouts 8 a day is impressive. I keep meaning to do interval training and vary the intenity but have not gotten around to it. After a year of St, my arms definitely look more scupted and shaped. It helped. I know I am carb sensitive..I hope your new plan works out for you.

Bubbleblower: Scuba diving is fun. Is the water warm? I love to go skin diving in Hawaii when I am over there.

Thanks, sonyainva. It's still sinking in. There's been so much change this month it's tough to grasp it all.

Maile: I love diving and get in the water (with my camera) whenever I can. Water temps in Cayman in the winter go down to 77-78, but they're up to about 80 now. Later in the summer they'll go to 85 or even 86. We've been diving in HI a few times, mostly off the Big Island. The water there is much cooler, but comfortable in the summer. We love the diving off of Kona, and also have dived Molokini Crater off Maui.

Bubbleblower - I'm sorry to hear about your mom. I've just spent some time reading the past few pages and caught myself up. Thinking of you....

Does anyone know the daily goals for carbs, fat, protein in maintenance? I swear my coach gave it to me once, and I searched through the P3/4 paperwork they gave us at the session, but I can't find it anywhere. The search feature here isn't very helpful. TIA

Bubbleblower: The big island is where my dad grew up and is one of my favorite islands. I love Kona. I have heard that the Molokini crater is a great site. Do you live in Cayman? When I went to Cancun, I was surprised at how warm the water was..much warmer than Hawaii.

Tia: I am sure someone here has that info. I have lost track of my info.

Here is an interesting blog by a maintainer. She and I differ in that I do not just consider food a fuel..and I do use food to celebrate and to socialize. Boy, she has a low range of calories. She also does not count carbs.

What are your beliefs regarding maintenance and your ability to successfully maintain?


I believe that maintenance is never going to get easier. The weight loss part was the easy part.

I believe that I have to accept that it will be a struggle every day to keep my calories within my maintenance range: which is approximately 10 calories a day for every pound I'm willing to hold onto. That's all.

I believe that I will need to track nutrition and exercise daily for so long as I want to maintain: which means essentially for the rest of my life.

I believe that given how low the number is for my maintenance calories range (about 1400 to 1500 calories a day) I can't afford to waste many calories on empty nutrition if I want to stay healthy. I've gotta get the best possible nutritional bang for my calorie buck . . . and supplement with multivitamins too.

I believe that exercise (cardio, weight lifting, balance, stretching) is essential for heart health and strength and all-round physical and mental and emotional fitness. Besides, when I'm exercising I'm not eating!!

However, I don't believe that exercise helps me much with maintaining weight loss.

I don't believe that I will ever be able to exercise enough to eat whatever I want.

I believe that I will have to tolerate some hunger. Pretty much every day. And when I 'm hungry, wait till it's time to eat again.. Hunger is not an emergency: it's a signal that I'm really going to enjoy my next meal.

I believe that I also have to tolerate some emotional turbulence related to feelings of deprivation and unfairness (How come those other people can eat whatever they want?) I've gotta accept it: this is my metabolism to manage. And accept it even if I don't like it. Oh well. (Lots and lots of people have to manage much more difficult conditions than a lousy metabolism. So I'm not permitting myself to wallow in too much self pity either.)

However, I also believe that indulging in a little vanity and frugalista fashion is very helpful in keeping my more serious and long range health-focused motivation strong and steady. Don't care if its trivial and superficial to enjoy my bright blue leather boots. I've gotta have some fun!

I believe that food for me is fuel. Not entertainment. Not distraction from boredom. Not a means of celebrating. Not consolation for grief or frustration. Not the focus of socializing. Fuel. Good food tastes good, sure it does. Maybe not as good as potato chips some days. But there are many non-food sources of pleasure in my life. And it helps to focus on them.

I believe that eating pretty much the same stuff day after day helps a great deal in sustaining eternal vigilance and avoiding temptation. If I know I'm eating omelettes or oatmeal for breakfast, salads and fruit for lunch, soups and yogourt for dinner most days . . . and have those meals in my fridge, all ready to be eaten, at home and at work . . . then I'm not asking myself that very dangerous question, "What do I feel like eating today?" Which is a good thing. Because: what I want to eat and what I need to eat are not remotely the same thing. Some of the foods I want most are highly addictive to me. They will trigger binges if I have even a small portion.

So weight loss and maintenance is mostly about planning, and organizing my environment to avoid temptation. Hiding the peanut butter and cheese. Not bringing the chips into the house.

I believe that when it comes to weight loss and weight loss maintenance, will power is highly overrated. Will power is easily exhausted, especially because we need will power in so many other areas of our lives (to get to work on time; to avoid snarling at our spouses and kids; to change the sheets and run the laundry through and clean out the bath tub regularly . . . and a whole lot more).

I took off the initial big 80 pound whack o' weight in 2000-2001. Since then I've lost more and I've kept it off. I know that only 5% of people who take weight off keep it off. I know that those who've kept weight off for over 5 years and who track their calories daily and who pretty much eat the same things day after day and who weight themselves regularly and who average 30 minutes of exercise a day are more likely to keep it off. I do these things (although I tend to exercise 3-4 times a week for 60 minutes+).

So yes: I do believe that I will maintain my weight loss. I am consciously competent in weight loss and maintenance.

But: I'm not complacent about it. I don't take it for granted. I don't underestimate the effort it has taken and is taking and will take.

I've done quite a few tough things in my life. And weight loss maintenance is one of the very toughest. But I'm committed to doing it. Because: it's worth it.

maile as usual, great post thanks for sharing

lizz great to see you, I was at a health expo and a 9 year old just happened to get up on his little soap box with me about sugar and gluten free...he was well educated (it was super cute) and he told me that his autistic brother was doing WAY better in the last year because the whole family went sugar and gluten free. I think it's great he's shown such an improvement over two weeks.

EPAPRN I was never given any carb goals for maintenance. When I count I am between 100-140 (140 is a higher day for me). I don't think they ultimately want you to count the carbs.

sonyainva WOW 8 sprint workouts! Way to go!! I have a gf trying to convince me to do sprinting instead of my goal for long runs. :)

Re the shoes - going with the pink.

Went to the doc yesterday, we talked about babies (I'm not pregnant! We just talked). She told me to 'expect' to gain 20-35 lbs...:fr: If it EVER happens, I will need to be talked off a ledge quite frequently I think (even though I will know it's 'ok' and 'right'). LOL

Re the wedding - the pressure is getting to me...I can feel it and it's 5 weeks away. Right now, I'm not turning to food which was a little NSV of realization. But I'm definately looking forward to the "ok, you're out of time, whatever will be will be" moment. Course then I start thinking about "how will you not be emotional, what's the dumbest joke you know that you can keep in your head so you can not be a basketcase" (BIG SIGH)

Maile
I think I could have written that blog. Exempt for the blue leather boots and larger weight loss, I share many of her beliefs.

Planning trumps willpower every time.

Ishbel. If you decide to get pregnant you will be fine. It takes a toll on the body, but it is so worth it!

Maile- I love reading information about how others maintain, and your posts are always informative. Thanks for sharing!
Ishbel- Glad to hear you have made a shoe choice and good luck in the next 5 weeks! I agree with mom that pregnancy is definitely worth it!

I too love reading about how everyone else is maintaining. I still find it hard to believe that I'm now a maintainer and doing well at it too which honestly was my biggest fear. I still record everything I eat and any exercise I do and weigh myself daily but have learned to not freak out if the scale is slightly up...but I will say I still get very excited when it shows a loss lol. I am pretty much eating whatever I want just in moderation now which was my problem in the past.

Ishbel good choice on the shoes! I know it's hard but try to not stress out over the wedding details and enjoy it while you can. We had planned initially to get married on the beach in Jamaica but after losing my Dad we decided to do a reception/wedding at home with all our friends and family. We planned it in less then 6 weeks and honestly I didn't worry about any of the details. I knew that things wouldn't necessarily be perfect but that's not what it was all about for me. I just wanted to marry my best friend in front of everyone I cared about. We had about 75 guests and even though I thought it was a relatively casual laid back type of wedding we got so many compliments about how much fun everyone had. I'm still getting these comments 6 months later from people. Just relax and enjoy every second of it.

I am glad people liked the blog. I was impressed with her keeping the weight off since 2001 and her realistic view of maintenance. I always learn from others.
Momto2cs: I agree about the importance of planning..This blogger is a Canadian who went back to law school late in life so she would not have to retire at 65 She loves colorful clothes. I like the way she accepts the fact that she does not have a metabolism like others who can eat what they want..and knows her limits to addictive foods.

Ishbel: Those pink shoes will look great. That is a good NSV that you are not turning to food while stressed about the wedding! Your wedding is getting so close! I had 3 pregnancies and 4 kids..they are the joy of my life! I hope things get less stressful for you. At least you have your shoes and your dress!

Cheekyskeeter: Congratulations on your wedding. It sounded perfect and enjoyable. I was sorry to hear about your dad.

Two more weeks of school. The kids are going crazy. Plus it is 30 degrees outside with hail. This is a cold spring.

Such a busy couple of weeks but I've made it here, in Maintenance. So very nervous and excited at the same time. WOW!

School's out for summer! I'm so happy to be home. I've been messing up my eating pretty bad so I'm here to confess and try to get back on track. My goal weight was 130. I hit that in December. After a bunch of April/May birthdays & other random excuses, I was up to 137. Last weekend I went with my daughter to Science Olympiad Nationals in Ohio. It was 19 hours on the bus out (we broke down...) and 16 on the way back. I ate about every 20 minutes I think! I got up to 142 on Monday but I'm down to 137 this morning. It's my TOM and I'm eating everything I can find today. I know I need to go back to phase 1 but I REALLY don't want to!! I keep thinking I can do this by being smart with what I eat, but then I have a day like today when I'm not being smart. Anyway, just venting and thinking online... I know that I need to start over for today, no more junk food!! I'm not sure what to do about tomorrow...

I really enjoyed that blog, Maile. You're so right about always learning from others. and I agree completely about coming to terms with the fact that our metabolism is different. I know I never ate an enormous amount, although it was enough to get me 83 pounds heavier than I should be. But it was neve really extreme and I watched others eat the same amount or more and never gain weight. I realize that I will always need to be vigilant with what goes in m mouth if I want to maintain. That's probably why I still haven't " let go" of the diet mentality.

It was much easier having everything laid out in P1, 2, and 3. But I know this is doable!

What do you teach? Summer vacation is a wonderful thing!

Welcome to maintenance, De11s!! You're going to do great!

Hi to all!