Aw....just typed a post that got eaten.....BOO.

Jenny....awesome on your PB with your run! Wahoo!

Hawaii: I do zumba at home and CONSTANTLY laugth at myself! I used to dance (ballet, jazz....not salsa), and that experience helps little to shimmy my hips! I find my calves/shins/ankles are particularly sore from the rocking back and forth. I feel my stomach has tightened quickly though with just a few weeks of it!

Rosie: You bootcamp sounds intense! There was a time that my mantra was, "What do we love?" "Pain!", lol!

ChipNDip: I hope the increased water helps. Have you had some basic tests run by your general doc? Sometimes there is an interplay with things like blood pressure, blood sugar, iron levels and such. Take care and don't push too hard!

Liana: Hope you are more well-rested today. Your dress for the upcoming wedding sounds lovely. You are the QUEEN of great thrift store finds!

I wish maintenance transition was easier....feels like driving in the fog. Probably not helpful that I have so many variables that I keep changing:

1) Fun day once a week
2) Hormones (can't help that one)
3) Varying amounts and intensity of exercise
4) Varying amounts of fats/carbs
5) Varying levels of hydration (some days I do better than others)

I never experienced any up pounds in my glycogen stores, so I'm not sure if that is something at play - or if I did experience them, I was still losing fat so I went back down. I think I need to work harder to be a bit more consistent with my variables: namely my carb/fat intake and my water intake. I think I am going to pick a more consistent range for fat/carbs this week (not counting fun days of course) so I feel a little more aware of how my body is reacting.

Blessings!

Ah well, I would have WISHED for these stressors when I was 43 lbs heavier than I am now!

Good morning;

Well, I survived Zumba! It was awesome even though I didn't know what I was doing but I laughed and smiled a lot which is one thing I like about it, you don't even realize you're exercising cause you're having so much fun.

Liana: you sound very talented in sewing. I admire you. My grade 12 sewing teacher would try hard not to laugh at some of my mistakes, she was very patient! Looking forward to your before and afters.

Eve: you are doing great. Maintenance is about not being perfect as Slip reminded me once but to keep making choices and you are right, it does take some time to figure out what works best for each of us. We are all different.

Chipndip: I hope you get the dizzy spells figured out! Thats no fun. And its fun to try new things. I'd like to try some other exercise classes that I've never done. Colds are going around here too.

Hi Ruth Ann! Hope you are healing!

Rosie: Bootcamp sounds hard but I'd love to do something like that sometime!

Have a great day all you maintainers!

Hi all,

Chipndip, are you on any medications that might impact your BP? I needed to consult my dr. and they switched up my diuretic. I have low bp now, but for some unexplainable reason I still retain tons of water. :(

Eve, just keep moving forward, one choice at a time. Try not to worry about a specific number, focusing on staying within a range has helped me relax a little. My range is 3 pounds. What Zumba DVD do you use?

Ruth Ann, hope you are on the upswing. :hug:

The positive exercise vibe is inspiring. Keep it up everyone!

I'm only on thyroid medication. And my levels were checked hallway thru IP when I was cold all the time.

Hiker, I've always loved sewing... a little story: When I was quite young I had a small teddy bear and my brother had a matching one. I still have her (she's 46 now :D). Anyhow I decided I was going to make a suit for my brother's Teddy out of the scrap suit material that gets cut off the bottom of the pants when they are hemmed. So Teddy got a pinstriped grey suit (without sleeves though, since that was beyond my sewing ability at the time). But Teddisie (That was our female version of her name as a teddy) needed a fancy new dress to go with his suit. :idea:
I had been coveting a lovely white linen tablecloth and napkins that were vintage at that time and packed away in the linen closet. One day when mom was busy and didn't notice I snuck a napkin out of the closet and made a white wedding gown for her (again sleeveless, lol) so she & Teddy could get married. They did everything else together, mountain climbed up the side of the bed with shoelaces tied around them, raced in rally cars over piles of blankets in our bedroom, and skied on little plastic skis we tied to their feet that were given away as promo items at the sports store where we got our skis. Needless to say mom was not very happy when she saw the dress and it did leave the set with only 5 napkins... I never stole anything again, learned my lesson. It was a lovely wedding though, and they went to Italy with us as a family on their 'honeymoon.'

I've branched out in sewing since then... made a suit for my hubby and several for me, triathlon wear and bicycle shorts with chamois for clients, a bathing suit for a lady who had a permanent tracheostomy and wanted a high necked suit to cover it, several swimsuits for myself and my DH who used to be a master's swim club member, lots of exercise wear and dresses and skirts.

Wow, having a super tough day, I was supposed to go to aquacize but woke up in the middle of the night and I could hardly move - bad SI joint pain shooting down my leg and a really tight trapezius and very sore elbows too. Just took a bunch of pain pills & muscle relaxants at 4 AM and ended up sleeping til 11. I forced myself to get something to eat today although all I felt like was the usual 'drag out of the cupboard' chips, and cheese chunks from the block. Anything easy... a couple of neighbours brought over fruit, a lovely bag of blue Italian plums off one neighbour's tree and the other neighbour brought over a box of beautiful Bartlett pears from their tree. We haven't bought fruit for a while now. Still have 6 or 7 nectarines in the fridge... I felt like just laying on the couch and eating plums. I did manage to get into the chiropractor and realized that I hadn't been in since the beginning of July - too long for me. At least my shoulders are now level as are my hips. Such a blasting headache though. :headache:
The weather has gone funny - thunderstorm last night right before I had all my pain wake me, and more expected tonight. Maybe the fast drop in pressure is what's doing it.

Sorry for such a long post, guys.

Liana

Good morning!

Had our internet knocked out for a couple of days. Couldn't even log into work so I watched movies and read books - rather enjoyed it! Healing is coming along nicely - much less sore and have cut down on painkillers quite a bit. Am actually planning on going into work for a few hours today (maybe).

Jenny - congrats on the PB!

All this talk about exercise has got me itching to do some. I won't just yet but I'm looking forward to getting back to it. I did do a few minutes on the treadmill yesterday (flat, slow pace) but the surgeon doesn't want me to do anything that gets my heart rate up for the next week or so and I'm following orders!

Of course, my eating has not been stellar but I'm not worrying about it much. Only up 2 pounds a week out of surgery so even if a pound or two sticks around I know how to fix it - I love having the tools to maintain! My big focus has been getting enough protein right now for healing. I was up 8 lbs the day after surgery (I know, shouldn't look) but I knew it would be way up and was curious.

Liana: Sorry to hear you are feeling bad. :( Hope you get better soon. :hug:

RuthAnn: Glad to hear recovery is going well.:)

Liana -:hug: I hope your pain eases soon. It is exhausting being in pain and I know you have deal with it on an on going basis. I hope the weather changes and tonight is not as bad.
You are a gifted sewer and I love the story about the teddy bears getting married and of course the honeymoon.

Ruth ann, Great to hear you are healing nicely and you pain has gone down. I would have looked at my weight after the surgery to! Your 2lbs is probably still the anthestic but regardless like you said you've got the tools. Take it easy and don't rush back to work.

Hawaii69- Yay you survived Zumba and it sounds like you are going back for more.

Eve - Agree with Slip, try to stay in your weigh increase range. I give myself 2.5 lbs, like you never gained in phasing off process but I accept that some days there is going to be a fluxuation. For the exercise, you were the one that reminded me to have the extra snack:). Are you doing that for you? I try to keep it to one IP shake or 10 almonds, 1 egg. And sounds like you are getting on top of your water.

Your right, it does take time to figure all this out.

Chip - Ug the cold, I think everyone has gotten this latest cold that is going around. Hope it leaves your home quickly.
Drinking water is so much easier during the week. Sometimes on the weekend I find myself chugging it back to just get it done. Or I will take in the car when I go out and say to myself I have to be finished by the time I get to where I'm going. I hope you feel better soon.

Rosie - your bootcamp sounds very intense!. I hate burpees. Good for you!

Everyone sounds so positive and doing so well.
Have a good evening.

re: Zumba... tons of fun, we used to do a dressup Zumba night at the Curves I worked at about 2 yrs ago - here's a couple of shots of me n the gals.

Tacky Tourist
Queen of Hearts
Motorcycle Mama

It was all choose your own theme... I did Magnum PI, Lance Armstrong, Ferrari F-1 Mechanic, Dolly Parton...

Internet issues - here's the pictures:

Good Thursday Morning!

Hilarious Pics Liana! Hope you are feeling better today!

Jenny, Slipfree and Hawaii....THanks for the words of encouragement. I loved the structure of P1-P3. Very little structure makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong.

I'm back down to 127......so clearly not gaining. I find that I am keeping my calories pretty low (under 1300). Even though I've had two fun days, I do a P1 one day and even the next day I tend to do a P3 day. I have a hard time psychologically getting myself to up my calories any more than that.

I don't want to mess up my metabolism by staying too low....but I honestly don't have a good handle on where I should be. I have MyFitnessPal set at 1700 but only come close or over that on my FunDay.

I know where those who post their menus tend to fall calorically. Would anyone else be willing to share with me how they determine this?

Additionally, I find that my carb meal is pretty easy to plan (so used to eating low-fat and adding a little extra carbs is easy enough). But I find my fat meal is harder...unless I eat a salad, I find that I can't stay with the 3:1 ratio. My ratios tend to look more like 2:1 if I add any carbs besides that which is in my veggies. Advice?

Thanks! I know this is a journey, but I like to have a roadmap. I need to do some internet surfing (when I can find time!) on ideas from perhaps South Beach and Paleo meals just to give myself a little variety.

Yep, feeling a bit better today - yesterday was drier... only took a couple of XS Tylenol, so today I'm back down to 132.
Evemomma: If you feel you'd like to up your calories (& possibly weight a bit) try tweaking your fat meal... use lower carb veg (but not salad) and add more fat to still get 3:1.
Here's a favorite of mine:
1 1/2c chopped broccoli florets & a couple garlic cloves chopped, sauteed in 2 tbsp. EVOO, toss in 1 oz of pine nuts for a short sauté, then add 1 miniature box (.5 oz) raisins to plump & heat. S&P and 2 servings of full fat favorite cheese (Gouda is especially good with this)
Macros:
791 cal
22net carbs
68 fat

Just an idea :chef::idea:
You could try a P2 day or P3 day after your funday/funmeal. You could also ditch the low fat stuff if you are trying to up your calories, add more avocado, use full fat yogourt, increase your nut portion at a fat meal - welcome to heaven. :D

Liana

This! It's so nice to have a resident IP chef with a totally delicious solution to virtually any IP culinary challenge and then some! :)

evemomma fwiw from someone who phased off about the same time as you, last year, and experienced similar questions... After a year of yoyoing up to 12 lbs over goal, I realized that my WOE was just not enough food. I fought it for a year, shying away from fats, carbs, anything over 1250 cal. Due to a dry eye condition, I was told to add healthy fats to my diet. I've added 3oz avocado, a few tsps EVOO, some salmon and sometimes full fat chicken, etc. I've kept the carbs to 70 or lower as that just feels right for me.
Tracking on MFP yielded about 1500 calories with no workouts, just an active job as a surgical nurse. At this WOE, I feel amazing. The improvements in mood, mental and physical energy, and cold tolerance are significant.

Although I'm currently back on P1 to get off the 12 lbs that I gained due to some sugar forays :eek:. I still fit into 90% of my new wardrobe, even at 12 lbs over goal.

I encourage you to experiment with upping your calories with good fats, as Liana suggested. I feel it also solved the cold intolerance, which is so common after large weight loss. Hope this helps :)

Wow, Mars thank you so much for your experience and insight! I have dry eye also, and I HATE it! The logical part of me knows that I really need to experiment with upping my calories, but I get confused of how to do that using the P4 perimeters because I feel like I am eating too high in fat.

I need to remind myself that gaining/losing weight is really just data that I can use to tweak my maintenance plan. There is no way for me to know what my best workable way of eating is without pushing the limits.

Ugh, I'm a perfectionist, so I always want to do things "correctly". I am reminding myself that there is no perfect way....just "good enough"!

Thanks also for your input and delish sounding practical ideas, Liana!

Hi everyone! I don't usually post much but love reading all your posts.

I just called my eye doctor this morning about my dry eyes. I have been using Refresh lubricant drops like crazy lately and not getting much relief! He said it is just a symptom of aging.

Thanks for the idea of adding some healthy fats to my diet. :)