Not so fat anymore - I second everyone else, no need to be bummed! Adding more food, exercise, a "fun" day - it can cause some water retention so really drink up! (water I mean) Remember it takes approximately 3500 calories to make a pound of fat so you would have had to eat waaaaay over your maintenance calories to gain 4 pounds.

Besides protein, make sure you're getting enough healthy fats. They fill you up and are good for you. When you get the urge to eat, drink a glass of water and wait a bit. Or a cup of hot tea.

Hang in there, maintenance is hard work when you start out but you'll get it all sorted out.

Happy Friday Maintainers!

RuthAnn....Hope that you get some relief from that extra fluid. Boo on recovery complications!!!!! Rest up this weekend if you can!

Not So Fat Anymore....RuthAnn and Liana gave you great advice! I was wondering if you weren't getting some inflammation due to the extra working out that might be showing up on the scale, also. If you are craving something sweet in the evening, build a sensible treat into your menu (I do MUCH better when I preplan) for after dinner and see if that helps you stay on plan.

My daughter's Christmas program was SUPER cute last night. We ended up going out for my favorite Mexican food last night. Mmmmmm.....chicken/veggie kabobs over a salad instead of rice. LOVE! They surprised me this time with a sliced avocado in the salad...which made my ratios off for the meal. Luckily, I had eaten lowfat the whole day. I supposed I could've SKIPPED the avocado....but they are soooo good!!!!

I did not have a terribly productive day today - I think I just needed to turn off my brain for a day! But I did well with my food today, and even fought off a serious off-plan snack craving and drank a choc shake instead.

Craving my low-sugar pumpkin muffins, so I may whip those up tomorrow morning for a nice breakfast treat. Mmmmm!

Take care all!

Started phase 2 Wednesday. I feel so full during the day. It seems like so much to eat, but my body is liking the increased calories. I dropped 4 lbs in 2 days.

I didn't reach my goal before phasing off so I'm hoping to lose some. I love to exercise and I just feel that I was consuming too few calories to exercise like I have been.

I'm doing a lot of studying and reading to get prepared for my phase out. I thought I had a great coach until it came time to phase out and she wanted me to do a bodybuilding type program and not even phase out. So it looks like I am on my own.

I think this site is better than a coach.

evemomma - Glad your daughter program went well! I'm kind of bummed that all the local nieces and nephews are past the grade school point so I don't get to go to the fun school programs any more - I always loved them!

I figure if my ratios end up more like 2:1 on occasion it's fine. We can't be perfect 100% of the time - life just doesn't work like that And avocados are sooooo good! Food is meant to be enjoyed - I think we forget that sometimes (I know I do). I get caught up in "does this fit my day and my macros" sometimes and forget that I need to savor the tastes and textures and not just eat because it's good for me. And did that make sense? It's early yet.

Kristin135 - Congrats on P2! It does feel like a lot of food, doesn't it? Amazing though how fast we adjust to it!

Sounds like you have been educating yourself - good for you! Sorry your coach isn't better informed and more supportive. But you're right - this board is a great coach! I am constantly amazed at the knowledge our posters have and are willing to take the time to share!

Kirsten and congratulations your loses. Many of us lost phasing off and it seems like you are as well so you will likely reach your goal. Good for you for phasing off properly. You'll get lots of great support and advice here. I'm still a newbie maintainer but there are many seasoned folks.

Debbie - hang in there and drink your water. The scale will come back down. Like Ruth Ann said, you could not have eaten an extra 4lbs.

Eve- sounds like a great holiday concert. Ours is Wednesday. Your Mexican salad sounds yummy and you were smart to keep the whole day pretty low. I never really liked avocado before but had it in a salad last week and it was yummy.

Ruth Ann - the is too bad about the build up of liquid and PT going on hold but better to get it fixed and then restart. I know it's a dissapointment for you. You like to be active.

Tyranny - that is a great woosh

Andrea - your exercise routine sounds like a good one. Lots of strength training. I haven't done Pilates in forever, my gym doesn't offer it.

Slip - yes I will try to think about that candy being old and stale. I also found that if I think about it building cellulite it helps.

Hi to everyone and hope everyone is doing well. We are finally going to start decorating for the holidays and the kids want a real tree this year. I'm off to eat an early breakfast before I meet the run group for a 12km trail run.

Hi Maintainers! I can't wait to join you here again. Only 6ish lbs away from my original goal! Since I've been doing Phase 3 for my reboot, I may just stick with it past my goal weight since it's a bit higher than it should be.

Have a great weekend!

Good morning;

So, the challenging weekend begins. I always have a harder time on the weekends, starting Friday night but am determined to have a good, P3ish day as had a fun meal last night and of course, wake up bloated this morning. But, I did get my run in yesterday which I am happy about. And I'm hoping to get to the gym later on. I'll be having a shake for breakfast and drinking lots of water today.

I agree Ruth Ann, its great to try and keep ourselves on track for maintenance as far as the ratios go but its also important to enjoy our food and not always overthink everything. I am craving healthy food most days but have a treat too now and then. I find that helps me to stay on track and not have that 'all or nothing' attitude that the Beck Solution book talks about. I definately used to have that problem but am finding more balance in maintaining this time.

Welcome Kristin! And yes, you will get great advice on these boards. Its my support group in maintaining!

Have a great day everyone!

I have a question. Did any of you extend phase 2 for longer that two weeks to get to goal? My body seems to be loving the extra calories. Now I am really motivated to get to my original goal of 130 but not sure if I should continue on phase 2 until I reach that. I am nervous of a big gylcogen gain in phase 3.

Hi all,

I am a IP coach as well as on p4.

So this morning I had a huge breakfast. Two eggs,two toast with veggie cheese,8 oz. low fat yogurt , clementine , two 12 oz. glasses of water and two cups of black coffee.

I then worked at the clinic 8:30 to one. I had another coffee and two more 12 oz. of water and I was not hungry at all.

For lunch I had one can of tuna with WF dressing in lettuce wraps with a giant dill pickle and one cup of cut up peppers with more water for lunch.

My snack was a quest bar more coffee and of course more water.

I am not starving but I did not go to the gym today. I also made some diet jello for tonight if I am craving something sweet.

I have pushed the water today .

Thanks for the encouraging words. I worked so hard to lose the weigh. This was the first time since last February that I did not loose. I have that 90 pounds that I want to lose and I was so close less than half a pound and now I am 4.5 pounds away from that goal.

I have been perfect before and I quess that being human means we are not perfect.

I will let you my next WI which will be next Thursday.

Thanks again
Debby

Kristin- I think you can stay on P 2 for as long as you want. Just watch that you don't start "editing" and adding in snacks, treats cuz your bored. If so go over yo P3 and add in those yummy breakfasts. I know for a Eve and myself we didn't gain in the glycogen reset in P 3 or Eve for P4. I think that is true for some others as well.
How close are you to your goal?

Debby- glad things are working out well for you. Your clients will benefit from you going thru this a losing so much. I love my coach and she is amazing but she doesn't know what it is like to lose or have to lose a significant amount of weight. She did 8 with IP.

Well folks I finally made it into Maintenance....I put on 3 lbs in 3 days in Phase 3, just like my coach said I would. Kinda freaked me out, but the scale hasn't moved since I've gone into Maintenance, so I'm over that. My coach told me don't mix fats and carbs and you are good to go...so I'm trying to figure this out on my own. Because of my hiatal hernia I'm staying away from simple carbs, except for 2 slices of sugar free whole wheat bread in the morning. Take care, everyone, and BE STRONG!!!

Welcome to P2, Kristin! I did my last reboot mostly on P2 &, like many others here, also found I kept losing on into P3 & Maintenance. Kind of like being on a roll I would suggest that you stay on P2 until you feel comfortable moving into P3. And know that moving into any other Phase is nerve-wracking for many of us!

Welcome to Maintenance, Stanski! We are all so different about how our bodies respond - makes life interesting Maintenance can feel a bit like freefall after all the structure of the earlier Phases. I'd highly recommend that you go over to the What are you eating today Maintainers thread & look at the menus posted there. 'Don't mix fats & carbs' is a pretty loose direction, although true. I found it really helpful to see what that actually looked like when I started planning Maintenance meals. Lots of different & creative approaches there. Also, don't know if you are tracking your daily intake in any way, but many here have found MyFitnessPal useful for that.

Good luck on this next part of your journeys!!

Hi Everyone!

I try to keep up here, but often get as far as reading & not posting

Hi to Jenny & RuthAnn & oneuh2 & evemomma & Liana & Hawaii & ChipnDip & all my fellow Maintainers - I am watching & sending

Found a few UP #'s were hanging around, so the mini-challenge over the holidays seemed like a good way to stay on track. Good decision! Dropped some by mid-week & then levelled out. All good.

I decided, for the challenge, to lower my overall calories, while staying more or less in Maintenance. Some mornings I am doing a P1 breakfast, some are more like regular Maintenance. Weekends seem to be 2 meals rather than 3 (a la Liana), as that is my natural rhythm - late starts (& late nights)! My ratios are often more 2:1 than 3:1. But so far that seems to be working well.

I think, like evemomma, I will slowly increase my calories once I am back down again. I am not stressed about this, which is a great NSV!!

Like many of you, I find this time of year to be busy & stressful - Christmas in retail has many blessings, but it does require staying at a high level of awareness & energy-output. I am totally zonked at the end of a day, hence the lack of posting here.

But I am with you in spirit if not on the page.

Walking & running are not so frequent right now, but still happening. Yoga is still on! And...tada!! I have been asked to be a run-leader for the next run/walk clinic in January! With the new-to-running folks & I am totally stoked to be invited & really looking forward to the inevitable challenges & excitement of people taking on something new.

Right now, it's one day at a time, one foot in front of the other. I know this is not unfamiliar territory for many of you

Thanks for reading - Blessings - Susan

Happy Sunday evening Maintainers!

Kristin: Congrats on starting P2. I started P2 last Monday. The first few days I felt uncomfortably full every day from lunch to bedtime. Towards the end of the week it got better. I didn't wait to get to my goal weight (7 lbs away) but I did loose 1.6 as of this morning. So I'm happy about that. Worried a bit about the 3 lb. gain most see in P3 but will keep on phasing out and hope the exercise and maintaining will see me get to my actual goal of 136.

Stanski: Congrats on getting to Maintenance!!

Westwillow: Kudos on being asked to be the run leader. That must make you feel really good.

Jenny: Yes I am looking forward to being able to work out again. I've missed it.

evemomma: I remember avocados. Love them with tuna.

Liana: I got some organic celery based on your recommendation. I'll let you know how it worked out.

I have had a very productive weekend. I attribute it to increase calories = increase energy. I have cleaned...a lot. Things haven't been getting done because I just didn't have the energy. I spent some time putting together a P3 & P4 book with tips and recipes from 3FC (and all of you) and I think I'm ready to start P3 in another week. I am so looking forward to buying/eating an apple. Oh..and BACON!!!

Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!

Whew! I just spent 3 hours ROLLER SKATING and learned apparently it burns over 500 cals per hour. Let me tell you, that seems crazy because it's fun and not strenuous ... But I can tell what parts are gonna pay for it tomorroow!

Hope all Maintainers are having a great weekend. Monday came too soon, did it not?