Is it Friday yet? This week feels like it should be over.
Chip and pishposh - I hope that your both doing well. I miss hearing from you.
One more day till the weekend
I'm here too! Thanks for thinking of me. I haven't felt much like a maintainer! My January reboot lasted a couple weeks before I caved. It was frustrating to fail everyday when I did so well on IP the first time. I Got back on track Tuesday and have had a good week. I'm at the weight I phased off at now but it feels like the pounds came back and stayed on my belly so I'm staying OP for a little longer. I seem to have uncharacteristic sweet cravings when I fell apart so I am now avoiding everything sweet. No more stevia in my tea! staying
P1 until at least Feb 15 and see where that gets me. As Eve once said, we don't have to eat P1 to continue to lose weight but I needed another kickstart.
Hellooooow, Chip & Posh!! Good to 'see' you guys back! Keep lurking & posting and P1ing till you get where you want to be, you KNOW you can do this.
Rain today & tomorrow, Hawaii69... 8C.... are you feeling jealous? Don't be, Early spring SUX!! This is my least favorite time of year, if I had the means I would head south for Feb. and early March. 'Mud month.'
ecdcslim... I'm thinkin' there's way more carb in the sushi meal than fat, lol. I doubt that you are getting much avocado in that roll compared to the rice and veggies. Watch out if you are getting California rolls because many are made with that fake crabmeat (Kamaboko crab) and it is full of added wheat starch and sugar, believe it or not. Make sure you are getting the real thing and it will be way more maintenance friendly. Or you could just go for sashimi, lol. I love sushi, but rarely eat it since I have to remember to bring my own tamari and I have to be certain that the wasabi isn't mixed with flour to make a paste. I could easily down a dozen rolls though....
Jenny, hope thing are 'running' along smoothly for you this weekend .
Liana
Last edited by canadjineh; 02-07-2015 at 02:04 AM.
Hi Chip and Pishposh! Nice to hear from you. Chip, I can totally relate with the sweet cravings! Sugar is the devil!! I struggle some weeks more than others but I work at making sure I am on track most of the time. Its tom so the cravings for sweet and salty get intense. I try to keep up with my water and exercise and not let myself get too hungry because then I'm in trouble!
Jenny; I hope that you are enjoying your weekend! Are you doing a long run? I'm going to try and do my long run tomorrow.
Slip; You have great determination and stick to itness! (not sure if that's a word hee hee) Being successful in maintaining is getting rid of those few lbs before they start adding up.
ecdcslim; Good for you in doing your exercise. A friend mentioned Insanity to me and said it was a great workout. I might need to try it!
Liana; I agree with the spring weather, although I love the warmer temperatures, I hate the mud and mess too!
Hi Catlady,Eve,Mars,Murrcat,Ruth Ann and all you maintainers that post. I read them all and enjoy your comments. I hope you all have a great weekend.
I need to have a stricter day today as was invited out for dinner last night and so had wine and dessert. It was very nice but am retaining water plus with tom, I don't know if I want to get on the scale today. Maybe I'll wait until tomorrow morning. I hope to get some exercise in today and get drinking my water!
Just started phase 3 this morning. Wow...a lot of food!
2 oz oatmeal
6 oz fresh blackberries
1 teasp butter
1/2 cup Greek Yogurt
My coach says that 1 serving of Greek Yogurt is a protein. The package I had said 1 C was a serving. That just seemed too much. So I had 1/2 c instead.
And now I am stuffed.
What ideas do you all have for phase 3 breakfasts? Would love some ideas. Simple is good. I want to have 3 or 4 options that I can just go to.
For Phase 3, I usually eat 1 cup of Greek yoghurt (unsweetened but add liquid Stevia), a piece of GF cinnamon raisin bread with almond butter and 3 oz of unsweetened vanilla almond milk. When fruit is fresh around here, I add blueberries and strawberries.
Cindy: Most of my breakfast menus have stayed very close to P3 even in Maintenance. I rotate 3 or 4 favorite breakfasts every week. I have always been a fan of a big breakfast. This has been working quite well for me.
My fav is a breakfast sandwich which is my version of an Egg McMuffin:
Whole wheat english muffin, 1 egg cooked with 1/4 tsp butter, 2 slices of Canadian Bacon, 1 oz of Cheddar cheese and a piece of fruit (half a banana or an apple).
Yogurt: I stick to 1/2 c. at a time because it upsets my stomach if I eat more. My yogurt breakfast is 1/2 c. greek(plain sweetened w/WF syrup), 1/2c. berries, 1/4 c. Barenaked Fit granola and 2 Jimmy Dean heat n eat sausages. Sometimes I switch out the yogurt with cottage cheese. I keep low fat and full fat yogurt on hand so I can get the macros right depending on what else I am having. Keep in mind that yogurt hits all of the macros, carbs, protein and fat.
Waffle breakfast: 2 Vans waffles, 2 JD sausages (or 1 HB egg) 1/2c yogurt(sweetened w/WF syrup) and a piece of fruit (1/2 orange or banana).
There are lots more ideas in the P3 breakfast thread.
I had a glass of wine last night and 1/2 a donut yesterday morning. I don't feel out of control, as a matter of fact I feel more in control because I know that I can stop at one glass or just 1/2 a donut. No ill effects on the scale today. Maybe my last wine experiment where I had the up lbs was because of sodium content or something else that I ate. That doesn't mean that I'll start drinking 2 or 3 glasses a night, but I know I can have one glass and that seems to satisfy the urge. I want to learn what my boundaries are and I won't learn them if I stay super strict all the time. It's a constant learning curve, isn't it?
Hello Chip, Pishposh, Liana, RuthAnn, Slip, Jenny, Hawaii and anyone else I may have missed. It's going to be almost 80 degrees here today. I really wanted to hike this weekend but because my knee is still hurting I may just go to the park and sit in the sun and read a book about hiking called "I promise not to suffer" about a husband and wife who hike the PCT. I have an ortho appt on Monday. I'm hoping for the best.
Last edited by catlady1981; 02-07-2015 at 01:08 PM.
[[/B]Bravo catlady[/B]! Sounds like are finding your way to an enjoyable and sustainable WOE! I love your book titles! I hope your ortho gets you back in your hiking shoes asap. Do you have some nice walk areas available in the meantime?
Hi Hawaii69 (I always forget you are not necessarily IN Hawaii, lol) Eve, Slip, ecdcslim, Ruth Ann, Jenny, Murrcat, Pishposh, Delgen, Chip (yes you are a maintainer!), and everyone else--Been a long week! Thank-you all for the support and great comments about body image, etc. Hope everyone is doing okay with the snow & ice.
I had an interesting appt with a nutritionist. Didn't hear anything I didn't expect, but I needed to hear it from someone who could address my specific situation. She is a RD, MPH with many years of experience working with people with disordered eating.
In case it's of help to anyone else, I'll try to summarize. Gonna be a bit of a ramble so feel free to skip It doesn't apply to everyone, far from it. Maybe it applies to the subset of IPers with a similar experience in maintenance.
After phasing off from 7 mo of "extreme diet" (this is a catch all for any diet under 1000 cal), it's common for the body to try to balance out the perceived 'starvation.' Often this means craving rich, palatable food, esp sugar. That is the quickest way to get energy--one enzyme to cleave one bond and bingo! the brain receives glucose. It's a physiological mechanism as opposed to emotional eating or habit. Both can lead to the same kinds of cravings.
It is dismaying to encounter the intense cravings for sweets after phasing off. After all, we thought we had conquered that. So we react by restricting, which intensifies the craving. The is the physiology part, but it can get confused with a return of old habits...Which brings in a resolve to conquer by rebooting, even to get off a small gain. This is a plausible explanation for my experience of 12 lb gains and P1 reboots--3 times in ~14 months of maintenance.
Another issue---for some but not all--- is that a long stretch of P1 really mutes our hunger cues. How else would it be so easy to stay OP, lol? Coupled with the resolve not to regain, or trigger overeating, this leads to undereating. Which triggers cravings.
It is that much more difficult to manage emotional eating in the presence of physiological hunger.
According to the nutritionist, I have been undereating calories, over-restricting carbs, and craving/binging on sweets to compensate. Rather than do a BMR test, she suggested a calorie range (1350-2000, but 1500-1600 on average) and to stick with my usual WOE but add in slow carbs. And no more ketogenic dieting. This is a radical shift in thinking for me as I actually prefer low carb foods most of the time.
It made enough sense for me that I will try it for a few weeks. It's a little scary to leave P1 behind as a strategy, but I am definitely looking forward to a more peaceful experience with food.
Some people do fine with super low carb or ketogenic maintenance. Alas I am not one of them.
Whoops, rain just started in thirsty Calif--gotta shut the windows! Have a fabulous weekend!
Chip I can really relate to the pounds feeling like they all settled in my belly. My waist area feels a lot tighter than it did when I initially reached this weight. When I WI on Tues I'm going to check my chart to see what my inches really were then. Could be that since I was perfect P1 back in October when I got to this weight initially, that was after 6 months of perfect 100% P1 and all the puffiness and bloating were gone. I haven't been quite as good this time around sticking to 100% so some of that bloating may still be there. Great job on sticking it through the week. We can do it!
Cindy, hope you are enjoying P3. I always found that more than 6oz of greek yogurt would make me feel pretty terrible. I really liked making breakfast sandwiches with the ezekial english muffins, a slice of cheddar, an egg and bacon or ham. I would add fruit on the side and a glass of almond milk. It was a feast!
mars, I've read and reread your post and it's so interesting to me. It makes total sense, and I never thought that all this difficulty I've had might actually be my body saying "come on, you just starved yourself for several months straight, went back to normal, now you're starving me again?". I was just blaming it on bad habits coming back, lack of willpower, and diet fatigue. I can't say I've had super intense cravings for sweets, mostly just fats. My mouth waters for avocado, nuts, cream, cheese, fatty cuts of meat, butter. I have been considering just setting a date to phase off, no matter what the scale says, and moving to a paleo type diet after that, getting my carbs only from fruits and starchy vegetables. Let us know how the shift goes!
Hi Hawaii, Slip, Liana, catlady, Eve, RuthAnn and everyone else! Hope you all are having a great weekend!
Last edited by pishposhappelsauce; 02-07-2015 at 05:27 PM.
Pishposh & Chip, so great to hear from you and that you are both working so hard. You've got this! You need to find a way that is sustainable and works for you. I struggle with P1 for more than 2 days at a time and even then I am not 100%. It is hard cutting right back. hang in there and this is the learning about maintenance and what's going to work for us individually.
Mars - I agree with Pish, it makes sense to add more back and to increase the cards. I think Eve posted something similar a couple months ago about needing to kick start the metabolism by slowly increasing calories. I know I can't live feeling deprivated, it leads to me acting out either thru eating or other things.
Delgan - I love breakfast. My favourite is
1/3 c instant quick oatmeal
1/2 c mixed berries - from frozen
2 pieces back bacon or Turkey bacon
1 serving fat free yogurt either source iogo
I probably I have this 4 times a week.
Hawaii - I did get out for my long run, it was supposed to be 23km but ended up being 18km cuz the snow on the road made it feel like running in slope or quick sand. Makes it so much more work and slows us down. What is your long run tomorrow going to be?
Liana week going well. Took Thursday off from running outside and chest feeling better
Started packing for Florida today, we leave Thursday after work and fly out of Buffalo early Friday morning. Packing my gym grear and running stuff but also looking forward to resting and just having fun with the kids at the pool and beach. Hoping it is warm but will be happy for the sun. Bring some IP food with me and some oatmeal packs for breakfast. We have our own kitchen so food should be ok and my parents are there and they have a scale. I'm still obsessively weighing.
Did a quick read and will go back and read in more depth but it sounds like everyone is staying busy.
Bummer on your knee Jenny!
Things should be slowing down soon. Fingers crossed.
I somehow managed to lose weight which I wasn't expecting. Saw my coach this week and her scale put me at 129 (mine's been at 130). Weight loss seems to have coincided with getting my fitbit - think that's it?
Welcome back Liana - sounds like a great vacation!
Ruth Ann, nice job with the down lbs, the Fitbit might be making the difference. My knee is good, it is Andrea who hurt her knee but it is tricky to keep track of all our aches and colds at different times.
We are going to be getting more snow here today hoping to take the kids out sledding, I may go to.
mars: I too have re-read your post about the nutritionist several times. It looks like you found a good one. I was concerned that they would give you the "eat a balanced diet approach (read food pyramid) and not really understand what you are going through. It makes perfect sense. The whole deny/restrict/overeat/overcompensate thing is so familiar. It's one reason why I am experimenting with foods and eating what I want when I want it, but working hard at not overindulging. I'll see how that works for me in the long run. Do let us know how things go for you. I slowly upped my calories and carbs like eve momma did and that seems to have work for me so far. But I've only been at this for a month and half. More date is needed.
RuthAnn: Surprise lost lb! That must have been nice to see on the scale!
Jenny: Glad to hear you could get out and run and are feeling better. I admire your exercise ethic. Florida sounds wonderful! Have a fab time poolside!
Pish: I hear you on the fluffy tummy. I haven't gone up in inches since going into Maintenance but I am impatient for the saggy skin to go away. Ugh.
Hawaii: Hope you enjoyed your planned run this weekend.
I am going to do an easy hike today. It's too pretty to stay inside. My knee will hurt just as much if I stay home on the couch. Enjoy the rest of the weekend Maintainers!
New maintainer here with only 3 weeks under my belt. So far things have been going a little too well with the weight loss and I've dropped lower than I want. I never thought I'd find that a problem but the last few lbs seem to have come off solely fronm my chest and while I don't mind being smaller I'm looking deflated and terribly wrinkly and my self esteem and body image has plummeted and I'm feeling quite miserable about it. Yesterday I had a fun day and gained 1.5 lbs but still lower than when I started maintenance. I like the number on the scale but my face is looking gaunt and where my double chin used to be the skin is saggy - I'm almost 47. So anyway I decided not to do a P1 day today and instead a regular P4 day. However the guilt of not doing P1 is killing me. Plus I know than any weight gain is not necessarily going to go back to my chest or erase those wrinkles. I started maintenance feeling so happy, didn't realize I would be so down in a couple of weeks. I love the program and have been enjoying the way I eat in p4 - just need to up my calories - have reached about 1,500 now but need to go up a little more since I exercise for an hour most days. Thanks for reading my vent.
Hi saharaq, Sounds like you have done fabulously to get to this point--congratulations!
Your skin can take a while--6 mo or even more, to remodel to new body contours. Working out can add in muscle definition. The loose skin may not fully remodel, but I'd give it time---your body is still replenishing glycogen, water, and other stores that were depleted during P1
Hi saharaq, Sounds like you have done fabulously to get to this point--congratulations!
Your skin can take a while--6 mo or even more, to remodel to new body contours. Working out can add in muscle definition. The loose skin may not fully remodel, but I'd give it time---your body is still replenishing glycogen, water, and other stores that were depleted during P1
Thank you Mars. You make me feel a little better. I will add some strength training.
.
Hello Chip, Pishposh, Liana, RuthAnn, Slip, Jenny, Hawaii and anyone else I may have missed. It's going to be almost 80 degrees here today. I really wanted to hike this weekend but because my knee is still hurting I may just go to the park and sit in the sun and read a book about hiking called "I promise not to suffer" about a husband and wife who hike the PCT. I have an ortho appt on Monday. I'm hoping for the best.
It doesn't apply to everyone, far from it. Maybe it applies to the subset of IPers with a similar experience in maintenance.
