LOVE this!!!! Especially MFP being so needy lol!

Very funny! I liked saving most of the calories for the cheese pizza for dinner and MFP being needy. Surprised tho about medications

Delgen- great choice picking nuts that you don't like as much. I have to wTch that I don't get to fast and loose with my almonds, my handfuls need to get smaller. I don't do full P4, I will have cards a couple times a week at night but that's it. Sound like your doing well and finding out what works for your body.

3sisters - good for you for making you a priority! You deserve it. How was your walk?

Grateful- sounds like you are on track, great work. I may have to use your idea of the small baggies for measuring nuts.

Shasta - have a great vacation. I believe the thinking with the carbs at breakfast is that we start the day with good energy and fuel which we will use all day. The amount is 25 grams for that meal. I know in the beginning it feels like so much but I found if I didn't do it I would feel too deprived and likely end up making a bad snacking choice later in the day.

Ecdcslim- congratulations on your semi retirement!

Andrea- 13k on your Urban walk is impressive. Sounds like it was a great day. Hope your blister is healing well.

Thanks everyone for the congratulations you have all been so wonderfully supportive.

Thank you Jenny.
I am learning a lot from you all.
Also it is just helping me to read the boards here and there to stay focused and on track, maintenance has been a tricky transition - brings up some anxiety for me, I’m sure for everyone.

I am out of my house most of the day, so I have learned over the last year to bag things up to grab and go, so it works great for me …. now even when I’m home I like having my little portions of nuts or fruit or egg whites or whatever ready to go … there’s something fun about it it some weird way. Like eating a pre-packaged snack or something I think:). Also just makes it all easier to track on my tracking app (I use Lose It rather than MFP just because that’s what I’ve used for years, MFP looks much better:)…. maybe for fun some time I’ll make the switch so I can be like all the cool kids LOL;).

Another little update... now that I've started exercising a little more it seems the glycogen came because I got just a little puffier and 2 lbs on though food has been the same. I have been drinking more water thinking it might be that... don't think I need to worry yes? But any experiences or thoughts are welcome.:)

Hey everyone!

I'm missing everyone here!!!! Good to "see" some new faces on here...good luck on the journey of maintenance!

I'm sorry I haven't been posting...too muck craziness paired with smartphone issues! I try to do a quick read on the boards daily, but struggle to find time to post.

My family was supposed to take a vacation to Florida during my kids' spring break...instead we opted for a staycation to bang out MORE house projects to get our house ready to sell (sigh...ten years of procrastination is biting us in the you-know-what).

So, the good news is I'm so busy I am averaging TONS of steps on my FitBit! Keeping close tabs on my calories has me holding steady with my weight! With all of our house chores, some days have been less than stellar. I got a version of my daughter's recent stomach flu, which has me really working to eat clean.

Hope to catch again more personally with everyone!!!!

I believe this may have happened to me as well. When I first entered maint. I was 138.7. After nine months of no exercise I was as jiggly as a bowl of jello and had no strength. Started working out doing cardio(walking/steps/stationary bike) and strength training(body and free weights) and noticed a puffiness creep in around my thighs and waist that wasn't there before in addition to about 2-3 lbs. increase on a fluctuating basis. Then that settled for a while and then I injured myself doing the strength training and had inflammation from that. So then I was up another 2 lbs. Not sure if it is glycogen or not. I had let some bad habits creep back, a donut on Friday, a piece of chocolate after dinner. I've stopped that, but then last night, 3 glasses of wine at a party and this morning I was at 144.6! Today was a P1 day and it's been a real struggle. Low energy and hungry all day. Ugh.

Andrea how did it go yesterday? Feeling any better today?

Amber: A bit better, thanks for asking. I was so hungry when I woke up this morning. I was down a lb. and considered doing another P1 day but because I was so hungry I ate a P3 breakfast. I am considering doing a little reboot. Mainly because I don't like the way my stomach is suddenly spilling over my waist in my jeans when I sit down and I don't like these up lbs. Or maybe I should just reduce calories/carbs/fat and ramp up the exercise. Decisions decisions.

Hello Maintainers and lurkers :)

I'm graduating from lurker to maintainer tomorrow and will be coming by more often, and posting.

I'm entering maintenance 3 lbs from goal, so I'll still be in a losing state, and will start off with a net caloric intake of 1200 and be trying to keep it pretty low carb for a while, then as others have done I will slowly increase to see what my body can handle.

Looking forward to the great advice and support found here :)

Determined: Welcome and congrats. I entered maintenance short of my original goal but continued to loose through P2 & P3. You look fantastic!

Welcome Determined:) - Like catlady an many on here, I entered P2 and P3 a little short of goal and lost a few lbs during that time. Good luck!

Andrea how it it going? Feeling a little better? You inspired me to do a P1 day today. I haven't done one since I went off P1 and decided to do it today just to see how it felt, and maybe drop some of the water rentention that has happened the last few days. I actually feel pretty good so far, but only planning to do it for one day. I've also been constipated so upped my water quite a bit, hoping my body will appreciate the little break today and also just the "change up".

Morning,

Welcome determineddieter - great before and after post, you look so strong and healthy.

Andrea - th exercise can add some weight as we can hold water etc, but like you said I to find that it can give me an excuse to fall back into a bad habit like eating a cookie or something off plan more than what I can account for. That's why I like the measurements because it captures those off plan moments.

Eve- great to hear from you. Sounds like you've gots lot going on. When is the moving date?

My weight came down to just below scream weight after 2 days of P1 this week, I think a lot of was holding water and was swollen from the running. Working hard this weekend to stay on plan but it feels everyday is some event around food. Yesterday big family dinner and the desserts gots me:devil: P1 today and the gym lots of water and I will breathe and remember it will be ok

Hi to everyone and enjoy the weekend

Good morning all! I am excited to join you all in this group as well -- started maintenance yesterday (it was supposed to be today, but the grilled salmon salad I got for lunch out yesterday had avocado and walnuts, and I decided to just go for it :)). Got nervous about the carbs at dinner though so just had the turkey burger without the bun. I think it's good for me to be cautious, but my family sure finds it hilarious that I precalculate everything I even think about consuming … and that I'm going to keep trying to do so. (Thank you, Liana, for the MFP buzzfeed -- had a great laugh at that!)

Anyway, I've been learning so much from you all and am happy to be moving forward. I hope to be as successful in maintaining as you, and apologies in advance for the questions I will no doubt have :)

Happy Easter and Passover to all celebrating!

Hello everyone. Hope the weekend is going well. I’m not a big Easter celebrator but I know for many this is a challenging weekend, and best wishes in advance for a successful day tomorrow, be it food, family, NSV or otherwise.

Welcome Mimi:)

Jenny I like following along your journey - thank you for your posts:).

Finished my first P1 day yesterday since starting maintenance. I had several days this week of water retention, inflammation, bloating, constipation, a few pound weight gain. The P1 day made all that go away, which was really nice, and back down to my maintenance weight again today, and the muscle pain associated with all of that is also gone.

I learned a lot from doing it - I was reluctant to do the day, and it was somewhat uncomfortable, but by the end of the day I felt so much better it was worth it.

Ran across the website “Refuse to Gain” after seeing it posted on an older thread here, and that gave me a ton of really good information, and also explained why I might have had the week I had, and also explained the benefits with more “science facts” of doing intermittent fasts/lower carb days, and made me want to do a P1 day or partial day from time to time. Also gave me a different understanding of the benefit of feeling hunger from time to time, and actually planning times to let that happen, as it is beneficial for the mind and body to burn through the hunger sometimes, it’s actually a good thing. I am always been afraid of the blood sugar swings, but if I plan it properly and don’t let it go on for too long, it is actually a good thing.

I think that I had been eating a little too often (snack every 3 hours or so) than my particular body could digest, and also my body needs a little more time to build up the digestive enzymes for the carbs (though mine are still quite low and minimal) so I am going to reduce carbs and calories slightly the next few weeks and see if reintroducing them just slightly slower and it slightly smaller amounts helps. I also took a lot of magnesium the night before the P1, which really helped ease the inflammation and also moved out the bowel discomfort (I know TMI):).

Also in cutting out most things yesterday, I could also see how in even eating the “right” foods and snacks some compulsion had creeped back in just a little - as when I didn’t have the option of a snack I could see the times where it was more for comfort/boredom/desire for pleasure than hunger. Not that it is always bad to have that per say, but good to just watch what I am doing and why. When “hunger” starts to actually be something else. It’s all so subtle sometimes.

Also, this is a significant juncture and a new phase, and also having compassion and understanding for myself that it’s not a bad thing I have so much attention on it right now, and whatever I need to do to succeed, esp. this month and over this coming year, is good. Like I have mentioned before, statistically I have only a 2 to 5% chance of keeping the weight where I am, so any and all maintenance successes and realizations are huge, and worth celebrating. And I need to expect that I will slip and fall sometimes, and the critical thing is continuing to adjust and succeed again.

It also just really helped me to read through that website about how much the body really wants to regain the weight, and how much I need to embrace the real challenge of maintenance. It’s not going to be some simple thing, but it is going to be better than regaining the weight.

For me the social support here seems important, so I am grateful for that and having 3FC be a part of my day and maintenance tools, so that I keep social support in my daily and weekly program, esp. since I won’t be seeing my coach as often. I also have a friend that is working on similar things, and we will talk once a week.
Thank you all for your sharing and support.

Hello fellow Maintainers,

It's been a few days so I thought I would check in. I am finding it a bit challenging to decide what to eat now that I have more options. But last night I made a big batch of zuppa toscana made with cauliflower instead of potatoes, and I used lean ground beef instead of italian sausage in the hopes of cutting the fat a bit and maybe even sodium (next time I will use reduced sodium broth, but I just had regular on hand). I'll be having it for supper and have portioned it out to freeze for future meals. Tonight I will make deconstructed cabbage rolls without rice for the same purpose, or maybe tomorrow night, because I just remember as I'm typing that I have a sewing class tonight.

I did over indulge on Easter Sunday, and I didn't do a phase 1 day, but I am certainly keeping it low cal and lower carb.

I've been fairly active too, I went snowshoeing a couple of days on the weekend and I am keeping up on my 5k runs. Hopefully it will all help.

I hope everyone had a great weekend and are back into the swing of things.

Have a great day.