Hello all. I've been absent here as well. Things are going really great for me right now. I never thought I'd be doing this but....I'm dating. I couldn't have done this without IP. I never had the confidence or felt good about my body. I still have to get past the saggy skin issue, but I think that's more about me and what's in my head. But I have a 4th date with the same guy tonight and I'm really happy.

Weight is holding steady even though there has been wine and restaurant meals.

Grateful, take care of yourself and yay for you for making more positive changes in your life. Congrats!

Happy Wednesday everybody.

Congrats Andrea - and almost a year off maintenance!

Just curious - have you been following the meals out / wine with P1 / P2 days? Not judging...just curious if thats how you are maintaining :)

Almost 2 weeks in the books...still haven't splurged, but really haven't had anything that I wanted to splurge on yet. A couple bites of a brownie that were underwhelming and a crust-less pumpkin pie that was better - kids & I made from-scratch sugar cookies & I was just *meh*.
I would rather sit down and eat 1/2 a container of cashew butter truth be told :p
I'm just used to eating veggies and protein now...and enjoying my P3 breakfasts :D Steel cut oats RULE!

I still mostly post on the 2015 thread, but I have been officially in maintenance for a couple of weeks now. I actually lost another pound the first week - bonus! - but since my son's wedding on Saturday, the scale has been creeping up. I know it's because I haven't been drinking nearly enough water (or anything else, for that matter), and I've been eating waaaayyy too much leftover wedding food, including CAKE, which is my kryptonite. Tonight I'm taking a lot of food to work and giving it away.

I've learned I despise the idea of going back to P1, so I'm trying P2 for a few days. I don't care if it takes a couple of extra days to lose the excess weight.

My exercise plan is going well. After finishing C25K, I ran three 5Ks and started training for longer distances. I'm doing a program that will get me ready for a half marathon by February, although I'm not sure if I'll do a race then or wait until later in the spring. I'm signed up for a 10K in January and might do a 15K in early February.

Hysteria: Congrats on getting to Maint.

I never do P1 now. My routine is P3 breakfast, P2 for lunch and dinner. This allows for eating out during the week and the occasional glass of wine and treats as I want them. I find I don't want them all that much. I've done one reboot in the year I've been in Maint. for 2 weeks. It was very hard to do. I don't want to do it again so I am trying to keep within a 5 range of my comfort weight. So if I go over 145 I reign in back in.

Hello gals! Lots of stuff going on in my life. Seems like I am the problem solver for all the parents, lol. Phone issues (cell for my MIL, landline for my parents) this week. Doctor stuff of course... AND lots of work.... My co-worker had the sad experience of discovering a woman's body a couple nights ago. She had wandered away from home (dementia) and he spotted her under the wharf in shallow water. It was fairly traumatic for him as he had to wait for the RCMP and be on hand if they needed him for more info. I have taken over a lot of his shifts along with some of our emergency on-call people so I am doing fulltime right now.

Weight is still up a bit - seems like I am bouncing the same 3 lbs +&- these past couple weeks. DH is getting on my nerves a little - seasonal retirement has started and he has difficulty with amusing himself in the mornings while I am asleep after work. He also wants to eat stuff for lunch that I don't usually on this WOE. Not unhealthy stuff, just way carbier than I should be. Chili, pea soup, etc. I need to tell him to get his own lunch & I will cook up my own veg and protein, lol. And hormones are still whacky - thought I was going to get my period - sore breasts, crankiness, freakin' hunger! etc, but then that seemed to pass w/o 'results'. Not that I miss having a period, but in that case, I DON'T want the preview stuff either, thank-you-very-much!

Note to self - do not buy the large size Rolos even if they are on sale for an amazing price.

Liana

Hello all,
I have just started phase 4 after losing 69 lbs (9 lbs past my 60lb goal yay!), and I have a question about maintenance. In the packet I got from my coach it talks about minor and major slip ups. Anybody really know what the difference is or can give me an example? Knowing me I will consider all slip ups to be major.

Hi all -
My hormones are a little better balanced now and I’m doing much better today finally. Liana I really feel for you - that really was awful to go through, that hormone stuff.

Andrea I also did a lot of dating during and after P1 - well, a lot for me anyway. I didn’t meet anyone that cared about my skin/tummy issues:) - and feeling that actually got me over it a little bit myself. Men my age also have aging bodies and what they deal with around that. We’re all in it together.

During the move - which happened over the Thanksgiving week - had some major indulgences but I’m actually OK with it - I of course had water retention and my tummy expanded but I’m back on my normal routine now and things are going back to usual… and I have a P1 reboot in January to just give my body a break in general.

But I am glad in maintenance that I can do these types of things consciously and not feel like I am going to gain a lot of weight - that I know what to do and I am OK.

I am also off my exercise routine after the move but moving is physically draining and I’m getting movement there anyway - once I’m done putting everything away I’ll get back to yoga I’m sure.

Take care everyone:)

Hello All,

Great to hear of everyone's successes, however big or small!

So I have been doing OK with maintenance.

I figured to gain 5-6 pounds when I started eating carbs again. In reality that turned out to be more like 10 pounds, but then again, I am tall.

The good news is I seem to have settled out (for now at least) around 206, which is still a BMI of a bit over 25 (so I cannot complain!).

And I have been able to keep off my great 120 pound drop from my peak weight. From a starting weight of 326 in Sept 2014 to this mornings weight of 206. This is a big victory still!

Here is my weight chart for the past 16 months ...

https://mindstar.com/scratch/WL_2015_12_12_FULL_sm.jpg

And my long term weight chart going back 40 years ...

Boy, I have just CRUSHED my moving average regression line (the red dashed line in my chart) dropping that from the low 300's (back in 2008) to the low 230's (today) -- that's a tremendous change in a moving average that spans multiple years.

https://mindstar.com/scratch/WL_2015_12_12_BIG_sm.jpg

Congrats Avalon - now onto the continuing Maintenance adventure…. you will crush that also I think!:)

Howdy Catlady! Congrats on the long term success with maintenance and it's great that you are dating. Go for it!!!

Sunflowers - sorry for the delayed response I started phasing off at 162 I think and lost 2 more. I never gained any back and then tried to always live under 162 - which was difficult. Over the summer I put on 4lbs of muscle - inches were the same or lower than wt at 157 but scale heavier so know it was muscle. I was working out 9 hours a week. Now, I have been trying to keep 168-166. Need to get a few off at the moment.

Andrea - way tongi with your maintence success. Sounds like you are happy and doing well

Avalon - huge congratulations with all your success and moving into maintence. You have done amazing.

Everyone seems to be doing well and working hard

I came back from Jamaica the same wt as when I left which I feel really proud about. Pretty sure it helped running 21km in the heat, having two other work outs there, and going with 15 other super fit women. The food was amazing at the resort and I only drank 1 night. These women tho drank all day, I was impressed! I've come home to a busy time at work and life stress and sadly seemed to have left my willpower in Jamaica. Need to get back on track and off the sugar!!

After a slight weight creep of +5 pounds, I'm back down to within 1.5 pounds of my goal weight. Adding plenty of water back in definitely made a difference. Before protocol, I wasn't a water drinker, and I've found that it's easy to fall back into that (bad) habit. On a related noted, I had a sip of Coke Zero the other day and was surprised at how bad it tastes to me now. I will never give up coffee, but I think I can forgo soft drinks for the rest of my life.

I'm having a hard time figuring out how to add fruit back into my diet. I know most fruits are high in carbs, and we're supposed to avoid eating carbs with fats, so when's the best time to eat, say, an apple or some pineapple chunks? Afternoon or evening snack?

Liana, I feel your pain about having hubby under foot. Mine is in the middle of a 3-week at-home vacation and it really disrupts my routine! I've talked to a lot of women who say that having their husbands retire was difficult.

Ferret, there doesn't seem to be a clear definition on slip-ups. I imagine it will be different for everyone, anything from a bowl of ice cream up to a whole day of eating "bad" foods. For me, anything that bumps my weight up 2 or more pounds, OR triggers binge eating, is a slip-up. Cake seems to be particularly triggering for me, so I would consider even a small piece of cake a slip-up.

HereIStand thank you that helps.

My only other question for other maintainers is what do you eat for breakfast after "fun day"? We need to have a little carb with our protein dont we? Im trying to get away from the protein packets from IP if i can.

Some people do a day or two of P1/P2; others try a few days of P3. I think it depends on how fast you want to lose any weight you've gained, and you also have to factor in any calories you're burning through exercise.

On my strict recovery days, I usually do a protein shake for breakfast (usually Quest), lean protein and veggies for lunch and dinner, and then a bar or other restricted item for snack.

So are you still using IP profucts for snack?