Hi ladies,

Back for a reboot, holidays have brought about UP pounds. Need to drop at least 10. I am on my 5th day of Phase 1. Thankfully, the carb flu seems to be over.
Maintaining this weight loss is life long work. I am committed to Phase 1 until mid March, Right now, I am missing my smaller clothes.

It was so nice to catch up on the thread and to see some familiar faces.

Hi gals: Just catching up as I haven't been on here in a while. Trying to do a bit of P1 seriously instead of my modified Modified Plan, lol, which really wasn't doing much, as I just sort of fell off it more times than I should. Can't go to Cancun all pudged out of my swimsuits (well, I still would, but I wouldn't feel good about it.)

Welcome to all the new girls! Chattgirl, the extra nutrients in Alternative P1 will probably help you with the hair thing. I never had a problem with it, but others did. I didn't have much to lose though and was only on P1-3 for 3.5 months.

Andrea, go dance up a storm! I went out to a Silent Auction & Dance Party on Friday to raise money for local trail initiatives (multiuse - ski/hike/equestrian/bike) and had a pretty decent time although there was a different band this year - not as talented as the past few years - and the appies were almost exclusively on fancy little toasts/crackers/puffs etc. The only thing I could eat were the cream cheese, lox, red onion on endive leaves. Since I didn't get a chance to eat supper this was not optimal and I spent a lot of my night HANGRY. Finally in the middle of it all we left for Tim Horton's and an awesome Caesar salad (no croutons of course) filled with parmesan shreds and lots of large bacon pieces. I've never been so happy to see a salad in my life. We went back after and things just seemed a bit rosier, lol. Another dance to a band this weekend - going with friends to a Winter Festival - this year it's Mardi Gras themed, so I have a beautiful white lace mask and will pair it with a slinky black dress (if I'm feeling slinky by that time).


Liana

Happy Monday Maintainers!!!!!!!!!

It is snowing like crazy right now, and I am enjoying a quiet Monday morning as I was SUPPOSED to take my daughter to the dentist to have a stubborn baby tooth removed, but instead we were able to pull that sucker out this weekend. Yippee! I am still riding on the Denver win high from last night. Honestly, I can take or leave Denver but I am a Peyton Manning fan through and through as I am originally from Indiana.

I was weighing in at 133.4 this AM but not too dismayed as I saved up calories all week so I could have a nice superbowl indulgent day of 1700 calories with a lot of salty food. Yippee! I am proud of myself I set the limit of 1700 calories and stuck to it even in the face of DELICIOUS food all around me.

So good to see you here, Slipfree!!!!!!! I SO hear you on the continuing battle of maintaining weight loss. I am proud of you for going back to P1 and getting back on track. You can do it! I am missing my smaller clothes right now too.

Liana....Sounds like you have a lot of exercise to log in to MFP with all that dancing! Cancun awaits!!!! I have a trip planned to Florida in May, I don't want to be busting out of my bathing suit either.

Our local Aldi (aka the BEST grocery store ever) had eggs one sale for $.99/dozen this week, so we stocked up. I see a lot of hardboiled eggs in my future. I bristle at the cost of high quality protein, especially beef.

Getting myself psyched up to keep on plan to get these extra pounds off. Slooooooow going but hoping to see a 130 this week (fingers crossed). Then I would be at my original goal and could decide if I want to maintain for awhile of try to get back down to 125. One pound at a time here...one very slow pound at a time!!!!!

Hey maintainers!
The scale was a kind, kind creature on Sat. Dropped 2.2# bringing me officially into the 130's and a hop, skip and jump from goal. I had a few small weeks, so it felt good to finally see a big drop and to make it into my last and final decade.

I am getting very excited at the thought of phasing off very soon. I am sick and tired of P1 and am ready for a little more variety.

Hi all,

Just made the most delicious dinner, A version of pork fried rice with left over pork tenderloin. Yum! Prepped dinner for tomorrow and Wednesday too. I really hate to rice cauliflower, so I had to make it worthwhile. I wish I could remember how much more I enjoy fresh homemade food- when I am not OP.

Jennydoodle- congrats on reaching your final decade!

Eve, I really wish we had Aldi, Trader Joe's or Whole foods near by, but no such luck. Our clothes will fit again soon, I know how determined we are.

Andrea, your dating and dancing sounds fun!

Slip: Trader Joe's carries frozen organic cauliflower "rice." Only $2 per bag!

http://www.traderjoes.com/digin/post...ed-cauliflower

Thanks IPN! Milford is about an hour away, but I will keep it in mind when I head that way.

My cold is kicking my behind but still OP Hope your day is great

Slip- can you post the fried rice recipe? It sounds great.

Jennydoodle- I have made it a couple of ways.

This time, I used left over pork tenderloin(basted in Dijon mustard and WF maple syrup) cubed

Cup of chopped mushrooms (I did them in the food processor)
Green onion (near the end of cooking)
1/2 head of rice cauliflower
Soy sauce
1 egg

I put my daily olive oil portion (garlic flavored) and let it warm

Add cauliflower rice, mushrooms and stir fry about 5 min.

Add meat (already cooked in this case) 5 more minutes

Move the rice/meat over to the side of your pan. Add egg to open side, scramble.

Once egg is mostly solid, stir into cauliflower rice/meat

Add soy sauce to taste or IP measure.

It tastes great with chicken too. I leave out the mushrooms and just stir fry the meat before adding it to the rice.

Sorry if it is not precise, I kind of wing the timing.

New "made up" recipe for Ash Wednesday, Mexican cauliflower rice stuffed peppers with baked eggs on top. Did not love it. Made me miss cheese! Have a lot of the rice left, so I think that I will pick up shrimp for Fri. Do you think the Mexican cauliflower rice will freeze? Oh, I forgot the planning involved with Lent on Phase 1!

Thanks! It sounds delish! I stocked up on the riced cauliflower from Trader Joe's, so I will give it a whirl.

Post Mardi Party and here are the photos...
an evening of tequila on the rocks with lime, and a shared large order of McDonalds fries with ketchup & vinegar on the way home (that was the only thing open... at least I didn't get the bacon poutine with BBQ sauce like our friends did, lol)
All my arthritic bits are sore from a full-on night of dancing. I may have to get the plated & screwed ankle looked at... it seems to be bothering me lately. All I need now is surgery to have the hardware removed.

Liana! Look at your gorgeous blonde hair....do blondes have more fun?????? As a lifelong brunette, I'll always be in the dark (haha) on that one. You look great! I sure do love some Mcdonald's fries now and again!

Hope everyone had a great week! I had a TOUGH TIME this week. Didn't see the scale budge much for a couple reasons: too much salt, busy week which meant no exercise, the big "C", and ovulation (sorry, tmi).

I have had to push myself this weekend to stay on track. Not being in Ketosis means that I am actually dealing with hunger. Bah. I am writing here instead of snacking right now because I am SUPER hungry. HANGRY more like it!

If I don't see a scale budge this week again, I will go into maintenance calories for a week. I can feel myself wanting to go WAY OFF the rails...so I think a week of balanced eating and feeling full may help me stay on track in the long run. We decided to plan a trip to Florida over spring break, so I may consider a two week P3 stint before we go.

Bah...I'm hanging in there, kind of! Hope you are all doing better than me today with it!!!!

Hi all,

Tried a new recipe today, Buffalo meatballs. Pretty good, nice change for Valentine's Day. Felt like a snack!

Eve, Sorry that you are having a tough week I felt that way last week! Thank goodness ketosis kicked in. I think one of the reasons for slide- is the all or nothing. I really need to rethink my maintenance plan once I get to my happy place. The separation aspect of IP makes for difficult menu planning. I got stuck in the same routine and got so sick of thinking about it. I just threw in the towel = 20 pounds! Am thinking more of a WW approach to maintenance. Your trip to Florida sounds fun! I am planning a June trip to Italy.

Liana, during my slide, I had McD fries for the 1st time in two years. I was so disappointed! They did not taste as good, as my memory. But, I bet that might be different if I was chasing tequila!!! Lol Cute pictures.

The IP forum is so quiet now compared to last Feb. Does that reflect less people doing IP? What do you think?

Buffalo Meatballs!! Mmmm... blue cheese and Frank's Hot Sauce (or Cholula - my favorite). As for Mc'D's fries.... really not a favorite, but of course hot salty grease was calling me, lol. The blonde me is closer to my natural colour (dark blonde) and is so much easier to keep than the reds or brunettes. When my hair was dark auburn it seemed like I had to colour it every couple of weeks just to keep the vibrant look. Hubby likes it better red, but tough nuts, it's too expensive & time consuming.
My scale isn't dropping any lower, but of course, it serves me right...

Ahhh, Slip... Tuscany in June.... Come molto bellissima!! What is the WW maintenance approach? A friend of mine is a lifetime member but although she got back down to her maintenance weight not to long ago, she seems to have put on some pounds again, so I don't want to ask.

The trip to Florida sounds great too, evemomma! We keep looking at Florida for a vacay... but the peso is the lowest it's been in comparison to our CAD dollar for the past 10 years and, well, we won't even look at the USD/CAD exchange rates .

I wonder where the other gals are at these days... Jenny is on her vacation too, isn't she? I'm sure she's having fun at Disney with the family.

Liana

Happy Monday Maintainers!

Liana you look fabulous and mysterious in your mask! Looks like fun.

I am also struggling. I had a surprise second date on Friday night. I had no time to prepare and he wanted to meet for sushi/sake. I could have made a better choice other than the rolls I ended up getting but I don't want to be the date that says No, I can't go there, I'm on a diet. So I ate it. Up 4 lbs!!! Yikes. P2 is looking better and better. I'm now back up to 149.1 so I lost 2 weeks worth of work. ARRGGHHH!!!

My birthday is in a couple of weeks and my girlfriends wanted to take me out to eat. I vetoed that and instead we are going to the Arboretum for an afternoon of sunshine and tulips. Calorie free.

I have a beach trip planned for the end of April and I WILL NOT be on P1 for that. I want to get back to maintenance. Like now. I averaged about 8 lbs a month when I lost my weight. Why is 10 lbs so hard????