Perhaps an obvious questions--how much food for an "every couple of hours" regimen? I think I could try a plain ff yogurt (6 oz.) with sliced banana, a few hours later a handful of dried cereal and nuts, a few hours later a piece of fruit, a few hours later a low-fat cheese stick.

Does that make sense? Does it sound like too much food? Do you eat a substantial lunch plus the snacks, or do you focus more on reasonably-sized mini-meals? Boy, this maintenance has just been filled with landmines for me. I am weighing in again on Sunday--probably up another 1.5 pounds if my pants are any indication.

I'm a 5 - 6 small meal a day person myself and was while I was losing, so it's second nature to me now. :) I think it's one of the things that finally made weight loss work for me because - as Ilene says - I'm never too hungry.

I don't think there's a right or wrong answer about what to eat, since our food plans are all different, but here's what I do. Each meal is about 250 calories and always contains protein. Sometimes I have a starchy carb with the protein, like oatmeal for breakfast, and sometimes it's a veggie or fruit carb.

Here's a typical day:

7 AM (after cardio) -- 4 egg whites, 1 whole egg, 1/2 cup (dry) oatmeal
10 AM -- protein shake with some frozen peach slices blended in
1 PM -- 4 oz. chicken breast, salad, 2 T. dressing
4 PM (after weights) -- protein shake, apple
7 PM -- 5 oz. salmon, I cup green beans

But that's just what I do. ;) What works for you might look completely different. Perhaps try experimenting and see what fits in with your schedule and meal patterns? Figure out when your hungriest time of day is? See if you do OK just eating carbs for a snack?

I do similar to Meg, but I generally go with fruit/yogurt instead of shakes. I've actually never even tried the shakes. I'm not much of a drink person.

But I do the eggs in the morning, either with oatmeal or tomatoes or a whole wheat muffin. Then I have yogurt, cottage cheese, a veggie or fruit, nuts, or a piece of cheese and/or ham/turkey/chicken slice for my two breaks - morning and late afternoon. At lunch I walk then eat a late lunch at my desk. That's generally chicken, turkey or ham on whole wheat or a wrap, a salad with chicken or seafood and vinagarette dressing, or a Lean Cuisine or similar. Dinner might be about 3 to 4 ounces of salmon or some other fish with half a cup of wild rice and a cup of broccoli, or turkey with mashed cauliflower, or brown beans with ham, something with a lean meat. Then for dessert (aw heck...desert or dessert?), fruit.

My meals are pretty much like Meg's lately... I try to have a portion of protein and a portion of low glycemic carb at every meal... The last meal I often skip the carb all together... I like the protein shakes also, (not to be mistaken for Slim Fast aka Slim Fat!), mine is a vanilla protein whey powder shake that is the cheapest I could find since I just gobble it down then enjoy my fruit, or I'll blend in frozen strawberries with my hand blender...

Yesterday was probably my most 'textbook' small meals day lately. When I'm at home I graze.
0600- fat free yogurt, protein powder
0930- turkey bites, blueberries, yogurt
1200- tuna, salad, lf italian dressing
1400- turkey bites
1730- chicken breast, green beans, more salad, homemade cornbread with olive oil margarine
2030- shake ... blueberries, flax seed, protein powder
2200- rice krispies with soy milk

I think that was around 1900 cals with a little more fat than I'd like.

These suggestions are very helpful. I don't eat meat or poultry very often, but I think adding in a turkey slice would keep me fuller. Today I ate a sweet potato at an 11 a.m. break, then had a black bean enchilada topped w/ff plain yogurt at around 1:30.

Now, I am not hungry at all. Will try to "drink a full glass of ice water" trick for the drive home, and fit in a walk while it still light out. I have lots of busy mom errands this afternoon, but I can actually walk to all of them so that should hit the spot.

My maintaining turned into gaining on my vacation. I gained 9 lbs in 8 days. This is pretty typical for me - I tend to retain mucho water when I eat outside my box. Even though the number is high, I'm proud of myself! We were VERY active in Hawaii (snorkeling, kayaking, hiking, etc.), I chose meals that were on the lighter side, and I didn't engage in my usual mindless "vacation" bingeing in between meals. I allowed myself to enjoy my food without giving myself permission to get out of control. That's a huge feat for me!

The challenge right now is that I'm SO tired. I'm getting back to my workouts tomorrow and hope that will help. It's amazing to me how much it takes to recover from a vacation!

Coming back to this forum will definitely help me get back on track. Thanks to you all for such wonderful information!!!

Karyn Lee

Welcome back, Karyn! It sounds like you had a wonderful vacation and that you handled it very well -- lots of activity, lighter meals, and some treats. You'll be right back on track tomorrow and those pounds will be gone in no time (I bloat up that way too). ;)

Karyn we wanna see Hawaiin pics!! :love:

Sure!! I'll get to that today. :)

My food looks a lot like Meg's with the exception that I haven't banished cottage cheese or peanut butter :devil:

Mel

Well, you have SELF-CONTROL when it comes to peanut butter. I don't!!

Hello, my name's Meg and I'm a peanut butter addict. :lol:

I have to WEIGH peanut butter -- even after almost a year I can't guestimate a 2TBSP serving.. I haven't banished it - I have it almost every day to up my good fats, but I have to be really anal about my servings.. Or else I'd probably eat the jar. :P

You're a better woman than I! Oh, I'd weigh it all out, but then I'd blob a little extra on for good measure, lick the spoon, lick my fingers and probably lick the scales. :lol: For now, I'm better off without it in the house.

LOL @ Meg

I've read some articles on sleep. I have always been a really light sleeper who takes a long time just getting to sleep. There are certain foods suggested to help one sleep better. PB is one of those foods...of course along with milk. So I have a tbsp of PB and a cup of milk about an hour before bed some nights. It does seem to help. I get my tbsp and put the jar back away. It's like cashews with me. In my sight and they're gone. So I get a handful of cashews and put the can out of sight.

Maybe I should banish peanut butter, too. I did eat the jar last night. :p

Well, if a T of PB helps almostheaven sleep -- YOU must have had one heck of a rest last night!! :lol:

weighing and measuring food portions.
 

When I dont actually measure my portions, they slowly increase over time. A guestimated 1T can become one and a half. A cup of something can be 25% more. 4 oz of meat can turn into a third pound and so forth. So I am back to weighing and measuring almost everything except veggies and fruits. Right now I am assuming I probably should do this for the rest of my life, unless I get too thin, LOL. In truth it really doesnt take all that much more time, and it does keep one better focused on serving sizes. The downside is there are afew more dishes to do, small enough price.

Happy Halloween :) , Jan

Jan ~~ I truly think I will always have to measure ! I must have terrible depth perception :lol: because as soon as I don't measure I gain weight ! Now along with the measuring I have Fitday and 3FC, and those are 2 other lifesavers!!

I agree about the measuring being helpful. I am back to doing it for every single item, to help me get back on track with the weight I need to lose. I think for dry cereal, peanut butter and other nut butters and pretzels it's an absolute must for me. I also am portioning out small amounts of food to bring to work--1/3 cup servings of dry cereal, dried fruit in small boxes, the 6 oz. containers of ff plain yogurt.

It WILL work!