Keeping on you might want to go look at www.fatsecret.com very cool site and it's the app that's on my phone also!

Well then... officially.... congratulations! I'm very excited for you, you're going to do great!

It was from Meemo, and GMA sent it to me.... I've got it so if you'd like it (or anyone else), just PM me your email and I'll send it over.

I'm going to have to go there and check that out. I just looked at your log and I love it. I've just been logging my food on my week 6 food log (made copies) and that works, but I'd like to see all the calories. Very cool. Everyone's suggestions look like good sites!

Are we supposed to be logging fat/calories when we are in stablization? I have never kept track of that because I just follow the menus. But, the other day I added up my breakfast, and between the cheese, bread, supplement, and flax capsules, I had 21 grams of fat - on breakfast alone! In the real world, you could never lose weight that way! How are we supposed to transition to "normal" food, if that is the amount of fat/calories we have been consuming on the program?!

No, you don't have to keep track. The flax capsules don't count as fat because they are the "good" fat not the "bad" fat from the way I understand it. The flax helps rid your body of the bad fat which helps you lose the weight. Pretty simplistic explanation....maybe someone else can be more technical :) I logged in a day from week 6 of stabilization and my calories for the day were just about 1200. My maintenance menu is for 1200 calories also. My tanita said I'm burning 1446 cal a day so I will still lose if I stick to the 1200 cal. maintenance diet. The losses will be slower but I'll still lose. They told me if I lose too much to switch to the 1500 cal diet. I wouldn't mind losing another 10 lbs. so I'm goining to try the 1200 cal when I start maintenance next week.

1200 calories on maintenance? I'm eating 1200 calories now on the green menu!

The green menu is usually around 900 cal. not including the HNS, I think. The difference is probably that they take away the HNS (except 1) and replace it with other food choices. If you eat everything you are allowed every day on maintenance, it is quite a bit of food. You get per day: 2 dairy servings, 2 veggie servings, 2 fruit servings, 3 bread servings, 8-9 protein servings and 1 fat serving. Of course, they give you lists of what foods you can eat and how much of each is a serving. I'll let you know how it goes for me. Today is my first day on the maintenance menu.:)

Okay...not including HNS. That makes sense then! I've been doing 4 (3 clear/1 creamy) HNS a day so that's about 400 calories right there.

I am SOOOO excited to start maintenance. Unfortunately, since my center is new they haven't even had a maintenance class yet. The first class is in late-June so I have to wait for that. I'm excited to hear how it goes for you. Keep us posted!

They won't start you on stab. until then? I didn't have to go to a class. I just made a "stabilization appt" and talked to one of the counselors at my regular weigh in. All the counselors aren't trained in stab. though so I could only see certain ones. Maybe no one is trained for stab. yet at your center. I had to do the same thing for starting maintenance. It just took a little longer than a regular weigh in. Hang in there....you're almost done! :carrot:

Well all the counselors at my location actually came from another location CO. I know at least ONE is trained in stabilization/maintenance but she said the only way to do it is to have a class.

I'm so ready for maintanence! Even though I'm not at my "goal weight" set by my center, now the center isn't sure the goal weight originally set (143 lbs) is a good goal weight. They based my goal weight off of the body fat % they wanted me to be down to (26%). I've been bugging them for the last month saying their scale wasn't reading my body fat % right. They didn't believe me until last Saturday's WI. I weighed in at 153 (that's down 19 lbs!) and my body fat % was only down 1% since the beginning. So now they agree with me that the scale isn't measuring my body fat % right, so my "goal" of 143 may not really be a good goal for me. The counselor said maybe only another 5 lbs. Well, 5 lbs I can lose in 2 weeks! 2 weeks is beginning of June...that means I'll have 3 more weeks in June until they can even give me the stabilization menu which means I may continue to lose weight and actually get below 143. But we'll see. I have so many events coming up in the next 6 weeks that I fully plan to go off plan for so maybe it'll just be a gain 5 lbs, lose 5 lbs, gain 5 lbs, lose 5 lbs battle through end of June.

Keepinon,

How is your maintenance going? I am on week two of stabilization, and to be honest, I am not eating all of the new things I am supposed to - I am so afraid of gaining weight! You lost above and beyond your goal weight while on stabilization - did you eat all of the new starches and dairy? I want to lost about 6 more pounds, so I guess in my mind, I am still on the plan and not ready to "stabilize" yet.

BTW - I had to wait for the stabilization party too before they would let me start - but I figured that it was like getting a couple of free weeks on the program, so I didn't mind! :)

Hey ladies! I'll be so ready when the school year ends and life settles down a bit!

Sherry it's important to eat the food on your menu. You will still lose weight but you also need to figure out triggers and how your body will react to it all! Good luck with the process! I've not gained at all and I've not been perfect at all so it's still working. The process is awesom and I'm still figuring out triggers etc... but loving the flexibility!

Hi Sherry,

Maintenance is going great! I have enjoyed the new flexibility that comes along with the new food choices! I'm up a pound from last week because I had my daughter's graduation open house and kind of splurged all weekend long. I think it will come off though as long as I stick to the plan.

Yes, I ate all of the new foods they added in each week. I was VERY skeptical that I would keep losing on stab. like they said once the carbs were added in but the scale kept moving down. It's very important to eat the new foods because this is the training time for your body. When I would cheat on the green menu, I would gain like 5-7 lbs. just from water weight, etc. After going through stab, I don't see the huge jumps on the scale when I cheat. I think your body gets used to the extra carbs, etc. and it's not such a shock to it when you do eat them. I agree with you though, it is a scary thing especially if you still want to lose a few more pounds. I think I lost an additional 7 lbs. on stabilization so you probably will too :)

It's interesting to see how different all the centers are. I was in week 3 of stab. before I went to the party. We basically just took our after pics, had a short meeting about stab. and toasted our success with an HNS.

Good luck on stab! Week 5 was my fav week because I got to finally have some peanut butter!! I never imagined that to be something I would miss but it sure tasted good on my toast in the morning!

Not sure if you saw on the take 35 thread...but I get to start stabilization next Wednesday! Wahoo!

I had a question for you though...I have a bunch of events (parties, weddings, ect) coming up that will take place during stabilization. Do you think me going off plan during stabilization will mess up the whole stabilization process? Like you said, going off plan on the green menu, you'd gain 5-7 lbs (mostly water weight) but on stabilization you just don't gain that much when you go off plan. I went off plan on the green menu once and I gained 4 lbs overnight. Took 3 days to drop that. Do you think my going off plan right before stabilization (this Saturday) and then at week 2, 3, 4 of stabilization will hurt the stabilization process for me? I would like to lose another 5-7 lbs on stabilization but I don't know if that's possible if I'm going off plan 3 days during the 6 week period. What do you think?