Here ya go! You go, you maintainers, you!

Thanks Meemo! It has a good ring to it, doesn't it?

Yep - can't wait to (re)join your ranks

Now that you can get back to your normal routine - you'll be here in the blink of an eye!

Alright, I get to officially be a MRC Maintainer on Saturday, so I'm going to make this thread active!! I'm finding myself falling back into the comfortable green menu receipes that I've made over the last year. I know I can get so much more creative with all our new food choices, just drawing some blanks. Anyone experiment with some great OP Maintenance recipes yet? I would love to post them here, so we don't accidentially confuse or make the regular MRCers unduely hungry for our extra choices.

HELP! After nearly 3 months of maintenance, I'm completely off track. The holidays were a killer...anything and everything edible or drinkable went right in my mouth, and I did no exercise for over a week and never got in the 64 oz of water. It was like I had absolutely no control or will power. I'm up 4 lbs in two weeks, which is 10% of what I originally lost.

To make matters worse, the MIL from **** arrives this Thursday for an 11-day stay. She wants to "cook and bake" for us while she is here, which means things like spaghetti, pies, etc. We've already told her we can't eat those foods, which causes her to pout. At least my DH is with me on this and is trying to dissuade her from cooking.

I did get back on the treadmill last night and again this morning and am really watching what I'm eating today (Namaste's U turn), plus drinking more water than ever. Any suggestions as to what is the best way to get back on track at this point in my journey with what I'm eating? I don't want my body to yo-yo diet, so am not sure if I should go back to the green menu or what. Any suggestions will be so much appreciated.

Judy
Gma to 4

Breath Judy breath! My suggestion would be to eat as healthy as possible while the MIL shows her love through food - a tough one, I know! I just couldn't start maintenance because I screwed up so bad during stabilization and the weight was creeping back on. I sat down with an experienced couselor who lost a significant amount of weight and has kept it off and had a good heart to heart. I felt like I was missing a piece of the puzzle - what to do when you creep past your new set point. Mine was no more than 10 lbs - or 170. Well I crept right into the 170's. She said she has had this happen a couple times too. I told her the previous conversations about not training your body to yo yo diet. After reviewing everything, I'm starting over again. She put me on pre-conditioning and then I totally went off the rail during the Vegas/Wedding trip and Christmas. When I came in for my food class on Friday - I was at 185 and felt miserable - salt, alcohol, sugar - my fault - totally! So I'm officially in pre-conditioning until tomorrow. I thought it would be some new sheets, but it's back to day 1-4, 5-10 and I'm assuming the green menu. Then I'm going to do stabilization like I'm suppose to. So, I will lose 20 lbs again. Our center was running a $70 special to re-sign and I figured it would be good for me because it will also extend my maintainance for a new year from goal in March. However, I now have the missing piece to the puzzle in my mind. If I creep back past my set point, now I know to just start myself over again. I have all my sheets and I'm disciplilned enough. This is a life long learning process, and I'm feeling much calmer now. And the paper towel theory is in full play!! 20lbs on me before would have been barely noticiable, now I have a serious muffin top and I'm miserable!! It makes a huge difference on our new little frames According to my scale, I've already lost 3 lbs during pre-conditioning and I'm feeling a lot better already. My water intake was way down during my derailment. Hang in there. I'm so glad I'm not going through this alone - we have each other!!

I'm right there with you - of course I'm still trying to get back to maintenance, but last week was a killer. I was fine until we brought my in-laws here for Christmas week, a bad idea as it turns out. Mother-in-law enjoyed it, I think, but my father-in-law just can't relax, is too set in his ways, and was pretty much miserable most of the time. Seemed like a good idea at the time...but turned out to be stressful for everyone. So between stress and bad eating and spending 12 hrs in the car 2 weekends in a row - I blew up like a big ol' (water) balloon. I know it's just water at this point, but if I don't get back on track real quick it's not gonna be water anymore. So tomorrow it's back to the nitty gritty.

Judy & Meemo, you two are life lines for me!!! If I had only followed my instincts and got back to the green menu when I felt things going astray - that's ok, I'm back in control again and now I know what to do next time. Hang in there ladies - I think we are officially the old timers of the group!! But we look great!!

Yep - 6 hrs up to get them, 6 hrs back. (And then the trip to return them to Mecca...errrr, Macon....the next weekend.) Yep, he's 82 and just not liking getting older and feeling like he can't do the things he used to (like drive long distances). Won't take meds to help with aches and pains, so gets crochety because he hurts. Oh well.
Back on the wagon today. Need to get out and walk now that it's warmed up a bit, and really pound the water down to get rid of this excess bloat! We can do this!

I'm struggling around with you all! I have yet to get on the scale, but will tomorrow. I find Christmas sooooo stressful with my family, MIL is here from England for 2 weeks and she is an EXTREMELY picky eater and I often have to cook 3 separate dinners. My stress level is just off the charts. We went away to stay at Callaway Gardens in Georgia right after Christmas and just got back. I tried to be good, but temptation just got the better of me and believe me, I NEEDED that wine at night
MIL goes back on Friday and I will *hopefully* be able to get my old life back--boy, do I miss the routine and regularity of it all. I am going to get on the scale tomorrow morning and assess the damage!
I was supposed to start week 4 of stabilization but didn't so I am thinking about starting week 4 on Monday and just doing green menu until then.
I just wanted to chime in and let you all know that I am having a tough time with it these days as well!
Good news is my husband gave me a bike for Christmas! I haven't ridden in a few years and I'm really looking forward to starting again