Had my first yogurt in five months today-it was DELICIOUS!!! That's probably one of the things I've missed the most!

I haven't been very regular with my exercise through this journey. Now, I'm at the weight I want to be at, but still have a LOT of toning to do! So, I am going to really try to get in some exercise this week-we'll see how it goes! Once I get a routine, it won't be a problem. I used to walk 4-6 miles EVERY morning and that lasted for three years, until I moved out to the country, away from my walking partner!

Isn't great to be able to have a yogurt and other things? I love it..
I can't eat regular yogurt,but eat soy yogurt.. Every day when I get home from work, I make myself an iced coffee, add some apple yogurt , some pumpkin pie spice ,ice and make a great coffee shake. Just wonderful.
Patzi

Walden Farms dips... are they great and worth it, or kinda gross?

I've tried their dressings before, and I HATED them. They had such a weird flavor.

But I was walking past the Walden Farms section in the store today and saw the caramel dip, chocolate dip, and marshmallow fluff... and remembered that one or two people on 3FC said they liked them.

So, give it to me straight--are they pretty good? Or kinda gross? At almost $4 a jar, I really don't want to waste my money, but I really miss having caramel to dip my honeycrisp apples into!

TIA!

I like the chocolate sauce and the caramel dip. Now, they are not like the "real" stuff, but they are pretty good if that's all you can have! I didn't really care for the marshmallow one-I'm a BIG marshmallow cream person and I guess I just had my expectations too high! I eat the caramel dip with apples and the chocolate sauce is good with oranges-would probably be good with a banana, too!

I think the caramel one is the best and is good with apples. The chocolate and marshmallow ones aren't as good, but I used to take a spoon of each and mix them all together. That was pretty good!

yum! the caramel sounds great! espec. w/ apples. i tried the blue cheese dressing....gag....maybe i'll put it on chicken and try to bake it or something but alone, bleah. like i'd rather just put vinegar and oil on my salad :-)

hi, Patzi, just curious...what's your height and current maintenance weight? congrats again for making it to maintenance and sharing all the wonderful suggestions and advice :-)

I am 5'4, and my goal weight is 125, but I went down to 120 as a buffer.

Patzi

This is my first peak at this thread and can't wait to be a maintainer. Which according to the center would be in 26lbs but I think I want to lose about 50 more. Did you guys go by what the center said you should be your stopping weight or did you set your own goal and keep going?

Losing 50 more lbs would make me 5'9" and between 180-185. I just don't know what I'm going to look like. And if I get that close to 200 (center goal 205), I know I want to be out of the 200's and in ONEderland :D

I am on maintenance and have gained about 5 pounds from my goal weight. I have gained a few inches back -- have others had the same experience? I asked about it at the center and they don't know why I would have gained inches back. Any comments?

Candi...
I am 5'4 and my goal weight by the center was 128. I told them that is not good, I wanted 125, and then I went to 120 as a buffer and glad I did.. If I gain 2 pounds, I get it right off, but do have a buffer, and believe me that really helps. Only time I gain is if I eat out more than once a week, and it is not from bad eating it is from salt content and we never know how the foods are prepared, regardless of what you ask for.. Good idea , though , in my opinion to have a buffer

Mama 4901..

Do you know why you have gained the weight back? I have not gained it back nor have I gained any inches back.. If I gain two pounds, I go right back to the green menu(which is my last menu on Meta Slim) for that week or until I lose the weight and I eat more fish and eggbeaters, or egg whites. I
have allergies if I eat the whole eggs, but am ok with eggbeaters. Center told me that is the quickest way to get it back off.. Welcome to the board.

Patzi

Thanks Patzi - I will try doing that. I think I should have been under my goal when I started maintenance instead of 3 pounds from it -- I will try going back on the green menu and see if I can get to my actual goal. Maybe that would help. I know for sure my body does not like carbs -- I really need to stay away from them.

Candi,
My center had my goal set at 190, but they also said that I could revisit that goal as I got closer (my "ideal" range, as they calculated it for me, was about 170-180). I think they set my goal at 190 for the simple reason that it seemed so much more attainable and do-able to me when I first signed up than if they had told me that my goal was 170. That, I think, was another of those little mind-sets that helped me stick with the program.

When I hit 197, I wanted to start stabilization because we were planning on 1)leaving town for 10 days for our belated honeymoon, and 2)starting to try to get pregnant. I couldn't be dieting while trying to get pregnant, so I started maintenance. I ended up losing 7 lbs during stabilization, and I started maintenance at 190. I will say, when I started stabilization, they asked me if I didn't want to stay on the plan and re-set my goal to 175 or so...but again, I wanted to try to get pregnant, so that wasn't what I wanted at the time.

They gave me the option of doing a 1500-calorie maintenance plan to maintain (my body calc actually came out at 1600 to maintain), or a 1300-calorie plan to continue to slowly lose. I said I wanted the 1500 plan... but I've honestly had a hard time eating that much purely because I"m paranoid about gaining. So, I've pretty much been sticking with about 1300 calories a day. Since I started maintenance (in July sometime), I have lost an additional 10lbs--without consciously trying to do it most of the time. Some weeks I stay the same, some weeks I gained 1/2 lb, some weeks I lost 1-2lbs. I'm learning what affects my body and causes me to gain, as well as what helps me lose the fastest in the least disruptive way (extra exercise, unfortunately, lol).

At this point, I'm happy either maintaining at 180 or losing 2-5 more pounds--it really doesn't matter to me either way (and I never thought I would say that!). I feel great, I'm physically fit, and I can still indulge and have treats occasionally. I feel NORMAL for once. :D I'll probably plan on upping my daily calories to 1500 pretty soon, as I'm planning on adding another yoga class to my repertoire (my next goal is to eventually become a yoga instructor), and that will burn calories. Or, I might wait until after the holidays, so I can leave myself some "wiggle room" during that time.

I'm sorry this got so long, but I hope it helped answer your questions! You are looking fabulous, by the way!

Thanks Patzi & TeacherLady!

I'm definitely going to have a buffer. It's great to have you guys to reach out to! Such inspirations!

Urgh. I weighed in on Friday and was up 5 lbs (in two weeks--I go bi-monthly now) according to their scale. :(

I'm sure part of it was because I was wearing heavier clothes (denim trousers and a sweater vs. yoga pants and a t-shirt, which is my usual weigh-in outfit) and a different time of day (Friday afternoon instead of my usual Saturday morning). So, I think I've actually only gained about 3lbs.

But I also know part of it was that I've been snacking a lot in the evenings and eating out more in the last week or so. I'm really struggling right now with being in more social settings (I avoided most social engagements while dieting for this very reason), as well as with people who are "feeders" and just really generous with food. They bring it over, and I just can't stop myself.

My husband has one friend who is a major "feeder" -- I think I'm just going to tell him that he can't bring food over any more, or if he does it has to be just enough for him and my husband. And he absolutely cannot leave leftovers at our house.

As far as the socializing thing... I'm at a loss. Went to a party Friday evening with appetizers, desserts and drinks. I brought a fairly healthy dip and crackers, but overate on what everyone else brought. Then Saturday night we went bowling with friends (I used to be on a league until I broke my wrist a couple years ago, so I LOVE bowling), and I didn't intend to drink, but they got pitchers... and I decided to have one. I forgot how much I liked beer & bowling (it's the only time I drink beer--usually it's gross to me) and I ended up having 5 beers (500+ calories and then a major headache the next morning!).

I'm planning on being as careful as I can and avoid unplanned food issues this week... avoiding eating out so I can keep it under my control, too. I'm also going to try to step up my workouts--adding back a yoga class (I've only been going to 1/week since July), and possibly jogging outside one day a week. I'm pretty motivated on the jogging right now--there's a "Turkey Trot" 5K here on Thanksgiving, and I'm really going to try to run it (however slowly that may be, lol).

How have you all been handling social situations that are centered around food/drink? The drinking isn't much of an issue for me (except when bowling, lol), because I'm really not much of a drinker. But the food... :^: