Bubbleblower...Bali!!!!!!! WOWZA!!!!!!!! Have soooo much fun!

Can anybody direct me to a short thread/post or website with good, specific examples of what to eat on Phase 4? My coach can't really explain it. I need specific menu examples for lunch and dinner. I have tried reading this thread but it's mostly folks visiting about their vacations, et cetera, which is great but I am panicking here. Help?

Check out maintainers P4 what are you eating today for meal ideas.

Ruth Ann - I have set MFP for 30% carb 35% fat and 35% protein but heard you say that we will have to play around with it and Taylor to our own bodies. I guess see what the scale says as I slowly introduce more food in p3.

Eve - how have you found it? What is working for you?

Found maintenance? Well, not there yet. I won't start P4 officially until next Wednesday. I am thoroughly enjoying P3 breakfasts and know that I will continue to make breakfast a priority. I was definitely (even through P1 on IP) a coffee and bare minimum breakfast girl before. What surprises me is that I have had no rebound hunger from the added carbs. That makes me hopeful!!!!!!

I did start playing around with P4 meal ideas last night after having the 'aha' moment with the 3:1 ratio. I wrote out an easy "chicken parmasian" dinner (carb meal) with grilled chicken, classico pasta sauce (no added sugar to this sauce), 1/2 cup (dry) whole wheat pasta, parm and romano grated cheese, and either steamed broccoli or side salad with WF dressing. My ratios also could let me have a little EVOO to cook the chicken.

I wrote out a mexican lunch (fat meal) with lettuce/veggies, chicken, cheese, gaucamole, salsa, olives and sour cream but couldn't seem to get the fat ratio to allow me any grain carb at all (like a whole wheat wrap....9carbs) or even a few chips. The veggie carbs were too high....and of course I don't want to cut out veggies!!!!

I think what is a little confusing is not having a "do not exceed" number for myself on fat g at lunch or carb g at dinner. I'll get there!

Hi evemomma: I was always a minimum breakfast girl too - bowl of cereal and almond milk was as good as it got.
Is your 'do not exceed' number just MFP telling you, due to the % of fats/proteins/carbs you chose? Or is it because of actual weight gain? I pretty well ignore my MFP ratios EXCEPT my carb one as that is what we are really watching. A bit of extra fat or protein will not make us fat - just the wrong combo at a single meal...

Your meal choices look great! If you want Mexican with chips or a wrap... sub in the lowest fat cheese you can find, use 0% greek yogourt, a mix of beans & meat, no guac, and a few ripe black olives (chopped or sliced so it looks like more) instead of green (which are higher in fat.) I like having the 'fat' Mexican salad without wraps or chips - just revel in the creamy smooth flavour of the cheese, avocado, and sour crème or 11% yogourt. If you like the flavour combo as a carb meal make a jambalaya (just use a lot more veggies and lower the amount of rice.
You can also do the chicken parmesan as a fat meal... use lots of good whole fat cheese, and shiritaki tofu noodles instead of the whole wheat pasta and use a Caesar or blue cheese type dressing on your salad greens (baby arugula is particularly good for this as its 'bitter' qualities help balance the richness of the dressing). You can also add high fat nuts to this - walnut works best for flavours, but macadamia will work also. Try not to use cashews, almonds, or hazelnuts - they aren't fat enough for this purpose.

Hi eandc2006: Eating good 80% of the time and not being able to exercise is what got me fat, lol. The 3:1 WORKS! If the salt seems to affect you quickly, try some raw almonds - I only use raw nuts and they don't have all the salt and flavouring add-ins that can cause problems. Also they are not roasted in who knows what kind of oil. Cheese can actually be pretty high in sodium too, but there isn't much to be done about that, except trying out the different brands or varieties and seeing which ones taste less salty.
Wonderful exercise plan, I know you will rock it!

Jenny: That is the greatest idea about your resizing of rings and commemoration of your weight loss inside them!

Liana

Liana, I got the ring idea from someone here on 3fc months ago and it struck me as a great idea.

Eve, great recipes. I have to say I am totally overwhelmed with the 3:1 ratios and planning all these meals. I was really thinking that I would live on P3 and not have carbs at night except for a treat meal once a week. If I wanted carb at lunch I wouldn't have in the morning. I will read more of the maintainers eating thread.

Liana - can I eat the simply bar as a snack instead of IP bar?

Jenny38: I found Simply bars on sale one time at my local grocery store and bought them all because they are GF, soy & whey free, and fit the IP guidelines, but they were just selling out their stock, and I've never been able to find them anywhere since. I think they weren't as popular because, let's face it, they can't ever be as 'yummy' as those other alt bars because of the ingredients they don't have. They do fit guidelines though, and they may be less inclined to cause sweet cravings for those with that issue about sweet IP items. I may have to break down and order a bunch from their website... All I got to try were the lemon ones which I happened to like OK, although they weren't very exciting.

Treat your morning meal in maintenance as an 'eat a bit of everything' meal. We need that jumpstart to the day - and a bit of carbs are OK for that. Technically you could have pizza everyday, as long as you eat it for breakfast only - you would still be following Phase 4 maintenance plan properly. It's the other two meals that really make the difference. The carb/fat split is totally NECESSARY! (except on 'funday' of course).
As you can tell, I like savoury for breakfast and evemomma likes the sweet stuff, but we are all on plan, that's the beauty of it. Ruth Ann is more of a moderate - eating her breakfast cereal and yogourt but also having eggs or meat.

Liana

Pizza is my favourite breakfast! ...almost there...

Thanks for all your advice Liana about maintenance!!!!!

"Eve likes the sweet stuff..."....OH NO! You found me out!

Shoot, I have SUCH a sweet tooth! Luckily, God gave us things like Iced Tea (with a little splenda), Quest Bars and P3 breakfasts to help me stay on track forever more!!!!!!!!

evemomma: you're quite welcome and I hear you on the sudden realization of how it works. It's like "aha! That's what it means!"

I love your cards for meal planning - I do basically the same thing on MFP, I add or subtract ingredients just to see which works best when I'm meal planning.

JHep - how'd your first day back to work go? Be sure to take it easy - that surgery hurts!

And you'll get there on the cooking - there are so many great recipes available that are so easy to put together. Dh had to slightly change his cooking style for me - he had a heavy James Beard influence so lots of butters and creamy sauces. But he's a champ and has managed to adapt.

Jenny38 - That's so sweet that your kids are helping you and such a good model for them to follow! I love the ring idea.

eandc2006 - You know, I think asking those hard questions for yourself now bodes well for you being able to maintain in the future. I had the same discussion with myself when I phased off - I knew when I hit 150 (my original goal) that I wasn't done but had no clue where I would be able to maintain. I have been maintaining at 132 for a couple of months now and although it's on the high side of healthy for my height based on the BMI charts, I feel good with it. You might try 130 following the maintenance guidelines for awhile and see how you do this time. If you feel like you need a bigger cushion you can always lose a few more pounds.

Liana - You are so right about tailoring P4 to fit what we like/need. Once you get the hang of it, it is a lot like P1 - very simple, just not always easy.

ChipnDip = Almost there! You've done so great!

Looking forward to the weekend - why does it always seem that 4 day work weeks have 4 Mondays in them?

JHep: It took me a good 4-6 weeks before I felt completely back to normal after double hernia surgery in May (umbilical and groin in my case). Don't push it too much!

Jenny: I leave on the 17th. Time to start making my packing lists!

I scheduled a few dives for next week, so no packing up the dive and photo gear yet!

Oh boy.....very interesting to hear the recovery from hernia repair can be rough. My 4 year-old has an umbilical hernia (very small, but therein is the problem...tissue can can caught and strangled) that needs repaired. We put off having surgery over the summer because of the activity restrictions, but need to get it in before the end of the year (insurance deductible).

She's such a little ball of energy always doing dance, climbing trees and launching herself off furniture like they are gymnastic equipment. It's going to be TOUGH to keep her down for long. They may have to medicate ME to do it!

Hmm pizza for breakfast that sounds fun.
Liana- we have lots of simply bars here in Burlington, my mom used to buy a whole box from the store. I think they are around 2.50 but can double check price. Let me know if you want me to ship some out to you. I think they have all the flavours.

- Ruth Ann, too true about short weeks feeling like 4 Mondays. I'm exhausted.

I will for sure split the fat/carbs each meal and yes I will take your advice and do a bit of most things at breakfast. Not sure about carbs everyday, they are such a trigger food for me. I have one piece of bread and 1 tbs of PB when I run over 10km. That has worked well and don't crave more that day. It is all a learning and correcting process I guess

Happy friday

I actually didn't even know I had the umbilical hernia until it showed up on a CT scan. After the surgery, the surgeon said I was lucky to have known about it an to have had it fixed. The recovery from that repair was actually more painful than the one in my groin area, although the one in the groin was more pronounced and was repaired with mesh vs. just stitches. Getting in and out of bed was one of the toughest things! All of that said, children seem to recovery and heal much more easily and quickly in general. I'm sure she'll be back to normal in no time!

bubbleblower - can you find space in your suitcase for me please?

On hernia surgery - I think I had a rougher time recovering because when the surgeon sewed in the gortex (it was a 5 inch hernia, just stitches wouldn't do it) she hit a nerve with one of the stitches. Ouch! Ended up having to go back in and remove the stitch. Not my funnest experience.