Allison,
Did you check out Chris Powells website? You can get a list of foods there but they're in the book too. I use his recipes in the back of the book mostly and meal prep for ease. I can give you a more detailed list of what I eat if you want.

Ive been all over his site and have't found a list. I swear I've clicked on every link, too. I see the different types of carb cycling and the descriptions but that's it. Maybe I need to sign up on the website as it does say they'll send a food guide. I'll try that.

Ok, did it and got the list. But I'm still a little confused. If it is a low carb day should I limit the smart carbs, too? Maybe I need to read more of the book.

Allison, read the book. It boils down to a few common sense things:
-low carb days are allowed higher fat (things like a tablespoon of peanut butter, avocado, olives/olive oil)
-"high" carb days are really just "normal" carb days; each meal gets only 1 carb serving (1/2 english muffin, 1 c. whole-wheat pasta, small sweet potato) + protein + veggies. The only carbs allowed are "smart" carbs.
- high carb days are low fat (hence, you can only have peanut butter on toast, or guac. and chips on your treat day).
- nothing with added sugar except on treat day.
- no junky carbs except on treat day. Junky carbs are ANYTHING made with white flour, white rice, non-whole-wheat pasta, etc.

Thanks Andrea. I do have the book but only skimmed it. I'll read it as soon as I have a chance.

This week is going to be interesting to say the least.

Well, my weight has continued going down slowly, and after a long talk with my mom and a friend I've decided to let it.

I'm not hungry at all, and I'm eating lots of protein, fiber, and fruits and veggies. I haven't cut anything out of my diet, not carbs or grains or dairy or anything. I'm getting 5+ fruits and veggies every day etc etc.

So my diet is very good and my workouts are going great, I'm progressing in my lifts still, and I'm still about 10 lbs away from the line where I would be classified as underweight.

So rather than worrying and trying to force more calories into my diet to get myself up to maintenance I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing and let the pounds fall where they may.

Underanalysis, do keep an eye on it and consider consulting a doctor if your weight continues to drop. A friend of my MIL had her weight keep dropping after intentional weight loss was over and it turned out she had an overactive thyroid. I'm not saying that you do, but there are medical conditions that can cause unexplained weight loss so if you don't stabilize somewhere reasonable it might be worth talking to someone!

Yes. Very much yes. My "peak appetite" phase of PMS corresponds with a level of hunger that is greater than the hunger I have after running 15+ miles. So I generally roll with it to some degree, knowing that it will balance with the lower-appetite weeks. This approach requires me to eat healthfully overall and to obey my decreased appetite in the "trough weeks" to keep a balance of calorie intake that is not a net increase. Work stress, long hours with no healthy food at hand, etc. can throw a big wrench in this balance if I let them. And lately I have let them!

UA, are you eating enough healthy fats? Do you eat plenty of thing like nuts, peanut butter, goat cheese, EVOO, fatty fish (e.g. salmon), lamb (grass fed), etc?

I am post-menopausal, but I still have swings in hunger as well as weight. I usually don't have much problem waiting until dinner time, but sometimes I'm not even hungry then, and other times I am very hungry and eat a full meal even if I had been planning on a light day.

I was weighing in at 138.0 this morning, but tomorrow the food onslaught starts!

Underanalysis, I just went and looked at your food diaries for the last 2 weeks. At the risk of hurting your feelings, you are starving yourself. Do the math- you are averaging less than 1100 cal/day (unless you're forgetting to log some meals; you have numerous days with 600-800 cals). It doesn't matter that your macros are in rough proportion; you are eating far fewer calories than you need to be healthy. I guarantee that you are losing muscle as well as fat, and are likely to end up with metabolic slowing as your body tries desperately to conserve its resources. I suggest you force yourself to eat 1600-1800 cal/day for a few weeks to stabilize your metabolism, and then reassess where your body "wants" to go, weight-wise.

Thanks for the concern, neurodoc, but my food diary isn't wholly accurate. I don't track every morsel that goes into my mouth, I just know that I also drink about 100-150 calories of coffee drinks every morning, snack on a few things my coworkers bring out at work, and then I usually have a snack or drink shortly before bed that I don't bother tracking. If my food diary says I'm at 1100 it's because I'm at 1100 + 2 coffees with cream and sugar, a couple handfuls of Chex Mix, and a 12 oz. glass of hot chocolate made with whole milk with tiny marshmallows on top lol But I understand and appreciate the concern for sure.

yoyoma, yes, I eat peanut butter and sometimes snack on nuts, and I eat salmon usually 4-5x a month. Right now I can't have nuts or seeds because I had some dental work done but I've gotten my hands on some nice soft avocados instead.

And thanks, paperclippy! For sure if it gets crazy I'll see a GP about it. My mom had thyroid issues when I was a kid and I remember it really messed her up so hopefully I know the warning signs. Might do some extra research on it just in case.

UA, I suggested healthy fats because it's an easy way to eat more calories without filling up too fast (even though they are satiating). A Tb of EVOO on a salad adds over 100 calories and lots of dieters are used to cutting fats out of their diets, and there's no reason to stop at 1 Tb if you're losing weight you don't want to lose. I find that if I don't limit my healthy fats, I gravitate towards eating more (larger servings) of them and they drive my weight up. You might try being more generous with your healthy fat servings. I'm glad you found some ripe avocados but if you want to increase calories you could eat other sources the same day. Kerry Gold cheese, grass-fed beef, and other nut butters are a few others. Make sure your salmon is wild-caught, btw (I've noticed more and more is farm-raised). It's unfortunate that so many of the sources of healthy fats are pretty expensive.

Last night was another not-so-light light day. Clocking in at 138.2 on the scale. Today, I don't have any plan other than to taste the foods I want to taste today at brunch and eat a relatively normal meal for dinner and stick with my Wed fast, which has been pretty successful. I may not be making any progress downwards, but on the bright side I'm maintaining pretty well. It's just that part of the idea of my WOE is to not have to restrict during special events and there are lots of special events this week so I guess I will have to work to recover ground on the flip side.

My willpower is pretty much evaporating into nothingness. Also, they added new items to our vending machine at work and I already ate all the food I brought from home. And I skipped my workout because I was too lazy to change my clothes.

The winter slump begins...

My usual winter slump isn't happening. Maybe it's stress? Sunday morning, after we had to bag golfing due to high winds, I came home and made a huge batch of 16 bean and ham soup. I sent some home with my in-laws Sunday night, froze a sizeable portion and we had some for dinner last night. Sure it was good. Sure I could have had seconds (or even thirds) but I decided that my 1.5 cup serving was ample and I stopped. My weight was way down this morning due to that! We'll have it for lunch tomorrow as well (usually we have salad).

Jessica, hang in there . I didn't lose my pregnancy weight and I gained most of my weight post-post-partum. There's so much to do for others that it's hard to focus on oneself. You're doing very well to maintain.

Allison, I'm glad your winter blahs haven't kicked in, but I hope that stress isn't the antidote. I think I'd rather have the blahs. I love legumes and I usually have trouble keeping my serving size sane when I have red lentils or home-made pea soup. Good job!

Yesterday went surprisingly well food-wise. There was "brunch" food all day at work. I really wasn't hungry at the official morning kick-off but I had a very small plate of tastes with a cup of coffee. In the late afternoon, I dropped by again and had some shrimp with cocktail sauce and a very small scone with some decaf. Again, I wasn't really hungry, but I wanted to try the scone and I love shrimp. That night I wasn't very hungry for dinner, so I just had some yogurt and called it a day.

This morning I'm registering 137.8 on the scale; so far so good. The other challenges ahead are likely to be tougher. I have been grooving my Wednesday fasts which have been enabled by DD's schedule (and my need to chauffeur her), but she realized at the last minute that this week is off, so my usual groove will be derailed. I will try to figure out some other way to occupy myself for the fast day, but the snowstorm heading my way and the T-Day traffic might thwart me.

Jessica,
If you can maintain over the holidays you will be doing better than I ever did after my babies. (Not twins but 3 years apart). I never got down to my pre-pregnancy weight until they were 23 and 20. I didn't even think it was possible. As yoyoma said it is so hard to focus on anything but your family when they are young. And when I say young, I mean until they are in college! I put my kids first, and my husband agreed with this philosophy. I'm not saying it was right, because in retrospect I did too much for them. But they both turned out great by some miracle.