Congratulations to Chip, pishposh & Sunny

It's such an accomplishment! I can almost picture all us new Maintainers coming whooshing through from another dimension to land on this thread

Hawaii good luck on your 2 weeks of P1 - you sound so determined - you will do well!

Oh SylviesGirl out of that ditch now & back on the wagon. Not a P1 wagon, though. You had to give that approach a try & nothing lost - just learning gained. What a great epiphany that you don't have to go into ketosis to lose the Up pounds! It can be easier than that.

It's such a balance & we don't have to get it exactly perfectly 'right'. I am learning to live with a weight 'range'. I sooo want to stay at the bottom, but I am trying to relax when I go up a bit & only worry when I stay up that bit for 3 days or so. Then I check that I am really doing Maintenance & not Sort-of Maintenance. For me that means more rigorous meal planning (hate it!)

Cutting back on carbs, fitting in more exercise, getting more sleep - all tools.

I've been thinking a lot about 'balance' in general these days. Exerting-resting. Excitement/stress-relaxation/calm. Focussed-loose. Fast-slow. All OP-all off. You get the picture. We are never on that 'perfect' balance point for long. We are always moving, by choice or circumstance. So maybe it is OK to find ourselves at an extreme end of a particular spectrum, knowing that we can start moving back toward balance & may over-swing, but stay in motion. Weight loss as a metaphor for life!

Liana sending blessings. Lots on your life plate right now.

You're right westwillow on learning to live with a range rather than thinking we have to stay at the lowest every day. I'm working on that one. I'm still up a couple of pound from where I was before surgery but I've still got some swelling going on (which is normal), I'm not getting as much exercise, etc. Been tightening up my eating and doing what I can and figure I should just relax. I'm not very good at that. At least it's only 2 pounds and not up to my "scream" weight. I'm sure things will get back to normal as I go along.

I love your weight loss as a metaphor for life - so true!

Sylviesgirl: Your posts are so relatable. Its such a struggle to try and be balanced because life throws so many different situations at us and we keep working at our weight, whether we are losing or maintaining. Its just never ending. But, patience is key and trying not to panic helps.Thats easier said then done! And making sure we try and stay in a good and healthy range for ourselves. I had a great day one of P1 yesterday. I am really needing to eat this way right now as I was feeling like I need a strict plan to get back on track. I am already feeling better and look forward to phasing off once again but making sure I follow a more strict plan in maintenance.

I agree Westwillow! You are so right! And I feel determined to stay on track.

Ruth Ann; you are still healing, 2lbs isn't something to get too concerned about. Your body may need them to get better. And if you are feeling swelling then that tells you something. Don't panic! (of course I can say that but its a harder thing not to do! I know! hee hee)

Westwillow....I appreciate your insight. Maintaining balance is in itself an ever-adjusting process....yes a great metaphor for life!

RuthAnn....you hang in there and keep healing!!!!!!

I am having a very weird week this week...this is my 5th or 6th week on maintenance. I was maintaining my weight with 127 as my low and 130 as my high (after a fun day). But this week, my day after fun day fell to 128 and I'm down to 125 today. Kind of tickled since I haven't weighed 125 since I got married....BUT I really have no intention to keep losing.

Anyone else experience an "accidental" whoosh in maintenance? Do you think this means my metabolism is starting to rev up, since I've actually been upping my calories for two weeks now? I am going out of town this weekend, so I KNOW I will be eating more loosely and probably will reset back my weight. I get my thyroid tested again in two weeks.....hoping that it's not acting up again. Grrrrrr....but I'm not having any other hyperthyroid symptoms.

Bought myself some high quality dark chocolate today. Can't wait until I get a little piece for dessert tonight. Mmmmmmmm! Off to work!

Hi All, Congrats to pishposh, ChipnDip & Sunny!!!! This thread is wonderfully inspiring and hope to catch up soon.
Wish I could contribute something that works for maintenance, but so far I'm mostly an expert about what doesn't work.

Lesson learned about overdoing P1--no can do. My reactive 4-day binge self-corrected before clothes got snug, but avoiding the scale for now. I'll be eating healthy things and no restriction-type eating. Armed with stash of alternative IP treats for junk food cravings (the ones that you have to mix with water or bake, just to slow me down ).

Hope you are getting to take it easy Ruth Ann, and Liana too. Rest is powerfully restoring during healing and stress.

Here's a positive thought for you evemomma... maybe your thyroid isn't acting up again, maybe it's getting back to normal (especially if you don't have other hyper-symptoms). When you can eat more food than you have previously and still utilize it properly without storing any. Here's to hoping! I lost some weight in maintenance, but that was near the beginning - about a month in - I lost inches in tummy & hips & thighs.

Liana

Had my P4 lesson yesterday. I was told that my daily calories should be over 2000! Hardly seems possible after the last 7 months but it was explained that with the fat I have been burning that my body is used to about 1800 calories, they just weren't all from food.

In terms of eating, breakfast stays the same, lunch is like P2 but add 15gr of healthy fat, dinner I add 1 serving of healthy grain to the way I have eaten the whole time. Per day- Half my weight in grams of protein (80) and then multiply that by 1.3 for carb grams, so just over 100 Net carbs. A couple healthy snacks per day such as fruit, nuts or seeds.

Just made some south beach southwest seasoned pepitas and nuts. Looking forward to my snack! It will be challenging start to P4 being away for three days but looking forward to having a few drinks! Duty free here I come!

Hawaii69 & evemomma & mars - I'm not ready to panic yet. I just figured I'd be back to my normal weight by now. If figure if there is still swelling then I should just ignore the scale (hard for me to do since I've been a daily weigher for awhile now). This is where my "it's just information" mantra comes into play!

And thanks for all the good wishes all - always so good to read.

evemomma - I lost some right after starting maintenance and then while I was figuring out my calories to maintain but never any long lasting wooshes. I mean, I'd go down 2 or 3 pounds one morning and then be back to normal a day or so later or up a pound - just normal flucuations for me. Have you been more active than normal?

And enjoy the dark chocolate! I haunt the candy aisle at the store - they frequently put out the really good stuff on "close out" as it gets close to it's pull date and I stock up then and stick it in the freezer. I love good dark chocolate.

mars - I'm with you. One day of P1 is all I can do and sometimes I have problems doing that. If I ever need to take off more than just a day's indulgence I will do a week or two of P1 but I hate the ketosis flu and I seem to hit it pretty fast. Good incentive to behave myself.

ChipnDip - sounds like you have a good solid plan for maintenance. Hooray for you!

And why did I get up at 3:30 a.m.? I'm going to want a nap before lunch and that just isn't going to happen.

Boy oh boy, can I relate to this. This is exactly where I am today. And I am totally disgusted with myself over it as I just said last week that I was not going to do anything drastic anymore. What do I do? Go and start back down the P1 path again. Darn it! I have spent 2 days "reacting" too -- what a perfect way to put it. I feel so fat and blobby now.

I am climbing back onto the "calm down" wagon, bruised and bloody. I'm just going to sit quiet and try to restore. I'm trying to quiet all the noise in my head about how fat I feel, how much I dread trying to get into my jeans this weekend, etc. Just, ugh. Perfectionistic thinking will be the downfall of all of this for me. It has to stop right. now.

Hawaii -- Thanks so much. I see you really do relate, and that makes me feel soothed. I hope you are still doing well with your P1 and peeling those last lbs off.

Eve -- I would just be careful about making any changes based on that most recent loss. I had something like that and got a little "loose" in light of it, saw an immediate bump up/correction, and have had trouble evening out ever since. I would keep doing what you are doing and see a while longer.

Waving to Liana and Ruth Ann!

I have to get myself together and take the poochie to the vet for his weekly weigh in and blood draw. -sigh-

Hi everyone!

Chipndip: Thanks for the info, I was very interested in reading all the breakdown of maintenance. Just like when I started this plan, a person gets used to what it involves and eats that way. It becomes a habit.

Ruth Ann; You always make me smile with your comments, always so informative and positive. And I like dark chocolate too but learning that I just need a square not a bar a day! hee hee I blame hormones when I wake up so early and can't get back to sleep, hate that too!

Eve: I can't say I feel sorry for you in losing! hee hee But, I do hope you figure out what works, maintenance is about tweaking thats for sure! I'm sure you will do it, you seem very determined and organized. Good for you!

Two days on P1 and I'm down 3lbs! And haven't got the 'flu' like last time yet but am wondering if its coming. I'll be interested to see what the scale says after week one. Its so great to see it going down though! So, I am wanting some advice, after 2 weeks of P1, am trying to decide how to phase off. I was thinking of doing a week of P2 and then a week of P3 but am wondering if I could do less days on those phases. It wouldn't be a bad thing to stick to that plan though. It'd help me lose a couple extra lbs and feel more ready for maintenance again. Have a great day all you maintainers.

Ruth Ann Sending you wishes for serenity......Wow, healing is an extra variable you are dealing with. Maybe the key to this maintenance thing is to just keep paying attention; again, that balance between being careful vs being obsessive, lol. I just know that if I completely relax, the weight will begin to creep up. That's the easier piece, surprise surprise! The harder part is to gently go back to healthy WOE & avoid overcorrection due to panic and guilt.

fwiw, my experience of P1 was different for initial major weight loss vs smaller correction. When I had a lot of weight to lose, I didn't mind ketosis flu much at all, and had no cravings/urges. I feel it was simply easier for my body to burn fat because there was a lot of it around. Also the memory of how crappy I felt at my high weight made getting into ketosis more tolerable. The abbrevated P1s, with just 10 extra lbs is an entirely different thing--I feel the deprivation more acutely even after I'm in ketosis. I was hoping that after that first couple of weeks, my fat-burning enzymes were up-regulated and it would be easier, but I didn't have the mental drive to white-knuckle it anymore.

Each of my 3 10-lb reboots was followed by reactive binge-type eating. For me, the solution is turning out to be to eat enough calories. I've upped healthy fats a little & kept carbs pretty low, 50-70 net (carbs mostly eaten in the evening meal). Note to self, don't panic! Exercise would probably smooth over a lot of the bumps in maintenance, if only I would manage my time well enough to do some! Well this has turned into quite a ramble...

Hey Sylviesgirl; You got this! I really was dreading going back to P1, but honestly, it isn't as bad as I thought. Not to say I won't be happy to go back to my maintenance eating but I just feel more in control and getting rid of the bloat helps. We have to remind ourselves that we aren't perfect but look how far you've come! I really admire you for losing so much and of course you will panic from time to time, you worked hard at losing and don't want to go back. I know you will succeed!

Hang in there SylviesGirl. How's about trying on some clothes---I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that you still fit into smaller clothes even if they're snug; you have not magically regained all your weight. The clothes are what keep me anchored to a healthy wt range even as I'm veering all over in my strategies and eating. You're acquiring trial and error now; we all turn to our former strategies at first...You are in uncharted territory now, even if you have experienced a low weight in the past, it's just not the same--think Lewis & Clark lol. Bruised and bloody is fine....at least you got back on the wagon.

You GO GIRL! I stopped fearing ketosis flu this last go-round by preemptively taking Alleve. Better living through chemistry, lol!

Thanks Mars! Lol! My advil is on standby!! And I agree with you about going back to P1, I certainly don't want to have to do it all the time and would much rather change things up in maintenance and be more patient. I guess I was wanting to feel more in control again but I am determined to have a better plan in maintenance as far as up lbs go!

Pishposh and Sunny!! Welcome to Maintanence!

ChipnDip - Congratulations on P4 and reaching your goal weight.

Liana- Sounds like a lot is still happening with your mom. October has been a ++stressful month for you. I hope your jaw is feeling better. Good for you for keeping on top of your scream weight thru all of this.

Ruth Ann - Your have almost made it to the end of your first week back work! The body takes a while to heal hang in there.

Hawii- Good work getting those Lbs off. Your doing a reboot right? I would do the full week of P2 and P3 figuring it couldn't hurt and gives things time to settle and re set in the body.

Eve- I love that you are able to increase your calories and still doing so well. I was trying that before I went away and will see once i get the "away Lbs off'.

Sylviesgirl - Sounds like you are working hard to change your thoughts. I am glad that you are back on the "calm down" wagon.

Hi to Mars and Slipfree - hope that you are both doing well.

I had an interesting time in Florida. The good news was that the people I was with were all to focused on drinking to worry about eating so thankfully I brought some IP shakes with me or else I would start making bad choices. I had a fun day and a half while I was there. The scale is up 2lbs and I am P1 today. The wedding was lovely but the evening ended in a bit of disaster. Not sure how the bride and grooms story will end.

Happy to be home and chatting again with you ladies.