Oh man, you wouldn't want to pass up the opportunity to share that experience with your children. You are doing so well and have lost so much, enjoy life whether you will indulge in some chocolate or not ( I would probably swan dive into a river of chocolate and overdose on it).

Normal, thank you.

Hi Linden..Thank you. Maile is my middle name. My dad was sweet and got me maile leis for my birthdays when I grew up. My family is part Hawaiian and we were born and raised there. I was reading your other thread and discovered that you have a new grandchild. That is wonderful. One of my favorite names is Kanoe..which means heavenly mist..my daughter's middle name. Remember your house is waiting for you.

As to being hungry after the Phase 3 breakfast..I did not go through that shaky hungry all day feeling. Things felt the same as Phase 2.. are you getting a reaction to the carbs? Do you feel better now?

That is good that there is no effect on one day..plus you can go to Phase 1 if there is. Yes..Oregon has wonderful wineries also..We just need to stay away from them! It is getting cold in the Northwest.

I agree with Determined. That factory is worth seeing!

I posted for the challenge. My main obstacle was not accounting for days of eating when traveling.
One possible new rule for me in maintenance might be, not only not 2 cheat days in a row..but make your fun day a PLANNED day. Last night I almost indulged in a desert at a friend's house. I told myself that I could just have a cheat day early...which was an excuse to indulge in a craving..I did not do it.

This is great advice.

I'm struggling now with Thanksgiving this week. I'm going to make that my free day, and my friend is bringing a nice dessert to celebrate my birthday early. I will eat cake on Thursday, and following maintenance on Saturday (my birthday). We leave on a cruise on Sunday... That way, I can have another free day in the middle of the cruise, then back on maintenance the rest of the time.

Somuch thinking and planning... They had better have fat-free frozen yogurt on the cruise so that I can have something sweet with my low-fat meals.

Yikes-the cold weather here was a killer this weekend as far a difficulty staying on plan. I ate extra cheese and nuts but did fairly well. The hot tea just didn't cut it. Hopefully I find a way to deal with that prehibernation instinct or it will be a long winter!

The cold weather here is a killer too (although not near as cold as most of you are probably getting!). I have succumbed to a chest cold and find that I cannot get outside to exercise. Huffing that cold air into my lungs was making it worse.

My normal plan after my "free" day has been an hour run the next morning and phase 1 all day. This week I find I'm having to do 2 phase 1 days because I can't exercise. It could be a long winter! I'd better moderate on Thanksgiving or I'll end up on phase 1 for a week!

Hope everybody is doing well! I had my 4th cheat day - 4th Sat at the movies. There's something magical about a plan that allows you to eat a large double butter popcorn and not gain weight . I also had my first subway sandwich in 3 months. I did learn a lesson though, last week I was up 3 pounds and it took 2 days to come off, but this time I drank TONS of water and didn't gain.

I have been mainly calorie counting and that seems to be working for me, it actually surprises me how much food you can eat when you're eating lots of veggies and still stay within a reasonable calorie range. I track using Myfitnesspal on my iPhone and have it set up that I get reminders from the app if I haven't entered anything in 4 or so hours.

The one challenge is that I am FREEZING! I can't seem to get warm, I travel a lot and I am an absolute icicle on the planes, to the point that I wore long underwear this am because I have 4 flights in one day .

Have a fabulous day fellow maintainers!

I found an article in the newspaper today very interesting. The information is taken from the Journal of the American Diabetic Association. It is about a study at Marywood University in Penn.

They followed 250 people for a year. They were in three groups; one group were people who were overweight to obese; another group were people of normal weight, and the third group were normal weight people who had lost at least 30 pound and kept it off for more than 5 years.

The tracked the eating patterns and the physical activity of each group.The groups of normal weight people and the maintainers averaged three meals and two snacks a day. The overweight group averaged three meals and one snack a day.

The overweight group went a longer time without eating which the researchers say leads to greater hunger and eating larger meals. The maintainers ate the fewest calories, about 1800 a day. The normal weight people ate 1900 calories and the overweight 2000+.

The maintainers were the most physically active burning off about 3000 calories a week through physical activity, the normal weight people burned off 2000 calories a week and the overweight people 800 calories a week.

So the key to successfully keeping the weight off seems to eat smaller amounts more frequently and to be physically active.

Pat

Determined & BCgirl- I hear you about being s-s-s-s-sooooo cold! My hubby has been really good about buying me fleece lined shirts for some reason. I guess when he sees them he thinks of me But I sure do appreciate the extra warmth right now.
Pauley- Is an exercise dvd a possibility? Or a class? Can't imagine giving up exercise for the whole winter. Winter lasts about 7-8 months here
And I find my mood is so improved by exercise, I go from grouchy to happy in the space of 30 minutes...
Maile- the babies in the picture aren't mine- they're my sister's... my youngest little guy is 1 at this point. He sleeps thru the night but gets up bright and early. I know to go to bed early so that I can be up early... but sometimes have a hard time making myself do it because I cherish the alone time in the evenings...
I had my free day on Saturday this past weekend. It was planned that would be the day because we were going to a Santa Claus breakfast and a community event in the evening. For the first time since before I began IP I hit up the Saturday step class. And did that ever make a difference in how I treated my free day. Because I was weighing everything I wanted to eat against how much effort I'd put into that class- it really reigned me in. I will be making a more concentrated effort in the future to have my free day coincide with strenuous physical activity...

I'm thinking about buying a treadmill so I can exercise at home. I hesitate to join a gym as it takes too much time away from the wee one. Plus I'll be fine outside in the cold once I'm over this virus. Exercise improves my mood tremendously too! It's hard to go a few days without.

4 flights in one day?! You must be a pilot BC. I am always cold on flights too and dress warm.

I added my before/after pic to my signature for a while. I look at this and can't believe it was just a few short months ago that I was so big. It makes me not want to eat!

Wow great comparison pics. Funny how we all seem to look happier in photos where we are thin! You have that cute Drew Barrymore thing going on!

Pxl got me thinking this morning and I thought I'd come here and ask you ladies to post an example of your grocery list. I'd love to see both phase 3 and phase 4 shopping lists if possible. I'm such a nervous nelly and need all the info I can get....even if it means someone makes my list for me. IF this is too much to ask, I understand, just thought I'd throw it out there. Thanks!