I usually have something that's P1 compliant, but not always. Sometimes it's sugar-free jello or pudding, or a piece of fruit, or 1 oz of cheese. Depends on what I'm craving.

Week 3 of P4 and had my first indulgence day Saturday:
1. survived!
2. Did really well making good decisions
3. Had fun

I had my first alcoholic drink since January 28, 2015 - I had 2 beers & shared both with friends (Gingerbread imperial stouts - AMAZING!)

I had a couple bite sized cookies

I had a bite of a beer-cheese dip

I also had ran 6.2 miles Saturday morning and danced for 3 hours that night.

Did a P2 day yesterday, just to be safe. It was ok but might have effected my running a little this morning - I was really wiped out when I got done.

Still chuggin’ along - just wanted to stop in and catch up on posts here and say hi - I’m going to Florida for a week or so early tomorrow morning - looking forward to sun and water.
Lots of health stuff going on this month but starting to get over the hump and feel better and get things balanced again.
Going to do a mini reboot in January so likely will post a little more often then…definitely have up lbs so will be glad to get them handled. But feel at ease about it all, and feel good about my food choices for the most part. Not going crazy, and indulging from time to time for the holidays but feel healthy overall.
I hope Holidays go well for everyone and talk to you in a few weeks if not before

Congrats Jenny on Jamaica, and to you Beth for your first indulgence day… Andrea would love to hear how the dating is going, and hello and welcome to Ferret… hugs and hi to Liana and everyone else…..

oh just saw all the Holiday emojis so going to use them all ….
:e lf::snowf ight:cl ause:

Ferret 56- I have a 3pm snack everyday - either shake IP, lean fit shake or simply bar. I usually do about 10 almonds bcon the way home from work to prevent snacking before dinner.

Beth - your fun day sounds good and great work getting back on track

Amber - enjoy Florida and I'm glad you're feeling better. I will join you for the mini reboot in January

Hereistand - I used to be a diet coke drinker every day and now I'm about one a month. I will never part with my coffee tho. Great work getting those up lbs off.

Liana - what are your plans for the holidays?

I can't beilive we are so close to Christmas already. This month has flown

Brief check-in:

I'm still managing to stay within 4 pounds of goal, but not because of stellar diet control. Burning calories through running has saved me from regaining more. I'm ready for the holiday food to go away.

I'm toying with the idea of trying to lose 5-7 pounds in 2016. It would definitely help my running times, I think, but might be hard to maintain.

I've read several things that suggest we need to learn to live with some degree of hunger. I'm not there, mentally, yet. I find it difficult to ignore hunger, and it triggers cravings. What do you all think? Do you power through, and if so, do you have tips for how to not give in?

Hi gals! Catching up.... life is still crazy. Co-worker is off till last week of January due to surgery which means I am working fulltime. My boss scheduled me for 8 days in a row (by mistake of course, lol) so we had to get that straightened out quick. I also had to do emergency fill in for a house fire site (no one hurt but they lost all their goods and the house is a write-off). Oh well, lots of money coming my way due to work on Stat holidays. DH needs to go in for some exploratory surgery at the end of Jan... and he is now sporting a new little hernia - unrelated but it will need to be dealt with fairly soon as he will be toting long ladders again come spring (sorry if that's TMI ). A couple days ago we thought my dad was having a heart attack, so we rushed back from town to meet the ambulance at their place so we could bring mom to the hospital emerg dept and stay with them until things were figured out. Turns out not an attack, but not sure if it's gall bladder, gastric acid reflux, or what, so he has to go to his doc on Monday. Anyhow the emerg docs were very thorough and it took almost 6 hours to be sure after all the x-rays, blood tests, ECG, etc were pored over. Funny thing is, the attending was my MIL's new Doc and when he saw me, he recognized me and said "Good to see you again," which by the look on his face immediately after he said it, wasn't the best choice of words to voice the sentiment. I had to kind of laugh to myself about that.

Weight wise.... still too much cheese and not keeping track of my fruit, rice & toast choices. Not down, but not up either. A much smaller wardrobe at the moment I just tend to be indulgent with myself instead of thinking that all the little things really do count; I have been using deceptive thoughts of it's only this little bit of *blank* so it won't hurt.
Re: hormones... seems I am averaging 3.5 periods a year, lol. It would be nice to be finished with that. I forget all about it until I get all nasty-hangry and teary and then it dawns on me... maybe it's another TOM (or rather TOY -Time of Year, hahaha).

Liana

I don't know if I'd term it living with some degree of hunger as opposed to living without that 'full to the top' feeling. Our society as a whole tends to eat until we feel stuffed - not optimal for our body processes.
'Hara Hachi Bu'
http://okinawa-diet.com/okinawa_diet/hara_hachi_bu.html

"The Okinawan cultural habit of calorie control called hara hachi bu, which means eat only until you are 80% full, plays a role as well as their habit of eating an antioxidant rich plant-based diet. Stopping at 80% capacity is actually a very good strategy to avoid obesity without going hungry because the stomach's stretch receptors take about 20 minutes to tell the body that how full it really is and 20 minutes after stopping you will really feel full."

"In Okinawa, Heart Disease rates are 80% lower, and stroke rates lower than in the US. Cholesterol levels are typically under 180, homocystein levels are low and blood pressure at goal levels. Rates of cancer are 50-80% lower - especially breast, colon, ovarian and prostate cancer. Hip fractures are 20% lower than mainland Japanese and 40% lower than in the US. Dementia is rare."

From another blog: "This idea of eating until you’re 80% full sounds like a good rule of thumb in order to avoid overeating, but how exactly are you supposed to know when you’re 80% full? Well, it takes about 20 minutes for your stomach to register that it is “full” and does not need more food. Some say that you should eat half of what you typically eat, wait 20 minutes, check and see how your stomach feels and then decide if you should continue eating. Unfortunately this “wait 20 minutes and see” approach isn’t always practical. Perhaps a more realistic approach is to eat slowly and consciously to the point where you’re no longer hungry. The subtle difference lies in thinking about eating to a point of no longer feeling hunger versus thinking about eating to a point of fullness."

Thank you, Liana! That's actually a very helpful way to think about managing hunger - or rather, managing not feeling stuffed. In the past week, I have tried to be conscious of waiting 30 minutes after a meal before deciding whether I "need" more food, after a friend who had gastric bypass mentioned that to me.

It is true that a "little bit" of something can pack a load of calories. It all adds up.

Good morning! Hope everyone had a wonderful holidays. December is a tough month with all the parties, food and drink.

I am up 10lbs since before Thanksgiving and will be hitting P1 after the new year, if not before. I have another couple of events (including a NYE party at my house). My IP coach told me to indulge but not to go crazy...apparently I don't listen well. I work for a restaurant company and food was everywhere this year. I almost wished I was on P1 through the holidays as all the goodies really didn't seem to bother me last year.

Trying to get back into a routine at the gym too. Skipped too many workouts for social stuff this month and haven't seen my trainer in weeks. I am feeling the weights I did yesterday. We'll see if I can survive spin this morning.

It is really amazing to me how I set up all these good habits and how easily I can fall off track. My goal this week is to pick up where I left off at the gym, clean up my eating and get back down. Will have to see how I can fit the gym in if I go hardcore P1.

What do others do when the need to reboot? I am very curious.

Very interesting - 80% full...I've been reading about the importance of leaving food on your plate...not quite there yet as I still weigh / measure my portions - but a good rule of thumb in general.

...and HIS - on "a little bit" of something packing calories! In P3 I was using a granola called PaleoKrunch & 1.5 oz contained 210 calories and it was suppose to be used as a cereal replacement!

Back from Florida, just briefly reading through the posts.
No gain or loss the last three weeks, considering that a win overall given holidays and vacay and not really restricting.
Next week start a mini-reboot on P1….
hope all is well here with everyone, hope to check in a little more often in January.

Hello Maintainers!!!!!!!!

I was happy to see a few familiar faces on here from the past 2 years. To those who I don't know, HELLO! I'm Eve. I started IP in April 2014 and lost 35lbs on P1 followed by about ten more pounds on P2-P3.

I feel really good in maintaining my weight loss for a year and half but am finding that I have put on a few pounds with the holidays....my jeans are too tight! Eek! Though, I got down to around 122-125lbs, I think the realistic/maintainable goal for me seems to fall more around 127-131.

So, I am going to join in here for my reboot that starts on Tuesday (when my kids go back to school, lol!). I will not be doing P1, as I have worked really hard to get my hormones back in balance after they got WAY off kilter with P1 (not to mention massive amounts of hair loss). Instead, I intend to lower my calories to 1450 and get this lazy body of mine moving again.

It's so great to be a part of a community who can motivate each other towards health. I am so happy to have celebrated another New Year's with a healthy weight and body that can keep up with my kids.

Happy New Year to you!

Hi gals! Good to hear from you again evemomma!! Wondered how life was going for you....
For any 'rebooters' even if it's for just a few pounds - oneuh2 has set up a 25 to Spring Challenge (like the old ones Lisa used to set up on Google Sheets) if anyone wants to join. I have about 6-8 lbs to lose but find I'm more focused if I have the accountability, so I've joined. Check out the thread & PM her if you like.

Had a lovely x-country ski day with family in to visit from Fernie BC on the 31st but boy could I feel it! My first Nordic day of the season and my triceps and lats aren't used to all the work. Legs & back are fine, but upper body doesn't get the sustained workout on my job like the other muscles do. It was a beautiful route through the trees on wide forestry roads and trails with amazing alpenglow at the end of the day and a bit of a ski at the end in the near dark to get back to the parking lot. Tomorrow taking more relatives to a sightseeing gondola ride at a ski resort with the longest vertical in N America. Yaaaay, Revy! http://revelstokemtnresort.com/
Even DH's 90 yr old Mom is coming along.

Liana

Happy new year!

Great to see you Eve.

Just off to gym but wanted to say hi and will catch up and read later tonight after yoga. More people at work are thinking about IP now. My best friend there lost 135!! So proud and happy for her.

I'm committing to 10lb reboot for the next 6 weeks

Hey girls!

Jenny....135 lost is amazing!!!!!!!! How wonderful that so many more will be inspired by both of your awesome journeys!

Liana....Hope you had a nice rest of your vacation. It sounds beautiful! I have't gone cross-country skiing in years. We just don't get enough snow around here to do it.

Hope everyone is doing well. I am on day 2 of my reboot to get off the 5 lbs I gained around the holidays. It feels so good to be putting my meals back into MFP again. Tomorrow, I have a meet-up with a good friend to walk our local school's track. This friend really needs some encouragement in her own weight/health battles, so it's going to be a great blend of activity and friendship. I am hoping we can meet up to walk at least 2 times a week. I plan to start my good ol' trusty Zumba next week to supplement as well.

Hang in there everyone! Remember, Maintenance is a journey all its own. There is no beginning or end, no win or lose, just an ever-winding path. If you happen to find yourself in the wrong direction, you just turn and start walking the other way!