Hawaii69: Have a good visit with your family. It really does make the trip easier when your sister and her husband are in to healthy eating and taking walks. I agree with you on sugar..Too much sugar simply does not work with me.

It was 100 degrees here yesterday. I have to exercise early!!!!

I got my schedule for work this month so it should be easier to plan out my meals and when in the day they will happen. We shall see... I'm still a bit worried about figuring all that out and how it will affect my weight, since I know swing shifts can cause stress on your body and more cortisol, hence easier gain

Liana

Maile - good luck at the gym! Exercising in that heat would be awful. I skipped most of my regular exercise while moving, did do my morning treadmill and stretches but those are needed to warm me up for the day. Our old office was up a flight of stairs with no elevator - i got tons of exercise running up and down those stairs, usually with heavy stuff in my hands.

Hawaii69 = glad you're having a nice visit with your family. So much easier when there's stuff there you can eat and not have to make do.

canadjineh - sounds like a a hard work schedule but you can figure it out! You're always so resourceful.

I am taking the 3 day weekend to do nothing. Well, I do need to get my nails done (they are a mess) and some minor clothes/shoe shopping, etc., etc. I am just tired and am planning on spending some time enjoying the weather and reading my new book. I am really pleased that my weight stayed stable through all this - up a couple of pounds a few days but went right back down the next day so I figure I was doing something right.

Hope everyone in the states enjoys the 4th!

Well, the weight is back down where it should be, but still no period. It's overdue by a week, and just what I need is to have it show up at 45 days instead of the usual 30. perimenopause What a waste of 'just in case' minipads, lol.
Too bad there isn't some sort of switch we can flip to turn it all off instantly instead of this 'maybe this month, maybe not' crap. And from what I hear this can go on for years...

**Change of thought**
This morning I am picking cherries for mum & dad off their tree, but we are taking a picture first (because it is an amazing harvest this year) which we'll send off electronically to his brother & SIL to boast .
They inherited the tree when they moved to this place but it's not our fave cherries - they aren't sour but they are more like pie cherries than Bings or the other big dark extremely sweet ones. Still great fresh though.

Liana

Still have 90lbs to go till I get to be at maintenance, however, I wanted to start branching out, building relationships so that I'm set up for success. Been OP since October 2013, down 146lbs on plan (391lbs total). Looking forward to having a healthy life in the future!

WOW!!! Just, WOW!!! You are inspirational and show the world that anyone can do it, no matter how much they need to lose! I am in awe of your accomplishment! Welcome to lurking & posting on the maintenance threads .
Time to update your little chickie avatar...
Liana

Kawaii1002: That is a phenomenal loss. You are doing great. Post here anytime. You are wise to get support as you lose and head into maintenance. You are very inspirational.

Canadjineh: Have fun picking those cherries. I am loving the fresh raspberries and blueberries. By swing shift do you mean that you will be working nights in this next month? Planning ahead is a good idea.
I am sympathetic to your perimenopausal woes. Menopause was no fun!

Ruthann: You deserve a relaxing weekend after that move!

My son and I cooked up a storm yesterday. We tried new Indian dishes and had a great time. However, I am now working off two up pounds..but am still in my range.

I tried a yoga class two days ago and liked it. It was not easy!

Maile: I will be working part-time (a couple of days a week) and they are overnighters at a resort condo development on patrol. Good news is - exercise is built in - bad news is - I would like to keep a fairly normal lifestyle where I get to actually see my hubby once in a while and interact with dayshift type friends. Gotta work out the sleep schedule and I think I will be using melatonin a bit more than I had previously, to reset sleep patterns more quickly.

Goal for the next few days is to get more evening carbs from veggies and less from tortilla chips... My weight is still OK though.

Liana

Hi All!

All is well with me. I've been swimming again and it feels great! Last week I was in Houston. Spent some time with my daughter and the twins, who had their 3rd birthday! It's always a little difficult to make sure I get enough vegetables when I'm there, but it was fine this time. Also, I ate at the Mideastern restaurant three times (yum!) and the Mexican one twice. At the Mexican restaurant I order lunch fajitas (beef and chicken) with double grilled veggies instead of rice and beans. Also a plate of lettuce! Extra yum!

Last night was the first Louisiana holiday I've had since I'm back on maintenance. Wine, quiche, etc. Tonight I opted out of going to an Italian restaurant with friends. Just wanted to cook my own food at home. I'm so glad I did.

Maile, are you back from Hawaii? Oh, I love Indian food!

Hang in there canadajineh! WOw!Fresh cherries sound great!

Kawaii: You are doing great!! 146 pounds and going strong! Keep it up!

Sylvies: Yes, it's interesting how the body says "stop losing" at a certain point! I Could have just stayed on P1 and lost more, but something told me it was time to stop.

Hi to everyone! Ruthann, Liz, Ishbel, Evepet!

Funnily enough that was my dinner tonight - it was the higher carb lower fat meal so I had 4 corn tortillas and had baby arugula piled on top of the veggies. I did so well today, I am proud of myself, and it didn't seem hard today at all.

Liana

Lianna: Isn't it nice to have a day when it is easy and you really enjoy what you are eating? We make fajitas from leftovers quite often. I am also a fan of arugula.
It must be hard not seeing your husband and friends on those overnight shifts. At least you are getting lots of exercise. I hope the melatonin helps with the altered sleep.

Joysh: I had never thought of ordering double fajita vegetables in a Mexican restaurant. I do it in other places. Good idea also the lettuce plate. Mediterranean is also one of my favorite types of food. Not to say that i always love Indian as well. There are times when it so nice to eat home cooked foods as you really can control what you eat and you can also eat something that you really like.

We are eating Mexican again tonight..fish tacos, mexi cauliflower rice baked in peppers and pico de gallo..

I discovered a good Cauliflower Pizza crust. Go to www.theluckypennyblog.com Even my skeptic husband and son thought it was good.

I tried you tube Leslie Sansome Walk off the Pounds. It is a good walking workout..easy.

It has been a very nice week in my neck of the woods. My brother and his family were visiting, and we had a great time with them. I provided all the food/meals, so it was fairly simple for me to stay OP.

I indulged in my first "splurge day" yesterday. Our guests were gone, and my husband and I had a rare dinner out alone together. I was OP all day, but then ordered some lime-chicken quesadillas and split a dessert with my husband and also had some drinks. Up 4 lbs today. Oy! I am keeping the faith and having a textbook P1 day. It feels like another leap of faith, but IP has never let me down before. I must say, it really felt good to relax last night and just "be." It feels equally good today to know I am right back on track.

Sylvie, you'll be surprised how quickly the scale will go back down when you have a P1 or P2 day after a "splurge" meal. Your body will wash it out and say, "Oh, yeah! We're doing THIS now." and the scale will go back down.

Maile, yes, I love Indian food also. I still have to do it sparingly, though, because there are lots of "red light" foods for me there.

To clarify the double vegetables: This excellent restaurant in Houston presented me with a plate of grilled veggies that included 2 large slices of zucchini, 2 large slices of yellow squash, 2 mini ear of corn on the cob, and 2 big slices of grilled portabello mushroom! Apparently a single order is one of each. These veggies were grilled and seasoned and really yummy! The fajita meat came with the traditional grilled red and green peppers and onions. On P1 and 2 I always told them to hold the onions, but now on maintenance, I eat a couple of onions and leave the rest. There's plenty of food, especially with the lettuce, pico de gallo, and little bit of grated cheese. Ok, enough food description for today! I'll move it over to the maintainers food thread.

Kawaii - Great minds think alike! I also have been lurking on the maintenance board to prepare myself after I get to my goal. I consider myself one of the "October starters" since I started the end of September 2013. I am so inspired by your weight loss journey. I plan on phasing off at 190 so I can use that 10 lb. as my range.
See you on maintenance!

Decided to start lurking here a little. I still have 30lbs to go (or maybe more). But I'm starting to get super nervous about what happens after IP lol. I know this is a life style change and even when I went on vacation and planned to be not OP I found myself struggling to just eat whatever lol, it was a good struggle, I still made healthy choices. I know I'll be able to do this, I figure if I monitor my weight closely and see the scale go up more than 5lbs then I do 100% p1 for a few days or a week... I just get so sick of hearing everyone around me tell me how everyone just gains weight back! I wish I could take some of you long term maintainers with me and say "OH YA!!! LOL