Thank you to everyone for posting about your struggles and successes. I am new to maintenance and this thread is helping me stay calm about this process. I am learning a lot from all of you I find I tend to eat phase 3 days most of the time. It just makes sense to me. I am adding a fruit in the afternoon, but trying to avoid breads. Breads and sweets were my weakness before IP and I don't want to add them back into my life. I am doing just fine without them. So far I have stayed within 3 pounds of my goal and I am happy with that. Thanks again for your help here.

I eat all the veggies now, I just haven't gone back to grains or potatoes (I only do bread or a tortilla at breakfast). I think my body actually prefers a higher weight.. like 165 instead of 150. I can maintain 165 just fine, but anything below that is really, really hard.

I'm also really not sure how many calories I should be eating. FatSceret says I burn around 1900 calories on my running days, so I figure somewhere around there is good. Before I got pregnant with my last child and gained my weight I thought we had a pretty healthy lifestyle, but now I'd guess we ate something like 3000 calories a day, maybe more. I'm not sure how I maintained the 165 I was then because I think if I went back to eating that way I'd be MUCH heavier.

Sorry, rambling!!

Mali: Yes, totally TOM being MIA is totally weight loss related. In a (un)Happier note, it returned today, but is very, very, very light, but I'll take it! Maybe I'll be back into "normal" soon!

good for you with your maintenance. I am currently rebooting but when i was maintaining I found that the "cheat day" thing made me nuts. so I mostly ate Phase 3 with a few cheat items built in. only got into trouble when i built them in at every meal instead of every couple days. sigh... i am down 6 of the pesky 8, and hope to go down 5 or so beyond that.

let me know when you will be in my fair state (u mentioned you work here every so often) and maybe we can get together??

The weight you choose to maintain at definitely male a difference! I try to stay around 145. If I accepted 150 I think I could be much more lenient with food...but then my size 4 pants are tight!

I want to be lean!

That's why I'm not sure about maintenance! I am supposed to start Phase 3 on Saturday, but I'm not sure I'm ready. I had wanted to be in Phase 4 for vacation at the end of October and so I started phasing off before I hit my goal, but it seems like I will be eating a lot of Phase 2&3 anyway, so...I think I am going to collect the information and see what happens with the scale.

I like my size just fine, but my bodyfat feels too high. Like maybe this should be the top of my range.

Hi Locopollo- i totally understand what you mean - it's not the number on the scale that is important. I do look at this as a process - IP gets me to a healthy weight and size, and then continued eating well and excercise to tone up. If we lose too many pounds, i am afraid our body size might be smaller than we like. (Not a bad problem to have considering where I was 6 months ago.)

good luck -and enjoy your vacation.

I have weighed about the same for a month now, but my body continues to change. So there is that too!

I've been exercising consistently for over 20 years. I like to see the muscle. Finally. I like liking like I workout!

Looking! I phone post!

Phase 3 is good. But my advice: be ready. I struggled at first.
I lost 5 during phase 2. I have not gained (only 3 days now), but had a tough first day...way overate by mistake. So I was sort of freaked out by it. Now I am better---I had some major misunderstandings.
LizzR saved me!
Thanks Lizz!!!

True that!!

I am happy I made it through my bd with no gain! Champagne did not hurt!!!

I am enjoying the better clothes also..very fun. My husband is still surprised with some of my choices, but wisely says nothing.

Welcome Moooselover..it sounds like things are going well.

Nova: I am glad something finally happened..I also eat bread only at breakfast.

Happy Friday Maintainers.

Maile..happy birthday and glad you were able to enjoy it with no gain. That's what we all are aiming for, to be able to live life as thinner, healthier people!

I have found that I have gone a little clothes shopping crazy. I always hated it, but am having a blast finding cute things that fit! My husband winces a little when I show him something new, but he also enjoys the new me so has been relatively quiet.
I am going to my 35th HS reunion this evening and looking forward to seeing old friends and feeling like I really look good this time.

Happy Friday!

WHOO-HOO Soon to be Mrs. That's awesome and reassuring you got back to pre-Scotland so fast! I am still doing a bit of the baby Phase 4 freak out, it's funny how I never worried about scale blips in Phase 1, but right now I am like a hawk and over analyzing. I am glad the challenge is going on - I need it to help me focus!

I am moving towards Alternatives right now for my snacks, but will more than likely be moving to whole foods. The big driver being - I'm hoping to be preggers and want to eat more of an organic, whole diet if I have a little fetus depending on me - and avoid artificially flavored, processed options if possible. I am trying to do Phase 4 as written - but I keep getting stressed out over the littlest scale swings! I feel like I am eating too much and need to find what keeps things 'steady' and stop the pendulum swing where I keep Phase 1ing it every other day.

Lori T and Maile- THANK YOU for sharing your maintenance so far - it is really helpful. I had been trying to do the Phase 4 as written, but partly do feel I am adding in carbs 'because they say so'. I enjoy having my dairy back, but honestly not really missing the bread too much outside of the occasional breakfast (which I guess makes me prefer Phase 3).

Here are some recipes I did during Phase 1-
Zucchini Lasagna: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/4433271-post50.html
Cauliflower Pizza Crust: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/4436631-post62.html
Some modifications I added in Phase 4 were being more 'liberal' in adding cheese & Veggie Shreds. Recently I added Lowfat Ricotta to the Lasagna and when I made the Cauliflower Crust I added 1 cup Mozzarella Veggie Shreds.

Cap - SO GLAD YOU SHARED!!!! I feel like I am yo-yoing myself, I just can't seem to get this down. I was up ~7lb last week (my FIRST P4 week), today I am ~3lb up from my low of 138 according to home scale. Still figuring out what normal eating is going to be - and I am also working on it being more steady - as I am also throwing in my P1 days in the mix as the scale jumps around.

Have fun this weekend - my 20th HS reunion is the weekend after next!

Enjoy you reunions ladies!
My 10th High School reunion is tomorrow night. Wish I was at my happy weight oh well. All that matters if I found my way back before it got too bad.
I feel better and that is what counts...to bad TOM is here and I feel bloated.

question about cauliflower crust for those who have made it. I buy froven broccoli, and boil it to make mock-potatoes. For the crust do you all cook cauliflower first before grinding it up or do you grind up raw fresh cauliflower?

I grated the fresh cauliflower using a box grater, and then microwaved it for ~8-10 minutes, let it cool a little, then added my veggie shreds and egg whites, then formed the crust.