Good morning ladies; Me and hubby had a date night last night so needless to say I am on P1 ish day today. I hope to get my long run in which is about an hour and of course get the water in!! Its always great to start my day on here to help motivate me.

Slip; hope you had a fun evening and a great glass of wine! I did last night!

Eve; Yes, love those great weigh ins! Up and down the scale goes! hee hee

Jenny; Thanks Jenny! And I'm happy to hear that you continue to be in your range and a 14km run sounds amazing. Maybe one day I'll get there. I hope you aren't so tired this week.

Shasta; I have no doubt you will figure things out, just keep reading on here and asking questions and for suggestions. Everyone is so helpful and encouraging.

Notsofat; Wow, 6 days a week of exercise is awesome! Good for you! We are all getting older so losing the weight and exercise will definately help in that. And its not easy no matter what responsibilities we have in life so be proud of all that you've accomplished! Thanks for your positve words!

catlady; Congrads on the 1.2lb loss. You continue to do so well. And losing weight does give us more confidence and make us feel better about ourselves.

oneuh2: nice to hear from you.

allme; Yes, events are challenging to pass up all that enticing food. But, so worth the effort when we do it. I was at a little gathering yesterday with goodies and had a small coffee and thats it. I am now used to not indulging just because there seems to be food at something. Not that I do it all the time but most of the time.

Have a great day everyone.

Happy Monday Maintainers!

Thanks so much! The straight hair is something that I do maybe 3-4 times a year. It's time consuming and I'm lazy.

It was a great feeling when I sent back the dessert without a bite taken! Thanks for the pic love!

Date night and wine. I remember those days! So glad you are enjoying yourself.

So today was Day 1 of P3. I'm not off to such a great start. I made the Apple Pancake out of the P3 breakfast thread. I made it last night so I wouldn't have to get up an hour early to bake and eat. It doesn't reheat well. But I ate it anyway. Not all of it. About 4/5th's was all I could manage. It's the size of an entire pie! I won't be making this again. I am painfully full. I took me forever to drink my coffee at the office this morning because my stomach feels like it will burst if I put one more thing in there. I usually have at least 3 16oz. glasses of water by lunch. That won't be happening. I think tomorrow will be evemomma's Greek burrito thing or maybe one of the breakfasts on the P3 sheet. I did all the shopping yesterday so I have plenty of choices.

Enjoy P3, catlady! I had a lot of grand plans for P3 breakfasts but I ended up just sticking with basics: yogurt, granola, fruit, hard boiled egg or some lunch meat. I did treat myself on weekends when I had more time to cook and more time to walk it off and digest. Do what works for you!

Thanks! I've been looking forward to this for a while and it's disappointing that I'm not enjoying it the first day. So your suggestion is what I am going to do. I have been miserable all day. This is yucky! I have the yogurt, some frozen blueberries, I boiled some eggs and have some Dave's Killer Bread. Hits all the numbers it's supposed to and not near the volume.

Sweeet picture, Andrea! At first breakfast on P3 can be overwhelming. Just eat the minimal stuff until you get used to the food and actually feel like a hungry breakfast day...
I am just catching up after being away on a ski vacation - that was a mixed experience. We were deep in the mountains so no cell service and minimal options for WiFi - I don't generally do electronics on vacation anyhow. Weight is up thanks to getting glutened D*mmit! Not because I ate bad food either, because I was fairly careful P4ing. Spice mix in hash browns at breakfast one day from a newbie cook. More on this on the challenge thread if you care to look, lol. Didn't get to ski as the rain was atrocious during the day and freezing at night. DH was sick and slept most of the time, I did get to go out one decent non-rain day to snowshoe by myself along the river and took some lovely photos. We also played billiards and read a lot by the fireplace. Not much for exercise as I was hoping. Sounds like you all are doing pretty good with your food plans and life in general.

Back to logging on MFP today... and have lost a bit of the gluten puffiness & bloat since Sunday. But not even back to where I started on my challenge .

Liana

Wow - I'm way behind again. So what else is new?



Andrea - love the pic, you look gorgeous! Sounds like a fun party.

I love the Dave's Killer Bread - it tastes good and the stats on it are good. My coach broke adding food in P3 into stages which made it a lot easier on me - added grains one week, dairy the next and fruit the next (may have the order wrong). It really helped get my system used to increased foodstuffs.

Hawaii - Always love hearing from you - sounds like date night was a success.

Liana - sorry your vacation didn't go the way you had planned, but you still sound cheerful! Snow shoeing sounds like fun. I used to cross country ski years ago and always enjoyed being out there.

I missed a ton of people - so everyone! I'm hanging in there. Slacking on water though and I know I shouldn't do that. Really gotta start paying attention.

Liana Thanks for the pic love! Sorry you didn't get to ski on your ski vacay and hubby got sick. At least you had a chance to get away from it all and have a winter wonderland all to yourself.

And you are right about taking it slow. This morning was much better. Yogurt, granola, blueberries and a hard boiled egg. Only comes in at 350 calories but I'm ok with that because my stomach feels much better. I'm a little leary of the yogurt as I'm pretty sure I'm lactose intolerant. At least it's bothered me in the past. I only had 1/2c. of Greek 0%. That may be my limit. It's been over a year since I had dairy. I'll see how it goes. If it becomes a problem, then I'll go the "old" cheese route as you once suggested to me.

Ruth Ann Thanks! I had such a great time in my new body at the party.
I remember you saying that you slowly introduced the different food groups. I think I will be ok with the small amounts. I was just overambitious on my first P3 day. Lesson learned.

I don't know if you can get it where you are but Liberte makes an awesome lactose free yogourt. The company is from Quebec and there are no added gelatins or starches or any fillers. Three ingredients in the 0% = skim milk, milk proteins (to help thicken), and bacterial cultures. Seriously delicious too, not sour like some cheaper yogourts.
Liana

I seemed to get over my lactose issues when I had kids. However I'm really struggling to accept my wheat gluten problem. I'm so in denial. But after this last "fun weekend" I have to believe it is a definite fact. No tummy trouble but definite inflammation. I was up 5 pounds and my joints ached so badly that walking up stairs was difficult. All that is now gone after one day of P1.

OK - forgive me while I rattle on and write down my inside thoughts that have been spinning around for days.

I am really finding maintenance really hard. I have not lost my taste for things that are not good for me and I seem to have an all or nothing attitude that didn't exist before IP. I am so mad at myself right now. My inner voice is yelling no! but something in my subconscious puts the food into my mouth and reaches for more. The ability to take of the "up" pounds with a couple of restrictive days is working against me because I allow the indulgences - too often. And once I have one bad thing I am letting the whole day go. I was making excuses for myself until I got mad at DH for commenting on what was on my plate the other night and have to admit I have some issues to deal with. Still a long way from gaining 90 pounds back but I also know how fast I have put on weight before.

I have resisted the Beck Diet book because the whole approach isn't something I connect with but at this point I feel I need to try something new. Feeling good in my new sizes just isn't enough.

ChipnDip... BIG hugs to you!!!!! Maintenance IS hard, and I think the P4 /P1 days can set up a bit of an all-or-nothing phenomenon. The Beck Diet Solution book is a good place to start. But, it may be worth considering talking to a counselor who specializes in weight-loss issues also. Sometimes just reading words on a pace isn't what we need. We need a REAL LIVE conversation! So often, we are blind to the biggest obstacles in our own lives - despite being very good at seeing everyone else (sheesh, I wish it wasn't that way!). Hang in there and know that we are here for you to vent away!

Having a VERY busy next few days which was not made better by my kids nanny coming down with influenza. Now my hubby and I are doing the "child care shuffle" to figure out who needs to take off work and when to get kiddos home from school and off the bus. Blech!

I found that I had VERY hungry P1 day yesterday....normally P1 days for me are a breeze. I think it's the stress of the holidays and the upcoming busyness that was adding to my hungry.

Good news is I'm back to 125 which is where I was before I ovulated last week....so at least the body is cooperating even if the HUNGER isn't. Feels good to have a good ol' familiar P4 day today though.

Sorry no time to say hello to each of you....but I"m thinking of you all and wishing you a STRONG RESISTANCE muscle during this food-crazy time of the year!

Hello friends,

I can't wait for things to slow down, the past few weeks have been too busy and the weekends just fly bye. This weekend DH and I get to go to Buffalo for his work part and spend a night in a hotel my folks are taking my kids till Tuesday so that will be fun. Dealing with some up lbs but doing P1 and taking it one day at a time.

Chip - I talk to therapist who specializes in weightloss and actually she told me about IP. Being a therapist myself I am a big believer in doing your own personal work and have seen someone at many different points In my life. Not sure if that is something that would work for you. I get more from live conversations than a book.

Andrea - congrats on P3. I'm like Pishposh and have just rotated a few favourite breakfast meals. It is hard in the mornings to do something to time consuming.

Hawaii - how was your long run. Are you getting some warm weather out west?

Liana - that sucks about the gluten. How was the skiing?

Eve - sounds like things are busy at your place. There is a nasty cold up here as well. You are rocking out maintenance.

Hi to everyone and hope that you are all doing well.

Thanks Evemomma and Jenny. I actually studied social work but hated the counselling part so never worked in the field. I'm nit sure I could handle therapy. Maybe I'm afraid of what they will drag out of me!

Jenny - I might PM you if you are willing to share their name. We live close to each other and if I'm going to do this, I want someone who knows what they are doing!

I'm taking it one bite at a time for the moment!

Hi all,

Chip, sending you a hug. Two weeks ago, I felt like maintenance was such a struggle. Just did not stay away from sugar and felt out of control. I went back to few days of phase 1. Helped to clear my mind and stopped the slide. This is a tough time of year for everyone food wise. I am just taking it one day at a time. Weighing every day to stay accountable and trying hard to not beat myself up about not being perfect. Try to take a deep breath and focus on all you have accomplished! You rock!

When we go back to P1 for a few days is our objective to hit ketosis again? Somehow I don't think it is. I'm guessing it is more to get back in control with what for me, is something comfortable and familiar.

Yah, no ketosis unless you do the two week reboot. Phase 1 for a few days does make for a few hungry days, but definitely reigns things back in.