I've heard that loose skin continues to shrink for a long time. Here's hoping!

I lift hand weights at home, and do planks and crunches for my "strength training." It's sure not weight lifting in the traditional gym sense, but it is really fixing my bat wings! Plus I have a secret wish (but of course I can tell you guys) to wear a bikini on my trip to Maui in July. That will require my gooey belly to tighten up. We shall see.

Paint Lady - I remember my coach telling me the fastest losers in the clinic were the Moms that were out every day playing with their kids, but not "exercising" per se. You are burning more calories playing soccer with them than I am on the elliptical!

I make a flatbread with cauliflower and eggs, it is quite good the recipe says cheese too but I leave that out. I just eat it with my soup, one of these days will try a sandwich as after a year still miss my sandwiches.

Maile, I eat endame in soup and love it. before my diet I ate them with lots of soy after microwaving them. I make a couple different veggie soups and either add the endame or the zucchini noodles as filler. also want to try the endame in a chili maybe this weekend.

Ladies you are so inspriational after reading all the exercise you do, I feel like a slug. I only walk/run with my dog every day, I would like to do more but between my 10 hour day at work and my 2 hour drives I like to go home walk my little one feed all of us and just veg... perhaps that is why I am not doing so well in maintenance.. I am going to have to get off my butt and start using my exercise balls and get motivated. I find it real hard in the winter as it is dark when I leave for work and just light enough to walk the red dog after work. This next little while I will be travelling a lot so am going to get some IP puddings to help while I am on the road. Hope you all have a wonderful day.

PaintedLady, will have to try making those buns they sound quite good.

Hi Ladies,
I just posted this on FatSecret but thought I'd share on our thread as well! Have a great day everyone.

Being on the road really threw me off my food tracking as I was not really online and moving around a ton.
The good news is that I'm seeing that I have internalized many of the maintenance principles even unconsciously by now and I did not screw up anything close to what I used to in the past. "Cheating" or "indulging" ahve really become another animal. I can't believe I just said that, because I'm always scared when I do...I'll turn around and my evil chubby twin will take over my brain!!!!! So yes...the paranoia still lurks :0)
Yes...I would like to knock these last 7-8 pounds back off...but it's way better than 37 or 38 lbs. I gotta give myself a mental nod and frame this moment as being a universe better than where I was a year ago.
I'm glad I had a opportunity to be without all the food tracking devices online long enough to see that I do have some of this more under my belt than I thought!
Now I can track today but not feel as desperately attached to doing it as I was before.

Starvation mode is a theory, and there is a lot of science that disproves it.

If you are anorexic eventually you become very thin, your body does not stop burning calories to conserve its mass.

I maintained my loss for about 8 months, but I exercise about 8 hours a week and I still restrict carbs. I am back on phase 1 to lose the few Christmas pounds, and to try to finally get down to my goal.

I really question how much flexibility in eating exercise really provides, but I do it anyway because I love it.

What do you guys think? Can you eat more when you exercise??

Starvation mode is a theory, and there is a lot of science that disproves it.

If you are anorexic eventually you become very thin, your body does not stop burning calories to conserve its mass.

I maintained my loss for about 8 months, but I exercise about 8 hours a week and I still restrict carbs. I am back on phase 1 to lose the few Christmas pounds, and to try to finally get down to my goal.

I really question how much flexibility in eating exercise really provides, but I do it anyway because I love it.

What do you guys think? Can you eat more when you exercise??

Today is my normal weigh in but the clinic I go to is in the process of moving locations so I wasn't able to go weigh in. Just a little disappointed because I am finishing up Phase 3 and was hoping my coach to explain Phase 4 to me today. I guess I will have to wait until tomorrow afternoon. For all the posters that are on Phase 4, do you still go weigh in with your coach or do you solely rely on the scale at your house? I was thinking of weighing in at home but weighing in once a month at the clinic to make sure I stay focused.

Paint Lady- I do think it is really the activity vs. being sedentary that matters- so chasing your kids and playing sports with them definitely counts. But when you up the intensity (like if you were to jog while they ride their bikes) you do burn more... which can also help.
Are you feeling better today after the chinese yesterday?
bigpassport- our metabolism more than likely did slow done in the process of phase 1. It's why when we hit maintenance we have to be especially vigilant for an extended period of time. Our lowered metabolisms do not allow us to burn as effectively and so we still have to eat much lower calories than someone our size who had lost weight through a slower process of calorie counting and exercise. Almost none of us eat at 'maintenance' level of our calories... I think it is a game of catch up... where we have to wait for the metabolism to catch up with the new body and recover from the VLCD... another promotion for exercise here... there was a study that was done on those who exercised in maintenance vs. those who did not exercise and it was found that the exercise group saw their metabolisms reach just below normal much faster than those who did not exercise...
pauley & maile- thank you for letting me know... after I posted yesterday I went to step class and the instructor did an almost entirely strength class. She mixed in a lot of skipping and free weights with the bar. Everyone in the entire class was groaning at the end...
maile- what is the nautilus circuit?

sorry I wrote most of my post earlier in the day...
mom2cs- I think exercise provides a little leeway... not enough that you can go totally overboard but enough that a few extra calories doesn't affect the scale... just the way it seems to me... Maybe it's partially too, that when you're moving you're not really thinking about food...
2ride- I feel for you... a long work day and a long commute and the pups to care for does make for a tiring day... but exercise can be a magical thing in that it can help you feel less tired- even though you're expending more energy... You'd be surprised at how quickly 30 minutes can pass- it's only one show you'd have to give up... You have such great determination- if you put it toward challenging your body you might be surprised at how addictive it can become

2Ride..Thanks for the ideas on endame..I was either putting soy or sirachi on them..or dumping them in a stir fry..I never thought of soup.
I do not blame you for being tired after 12 hr days and a 2 hr commute. Are you getting a lunch break? Are the long days going to continue?
Pet your doggies for me..My new crazy coffee is coconut jalapeno.

Cap: The Nautilus is a set of 20 machines that have weights. You go to each one in a circle or circuit..and supposedly if you do them all, you will have exercised the major muscles in your body.

Lousiana Chick..I am weighing in once a month with my coach..to stay focused.

Momto2s: You are burning more calories with exercise and increasing your metabolism..I would say if you feel hungrier, experiment and eat more.

Sunnymae: you really made me laugh with that evil chubby twin lurking. Too true. You have done so well to internalize healthy eating..with or without the tracker. You are so right..losing a few extra pounds on maintenance is so much more manageable than losing all of the weight from a year ago.

Pauley: How fun that you are going to Maui in July. Let's hope the skin keeps shrinking and gets you in that bikini. I am working on ab muscles in hope of flattening that stomach.

I did phase 1 yesterday to get rid of the bloat I felt from the Chinese lunch from the previous day. I told myself I wouldn't weigh yesterday morning, but of course I did. I was at 162 and some change. This morning I am at 159, so I am feeling much better. Today will be a strict phase 3 day and hopefully tomorrow I will be back to my comfort zone. I really hate that one meal can throw my body so out of whack, but thankful that I know how to correct it.
Maintenance is such a learning experience. Maybe if I had given myself a couple of days of low sodium, I would be back in my comfort zone without doing phase 1, but I just can't do it. I can't stand to see the scale that high. I can't let it become the beginning of a downward spiral.
Phase 1 yesterday was hard. It rained all day and I couldn't really get out and distract myself like I usually do. Instead, I cleaned out my dressers. I have 3 garbage bags of various sized summer clothes to donate and one completely empty dresser once I combined all of the things I can wear into the other one. I feel like I have nothing to wear.

A guy I work with is headng to the Amazon very soon on a missionary trip. They are looking for clothing, especially summer clothing...it is the Tropics! If you are in BR soon and would like to possibly donate to his cause, I'd be happy to meet you! I've got numerous items myself going into his collection box.

I may be going to BR tomorrow to visit my uncle. He's in Baton Rouge Rehab hospital on Essen. Visiting hours are from 12-1:00. I can meet you earlier than that though, if you can. I can be in BR as early as 9am, but have to leave around 1:30 to be back to get my kids off the bus. If any of that works for you, let me know.

Hi all,

I am looking for some advice on how much to lose more. Here is my story...

-I have lost a total of 14 lbs so far in 4 weeks!
-Started IP at 159 lbs and now I am at 145 lb. My height is 5'5'.
-My coach and I initially set a goal of 130 lbs.

Now I am afraid that may be too low for me. I am at 27.8% body fat and measurements chest-waist-hips 36-28.5-37 inches. Please advice, since you have hit your goal weight and was wondering if you followed the body fat % levels.

Thanks

Too bad its not today because I will be RIGHT there in the next couple of hours! My schedule is iffy tomorrow only because its curently dependent on two other people's schedules. I will PM you my phone number. Could you possibly meet me at the Sam's Club around 11:30?