Hello all - hope everyone is doing well. I'm in the midsts of midterms and finals at the moment (some of my classes are half a semester, some a full semester), so it's been a couple hellish weeks for me. Can't wait for Friday.

Grateful4Health - I'm so sorry, I haven't logged in in awhile and just saw your request for the granola recipe: http://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/201...-giveaway.html. It's yummy, but the next time I make it I think I'll use either honey or maple syrup for the sweetner if I even need it (I can't tolerate the erythritol in the first batch - or any "fake" sugar products) and I will also process my nuts less. The almonds got so chewed up in the food processor they ended up more like almond meal. I may also add some Bob's Red Mill unflavored whey protein to up the protein stats. Still playing around with it. I also made peanut butter protein cookies with my Quest PB powder and they were DELICIOUS! But my macros came out way different than the recipe - higher in everything - fats/carbs/calories. But they are perfect for pre or post workout.

ecdslim - I fell into the same trap you're caught in when I first hit maintence, and it's how I ended up in a restrict/binge cycle. I've just come to a level of peace with my diet in that some days I'll be up for no reason, and some days I'll be down for no reason - but as long as I stick to a low carb naturally ketogenic diet rich in healthy fats with limited treats/fun days, I can't do too much damage. The glycogen stores are really bothering me and making me feel "flubby" so I decided this Friday I'm getting back into my workout routine.

Yes, I believe this exactly what happens. I have not done a P1 day for a few weeks and have found my weight is staying a lot more stable. I watch my caloric intake very carefully and eat a moderate amount of carbs (150 net) and am still maintaining fine without a P1 day. I dob't see that i am terribly carb sensitive, though. Perhaps that makes a difference? But my weight chart looked like a crazy roller coaster doing a fun day followed by p1...now my fun days are cut back since i allow for reasonable treats in my normal plan. The biggest weight swing i see now is when i o vulate.

Interesting conversation about the fun day or fun meal followed by P1 and whether we just end up depleting/rebuilding cycle and repeat. I think your body never reached a happy state for too long. I did hear from my doc that having one diet day a week helps the body remember how to burn.

I want to get the 4 lbs off to get back to mid range and then try more stable eating but with the one day a week P1 lunch, snack and dinner but have P3 breakfast and see what happens. I felt like before going I got sick the last time my weight was more under control and consistent. Maybe just sick of winter but more likely a result of not track with MFP.

I love reading how the maintainers are doing and how they're handling fun days etc. I'm a new maintainer, just about finishing 8 weeks so maybe still in the honeymoon stage! I'm finding maintainence very doable and enjoy the fun days. I have been going all out and need to control binge eating behavior on those days, so have to work on that. But at the most I've been up about 2.5 lbs after an all out fun day and I do the P1 after. By mid week I'm back to the weight on the morning of fun day. So far on regular days I've been eating between 1450-1550 cals even on exercise days, but I'm eating far better and healthier than before. I love having found this diet!

Morning, I too am a new maintainer. The gals over at the maintainers what are you eating thread have given me great info on the ratios for phase 4. I have been trying to follow that and am struggling with the fat/carb ratio of 3:1. The last 3 days, my tracker shows that between 42 & 48% of my cals are coming from fat! I would like to be as comfortable preparing these meals as I am with preparing the carb/fat meals. The first 3 phases were like no brainers for me and I didn't feel much mental stress about it. That is how I need this phase to be or I am worried I will not keep it up. I am feeling pretty overwhelmed and probably making way too much of it. I have searched for recipes and haven't come up with anything. I think what I am doing is eating a meal that is too high in carbs, so by the time I have 3 times that in fat, its off the chart. When I was in town shopping last week I bought walnuts, pumpkin seeds and raw almonds, 2% yogurt, 2% cottage cheese, garlic stuffed olives and avacodos for the fat content of my lunch, but can see in my tracker that in some of these items, there is the same amount of carbs as fat if not more carbs than fat. I would appreciate a couple of menus for this meal to put into rotation til I get this figured out.

I was just reading some posts from a few volumes back and read that lunch was to be like P2 but with 15g of healthy fat and that dinner was pretty much what I had been eating for dinner all along but adding 1 serving of grain.
By george I think I've got it! I can do that, I just need to cut the portion size of protein down a bit. Ahhhhhh, (big sigh) panic averted.

ECDCslim, I agree that this is glycogen water weight. I started maintenance at the end of January, and have not done any P1 days after treat meals/ days. Instead I keep my calories the same, and cut my net carbs after treats. It typically takes me several days or a week to get back down using this method. I am also quite sensitive--for example, one evening I had 2.5 glasses of red wine, a 1" x 2" x 1" piece of cornbread, a 1/4 cup scoop of ice cream, and one milano cookie at a friend's dinner. Not super crazy binging or anything....and my calories were still in my typical range for the day..... The next day I was up 1.6 pounds, and it took a week to get back down.

Since I have thyroid issues, I am going to have my RMR tested, to make sure it matches with what I've been calculating.

Also, inspired my Evemomma, I am gradually increasing net carbs to see if I have less swing in the glycogen ups and downs.

Everyone, have a great Friday!!

I have been on P2 for 2 weeks and am heading into P 3 on Sunday. I have really enjoyed the RTS shakes I have had in the morning as it is quick and easy. But I do want to start eating real food. So hAve ordered Quest Protien powder and thought I would do spinach, some fruit and the protein powder with my nutribullet and make a shake. Should I also be adding nuts or is that enough? How much protien should I be aiming for in a day? Just worried that how much is too much.
Before when I was trying to maintain, I always had trouble getting enough protein in so thought the powder would fill that void.
Thanks for the help.

Nuts are perfect for this! I'd add a handful (serving size of course) and just eat them along with my shake, or add nut butter to your shake.
You could also add a half avocado to your fruit & protein smoothie - that's how it is used in tropical countries - as a creamy rich fruit. Very tasty and satisfying.

Liana

Hey Maintainers;

Its always an interesting read on this thread and nice to see new ones joining all the time.

I'm celebrating a year of maintenance and I'm not thrilled where my weight is right now, its still much better than before I was started on IP. I am at my scream weight but I know why and need to get back at watching my calories and exercising again. I'm looking forward to doing my first run outside. The snow is melting fast so that should be soon.

One thing I noticed when reflecting back was that I adjusted my goal weight to a number I knew I could maintain at better. I had originally picked a lower number by at least 5-7 lbs but after I achieved that number, I felt too restrictive and knew it'd be hard to stay at that number. I am happy I adjusted my goal to a bit higher and have felt it much easier to stay within range. Not to say that I wouldn't love to get down those 5-7lbs one day but for now I'm happy with my numbers. Everyone is different and we know what works for us! Have a great day!

Hello friends,

Welcome to maintenance Largo, ommamma, and Saharag! It's great to have new people join the group. Congratulations on all your hard work.

Hawaii- congratulations on your first year of maintenance I agree that you've got to pick a weight that is maintainable and that may change on time of year, stress, and activity level. You have done so great.

Had my WI yesterday and was 1lb over scream weight, so 163 lbs, but my inches were down in waist, thighs, and hips back to when I weighed 157. I have been increasing the intensity of workouts, added an hour of swimming , along with the distance increasing of my running as I get closer to 30km race in two weeks I'm wondering if the added weight is lean muscle??. I feel like my eating up has been pretty clean and on track. Because I have been unhappy with the # I have been adding more IP to my daily plan.
Do you think it could be muscle or am I fooling myself?

Happy Saturday Maintainers!

Jenny: I bet dollars to donuts that you have increased lean muscle mass with an increase in intensity. At least that is what all the websites say.

I took some measurements this morning and was surprised to see an inch increase in waist, thighs and hips. It was alarming. Because of my knee injury I haven't been working out and I have to admit my pants felt a bit snug. But my weight has been very steady instead of up 3, down 2, up 1.5 every day. I've been at 139.7 for almost 2 weeks straight. Ever since I upped my caloric intake to 1800 and bumped up my net carbs (most days) between 100-150. So...I went on a very easy (very little elevation change) hike this morning but I had to stop after an hour because of knee pain. Sigh. I'm bummed. I'm going to go look at bicycles tomorrow. Maybe hiking is not going to work out after all.

I am wearing a pedometer now for work/insurance. The goal is 10,000 steps a day. So far without trying too hard I'm averaging 6-8K. Maybe that will help with the exercise that I have been missing.

Thank you. I love avocado.

Ommamma - I just started maintenance (first week of P2) and I have been panic ing also. Just trying to figure out P2 and anticipating P3 and P4. Thank you for resummarizing this because I also need an obvious rule of thumb to follow. On top of that I will be on vacation during P3 so I really want to be sure I know what to eat when I'm at a restaurant. Like you said above, from my P1 days I have alot of recipes and menus for lunch and dinner with the proteins and veggies. If I just need to add some fat to lunch, no problem !! (mayo, avocado would be welcome!) Ditto for dinner, but for me I will try to add a slow carb because mentally I find it hard to add back a full carb which seems so evil to me now. But, a sweet potato, or beans, seems okay in my mind right now. Less panic for me :-)

Also, to Evemomma and the rest of the maintainers. I decided to take the plunge into P2, I did it mid-week even (!!) and after being at the same weight for a month in P1, I finally dropped a pound. I knew this might happen as it did for others.

P2 has been interesting for me because I already had to modify P1 where I split my dinner protein between lunch & dinner but had my IP packet as a snack mid-morning. Trying to figure out a mid-morning protein that is portable and easy to grab has been my challenge. So far, I've just used boiled eggs and one day I had a little serving of tuna. Today, I'm going to make extra grilled chicken and have little chicken strips. (I miss my bar! so weird that I'm so attached to that IP bar)