I'm posting this info here since peanut butter isn't on the MRC menu until maintenance.
I love peanut butter. I could write an ode to peanut butter. Peanut butter, however, is a huge trigger food for me. Give me a little and I want more, more, more. So imagine my surprise when I saw something new & different & strange & interesting at the grocery store yesterday. Powdered peanut butter. My first thought was "disgusting". Then I looked at the label and the nutrition info. Almost all the fat is GONE. You mix it with water (or whatever - you can mix it with jelly or honey for a sandwich, for example). I figured it was worth a shot - if it wasn't decent straight up I could find something to do with it. Brought it home & tried it - it's actually pretty good. It's made from roasted peanuts & that's pretty much what it tastes like. I can see doing all kinds of things with it - saw a recipe on their website for putting it in steel cut oats. Lots of smoothie recipes. All kinds of things.
Anyway, here's the website - it's about 50 calories and 1.8 grams in fat in a 2 TBL serving (compared to even low-fat PB which had, I think, around 13 grams or so of fat). Oh, and I mixed up 1 TBL today with water & dipped my apple wedges in it - 25 calories & about 1 gram of fat - I justified it by thinking of it as salad dressing. Wrong, so wrong, I know, but I just wanted to try it - and it was pretty tasty!
http://www.bellplantation.com/mm5/me...Category_Code=

I've gotta pull up my recipe from sparkpeople for spicy noodles (I use spaghetti squash instead) - it calls for peanut butter, this would be perfect in it...

I dunno, Judy - sounds like you're learning the lessons - it just takes awhile for the lessons to really kick in and take hold (darn our pesky old humanity). And like my consultant said - this really is a lifetime thing. At least MRC gives us a maintenance menu to work with. I think if we use it as a basic guideline day to day, with the occasional additions here and there, we can still pretty much maintain our weight even if we go over our calorie counts a little from time to time. What's important to remember is if we have a vacation week & pile on a few lbs, they're mostly water - as long as we get our acts together when we get back home & get that water weight off. If not then (like me last summer) after awhile it isn't just water weight anymore & it gets a lot harder.

Vent away - goodness knows I do!!!

This is EXACTLY what terrifies me! I'm 14 lbs from my goal and starting to think about all the things I've been deprived of these past 6 months. I have (and keep adding to) a mental list of everything I want a taste of - and I must say, it's mostly sweets. I keep telling myself it will only be small tastes, but I'm worried. I am committed to making this lifestyle change, but have already admitted to myself that a gain is inevitable. However, I'm sure I'm armed with the tools to keep me from straying very far, but, there is a huge space in my head that holds all kinds of doubts. Normal??

Em...OMG! This sounds fantastic. Apples and peanut butter were one of my favorites when I did the South Beach diet. Which store did you find this in? What's the brand name? Was it with the peanut butter? I NEED MORE INFO!!!

In my eagerness to find out more, I completely overlooked the link you had. Now I just need to find out where I can buy it in Northern Colorado.

LOL - I actually got it at the AF commissary (was totally surprised to find it there) - I think your best bet might be to go to bellplantation.com & see if you can find a location near you that sells it, you can order it online too - wasn't much more than I paid for it (but I didn't pay attention to what shipping might be.

And yes, it was with the peanut butter.

If they were smart, they'd send samples of it. I'm trying to figure if there's a way I could send you a sample if you can't find it in a store (you have to buy 4 jars at least if you order it online - that's a lot if you end up not liking it). I could probably put a some in a ziploc baggie, maybe, and put it in an envelope, it'd probably be fine that way.

I think we all face that fear. I read a good "tip" in a magazine this week, to remember that you don't have to eat every meal like it's your last meal. You don't have to eat huge portions of those things you've been missing - there'll be another piece of cake, another brownie, more fried chicken, etc. If we follow that old rule about eating on plan (following our maintenance menu) 80-85% of the time, we'll usually be fine. It might take some fine-tuning to figure what you can & can't handle. But you'll have the tools to maintain. And the biggest thing, I think - do NOT let yourself get more than 3-5 lbs past your goal weight. Set yourself a "fence" - if you get past that limit, it's time to get back on track. I think we all know how weight comes on 5 lbs at a time. You think you'll get it back under control, you don't, next thing you know that 5 lbs has invited 5 more, and 5 more...get yourself back to the center & back under control the FIRST 5 lbs! That was my mistake before....I'm glad I only regained half the weight I'd lost before I went back, but I should've done it even sooner....

Thank you for that helpful tip/reminder. I'm sure I'll need to come back and read this a few more times and will keep it in the upper thoughts. Those additional 5-lb friends, those are the ones that I don't want knocking on the doors!

Also going to try that powdered peanut butter you mentioned. If that turns out to be good, there's a battle I won't have to fight! As always, good tips and great advice here.

Meemo I agree with about the 3-5lbs gain. It is very scarry knowing how far you have come and to think that all that weight could pile back on before you can bat an eye!

I went in Friday evening to WI....146.5, I lost 3 lbs....I was quite excited. I am going to the yellow menu now. I should have started it yesterday but I kinda went off plan. I had a taco salad for lunch, and chinese food for dinner...I went out with a friend and I decided I was going to eat what I wanted because I felt confident that I would be back on track today. I did not over stuff myself or anything so I feel good. I am going to get on track today and drink extra water to tackle yesterday. I WI on Monday night so hopefully I will have maintained or lost maybe another pound. I think I will put in a walk today as well.

GMA to 4--I hope you like the peanut butter option Meemo found.

Hey, ladies,

Ron and I have been out in Colorado (Minturn, near Vail) skiing since the new year. We're having a great time skiing most days about 4-5 hours. I cannot measure anything (except by eyeball) or weight myself on a bathroom scale. Before we left I told my center that we were doing this and that I would be away for more than a month. Because I am so active most days I eat more that the 1200 calorie play for sure but try not to overdo it. I just hope that when I get back to reality that my weight has stayed the same (or close to it).

My clothes (including the size 10 ski pants) seem to fit the same so that's encouraging.

I love reading this maintenance thread and keeping up with all the long time folks here.

One of my neighbors joined just before we left on this trip and he has lost 7 pounds in his first week. It's so not fair to have a man's metabolism.

So 'til next time, keep up all your hard work.

Bonnie

OMG - I am going to have to order this. I eat it straight from the jar. It is a serious downfall for me.

I went to the link and there is another link to find a local dealer - you just put in your zip code. Of course I will need to order it.

I bought mine off of ebay.They also have one that is chocolate peanut butter and it is pretty great also.

Dang! They don't sell the super fantastic, fabulous peanut butter within 250 miles of me, so I'll have to order it online. Oh, well...it will last for awhile.

We had our second maintenance support class tonight. If your center doesn't have something like this, I'd encourage you to suggest they look into it. Tonight we went into calorie salaries and how to decode labels to mix things up and not fall back into the typical chicken, salad, fruit roles. There were 5 of us there tonight, and we went longer than the hour they allotted for the session. It's a great way to ask specific questions and learn how to make better choices. I'm amazed at how little I know about all this, even though I've been on so many different diets over the years. They've asked us to e-mail them an item we'd like to eat but are afraid to try (like mac & cheese), then they will help us figure out a healthier way to make it.

Tomorrow is the first maintenance cooking class, which will feature quinoa. I've never used it, but it sounds like it is pretty versatile and can be used in lots of dishes. If there are actual recipes to share, I'll post on this thread if they are decent.

We spent 3 days up in the mountains, so I dread getting on the scale in the morning. But I do have another 4 days before WI (again!), so I'm back in the panic mode just in case my weight is up.

Just my luck...I ordered the 4 jars directly from Bell Plantation just before you posted! I'll have to remember e-bay when I'm ready to order again. The chocolate peanut butter sounds yummy, too!

The first maintenance cooking class was fantastic! They made Eggplant Parmesan with Spicy Bolognese sauce...scrumptious. We also got recipes for Stuffed bell peppers, Cilantro Lime Coleslaw and Cajun Chicken with Zucchini fries. I'll try to get them typed up and posted on this thread yet tonight.

Some of the other recipes we will be taking a look at in the next few weeks are Jumbalaya and Sushi. I can't wait!