I think Dr. Turner's previous book may have been more for woman, but I don't have it. That one was called The Hormone Diet.

In this one many of the examples she uses are men and men are pictured in many of the exercise pictures are of men.

Pat

Pat

sneuse Welcome to maintenance, I probably would do a little de-tox and see how you feel?? I haven't had to go more then one or two days f Phase 1 but I was told if you go over 5-7 days on Phase one you should do a mini phase off. As to being easier, I think my anxiety level is lower and I do find myself structured in Phase 4 to be able to follow the rules and right now I'm ok with that structure, the whole keeping fat/carbs separate is comforting to me. Take it slow; add in gently to see what happens! Take it from my wheat post, go slow! lol

dakin When I first fed the VIP some quinoa he said it tasted like ants...which caused a funny discussion about how he would know that. We decided he meant the texture, I find it FAB when I eat it...love it and prefer it over rice.

So, the pain eventually went away, I did some minor investigations. Was told by the Health lady at work that most people are slightly intolerant to gluten and as I had removed it completely from my diet that I should be cautious with it as my body is no longer used to wheat. So having the sluggish feeling is 'normal' but with pain like that that means just have a little bit here and there. It's definitely keeping me away...that was NASTY! I also am going for lunch with someone who's studying to be a naturopath so I'll have an interesting discussion with her this week for SURE!

VIP is home, totally loving that he's home....

Good morning

Ishbel - Glad you got some answer and hopefully will be able to avoid that pain again!

So last night was a MAJOR slip...started with a little treat and went downhill from there...so phase 1 today. Figured i would do 2 days of phase 1, than one day of phase 3 so that i can still have my cheat day on Sunday.

I still feel quite ashamed to have lost control like that though

Starting phrase 4 Sunday, and heading on holiday for 12 days....so just making my grocery list, could you help me by telling me
what kind of snacks do u all eat and do you have 2 extra snacks per day aswell as breakfast, lunch and dinner.....

Lian My snacks are single serving yogurts (the dessert ones sweetened with splenda), various veggies, fruit with greek yogurt, cheese strings, ham sticks. These are all eaten at various times dependant on the rules of carbs/fat seperate. Ie, I will not have a cheese string at 4 pm due to carbs for supper so I'll have a fat free yogurt instead. And I won't have a fat free yogurt before lunch due to the carbs, so if I needed something I'd have a cheese string with a ham stick (total cals 110).

Hope this helps - and this is only what "I" do, others may have some great suggestions and may chime in.

That does really help thank you....................
Congratulations on how well you have done...........

You might not have to do all that but try it out and see where it gets you. And don't worry about slips. That is what maintenance is about. The lack of control is something that hits a lot of us early on in maintenance. It's scary because after doing so well on other phases and exercising such control we are sort of let loose. And sometimes we just keep going and going and going and can't stop. A number of us experienced that problem with certain food items, an inability to stop.

Lately, I have been doing some P4 days. Well, splurge days. Well, spurge weekends. Each time I had to give it till Thursday to see the scale get back to normal. But, what was interesting to me was that my body basically did the same thing with 4 days of eating as it did with the spurge day. The same thing. Took me till Thursday to get back to normal and I can't explain that one. It did the same thing when I started maintenance with a vacation. I was away like 5 days, went back to P3 and in a few days the scale was normal again. I cannot explain it as this is one day or one meal vs like 4 or 5 days of freer eating and the results are the same.

The body must be saying, oh you are getting back to normal now, okay I will release. The strange thing is that while I feel puffy my clothes are not always tighter. Just sometimes. Anyway, this is a learning process.

Hang in there, Busymomx. You are doing the right thing. The most important thing to do is catch yourself and get back on the wagon so you feel better again. Sometimes a splurge meals slips into a splurge weekend then a splurge week and so on and so on. And I have to admit that after my second 4 day splurge I had a lot of trouble getting back on track and fighting cravings. Those carbs were in me and pulling me. Much harder to control. But, after the first 4 day splurge and also after my first vacation I was so motivated to get back to my normal. But recently, it was much, much harder.

Lian, some of us like Simply Bars. I don't know if there is enough time for you to get them but I do believe they are more readily available in Canada. They don't have a coating so they are easier for summer travel but they are not as sweet as IP bars. Also carrying nuts can help with cravings and hunger sometimes.

Thank you, glad to see i'm not alone.

My body is really weird. I don't usually have much of a gain after a cheat day but i will go up the following day after a phase 1 day. Makes things very confusing. I usually don't go back all the way down unless i do at least 2 days of phase 3 (vs phase 4). Guess that would make me carb sensitive maybe?

Busymomx4, this is very confusing. What I was experiencing in month 1 of maintenance is so different from now. We are all so different and maintain very differently. Some continue to restrict carbs greatly. Some can eat more carbs but have to be selective. Keep sharing your experiences. It helps so many. P1 was very similar for so many. We could share absolute truths but there is so much variety and experimentation in P4. I do better sticking closer to P3 but that is me. I'd say I do a P3.5 or P3.2. LOL! When I go full scale carbs I just don't feel good. But, sometimes I do. Sometimes I feel fine and the scale is fine so I have not figured it out yet. I just keep trying. It's the cravings I do not like. I don't have any today so it must all be out of my system but they were strong last week. Bread, bread. bread...gimme bread. That's what my body was saying.

PurpleSky- you make me laugh! Thank you! Bread... Bread...gimme bread is one of my body's favorite mantras after I have given it bread once. Once it's in me it is as you said... It takes hold and I have to fight so much harder not to have more than I would have if I'd just not had it in the first place
I have to go to sleep now.
This is my biggest downfall. If I do not get enough sleep my body CRAVES the easy energy of carbs. My will to fight said craving is weaker because I'm far from my best when tired.
Just wanted to thank you all... Love reading on here...

Pat,
You are right about teaching and its demands.It is all too easy to spend a busy work day and to not focus on taking care of yourself. I was in that quick and easy carbohydrate way of living also. I also did not make time to exercise either. I admit the packets of Ip made it easy to be structured and stay on!!!! It was very helpful in losing weight.

However, I think all of us..no matter what job we have, run into the same thing. We can easily let jobs and family consume our time, and not pay attention to ourselves. IP and its structure and accountability were so helpful to me!!!

I too have lost weight and regained it many times. I am determined to maintain this time. I am so done with being overweight in my life. I started this process a year and 7 months ago.

Lately, though I been feeling the maintenaner's blahs..I am get tired of my old healthy recipes..even though they are very good. I have ordered that book you recommend to get some new Inspiration! I find reading health books usually inspires me.

Lian: I only have one snack..It is usually 1-2oz of nuts in the afternoon. Good luck.

Purple Sky: I am waiting for that book to come out on Amazon also.
I hear you on the bread..my downfall used to be really good bread covered with butter! It is so helpful to read everyone's approaches and ideas on maintenance...as we are all different.

Busymom: Keep telling yourself that this is a learning process. You are learning how to maintain. You are wise to jump back on Phase1 and will soon feel much better.

Ishbel: I am glad you are feeling better. Nice that the VIP is home..ant quinoa was amusing!

Cap: I am the same way..when I do not have enough sleep and get really tired, that is when cravings can hit. I do admit to drinking diet coke now and then if needed. Hope you get some rest.

No corn for breakfast..but tomorrow I am making sushi for a dinner party. I am seriously thinking of having sushi for breakfast!

The Carb Sensitivity book applies to both sexes as both have hormones . Just one has more testosterone and one more estrogen... Both still need to watch carbs as they cause weight gain and added visceral fat in both as well as imbalances in our digestive systems...
That said the recipes in this book are very good and if you're looking to change it up a bit and reinforce that you're on the right track keeping it low carb this book is for you.
Maile- One of my favorite recipes is for Shrimp & Green Beans. It's deceptively simple as it is quite tasty (IMHO).
1.5 T olive oil
1 lb green beans
1 Vidalia onion
8oz cooked baby shrimp

Heat oil in large skillet add grean beans and sauté until they are lightly browned (4-6 minutes med/ high heat). Add sliced onion letting them soften and then add shrimp til warmed. This is 2 servings.

Lian- if you decide to pick up Simply bars to have as your snack they can be found at Superstore in the organic section where the bars are. Hard Boiled eggs are one of my go to snacks and I usually have them with peppers that I've cut up.
Patns- vital wheat gluten is added because there usn't enough naturally occurin gluten in the recipe for the bread to rise properly. Recipes with xantham gum are typically ones that are gluten free. In baking you can get away without the gluten with the addition of baking powder. It's not quite the same but it gets pretty darn close.
I have joined a running clinic to run a 10 k. It was my goal before I got sidelined by my calves and now it have again. Definitely pretty unconditioned from my 5 weeks off of exercise. I got so winded in step and brought up the rear of my running group last week. But I keep telling myself to just keep at it and it will get better. And it has. This week I could make it through my step class without feeling like I was going to pass out (yay!!!) and this week there were a couple people behind me in my running group and I didn't feel like I was in serious danger of losing my supper like I did last week . Ahhh the joys of exercise. But nothing improves my mood more...
We're off to the cabin this weekend so cut off from civilization I'll be. (can't help it Ishbel yoda is strong in me today )

Hi Purple Sky,
Would you share the recipe for your almond butter bars?

I have been on this thread quite a bit, knowing I will soon join your ranks. When I was on WW, my goal weight was 155. I'm now at 147 or so, and may just stop at 140 or so, don't want to look gaunt in the face and neck and it looks like I'm starting to look a little drawn...Just wish those thighs would slim a little more!

I appreciate all the advice I pick up here.

I think I am going to look for some really good quality pita, the kind I have had in some restaurants and maybe start making my own pizza here. Was it you Maile that suggested that once? I don't actually crave pasta, or potatoes or rice or even french breads but pizza seems to be something i enjoy. Much to my dismay my favorite place decided to add extra mounds of cheese and sauce so it was not longer good. Seriously, it was soaked through and I could not even eat it by hand. I like flat bread type pizzas with bits of fun stuff on top, not too much cheese. Needless to say I felt awful But as of yesterday bread no longer had a hold on me.

I tried a mango yesterday. I did not even care if it was not sweet. I usually wait for them to ripe but no I just ate it. Wasn't stringy or nuthin. Yum.

I am trying to work on introducing more carbs. It seems to work best for me to introduce one or two here and there with my regular meals rather than a splurge meal or day. Those events have repercussions and I just hate feeling like crap. I don't really want to remain in a permanent diet state.

Maile, I hear ya on needing to change it up a bit. So this is what I am working with lately. Eating out a lot exposed me to regular foods and how they do it so it has been a goal of mine to figure out how to do "my version" of it.

Here's a version of something I might play with
http://mariahealth.blogspot.com/2012...rosciutto.html
It's a lemon cream sauce.

I am starting to pay attn to what they do with vegetables on cooking shows. I can omit a few tings and reduce the oil. Apparently cooking shows feeling compelled to put a 1/2 of oil into any single dish.

Anyway, my point is that I hit a dull spot in all this. When in autopilot mode i am fine but as soon as I venture out I want, more, more more and different. And that's what I am working on. I want pizza. Rather than go whole hog and getting one, maybe put some fun stuff on flatbread. Meet it in the middle.

Because when I restrict, my mind place the 'gimme gimme gimme' song over and over.

Something like that lemon cream sauce might satisfy (have not tried it yet) the creamy richness I am sometimes missing.

Cap, everytime I read about your cabin I go ahhhhh. Thanx for the reminder. I need to get out into nature more. It's not far from me. I just don't do it enough.

I did the hard part which was the base of this diet now it's time to expand into everyday living and routines. And work on my new normal. That has been my focus lately. So I don't feel deprived or lacking or bored or disinterested. I sorta ditched veggies a while ago because I lost interest in them. Now, I want to get back on track and find my new normal, something in between the restrictiveness of IP and eating out. I had no idea that I was consuming something like 80% carbs before and high glycemic and fat ones. It's not until you spend time with others that you see just how much booze, sugar and carbs are consumed in a day with hardly a vegetable or more than a glass or two of water. That used to be me. So, I'll find my middle and call that maintenance. I am in this for the long haul.

Paleo Breakfast Bars coming right up.