Eve, you are a brave and strong woman. As for using food for stuffing, "When we know better, we do better." Good luck with your presentation, I am sure that your sharing will provide others with comfort and solace.

evemomma, you will be awesome at helping others start on their emotional healing path, you seem so very empathetic in the forums, and of course having gone through this experience you can bring a lot of assistance to those that need it!
How was the yogourt cupcake? It must have been nice to play around in the leaves the other day! It got cold here, dipped below freezing and had a powdered sugar dusting of snow on the tops of the hills here (or mountains depending on your point of view ).

I actually managed to get out to Aquacize today, but when I slipped into the pool... it was freakin' cold - the boilers had gone out last night and although they got them started 5 hours previous to the class, it takes a lot to warm that many gallons of water up to proper temp again. I spent a half hour in the hot tub after just trying to get warm again. On a positive note, she worked us out hard with a long cardio component to keep us warm, lol.

Liana

Good morning!

Evemomma, good luck with your presentation, I'm sure you have valuable and meaningful words to share understanding the experience from both sides.

Liana, brr! Have been thinking of joining a gym near me and starting a swim routine/class, but not so sure about getting into the water in winter. Pale skin! and I need a new bathing suit.

Coach and I decided to do two more solid weeks of P2 starting today, then I'll be phasing off to P3. She hasn't given any indication of a P3 workshop or anything, so not sure what kind of prep I'll be getting. Feeling pretty confident though thanks to the boards. Going to spend this week putting together a few menus. Here's hoping the next two weeks go fast.

Good morning maintainers;

Well, I'm down 7lbs since I started P1 again and have moved onto P2 now. It feels so good to get these up lbs off. I'm hoping for a few more before maintenance again but I'm especially looking forward to getting back to my exercise routine. I am feeling bloated though and I think the big 'C' is the problem, this happened last time I was on, drinking lots of water, peppermint herb tea and added some garlic to my dressing for salad last night, those things usually help me.

Eve; you continue to inspire and be a good example of how to be successful in maintenance.

Liana; good for you to get to aquasize! I hate being cold though! I love my hot baths in the winter. Winter is now here, we got snow on Sunday and the temperatures are dropping into the minus's, still in the pluses during the day though. Its a later start than last year which is great.

Slip; great to hear that you are still maintaining at your goal weight even though you get so tired from work and being so busy. One of my challenges is when I get tired, I seem to crave the bad carbs and make poor choices. I'm working on that!

Steph; I hope that all is going well with getting those lbs off. You are doing great.

Pishposh; I say reward yourself! You deserve it!

Chip: You sound like the rest of us entering maintenance, trying to figure out what works. You are maintaining which is great. I too feel yucky after too many bad carbs, thats one thing I really liked about IP, you are aware at how those bad foods made you feel

Hi Maile; are you still in Hawaii? I hope all is well.

Its great to read your posts and it helps me keep on keeping on! Have a good day all you maintainers out there!

Hello ladies!

Eve - how did your presentation go? You are very brave to share your story and I'm sure people will take whatever they need from hearing your experience. you are in a unique spot having experienced such a huge loss and then get to work and support parents through their own grief journey. I think when we stop soothing our feelings with food we feel so much more. So even 4 years after it could still feel very intense as you aren't using food the same way. Whenever I say to my mom "I'm hungry" she says "what was you feeling"? She was a psychotherapist.

Liana- sounds like a polar bear dip this morning. Aqua fit is so much work. Good for you. Congrats on the food network show, I will look out for it. You look beautiful in the pictures you posted with your niece.

Chip- how are you doing in maintanance? It sounds like you are being very mindful and what you are eating. It does feel like a huge learning curve. I don't know if I have the right ratio 3:1 in my meals, I need to get better at posting, np but I go with what the scales says and that seems to work.

Pishposh- good for you for going at it slowly. Are you still losing in P2? P3 was just adding the breakfast so I'm sure your already looking at the breakfast thread. I never really went to P4 but have added in an extra snack and probably once a week have some carb like pasta or rice at dinner.

Hawaii- good for you for getting the 7lbs off. Hope things lossen up for you in the morning.

Slip- love the unfiltered kids, you can usually count on them too make you smile and laugh. The unfiltered adults, not so cute. Some people are so intrusive and just lack common courtesy. Hope the week is easier for you. Good job staying on top of your food plan.

Hi Steph, Maile, Ruth Anne, hope you ladies are doing well.

How is everyone feeling about Halloween? I'll be honest I love the Halloween candy. The only thing saving me this weekend is the 1/2 marathon Sunday morning and I don't want to sugar load. I will indulge in a few treats for one day next week and that'll be it.

Vegas was great, very relaxing. Saw 3 shows, worked out at a great gym, gambled for all of 15 minutes and managed to come out 60 head. The food choices at the Wynn were super healthy. I find it difficult to get enough veggies on the plane and super expensive. P1 it tomorrow and hope that that should do it.

Hi everyone,

Our parent conference night session was tonight, it was rescheduled after the power outage last week. Overall, I would say that it went well. Makes for a long day- school day, faculty meeting and parent conferences.

Pishposh, hope that your coach schedules phase 3 intro. for you. Congrats. on two more weeks.

Liana, that water sounds way too cold for me!

Hawaii, snow already!!! We are expecting a huge temp drop this weekend. I am not looking forward to it, at all!

Jenny, so glad that you had fun in Vegas. Halloween candy is okay for me because I do not have it in the house. In 12 years, not one child has come to the door Good luck with your run on Sunday!

Jenny, glad you had a great time in Vegas! I have continued to lose in P2. Scale registered 163.2 yesterday at my WI at the clinic but at home first thing in the morning I've been around 162.4. I'm hoping I'll get to an even 160 by P3 so I have 5 pounds of wiggle room.

Hey everyone!

Wow, thanks so much for the kind words of encouragement from you all....that meant a lot to me!

Jenny....Sounds like an awesome time in Vegas. I'm just a weeeeeeee bit jealous! You sound like you stayed on-track with your food amazingly. I am not as controlling with the ratios as I was when I first started maintenance. I keep my P3 breakfasts pretty close to what I have always done (though I may cut the grain carbs if I know I will be eating a heavier carb dinner meal). I pretty much only eat carbs from veggies or small amounts in dairy/nuts for lunch and then keep my fats way low for dinner as if I was doing P1 but just adding more carbs.

Slipfree......Your day sounded exhausting! We don't usually get a lot of trick or treating in our neighborhood (it's pretty small, and there are neighborhoods nearby that go ALL OUT), so we don't keep candy here either.

I did have a mini snickers from my son's early Halloween candy stash yesterday...and dutifully entered it into MFP! I was quite happy that it was only 43 calories!!!! I am a sucker for chocolate.....but I intend to keep myself accountable.

My talk with babylost women went REALLY well last night! I was really nervous as there ended up being a larger crowd than we had anticipated. But, it's really easy to talk about something that I have so much passion about! I got an amazing thank you email from the host when I got home that just lit me up! It's the first time I've done a large public talk about my own experience and only got choked up once (and that's ok....that's real...but I didn't want to blubber my way through the whole time, lol). I was just FURTHER inspired by the amazing women that I met who are all in different stages of dealing with their own losses....some as soon as just a month ago. It was also nice to discuss my weight loss journey as continued grief work. Jenny, I am fortunate that I haven't been overwhelmed with new feelings since I stopped using food as my only coping skill.....I just got into a terrible habit. Sometimes a cookie does seem to make the world feel better, but if that's ALL you have in your toolbox. There really aren't enough cookies, are they?

Scale was down again to 125 after a few up days, so I'm sure that my lower weights seem to be sticking. Now, off to up my calories again (have set my regular at 1600). I think we'll do 1650 next week. I am considering changing my ratios as I have a really hard time getting in 35% protein. I have a history of kidney stones, and am worried that maintaining too protein heavy may start giving me issues. Does any push their carb ratios to 35% or more? I would love advice from others!

Take care all! I have a busy day of helpign do leaf shirt painting at my son's school, work and then going to a Trunk or Treat at my church as my kid's BIG halloween outing this year. Ugh, I smell lots of candy in our house in my future!

Hi evemomma. Glad you had a successful talk the other night. re this: Does anyone push their carb ratios to 35% or more?
I have mine showing at 40% but I tend to ignore it. The way it shows on my diary is that the number of grams is 10% of the number of suggested calories for the day. Maybe I'm just having a confused day, but I almost always get the 40% fat and the 20% protein (too hard for me to eat much more than that, just yuk, unless it's cheese of course, lol) but I am almost all of the time quite short on the 40% carbs... so where the heck are the rest of the calories coming from???

I had a horribly rotten day yesterday... I had problems with my ADSL quitting several times - every time I went to update stuff on my open windows - so my food diary is incomplete from yesterday, I had difficulty sending out my emails, ordering for customers on my Avon site, updating here, etc. Coupled with my orthodontic consultation (which was NOT good news at all) and an upcoming dental bill of almost 2700 dollars - hoping it will help within 6 months - or it means special braces and joint surgery since the disc is bulging out of the R TMJ and the ligament will likely never return to its proper place. Doc suggested a sleep study, since sleep apnea has a huge affect on bruxism/clenching but that request will need to come from my MD.
Today Mom has an appointment to get her foot care done at the seniors centre in town, but I know it's going to be h*ll to get her out of jammies and dressed and the whole trip to town and getting into the building has me stressed since she is still hurting, and doesn't want to move at all. I can't convince her that it's the 'not moving' laying in bed or on the couch that is causing the stiffness & pain to continue. Poor Dad is also feeling at the end of his rope, too. I suggested that he should call the community nurse again because they really do need help right away, so she can get help bathing, bring in the foot care person, etc, since all these things are not happening right now.
I did fine on my menu yesterday, until after 9:30 when DH went to bed and I stayed up to read... I felt crazyhungry, so I had a sleepytime tea (which didn't work!) then ate the rest of the lowfat crap cheese, which was unsatisfying, then got into the Grana Padano Parmesan (REAL cheese), then ate some soft dried apricots, then ate a couple handfuls of dry cereal... by which time I was thoroughly disgusted with myself for caving on stuff I don't even particularly like much (dried apricots & cereal). I ended up going to bed at 1 am and up at 6:30 this morning. GI tract very unhappy this morning... don't know if I can stomach breakfast, but I somehow believe that may set me up for eating much later in the evening.
Care to weigh in on that thought, anyone???
We are on Citizens Patrol on the 31st, and training a newbie as well, plus there is a list of stuff to get done around here that has deadlines... Sorry to ramble, but it is rather cathartic.

Liana

Liana...

Thanks for your advice on how you do ratios. I have heard you and Ruth Ann mention that you use the ratios as guidelines but not as strangleholds. I'm such a rule-follower, that I tend to try to meet my ratios EXACTLY...but that often leads me to be too low in calories if I am just a little off. I might consider keeping my calories set the same and just upping my carb percentage and try to meet those closely for a week and then up my calories the next again. I do think that gradually upping my calories seems to be the way to go to keep my metabolism working.

It sounds like you had a ROUGH day yesterday. Big hugs!!!!!!! It is SO hard to be a caregiver to a parent....I really feel for you. Sounds like all that stress hit its tipping point last night. Maybe a true fun day/fun meal is order with foods you really DO love! You may need some extra pampering on the side....a mani/pedi or facial? Hang in there and remember to post here if you start to get that binge-feeling. We'll help you through!

Evemomma, looking back on MFP my carbs have been around 35% for my big two weeks of P4. It wouldn't hurt to test it though. I have had kidney stones. I even had surgery to break up a large one. My doc told me I didn't need to make dietary changes I just had to drink lots of water to keep the kidneys flushed. The protein helps with your muscle mass. Maybe look to some protein drinks or bars to get your numbers up instead of the meat that you don't enjoy.

I was holding on to .8 after my fun day on Saturday until this morning. I spent this morning rewatching my P4 videos and reading the sheet to help me figure out my meal. It sounds so easy but so many things are 1:1! And I am so happy to eat carrots again but those carbs near lunch throws off my ratios and if I add in more fats I have too many calories. I am so surprised by my self control and small appetite that has stayed with me.

Jenny- looks like there may be snow in store for us for Halloween. I have purchased candy that I don't like too much so should be able to resist. The last kid to arrive will get a huge bagful because I don't think anyone in the family wants what I bought!

Liana- sorry to hear you aren't having a great couple days. I find sometimes we do better by just eating what we really want rather than trying to fill the desire with things we can have. At least you recognize what happened. I hope your tummy feels better soon.

Liana needs a West Coast buddy! Unfortunately I'm sound asleep if she needs someone to talk her down from late night snacks.

My appetite has stayed very much in check with maintenance...sounds like yours has too!!!! You are doing great!

Brrrrr....keep those kiddos warm for Halloween!

I just posted this on another thread, but to get in the 141g of protein in line with my 35% ratio of 1600 calories, I need to eat 4-6 oz of greek yogurt at breakfast (not much of a meat person in the AM), 4 -6oz of meat at lunch, 4-6oz of meat at dinner, often nuts, AND an EAS shake daily AND a daily quest bar! That's a crazy lot of protein!!!!!! I hardly can make it up that high anyway, so my ratios are probably closer to 35% carbs anyway since I often hit near the top of my allowances there, fall short in protein and am pretty close in fat.

We'll keep experimenting!!!!

Liana- your day does sound like a crap one. You've got a lot going on with your own health plus supporting your mom and dad which takes up energy and is emotionally draining. I think you do the job of at least 4 people! I'm often amazed at your energy. I think you are doing a great job fingering out your food and no one is perfect so if you get de railed the odd night that's ok because you are so committed to your health and you get right back on track. I hope your folks are able to get in more support. For sure feel free to vent here whenever you need, we are all here for you as you are for us. Xo

Slip- I seem to recall from last Halloween you saying that your spared the temptation of Halloween candy, lucky you. I hope the parent conference went well, I always have empathy for the teachers on these extra long days.

Chip- snow?? I haven't looked yet but started thinking that I better look at the long range forecast for the run Sunday. I guess cold may be better than the rain we have had for the last two years. Thankfully my kids are small and tire quickly after walking up and down the steps to be out too long. keep up the great work in maintanance.

Eve- congratulations on the successful talk and getting such wonderful feedback. I love your comment about the cookies and there really aren't enough cookies to make it better. That was me prior to IP and is my continued personal work.
I can't help with ratios but you are doing a great job figuring out what works with your body. I need to look more at MFP and see what my totals are. I eat mostly the protein, the fats, and usually lower on carbs.
I'm doing another day of P1 maybe till fri. I'm also TOM or should be so this may not be the best time to get the added lbs off. The scale seems to be a little all over the place this week.

Jenny, good memory! No children ever come to trick or treat .

My very tired day today ended with a lost battle with a bag of caramel popcorn. I am determined to pick myself up, dust off and do a phase 1 day tomorrow.

I really want to enjoy my bday trip to Boston this weekend without guilt. Hopefully a couple of days will help with the scale.

What are your kids dressing up as?