I'm reading alot of maintainece entries and gain alot of information from all of you.... thanks. I have been on mainteince for about 10 days and am having alot of trouble with bloating and gas. To the point of being very uncomfortable today. Trying to decide if it might be gluten or dairy. Really the only gluten stuff I have added back in is the Kashi cereal I eat in the morning. The complex carb in the evening has varied, but nothing that should cause this.The dairy has been yogurt, soy milk or cottage cheese ....... I had all these on P3 so not sure why this week has been so bad. anyone else expereince this early into P4?

I seem to recall that poster Patns is both gluten and dairy intolerant, and had problems similiar to yours in maintence when she tried re-incorporating them. Hopefully she'll notice your post and chime in. I think I'm slightly intolerant to both, and am going to have to watch it quite carefully when I get to maintenance. I phased out prior to Christmas when I hit my original goal weight, and noticed more bloating and gas when I ate both. I'm back on P1 seeking to lose just a few more lbs.

The P4 Fat Rich/Carb Poor lunch is pretty easy for me to follow. Basically, 30-40g of Protein, as much veggies/salad as you want and a variety of things to get into 15-20g of fat -- cheese, nuts, coconut, salad dressing. The P4 Weekly Planner I have shows a P3 breakfast, Lunch as 4-7oz protein, 10-20g fat, plus veggies/lettuce and Dinner as 4-7oz protein, 7 oz complex carbs, fruit, plus veggies/lettuce. I never have figured out what 7 oz means (cooked? a cup of pasta? number of calories?) Also, sometimes it is the complex carb OR the fruit.
The quantity of carbs at dinner in terms of grams is what everyone has to play with the find the right amount. Very frustrating. You can also have up to three protein snacks, although some people will put fruit/yoghurt, nuts or protein bar/shake as a snack. I personally have been really struggling with dinner. Sometimes I just need to have some fat at dinner (maybe a tsp of oil or so), especially if the vegetarian protein source is very low fat.


I've been doing maintenance as a vegetarian, with an occasional piece of salmon (which I have given up for now. Something is weird with that farm-raised stuff.) I do find that I need to have the protein with dinner and lunch, although some of the original paperwork I got seemed to imply the protein at dinner was optional.

I use eggs, tofu, tempeh, seitan, edamame, black soy beans, Gardein products, Quorn products and Morningstar products for Lunch & Dinner proteins. You need to pay attention to the carbs as you want to keep the net carbs (carbs - fiber) at about 10g or less to 30g or 40g of protein, especially at lunch. You can be a little looser with it at dinner if it will count as part of your carb serving.

Hope that helps a little. Feel free to PM me if you want to go into further detail.
I don't have it all figured out (it's only been six months), and I am continuing to experiment with exercise, giving up IP products (sigh), and deciding on giving up artificial sweeteners/finding the occasional bar or shake substitute.

Great information, InfoPlease. Thank you! What type of dishes are you preparing with the black soybeans? How many carbs are you having at dinner also? I really want to add back in some bean dishes at dinner. I know I have to watch the fat there though. But most beans, as you know, are high in carbs. Thanks again!

That's actually a question I had - how do you classify beans in Maintenance? Yes they're high in carbs but also high in fiber, which offsets the carbs. Do they count as a carb or a protein?

Great question, Scorbett! I think, as a Vegetarian, I'll have to take total protein for all sources, to make sure I get the required amount. That's how I've done it in the past. So beans would be both protein and carbs. I think because they are so high in carbs (even with the fiber, except for Black Soybeans), they'd have to be considered a carb.

But that being said, I hope some maintainers chime in on the question.

I think beans would be both a carb and a protein..but would count them as the nightly carb. I made a felafel with black soy beans..tacos and chili also.

I am planning on making a cauliflower cake as an experiment. Does anyone know if almond flour or coconut would work as a substitute for wheat flour?

cb170/evepet Thanks for your input...I think that's what I'm going to do, it's just that people have to stop making me second guess myself LOL.

et al Reference Beans - I consider them a carb at night.

infoplease You have very informative posts, maybe your user name should be "providinginfo". I to am trying to draw away from the sweetners, it's difficult to not put them in my plain greek yogurt we'll see...it's a work in progress

Liz Know you're busy...let me know on your scorbet ok? I'm thinking a little experiment may be in order.

maile never tried using them to replace regular flour, I'm sure you'd be ok...if the cake turns out, let us know??

Thanks! I don't do beans often but I have a few favorite dishes that use either black beans or chickpeas. Plus I love hummus! (although now I'm addicted to cauliflower hummus!)

If you want to sub out either for whole wheat flour, you're going to need to add Xanthan gum or another "gluing" agent. It's also not a 1:1 substitution, you may have to play around with amounts to get the right consistency if you can't find an actual recipe using alternative flours. Generally the recommendation is to find an established recipe - baking is chemistry and the ratios of fats/moisture/starch/eggs has to be right ESPECIALLY with cakes.

Hi InfoPlease

I've been looking for alternative naturally sweetened high protein bars, low everything bars and some of these are really great. All natural, only 3-4 sugars and decent amount of fiber. All the specs are on the website so you and anyone else interested can see if this works for you. They are low glycemic index, vegan and gluten free.

http://www.thesimplybar.com/simply-b...er-15-bar-case

Maille, I was going to say something similiar. I've used almond meal and coconut floor, also flax meal and soy flour from time to time. But I always look for a non-gluten recipe for the type of product I want to make and follow it. It's difficult to know the proper ratios otherwise. And Xanthan gum or guar gum, depending on the product too. I do recall reading that coconut flour should generally only be used as 1/4 of the total flour amount. I think that's because it's extremely absorbent - I always have to add more liquid when I've used a flour mixture that contains coconut flour. Happy baking!

I've been on maintenance for almost 4 weeks now and things seem to be going well. I weigh myself every morning and I'm happy if I stay a pound or two below my goal weight.

I do find that I have a hard time adding carbs to the evening meal without also adding fat. Sometimes I just skip it altogether. Any suggestions on things to add to potatoes, rice, and pasta that don't include fat? Obviously my choices in the past were not good! I need to find some alternatives.

I just want to say "Congratulations on reaching maintenance!" Fortunately, I have not had these problems, so I'm not able to help you on this. Somewhere on one of these threads I read that we all have a bit of intolerance to gluten (and maybe dairy too), but once we give them up for several months and go back to them, they will cause some of us problems. Good luck

Ishbel - I too vote for the "parent" dance. Weddings are emotional in the best of times; to have a family-group dance would really turn on the tears, and I don't think that is how you will want to remember your reception down the road. You will want to remember it as a celebration of your new life. Yes, there will be a touch of melancholy and wistfulness, but that's ok. This is your & your VIPs day, so do what makes you happy.

Homemade kefir is wonderful! I used to make it pre-IP and found it gave me such energy. I tried to use raw goat milk but that was hard to find. You can also make your own cheeses from the whey but I never did that. Not sure what the local ordinances allow where you are - raw milk of any kind is not allowed to be sold where I am now .

Re coconut flour, I plan on buying Julian Bakery's paleo coconut bread when I get to maintenance. Maybe they ship to Canada? They have many specialty breads - dairy free, gluten free, sprouted, etc.