chickadee-that is awesome you'll be testing for your yellow...and Tae Kwon do has to be an amazing workout for the body and mind!

Leo, that sounds like a great cocktail! i mixed my Roadside lemonade w/ some vodka the other night -very good! i'm not gaining when i drink vodka especially when i mix w/ a HNS! the Center would die if i told them that's what the HNSs are good for. haha i slipped and told them this summer i mixed the pink lemonade HNS w/ tequila and 10 cal. margarita mix - the counselor was like no, no, no! i lost 2.5 lbs on vacation! i put my cocktail in a shaker blender bottle and drank at the beach daily! the good thing about walking on the beach in the summer is i could just run in the ocean and pee (TMI!!!) and even riding our bikes when we are camping there are alot of bathhouses in the campground!
the changes sound great! i eat cottage cheese or greek yogurt usually for lunch and sometimes dinner. usually do eggs or cheese toast for b-fast. i hate to cook so grabbing some nuts for protein is a great choice! thks for sharing.

Went out last night for dinner at a Japanese buffet place. we go there alot and surprisingly enough easy to make choices. they have sushi, lots of veggies, chicken, beef, fish. i always have the hot and sour soup w/ green onions.. my DH piles his plate w/ fried rice and noodles and i look over and say "Carbs are the " he starts laughing! he's a Chef so on his feet 10 hours daily so carbs aren't going to hurt him but i swear i can look at them and gain. was at a networking event and grabbed a sandwich and automatically pick the meat out and leave the bread. not even thinking about it - woo hoo!
we are still going back and forth to visit FIL at the hospital which is 3 hour round trip so have been eating out more but trying to make healthy choices. haven't lost, but haven't gained so that's good. taking some cut up veggies w/ me and blending up a chocolate truffle protein drink to go for the trip today - i like to go w/ my DH to keep him awake - long drive! and also cheer up my FIL. he says the kleenex are rough so we had to get him kleenex w/ aloe and then he said the furniture is uncomfortable and built backwards! the nurse told him that he didn't build the furniture and he's like well, that's a really poor attitude. haha! they will be glad when he leaves -i'm sure!

Hi Patzi

I need to be careful with that oatmeal bake!! Very good...and a temptation. I already messed up if I should have cut out all bread for the day yesterday! I didn't Well, I know now.

I justed did your recipe with some blueberries/strawberries. It was very good...I sprayed a bit of butter with splenda on top while hot and liked that! I also dribbled some Walden Farms chocolate on a piece and that was great too!

I bought some fat free/sugar free butterscotch pudding to mix with my greek yogurt! It is yummy! Great idea!

You are so creative! I am working on that...lol

You know? I am getting overwhelmed a bit with all of the variety now available to me. I look at my journal and have a place now for each meal to add dairy, bread, protein, fruit, vegetables, etc...and think I need to fill ALL of them in everytime, even if I am full. I think the variety is great, but it isn't necessary for me to make sure I have the full portion of each item, right?

I am really an "all or nothing" type personality, which is why the strictness of this diet has worked for me. But now that I can introduce so much back in, I am having a hard time knowing when to say WHEN to myself. I suppose if the scale moves in the wrong direction...then it is time to re-evaluate what I am doing. It is like a child with all new toys at Christmas...what to play with first and for how long before you jump to the next one?! Maintenance isn't easy, is it??...a different kind of challenge for sure. When we give Tami more freedom with food, it has a tendency to equal disaster...especially when her friends offer such wonderful new recipes to try!!!! hahaha I have actually been eating when I am full the last couple of days because I can (allowed to)!!! How messed up is that!!!! .....Thanks for letting me vent You continue to be a great inspiration for me and all of us, Patzi!

Just awesome chickeadee..

tami.... Baked oatmeal and additional bread does not work with me, however, experiment with it, and see what happens..You may be ok with it.

You don't have to add anything in if you don't want to.. Maintenance is a freedom to do what is good for you...

This week I experimented with a candy bar..Mercy me..Just one, honest.. I will see what happens on weigh in.. I gained 1 pound day after, but went one day on green menu then back to maintenance so we shall see.

I think y'all know if on maintenance if you have an alcoholic drink, let go of a fruit..


Patzi

Helloooo there. Well, my butt is kicked now, thank you very much. It's been water, water, water.... and I got 2 of the 3 off again. So here's the info i got on stabilization today: it seems really gradual, which is good. We talked about how very carb-sensitive I obvously am and how I will always have to watch and monitor. (like patzi does) for the next two weeks, I am just supposed to add one starch every other day. The servings are more like 80 calories than 40, however. And there are more choices. Most people get to add something else after the first week, but because I had this little carb-fest last week (ouch, my butt is starting to hurt now), she wants me to do it for two. She says if i really follow it I will still lose some.

Also she said that the people who struggle the most are ones who never quite get to their goal because the little ups and downs feel more like failures to them and they get so much more discouraged. I thought of patzi again, going BELOW goal so she had room for those ups and downs.

We also discussed my scale aversion. She said I should not avoid it after a high cal/carb event but rather use it to motivate me to get right back on. I keep learning that but forgetting...

she thinks I can lose the last 7 even while adding things back. Also must focus more on exercise. I say I'm too busy but then I thought if the President of the United States can make time every day, then surely Ii can.

excuse me now, I have to go pee.

Camaswa - that sounds great and good job on losing the two pounds!
Good advice but in my case i hated the lectures when i knew i'd gain so i would not weigh in after a high carb meal..gave them an opportunity to push supplements on me! but my center sucks and you guys seem to have great counselors w/ good advice. another reason i love these boards!
we went to visit FIL and on the way up had to stop and pee (hour and half trip to hospital) then rushed in the hospital to pee, etc, etc.! drank three HNSs before 1pm today since i knew we'd be out of town. had salad and lean sirloin at a restaurant tonight.. Taking MIL to lunch tomorrow at Applebees...i guess i'll get the grilled chicken salad...
can't remember the last time we've eaten dinner at the house! maybe 3 weeks ago? have been munching on cukes and celery for my veggies during the day and eating salads out w/ lean protein...
ok, chilling w/ my DH and pups watching a movie Hangover II! i'll prob. be asleep in 15 minutes!

Alright, Camaswa. Are you starting on stabilization this week or at the end of the month?

After forgetting my breakfast yesterday I've also been off today (not getting enough protein). But I don't want to "make up for it" at the end of the day. Need to spend time cooking up some chicken tomorrow! Bought some cute new workout gear today. I put on one of my pairs of workout capris today and they were so big it was funny. I walked into the living room and said "think I need new pants??" I figure I could get away with a little baggy workout gear, but if I would have run they would have fallen off. So I'm slowly adding to my collection (seriously, if I got rid of all the clothes that were too big and gave back the clothes I was borrowing, I would have almost no clothing). The workout shirt I got says "Strong in the new beautiful." Love it! My motto going forward.

Gina, i was laughing about you leaving your breakfast in the microwave! i've done that before and was like why am i so hungry!!?
headed out later to stock up on some grapefruit (love w/ splenda and cinnamon) and frozen strawberries, raspberries..... i mix w/ my HNSs - yum! or defrost in microwave and add some splenda or a small dollop of lite cool whip for dessert.

it's freezing this am in sunny South Carolina - low 40s! We had to cut the heat on and now i need to find a winter coat to wear! glad we covered up our key lime tree last night.

was going to stroll on the waterfront park w/ the MIL but may be a bit chilly - may do some retail therapy instead and check out some of the clearance racks for some new stuff.

cutting up veggies later today for the week and boiling some eggs and may have to get the crock pot out and throw some chicken in there and make some homemade ckn veggie soup - supposed to be cold all week! have a great Sunday everyone. i started the day out w/ protein hot cocoa mixed w/ coffee....yum!

I have been away for the pasted couple days battling flu like symptoms. Today I feel better. I missed my WI on Friday due to the illness. Thanks for the encouragement! You guys are a GREAT support system. I feel like I'm back to myself now or at least very close to it. I'm going to attempt to make pizza for lunch today. We will see how it turns out. I'm using the recipe from the cookbook for the crust and going on my own from there. Hopefully the family will like it.

For those on maintenance I put a recipe called Breakfast Cookies that I enjoy when I hit maintenance as a snack.

I will post the Turkey Pesto Meatloaf recipe on there , also. Have not done as of yet. That recipe is for maintenance .

Both recipes are in the recipe section .

Patzi

I told you how I add SF/FF pudding to Greek yogurt , & Tami tried it and liked it.. Today I took some fat free Greek yogurt, added a small amt. of sf/ff jello powder and some stevia, a spash of soy milk to make a nice smooth pudding texture and it is delicious... I used lemon today.

Patzi

Great idea Patzi! i have every flavor you can think of in my pantry of jello...my fave is lemon and cherry. i do have some FF SF chocolate pudding mix i was going to try w/ the greek yogurt. i have made the cherry jello the regular way w/ water and then poured in the blender w/ 4 oz non fat greek yogurt, chilled, then added some cherries to it. very good! i used the sugar free cherry pie filling (it's 35 cal. a serving) i didn't have any fresh cherries or frozen which would have been better so i actually rinsed the canned cherries and added.

i like your suggestion of putting some of the jello mix in individual servings of the greek yogurt. Everyone please keep sharing! really keeps me on this plan.

just had a choc. truffle HNS with frozen strawberries blended in my single serve blender - tastes just like a milkshake - yum!

cutting up (well my DH is) a huge salad and putting in a tupperware container so i can just throw in a bowl every day this week (2 salads a day). This girl is going to see the 160s by Friday and i mean it!!!!!! tired of playing around 170...

You can do it, bigdog!! I like adding an HNS (concentrate) in greek yogurt. Tried regular protein powder and that was gross. Pomengranite or kiwi melon concentrate, delish! Making some turkey burgers for the week to get a break from so much chicken. Today I thought "2 more weeks, you can do this." Not sure exactly what day I'll switch to stabilization, so it may be a little more or a little less.

ok, just mixed the SF FF chocolate pudding mix with 2 cups of Non fat Greek Yogurt and 1/4 cup left over coffee. tastes just like Cheesecake!!!! served in a wineglass.

Patzi, when you are mixing the jello pudding mix w/ the Greek Yogurt, do you use 2 cups? it is a little thick and i could have probably added a little water or more lite coffee (1/2 the caffeine)...

i bet the french vanilla pudding mix would be great w/ some strawberries and greek yogurt - that would really be like cheesecake :-)

Morning all and welcome to a new week. Started the day off with my monotonous breakfast (that I love) and then a great power circuit workout with Jackie Warner. The past 4 weeks my weight loss has slowed due to switching plans but also working out more and I can tell I'm building my muscle back...and the inches around my body show it. The size 12's I borrowed just a few week ago are starting to be too big. I am really happy with where I am and even if I don't ever see 150, I'll be happy to stay here. Upper 150's may suit me just fine. Taking my body fat% sometime this week at work so will let you all know what changes in muscle mass I've had. (The first 2 months when I'd lost a little over 20 lbs, 7 pounds of it had been muscle from not working out/the low calories).