Well, as much as I'd like to think I am handling stress well - Im just not.
Im not over eating, not binging, not making 'horrible' (yes I did the finger quotes there) choices but they obviously aren't the best choices either.
I can't say I'm in a plateau because honestly, I haven't put my all into what I need to for the last few weeks easy.

I'm wondering if it's a good idea for me to take a maintaining month so to speak.
Oddly enough, it's not the holidays that have me stressed, I did some baking the other day, the smell of all the sugar and butter turned me right off and that used to be the weakness for me.
All the planning I have to do to move in march, pretty much needs to be done in the next month. Shaun will be going to Haiti again as of Dec 27th, leaving no one to check on daycares, apartments, moving fees etc for January and February, when we had planned to get it all done. Slowly, but get it all done.
Now, i'm heading that way on friday for a whole 3 1/2 days to get as much done as we possibly can, and whats left he'll have to try and finish up or I will from here. I also need to find out if I can take some classes via correspondance and audit them since I wont be making the february 1st registration cut off for March and will now be waiting until september to start school again.
It's making my head spin.
for 2 months I will be able to talk to him for maybe 15 minutes a week, if that. Feels like there is SO much to do, such a small amount of time to do it and then a big long black whole of the waiting game . . . . I hate waiting.

Is it a bad idea to take a month and maintain where I'm at, not focus on loosing just holding steady and not gaining over this month?
Once January hits, I'll have nothing else occupying my head, my energy and my time. I can get into a routine WHILE i sit around and play that oh so fun waiting game.

Any input, opinions, experience would be great on this one . . Im really at a loss right now.

Thanks

With as much work as you've done, heck yes! And as a bonus, I wouldn't be surprised if that helped you lose faster in the long run. My friend's medically supervised diet is a program of 12 weeks on and then 6 weeks "off" or maintenance. I think it's very sound.

You've got a lot on your plate right now. Not that weight loss can't be accomplished through stress!! I don't want anyone else to read that. But given how much success you have already had...in YOUR particular case...heck yeah.

At first I thought yes, then I thought no, then I thought maybe.

I think a maintenance month is a great idea. It is one of my anxieties that I know how to overeat, I know how to diet but I don't know how to maintain.
So if you were working at maintaining, I think it sounds a great idea.

What it sounds like, though, is that you've got so much other stuff on your plate at the moment, you want some time off the added pressure of concentrating on your diet. I don't say that's wrong but it's not the same as maintaining. If, while your technically dieting, you're finding it hard to make healthy choices, how will you cope without the framework of the diet? How will you know not to make worse and worse choices?

Now, just because I couldn't do it, doesn't mean you couldn't!! If you're sure that a month of not dieting won't send you forever back down the slippery slope, go for it. Or would it work to establish a maintenance number of calories and stick to that? It would still mean concentrating though, just within a higher budget.

That's the only 2 cents I've got!

I think it depends on the person. I decided to take like a maintenance "quarter." LOL I haven't calorie counted since Halloween. I told myself if I could keep off the weight I've lost through New Years I would consider it a victory and then get back to losing in January.

Guess what? I've lost five more pounds. It's not much in three months, but it's the first year in my whole life that I haven't gained over the holidays! So for me, taking the pressure off helped me a lot. In a few weeks I'm going to go back to hardcore counting and exercise, but the break has been good for my sanity.

I get where you're coming from, and I should have clarified.
I'm not using it as a free for all "Hey Im not counting calories, let me have that cheeseburger and large fries"
Absolutely not. My horrible choices are me passing on eating for some meals. I don't stress eat, I stress non eat
I know what sized portions I should be eating and of what with out having to think about it, and that has not changed.
going the way I have been the last few weeks Ive maintained with in a couple of pounds, but added stress and frustration of not calorie counting, not tracking my exercise . . . . I'm more wondering I think if it will help to not let it be a focus and source of more stress.

That's what I was trying to say . . . . thanks
I'm so tonguetied its ridiculous

LOL No problem. I can totally see the other points here, and I can totally see why doing this would be a DISASTER to other people. I still weigh every few days just to make sure I'm not going TOO far off track. But for the first month I gained and lost the same two pounds, and then the past six weeks I dropped five. Had I noticed myself losing too much ground, I would have ended my vacation early. LOL

I think it's a good idea... dieting is stressful to the body, and on top of a lot of other stresses, may not be a good idea. Better to maintain for a bit, as long as that is a conscious decision and not an excuse for a calorie-free-for-all than to get so stressed out that you "break" totally from good habits.

Hubby and I are doing a 12 week on, 2 week off kind of deal. We are approaching our first 2 weeks off. I am getting the feeling that I need it, because my losses have slowed a bit.

I hadn't thought about that, how SOME people think going into maintenance for a month is really code for eating the old way for a month. Coondocks, obviously that's not what you meant. True maintenance would be very much like what you are doing, but it would be a mental switch to being ok with the scale staying the same because that's your intent. But it would mean scheduled weigh ins and adjusting the calories/workouts to make sure the weight isn't going up. And unlike true maintenance, if the weight goes down, well yippee!

Hey, I actually do cycles of a month of lower calories (1200-1500) followed by 2 weeks of maintenance, and haven't had any problems. But, and I'm sure you know this, maintenance isn't a true break, and has its own issues that it brings.

If what you have been doing the past few weeks has kept you level, then it probably won't be a big deal if you keep doing that. BUT, you still need to be making mostly good choices and doing what you can not to overeat.

Most importantly, you need to keep weighing. During my two week maintenance period, I weigh several times a week instead of just once. You have to keep yourself accountable to actually maintaining your weight. I would suggest that before you start, decide a high weight, that if you reach, you will switch back to dieting until you lose it. I do three lbs, which is within my normal fluctuations due to water and such. Otherwise, I think it could be really easy for a 'maintenance' month to become a 10 or so pound gain month. I mean, it might not be an issue at all, and I've never had to switch back to the diet in the middle due to gaining, but I think having that red line, as well as a plan for dealing with it if you should reach it, might take some pressure off.

I've done it before - my work goes in regular six month cycles and as the deadline approaches I can get a bit stressed out and not have time or energy for non-work projects that take a lot of focus.

So, the last time that deadline rolled around, I took about a two-month break. I tried to keep up all the habits of making good food choices that I had developed over the previous months, but I did not count calories, and I did not go to the gym.

I guess it worked okay. I did gain a couple of pounds (a couple more than I could honestly call a random fluctuation), but as soon as my deadline had passed - really the very next day - I picked up the calorie counting again, went back to the gym, and haven't looked back.

Even though it worked okay, the deadline has rolled around again - it's in three weeks - and this time I decided not to take the break. I just feel like I need to learn to deal with the regular stress of work and not use it as an excuse to drop the work of taking care of myself.

In short, it's a very personal decision, and the only way to know whether it will work for you is to try it. It's very important, though, that the cause of your stress be a finite, defined thing that will end. Like in my case, I had the deadline, and a solemn promise to myself not to let the slacking off last a minute past the deadline. You have to have a specific date in mind when you will be ready to start up again, and you have to execute when that date rolls around. If not, I think you risk setting yourself up for indefinite procrastinating - "oh, work is still stressful, I'll start up again next week."

Very true, and I agree completely there.
December 27th. Once that day rolls around the 'rush' of all that needs to get accomplished is done, there's not much else I can do after that point on my own with regards to all this except the random thing here and there.
I'm honestly looking forward to that day. I'll be concerned for him, of course, but at that point it's like the flood of rush rush rush is done and I can be back to my focus being on me, not on 'get as much done as fast as you can'

I really appreciate all the input, i've stayed with in the 176-178 range, if I hit 180 I know I've let it slide too much and have to redirect my focus. I've only weighed in 2 times a week, but it stays in that range.

Only 20 more days . . . not quite a month . . . . I miss my de-cluttered head.

I did a maintenance month this summer. It was great to see that I could stay at one healthy normal weight!

The thing that totally sucked is that my plateau came right after the maintenance month... which meant I had 3 months of "maintenance" when I was only planning on one. Which isn't that big of a deal, it's not a race. But I kept thinking, ugh, why didn't I keep losing when I was losing and let the plateau/maintenance come on it's own?!!!

Sure why not- I've done it- and now I'm going to restart again but I'm going to be going on Medifast to really kick things up- I get my first package this week and I'm excited to start q

Carter, what was the loss like when you got back on plan? Did you have a nice big whoosh? A noticeable easier time with the scale? Had you been stuck prior to taking a break?