I did my Fat-secret assignment. It was a good week. 320 minutes of exercise, stayed on plan, lost 3.5#.

I found that it took about 6 months for me to notice that my hair was back to normal, hoping it will be faster for you.

Hi Everyone, it has been a while... man the summer went by fast and I am trying to soak in the warmth to store up for a long cold winter. I am so sad I can't read this site at work anymore.. so with my schedule after work it has been hard to keep up. I really miss you and need to get back as I know I have gained a little and need to get back to it. I must say though I have accomplished a few things I haven't done before. Ran a 5 k for Run for the Rescue (HART, humane Animal rescue team) with my 16 year old nephew and then two weeks later ran the 10 K for Terry Fox Cancer Run. and am scheduled to do another 5 k at the end of October. So have been busy running while it is still a little warm.

I know some of you liked my Red dog stories, I have another. I had a dog agility trial this weekend so on Friday I decided I would to a quick run around the off leash... oh boy was I mistaken. Here we start and Rebel runs off to an area where there wasn't a puddle all year long, but low and behold there is one now 2 feet deep thick slimy smelly mud. I yell at her to come on and she stays at the puddle... hmmm yep she lost another ball in a puddle. this time was different she wouldn't leave the hole. so here I am standing around this puddle digging with a stick trying to find a ball and here she is jumping in the puddle every once in a while to "help" and fo course there was lots of splashing on me on my clothes in my hair, mud every where. The most amazing thing though is she if put her head in the smelly mess up past her eyes... she won't even do that in water. finally I found a lump that looked like a ball and pointed it to her and she grabbed it and off she ran... I had to stop her as there was mud in her eyes and they were getting stuck... we looked a sight.. And while we were busy at the puddle my other dog was running around in the trees and every once in a while would yelp... she gets scared easy...
From the sounds of it you all are still doing well, I can't believe I am almost a year in maintenance and even though I am not doing as well as some of you I am a work in progress. Am hoping for a mild winter so I can continue to run with the girls at the off leash with the girls they really like it.

Have a great week, hope I can return this week to keep up with you all

2ride: That dog story was funny. In Hawaii dogs will go underwater looking for a toy. Your running is amazing. I am sorry you cannot get this forum at work anymore. Great job on heading towards one year of maintenance in your won way.
Locopollo: congrats on losing 3 pounds!!!

I have increased my weights on ST and feel like I am developing more muscles. I am wondering if this willcause a weight increase.

I watch college and nfl football. My team won last night.

Hi - I have compiled a list of questions to ask my coach at my P4 kick off meeting tomorrow. I was wondering if anyone had any I should add?

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A lot of questions on calories:
a. What is my daily calorie goal? Should I target the “Daily Calorie Intake”, the “Basal Metabolic Rate” or somewhere in between?
b. Assuming I stay at this target every day (in a perfect world) is it possible to gain weight? How?
c. Does regular exercise affect the caloric target? How? (or why not?)
d. If you find yourself UNDER your calorie goal but at protein and vegetable guidelines, what should you do? Make up the difference? And with what?

Besides calories, what are the targets for:
a. Protein
b. Fats
c. Net Carbohydrates (less fiber)
d. Vegetables

Is any food now “Restricted” or “Not Allowed”?

What are the maintenance vitamin/supplement recommendations?

How do I manage simple carbohydrates? For example, honey in my tea? (Can ‘empty calories’ like this supplement an “under calorie” day, if all other requirements for protein, etc. are met?)

I anticipate mornings where I will be making yogurt shakes for breakfast. Can you recommend a protein powder? Or should I avoid them?

I understand that Fun Day is followed by a P1 day. Questions:
a. Does this P1 day require packets? Or just a minimum of carbs (<40 grams) on those days?
b. What are the OTHER requirements for that P1 day? Fat? Protein?

Long term:
a. What does ‘life’ look like? The last 5 months have been totally self-absorbed around food. How do I make this all routine?
b. What is common practice for maintaining? Should I expect a Phase 1 Reboot once or twice a year? What are most people doing long term?
c. When do people start to experience problems?
d. What are the triggers for going off the wagon?
e. At what ‘weight gain’ should I go P1?
f. What does the reboot look like?
i. 10. Vacationing – how do you manage that? For example, (DH and I lost a combined 150 pounds and we promised ourselves a dream vacation when done) we are planning a Mediterranean cruise next year. Assuming we go into the vacation at goal weight, how would you suggest we manage it? Just plan on P1 for a couple of weeks after? (harder to watch the carbs in Italy!)

Maddie, I would love to hear the answers!

Unless your coach has been doing this for a long time I will be suprised of she can really answer many of your questions. My coach knows a lot about ip, but maintenance seems so vastly different for everyone that she struggles with each individual case. It seems so much focus of their ip training is with phase 1.

I look forward to hearing what she says!

I have sent her the questions ahead of time - I will definitely share the responses. I am bringing my ipad to type them!

One comment-there are lots of examples of vacationing and then phase 1 ing after.

The length of phase 1 really seems more dependent on the length of the vacation. A longer vacation, ie 2 weeks or more, may require 4-6 weeks to truly get back to goal weight.

Weekend vacations seem much easier to correct!

A cruise sounds great! We did the Spain/France/Italy/Malta cruise a few years back. Loved it!

Hey maintainers! Like 2ride, my schedule was in complete upheaval and I can no longer check 3FC at work. I am in reboot mode, day 2. The summer held a lot of fun times and traveling and I am pretty far above where I feel comfortable. So I am sucking it up and am on P1 for however long it takes to get back to at least goal. Better to get it done before the holidays because I certainly don't want to be adding on to this!

I am yet Another one who has lost 3FC at work! Lol...I am going through withdrawal and painfully behind posts! Today was an afternoon of errands and running around...got so pooped out I missed my weightlifting today! I am heading down to College Station to watch the Aggies play Arkansas this weekend with my old roomie, i am Texas A&M Class of 1996. Staying over Friday night (game Saturday), no kids, no spouses...ugh...I feel a cheat night coming on!

Hey all - I am on day 5 of phase1, deep into ketosis, cravings very minimal and feeling much less bloated. I have to do this - I cannot bear the thought of gaining more weight and want to get back down to wearing a comfortable size 10 pants. The holidays are where I started getting derailed last year and so am hoping to get back down to where I want to be and avoid the sinful sugar over the holidays- just not worth it! Hope all the old timers are doing well- don't know if some even check in anymore- I know Darbs does-a shout out to cap, pixtlkitty, itsabouttime. Hi to Maile and Ishbel. Good to see jenny doodle back as well!

maddiefoofoo, how was your meeting with your coach?

Sorry about that mom2cs.....but you know not 'really' lol! I finally FINALLY get to go to my first actual game this season! I get three games a season and had to give one set away...CANNOT WAIT!

Determined hey there! Welcome back! I like saying 'git 'r dun!' I'll even say it in real life while typing it

jenny hey Jenny! Welcome back to you too!

cap where are you?????

busymom Awesome surgery thread! How great was that, that you could say 'no thanks' to the nurse when they called you for gastric surgery! That's a massive NSV!

2ride that was a very funny story, to bad you didn't have anyone taking pictures!

So speaking of pets, I didn't update you guys on OPERATION SLIM CAT. They have both lost a collective 2 lbs, very happy with that! And it didn't turn into OPERATION SPITE CAT. lol

They are both loving the new food and it took them less then a week to figure out the new routine, I have woken up with my face on the side of the bed to a cat on her hind legs her front paws on the side of the bed and her eyes in my face with a quick 'meow' as she knows she gets the good food then.

I was, at first, quite disappointed to hear that the woman i made the appt with (a Nurse practitioner and the founder of the clinic) would not be there and i would be working with a different coach. I am not of the opinion that all coaches are the same.

The sessions with the alternative coach was better than i anticipated and MOST of my questions were answered. I'll fill out the answers and post them later today I hope for all to share. Some questions I'll be sending back for an answer!

Mostly:
I now target about 2050 calories a day, with 9 ounces of protein and no more than 10% of the calories coming from SUGAR (not carbs, but sugar.) This coach has never counted calories so couldn't give me an answer on percent of fat vs percent of carbs, etc. Kept stressing the food combinations (which makes sense, but i am going to follow up with the nurse on this one - for the first couple of weeks i want more information.) Calcium and a good multivitamin were suggested moving forward.

My hydration spiked and my fat mass went into 'underfat' - but i think i am in PMS and she counseled that if my hydration went down a bit the fat % would go up a bit. Kinda liked that my last official Tanita Readout said 'underfat', though. made me feel as if I wasn't cutting corners by not losing that last 4 pounds to my original goal weight.

Love that i can have a glass of red wine most nights! that is my drink anyway, and one glass is what I would have.

I'll type up my answers and post them ASAP, and will update those answers as i get more.

Madiefoofoo..Thanks for sharing your results.
Ihsbel: are your cats ready for maintenance?
Jenny: It was good to hear from you. I know the holidays are coming and it is a good time to stay focused.

I am off to a new gym.
So I still have not received my packet from the National WLR. Will it ever come?

Here are some of their results..
According to Thomas’ research compared with unsuccessful maintainers, these are the best predictors of keeping weight off:

• Longer duration of weight loss maintenance--more than two years
• More dietary consistency--low variety of food and lack of “splurge” meals at
weekends and holidays
• Less fast food consumption--once a week or less
• Less TV viewing--less than 10 hours a week compared to the US average of 28
• More frequent breakfast consumption
• Lower levels of depressive symptoms and dis-inhibited eating

Key behaviors associated with weight maintenance are:

• Activity levels of over 200 minutes per week (at least for women in the cited
study)
• High levels of dietary restraint, such as:
-Deliberately taking small helpings
-Avoiding certain foods
-Counting calories
• Having lower levels of depressive symptomology
• Controlling overeating

The authors also identify the following strategies as important for successful maintenance:

• Frequent meals and avoiding situations that encourage overeating
• Generally eating at home and preparing your own food--eating out less than
three times a week
• Self-monitoring--weighing once a week and tracking food