Maintenance How are you?

It will be a year on maintenance for me very soon and to be honest the only hard part for me is still to remember I am NOT eating to loose weight anymore....

Mondays are the worst ..because like half the world I always used that as my "start day" for a diet.....

I find myself on Monday morning still wanting to say .."ok time to start buckling down"

well I have been buckled in nicely for a year now

I eat well 94.3% of the time ...find if I take primrose and L-glutamine I do not get cravings around TOM...have pretty much found my trigger foods...

I do not keep track unless I feel like I am eating too much
I will use fitday for a week and it helps me be accountable...

I drink tons of water every day and miss it if I get busy and don't....

I do NOT eat peanuts or peanut butter because it is a trigger food and I will eat an entire jar and end up sick if I do test my limits....and I have ...

I have not ever fallen off the wagon since I restarted in October of 04

I think The Atkins plan is a good solid healthy one to live on if you use common sense and eat a huge variety of fresh foods and not just one over and over again...

I also have really nice friends who pull me along when I feel in a slump and I try to do the same for them....

my newest thing is to try to get more exercise than just working on my house and in the yard....my body seems to have "bounced back" visually but some defining and strength would be nice....


ok enough about me ...please if you are out there tell me about you?
how are you doing???

[2big4mysize]

I'll be maintaing 2 yrs in May.

I too know my trigger foods and avoid then as the good doc says we have too. he called it an addiction and was so right.

I know what you mean about the feeling like yo should be doing a weight loss thing. it is tough to realize I'm there for good and the higher rung foods are my friend. Some times I even feel guilty eating them. for the first time I understand that phase sinfully delicious.

Water is my preferred beverage now and not DC as it was before Atkins.

I love exercising and really miss it when Mother has issues and I can't go.

[ttdriver]

Wow, Heidi, GREAT JOB!!!! WOOT WOOT!!

My maintenance is easy .. I just eat right and run my butt off.

Betty

[sallyseachange]

Good for all of you 'long-termers'! You are all awesome!

I'm still fairly new to maintenance (about 6 months in), so I still religiously record everything in Fitday. Haven't the confidence yet, to drop that. Still weigh regularly too.

The hardest thing for me is to 'eat to satisfy my hunger'. I know I still could overeat easily, and I avoid it by planning around daily calories and carbs. I know I should be able to recognise when I'm full by now...but still... when I'm eating I just can't recognise that full feeling. Could always eat more. Waiting 20 mins doesn't help either. For me... it takes about an hour and a half for the 'satisfied' feeling to kick in. Don't know why.

For the rest, am happy as a bug in a rug about my weight loss, and happy with the way I'm eating (choicewise). It does all still take work though. Working on trying to enjoy the exercise more, and do that religiously too.

Absolutely determined not to fall behind. Am just too, too, too, too happy with my new healthy slim body!

This board is an enormous help too. So many cool people!

Sal

[californiacasey]

Congrats to you and a question......

Your goal weight was 120, but your current weight is 105.....did you surpass your goal weight or are you trying to gain 15 lbs?

[sadie147]

I reached goal mid Dec 2004. so about 14 months for me. Maintaining was really easy for the first few months (i even went 2lbs below goal at one point!) Struggled with a small gain this past summer but have got control and I think I have managed to find a good balance.

I do have trigger foods to and they are also peanuts and peanut butter for me. I know i have to stop buying p. butter, but i keep doing it LOL. I just make sure i don't have more than 2 tbsns in a day. I think this will be my last jar. I seem to have no issues with almonds or pecans, so I should probably snack on those.

march 11th will be my 2 yr anniversary on this WOE. I can't believe it it's been so easy! I could have never stayed on any other plan i've tried for nearly this long.


My biggest issue is keeping up the exercise..the few months i managed to easily maintain i exercised regularily. When I stopped I gained. I just started again, and now know i have to keep at it.

I'm now trying to convince myself to add alot more higher rung foods to my diet. I'm going to try legumes, and some high fibre breads. I have to get over my phobias!

Originally Posted by californiacasey

Congrats to you and a question......

Your goal weight was 120, but your current weight is 105.....did you surpass your goal weight or are you trying to gain 15 lbs?

great question ..I am actually smaller than I thought! seriously I always thought I was "big boned and short" well ...I was actually a pretty tiny person under the layers.....and had no clue because I never checked it out by loosing what I needed to... ...when I came to the date I set to reach my goal and stop loosing I still felt like I had more weight that I should at 120 ...so a friend told me to to stop and call it good and that I may loose more weight just finishing the last few rungs I had on the ladder...well I did and it seems I have settled in between 105-110 depending on what tom it is.....

Sadie I never knew the grip a food could have on me until peanut butter ..it is unreal!!!! I love it but can not buy it anymore...

also I did not realize we hit goal about the same time whoooooooo hoooooo

oh and one thing ...I can eat bananas/plantains with no problem
it took me forever to add them because I thought they were starch bombs...but surprisingly not a problem ...no trigger ...so it has reduced my need to use any sweeteners in baking and things....

honestly ...I love to eat like this...

you could not have convinced me 3 years ago this was the answer ..but today ...I do not count anything unless I feel weak and have gone to the high end of my 105-110 limit.. I just seem to feel like I know what to eat....

it is just the whole "I need to loose wt" creeps in ..then I slip on the size 4's and look in the mirror....with out the "fat googles"

it is not easy ...but if I can do it ..anyone can ..I swear..I am not a person with all that much resolve in life to be honest...

Sal I know what you mean when you say you are "too too happy" it is amazing ....to feel this good about the way you look and feel ..I just wish I could sprinkle fairy dust on everyone on this board and they resolve would happen ....
I do not know what to tell people except if you do it right ...eat a huge variety of fresh foods ...learn to cook, learn to eat well, drink water and move your asss you will be fine you can not do anything but loose

[ttdriver]

I do not know what to tell people except if you do it right ...eat a huge variety of fresh foods ...learn to cook, learn to eat well, drink water and move your asss you will be fine you can not do anything but loose

WOOT WOOT!!

Betty