Maintenance chat

[FleshEmoji]

I've lost 2.5 stone this year and am getting to the part I always get wrong - maintenance. Anyone to join me in sharing tips and just generally chatting about maintaining?

I've still got some of my Cambridge diet packs left, so at the moment I'm having days off (usually the weekend) and then doing 3-4 fast days (600 cals) to balance it. I really need to start adding more real food on those fast days, so I need some recipe ideas, especially for dinner - 300-400 cals.

Good point bubbly. It's not realistic or mentally healthy to stick to a strick & restictive diet for the rest if one's life - just need to find that balance!

Today was OK I think
B - protein bar
L - Nandos quinoa salad with halumi
D - reduced fat cheese ravioli & loads of veg
Snacked on apples & 2 advent calendar chocs (was due some back pay!).

I hope no one minds me blethering on here. It's really helping to keep me focused.

Up a lb this morning which I'm sure is a result of the last few days rather than yesterday.

Plan for today:
Protein shake for breakfast
Lunch and dinner at work.
Snack on apples and my advent calendar choc but NO snacking once home for the evening.

Every time I look at a biscuit I need to repeat "I look good, I feel good, why would I fuck that up?!"

Hope everyone else is doing well x

Oh and another thing that has occurred to me: I've started having loads of milky tea at work (cut right back on dairy while dieting). I don't think it agrees with me so herbal tea from now on.

Noooo! Stuck to the plan yesterday yet still up half a lb which put me just over my "happy weight". Need to do something about it ASAP but I have drinks after work tonight and then a celebration meal with my parents tomorrow, neither of which can be missed. Any thoughts on how to handle this?

The weight fluctuations are such a pain. I'm up this morning too. Ate more than I intended volume-wise yesterday, but was still OK for calories so putting it down to fluid shifts! They can easily make the difference of a couple of pounds and then vanish.

Am having a Skype session with Gillian Riley tonight to see what she comes up with. I'm also semi dreading lunch with friends on Sunday.

My approach is going to be to count on the fact that nobody really really cares too much what we eat, favour the veg with a few bits of the other stuff, put down fork to talk instead of just eating because it's there, plenty of water. Bethenny Frankel has this "taste everything, eat nothing" idea which almost sounds eating disordered, but basically means you have a little bit so you're not missing out, but you don't eat the whole thing just because it's in front of you and you can!

Oh wow - Skype session with Gillian Riley sounds ace. I'm a big fan if hers, as well as Kathryn Hanson. Let us know any pearls of wisdom she imparts!

Ate pretty well yesterday, and stuck to prosecco at the drinks, but still up another half pound today - arg! Fat % seems to have gone down though so maybe its mostly water

Just been for a 10k run and plan for today is:
Protein shake for breakfast (200 cal)
Protein bar for lunch (200 cal)
Dinner out with parents. Will indulge in fizz but skip dessert.

If I'm not back down again tomorrow then I think I'll have to bite the bullet and do a proper fast day..

On a similar note to "taste everything eat nothing" I also think its great to realise that its fine just to say "no thanks". No justification or explanation needed. With the exception of some specially prepared home cooked food, not one really cares.

@MoodyBox

It was really good! I feel a bit calmer. Main points were not to expect to totally plan my whole life in advance, but decide what I'm going to eat at those dinners before I actually start eating it and my limbic system takes over and wants me to eat, eat, eat! Learn to live with the addictive urge to keep going once you've stopped eating...it will pass. And "I can have it later if I want". It's not the last opportunity to have any of these foods. Don't get too hungry in anticipation etc... It was quite soothing. Will see if more comes to me.

Will have to put it into practice at lunch today. "Luckily" have had a touch of gastritis the past few days so genuinely bit cautious about what I eat at the moment. Good with dry food, protein bars etc but wary of anything that might irritate more. Was back down again this morning (inexplicably - haven't eaten any less) so don't want to bump it back up again.

Good luck with your dinner!

"On a similar note to "taste everything eat nothing" I also think its great to realise that its fine just to say "no thanks". No justification or explanation needed. With the exception of some specially prepared home cooked food, not one really cares."

Yes. This is brilliant.

Hi all - somehow my own thread got dropped from threads I'm on and I lost this!

Bubbly - glad the Gillian session was good. I went to one of her weekend courses, and it was pretty good, although she was ill, poor thing, and struggled a bit. She would have cancelled it had I not been flying over from abroad for it :-(

I had a night away in France, so two meals out - Sat night multi course thing and Sun lunch where I avoided the dessert trolley. (Yes, a dessert trolley - I thought that was an Italian thing!) I skip breakfast every day and events (looking at you Eurotunnel) conspired for me to skip lunch too on Sat. Weirdly I lost weight over the weekend and reached goal of 8st 7lb yesterday, but my fat percentage was up & I knew it was a blib, and am 1.4 lb up today so pretty much the same as last week.

Someone (sorry mid comment on mobile so can't look) mentioned daily weighing. I do that, because I think going blind to my weight is something I do, and then I look up from a huge vat of cheese and I've put a stone on and feel bad about myself and fat and eat even more. Withings scales are fab for this, trend lines, shaded areas for correct BMI, goal line drawn on, no need to keep a note anywhere.

Will read again from my desk so I can comment better on your posts.

That's fantastic, Flesh!!

I spoke too soon. Massive binge last night. So crap - haven't done anything like that in a long, long time. Started with stollen...which has been preying on my mind for weeks. Maybe all the ruminating, planning and mental effort of restriction caught up with me. Sigh.

Definitely more enthusiastic about daily weighing this time. Have previously done the same - denial until it was too late. I'm using notebook, but also True Weight app on iPod and a moving average spreadsheet.

Will look up TrueWeight - I use a moving average website on my computer but not on here (iPad).

My DH bough a mince pie the other night, sloshed cream all over it an ate it next to me when I was on a fast day. I was so hungry and the single spoon of it I had tasted like food crack.

Must admit Christmas is bugging me. I need my fast days to maintain, but we've got one day of downtime from this Friday till Jan 3rd - and then it's DH's birthday on 7th. I suspect a couple of weeks Cambridge or similar may be needed.

I'm going to try to be relatively low carb (no bread, minimal spuds and puds) and will definitely skip breakfast.

Anyone any other good tactics?

Weigh in after Christmas & 4 days stuffing my face (but walking masses) in Lisbon, and only 1lb on!!

Still going to do 4 fast days / no booze before DH's birthday on Saturday. I just feel I need to eat more veg and fewer carbs.