Maintenance Phase

Hi Lindyk - I've been maintaining 55 (give or take) kilos for a few years now, I was around the mid-70s to start with (I had no scales for a while when I started).

I'm active, both at my work and outside of work, and I do allow myself a good serve of carbs at breakfast. I have a mix made up of cranberries/pepitas/hazelnuts and almonds. I have two or three dessertspoons of this mix, with a couple of spoonfuls of the Vogels ultra bran or similar. Top with tinned apples, a little yoghurt like Forme or Nestle Solei and a generous sprinkle of cinnamon.

morning tea will be protein like cold lean meat or tinned sardines.

Lunch is still a CS shake or Atkins bar or similar, afernoon tea protein again. I do love my coffee and have the odd bickie - Paradise make nice lite cookies.

Dinner is masses of salad and whatever else the family is having but I dodge any carbs ie spud, pasta, rice, bread. I very rarely eat those things, now.

Lindyk are you exercising aswell? All in all your eating sounds right on the money - I'm quite basic and I know there are alot of people on this forum who are much better informed about what you may need to add or take out of your diet.

but this is what works for me. I love CS. I see no reason to stop just because I'm at the weight I'm happy with. CS is my 'security blanket' and I have no intention of letting it go lol!

Well done on your loss.

Cheers

Thanks for the reply Buddy1

First of all I have seen you on here quite a bit but have never known your story so first up big congrats on losing that much weight and also maintaining it for so long- well done!

The first time I did CS prior to having a baby I maintained it for 1 year but then slowly went back to bad eating habits. But now after baby I am back to where I want to be 50kgs.Which is good for my height- Im a shortie!

If Im not mistaken are you the person that swims like everyday?If so, from what I can remember reading you doing an enormous (well in my books anyway!) amount of excercise!

Thanks for the breakky idea however I am not a fan of nuts, youghurt and fruit all mixed up but it sure does sound healthy!For now might stick to yoghurt and fruit.

Im on mat leave right now so have the luxury of being able to make yummy salads but when I return to work I plan to have a shake for lunch instead.

I do dvd zumba at home about 3x's a week and go for long power walks (sometimes a light jog) once sometimes twice a week.

Im with you about the CS thing- I LOVE IT and also find it as a security blanket, was nevous to come off it this week but it has worked out very well so far. Also it makes life so much easier not worrying what your gonna have for breky or lunch!

Again thanks for you advice.

p/s Not sure if youve posted before but would love to see your before and now pics :)

HI LindyK

Top job getting the weight off!!!

Yeh I'm one of the swim nuts on this forum - Beccaslim is another. Had a 'quickie' this morning - only got 850m when we ran out of time and the squad kids needed the lane. So I owe myself another few hundred meters and will pop back to the pool at lunchtime or after work. Aqua is a tough workout too - lots of CSers will attest to that!

Good on you mastering Zumba - I gave it my best shot but it really brought out the 'unco' in me. It was a heap of fun, though, and def helped with the weight, as any weight-bearing exercise does. So the swimming is more for toning and just to keep me sane, I love to walk too. Do you use a pedometer?

Have to dig up some pics of me - I have very few.

Have you found with maintenance that people tell you 'you can afford to eat that' or 'you don't have to worry about what you eat'.? This phase comes with it's own little obstacles, doesnt it?

btw my name is Linda lol!

Cheers

Hi Ladies - I tried to stop using CS bars/shakes and the lioke because I though it was "not healihty" to substitute meals and was worried that there might be something wrong with keeping the bars for breakky/lunch out of conveinience. I have been trying to eat real foods for my lunc but it causes me a lot of stress trying to think about what I should have each day and after 4 weeks of continuously takingthe same tofu slad to woulr everyday I broke routine today and opted for a bar!

Its nice to see there are others who still use the bars/shakes and maybe just maybe it will be ok for me to do the smae and stop giving myelsf a hard time for not being able to fit in real food. I workout at 6am every monirng then have to be on the train to got to work by 7:30 - there is a one hour commute and the same home so I arrive in by door about 6:40pm. After cooking dinner there is little time left to thinhk about plannig lunches and then make a lunch. I also study full time by correspondence at university, so most 'spare time' i.e after dinner or on weekends is actaully study time for me and I just dont have time to beat myself up about not preparing real foods in advance to take to work for lunch but I do. This is somethingt has has bugged me for a while with the whole 'clean eating' thing that is getting a lot of attention these days making me feel guilty of I am not eating wholefoods, clean foods and all meals from scratch.

Maintenance is tricky and scary enough already with constant worries about what real food might do to you after eating replacements for a while... i'm in a constant battle with myself re: carbs and thier reintroduction.  

hi miss nic and lindyk -

I agree - maintenance is not what people imagine. It doesnt mean we can just go back to bad habits. Thats really defeating the purpose. I have 'come out' to friends and family about still loving my shakes and bars. I joke now, and just say 'well everyone knows i dont eat real food for lunch!'. It still gets a giggle, but I often walk thru our local food court at lunchtime sipping on a CS to go or a meal bar, and I look at what people are wolfing down for their lunch and alot of ot doesn't constitute 'real food' anyway. We have a balanced meal and all the nutrients we need. I trust CS more than the food court. - not that theres anything wrong with a coffee or a salad, there are plenty of good options to buy there, but you know what i mean.

Beware the comment - 'You can afford to eat that". (yeh I know - I sound like a broken record!). It makes my blood boil - I would never say to someone..."Oh, you live in a nice house so you can afford a Porsche". Same thing, I think. A healthy weight is something we have worked for, its worth it but if we don't stay on the ball, it's kind of like redrawing on your mortgage, and who wants to do that??

Each gram you ,lose is 'equity'. I value that. Congrats on hanging in there, and also to the CSers who are keeping their eye on that goal weight, and steadily losing the kilos and the inches!

Venting of spleen concluded lol! Sorry.

Cheers