Thread: Hi! This is the very first day....

Pianomom, CONGRATLATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GREAT NEWS! Maintenance is difficult...you need a plan! Do you have one?

If you are doing Atkins and have the book, now is the time to reread the Maintenance portion of the book. If you aren't doing Atkins but are doing another formal program, now is the time to reread the portion of that book that has to do with what happens after you reach your goal. And if you are just doing a modified LC thing, here's some tips...for the most part, now is the time to start adding carbs in slowly and carefully until you get to the point where you are holding steady and not losing or gaining. This is the "magic" number of carbs you can aim for each day to maintain your weightloss and make this a TRUE way of life! Remember to be careful with this and pay attention to your body. It's true that you should have a plan. Don't mess up all your hard work by not planning for your maintenance. I am so very happy for you and inspired by you! I have a ways to go before I reach my target weight, but I am an information sponge and have read a ton of information on all the phases of a LC WOE. I hope this information helps!

Congratulations on reaching your goal!

I hate to tell you, but for a while (and maybe longer) you need to be very very careful. The key to the whole thing is never to let yourself think that you are "normal". If you change the essentials of the program, you can and you will gain the weight back. You must fully internalize the ideas and the habits. If it only took you a short time to reach your goal, those new habits may not be fully ingrained in your brain. You may also find it helpful to track your eating quite closely for a while until you get a real handle on the calories and carbs that YOUR body can tolerate. (Feel free to join to tracker thread. We are quite a friendly bunch .)

Check the sig line below. It says it all.

FWIW --- this time I have been maintaining for three months. I've learned my lessons the hard way. Don't do as I did several times before! This time I will not lose site of the plan.

Congratulations!

There really is no "average" number of carbs per day to maintain. There are those, like myself, with blood sugar issues and couch fauxtato tendencies that have a pretty low carbohydrate allowance. Others, with more athletic lives and no metabolic impediments, can have a fairly high daily carb intake.

You'll have to experiment and find your own level to maintain. It may turn out, and is often the case, that you and DH have different "equilibrium" numbers. The book "Atkins for Life" is very helpful in designing a menu for two - each with a different "number."

Keep in mind, that one's metabolism is a "moving target." It changes with activity level (which you can control) and age (which you can't.) I don't strictly count carbs each day, but I've been doing this for so long that I'm really good at "eyeballing" portions of various foods. I don't give much conscious thought to food or ingredient selection. But that's because this way of eating has become so habitual. Still, I often go back to careful counting (and journaling) every so often, to do a little "re-training of the eyeball" LOL!

The best advice for maintenance that I can give you is "just pay attention."

I suspect you will be fine!

Pianomom!!!!YEAH!!!! good going!!!
I dont usually count carbs, I have a a sense of what I should eat. HOWEVER, it just means I KNOW when Im eating badly ....without specific numbers to go by.

Congratulations Pianomom!!!

Ditto what everybody else said.

For me I must never forget that I am a carb addict. I will never be cured.

Don't forget to enjoy your success!!

Hey Pianomom. Just caught up with your thread and wanted to congratulate you!

I don't do Atkins, pianomom, so I'll let more experienced people guide you into maintenance. I will say, though, that it has been my experience (over and over, LOL!) that a there are carbs, and then there are carbs......if I make my carb choices from veggies and low GL fruits I can eat more carbs and maintain than if I choose the same number of net carbs primarily from grain or sugar sources. Thirty grams of carbs from veggies react quite differently than 30 grams of bread carbs, even low carb ones. Now that's just my experience, but a consistent one. So when increasing carbs, it makes sense to do it by the book and add them in the order Atkins suggests.

What were your carb sources on OWL, and what are you trying to add?

I think you'd be more likely to have success in switching to South Beach "if" you started with their phase one. It's a nice plan and doesn't involve much counting, but it also seems to me that it adds back grain carbs a little faster than some people would be able to tolerate. That's just a guess, however, from reading the book.