Mitra
07-10-2006, 04:25 AM
What we learn to do, we learn by doing.
Aristotle
(This week's quotation from the Staying Power Journal.)
This one definitely seemed to apply to maintenance! I think many of us learned the way to improve our health and weight by reading PP, and other books and articles explaining the role of nutrition in health. And, for many (though not all) just following the rules seemed to work - get enough protein, not too many carbs, and suddenly you feel better and your excess fat starts to disappear. Then, one day, you reach your goal weight, or whatever health problem you were dealing with has settled down, so you decide you're at this magic state of "maintenance." Suddenly the rules go all fuzzy. Protein's the same as ever, but carbs... well, you might be able to increase them to the same as your protein, or maybe even a little higher. Or maybe not. You'll know if you've gone too far because, erm, well, maybe you'll gain weight, maybe you'll retain water, maybe your blood sugar will go out of control again, maybe your triglycerides will go up ... And at this stage, suddenly calories seem to become much more significant. Many people get away with ignoring them in the early stages, but it seems most of us in maintenance have resorted to counting them at some point, or at least have had to exercise some portion control.
I added up my carbs and protein for a few days when I first started PP, then pretty soon learned what I could eat freely, what I could eat a bit of, and what I couldn't eat within my carb target, and didn't bother counting any more. After I started maintaining, I had a couple of times when I needed to count everything for several months to get a handle on things (ie to stop my weight drifting up. And, while the intervention phases are, if not "one size fits all," not far from that, in maintenance it's "made to measure!" It seems each one of us has had to find our own path, to work out whether we need to journal forever, keep carbs at intervention levels, relax carbs a bit but keep a lid on the calories .... Now I'm not counting, but from the times when I did, I know that if I go over about 75g carb, I start to get tired after meals, and retain fluid. I also know that when I add extra carbs, I usually add extra fat to go with them, so they send my calorie level up quite fast. Even apart from the carbs, I need to watch that I don't go overboard with the high fat/calorie foods like cheese, cream and nuts. I can eat them, and my diet is far from low fat, but I do have to watch that if I put cream on my fruit, it's a Tbs or so, not half the carton :rolleyes: .
How did you work out what you needed to do? And what do you need to do? (I know wome of us have hung out together for a long time now, and know each other's stories, but there are some new people here, and maybe you've learned more since last time you told your story.)
Aristotle
(This week's quotation from the Staying Power Journal.)
This one definitely seemed to apply to maintenance! I think many of us learned the way to improve our health and weight by reading PP, and other books and articles explaining the role of nutrition in health. And, for many (though not all) just following the rules seemed to work - get enough protein, not too many carbs, and suddenly you feel better and your excess fat starts to disappear. Then, one day, you reach your goal weight, or whatever health problem you were dealing with has settled down, so you decide you're at this magic state of "maintenance." Suddenly the rules go all fuzzy. Protein's the same as ever, but carbs... well, you might be able to increase them to the same as your protein, or maybe even a little higher. Or maybe not. You'll know if you've gone too far because, erm, well, maybe you'll gain weight, maybe you'll retain water, maybe your blood sugar will go out of control again, maybe your triglycerides will go up ... And at this stage, suddenly calories seem to become much more significant. Many people get away with ignoring them in the early stages, but it seems most of us in maintenance have resorted to counting them at some point, or at least have had to exercise some portion control.
I added up my carbs and protein for a few days when I first started PP, then pretty soon learned what I could eat freely, what I could eat a bit of, and what I couldn't eat within my carb target, and didn't bother counting any more. After I started maintaining, I had a couple of times when I needed to count everything for several months to get a handle on things (ie to stop my weight drifting up. And, while the intervention phases are, if not "one size fits all," not far from that, in maintenance it's "made to measure!" It seems each one of us has had to find our own path, to work out whether we need to journal forever, keep carbs at intervention levels, relax carbs a bit but keep a lid on the calories .... Now I'm not counting, but from the times when I did, I know that if I go over about 75g carb, I start to get tired after meals, and retain fluid. I also know that when I add extra carbs, I usually add extra fat to go with them, so they send my calorie level up quite fast. Even apart from the carbs, I need to watch that I don't go overboard with the high fat/calorie foods like cheese, cream and nuts. I can eat them, and my diet is far from low fat, but I do have to watch that if I put cream on my fruit, it's a Tbs or so, not half the carton :rolleyes: .
How did you work out what you needed to do? And what do you need to do? (I know wome of us have hung out together for a long time now, and know each other's stories, but there are some new people here, and maybe you've learned more since last time you told your story.)