Food on maintenance - what works for you?

[shell]

Hi all that have been on maintenance for a while,

Just wondering how much cheese you eat ?
I have been having Mozza on crackers as a snack and on my Yummo parma- mainly Mozza with a bit of tasty cheese. (prob about 60g a day)
Is this too much?
I am just loving it at the moment!

Thanks
Shell

[kagiesen]

Hi Shell

cheese is a bit tricky, as it can have a lot of fat and salt. All I can say is: weigh yourself every day, and if you put on weight, drop the cheese to see if that's the reason. I put on weight with cheese, and get blocked, so I limit it so special occasions where I might have a cheese platter (not the whole) with a glass of wine.

Do you mind if I rename this thread to 'cheese?' rather than 'questions?' Or maybe 'foods on maintenance?'

Cheers

Katrin

[shell]

Hi Katrin,

Foods on maintenance sounds great.

I am working the cheese out, I do feel bloated and "blocked" and as that was the only food I had that wasn't Cohen's I will have to limit how many times a week I have it. (it is Cohen's but not a whole natural food like salad & chicken)

I am also feeling I am holding heaps of fluid at the moment- heaps in, not much out!

Thanks Katrin, think I knew that, but was hoping as I love cheese, that it might be ok!
Shell

[Evave]

good question
cheese is the one thing i don't want to cut out of my diet, i still weigh 60g (as per prescribed) and have to for a meal, haven't had more in fear that it will retain water. hmmm maybe it's worth the trial?

[shell]

Hi Evave,
How many times a week do you have cheese?
Shell

[hexi2]

I am a bit confused about the maintence versus refeed....the guidelines are quite different.


I know some clinics have said what we eat on the last day on refeed is generally what we eat for the rest of our lives...now that makes sense. But then again it says in maintenance to reduce fruit to one a day instead of 4 so that is quite different... also to up the carbs to around double the amount of what we were allowed on refeed...

Just confusing

[shell]

Hi Hexi,
I was told to limit it to 1 piece of fruit a day if you were severly obese before starting.
Didn't know about upping the carbs?

I think it will be a wait & see to see how your body reacts.

I dont get hungry if i eat a piece of the Burgen toast for breakfast.

It seems at the moment, much harder than I thought it would be to keep the weight stable- but the drinking (& cheese) definatly didn't help.

I now think I shouldn't have gone out drinking so soon after finishing re feed- should have given my body a chance to see what happens eating "normal" food first.

Oh well
Shell

[Tuti]

Shell I think what you say about giving your body a chance to see how it reacts eating "normal food" is really important.

I can understand people wanting to go all out when they finish a strict diet but I think maybe the answer is just to try and add one new food or drink at a time and see your reaction to it.

We don't want to sabotage our great efforts and bingeing seems to be a problem afterwards. That's what worries me because sometimes once you start eating something no matter what your head says you can't stop eating IE Chocolate

I was a bit confused about the fruit too Hexi. I would actually like to eat more than one piece of fruit a day. I have another clinic appointment next week to discuss maintenance so hopefully will learn more.

Tuti

[Evave]

Hi Shell
I have cheese everyday, cheese and yogurt i just can't seem to do without
i was told that maintenace was all about trial and error, and seeing how much we, per se, can handle
in a way, being on the Cohen diet was so much easier and being told what to do in order to lose weight

[shell]

Hi Evave,
That is interesting, is that for one meal or spread out?
Is that also just Mozzarella?

Yougurt doesn't bother me, but I don't have it every day.

Might still be the bloated effect from the beer- so hard to tell.
I will have to try it again and see what happens- just not so much
Shell

[kagiesen]

Guys

as far as I understand it, there is no limit on fruit UNLESS you put on weight. It is, after all, fructose, which is just another name for sugar, so be careful. It might trigger hunger, too, like apple for example does with me. I still have apple, but make sure it's less than 1 hour before the next meal so I don't get too hungry.

Alcohol is reckon is really the worst offender, and reading my re-feed and maintenance guidelines should be avoided as much as possible. Beer has so many carbs, it triggers hunger, once you drunk you don't control your eating etc etc. Don't think I never drink. But I had gotten into a habit where I had 1 or 2 glasses (not more) of wine every night. Now I hardly ever drink at home, when I'm out for dinner I only start drinking once food arrives, never before.

I don't know about upping the carbs from last day of re-feed either. Doesn't say in my guides to up them. I stay away from them 2 out of 3 meals.

K

[hexi2]

Hmmm interesting...in my refeed it says 50gms of carbs but in maintenance it says we can handle 100gms - I take this as on top of the 3 bread slices. So 3 bread and/or 5 crackers plus 100gms of carbs (rice, pumpkin, potato etc)

[kagiesen]

As I reckon carbs a) make me gain weight, and b) make me want to eat more, I avoid them all together most of the times. Which is why I think I have maintained my weight for half a year now at exactly re-feed weight. If 100 gr doesn't bother your body, go for it! If it doesn't make you crave desert, great. With me, it doesn't work like that. Same with bread. It stuffs me, and very quickly, I'm hungry again, although I use wholemeal bread with low GI (for taste, can't stand white fluffy soft bread without taste). On the other side, I can have as much meat and veg as I want. I really only add carbs to measl if I am having desert, and then it's a handful of almonds, or 2 spoons of rice.

Cheers

Katrin

[cherry59]

I have cheese every day usually as a snack on vitawheats either for recess at school or late afternoon so that I really don't get the munchies before dinner

I use just one slice of cheddar probably about 20g with 2 vitawheats. (Will weigh this today and be sure)

I prefer the vita wheats as they are harder to break in my bag and take more chewing to eat!!

I need to reread the guidlines again and correlate this with what I'm doing to reconfirm that I am on the right path

My weight is staying within 500g over the week with mon being high and thurs low!!

Cherry

[Evave]

How are you feeling today Shell?
are u less bloated?

the cheese u asked about: i have 60g (per cohen plan) of only mozarella for a meal (usually dinner)
hope that clarifies it??
my body copes very well with dairy products and meats, a few people that have told me that cheese makes then retain water and bloat, however, i'm holding a thumb for u and hoping ur don't fall in that category

[shell]

SO much better Evave

No carbs at all today except for cracker allowance.
First day since Sunday I have felt like I wasn't going to EXPLODE!!
Shell

[fornight]

All these cheese talk is making me looking forward for my Brie test after refeed.



But the "blocked" and "water" are putting me off a little.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Cheese. My maintenance "snacks" of choice on low carb crackers. As I use no salt (other that the natural salts in fresh foods) or salty products (like Soy), The salt that is in cheeses doesn't bother me. And being a protein, it's the better snack as it burns fat. (Although I have to admit that my snacks usually also include an apple as well)

[Gremlin]

Hi all, just curious, any maintainers having Quinoa at all?? Just wondering if it's suitable for maintainance, given that it's high protein and has alot of great health benefits. Would love to crack out a few of the old recipies I have with it when I'm done....

Also, for those who are having milk - which type have you found most tolerable and least likely to cause a gain?? Cow's milk, super skim, soy, oat, etc etc??

[firefox]

The lady at my clinic recommended I try quinoa because of the high protein content, but I haven't actually gone and bought the stuff yet. Milk does not work for me at all- in any form. I find that I just don't enjoy the taste and the way it makes me feel anymore.

Looking forward to trying out your quinoa recipes!