I'm not new but wanted to say hi. I hope you're doing well!!!

I'm not new and am in maintenance now, but I thought I'd check in. I've finally figured out what it takes to maintain weight and still enjoy life and food. I've been able to stay in a 5lb range for the last 2 mos now even with a knee injury that has sidelined some of my workouts.

Something interesting that we discussed last night in my maintenance class was when to leave the weight loss program. I wish this had been discussed in weight loss, but I wanted to pass it along for those still in the program. Typically, in my program, people lose an additional 5lbs after leaving weight loss and going through our 6 week realimentation program of adding back food and increasing our calories. After that most people gain 5-10lbs in maintenance before leveling off. Our entire class of 20 people said that had been their experience. Most of us agreed that it coincided with adding complex carbs (beans, whole grains, etc) back into our diets. Now this is not necessarily a bad thing because as you add back in carbs after being in ketosis for so long your body is going to retain water for those carbs, that's just how it is. But mentally it's difficult for many of us to see that 5-10lb gain. Our behaviorist said she is now recommending that her patients lose 5lbs more than their goal weight with the expectation that they will gain those 5lbs back and possibly an additional 5lbs. Just something to think about and maybe not be surprised about when you all do get to maintenance.

Hi everyone. I'm new to the forum and new to New Direction. I had my one week weigh in on Thursday. I lost 12.8 the first week. I agree with what a lot of people on here have said. The first week is hard. There were a couple of days that I didn't want to get out of bed. I made it through without cheating and it has gotten so much easier. I'm not going to say it is a breeze but I feel like I'm back to my old self for the most part. My brain is working again (I honestly felt brain dead the first couple of weeks) and I finally stopped acting as if I lost my best friend. I feel pretty confident that it will continue to get easier.

How's everyone doing since this thread is over 6 months old now?

Sue, 91 lbs gone is fab! Way to go!
I hope that I can post something similar some day!

I havent started
Need to do EKG and bloodwork
But, I'm getting closer!
love reading the success stories!
keep updating!!
keep up the continued VLCD success!!!

Omg wow Julie
Congrats

Dr apt next for ekg and blood draw!

Hi pweiss79 Glad you found us! Once you and Kate start there will be more of us now.

Our clinic doesn't want us to truly exercise yet but we were each given an orange stretch band with an instruction sheet to tone 10-20 minutes a session 2-3 x week. This is to get us in the habit of exercising and as we get closer to our goal we will transition to exercise easier if we have been doing the toning exercises. I haven't started doing it because there is so much to adapt to at first but now I am ready to start after 7 weeks. They say it will keep us from losing muscle.

I bought a $28.00 fat analyzer from Amazon to track my fat% and calculate my Lean Body Mass. I found it helpful to see how much LBM I am losing. Another reason to do my toning exercises! I was down 1 pound a week in LBM for 4 weeks in a row. Here is the link if anyone is interested. http://www.amazon.com/Omron-HBF-306CN-Fat-Loss-Monitor/dp/B000FYZMYK/ref=zg_bs_3777181_1

That's great Maral! You should order the fat analyzer I spoke of below. Easy way to track if you are burning muscle or fat. I think I read somewhere that it's typical to lose about 15% muscle when losing weight. Has anyone been told anything about that? I am going to ask at my meeting next week.

I agree with your doctor. It's important to exercise and get that back when you are transitioning and at your goal.

I just weighed in today after 7 weeks. Down 34 pounds. Still many, many months before I am reaching my goal!

Hi Everybody. I'm just starting on my New Directions journey. I go for my orientation on the 26th. I'm impatient to get going! I'm trying to make some positive changes prior to orientation-- even though I really want to binge on everything I'm going to be giving up for a while! I'm really nervous and excited. I'm ready to be healthy and give up the pills (blood pressure) and avoid diabetes. I was in Europe for 5 weeks this summer on an extensive tour- and could barely keep up. I was a turtle. Some things I didn't even enjoy because I was so tired by the time I got to where I needed to go that I couldn't appreciate the being there. ;-( I want to go back to Europe and climb those mountains again!

And- if the fellow Husker is still around on here- GO BIG RED!