I've noticed that most of you maintainers do not post menus in your journals, but I am curious to know what you eat on a regular basis. I would appreciate seeing an entire weeks worth of typical daily menus if possible.

I am also having trouble figuring out what to eat/where when I am out for the day running errands, etc. I can get a salad just about anywhere, but that won't really give me the number of veggie carbs I'd like to be getting at each meal. What do you do? Do you carry food?

Thank you!

I am a maintainer. Samples of menus:
Breakfast: egg (2) and cheese omelet with 1/2 small (ie hass) Avocado. OR flax, full fat greek yogurt, berries, walnut cold cereal creation, with almond milk to thin if needed. rarely-sardines packed in olive oil with fresh lemon and hot sauce.

Tea or coffee (no AS) with unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

Lunch/Dinner-almost always leftovers from the previous evening. Quite often this some sort of grilled meat or fish, with fresh veggies. I do like to marinate meats in spices, olive oil, and citrus -often some sort of ethnic style ie Korean or Mexican (ie pollo asado, kim chee pork). I hit the ethnic markets in my city and sometimes these are already marinated. I make sure there is not sugar in the marinade. I found typical mainstream grocery store premarintated meats are terrible and full of sugar so I do my own unless I get the meat from certain ethnic markets. I am lucky I can grill out 365 a year if I choose.

Popular veggies in my house are bok choy, cabbage salad or slaw, okra, sauteed greens like swiss chard.

one meal we like sometimes is grilled italian sausage (I go to an Italian market), grilled provolone, and a salad or marinated artichokes/olives. Once one is on maintenance, Caprese salads are an option. Yum!

I occasionally make one of those casseroles on low carb linda's site, or a make up concoction of my own

We snack on nuts, and my husband peanut butter (he has stayed low carb with me). sometimes we snack on cheese on a slice of deli ham (maybe one a week). from time to time we get pork rinds, but not often.

Sometimes I make a chili or stew in pretty large quantities for husbands and my lunches. I recently found the this spice mixtures for Indian Butter Chicken (Shan is the brand name). The box says 4 carbs per serving but we get more servings than the box. In addition to the chicken, I added whole baby okra and cauliflower. This concoction has been a winner in our house. Given it is calorie rich (lots of butter and cream), we do not have it often. I am sure one could also make this from scratch, but it would take a lot of different spices.

I make a beanless chili with fresh pork chorizo, ground beef, onion, many different chilis pepper types and powders, cinnamon stick, and finish with a can of pumpkin ...no tomato.(sorry no recipe I just wing it).

We do not eat out as much as we used to simply b/c it cost so much more to get enough protein once the carbs are off the plate-and truthfully I cook better than most restaurants. I have a few ethnic places I like-one with ceviche, but I skip the tostada with it. Another is a place with Mexican home cooked stews. The place serves it with rice, beans and tortilla. I tell them to just give it to me without, and they give me a little radish and cabbage salad. As unclassy as it is, chicken wings are often the most bang for the protein buck if you are caught out to eat with little on the menu. I make sure they re not breaded and the sauce not sweet before ordering

So if we go out, I often prep dinner, and we go out for a wine in the lounge area of a restaurant, and then come home and dinner only takes a few minutes (I am fortunate to have probably 100 restaurants/cafes within 3 miles from my home). If they have a low carb appetizer we may get that.

Being caught in a lurch rarely happens anymore. If I know I might not get to eat a regular meal, I make a bag of nuts or maybe cheese (which can be unrefrigerated for hours) for my purse. I cannot get into the fast food salads much, so bunless cheese burgers fill the bill. This is rare-maybe one a month. I might also drop into the deli of the grocery store and get some roasted meats or veggies.

I do not have any fake foods (although have had Atkins bars for long haul flights or in a work situation I used to be in where I spent the day in an office not my own with only a vending machine).Rare! Have not had a fake food in probably a year.

Finally a little story that will happen to any of us. Spouse and I were invited to someones home for lunch this week and an afternoon event (so hours with them). I knew it would likely be carb city, so I ate beforehand. Thank goodness I did b/c they served-sweetened (WTH?) chicken salad on bread, pear slices, potato chips, potato salad and apple pie. I explained I could not eat bread, and just ate the chicken salad and a few pear slices. Then I said I was full. lol. I have the appetite of a horse. had I gone there hungry I would have either given in out of hunger or become monstrously agitated with low blood sugar.I cannot skip meals low carb or not. I would have hated myself for eating that since I have not eaten carby things that actually would have tasted good.

Anyway probably to much info, but it works for me.

Thank you SO much for taking the time to type all that up for me! It is MOST appreciated. You've given me some new meal ideas and some strategies for when I am out. I'll be reading over this again. I've made a beanless chili before, but had never thought to put different kinds of chili peppers in it. Can't wait to try that out!

Anyway, thank you and have a great day!

Hi Freckles

Breakfast for me is usually (hold on to your pants...it's exciting) a cup of decaf iced coffee with sugar free vanilla syrup and heavy cream Sometimes I will "splurge" and make one of my smoothes (recipe here - http://lowcarbmadeeasy.com/2010/08/...ream-for-later/)

Lunch - honestly, I have been doing IF, so I haven't had lunch in a while. When I was, I'd either have a big lunch salad (salad greens, cucumbers, tomato, bell peppers, artichoke hearts, black olives, hard boiled eggs, grilled chicken and balsamic dressing) or I'd go to Boston Market and get a half chicken (dark - so 2 thighs and 2 legs) with a side of green beans.

Dinners I like to keep pretty simple. One night I might do NY strips (seasoned with garlic salt and topped with a pat of butter) and a side of breen beans or broccoli. Another might be roasted chicken with roasted veggies (usually carrots, onion, celery). I make chili a lot (http://lowcarbmadeeasy.com/2010/08/...2%80%99-chili/), balsamic glazed chicken (or in a variation of a stiryfry - http://http//lowcarbmadeeasy.com/20...glazed-chicken/) chile rellenos (http://lowcarbmadeeasy.com/2010/10/...chile-rellenos/) or something else similar. (Not trying to spam with the recipes, just easier than typing it all out again)

Every now and then I go on a casserole kick, but I try to not as they tend to be HUGE calorie bombs and my butt doesn't need that

I'll be so glad when I get to the point where I can have a smoothie! I need to find a homemade protein shake recipe!

And I am drooling over the chili ideas!!! I don't have a bunch of different kinds of peppers, but I think we're going to make a pot of chili.

Krys...some of your links aren't working. Fortunately I have your blog bookmarked...but still can't seem to get to the balsamic glazed chicken recipe.

Based on these two responses and other posts I've read it seems like many maintainers mainly eat from the lower carb veggies and fruits for the most part....always....for life. I was there twice...just too many lc breads and frankenfoods.

Would still love to hear from more of the maintainers here.

And while you're at it...do you EVER go off plan??? Do you EVER eat what you shouldn't??

What are your thoughts on Oopsie rolls, sf jams, etc.

Seriously....I want all the gory details...as well as the hard-nosed truth. I really want to do all I can do to make this time the life-time. Thanks!

Hi, Freckles. Thanks for the thread topic. I enjoy reading all the different ways there are to maintain.

I don't know that how I eat would appeal to anyone else. I like plain, simple food, and simple food preparation.

B: Black tea w/ cream and CO. Beef bacon and egg yolks.
Or Roast beef, Or beef burger, Or wild salmon and egg yolks. Occasionally, a tiny bit of homemade yoghurt.

L: More tea. Food: same as above. Perhaps a low-starch vegetable. I like celery, turnips, and Brussel sprouts this winter. (Sometimes, I have mackerel, sardines, or herring rather than salmon.) Occasionally, a tiny bit of homemade yoghurt.

S: Cup of hot water with cream. Homemade yoghurt (from cream). Perhaps a low starch vegetable. Sometimes a small piece of ruminant meat, wild salmon, or egg yolks. I keep supper low protein, and very high fat. This is the smallest meal of the day.

I never eat foods not in my plan. Once in a while, I eat something in between meals. I never eat after supper. I don't drink tea after lunch. I drink a good deal of purified water, too.

I follow Dr. Kurt Harris' dietary recommendations , and also eat fewer than 20 carbs per day. Some days are under 10, and every few weeks, I have a couple of days of eating ca. 30. There is a natural flow to it. I don't plan them arbitrarily. Some days I eat more, some less. It just works out.

This WOE is a godsend for me. Dr. Harris' website, and Dr. Richard Bernstein's website and books, put the puzzle together for me.

ETA: Meals away from home: Thermos for hot water or tea. Cool pack for HB eggs, a container of cream, or a beef burger, steak or some roast. If going on a picnic, the thermos flasks might have soup or stew. Sometimes, raw celery or turnip, or a small container of beef fat or butter. Water.

Food for times when it is tricky to take a thermos and a cool pack: canned wild salmon or chicken and a small container of beef fat or pastured butter. Raw celery or turnip are easy to take. Water.

All the best to you.

As far as going off plan...well..once you are in maintenance (with Atkins, anyway) nothing is truly off plan. Things are in the "eat from RARELY" category, but not really banned.

That said, I do eat from higher rungs every now and then. I probably have a small serving of brown rice or something like it every so often. There are 3 people in my house (me, my husband, and our housemate Stephanie) and I might cook 1/2 cup brown rice and put it into my broccoli and cheese casserole as a little treat. So a pretty small amount, especially considering it's going between 3 people and we have leftovers. Every once in a while when we go out to eat, I'll have some chips and salsa. Not baskets and baskets like we used to go through - we'll share the basket and then if we finish it, that's it. No more. As far as dessert things, I think the last time I had anything that wasn't LC or home made was when I was in Mexico in May. I had some gelato.

I am not one of the people where one thing leads to another and another. I can easily have something higher carb and then it's back to usual lower rung eating for days. It doesn't suck me in. I haven't had any issues with incorporating higher rung items every once in a while. For me, it's the beauty of maintenance. I've learned my limits, so if I am wanting something that is reasonable (ie not a gallon of popcorn at the movies....lol) I will have it. I also have a 3 pound rule (I know Judy and some others do as well...here I thought I had this original idea LOL) where if I am at 3lbs above my usual weight, it's back to basics for 2 or 3 days until I'm back to "normal". Anything under 3lbs could be some random blip, but anything more is too much. It keeps me very honest, and keeps me totally in line. I haven't been maintaining near as long as some in here, but I've been at 170 or less since around May. My big test was the holidays, and I cruised right on through, even enjoying some higher rung foods more than I would usually do.

Some adjustments I have personally have needed to make were a little more calorie related than carb related. I've posted what my experience was in a few other threads, but it's pretty much this: if I eat low carbs and my average calories, I will lose or maintain. If I eat higher carbs and my average calories, I will lose or maintain. If I eat low carbs, but have high calories, i WILL gain. It's only temporary of course (I don't have calorie bombs often) but it does impact me. My weight typically is between 163 and 165. It's usually on the higer side during the week, and drops back down on the weekend because I really don't eat a lot because I'm always running around. I have made a few tweaks to things that have worked well for me....like half and half instead of heavy cream in some things. I pick up a few extra carbs, but that isn't what really causes me issues now (unless it's some crazy high carb day - ie chips and salsa day). I'm not going to see a gain because I had 34 carbs instead of 30 because I used half and half. It does spare me on my calories because I like my iced coffee VERY light. (I make a BIG iced coffee in the morning - probably use 1/3 cup of half anf half...so I get 100 calories instead of almost 300 from the cream for an extra 1.2 carbs - if I have 2 coffees in a day - rare, but it happens - that's a LOT of excess calories that are really silly to have when there is an alternative). I don't want to sound obsessed with calories, because I am really not...but I do make some decisions based on how calorie dense something is and either find a reasonable alternative or leave it out all together. Cream cheese was a big one for me. I've for the most part stopped using it. I could get WAY over the top with it, and it was simply wasteful calories. I maintain easily at the lower end of my range if I have under 1500 calories a day. It's just what works for me. If I have a lot of high calorie days, I find myself ping ponging at the 3 lb limit, going from eating higher calories to clean, higher to clean, higher to clean....it's easier for me to just eat a little lower in calories and not have to have that constant back and forth of hitting my limits.

Ok. I'm so rambling. I'm gonna stop!

Wow, SilverEm...I'm not sure I could stick with those plans at all. You've certainly done a good job of it, though!

I do like your suggestions for food on the go. Thanks so much! This is really fascinating.

At this point, based on the past two times getting there and then gaining weight, I am fearful that I may be one of those people who allows one thing to lead to another. However, I would rarely weigh after getting there and I did not stick around here for support and encouragement. I'm hoping I can enjoy some higher carb items as before. I did for long periods of time while maintaining, but somewhere along the way, for some reason I just let go.



I was reading with interest the posts in Judy's journal about calories. I never did count or pay much attention to calories before, but I think that is because as I raised my carbs I just began cutting fat. I had so much trouble getting my carbs raised and decided it was because fat suppresses the appetite. I think I read something about that in Atkins for Life as well. I had to figure out how to lower my fat and protein intake to account for the added carb foods. It took some time and tweaking, but I worked it out. I'm older now, but hoping I can do so again.

I guess the biggest things I've gotten so far are that maintainers stay pretty close to the lower rungs/lower carb foods and that you don't necessarily eat the same amount of carbs every day - but you counter that by keeping a close eye on the scales.

I appreciate the responses so far and hope to get some more!

Freckles, thank you for your kind thoughts. I wish you much joy in discovering what works the best for you.