I haven't seen this discussed yet and would like to point out this link to those that are getting close to goal or those interested in the plan that want to read up on maintenance phase. I found it on the CAD website and it's an interesting read, for me anyway.

http://www.carbohydrateaddicts.com/maintenance.html#top

Quote:

Guidelines for Weight-Loss Maintenance on The Carbohydrate Addict's Diet and The Carbohydrate Addict's LifeSpan Program Your maintenance program will continue to be as struggle-free as your weight-loss program if you continue to follow the program's three guidelines: 1) Eat carbo-rich foods once each day, 2) Eat them within one hour in a well-balanced Reward Meal® (the balance will vary as written below), 3) all other foods eaten during the day should be low-carbo A word of caution though first: use the following guideline as it's written: To stop your weight loss without getting a return of cravings and loss of control, vary your 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 proportion of your Reward Meal by adding a bit more carbohydrate to a Reward Meal once each week. Be sure to eat your salad first and certainly continue to finish your meal within an hour but once each week add a bit more carbo to a Reward Meal. Most people start by adding one extra portion of carbo, some rice or extra slice of bread, even an extra slice of pie (yes!). Then, continue as usual for the rest of the week. Check your average weight at the end of the week. If your weight loss has slowed appropriately, continue to adding the extra carbo *once each week*. If your weight loss has not slowed, add one more higher carbo Reward Meal to the week (total two per week). Never add more than one meal per week *after* checking your average weight. Continue to monitor your average weight. As you approach the low end of your weight range, add carbo to one RM each week; as you approach your high end of your weight range, decrease those carbo "extras". If, on the other hand, you find that you need to lose weight at any time, slowly decrease the carbo proportion in your Reward Meals in general. In many cases, we find that many people are not faithfully following the salad first then 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 balance (protein, low-carbo veg, carbo including dessert balance). This balance is a big determinant in continued weight loss. If you are still not losing weight, you may be consuming hidden carbos during cm (low-carbo) meals, artificial sweeteners, and/or msg (in its many forms). Posting your food log to the group (and including everything you eat and drink) may help pinpoint the culprit(s). In all cases, remember that your maintenance program should never include more than one carbo-rich meal a day. Adding a fruit to a non-Reward Meal or as a snack is *not* the way to go. In our experience, it will eventually lead to cravings and a return to old habits. Vary your weight by changing carbo proportions of your Reward Meal (one day a week at a time). Sort of a Reward Reward Meal. You can always "fine tune" your weight by varying your carbo balance depending on where you are in your weight range but remember, we don't recommend adding carbo to your Reward Meal every day. If you add carbo at more than one Reward Meal a week at a time, the weight can creep up on you and "suddenly" you've gained more pounds than you want to think of and, most importantly, if you add extra carbo every day to your Reward Meals, you will begin to "expect" and "demand" it and will be unwilling to return to the 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 balance when your weight requires you to "buckle down". In all cases, continue to weigh yourself every day, write down the numbers, average your weight each week and make changes in relation to how your weekly average compares to your goal weight range.

That is something I have never seen before and it is very interesting to me, even though I am no where near my goal weight. I have always figured that the reason I have stopped losing is the over balance of carbs in my reward meal and that certainly reinforces that idea. Not rocket science, I guess..but good to see it in writing.

Thanks!
Tracy

I haven't finished reading CALP yet so I thought it might be stated in there yet, but maybe this something new that they only put on the site and not in the books. I also learned from it that the point isn't to cut out the carbs at RM if you aren't losing it's just to lower them a bit, by this I am assuming smaller portion size or maybe low carb substitute (yuck).

But after reading this on their site I thought wow now that's interesting, and I HAVE to let the others know what I found. Glad Im not the only one interested!!

I am on maintaenance. and this summarizes what I have read in CAD, CALP, and CAHHP. The key seems to be do not add RM food outside of RM. A lot of people on CAD who I have talked to all mentioned "carb creep" where you start eating more carbs in your RM and having them outside of RM. So I'm doing what the Hellers say, and trusting my body.
By the way, Amy, I never cut out carbs in my RM, but had lower glycemic load foods (no simple sugars) instead in my loss phase.
Eno