I am in maintenance now and have been for a while, but I am still dropping a pound or so every so often. I haven't figured out how to do maintenance yet. I am so scared of gaining the 23 lbs back.

Are there foods you miss and just can't imagine never eating again?
For me it is Lay's potato chips and pizza with the crust. We live near a Greek restaurant that makes the best pizza I have ever eaten. One night we ordered one and ate only the top. It felt so awful and wasteful that we have never done it again.

Fruit is another hard one to give up as I ate grapes every day for a year before the diet.

It is scary thinking of trying these favorites for fear of 'losing it'. How have you handled this once reaching a below goal weight? Did you try any of your old favorites?

Katy

I miss french fries from In-n-Out, the only thing I can have there is their protein style burger :P

Well the good news is............. once you are maintaining, you can eat many of those forbidden foods, However.......... Controlled servings is the key.

Yes even french fries, just once you have them and I mean "some" not a huge honking order :>). then just don't have any other high carb that day.

Read through some of the other threads here to get a idea of how maintainence
works.
I eat 3 servings of fruit aday and have for a long time. Now here is where the controlled servings comes in , a serving to me is one of the following 1/2 apple, 1/2 orange, gratefruit, 1/3 cup berries, 1/3 banana. Not the whole thing :>)

Cheers Kathy

Thanks for the support,Rose and Kathy. I could do that with the pizza, have one whole piece and the top off the rest. But to just have one potato chip? Not possible!
When I have them in the closet, I can salivate just thinking of them. But I will start trying some of the other things I miss in small quantities.
Katy

Make it a hand full, one and lock up the bag!
I could'nt just eat one either! I had some 3-4 times over xmas, and I kind of allowed my self 2-3 small hand fulls each time.
But if my kids are eating them, I would take one handful and thats it no more, get em out of here! Thankfully my teens don't really care for them that much, Taco chips are there choice, the plain ones, so I can handle them far better.
kathy

Hi Katy. Congrats on being in maintenance!

You'll find compromises for those foods you're afraid to give up completely. Pizza is my big one, too. So I compromise: my pizza place makes a fantastic whole wheat, thin crust pizza with pesto instead of tomato sauce. I get that loaded with veggies, and a slice or two is really filling. If I want more, I eat the toppings and toss the crust.

That's still higher in carbs than I like to go, but I only have it every now and then.

Welcome. I have truly learned to enjoy the top off of my pizza. Also, have you tried the lowcarb pizza's they sell at Sams? They are really good and not bad for a splurge ever now and then. Only 20 carbs for the entire pizza. Being on Maintenance I feel like I can afford that about once a week. Now for my weakness, those fresh bakery products, sweets in particular, are my biggest problem. I may start having just one piece of something once a week to see what it does for my Maintenance. I have such a high CCL that sometimes I think I could get by with it if I can just use "portion control" and stop at one piece or serving per week. Doing without my favorite foods for the rest of my life is hard to take sometimes. I really believe portion control and frequency of eating them is the key. I get afraid also, that eating something, not legal, will only create some bad cravings. I hate cravings.

Hi Anleigh

I have questions about the low carb pizza. When you say Sams do you mean Sam's Club or somewhere else?

Is this a frozen pizza? Can you buy it elsewhere?

Sams Club is the only place I have seen it. It would only be good for someone in Maintenance. 20 carbs for the entire pizza which is

Sorry, last post got interrupted. Anyway, the pizzas are the size of a small pizza and very good. They are made by Michaelangelo. Also, some stuffed sandwiches which are also very good. They are a good size and make a wonderful lunch.

Wow thanks for the speedy reply.

So they are in the frozen food section? Hope they have them here in AZ!

Thank you so much for posting about this product. I am Sam's Club all the time and never noticed them before. We thought they were very good (wish they were lower in calories). Didn't try the sandwiches. Also found baked Eggplant parmesan that was 10 net grams a serving.

Sam's Club also had Carb Countdown milk, but only the chocolate flavor. And they also have the Carb Countdown yogurt which I haven't seen anywhere else.
I found the 1 carb Heintz ketchup at Super Walmart today too.

It is so helpful to network about new products.

Yes, I have found all of those same products. The Hood Carb Countdown Yogurt is not bad. I have just about gone through a 12 pack in the last couple of weeks. Walmart also has the Carb Freedom Yogurt by Blue Bunny which is about the same thing. Try the stuffed sandwiches sometime - the ham and cheese is really good.