As I get nearer and nearer to goal (or the ever-moving target as it sometimes seems) I've started to get anxious about maintenance. I've been doing Atkins to lose the weight and it's worked great. But when I look at maintenance there, I feel like I'll be doing carb counts in my head until I go crazy.

Recently I've been looking at South Beach. I don't know that it would work for me for weight loss because it feels so unstructured due to the lack of maximum carb levels. But, it's looking appealing to me as far as maintenance for that same reason. Or does that make it easy to "go nuts" because you aren't as accountable?

I guess my question is for anyone who is doing or entering this "for life" phase. What are you doing? How are you doing it? What works? I know mileage varies, but ya still gotta check out the ratings before you buy -- right? :-)

Right now I'm happy with the way I'm eating. I throw in a little high fiber bread or an apple now & again. I'm not super strict, but I'm not wild. I also know there's a point where I won't need to lose any more weight and I need to get a plan in place.

Thanks for any/all input!
Brenda

I am eating my meats and veggies like I always did. I have only added back a few fruits. I think I keep my carb counts to about 30-35 a day. I have not gone back to the old way of eating. I still watch very closely my carb levels.

I think the only difference in my eating in maintence and OWL is that I do have an occasional treat. I do limit that to about once a week and only one treat, not a full binge day or anything.

I have been in maintence for about 4 months now and have not gone up in weight at all. I have actually dropped a couple more lbs which didn't hurt my feelings any.

I think for me I'll keep it simple, like only have sugar or flour on extremely rare occassions. Unlimited fruit, meat, dairy, veggies the rest of the time.

I've done maintenance pretty much like Jennifer. It doesn't matter whether you call it Atkins, South Beach, or what; it should involve gradually increasing your carbs from healthy choices to your own tolerance level. It should still resemble the way you're eating now.

Why don't you drop by the Maintenance Forum? There are good discussions of how we've handled maintenance.

Thanks for all the info and the link to the maintenance forum. I don't know why I didn't notice it around here before.

I'm not really looking for how to cheat or eating carbs like crazy, I'm just trying to lay out a clear plan on how I can maintain and not feel like I'm obsessing.

Thanks again!