What do you like to count? Carbs? Protein? Calories?...

Thanks Kristi

I'm in maintenance, at 18 months. And my macros are the same as KristiT.

I use MyPlate (free app) and track the good, the bad, and once in a while the ugly.

I do NOT go over 1300 calories -- its way too much. I eat about 6 ounces of food, or I feel yukky. But I'm not hungry, and it feels like a gracious plenty!

I do the premeier protein shake first thing, in my coffee; 30 grams of protein first thing.

Lunch is usually a green salad with protein, light dressing and maybe, if I feel dangerous, some croutons.

Dinner - small portion of whatever I made for my husband - so protein, vegetable.

Snacks: Chobani yogurt, or a spoon (little one) of peanut butter.

I drink lots of water throughout the day, and once in a great while a little red wine (about 3 oz over 2 hours)

My weight stays between 122-127, which is a bit under my original goal of 130. :)

My health is fantabulous!

One most important is liquids - water qty I drink. I need over 100oz per day.

Then there is serving size. And eating slowly, not just rushing through a meal.

Of course proteins are important. And carbs for me personally. Eating "real" foods, minimally processed.. I reserve things like meat sticks, protein bars, nut bars - as a last resort, when I can't sit down to a meal, or I am caught in a situation I can't expect to have "real food " for a while (i.e. traffic, being stuck in a emergency room with a family member or my animals).

I learned to always have a good quality temperature stable type snacks. Nut bar, protein bar, or meat sticks, jerky, etc.

In maintenance if I want to lower my weight, I make sure I get enough proteins, but not too much, limit carbs, and count calories. When I am close to goal, and want to drop 5-10 lbs, I rwarea need to be consistent and patient. Because I can put on 5 lbs in a couple of weeks, but it may take a few months to drop it back and stabilize.

Thanks for telling me your routine H.A.L.A B.!

I agree Hala. Especially with the "consistent and patient" part. Weight seems to fall of pretty effortlessly the first year or so. But the farther out we are, the slower any regain or further weight loss is. When you're dealing in regain it takes what seems to be an excruciating amount of time before we see progress. Which is why it's so imperative to "be a machine" and lose as much of your excess weight as fast as you can right out the gate.

hijack: Hala. What brand of nut bars or do you make your own? I have to be careful with protein bars. I've never had a nut bar as such and would have to be vigilant with those as well but I'd love to try them. Where to start though?

There are a few different nut bars, or just snack bars I can eat.

But i often reserve them for when I am maintaining, or I am trying to gain some. (at my age - getting too low on a scale, low body fat % is not healthy nor looks good. Or is comfortable. ) Because of allergies to dairy (whey,casein, etc.) and soy, most protein bars are not an option even if I want to include them. Plus a lot of them have inulin or that type of "fiber" added, and my gut bacteria perfected ways to turn that into pure sugar and gas in my small intestine. imaging a bar with 17-20gr of "fiber" my body turns into pure sugar. Dumping plus RH, plus painful gas.. nope. Thanks

A few nut bars have decent numbers, and most bars made with real fruits allow me to tolerate higher sugar or carbs.

I am always looking for good ration- proteins-fat -carbs - sugars

One of them is Kind bar: "Nuts and spices" No SA, not too much fiber, it has 15gr of carbs, 5 sugars, to 6 gr of protein, and 15 gr of fat. (they sell them at my costco) They are other Kind bars I tolerate rather well, but I don't remember exactly their names. (no gluten or dairy)

The other one is Costo's Kirkland, similar to Kind bars but 1/2 the price. Kirkland "Nut bar". It has some rice crisp rice kernals, but numbers are similar to the kind bar. (no gluten or dairy)

In the past, could tolerate Steve's PaleoGoods, trying some that had decent numbers. But I overdid , and stop buying it. I had too many.

I tried making my own but the idea is to have a bar for grab and go, not worrying about if it spoil if I don't eat that. The Steve Paleo brand i had did not have any chocolate, so they would survive a hot SC car in summer. They are dense, and often 1/2 bar was good enough for a snack.

When my BS was going bonkers, I kept with me almost at all times individually packed just almond butter pouches. One small pouch 200 cal. they are small high quality packaging and so far I did not have a problem with them getting damaged and spilling the nut butter in my purse.

Thanks Hala. I've actually tried some of the Kind bars but had a hard time finding one without enough sugar (so that I wouldn't dump). If I eat over 10-15grams of sugar at a time, it's all over for me for about 24 hours.

I'll check out Steve's Paleo. Thanks for the reference.

I second HALA's Kind bar recommendation. As some of you know, I can get pretty severe RH and I can have the Kind bars without them causing me too much trouble. Also, they're readily available. I can get them at any convenience store. They're my go to in a pinch.

Have you tried the Costco's brand? Kirkland Nut Bars. They are almost as good as Kind Nut bars, but better price. I think for 30 bars it is less than $20. And they last OK. I use them in emergency, or to get something - anything in me and so far (6 months) they don't taste stale or "old".They keep nicely in my desk drawer, or cabinet at home. I almost always have one in my purse. That or a Kind bar.

Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 bar (40 grams) Amount Per Serving Calories 210 Calories from Fat 144 Total Fat 16 grams Saturated Fat 3 grams Total Carbohydrates 14 grams
Dietary Fiber 7 grams Sugars 6 grams Protein 6 grams INGREDIENTS: almonds, dark chocolate flavored coating (chicory root inulin, sugar, palm kernel oil. cocoa powder (processed with alkali). soy lecithin-an emulsifier, salt, vanilla extract), chicory root extract, cashews, sunflower kernels, honey, walnuts, rice syrup, crisp rice (rice flour, sugar, calcium carbonate, salt), sea salt, soy lecithin-an emulsifier.

No but thanks for the recommendation. I've always been tempted to try them. The kind bars aren't a trigger for me so I can keep them around without being tempted to shove them in my mouth. I actually buy the mini bars at target or costco. They're half size/half calories and work nicely in a pinch. Next time I'm at costco I'll try their bars.