The last reward is backlogged anyway.  I got an email stating that they were out of them and it might be two months before I got it... (I was offered the reward a month ago).

Hi Betty!

I have read this thread and think it is excellent as I had so many of the same questions.

When I was promted to choose 'New Phase' or 'Restart', I chose 'Restart'..I'm glad I did! I still have 15lbs to go and even though I did not know what 'New Phase' was going to be, I just felt 'Restart' was a nice way of "recharging" myself to get the last 15 off!

I was hoping the 'Steps' at the weekly check-in would be new, but the way I see it, it doesn't hurt to review the things that work, although I cannot say I am learning anything fresh, it does reinforce that positve actions continue to lead to success and are mandatory for permanent weight loss.

Once I make it to my goal, I too hope that I will NEVER return to poor food choices,  periods of inactivity, and "pretending" that portion size do not matter (size DOES matter!). What I hope for is that ALLi will teach us HOW to wean (ween?) off taking Alli and adjust our fat grams appropriatley for our new weight.

My question then is this: Will that happen? Will we be told how many cals/fat grams to eat PER meal to MAINTAIN out goal, NOT counting in physical activity?

Thank you for your guidance, as always!
Carol Joy

BettyKovacs:

Hi Everyone,
I understand what you need at this point and the limitations to what you are being offered. I promise that I am trying to come up with something that we can work on together on here. I was thinking of choosing a weekly or monthly topic that we can all discuss. I will recommend articles, websites, and/or books on that topic. We can have a post for each topic that you can all join in on. The topic will be something new or more advanced information about things that you have already learned.

How does this sound to the maintenance team?

Betty Kovacs, MS, RD

Betty, I'd love the idea of topics to learn about and discuss.  You have a greater knowledge of what we'll all face in maintenance than any of us do so you can lead us.  If we know some of the pitfalls that other people have faced, then we can be prepared when we face them too.  We all want to be long term success stories here. 

Hi Carol Joy,

The best way to determine your maintenance calories is to go to http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm and use the Mifflin St. Jeor calculation. You will have to add your activity level in order to get your maintenance needs. You can select various levels to see how your calorie requirements will change.

Once you know what your calorie requirements are here is how you determine your fat requirements:

1. Calories X .30 = calories from fat
2. Calories from fat divided by 9 = fat grams per day

Let me know if you have any other questions,

Betty Kovacs, MS, RD

I'M SO CONFUSED. I JUST WENT TO THE NEXTPHASE I KEEP UP WITH MY MEALS THAT I EAT ON MY OWN ANYWAY. BUT I'M STILL CONFUSED BECAUSE I LIKE CHECKING IN.

GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE

SW 243 7/7/07

CW 192 2/26/08

GW 150

PATSY/EAST TEXAS