Hi Joyce,

I know that I wont' be able to eat this many points at maintenance. I guess
I was trying to say that being able to eat more NOW as I lose, will make the
maintenance level higher than if I didn't stoke my metabolism. (Before
Flex, I was GAINING on 30 points a day.) That is why I'm so excited.

I have found that it gets harder to get the exercise points. One thing that
I'm struggling with now, is trying to keep my enthusiasm for exercising
under some kind of control. I currently get 5 points for 3 miles of walking
and 3 points for 2 miles. That will decrease. This past week, I settled
for a 2 mile morning walk instead of pushing for the 3 mile. Why? Because
to get 5 points later, I'll probably need to walk 7 or 8 miles. I know I
won't be able to do that easily every day, so I'm working on ENJOYING the
exercise, so that I'll want to keep the regularity of it up...regardless of
how many points I earn. (and can eat....LOL) In other words, I'm trying to
do exercise for exercise sake, not for food possibilty sake.

I do believe, though, that maintenance will be easier for me than it would
have been without Flex...simply because I'm eating 50 now. Perhaps, I'll be
able to maintain on 30...perhaps 28. Time will tell. All I know is that I
want to get my metabolism purring well.

I lose a point a day in another couple of pounds. That'll be the next
hurdle.

Sorry this is so long....I guess everyone can see that I have a new found
excitement for the process.

Carol

--
.................................................. ...........
318/254.6/169
63.4 lost since December 2002
I am a slim person in process.
.................................................. .............
"Joyce" wrote in message
...
Wow Carol, congrats on the excellent loss this week! I love your
enthusiasm, it
will carry you far.

I wish I could confirm your suspicions and tell you that maintenance is
going to
be easy, but .............. it still is a guessing game for me and I've
been here
for quite a bit now. No way can I eat 50+ points and even consider
maintaining.
grin Unfortunately, once I got closer to my goal those activity points
are
incredibly difficult to earn. You wouldn't believe how hard I have to
work my
butt off (and my daughter tells me there isn't much left!) just to earn 3
or 4
points each day - which takes me to a maintenance point level anywhere
from 23-28
points per day. I think Fred is the one who calls it a *magic* number,
and has
determined (and confirmed my observations) that there just isn't a magic
number.
It constantly changes day to day, week to week. I'm sure not complaining
though,
just wishing I could figure it out. I love it here and am reserving a
space for
you! grin

Keep up the fantastic work, your energy certainly is contagious!

Joyce
WW starting weight: 228.8 - 2/5/02
current weight: 133.3
Lifetime: 4/4/03

On Thu, 02 Oct 2003 11:39:51 GMT, "Carol in NC" wrote:

Hi everyone,

I had the best weigh in I've had in a really long time. I lost 2.6
pounds.
I ate an average of 42.5 points a day. I ended up with 9 Flex points
left...and I earned and ate 54 activity points. It seems as though each
week on Flex is getting better. I'm not sure what I've done to my
metabolism, but I'm not complaining. I'm exercising more, loving it, and
eating really, really well.

I did eat somewhat fewer carbs this week...no sandwiches for lunch this
week...mainly protein and vegetables. (I did have plenty of carbs
throughout the day though, so it wasn't a REALLY low carb week, just
lower
than normal for me.)

I've obviously revved up my metabolism with the extra exercise and fuel
to
power it. (My weight loss had REALLY slowed down/stalled/or gains before
Flex started and, even though being on point all the time, I was getting
very discouraged by my progress. All that has changed now.

It looks like this is going to make maintenance easier for me, since I'll
be
able to eat more to maintain.

Carol