That is fabulous, mags! But you do need to get that protein up there to keep from regaining. Calories too. It's important! I will do some research later on a healthy vegetarian diet. I know my book editor is a vegetarian and she always combines a protein source like cheese with something else but I need to research.

Colleen ~ Thanks so much for your help and assistance. I know you are a godsend for more than just myself. I appreciate you and any advice that can be offerd....no matter how simple!!!

Smile & Breathe ~ please forgive the fact that I do not know your first name, but I also wanted to thank-you for respondings also and the advise given inregards to the tempeh and hemp. I do fully understand your thoughts on finding the solutions sooner than later, as the longer we go on the harder it is not to revert back to old, bad habits because we are just not maintaining the loss.
I do have to make you aware that I am a vegetarian and have been for the last 22 years, but not for religious reasons and not for animal rights reasons. I really hope this does not offend you! I come from a large Irish family, born and bred in Northern Ireland. My mother was a big person for sitting down to dinner with meat and 3 veg pretty much every night with the entire family......all 9 of us. At the age of 15 this just stopped becoming fun....Vegetarianism was becoming big in the USA and one day I decided that I would be one. My mother told me to fend for myself and I told her "that was fine with me".........here I am 22 years later still a vegetarian, married to an executive chef of fine dining restaurants & hotels and currently living in Texas.....the land of beef and all things meat & BBQ! To say I am a stubborn Irish wench is quite the understatement as much as mu husband had prodded me to "reform" back. But anyway enough about me...
I really do hear your own frustration with all that you are doing and I have talked with a few people and read a little more and I think the 2 of us are pretty similar in this struggle. One of the hardest things about this this phase is the fact that we need to up the calories and we have to have this main upturn in protein and that is where we need to get the high calorie intake from. This is hard for me at least. 1500 calories sounds like a pretty good number to me and anything more just seems like I will definitely start packing on the weight again. However, I have seen the results from agirl in my office who has done this with me.
I just need to get my brain around the fact of higher calories and protein and making sure that my metabolism and hypathalmus agrees with me. One of the other things that I may just have to consider is that 125 lbs may just be the weight for me and perhaps that is what my body is trying to tell me. Perhaps that is what your body is saying to you as well....those extra 3 pounds that you think you have gained may be the ideal for you, your height body, lifestyle extra. It is a hard one.....and this is the hardest phase because of that.

Stay strong though...I will keep you updated on the tempeh and hemp and I am thrilled that I have a fellow vegetarian out there that has my back. We'll definitely work through this together and sure with the help of Colleen (a strong, beautiful Irish name).....how can we go wrong!!