Quote:
Originally Posted by Unna
I'm not against BistroMD - but just wondering why that is what you have chosen. The meals on the website are super easy to cook. If you made it at home it would be even fresher, be fast, cheaper and save on ton of packaging materials.
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I chose BistroMD in 2008 for reasons I detailed extensively at that time in a post
here.
I'm sure anything is "super easy to cook" if you cook.
I do not cook.
I chose PureFoods in 2011 (just now) because they now offer a gluten-free plan. They did not in 2008. In fact, none of the home delivery services did, in 2008.
Since I've done the BistroMD thing (quite successfully) and would still have to just modify their existing plan (and it's more expensive), I decided to give PureFoods a try, as their meals have been well-reviewed online and I can simply order the gluten-free menu, rather than having to adapt one, like I did back in my BistroMD days, nearly four years ago, and that adaptation is more work than I have time for, frankly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Unna
Is it because you are too tempted to buy other things at the grocery store if you were to do your own shopping, like chips and chocolate? I mean, this method seems to limit any choices you have to make as much as humanly possible - an approach similar to the biggest loser - the contestants can't exactly say "no, I don't want to exercise today" or turn down the healthy entrees.
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No, it's not due to temptation at the grocery store. I don't shop, either.
So, temptation in the aisles is a non-issue. (Oh, and BistroMD and The Biggest Loser merged after my BistroMD days in 2008; in fact, right around the time I was coming off BistroMD and going "on my own" for the rest of my journey, back then.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Unna
I personally think we need to form closer relationships with healthy food itself - touching it, cutting it, preparing it..... I mean, in our industrialized world, we are already SO removed from our food - it comes in clean little white packages, quite different from its natural state. We aren't planting, we aren't cultivating, and now we aren't even choosing our food and cooking it? On the bright side, you'll have no dishes to wash!
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Well, I think that's a lovely concept for anyone who wants to touch, cut, or prepare their own food. That ain't me, though.
I pretty much avoid the kitchen altogether.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Unna
I guess most people do actually live this way - but instead of choosing BistroMD, they are choosing McD's and other forms of carry-out and delivery!!
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Not me. I cut out fast food in December of 2007 when I first started my weightloss journey, and was down 15 pounds in six weeks before starting BistroMD (again, this was years ago).
My problem is, I'll go hours and hours and HOURS without eating anything, unless I have something prepared and ready for me. So, since I don't have the luxury of my own private chef just yet, this is the next best thing. I've killed my metabolism by eating fewer than 800 calories throughout the day, and that's just not good for me.
So, having the prepared meals helps me just walk in, grab the right choice, and go! If I don't have that convenience, I won't make a "better choice" like an apple (or I will, but then that'll be all I eat for ten hours), I'll just not have anything, or I'll have cheese or something not so great for me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Unna
As you go along, are you going to try to make a plan for how to proceed whenever you need to cancel your subscription to BistroMD?
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Again, I've been off BistroMD since summer 2008, but assuming you want to know what my post-PureFoods plans are, I'll answer anyway, and I'll use my success post-BistroMD as a model, most likely.
As I came off BistroMD in the middle of 2008, I had already been doing two days per week "on my own" and actually a meal every two or three days on my own as well, and that meant I had a stockpile of BistroMD meals I could use to supplement my own choices, as I transitioned from BistroMD to my own "system," which was basically some calorie counting, lots of portion control, and making more good choices than poor choices (and making those good choices BETTER than the poor choices were BAD).
I had learned through BistroMD what the right amount of protein to carbohydrates should look like, and how to choose foods low on the glycemic index while still eating foods I enjoy.
I continued to lose weight this way for two solid years. It wasn't until summer of 2010 and a series of situations derailed all of my best efforts to eat well and I put 15 pounds back on.
Since then, it's just been a "creep back" of a few more pounds mainly due to the aforementioned lack of eating for hours and hours at a time, and then choosing tiny little things, rather than good, healthy, well-balanced meals with the right amounts of the right types of foods for healthy living.
As for my post-PureFoods plans, I don't tend to make plans for how something will end before it's even begun, so I suppose if I have to start thinking about something that'll take place months from now, I suppose I'd say the same strategy as the one I used post-BistroMD in 2008 worked pretty well and will continue to, as long as I stay strong when diet-derailing life situations present themselves, as they certainly tend to do, in life, sometimes.
I'm pretty excited to think that -- just by reminding myself that I *do* know how to do better for myself -- I'll enjoy the momentum and get going in that better direction, then continue to make good choices when I'm on my "on my own" days or dining out or enjoying something my wonderful partner has prepared for me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Unna
I'm sorry if I'm being a debbie downer. I want you to reach your goals. I just have to ask these realistic questions, I'm wondering how you see your future and why you feel buying your own food and cooking it will not help you reach your goals.
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I know for a fact that "buying my own food and cooking it" will NEVER work for me because I don't "do" the kitchen. It's not for lack of trying. Just like some people don't have the ability to play a musical instrument or carry a tune, no matter how much they enjoy music, I cannot cook, nor mix ingredients, nor prepare anything more complex than soup from a can (and even then, I'm bored endlessly while standing at the stove, stirring).
So, just like those who are tone deaf eventually stop frustrating themselves with attempts to sing in public, I learned (decades ago) that cooking is just one of the very few things in life at which I do NOT excel.
Doesn't mean I don't appreciate the art, nor enjoy meals lovingly prepared by those who DO enjoy the art of cooking. It's just not ever gonna be my thing.
And that's why I will always be choosing meals prepared by others (whether in restaurants or at home or via meal delivery service), because otherwise, I simply don't eat enough, and when I *do* eat, I don't eat the best things I could.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Unna
I'm interested in your diet - and do sincerely want to hear more about potential problems that may arise if you are on this plan.... as well as the problems you avoid that helps you succeed by doing this plan.
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Hope this overview has helped with your understanding of my process!
I really did enjoy BistroMD when I was on it in 2008. I reviewed every meal I ate (with photos, too) at my 3FC blog, if you want to see any of the food (and not on their website, which makes it all look its very best, of course) or read my reviews on what I enjoyed and what wasn't as great.
I look forward to PureFoods and hope I'll have as much success with it (enjoying the meals, finding them fresh and easy to prepare, losing weight while on the program, re-learning the habits that keep me healthier all the time) as I did with BistroMD.
As for the "what if" that I get back down to the 170s (yay!) but then, two years later, after having maintained well, I start creeping back up again?
Well, that's what's so wonderful about this life of ours! We can't know now what's going to happen then, and all we can do is prepare ourselves as best we can to weather hard times by making choices that don't derail our goals, no matter how hard it gets (and, like now, for me, if it did get hard enough that our goals did get derailed for a bit, we're able to find our way "home" to better choices and habits that DO work for us, so we can get back on track and be healthier every day).
We shall see!
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Returning to 3FC, Starting PureFoods Gluten-Free
Should be fun! 
