I'm "back on the saddle"...been in a bad lose/gain cycle, and realized that this is the only thing that works for me.
I didn't choose to use the yellow or blue menus. Just jumped straight into the green. mostly because I generally have healthy habits - work out a lot, and eat well...it's just that my poor habits keep sabotaging my success.
SO, I'm on plan. I saw someone's post that said she refused to cheat the entire time until goal. that made me realize that cheating was my major obstacle.
No cheating!!!!! None at all for me. My cheating leads me waaaaaaay off path, then I'm right back where I started. UGH.
So, I'm glad to have other people on here, living the MRC life!
I'm on Day 5 and I'm doing SO WELL, and I'm sooooo proud of me.
So today I just went ahead and rejoined after debating for a whole year. I just went ahead and paid to re-enroll and basically because of this month specials if i weigh in on saturdays i get 7 weeks free.
I have been off plan for a little while, and was SCARED to weigh. I started back on plan 6 days ago. I had the courage to weigh, and I gained 8 stinkin' pounds, so essentially, I'm within just a few pounds of when I started.
BUT back on. I just did a ketostix test, and I tested positive for "trace". I don't have a center near me, but I've done this program off and on for 12 years. I NEVER reached goal on it, because I always quit.
This time, I'm not cheating. No excuses. Hitting goal. I don't know anything about maintenance, though, because I never got that far.
How different is it from the green menu?
the positive side, though, is that I tested positive for ketosis! Let the fat burnin' BEGIN!! woohooo!!!
That might have been me, I definitely stuck to the plan with no cheating... Was it hard? -yes! But so worth it. I even had a vacation trip and a business trip during my program. The vacation was with my mom, who is also on MRC, so that wasn't bad at all. The business trip was an annual conference that we attend each year, went with my business partner & the owners of another business that we are friends with. That was hard, because they all drink, plus fancy restaurants every night. I drank water, and ordered very specifically, and no deserts. But gained a lot of respect from them, and showed myself I could do it....
Maintenance basically adds some healthy fats, dairy, and some higher sugar fruits & starches up to 100 cal per serving. We can't share menus, as you likely know. Also, on maintenance, we basically count calories. I stick mostly between 1200-1300, occasionally more for a special (and rare) treat.
I think the main reason as to why I relaspe was because i never got a chance to go to the maintenace program. I think I like the new green menu because i can eat brown rice on the old one it was very limited with things.
I just started Sunday. Am still on pre-conditioning. Cutting out snacks and drinking all that water has been a challenge. I am losing weight on preconditioning and not sure I should. Going to center today.
I had maintenance weigh in yesterday and stayed the same, so am still 5 pounds under goal.
Out of curiosity has anyone tried the raspberry ketones MRC sells or the
Metabolic Total Control which contains green coffee beans.
A friend of mine on MRC asked, and I had no idea, as I do not take any supplements except for Fat & Carb Blocker and I only take that when I am eating out.
Am soooooooooo Happy, and my non-food reward, is I am taking tomorrow off for myself. A friend and I are going to the Iowa State Fair!!!
Good for you, congrats.. And you know you should be proud, as you are giving yoursel a non-food reward. That is the road to success and maintenance.. I had a friend that did not make MRC, as every time she lost, she ate it back in food.. you are doing it right in the non food area....
I think the main reason as to why I relaspe was because i never got a chance to go to the maintenace program. I think I like the new green menu because i can eat brown rice on the old one it was very limited with things.
Where are you now on the program? Are you staying on green menu until you reach goal ? It sounds like you are on Meta Slim.. That is what I used when losing weight. The new green menu is much more lenient than the original I lost weight on. Good luck to you.
Got my yellow menu today. So glad to hear everyone losing, especially after several pounds. Glad this one is just 4 days! I'm not a fan of fruit juice types of drinks and left to my own devices would never drink fruit juice. The center was out of chicken broth so this will be a challenge.
Well, believe it or not, I haven 't fallen off the face of the earth I visit occasionally, and continue to be truly inspired by those I am familiar with and those that are new here!
I am maintaining...I have my ups and my downs, but by WI day, I am where I need to be most of the time. I WI now every other week...I really believe having these regular check ins keeps me on track, so I will continue to go...
I have managed to figure out what a "lean & clean" day means for me..and so if I have my fun, and follow those days with a couple of stricter ones, I drop back down to where I need to be. In fact, I don't even bother weighing myself daily anymore, and especially when I have had days of eating a little crazy...because I already know I will be up! Seeing the number just stresses me out, so I wait to check on myself after I have had a "correction day."
I discussed recently with my counselor about a concern I am having though...When I have a successful WI, and I know that I won't be back for 2 weeks...I sort of let myself go a bit. I could gain up to 5-7 lbs and a few days before my scheduled WI, I have a plan on how to get it off in time...and it is not starving myself by any means. If I eat high protein those days, then calories don't seem to matter. But if I eat equal protein to carbs, then lower calories those days is necessary. I just wasn't sure if this pattern is healthy...She thinks it is keeping me from feeling deprived, and that if I can reel it back in, shouldn't be a problem.
All of this is an experiment...maintenance I mean. What works for one doesn't work for everyone. I think I am just grateful that I may have found what appears to work for me...I feel like I can relax, know that if I do eat that hot fudge sundae today, I know what I need to do tomorrow to counteract it. Make sense?
It continues to be a journey...and words can't even begin to describe the freedom you feel once you identify what seems to work....My greatest fear continues to be that feeling of hopelessness when your weight goes up and you can't figure out how to get it back down....I have been there.
My new motto? "Lean & Clean...NOT GREEN!!" LOL (because I don't ever want to be told I need to go back on GREEN MENU ever again!!)
Tamikl:
I'm so glad you found your way, I am right there beside you with the struggles of finding what works best and I too have found my way. I would gain 7-8 lbs and it was always before my WI. I found that eating high protein and veggies with low carbs helps me knock off those extra lbs. And yes it is so nice not to be stressed out about the scale and foods you eat if you do eat a hot fudge sundae, my weakness has been by skinny decaf starbucks mocha's, even tho they are only 110 cals and have 11gms of protein they also have 8gms of sugar and I think that the high carbs and sugar are my devil. So i'm going to go weigh in today and I can proudly say that I am down 3.2 lbs from last week,
YAHOO!!!!!!! I went to the center today and weighed in 5.5 lbs less than last week!!! The changes I made are paying off, high protein, low carbs and not a lot of fruit. Yes finally!
Skelley....
Glad for you.. I know you are trying real hard.. I am glad you saw such a great weight loss.
I have noticed in the past month, if I eat one of MRC's puddings at night, I gain.. I do not know if they changed them or what, or just me, but that is out of my menu for now.. It was great, as it gave me that chocolate fix at night if I needed it.. I can't eat fruit at night, that does not work for me. Funny, how we are all different. A challenge at hand for us all..
Tami.. There are times where I eat protein for breakfast and lunch, and then eat a regular menu at night.. I have a friend on Maintenance when she is away or eats out lots, she will do a day of protein to knock it off. I guess we all have something that will work for us. Center told me, eggs, especially egg whites and fish are great for taking the pounds off if you lose.. That seems to help me at times..
