Thank you all for welcoming me!! When I read over your posts, I laugh at how similar I am with your slip ups/"stinking thinking" and drool reading about your lean & green meals. Especially the turkey burger with mustard & sauted mushrooms!
I was shocked myself and very scared feeling when I was told 8 months ago that I was 5' 3". I said, "No, that's wrong - I've always been 5' 5 1/2". So the nurse put me on another scale. Same height. My back was hurting but it was off and on and I'd just sit down if I needed to. Then 2 months ago, I was 5' 1 1/2". It felt scarey & unbelievable. What was happening? It was like the rug being pulled out from under me. My doctor (who might need a bedside manner lesson) said, "This is the worst MRI (of my back) I've ever seen." Thanks!! LOL Actually, I like the way he is straight up about things. I had one crushed disk, a few that had collasped and a few have fused together & the good ones are just bulging. The damage report was 2 pages long! Neurologist said he could fuse my back & put a rod in it. Two brothers (6 of us altogether) have had that done & they both said, "Don't do it." They said they hurt more now than they did before. This is probably partly genetic although those 2 brothers are the heaviest of all of us, so.. I think I will keep my ears open because my knee replacement was miraculous & it wasn't like I was screaming in pain in the hospital. There are a lot of new drugs - you can stand it.
I want to lose weight as quickly as possible because I think the pain will let up some. I hurt more carrying a gallon of water than I do not carrying it, so weight loss should help, I hope. That's why I went for a liquid diet. I stuck to the plan today with only 5 shakes and light popcorn - says its 60 calories. I didn't have the green & lean. Too desperate for pain relief. Pain is a great motivator!
Good-night and may we all have an on-plan day tomorrow.
ps Think of me if you see Everybody Loves Raymond's mom...

Good morning all!

It is so wonderful to see everyone posting! Welcome Violet! Thank you for sharing and I, too, will keep you in my prayers.

There is so many people I want to write back to but I only have a few moments before I have to take my son to school so if I miss you, I am sorry.

Shasta, thanks for sharing your meal plan! Sounds like we're doing the same program except I am using Wonderslim products instead of Medifast. I journal my meals as well as the calorie count. Helps keeps me honest.

Rose, that's funny! You are a spokesperson! Now if we can only get you paid for your good work.....

Cravings.....we all seem to have them. Wouldn't it be nice if we craved our shakes? lol

I'm like you , Toy. I usually beat my self up for slipping off the plan and use that as an excuse to cheat all the next day. Surprisingly, I didn't do that this time. Yesterday went fairly well and I weighed myself this morning and I have lost 4 lbs. Not too shabby. My husband scolded me for wanting a higher number....."it took you six months to gain the weight, you can't expect it to come off in ONE month." He's right. He's a doll.

Both my husband and 12 year old boy are very supportive. I feel lucky for that. The other day while I was eating my chocolate and popcorn, my son kept looking at me then put his hand on my arm and said, " Mommy, aren't you dieting?" I said yes, but I kinda slipped. "Oh. That's okay! There's always tomorrow." Then he gave me a hug and snuggled up to share my popcorn while we watched T.V. He is a great boy.

I'm off to nag said boy to brush his teeth!!!

Good day for all of us!~Jady

The big test_

I went out with my mother to lunch today and brought my spicy pasta with me in a thermos. The waitress did raise an eyebrow but didn't say anything. lol I bought tea and happily stayed on plan. It wasn't so bad!!

I am making pork roast for dinner tonight with potatoes and carrots for the guys. I plan on just eating the pork with a salad. I can't remember which of you posted that they still cook for their families. I feel the same way....I just modify the meals a bit to suit all of us.

Hope everyone had a great day!

(Shero, I am dependent on this site too! Would rather check in with y'all then get on FB )

Hi all-good going for all of you. I have had an ok day. Seems like this week 3 is hard. At least I can say I am on week three.

Wow thank you for the big lots hint. They had so much Nutrislim food. Lots of soups. So now when I am at work and struggling I can have one of them. They even had some meals. I am excited.

Violets-my husband had a slipped disk and was scheduled for surgery then two days before the surgery he was outside shoveling and I was like what are you doing----he said trying to get the pain back. I am not sure but the pain in is leg was gone. A miracle. He still has some back pain because he is a Automotive Tech (fancy title for mechanic). But not close to the pain he felt before -he had bad sciatica.

Shasta-those are great places for the cruise. The UP is beautiful. Michigan has caught a bad rap in the past. But I am a true Michigander. We have all the lakes and they are awesome. Just be careful swimming in them because they can be deadly. Shasta where do you stop at on the cruise?

I find that I lose weight the last place I gain it. Hope you all have a great evening.

I lose weight from the head down.....and I really need to lose it in the waist down so I can get back into my clothes!!! lol

Shero, so glad you found easy to pack options to take to work. I can only imagine how hard it is to stay on plan when away from the home. I am a lot like you. I have family members who struggle with obesity, one even had gastric bypass. Food has more of an emotional pull for me than anything else. It's a hard habit to break. We'll do it. We have to find our triggers as well as find safe replacement foods. For me, it was staying away from carbs like breads, rice and pasta and my safe food was homemade chicken soup with tons of veggies. Soup has always been a comfort food in my family. My grandmother would always have a pot on the stove when we traveled to her house over the holidays from Texas to Pennsylvania.

Until I had surgery in June, I was able to keep the 90 lbs off that I lost 8 years ago. You can do it. I can do it again. I think WonderSlim helps curb those cravings for sugar and carbs. I don't know.....it is only the beginning of week 2 for me and though I slipped, I feel like my tastes are changing. I had a diet soda the other day and had to throw it away. It was just too sweet. I think this program will really help all of us.

:0)

Can I just say Direct Diet is amazingly fast?!

I sent back a package for exchange on Tuesday from here in MO, it arrived at Direct Diet today and they have already filled the order and sent back it back out. I should get it Saturday. Incredible service.

Has anyone tried the WS cheddar or honey mustard "chips?"

Violets, first off a big virtual hug (being careful of your back) and a huge welcome! You are definitely among friends here. I haven't been on since you first posted except that post that appears to be right after yours. That day when I posted, it wasn't there! It took forever for my post to "take" and I wonder now if it was because it was processing yours before mine or something. Regardless, I got so tired waiting for the process to finish that I figured it wasn't going to post and hit escape or something to get me out of the loop. Not sure whether it was the site or my computer company but I was having trouble with several programs "running" and going nowhere that day.

Anyway, life got in the way and I haven't been back on since so I'm so glad to meet you! I don't have anything near like what you do but just a day or two of back pain can make me collapse in near tears. I am lucky because mine involves a back spasm (taut muscle) that will relax if I can get deep enough asleep. My "life" that's gotten in the way the last two days is gout. Oh, the near tears become real...I hadn't had too bad an incident in the last year and a half until 2 nights ago when I couldn't even sleep for the pain. Late yesterday I began to feel a bit better but the stabbing pain in my toes and feet sometimes attacks with no warning whatsoever. Nearly 60 and I sit on the edge of the bed dreading having to get up to go to the bathroom. It hurts so much to be on my feet when I'm having an "attack" of this. Didn't sleep at all for nearly a day and a half and then slept nearly all day yesterday. Needless to say, my days and nights are even more reversed than before.

It's all played crazy with my diet, too, but in a strange way. Suddenly my body isn't even aware of day or night and I'm not eating correctly at all but it's a case of not getting enough calories and nutrition. I am getting "scared" (not really scared but can't think of a better word...it's like very early morning here and my eyes are wide open but my brain is asleep)...anyway, getting worried that I'm not losing like I'd hoped this month. My husband thinks I'm crazy for thinking that way but I don't feel lighter...not at all. I also don't feel the energy "rush" I get after getting my food straightened out...that's why I'm concerned that I'm not eating enough. I think my metabolism has finally completely blown a fuse or something!

Didn't realized I have invited you all to a pity party! I think it's a bit of the after effects of another gout attack. I am so puzzled because I haven't been eating "rich" foods, etc. which are supposedly the culprit of those attacks. Truth be known, guess I'm a bit depressed over feeling so yucky. January has always traditionally been a dull month for me and not feeling well just adds to the mix. My house is so needing my attention and I am so not feeling like attending to it. I have housekeepers who come every two weeks to do the heavy stuff and I've cancelled them this week because the house hasn't improved since the last time they were here and I'm embarrassed.

Early morning confessions, etc. We do have to run errands this morning...bank and taking our Yorkie to the groomer's. It's her spa day (as I call it). It's the one day I allow myself to cheat a bit as I get an egg McMuffin at McDonald's. It's sort of a tradition that we've been doing for three years except I used to get much more. (Believe it or not...this one has country ham and biscuits, too...not on the menu but you can order it...ONLY McDonald's we have ever discovered that does this and that's what my husband will get. Of course, he can tolerate the calories and salt, etc. all 6-feet, less than 150 pounds of him! He needs most of the weight I need to lose but cannot gain because of health issues.)

Shero, we live in TN...the western part of the state...farming part. Beautiful state regardless of what part but we love going to the Smokies in the autumn or spring. When we were younger, we'd do football weekends in Knoxville and enjoy the autumn foliage with couples from college. It's so crowded now that a 2-mile loop though some of the beautiful country can take 5-7 hours in bumper to bumper traffic so we haven't done our favorite spots in a few years. I think we will again now that we're retired and can plan a middle week trip sometimes.

Can't remember if I've mentioned one of my favorite lean and greens...a spinach and grilled chicken salad from Subway. It's filling and different...course you can add your choice of other veggies. Their fat free ranch is only 60 calories for a packet...I think the salad is 130 but don't hold me to that as I'm not sure I'm remembering correctly. Anyway, it's delish!

Well, I'm finally getting sleepy again so forgive me for not chatting more personally to each of you. (Forgot who asked but I keep a laptop by my bed so when I have sleepless nights...or days...LOL...I can reach over and surf.) I've also discovered the Netflix site and joined it so I can watch old movies (not b&w old...but 60's, etc.) and tv shows I've missed over the years. I'm really enjoying it immensely but it may be a contributing factor to my ever changing sleep problem...LOL

I hope all of you have a great day. I think of each of you almost every day. It seems to help knowing that there are others shaking and chugging...LOL

Back to dreamland now but I'll try to get back online again tonight. My day seems to be missing something when I don't chat with you all.

Does anyone know of a good oatmeal we can have? I tried the Medifast one today and it was gross even with a Truvia and spray butter.

Has anyone returned anything to Dietdirect? I want to either send the pizza back or put it up on ebay - whichever is easier.

Thanks for the Michigan info Shero. It's a work cruise but I'm so looking forward to a week without children. I don't think I can link. It's the Magical Lake Michigan cruise from Blount Small Ship Adventures.

Still haven't made it to Big Lots. Might have to go today and stop at Subway.

Shasta,

I returned 10 boxes to Diet Direct just Tuesday; they received it Thursday, filled the order and sent back out the same day. It should arrive tomorrow. It was very easy.


I am not a fan of oatmeal, diet or not so I can't advise you there. Sorry.

Just a quick note:

For those of you who have an IPhone, there's an app called track3. It was designed for diabetics and it has a great calories/carb log. It lets you set your Daily nutrition goals, has a pretty good search engine for calorie counts and also allows you to customize your own food calorie counts. It's really helped me.

(It also has a Restaurant Search....I looked up Subway and you're right, Toy, the grilled chicken breast sald has 130 calories, 9 carbs and 20 g of protein. Awesome!)

Thanks ExTex. I guess I will send the pizza back instead of ebaying it. (Ha, autocorrect changed "ebaying" to "obeying.")

I just got back from Big Lots and did not find any soy chips. They did have a huge Nutrisystem section and I picked up a poundcake for $1. I saw some Quaker bars and bites that I had never seen in the market before. They're called Stila and come in parallelogram boxes. The bites have 80 calories and 1.5 gram of fat. Seems like a good sub if you need something crunchy.

All their Christmas stuff was 90% off too so the trip was totally worth it!

Gained two lbs back-so today is not good. Frustrated and need encouragement.

Hi Shero:
Just took a quick look at the board and saw your note. You are disappointed with your weight loss this week, but keep in mind, it's only the loss of a skirmish...not the war! We can do this. I read enough posts on the boards to see that others have lost a tremendous amount of weight on this diet. We can too! Look over your last week, calories and exercise. If all the numbers indicate you should have lost, then it has to be the result of fluid or hormones that caused the weight gain. (Those seem to be the biggest wild cards.) Even on Biggest Loser, where they work out 5 hours a day, they occasionally stay the same or lose 1 pound after the week.
You can do it!!! We all can do it! We just have to stay in the game!

Toy: Bless your heart! You are having a siege of medical problems! Will keep you in my prayers along with Violets, that the pain won't derail your efforts.
Don't you hate doubt? I have no doubts whatsoever that you will have lost a lot with only once a month trips to the scale. I'm probably as eager to see you post that loss as you are. You're one tough cookie to be able to resist the siren song of the scale for that long! I would have to put mine under lock and key, and lose the key to go a month without it calling me.

Travel is not horrible this time, but I'm so very thankful that it will be the last road trip for a few months. I love, love, love, working at home. So much more comfortable than hotels, and hotel gyms. My exercise bike routine has suffered this week, but I'll catch it up when I get a chance at home.

ExTex: When we're home I cook for my husband. I've found that if I do cook ahead meals on days when I'm not hungry, at all, all I have to do is defrost something and heat it up for him for dinner.
Your son sounds precious! Encouragement is great, especially when it comes from someone you love.

Hang in there, Shero! I know its hard to see that scale move the wrong direction but I agree with Rose; it could be anything. If the weight gain is because you fell off plan, that's okay too. Just get back on today and make the necessary adjustments to your eating plan so it's a bit easier for you to stay on plan. Maybe you need to eat more of the meal replacements instead of the shakes. It really will be okay This plan works and we can all do it!

Rose, glad to hear your road trip is working out! I am doing the same for my family; I cook a little more on the days that I do cook and put the extras in the freezer for days when I am not up to the challenge of throwing a meal together. Thanks for the compliment; I just adore my little guy! We are very close; I raised him by myself since he was a newborn until last March when I remarried. I always wished I had more children but it wasn't meant to be. My ex husband left us when JP was three months old and I couldn't even think about dating for many many years, much less give another man a child....I married very badly the first time, I could write book of horror stories! lol Anyway, I'm thankful for what I have.

Toy, I am so sorry for your aches and pains. I really hope you're able to get your sleep cycle back on track and that you feel better soon.

Violet, how are you? :0)

Shasta, Thanks for the tidbit about the snacks at Big Lots. I picked up some Christmas decorations too! Though they were only 75% off when I went a few days ago. I love a bargain!!

HelloDiet? How are you doing? Haven't see you or FFF in a while....

Have a great weekend every one!

Hi Everyone,

I'm sorry I have been off this site for a couple of days. Sometimes I feel too bad physically to get on & sometimes I feel too bad emotionally to get on! I think January is a hard month in general.

Right now I'm avoiding getting on FB after a little back and forth with my grown daughter. We moved to a little SD town (1,200 people) because their family lives here. She & her husband have 3 kids, 2 from him and 1 that came before she was married or had met him. Her oldest son is now 13 & has a lot of emotional problems. I kept him for most of his first 2 years so of course I did get very close to him. It was hard on her to be a single parent & the resentment toward him showed. So yesterday I ended with "If only Cody was Tim's biological son, his whole life would be different." And then I haven't been back on Facebook!! He sees a counselor once a week. My daughter probably figured it was easier to schedule it (after 2 years of me saying he needs to see someone) than listen to me. I can get really tangled up in my mind about this. I can't think of anything that could *get me* the way this does. Yesterday I found out that she hasn't had time to place the order for something he wanted to spend the money I gave for his birthday Oct 5. He said he kept the page up on the computer but... So I lost my mind which helps all of us S O much... We don't have cookies or even granola type bars because I haven't developed the willpower to have them around. Back to the peanut butter jar. Now that I look back, I can remember typing that on FB, clicking the computer off and stomping to the kitchen cabinet. I now weight 203 today & started 5 days ago I think at 205.

Well, I'm sorry - I should probably write or type a journal type thing everyday before I write anything public...

I did want to ask about something though. I see that some or a few of you have switched from a liquid diet to more of an Atkins type diet (which has worked almost unbelievably well for me in the past-plus it seems to relieve inflammation for some reason (arthritis.) I wanted to ask what made you make that decision. I bought a lot of shakes because *the plan* was to drink shakes exclusively & lose 20 lbs a month or whatever the highest amount I saw on youtube was. Of course, Atkins/low carb wouldn't work either with 2-3 tablespoons of peanut butter thrown in. As I keep track of calories (even peanut butter, which was more than the shakes total yesterday) it looks like I need to stay at about 800 a day to lose. (I can barely walk from spinal disinigration (best way I can think to describe it and arthritis damage.) You don't need or use very many calories if your biggest exertion is walking to the peanut butter cabinet when your husband is in the bathroom!! He doesn't get on me but the one time he walked in on me I felt so ashamed. So mostly sitting and lying down doesn't burn many calories.

I keep planning on looking up and printing sciatica stretches & bought a yoga mat & beginner's video. I also thought of looking up exercises you could do from a chair or sitting. Maybe typing this will help push me towards actually doing that!!

I saw that someone had typed that she didn't mean to invite us to a pity party and here I am giving the PROM of pity! Thank you for being on here, for caring and for sharing!! I wish everyone a Great week-end!

ps "I have housekeepers who come every two weeks to do the heavy stuff and I've cancelled them this week because the house hasn't improved since the last time they were here and I'm embarrassed." Oh, how I can relate!!! But the I'll buy something from the vending machine to help me not eat pizza, then I still ate pizza story - that is MY brain - couldn't believe someone else thought that way too!