Welcome Persnickety (love the name),

Adding exercise may have been the culprit to you not having a positive scale experience last week. Muscles hold water while healing. Talk with your counselor and follow his/her advice regarding exercise.



I have good news to share. I am officially down to a size 6!!! I bought three pairs of shorts yesterday...each fit perfectly with no bulges or muffin top. Needless to say, I am thrilled and danced around the dressing room.

Staying motivated and moving forward.

TTFN

Thanks so much! I am doing the home program. I have twin toddlers and cannot make it to a center because of my busy schedule. I didn't know that exercise makes your muscles hold water. Are you exercising?

Thank you for the info.

Yes, I do. Mainly because I have been doing so for years and didn't want to quit that part of my life. It's slowed my progress on the scale. On average, I've only lost about 1.5 lbs a week. My greatest loss was about 4lbs in one week. Some weeks I don't show any loss. I'm okay with the scale as long as my dress size keeps falling.

If memory serves, QWLC recommends walking or light cardio during the losing phase. I'm sure you get that in already with two toddlers. I'll confirm at my next visit to the center.

TTFN

Hi everyone! I am on my third or so week on the Q and lost 10 lbs. so far. Yay...I'm excited buuuut the supplements and snacks are expensive!! I bought a huge bottle from Sam's that is somewhat comparable to their fatty acids. I wanted to be honest and open so I told the counselor of my purchase. Of course, she said anything out of the Q circle of supplements was not going to work basically. Is this true???? Has anybody bought cheaper products and they have worked??? If so, please share from where etc.!!!!! The program already cost me an arm and a leg...wish it was my muffin top!...I did not realize it was going to cost moooore in the long run with all their products!!

Kudos on the 10.

I buy their products (supplements and snacks), but haven't taken the supplements religiously. I never got in the habit of taking pills. I find the Carb Blockers a bit difficult to swallow. My bad because I do see a greater return for my efforts when I take them.

I am religious about taking the protein supplements-two a day without fail-yum. Their bars and powders tastes much better than those on the outside market and are satisfying. Peanut butter brownie and chocolate peppermint are my favorites as is caramel crunch.

The program along with it's supplements are an investment. Keeping the investment in mind is a motivator and keeps me on track. We're worth it.

Oh, keep an eye out for their sales and stock up whenever possible. It seems that they have a sale about once a month. Haven't figured out the cycle yet.

TTFN

The centers are in business to make money, so of course they are going to tell you that only thier supplements work. I did sink the money into a 6 month supply of the supplements because I know me.... if I spend the money I will stay on track. Had I not I would be more tempted to stop.

I know others who have bought one a month supply and then try to find other products with the same ingredents. I am not sure if they have been 100% successful but that may be worth a try.

As for the snacks (protiens) they are expensive but I look at it like this- a box last a week at ($14-$17 each), the previous kinds of snacks I ate (chips, dips candy) cost me about the same each week.

I do know of one person that goes to my center that lost the weight without ANY supplements. He only ate the food items.. that means no snacks and only the listed foods for each phase. He said it was hard but he did take off 100 lbs. and has kept it off now for 6 months. Some days I eat the protien supplements other days I don't. It just depends on if I feel hungary.

Best wishes.

So it has been a long two weeks. I am doing a little better and am getting back into the swing of things.

I never really realized that I carry the pain and stress of other people so much. This time I did much better. I was able to recoginze stress eating and stop before I started. Things are calming down now and I am back on track with everything.

I dropped only one pound this past week, but I will TAKE it. I am now down 11 pounds for the year which is almost back to my pre-surgery weight and then I can begin again on the permanat loss.

[QUOTE=I have good news to share. I am officially down to a size 6!!! I bought three pairs of shorts yesterday...each fit perfectly with no bulges or muffin top. Needless to say, I am thrilled and danced around the dressing room.

Staying motivated and moving forward.

TTFN[/QUOTE]

Congratulations..... So happy for you and hope you continue moving forward.

It's funny how our taste and tolerance for foods change. I went to eat with my son at one of our favorite sandwich shops (local joint in bus for 50 years) and the food was just OK.... not great like it always used to be. I think it was all me and not them. I felt so sick after eating the processed foods.

Wahoooo! Congrats!

Hi all!

Just wanted to check in and see how everyone was doing. I've been off my diet game this week - but I didn't eat anything off plan, I just didn't eat everything I was supposed to.

Work (and life in general) has been crazy busy this week and I didn't get in all the protein, starches, or veggies like I should have. I probably ate two meals a day (breakfast and dinner), felt sluggish, and lost only 1 lb. Boo

Any grab n' go meal ideas?

I was on vacation last week.... I did not gain but I did not loose anything. Going full force this week to make sure that I being to drop the weight again.

The only grab n' go I have is precooked chicken. I cook up a bunch on my grill on Sunday and have it in individual containers ready to go during the week. I grab it and some veggies and my lunch is ready for the day.

I am still looking for some resturant "grab and go" that will not derail me when I am in a pinch.

I know how you feel, jp4ga! I've been stuck at the same weight for about three weeks now. When I got back from my vacation in January, I took off about 15 pounds. But since then I've been up a few pounds and stuck there.

My go-to restaurant grab-n-go food is the boneless grilled chicken breast from Pollo Tropical. I see that you are in GA. I looked up their locations and they have three stores in GA, one of which is in Atlanta. It is very tasty grilled chicken, marinated in a seasoned citrus "mojo" marinade. I eat this all the time. The only bad thing about Pollo Tropical is that they really do not have many side dishes that are on-plan. They have brown rice and a side salad (pretty much just lettuce and a wedge of tomato). But no veggies that aren't starchy. But the chicken is great. I can't even stomach what the other fast food chains pass off as "grilled" chicken.

Another pleasant discovery I made this week was the Mediterranean chicken salad at Boston Market. Its just lettuce, feta cheese, red onion, rotisserie chicken, etc. It was pretty tasty.

The only other fast food item I get, once in a while as a treat, is the gyro meat from Miami Subs Grill. I get a side order of the meat, which many stores will sell to me for $2, and I dip it into the tsaziki sauce.

As of this morning I was 296.5 pounds. I have been hovering at just over 300 the past couple of weeks -- after dropping just below 300 a few weeks ago. I hope that I have finally got past this little bump in the road and will continue to lose. I was still on plan for the most part, but I was finding myself indulging myself a little too much late in the evening on on-plan snacks. This week I have severely cut back on my after dinner eating and so far, so good.