[Hope2BLosing]

I can't believe that no one has started a March chat....

I fell off the wagon. Last Tuesday I reached 25 pounds!!! Wooohooo!!! It was my birthday week and my family insisted on taking me to dinner...bad move...

I then had an out of town conference and ate lunch out....bad move....

Then I ate a donut at Fat Friday.....bad move....

Then I said, screw it! I'm off plan until Sunday.

Saturday night I had yummy tacos.....bad move....

Sunday I recommitted!!!! WOOOHOOO!!!! With all my bad moves I only gained 3 pounds. I'm totally back on plan and I'm feeling wonderful about it!

I'm a scrapbooker and made a really cool layout of my progress thus far.



and here's the journaling to go with it:
"It was the end of January when I decided to embark on a serious plan to not only control, but lose my weight. This time I was serious. My plan was not just to lose a few pounds, but to take it all off. When you actually look at how much you weigh and figure out that you literally need to lose 100 pounds, it becomes a little frightening. I began asking, how did I get this fat? I only gained 25 lbs with each of the kids. BINGO!!! I was so comfortable in my marriage that I
had let myself go. Growing up I had never been fat, I
was always very healthy, tall and somewhat lean with
amazing muscle tone. The truth is after two kids, not
eating healthy, and not caring about myself, I let myself become fat. Since I began my final weight loss journey five weeks ago, I’ve lost basically one quarter of the weight I want to lose. I’m down 25 pounds.
I’m thrilled with my progress and I’m motivated to see this through. I no longer want to be the fat mom. I want to be the mom that is out running and playing with her kids, I want to be the mom that’s not afraid of the swimming pool. You ask, what does 25 pounds look like? Look at me!"

[Zeute]

Congrats Hope!


So, I'm a moron and fell at school yesterday. I either severely sprained or hairline fractured my right ankle. (The doc told me there is a possibility of a fracture that won't become apparent until it starts to heal.)

I couldn't drive myself home; no one could come and get me. My very wonderful friend at school took me home with her. She's also the one that made me go to the hospital in the first place, drove me there, helped me learn how to use the crutches, brought me pain meds and waited on me last night.

I didn't want to impose anymore on her or her wonderful family so I did drive myself home this morning. It hurt but I thought going early in the am would be better than a.) trying to do it myself in rush hour traffic or b.) imposing even more on her to drive me home after she worked at the hospital.

Thank you God, for such wonderful friends.

It's going to make the dieting difficult because I can't carry anything and walk on crutches at the same time. Plus I need extra protein so I can heal as fast as possible. I'll have to miss clinical this week but if I miss it next week I automatically fail. Then the whole semester is scrapped which will really be carppy as we are over half way through.

Here's a tip . . . rain + high heeled boots + tile floor = bad things.

[iamkaren]

Samara: What a coincidence! I just joined this site about 5 minutes ago and your's is the first post I find! I'm a scrapbooker (part of the SBG Crew) and I just left a comment on this layout the other night! I almost PMd you to ask how you lost the weight cause I was thinking of trying Medifast. I got so excited just now when I saw your post and you've just convinced me I need to try it!

To Everyone Else: I'm brand new and I'm sorry for the unusual introduction! I've Yo Yo dieted for decades and I just keep losing/gaining the same weight over and over. 4 years ago I lost 40 pounds and reached my goal weight, then I managed to gain ALL of it back. Last summer I lost 18 pounds doing a low-carb Atkins plan, but since gained all of it back again. This past January I tried doing low-carbing again and the weight wouldn't even budge!

I suspect I've totally messed up my metabolism at this point. But, the idea to just exercise and eat healthy doesn't work for me. If it did, I wouldn't be overweight right now. the problem is that the weight loss is so slow that it's almost non-existent and eventually I end up eating too much and I start gaining instead of losing.

Just so you know, I'm a lifetime member of WW. But I lost that weight when I was in my 20s and it was easier then. I've tried WW 2-3 times since then and was unable to stick with it (I was hungry all the time an dmy weight loss stopped after a few weeks due to cheating). I've also tried Cambridge, Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem. I've pretty much tried everything except Medifast and Optifast.

To make matters worse, I have Night Eating Syndrome. I wake up in the middle of the night and eat. During these night binges I have no willpower or self-control. This is one of the challenges that makes losing weight so difficult for me.

Okay - I hope I haven't totally depressed everyone with this introduction. But, here is the thing....even though I've been fighting this battle for years, and I've been unsuccessful, I'm not going to give up. Giving up is not an option because I don't want to accept being overweight as a permanent situation.

I'm getting ready to place my first Medifast order. Please wish me luck! I hope that I can contribute to this community in a positive way.

To Zeute: So sorry to hear about your ankle. It's always something isn't it?

Karen M

[tootsietx]

Best of luck to you, Karen. I think you will like MF.

There is virtually NO prep work. Not much shopping or cooking. The MF meals are delivered and you add water. The Lean & Green is so easy. I like to say KISS...Keep It Simple Stupid. I just keep plenty of chicken breasts, talipia, ground turkey, and frozen veggies on hand for that and throw most of that in the microwave in a Steam bag.

I hope you find that it halts the night time eating. I can't sleep if I am hungry. I too used to get up and night and eat everything in sight. That is a problem for me on most other plans. On MF I am just not hungry at night. I don't get hungry much at all! I eat every 2 to 3 hrs all day long with my last MF meal around 8 or 9 pm.

Sometimes if I get a little bit of a nagging feeling to eat during the day, I will pop in a piece of Extra SF gum and that stops it. Also, having the gum in my mouth when I get home in the evening helped stop one of my bad habits. I used to go straight to the kitchen and start stuffing in junk food such as cookies or chips or even cold pizza.....anything within reach all the while I was cooking another fattening supper. Now, I just keep the gum in my mouth while I prepare my Lean & Green.


Zeute: I know how tough nursing school can be. I went for a while. I made it half way through my last semester. I dropped out because I was a single mom of 2 teenage boys, one of which was giving me a lot of trouble at the time. I didn't have enough time to study after being up all night with family problems. I never went back. My life and career took another path, but if it is your passion, you will get back on track. I truly belive that there are no accidents. Everything happens for a reason. We may not believe it when it happens but I KNOW everything always turns out for the best....in it's own time. Just hang in there and keep your goals in mind.

[brookelizabeth]

Poor Zeute! Increase your lean? That's pure protein.

Hi everyone!

[Hope2BLosing]

OMG!!! HI KAREN!!! I'm totally excited that you are here with us!!!!

Zeute- you poor thing!!!! Like Brooke suggested, you might increase your lean.

[suesully]

Originally Posted by Zeute

It's going to make the dieting difficult because I can't carry anything and walk on crutches at the same time. Plus I need extra protein so I can heal as fast as possible.

Zeute, so sorry to hear about your fall. When I wrecked up my leg (because of a fall too) I used a backpack to carry all my stuff. Maybe you could try that?

Like the others said, maybe you could increase your lean or spread the protein out during the day more by having string cheese or one of those little cups of LF cottage cheese. I can't think of any other portable leans right now --> brain dead

Hope you are feeling better soon! <3

[HotMom27]

Hi Everyone!

I have been lurking on the medifast boards and have really enjoyed reding everyones post. I am starting medifast Sat. and I am excited. I have struggled with my weight for the past two years and enough is enough. I hope that medifast can help me reach my goal of being at a healthy weight again. I am ready!!!!!! Please show me your support ladies and I will return the favor!

Choa Bellas

[michelle127]

Zeute, you could carry a lunch bag with cheese and/or boiled eggs for extra protein..... Poor you! Which is worse - the embarrassment or pain??

Welcome Hotmom (it feels weird to say that.....) Good luck. The most important thing to remember is to soak your oatmeal and add cinnamon and splenda.

Karen, Wow, night eating?? I've seen news shows about people who eat while sleeping. Is that what you mean? Or do you wake up out of a sound sleep and eat uncontrollably? Either way, that's terrible! Good luck and welcome.

I've been diligent and focused. I stayed perfectly on plan and lost 3 pounds this week. It was actually only 5 days, but I like to weigh on Fridays, so there it is. Once I lose this pound, this will be the smallest I've been in over 2 years. Once I hit 200, it will be the smallest in 5 years. I haven't seen the 160's since my 20's!! This is exciting, but since I messed around SO LONG it feels like it's taking forever. No more messing around.

What are this week's losses??

[Rachel77]

Hey all,

Like HotMama I have been lurking on the Medifast Boards. I've been on Medifast for one week now, and I lost 4 lbs. I didn't expect to lose that much and I'm sure some of it is water weight, but it's encouraging.

Good luck HotMama, this has definitely been the easiest plan I've ever done. Though I do miss certain things like having a drink at dinner and eating a bun with my hamburgers. But once you see the scale it's all worth it!

This week is going to be hard as it's Spring Break and I'm gonna be with some friends in a rental house. Hope I can stay On Plan.

[SweetP]

2 lbs for me - my body is playing catch up I think

Good Luck Hotmom and Rachel - you will do great!

Michelle - You are doing terrific

Zeute - Hope you are feeling better!

Waving Hi to everyone I missed!

[michelle127]

SweetP - Day-ummm! Girl you are SO amazing!!

Good luck and hello Rachel.

Today I exercised for the first time since last summer. Good Grief!! Last year I did Jillian's (from The Biggest Loser) circuit training program, which was VERY difficult. I was 259 pounds and I was working out like no one's business. Here I am 15 pounds lighter and I can barely do 30 squats. I had to keep sitting down because my heart was beating out of my chest. My 5 minute warm up lasted for 17 years! I can't believe how out of shape I am....

How's everyone doing?

[tracerlee]

I have a appointment at a Medifast Weigh Control Center (I thnk that is what they call it). Anyhow I am trying to figure out if I should go that path or just order the products on line?
Anyone ever try the actual Control Center?

[abovethedin]

I am down 4.2 pounds this week and I am now under 40 pounds to go. Ok, ok, I am under by half of a pound but heck I will take it. I have got to get serious about working out now. I have a bowflex sitting in my room just waiting to be used and I have yet to even acknowledge it. I have got to get on the ball.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day today.

Keep up the good MFing!

Jen

[suesully]

They didn't have Medifast centers when I started & there are none near me anyways so I had to order online. I would definitely check out the Center. You could ask them if the prices are the same as online & how you can get access to the My Medifast support boards.

Look forward to hearing what you think of the Center.