Wimsey! Medifast is great and I know you'll love it! Good luck and if you have any questions, ask away! The oatmeals aren't my favorites either. I usually have to add Splenda and sometimes a dash of cinnamon to mine to make them edible. And I've never microwaved them after the first time when it turned out as a bowl of goo. Nasty!

Thanks Operator! I do plan to start out slow and see how I feel. I'm nervous about the whole "starvation" mode thing and worried exercising will stall my weight loss, but I've got to tone up! And I figure if I do it long enough my body will get the idea and start dropping pounds.

Keep strong the next few days! Overtime is a drag, but hopefully the time will go by fast for you and we'll definitely be here for you!

So, today was my third weigh in. I dropped 0.5 lbs. Why am I happy about such a tiny loss? TOM came a week early, so actually any loss is a really good thing! I usually gain anywhere between 2-5 lbs during TOM, so I was really excited to see any loss this week at all! That also partially explains the 0.5 lbs I gained after the renaissance festival I went to last weekend. I know the wine and pretzel didn't help, though. (And, yes, this will be the last time I mention the wine & pretzel. I sound like I'm obsessing about them.)

When I went to log my loss in my signature I realized I messed up my weights last week and had to go back and take off 0.5 lbs. That was kind of depressing. Oh, well...here's to next week and hopefully more loss!

Welcome Wimsey!!! I'm not an oatmeal lover either. I make muffins out of them on my days off and keep them in the fridge so I can eat them without making ugly faces. It's also easier to eat while I'm getting ready for work.

I don't think the drinks last night hurt. I'm at 200. I'm also going to take tomorrow off to get some stuff done with my girls and to get stuff I need for work. I like the OT checks, but I have to maintain balance in my life. Besides, I still get the extra day Sunday. Trying to find steel toed work boots in women's sizes in this town is ridiculous. I have one more store to go, then I give up.

I'm not getting on the treadmill today in order to give my worn out body a rest, but tomorrow I hope to do 30 min. at least. That's how I think I'm going to work it to begin with. I'll take my first day off from work as a total rest day. Then do 30 min. of walking adding incline every week or two for the next month. After I get feeling strong there, I'll add weight training.

Good luck girlies. Keep up the faith!!

Many people seem to dislike the oatmeal. I don't mind it at all, although I always add more water (to all the products, not just the oatmeal), which makes it more soupy and not gooey at all. Maybe because I don't mind unsweetened oatmeal? I'm afraid if I make the muffins, I will eat them all at once.

My least favorite food is the vanilla shake, but as soon I meet my first goal (15 more lbs), I'm going to orders some of those Capella flavor drops advertised on the medifast site. I'm thinking coconut shakes would be better...

I just made the best dinner..tomato basil veggie burgers stir-fried with spinach. Simple, but really tasty.

I have next week off of work; I am slightly worried that more free time will equal more time to nosh. Usually week vacations = weight gain. I hope to break that pattern this week.

Jen--You should post the recipe for those burgers on the recipe sticky. I think I'ld like to try it.

thanks

Oh, I'm not that creative, lol. They were the Morningstar veggie burgers. Very tasty they are!

Welcome newbies! There are some great recipes out there - both here and on the medifast site. Pretty much any of the products can be made into something yummy

Hang in there - it gets easier if you want it badly enough and before you know it, the weight is melting off

Jen-Thanks for the idea. I'll get some of the Veggie Burgers today and I didn't even think of stirfrying. I'll have to get a cookbook at Barnes and Noble. I was there last night looking for one on tying knots and ran into a book called Tai Chi in a Chair. I'm hoping it will help me out when I'm stuck on trucks. It has some 15 min. routines I could do on my lunch break. I could even do the 1 hour routine when something goes down and we have to sit around for awhile. Also, don't be to afraid of the muffins. There a little better, but not that fantastic. And I like regular unsweetened oatmeal too. I only use the Splenda when I cook. I've had the same little 2 lb. bag of sugar in my house for about 2 years now.

Alice-Hang tough girl. I kinda understand since I'm on 2 days off. Yesterday I went shopping at a store way out of my neighborhood. I had to eat there, but I got a venisen brat(no bun) and mushrooms to try to stay on plan. It worked out, but seeing all the other stuff and the smell was a bit of a nuisence. I made sure to hurry up and get the **** out of there fast.

Well, keep up the good work.

I am absolutely loving my HRM! The chest strap is really pretty comfortable, I barely even noticed I have it on. One of the reasons I went with this brand was so it would communicate with the machines at the gym and I wouldn't have to hold on to the metal thingies all the time. I was so nice today to be able to take a rest from the handlebars on the elliptical without the machine beeping at me every 30 seconds! I also wore it this morning to check out how much of a workout I get from Wii Sports, and that was really neat.

Be careful when shopping for veggie burgers. I got some Garden Burgers and didn't realize that the kind I got was too high in carbs, so now they are sitting in the freezer getting freezer burned. Hopefully they'll still be good during transition. I really like the Boca All American flame broiled kind. The texture isn't quite like a Garden Burger, but they still taste really good, and you can have 3 of them!

Yeah, the texture of the oatmeal gets to me, but I think it's the taste more than anything that I don't like. Even if the textures is good, (which I can get it pretty good with almost boiling water) I still have to choke it down unless it's got a bit of splenda and extra cinnamon in it. And I have to agree with Operator, that while the muffins a bit better, it's still not anything like a real muffin.

I can't seem to get them to bake right either. They look all puffy and toasty on top, but when I remove them from the oven they immediately deflate and I'm left with a "bowl". They look like inverted muffins or something and they are still raw and gooey in the middle. I've tried cooking them longer, shorter, highter temps, lower temps...still the same results. How do your guys' come out? I've cooked some of them too long where the tops are nearly burned, but still are gooey in the middle. Have any tips to get mine to look, if not normal "puffed up" kind of muffin, to be at least cooked through?

Hey Lili Darlin'. I wish I would have looked at the box on the Veggie burgers too. But my girls can eat the garden burgers and I can have the originals. I also got some Crumbles for stirfry and chili if I get some. My next five week order is on the way. I hope there is some chili and crab soup in it. If not I may order them separately.

My burgers just came out of the oven. DANG!!! There pretty good. The flavor will be good for mixing too.

Don't know what to tell you about the muffins. I'm in Salt Lake so I'm about 1000-2000 feet higher than you are. Mine come out kind of like baked dough balls, but at least they go down a little better than as oatmeal.

I'm glad the HRM is working out. Still loving mine.

Thanx for all the help Chickies.

MF recommends veggie burgers have 6 carbs/burger. The tomato basil have 7 each. I only found one other flavor that had the 6 carbs...maybe the griller? I can't recall. Some of them are definitely higher, but the one extra carb/burger still allows you to fall in their 80-100 carbs per day.

I'll try and be a little more careful on what I recommend, since I am not following the plan 100% as stated. Sorry to have misled you Operator.

Oh Chickiepoo. No Problem. I'm not stroking over the little stuff. We all have to be sure to do our own watching. We are all just a bunch of human beings trying to help each other out. Besides, you led me in a good direction. And, like I said, I have two girls who can eat my mistakes. I LOVE the MorningStar Originals and the Crumbles meet the guidelines. In fact, I'm heading to a real grocery store in a few minutes to see what else is available.

I just did my weekly muffin baking. I only had 4 packets of peach oatmeal left so I supplemented with 1 maple and brown sugar. This time I used a mini muffin pan. I think it worked out. I had to kind of pile it up, but, they look a little more like muffins. Fortunately, they don't rise in the oven. I can't have one today, but the little bit of scraping on the spoon I used to get them out tasted pretty good. Hopefully, the smaller area of the mini pan will help them cook better. They still felt kind of heavy, though. I just don't think there will be anything that can be done about it. Like I said, at least they're more tolerable than straight oatmeal.

Love y'all!!!

Yep, I'm back again. I have a recipe and I'ld like to see what y'all think. I call it Cheesy Beefy Taco Tomato Soup.

1 packet Tomato Soup
2/3 cup Morning Star Meal Starter Crumbles
1-2 tsp. Taco Seasoning
1 ounce 2% Cheddar Cheese

Mix Seasoning and Crumbles together and Microwave for 1 min. Mix tomato soup as usual in blender. Add Cheese and Crumble Mixture and give a couple quick shots in blender(just enough to melt the cheese and mix, but not tear up, the Crumbles).
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The Crumbles and cheese together come out almost dead even with 1 MS Original Burger(I think because they use egg white to hold the burger together). You actually need the cheese to keep your protein level up. So this would come out to 1/2 portion of protein per day,1 MF Meal and 1 additional fat.

Next time I may try to fry the Crumbles a little just to give it some crunch. Tell me what you think.

Operator, I haven't seen the crumbles before. Are they with the other garden burger varieties?

Sounds intriguing...

Yeah, they were right by the other Morning Star Products. Also, I figure you could chop up an original burger up for the recipe, just take the cheese out or adjust for the added fat and carbs.