[QUOTE=TWINCA;5295202]I am a corporate attorney. Long hours, lots of stress, but a thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding career.



That's such a cool job!! Have you found it hard to keep mentally sharp enough for work while on this diet??

I remember last time I did it, about a month into it I had a few days where I felt like my brain would just not work. That was one thing that scared me a bit to start again, which is why I am keeping the 4-2-1 option for days where I really need to be on.. How have things been for you?

Thought I would join in on the personal details :)

Im 39 years old, live in New York City. I am a stem cell specialist for a scientific company, previously worked in a laboratory. I have a boyfriend that I have been with for almost 13 years and an adorable little dog named Stanley!

My Sig other is very supportive and still thinks Im sexy even though I have gone up and done 20-30 pounds several times during our relationship. He is a good influence-he eats super healthy and works out 3-4 days a week and has done so consistently the entire time Ive known him. He was very overweight as a child and overcame it when he was a teen and has maintained for many many years. He has proven to me that consistency is the key, yet I tend to make the same mistakes over and over.

I have had issues with weight my entire life and have always been pretty obsessed over it. I go between being extremely healthy and working out all the time to doing absolutely nothing, laying on the couch, and eating everything I want. Im really sick of the extreme way of being and this is something I want to work on. I need to find a healthy balance!!

Happy Sunday afternoon everyone!

I little about me. I am 56 and like TWINCA, I was an attorney but unlike her, I was never happy doing it. So now, I am an Instructional Desginer creating training courses for a telecommunications company. I work from home (like kwalk50) and can't imagine every going back to an office every day! I love the electric desk my husband gave me that allows me to alternate standing and sitting during the day.

We have 7 sons between us (his and hers) Four are mine and 3 are his. They are 19, 21, 23, 24, 25, 27 and 29. Someone always needs something! The youngest 4 (sometimes 5) have one foot on each side of the adulthood line. Amazingly, none of them live with us! They are all on their own or at college. Our lives are never boring. Having an empty nest does make dieting much easier. I wish we'd started this 2 years ago. We are looking forward to our first grandchild coming in early summer. Initially, the thought of having my own grandchildren made me feel old but now, I'm thrilled to enjoy a new little one in the family.

On the dieting front, I am an every day weigh-in person at home. In the interest of full-disclosure, I will often weigh myself multiple days a day. I love to see the numbers change mostly down but occasionally up. The up (after yesterday's birthday dinner) only hardens my resolve. I haven't been on a scale at all in 6 years. I hear its called, living in denial. Now that I am being honest and accountable with my head out of the sand, I feel strong. I won't bore you all with my numbers everyday because I know a lot of you go for once a week and I understand that as well. I'll keep it to once a week I promise.

Sheila

Yumyumgirl,

Awesome boyfriend and role model. Its much easier to be a healthy eater when the person you love already does it! I know you can find your balance. I find I have to force myself not to go to extremes when I diet because I want things to happen RIGHT NOW! I tend to do that with exercise too. I am working on just staying with the walking I was already doing before starting this diet. I haven't changed anything and don't plan to at least for a few weeks.

First of all, thank you to Karen and Laura and Carmen for the compliments on my pic. I wish I could say that was a Medifast Shake I was drinking, but alas a giant frozen margarita! My former modus operandi- the bigger the better! This pic was taken about two years ago post "some diet" and pre 45 pound weight gain and thus Medifast this final go round!!.

SheilaE ~ What a coincidence you and your husband share 7 sons! What a wonderful life story. And congratulations on the grandchild who is on his/her way in the Spring!
I became a grandmom the first time at age 46. I felt old before he was born, but the minute I laid eyes on him, I felt blessed that I was healthy enough to enjoy his infancy and toddler-hood and beyond! He is 19 now, in college and I am so happy I am still able to be there for him! Now for the grandgirls, ages 14 and 3, I am well on my way to being the best physically and mentally for the rest of my life so that I can still share in theirs! And so are you!

I can only handle once a week weigh ins myself, so your ability to accept fluctuations is amazing and mind boggling to me. I get too frustrated and depressed to see that number go up for no valid reason.
And two bites of garlic bread, no wine and no dessert at your son's birthday dinner deserves accolades as well! You and your husband are in it to win it!!!

Thank you for sharing a glimpse into your world!

"I was tempted to check my weight, knowing full well that there is the immediate 'lifestyle change' drop. It was almost 3 lbs." Laura

Congratulations on the 3 pounds! :yay:
I like your term : 'lifestyle change' drop! No matter, 3 pounds is 3 pounds and that loss just makes you want to stay on program and not falter!

I am glad you feel confident now that you have the condiment and Lean and Green guidelines!

Karen ~ I thank you for sharing your life journey. Being an oncology nurse I am sure elicited a great deal empathy for your patients. You care and it comes through it all your posts. I am sure you experienced anxiety for those patients and their families during such difficult diagnoses.

I am glad you have a position now that allows you to work from home and also be there for your husband and sons. Perhaps also a step back from the rigorous nature of patient care provides you with introspection that you might not have been able to process while "in the thick of things."
I am sure it was perfect timing that you returned to Medifast during this time. (And, of course, as you stated copious water consumption lends itself to being nearer to the bathroom and of course, time to go!"

BTW, isn't it ironic that some of us have only sons?

Carmen ~ Living in New York City sounds so exciting! I am sorry you are feeling a bit unwell...but this shall pass. And at least you've got the holiday to ease yourself into this new lifestyle. As we have all said, it is rough in the beginning, but so much better in the days and weeks to come.
With the responsibilities of your occupation, it does sound prudent to do the 4-2 and 1 Medifast plan.

Like you, I formerly approached any diet/ exercise program as all or nothing. I think Medifast has upped its game in their presentation of a sustainable transition and maintenance plan.
So take each day, hour, minute and moment as it comes...using all the techniques we have found to be useful and others we have not...to achieve your goal. Share with us what works for you.

I have found The Beck Diet Solution on this forum to be extremely helpful as a cognitive therapy approach. Check it out.

Your significant other sounds like a very caring partner. I love that he supports you. Doing this program is stringent in some ways, so any/all acceptance of what you are doing makes the plan that much easier!

Tell us what kind of dog Stanley is and how he got his name!

Thank you for sharing.

I've been reading through this long thread and loving every minute of it! Thanks to everyone who has contributed! You guys are really reminding me how great this program is.

I've just begun my second round of Medifast. I used medifast a few years back and lost ~65 pounds (from 259 to 195) in a little less than 4 months. I've had many a health crisis both my own and my husband's to deal with since then and I find myself back up to 258. I'm determined to get the weight off again and follow through with proper transition and maintenance. I'd been considering gastric bypass but my Dr and I agreed that it would be too drastic for me since I've been sucessful in losing large amounts of weight in the past.

So today is Medifast Day 2 for me and I'm feeling pretty good. I'm modifying the 5&1 plan a little by adding with extra fats because I lost a lot of hair my first time around (I think the fact that I'm a vegetarian contributed to the hair loss). Right now I'm using the traditional medifast foods but I have an OptaVia starter kit on the way and I'm really excited about it!

A little about myself:

I'm 32 and I'm a Research Scientist (I do pre-clinical work for new Oncology treatments) it's rewarding and of course totally stressful! I've been married for a few years but my husband and I have been together for about 10. We have no children in part because my husband's health problems are genetic. We do have 4 cats and 2 dogs that really keep us on our toes though!

I'm looking forward to perusing this thread and the rest of this site often!

Welcome,Meg! I'm in a similar boat and starting day 3 today. Looking forward to hearing more from you as we journey together!

Cheers,
Laura

A big YAY to Laura and Meg for gutting it out in days 2 and 3. Day 2 was definitely the toughest for me. I was head achy and a little light-headed. I drink some plain chicken broth and that really helped. Good luck today. and Meg, I agree, this thread has already been a huge help for me too! I'm sure your job, your husband and those fur babies do keep you on your toes! A little toe walkin' helps to burn those calories.

Sheila

Welcome Meg! And congrats to starting back on Medifast! I am on day 5, and it really hasn't been so bad. I timed it so I would mostly be at home these first 5 days though, we will see how it goes when Im back at work tomorrow! This thread has really been helpful in terms of getting some support and inspiration!

As far as your hair loss goes- can you tell me a bit more about that? How long were you on the program and how much had you lost when it started? Ive heard that this can happen on Medifast due to the extreme fast weight loss and/or too much soy in the food. I must admit that it really scares me, which is why I am really paying attention to things this time around.

I dropped weight like crazy last time, but didn't feel so well after a few weeks into it, my brain literally would not work!! Because of this I am doing the 4and 2 and 1 plan on work days to increase the calories. I am also limiting the soy containing products to one per day. I think now after reading your post I will also add in a flax oil supplement. I know this will slow my rate of weight loss, but I am fine with that in the interest of health.

Best wishes to you on your journey! Looking forward to hearing how it goes.

Carmen

On day 3. My digestive system is reacting to the inulin in some of the products. Last time I felt this way was when I was eating a lot of Fiber One bars. I figure I'll just get used to it. It's not debilitating, just annoying.

Checked my weight again and I'm down a total of 6 pounds. I know that will level out soon enough, but it is cool to have that positive reinforcement.

Yesterday I did have a bit of a headache but that was the only 'stumble' for my day two. Today, I'm taking it easy. I cooked up 5 servings of turkey taco meat to freeze and this afternoon will be grilling some chicken. All in all, I'm quite pleased with the program.

Cheers,
Laura

Wow! Many posts since last time I checked, and welcome to all the new folks! I think it is a bit surprising that many of us work(ed) in the scientific/medical field! I am a corporate attorney, but my clients are exclusively biotech/pharma companies.

In any event, I'm still completely down with the cold/flu thing. I did, however, do a weigh in this morning so I could get back on "even" timing:

Medifast Center weigh-in: 246
11/30/2016 - Medifast Day 1: 244
12/03/2016 - Medifast Day 4: 237
12/11/2016 - Medifast Day 12: 233
12/20/2016 - Medifast Day 21 (Week 3): 230
12/27/2016 - Medifast Day 28 (Week 4): 228
12/31/2016 - Medifast Day 32 (Week 4.5): 226
01/03/2017 - Medifast Day 35 (Week 5): 224
01/14/2017 - Medifast Day 46 (Week 6.5): 222
01/16/2017 - Medifast Day 48 (Week 7): 220

Yes, that is correct! I just officially lost 26 lbs. in 7 weeks on MF!

:woohoo::woohoo::woohoo:

Just thought I would check-in to provide some motivation of all the new folks still in week 1. I swear, time flies!!!!!

:bravo: TWINCA! Your success has underscored my confidence in this program!!

Meg ~ :welcome3:

I am so very glad you joined us! Thank you for telling us a bit about your life and history. It is amazing how our situations have brought us all together to bring sanity and joy to our daily lives.
And you will definitely find happiness here!

I love coming here everyday and finding inspiration to keep on going when things get rough. It just makes this program so much easier.
Everyday is a day closer to our health goals: both mentally and physically.

I hope your husband is doing well now. All your furry friends are lucky to have you! What are their names?

Check in everyday, day or night...we are here for you! :hug:

SheilaE ~ I love your profile pic! Amazing that you are soon to be a Spring grandmother! You look so young!

I forgot to mention. My husband was out and went grocery shopping for his foods (and my lean & green). When he came home he presented me with a half-dozen orange roses and a card that read "You Can Do It!" He is so supportive, I am truly blessed.

I looked up the meaning of orange roses and found this:

Orange: Desire, Enthusiasm and Passion. SvetaP/iStock. A literal mixture of yellow and red, orange roses were seen as a bridge between friendship symbolized by yellow roses and love represented by red roses. They can be an expression of fascination, or a gift to say 'I'm proud of you.' - It was the last part that spoke to him when he was looking up ways to say he's proud of me.

Cheers,
Laura

"In AA there is a saying that it is the first drink that gets you drunk. There is a comparison to the first compulsive bite I think." Maryann - Beck Diet Solution

Think about this when that binge demon appears out of nowhere!

She also wrote:

"For years, I "solved" all this mess by isolating with food. But in the end I had nothing. "

She has managed her life now with many changes, including an eating plan and many other modalities. She is working on another issue at the moment that involves much introspection.

I find life lessons so important in my own recovery from binge eating.

May these help you, too. Or just provoke some thought or discussion.

The actress Helen Mirren (age 71) has a commercial out for a l'Oreal product.

She has the tag line:

You are still worth it!

I am remembering that everyday as I proceed with a new life despite all my past indiscretions with food and diet programs.

Good Morning ~

So great to come on here and read everyone's bio's and see so many commonalities among us. This is an awesome Medifast thread!! What a GREAT place to continue our journey with Medifast.

Today was my weekly weigh in. I lost 4 lbs. I am feeling SO MUCH skinnier. I am SO GLAD I re-started Medifast on 12/12 --- I wonder where I'd be if I didn't? Certainly not 187 lbs.

Hooray for re-starts and new beginnings!!

Karen

Karen! :broc: Way to go!! Look how far you've come!!

Karen~ My mouth flew open! 4 pounds lost is awesome - especially since you lost 5 last week!!! I guess your theory on 1 bar per day proves that is true for you! :hug: :hyper:

...and you're in a new decade!!!!

Oh, young love, how totally romantic! :val2: What an awesome guy!
Laura, how did you two meet?

My husband and I met on a message board much like this one actually. We were both fans of a syndicated radio show and just found that as we spoke offline we had even more in common. The rest is history. :)

Laura ~ What an interesting story! Thank you for sharing!

Joyce & Laura~

Thank you for your encouragement. I was a bit shocked myself. My niece who lost all that weight on Medifast said she never veered from these rules for herself: Allowed only one bar per day, made sure she drank at least one shake per day for one of her meal replacements, and only drank water. I decided to mimic her this time around and I am seeing a different result from when I first started Medifast.

Most important I think I am just highly motivated to not cheat and not do things that I know trigger cravings, like baking.

Onward and downward for us all!

Karen

Non Scale Victory here. We had a department touchpoint and I 'won' a bag of candy. I wanted to offer it to my boss but he declined. I have put them in a bowl outside my cube and feel absolutely no impulse to eat them.

On a loudspeaker in my head: Nothing Tastes As Good As Thin Feels

Cheers,
Laura

So, day four is shaking out to be odd. I was wide awake at 4:30am and could not get back to sleep. Fast forward 6 hours and I'm literally falling asleep at my desk... Not sure how to remedy this...

Laura ~ First, I failed to applaud you on the 6 pounds total that you have lost thus far! That is certainly an indication that you are following the MF plan to a "T" and you are dedicating yourself to a lifestyle change. :cheer:

Your distribution of the "prize" you won was the perfect way to handle the gift in an unceremonious manner. Courteous, too. I often "don't make a big deal out of well meaning offers of food that I don't choose to eat...just kindly say, "not now, maybe later."
People forget, then they don't bug you to eat it.

Now, as far as the sleep. What time did you go to bed last night? Anything you may have done differently? What time do you normally get up?
We all have those kinds of "middle-of- the-'night'-wide-awake" episodes every once in a while. Perhaps it is just a quirk.
Hopefully you can keep your eyes open 'til lunchtime. Maybe get outside for a bit for some fresh air. Try to stay up when you get home and you will assuredly sleep well through the night tonight.

That's all I can think of. :faint:

Thanks, Joyce. I went to bed around 10:30. It was likely the "up before 5" problem. I am more awake now, but I did just have my lunch. I'm keeping myself busy and hoping for the best. It was just so unexpected since I was outside the '3 first days' range and didn't experience fatigue over the weekend.

:tired:

Laura

Joyce,

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Helen Mirren

Laura,

Yikes on the wake-up time! I feel for you. I've had many of those mornings. They are tough. I actually find myself sleeping much more soundly now than before I started the program. Hopefully, you'll get through this glitch and get the rest you need.

Thanks for the reply Carmen (and everyone else too!)

I think I was about 2-3 months in when I started really noticing a lot of hair in my hands during washing (not that it was coming out in clumps, just thinning a lot) I lost weight pretty fast at: 9 weeks I had lost 35 pounds and by month 3 I was -50 pounds.

Fortunately my hair HAS recovered since then, it did take about a year and a half though (of course that's pretty much normal hair growth)

I didn't start any sort of "hair protecting" supplements until after I noticed that I was losing hair so they were no help. This time I started taking fish oils (even though they're not vegetarian), high dose biotin and a multivitamin a week prior to my first day back on 5&1. I am also watching my soy intake as much as possible. I will update on any hair loss in a couple of months for sure!

Be well everybody!!
-Meg

Hey Ladies,

Thought I would check in really quick. Today was day 6 and my first day out in front of customers and the first day doing the 4-2-1 plan. For breakfast I had a 2 egg omelette with spinach and bell pepper and 1oz of feta cheese. I followed that up with the Green Renewal Shake mixed up in the blender with half a banana(the "1" part of the plan). I had a RTD shake for early afternoon and a lemon meringue bar on the train coming home. For dinner I made 5 oz of mahi mahi, 2 oz of shrimp with a cup of zucchini sautéed with bell pepper. Topped it all with 2 healthy fats-2 TBL of Newmans own lite cesar dressing and 8 kalamata olives. It was really pretty delicious and only took about 15 minutes to prepare!!

My macros at the end of the day for 4-2-1 are as follows/compared to 5-1

Calories 1131/909
Protein 108/123
Carbs 87/74
Fiber 22/19
Sugar 39/24
Fat 35/20


Im not really sure if the extra calories really helped me today or not. TBH it was a bit bizarre, I went back and forth between feeling OK to feeling pretty weird all day. I got home and was pretty wiped out as well. Not the best day, but I think I am still adjusting. Tomorrow is day 7 and then Thursday morning is my first weigh in which Im excited for.

Hope everyone is having a good week so far.
Carmen

Good to hear your hair has recovered and that you are taking preventative measures this time around. I will admit that the chance that hair loss can occur scares me a lot. Let us know how it goes and good luck! Hope your first days back are going smoothly.

Happy Wednesday!!

So my fatigue continued throughout the day. I got home and was almost too weary to cook but I pushed myself to get it done. My husband thawed a small steak for himself and shared my salad with me. I made my first taco salad which was yummy. Would have liked a little salsa and sour cream but hadn't bought any. Next time.

I went to bed around 8:30 and woke up at 4 this time. I stayed in bed as long as I could to 'rest'. I also decided to walk slower at work because yesterday I did a slight jog/speed walk to catch up to a friend, and I fear that little bit of activity may have pushed the fatigue further. Or not. Who knows. Have to take it day-by-day.

Am now down 8 pounds and it's weird to say, I hope it slows a little. 8 pounds in 5 days does not sit well with me. I'd be happy with a half pound a day to be honest.

How is everyone else doing?

Cheers,
Laura

Good Morning everyone

I did my weekly weigh-in this morning and I am down 3.5 from last week for a total of just over 10lbs in two weeks. I am very happy with that although my loving husband is now at 22 lbs in those same 2 weeks. Good grief, I have weight loss envy! I'll take mine own weight loss and run with it. I am happy about it.

Carmen, Good luck on your weigh-in today. Hopefully, it will make all that weird feeling go away. I can relate to that feeling because even yesterday, I felt a little "off" all day. It is hard to define or explain but just wasn't myself. I ended up eating a bar at 12:45 am to curb my hunger, and make some of the twitchiness go away. Generally I am asleep by 10:30 or so but my better half was much later than expected getting home so I wasn't able to rest expecting him to come home at any moment. I just knew he'd pull in at the very moment I went to sleep (which is exactly what happened).

Laura, I also find that I am needing more sleep with this diet. Ironic since I didn't get that sleep last night and was up pacing around trying to be useful at midnight (in bed, out of bed, repeat). I'm sure your weight loss will slow down to a reasonable level soon. I lost 6.5 the first week and only 3.6 the second. Congrats though. Its very gratifying.

Have a great day,

Sheila

Sheila - nice job on the loss!! :dancer:

I read somewhere that the more you have to lose, the quicker it comes off. I expect that it will be big at first and then start to normalize once I get into the 'new' territory. I've been over 285 consistently for three years. I feel once I start into the 270s and below, I'll see a slowing down of the pace at which I lose.

Thanks as ever for the encouragement!

Cheers,
Laura

Sheila ~

Great weight loss. 10 pounds is so great for the first two weeks!:carrot:

Karen