[SpringfieldAmy]

Thanks Mary V! I appreciate the support. I am not out for the long run, but as the weekend goes failure might be too kind. It was not just messed up but out of control, didn't taste the food, binge after binge after binge. Just lost my mind and control and could not pull it back together. I have now thrown everything away and will start over again tomorrow.

[Hvnlymzic]

ShineOn - funny that you mentioned that your 2 week-old clothes don't fit anymore...neither do mine. I noticed that and it made me mad! Then I thought...why they heck and I mad...thats AWESOME!!

Donuts - Thanks for your comments. You're just as big of an inspiration to me. Always there, a half step ahead of me, showing me the way. Believe it or not, you inspired me to talk to Hubby about buying some equiptment for our home. We priced out elipticals tonight (looked silly climbing onto several different models over and over figuring out what we liked). We found one that is fairly inexpensive ($300) and feels good and we're thinking of buying that as a starting point. If we want something else later, we'll look into that as well. I also thought about the gym membership, but I think if I have to leave to go to a gym, I might not do it....on the other hand...if I had the machine here with options of doing something else I might not do that too... You're right it's a committment. One way or another, I'm ready to make one...so its all about finding what's right for me. (I researched the Gazelle as well and wouldn't mind trying one out...but can't find a place that has one set up. I don't want to buy something like that without climbing onto it first.)

I'm glad that you all are trying out the percentage lost formula. I have found that I have a HUGE thirst for education at this point. I'm to the point in this plan where its so obvious to everyone that I've lost weight and that I'm continuing to lose weight and they ask all kinds of questions. So much to everyone's shock...on my list for Santa are several books about health. What I want to know is if any of you have a suggestion of something I should read...it could be about anything health related. The more, the better. I'm a really fast reader. Thanks for your suggestions!

[SpringfieldAmy]

I was looking up 5HTP after the earlier discussions. You might want to read these two articles before using 5HTP regularly.

http://depression.about.com/cs/altmed5htp/f/5htp.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5-HTP

Sounds like you really have to be careful with it.

[nomoredonuts4me]

Hvnly - Me inspire people? Shucks
I just thought of another great piece of exercise equipment. The mini trampoline. It's easy, fun, and not very expensive. It's easy on your joints too. You can use it inside while you watch your favorite TV program. It will bring back memories of being a kid again.

The following are a couple of great books to read to help you on your weight loss journey:

100 Days of Weight Loss: The Secret to Being Successful on Any Diet Plan
By: Linda Spangle

Thin for Life: 10 Keys to Success From People Who Have Lost Weight and Kept It Off
By: Anne M. Fletcher M.S. R.D.

These books would make for some good cruise reading for someone we all know. Hint Hint

Thank you for giving us all another thing to celebrate about. I calculated my percent body weight lost.
I've lost 26% of my body weight!!!

Mary V - HOLY COW!!! There's 28% less of you

[losingweightnow]

Originally Posted by RamsWife88

How do you like the Corti-Slim from CVS? I was thinking of trying the Relacore comparable to the Cortri-Trim from my MRC center. I did a little bit of research on the Relacore and some thought the Cortri-Trim from MRC gave better results. Some experienced pretty bad side effects with the Relacore i.e., hair loss, acne, headaches, insomnia. I am anxious to hear if you like the results from the Corti-Slim.
Thanks, Julie

I tried Relacore in the past and it didn't work that well for me, so I tried Corti-Slim. (Someone on here at one point told me that it was closest to MRC's Corti-trim.). I like it a lot and can tell when I stop taking it.

For Chromium - I am really taking Chromium Picolinate. I just shortened it, but the difference is: Chromium is a chemical, and Chromium Picolinate is a direvative from Chromiun.

[Meemo]

Originally Posted by marylou65

I'm very confused about the end of the 17 weeks that I signed up for. They tell me if I am satisfied with my weight loss at the end of the 17 week period I can go on the maintenance for a year. If I want to lose more weight I will have to re-sign for another $197 or so. So what if I am satisfied with my 17 week loss, go on maintenance but lose more weight on maintenance. Does that mean I will have to pay the re-sign fee because I would be losing weight? It doesn't make sense to have to re-sign if you can just move over to the maintenance part and still drop weight. Am I missing something? She said as long as I was on maintenance I could still come weigh in and purchase the supplements.

Mary Lou,
If you're following the maintenance menu, you won't lose much more weight. Of course you could continue on the green menu & you'd keep losing. Obviously if you continue to lose weight they can't "make" you pay the re-sign fee (but they'd probably figure you weren't following the maintenance menu). You'll still drop a little weight during the 6-week stabilization, average is 3-5 lbs.
I should amend that a bit - whether you'd continue to lose on the maintenance menu would depend on your weight - the more you weigh, the more likely you'd be to continue to lose on the maintenance menu. It would be slower than on the green menu (or whatever menu you're on for weight loss), but you'd still lose until you got to a weight that the maintenance menu would balance with your calories burned rather than being a deficit. (Hope I'm making sense here - the more you weigh, the more calories it takes to sustain your weight, & vice versa.) Maybe I should have some coffee & revisit this! (Decaf, of course!)

[Goal4Life]

My family and I are back from my mom's house for the holiday weekend. I feel that I did wonderful op choices the whole time. I haven't made it to wi in yet, but my home scale is down a few pounds, so hopefully, the same goes at the center..that 25 pound board is so close, I might get to sign it this week! Congrats to all the 'losers' over this food frenzy of a holiday.
Anyone who had a few mishaps, just dust yourself off, and get back on the fat burning shuttle. Don't beat yourself up.
I will keep you all posted after wi

[SpringfieldAmy]

Ok. Stayed up last night thinking about what has changed since I started the plan. When I began, I had no problems and did great then I started slipping. I realized it was the way I was looking at it. At first I was so proud about how much better I was eating than before, later I became more obsessive about doing everything right. I beat myself up if I had grapes for fruit or tomato on my salad. At first I would have thought, it is healthy, it is a vast improvement over junk food and congratulated myself. I think I am going back to that and refocusing on how much better I am eating rather than being perfect. I need to be my own cheerleader rather than critic. That negative voice just makes me want to quit or go off the deep end. So I won't be the poster child for perfection, but if a few grapes or tomato slices mean I have to resign for another round so be it. It will be a new life plan I can live with. Sorry to talk so long, and I don't mean any of this for anyone else. So many of you are doing great being perfectly on plan. If that worked for me I would. I think you are all great. Just have to give myself a fighting chance. Thanks for giving me a place to share.

Amy

Off to wi. We will see what terror this last weekend caused. It is measurement day too. Oh well, I am where I am.

[Goal4Life]

SpringfieldAmy...I think you have the right idea, don't beat yourself up. Just get yourself back on program, and you will be up and running full speed ahead again. Trust me, we have all had a tomato or 2, and gasp, even a few grapes When you do have something little like that off plan, you shouldn't even stress about that.
I am the type of person that if I let myself have a little indulgence, it turns into an over indulgence, that is why I have to stay op, but I think as my body becomes conditioned to better eating choices, I will be fine.
Good luck at wi and measurements. throwing a little your way for this week, to begin fresh.

[DJAEBBS]

It's a brand new day

Today was my first weigh in where they actually did measurments and compared. Although I didn't loose 1 pound we had a few factors. First, it is the dreaded TOM. YUCK! My fluids were up and it showed. Second, I have went from 28 pounds of muscle to 28.5, so that is great! And my #1 most memorable moment to date on this journey is (are you ready) 13.5 total inches lost!!!!

SO all my whining, and complaining about only loosing 6 pounds in 2 weeks is out the window!

I so so so needed this WI. Last night I had a pop tart which is obviously not written on my menu. I am afraid that wrecklessness was on the verge. Chinese, beer, ect. i need not say more.

i am back on track and will be posting more

Great whoo hoo to all of you loosing weight and not loosing weight. We are all here for one reason and that is support, I personally thank all of you for your support and dedication!

[Hvnlymzic]

SpringfieldAmy - I add my voice to the don't sweat the small stuff. We all slip up sometime. I don't know what menu you are on, but tomato is allowed on salad on all the plans I've been on. Check your veggie list again. It's under RAW tomato. You can eat all the raw tomato that you want(though it is high carb...just FYI). Its the cooked ones you can't have. Here is how I look at this plan. If I am out (or even at home) I try to think is this a good choice. If I'm at a restraunt and I really want a breadstick...which I ate last night...then I eat a breadstick. Now i'm not going to eat a basket of breaksticks, but I can have bread at dinner, so a breadstick it is. Make choices that are as close as possible. Thats kinda my little motto for myself. I don't do it all perfect all the time, but I get close and I definitely eat better than I did before plan. Don't beat yourself up...its much easier to lose weight when you aren't stressed out

Desi - welcome back to the track!! Congrats on those great numbers...weight isn't everything. Sometimes seeing other numbers drop is just as nice Plus if I recall correctly, you teach aerobics, right? Be sure they always compare your muscle weight as that will go up as you work out alot. Especially as you lose fat. Muscle weighs more than fat, but takes up less space, so you'll shrink (inches) but not necessarily in weight. Keep up the good work!!

[SpringfieldAmy]

Thank you Goal4Life and Hvnlymzic. You are both wonderful. I went in for wi and stayed basically the same. I will take that with a big smile. I hope it isn't that it just hasn't shown up yet. We decided to wait for measurements until later in the week. I had the nicest counselor and she went over everything again with me and helped me to remember the whys for the hows. I did find that tomato was ok. I didn't think to look for raw. One crisis solved. I love tomato so that is great. I have done well today. We decided to set a Christmas goal to pull me back on track and the center is having a raffle and we get tickets for weighing in, pounds lost etc. Both should help. Thank you all again for the support and listening. We are all making it together. Willpower to all.

[WindyMK]

I had a nice holiday spending time with family but did have some bites that were off plan. Luckily I have a new day to begin every single morning! I stuck to my one plate rule at Tgiving dinner and just had what I wanted. Mostly veggie stuff and a little turkey and a little brisket. But I enjoyed all of it! Then I got back on track and feel much better for it. I definitely have had some mean carb cravings though and I learned my lesson the hard way!

I wanted to share on Supplements also...I only take MRC-6 from the center. I started this program with my parents. I bought flax and a multi-vitamin from elsewhere. My dad took all the supplements and enhancers and I didn't. We lost exactly the same amount of weight. My mom lost slower because she really wasn't ready for the changes...she also has no set schedule as she is a "domestic engineer" so she really has a hard time eating all of her meals and stuff. It is truly all in your mind. The center reps only make commission on supplements - so of course they want you to buy them!

Good luck every one. I got some new HNS this weekend and am going to try the ready-made chocolate shake. I hope I like the way it tastes!!

[Raemi13]

Hi everyone!

It looks like we all survived for the most part. A few off plan bites here and there for a lot of us, but back on track and ready to take off some more poundage!

I did remove 1 lb. over this holiday - first time that's EVER happened! Yeehaw!

I've also realized that my essential fatty's aren't doing a good job so decided to try the MRC brand and see if that improves (talking about dry skin, brittle nails, etc.)

When you're talking about tomato - I'm on the beige menu, so mine says I can have raw tomato. What I've been doing is using raw tomato - chop them small, and just heating it warm, not actually cooking it, but that helps if I'm trying to imitate a mexican meal or something like that while I give the family their burritos.

You guys are awesome - doing fabulous!

Rae

[steph0320]

Hey Y'all. I have a question about the Chocolate Meal Repalcement drinks. Someone gave me a box and I am not sure how to use them. I am not a big breakfast eater so I would like to have one tomorrow morning. I think I remember something about there being a limit per week that you can use them. Also do you still drink a HNS with them? Thanks in advance. You guys are a wealth of information.