I have a habit that helps me stay grounded - particularly good for pre-conditioning . . . I have a small whiteboard in my kitchen. Every evening, I sit down and map out the next day, for example:

Breakfast
A Cottage Cheese
B Slice of Bread
C Egg
D Apple Slices

Then I know what to pack up and can make sure I'm hitting all the food I am supposed to. It's made it easy for me - and my "mom-brain."

Hi everyone! I just signed up yesterday. I'm in preconditioning now, and will go to Food Instruction on 8/22. (Have some work travel in between now and then and was afraid restaurant eating so early would sabatoge me.) I'll be scouring the boards looking for money saving tips/tricks. I think the program sounds great, but am concerned about what I've signed up for from a cost perspective.

Thanks for the newbies post - very helpful!

This newbie post is extremely helpful to me, too! Thank you so much for putting it together.

This is a really good idea....

I'm new and the whoel MRC thing is kinda confusing...

Read and ask questions Austons Mom - by the way I Love You lol Lots of activity on Take 25 so make sure to look there too

Thanks Mom... I'm still getting my bearing around here... The whole having to wait to post a sig is kinda crappy!

Hi, I'm new to this and I am in need of some support. I have been trying to lose weight since June and I lost 8 lbs and then nothing. So, I added exercise and have been doing the treadmill everyday for 30 minutes for the past two weeks and, still, I haven't lost a pound. I also do WW by myself and count points and have been staying within my points. Is this common? Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get going again?

Hi! I'm new to this too. These posts are VERY helpful! I just got done with my pre-conditioning and lost 4lbs. I did my food instruction Friday, but was sick all weekend, so I'm starting my yellow menu tomorrow - any ideas on ways to make the food not so blah???

Welcome! I found that mixing my cottage cheese in with my veggies for lunch helped a lot - and weighing up 6 oz or so of cukes before adding other veggies keeps that lunchtime salad from being so ginormous. And lots of Mrs. Dash - in assorted flavors. Be sure you weigh & measure your food. Good job on losing 4 lbs already!

Hi everyone! I am going for my consultation tonight. I did MRC a long time ago, more than 10 years ago. I lost weight and quit going.

I keep reading about the salads and cottage cheese. I remember that I found the first few days extremely difficult as I am not a big veggie person. I can do salads but to be honest, I really don't like raw veggies. I like romaine lettuce and can eat iceberg. I don't like cottage cheese either. Will I be able to do the first few weeks? Are there other options?

Thank you for all the helpful information.

Actually the entire program could be difficult if you can't learn to enjoy veggies - wondering if that's why you stopped going before? All through the program you're supposed to eat 4 oz of cooked veggies or 8 oz of raw veggies for lunch AND dinner. If you like cucumbers it really helps with the raw veggies - cukes are heavy. Cottage cheese is optional.

Meemo - do you have a favorite recipe? I have the MRC cookbook, but would love to know if you have tried any of them. I hear the vegetables with the cottage cheese dip is really good.

I honestly didn't use the cookbook that much - I just kept things pretty simple. But check out the recipes thread here - lots of people posted their favorites from the cookbook, plus ideas they came up with on their own.

[QUOTE=Meemo;2311495]Welcome! I found that mixing my cottage cheese in with my veggies for lunch helped a lot - and weighing up 6 oz or so of cukes before adding other veggies keeps that lunchtime salad from being so ginormous.

Thank goodness for cucumbers. I too am not much of a veggie person, but I REALLY hate being fat, so I am learning to have a healthy relationship with them and my fake butter and mrs dash....lol

[QUOTE=SeekingSvelteness;2339458] thanks Meemo...great idea. Seekingsvelteness... I hate being fat too... Mrs. Dash and cucumbers are becoming my good friends... LOL