ShineOn: I'm right there with you. Since I started MRC in mid-March, I've tried to do so well and stay OP. On my trip to California in June, I snuck in a Starbucks Chai, a Lava Colado drink, and didn't get all my veggies in with eating out so much. I did get in a lot of walking, so was really feeling cocky, like I knew what was OK to eat off plan. When I got back, my WI was stable...no gain, but no loss. The MRC Center started talking stabilization even. So guess what? I thought I could continue to cheat, had a couple more Chai drinks, extra fruit at lunch and (YIKES!) even snuck in a piece of chocolate. :devil: My WI this week was a bummer, as I had stayed the same for two weeks in a row. So now I'm back on the wagon, and hope to get to stabilization in August. My original time should have been up next week, but my 4 free weeks will hopefully get me through. Thanks for sharing your story. I think we are all a work in progress!

DKRiley: I've lost many more inches than weight. It was discouraging at first until my clothes started to be baggy. My DH said my pants looked like I was carrying a sack lunch (guess that's better than carrying a load!). :censored: I think we often get hung up on the scale numbers. I'll bet you will start to see a change in your clothes sizes. I've gone from a 16 to a 10 in 4 months, so that was a size a month. I'll take it!

Exsquisit: Good to have you back. We are about in the same place, with just a little bit to go. Hang in there! Do you think you can talk them into stabilization when your contract is up so you can take advantage of the year of maintenance? :hug:

Judy
Gma to 4

Jennifer - It's great to see you back!! It's funny how we go through cycles of people. There are very few who have hung around from my beginning group. I did get a private message from JanT - she's the one who coined the "fist full of fat" analogy for every lb you lose. She is doing great and trying to do a little MRC on her own now. She has successfully kept off all but 5 lbs of her MRC weight loss. If you're out there lurking, it was wonderfully hearing from you and I'm really proud of you!! Judy - I know exactly what you mean!! It's those little cheats that stall us and we're so close to goal!!


Thanks for the encouragement everyone. Today was right back on track - I even made merange (spelling?) cookies. They were a little weird, but it made me feel like I could have a munchie and still stay OP. I know that 4lbs will be off by next WI, I just get frustrated when I trip myself on purpose. You'd think I'd know better after all this time. We had bad storms last night and I was alone in the house. As I was eating my off plan snack - I actually looked at my dog and said "this is what we call stress eating". I had to laugh out loud! I knew exactly what I was doing and even named it! I guess that's progress. I just have to convince myself that I deserve to make goal, stabilization will be fun, and most importantly, I'll be ok during maintenance. I've been on this so long, there is some fear of the unknown. I'm a little scared of being let loose on my own and not developing the bad habits that got me here in the first place. Being at a healthy weight is way too much fun! I love the way I look, where I can shop, how I blend into a crowd, and how good my body feels. And the respect you get from people by losing this much weight is a little addictive. I know that will die down after a while, so I have to focus on other ways to stay motived and committed to my new healthy life. I do not want to go back to the tired girl who is limited to where she can shop and worried about chairs and seats fitting correctly.

Let's hear from some other people. What do you like most about being thinner, or what are you looking forward to when you're closer to a healthy weight???

I'll go back to my crazy work schedule tomorrow and have less time for reflection. The good thing is I will go back into "auto pilot" mode, which makes the plan a lot easier for me to follow.

Well if it makes you feel better I have lost 24.5 lbs. and only lost 12 inches. So she cut my stupid little 12 inch piece of curly ribbon to keep with me to see my progress. I told her I felt much better about losing 24.5 lbs. than 12 inches!!! My daughter was telling me it should be motivating, but for me it just wasn't.

Heather

Quick question about metaquick again... oh btw, I asked about it the last time I weighed in and she told me that they do offer it, but they save it for when someone plateau's. Ok so my question is, do you use the powder form meal replacements? Or do you use the ready made ones? Because the last girl, she saw that I would use vanilla creamer in my coffee sometimes, so she suggested I try using the Vanilla Meal Replacement drink instead, only using 1/6th at a time so I don't have to count it as a full HNS. Well, I didn't really like it to tell you the truth, so now I was thinking I could use them to do metaquick...

Metaquick, what I was talking about above, where you have a shake for breakfast, a shake for lunch, HNS inbetween, and then a regular on plan dinner.

I thought that in order to be compliant with their plan, and therefore qualify for the 1 year maintenance, that you HAD to go in once a week? Twice a week has been ok for me, but one of those days (Fridays) are a little inconvenient for me. Since I work an hour away and they close at 7 I have to kind of rush over before they close. I wonder if they would say something to me if I just started going once a week....

Technically, no caffeine is allowed. But I'll tell you what my center told me when I first started... they said 'we are not the caffeine police, but we highly suggest you not you not drink any caffeine'. The reason for it is because caffeine is an appetite stimulant. I did not have any caffeine for the first 2 weeks, then when I did have it again I noticed I felt hungrier. Now, I have it once a day the 4 days I work. I usually only get 5 hours of sleep on those days so it's hard for me not to have it. But I've been thinking lately that I really need to start looking at other ways of 'waking up' as I do feel hungrier on those days. The liquid minerals help.

About a year and half, maybe 2 years now, ago, I went through a divorce, and to deal with the stress I didn't eat and I went to the gym, a LOT. Subsequently I got down to a nice size 10, and bought a whole new wardrobe. Well, a few months after that, alone in a new apartment just me and my dog (the first few months I was staying with friends), I started to eat again, and got back up to ... well lets just say the 12's were tight and the 14's were starting to feel comfortable again. But I saved all the size 10 clothes, I mean they are all practically brand new since I didn't wear them very long. So I'm looking forward to wearing all those clothes again!

This weekend I put all 3 pairs of my size 14 pants in a bag to take to the goodwill. I had saved them from when I got down to a size 10, and I'm not sure WHY I saved them. But putting them on again had brought back bad memories, and that is what sparked me to start MRC. Now I'm in my size 12's, but I only have 2 pairs of those, and I refuse to buy more.

Ha! My poor dog has been my MRC confidante, too! After two very stressful days, my dog and I discussed last night why I should NOT open a bottle of wine just for a single glass...and once we cleared that hurdle, we discussed why I shouldn't run to the grocery store and buy one of those four packs of single serve bottles of wine. She talked me down, and it's a good thing, too, because...

Some of my favorite things about being thinner include looking taller, having definition in my face, wearing t-shirts that I dug out of the goodwill bag because they were formerly too small but now reveal a feminine shape, and being able to climb stairs with the confidence that I won't be oxygen deprived midway up. I've noticed that I'm weathering the summer months better this year than last. It also seems like people I don't know--store clerks, etc--treat me differently now than they did 20 lbs ago. (Not sure whether there is a real bias against fluffy people or if I just carry myself with more confidence now.) Finally, my feet no longer rage with pain when I get out of bed in the morning, and it looks like I won't have to have foot surgery afterall. All good things!

We had our PeeWee Cheer leading pool and pizza party.... I am so proud of my self I had NO PIZZA...Yea me it felt good not to want it!!!!!! I have also been drinking more water then they told me to and I hate water.... Yall -r- great here thanks so much for yall's support... Yall all -r- a big help

Getting to goal & stabilization is what qualifies you for your year of maintenance.

Not being compliant is what can void your guarantee. If you don't lose your weight & say "Hey, I want my money back - I had a guarantee" - every off plan meal, not going to classes, not coming in twice a week - all are reasons for them to be able to say "Sorry, you were non-compliant."

Gina..my things that I enjoy now that I am smaller....
-walking into stores and being shocked that I can wear a size 8, size small, and look great in them.
-feeling confident
-the way my husband looks at me when I walk into the room
-my kids being proud of me for my accomplishments
-sitting in any chair, not worrying if my butt is going to hang over the sides, or be squished between the arm rests
-riding ALL rides at the local amusement park
-going to Splash Island and not feeling self conscious
-my family's support and motivation
-the energy I have
-enjoying the outdoors
-not sweating just doing simple chores
-being chilly in the night air
-feeling and looking young
-loving myself

When I begin maintenance, I will have hubby take a new pic, to update my before collage on my profile. People are saying that I am looking different in just the last month. My youngest son told me yesterday..."mom you are looking way skinnier, I thought you were done losing weight". :) so cute the way he just blurted it out.

That is a lot of inches!! I've lost 21 lbs and lost I believe 24 inches. Now, I weigh a lot more than you, but my clothes are getting really baggy. Depends also on where you lose inches from. I always lose my belly, hips, butt area first, so I notice in my pants first. I bet a few more lbs and you'll be in another size. 17 lbs is 68 sticks of butter!!!! Thats a lot of butter!!:carrot:

Hi everyone hope you all are having a great op day!! WELCOME TO ALL NEWBIES!!! So i was wondering if anyone stalled at a certain wt, Since i hit the 30 pound mark its like my body does not want to get lower then 213!!
Im getting frusterated , any ideas?

Measuring
 

I'm curious if all the centers measure exactly the same?

I know I always lost TONS of inches at every WI. They measured neck, shoulders, each arm, chest, bust, ribs, waist, abdomen, hips, each thigh, each calf. Maybe others? I just got my booklet out and looked, & my total loss was over 109" and 89.5 lbs.

From looking back at my numbers, I'd say that your inches/pounds lost look just about right.

I have lost multiple shoe sizes. I'm still finding shoes in my closet that are too big.

Just back from WI and was able to sign the 65 lb board :D I am slowly getting through the 180's!

DKRiley I think every one is different with weight & inches lost. I've lost (last measurement was 2 weeks ago) 70 inches so my pounds and inches are fairly close.

alexiah You sound like you are going through a slow phase like I am. I just try to keep varying my menus, keep eating a lot of fish and limiting hard cheese and beef. Those are things that seem to keep me losing even though I'm not losing as quickly as I was earlier.

:cool:Sometimes I think is my wanting to be perfect that got me overweight in the first place. Great post- you are right you are not perfect but you are accomplished. Look what you have done. Your pictures are beautiful and you did it. You are on the home stretch.
Hang in there. Think what you looked like on your 42nd birthday and rejoice at where you are now..:carrot: You inspire all of us.