[lcmaly]

Now I need the confidence boost! I went in for WI last Thursday and was up a pound from the week before and it meaured me up 2% body fat! My water retention was also WAY down so I don't know if that somehow affects the way the Tanita measures. I gained .5 lb in muscle too. What the heck! All my measurements were down (almost another 1.5 inches in my stomach area - 3 inches below the belly button which is my problem area). Anyway, so I'm measuring at 20.5% body fat now (was at 18.8%) and weighed in at 155 (but that was after breakfast/lunch/lots of water). At home that morning I was 153. I know they say that measuring body comps on the Tanita get REALLY screwed up if you measure during TOM. Well, my TOM starts tomorrow so maybe Thursday was close enough to affect the body comps, right?

Ugh...well other than that I feel like I've been spiraling a little bit out of control when I do go off plan. Friday I went to a yummy dinner with my Dad/Step-mom who were in from out of town. Before dinner I had some snacks because I figured "well I'm eating off plan so I might as well REALLY eat off plan". I probably ate 500 calories worth of snacks before dinner. Then at dinner I went nuts and ate way too much table bread, had a yummy yummy spinach/walnut/cranberry/feta salad, drank 6 martini's and a glass of wine, had a HUGE slice of carrot cake (well, half of the HUGE slice but still a ton) and THEN I had Cold Stone. And that's all in addition to the sensible chicken and steamed veggies I ordered for my entree. Why do I go so nuts? Why do I think eating off plan like THAT is any better than eating off plan every day just a little bit? Because although I ate like that Friday...the next day, I was 100% back on the wagon and have been (and plan to be!) for the next two weeks.

Does anyone else go through that or am I just messed up? When I eat bad...I eat REALLY bad and try to cram it all in to one day. Then I eat perfectly healthy the remaining days of the week.

[mkroyer]

Icmaly--
I can see how frustrated you are right now, so to put your mind at ease, i was actualyl JUST researching body comp techniques and accuracies this morning! The article talked about the tanita in particular and noted that if you are at ALL dehydrated, you will show an increase in body fat--sometimes as much as a couple percent! And if you are on TOM, dont even bother......it will be so far off/.....So, take a deep breath, try and keep yourself hydrated this week, and try again next week..
As far as gonig overborad once you start cheating..I dont really have that problem..not that i dont "cheat" ( i have a real problem with bites, licks and tastes), but if/when i DO have a taste of something im not supposed to have ( like a bite of my BF's Icecream last nite), I dont chalk the entire day up as a loss at all...I figure, as long as i just stopped there, then it wasnt so bad, and there is no reason to get too down about it.... It SHOULD be ok to indulge a little sometimes, right? Maybe you wouldnt feel so bad if youd JUST had the bread, or JUST the coldstone, or whatever-- i think maybe those are the types of things tht will get us through maintenace and allow us to maintain the weight loss....you cant OVERindulge everytime you indulge, i guess is what im saying..... i dont know...

[dietingagain22]

Well when I'm bad I'm bad and when I'm good I'm good...I do the same thing...I look like I haven't been fed in years when I get going on my eat anything and everything sprees...

But today's a new day...I did good yesterday (except for the 3 frozen cookies) and I'm doing good today...I was dying of hunger...unable to focus...felt like I was going to pass out if I didn't eat somehting so I just broke down and had 1 oz of cheese...but it was necessary...I really wanted some fresh fruit b/c I think it has more to do with low blood sugar than needing something to eat but other than chocolate I had nothing semi-healthy to pickup from here at work...

But mentally I'm doing better...no cravings...phew...those were killing me...

[mkroyer]

at least you picked a healthy protein Dietingagain!! Good choice!! Only 3 frozen cookies yesterday isnt SO horribly bad you know?? I wonder if you were overly hungry today because of all the "off plan" eating lately??

[dietingagain22]

I think that is exactly why I am sooooo hungry today...I'm headed home now to get dinner and I am can't wait...I'm starved...and I'm doing pre-conditioning so calorie count is higher than green...I guess that's why I had such a hard time jumping back into green...

Tomorrow's another day...I'll get there...I don't think I gained too much back but I'm dodging weigh-ins until I can get this figured out...

[ladyrider72472]

Dietingagain22,

I am in the exact situation. I have 19 to go and it is such a battle! When I am good, I am good, but when I binge...... it is a full blown binge. I am trying to get on an even keil and then hit it full force after my bday.

[lookinfine09]

lcmaly

Don't sweat it, easier said than done, I know! You are doing a great job and you are SO close to where you need to be. Based on your situation, I'd guess TOM played a part in it as well as the dehydration. I think TOM sometimes can cause the WI to go awry for a week or two.

Keep your chin up. I enjoy your words of wisdom on here. On the binge, the beauty of it is that you get right back on track. I'm with you, should the opportunity arise to totally go off plan, you might as well go out with a bang! This is very much a mental game.

[dietingagain22]

A mental game that's whooping my butt right now!! Still off program... I know I can do this...I feel terrible but can't seem to control myself...tomorrow is another day....tomorrow is a beautiful on program day!!

Have a good one ladies!! You can do it!!

[mkroyer]

DietingAgain-- Are you contemplating starting the program over? Like from the yellow menu?? Maybe thats what your body needs...i think the purpose of the yellow menu was to entirely "cleanse" your body of all those carbs and to help kinda jump start ketosis for you......maybe it will help with all the carb cravings?? Whats your status now? Are thigns going ok? have you GAINED any of the weight back? or are you just not losing right now? Hang in there...You deserve to win this battle....Give it another shot, because you KNOW you have the will power to do this..i think maybe you just need a fresh start to get things going again....

[mkroyer]

Today was WI for me..more EXCELLENT News! I lost another 2 pounds!! That puts me at a grand total of....10 pounds lost!!!!! WAHOOS!!!! That is a little decieving however, because i have GAINED .5 pounds of lean muscles mass, as well as about 2 pounds of water, so I've really lost about 13 POUNDS of fat!! A little more than 7 % of my body fat is gone!!!! Im so excited! Im down to 21% BF, and my initial "goal" was 23%, but it just keeps coming off so i changed my news goals to 20% BF and 135 pounds......they are going to continue to let me lose as long as i want to, even though i only paid for the 5 week program..... Its now week 7...I wonder if its just that nobody has NOTICED its been 7 weeks and i only paid for 5, or maybe they really do just genuinely want to let me lose until i feel im done...either way, i get to keep going for at least another 2.5 pounds, and im super excited..I want to lose as much as possible before i go on stabilization, because i want that extra "wiggle" room, incase i gain a couple pounds back, you know what i mean? So, for some reason, even with all this good news, it still isnt enough to keep me from cheating..this afternoon i cleaned out the pantry, and kept sneaking bites of dry cereal. like trix, and cinnamon toast crunch, with REAL sugar!! All those bites kept coming and prob added up to more than a full serving of cereal...oops.....now im feeling very remoreseful and angry at myself over it....just cuz im doing well, doesnt mean i should go and ruin it by "binging"...GRRRrrrrr, now im starting to get REALLY angry at myself....They could cut me off at any moment, you know? Just like American idol or biggest loser, any week from here on out could be my last week, so i need to do as good as i possibly can, cuz i dont know when it will end...i NEED TO STAY FOCUSED...Lady at the center talked me into buying guggle (sp?)..she said it will help with carb cravings, and it was only like 18 dollars, so i am game to try it...anyone else use it?

[reuselady]

Hey Buddies,
I'm not advocating changing from MRC to someone else's diet, but I just found out some interesting information about how sugar works in our body from Jorge Cruise's website - jorgecruise.com. I downloaded an Adobe file on eating the right sugars (http://www.jorgecruise.com/images/Report_v3.pdf) Scroll down to page 22, on the left it talks about the hormone Leptin and how eating sugar depresses the amount of leptin. Leptin signals your body when you have had enough to eat, and also triggers an enzyme that burns fat. When we snitch on sugar snacks, we decrease the amount of fat burning our bodies are doing. Interesting website and article.
I also enjoyed the comparison between artificial sweeteners and Stevia and Xylitol. I think the second on is the sweetener in the mouthwash MRC allows. I personally so not like the artificial sweeteners but Stevia has not bothered me. Just some observations. jeanette

[dietingagain22]

Mkroyer...thank you for the encouraging words. I do have to start over...I tried to do preconditioning and made it through day one but day two didn't make it...I'm completely off program and off track at this point and don't know where to even start...I am exhausted lately and need caffenine and have taken up an old friend...diet pepsi...I'm afraid at this point I don't think I could get rid of the diet pepsi...tomorrow I'm going to try and restart...I'm in a pickle....gained all the weight back...feel like a big beached whale...ugh...

I keep telling myself nothing tastes as good as being thin feels...but oh some of these cheats tasted really tasty...then I see people out and about that are very large and I think...goodness I never want to let myself go like that but I'm on the path to doing that and it makes me feel bad about myself for doing what I've done...

Mkroyer, congrats on all your success...what an amazing journey...you're a strong woman...don't beat yourself up about a little mistake here or there...take solice in the fact that you're never as bad as I am

Reuselady, I'm going to have to check out that site...it's something to definetly keep in mind when we get to our goals and have to do this on our own...

So wish me luck...sorry I've been a little mia from here but gosh I feel like such a nut checking in just to say I'm doing terrible...I don't want to spread my infectious off program madness...fingers crossed it's not contagious!!!

[mkroyer]

Dietingagain----Keep posting please!! Even if youre "doing terrible"! You inspire ME, at least, and after all we are all human...I know what you mean about looking around and seeing really large woman (gosh, i dont MEAN to sound so crass and judgemental) but it really helps me find my focus, and reminds me how i DONT want to live my life, and it also always makes me think of oh how easily i could become what im desparatley afraid of being...My moms entire side of the family is VERY obese, including all four of her sisters. and MY sister is just as big, if not bigger (were talking pushing 275-300 probably). She and i do NOT get along (for reasons i will not bore you with here) but it makes me very sad to see her, and i KNOW how desparately unhappy she MUST be, and theres nothing anyone can do, except HER to change that, you know? SHes so unhappy she tries to make everyone around her unhappy as well, and i never want to become that person, but its definitely in my genes. When i had my daughter, i tipped thescales at 192!!!! I gained 75 POUNDS with the pregnancy....NEVER EVER AGAIN will i allow myself to be that large...

[mkroyer]

You have the desire DietingAgian, and all the right tools......DOnt let your weight start to control your life again....and get it under control before it becomes unmanageable......you can DO IT!

[dietingagain22]

Yeah family is part of my trouble. My parents are larger and have terrible eating habits...we used to eat dinner at 9pm and I definetly remember plenty of meals where homemade fried bread dough was our 'bread' for the meal...or just skipping dinner and warming up cream cheese and a can of chili to scoop it out of the bowl with chips...so I was definetly trained to eat terribly....oh and my mom drinks diet pepsi constantly...starts as soon as she wakes up in the morning with breakfast... I carried on these traditions in college but afterwards when I moved to FL and joined MRC I kicked the diet pepsi habit and learned to eat healthy...kept it off until I got pregnant and by the time I had my second baby I was 186 when I weighed in at the hospital before having my daughter and 186 when I was checking out...now I know I pushed out a 7lbs 14oz child so mind boggling how my weight stayed stagnant....I got down to 125 with MRC but was being asked at least once a week when I was due...see I had lost weight every where but my belly and my body was disporportionatly heavy in the tummy so of course everyone assumed I was pregnant...this set me off on a two year eating binge that finds me back at 150...

So my alias is dietingagain because I have tried everything....6 week body make over...Beck Diet for Life...Nutrisystem....MRC....you name it I've tried it...and MRC is the only one I've been able to stick to...people dismiss my successes when I diet because they know I will gain it back in a matter of time...

And one of my biggest problems is my attitude...when I'm hungry I'm mean...and well I kind of need to be nice when I'm at work...

So my resolution is to make myself a priority...tomorrow I am getting my hair cut and colored...I am going to a punk rock concert with my little sister in two weeks so I'm going to get something funkalicious...wish me luck...and I'm going to start working out....geez louise my husband manages a fitness center and is a personal trainer...I need to get my butt in gear....today is day one of my fitness program... ...we shall see how that goes...(devil character is from my son...but starting now I am my own priority!!!