I would think that fiber supplements would worsen the problem.

How many flax/fish oil capsules are you taking at each meal? Sometimes that can cause loose bowels. If you are taking 3, drop it down to 2 and see if that helps.

Day 12 and down another pound! I know this pace won't go on forever and I will be facing the dreaded plateau soon enough, but I sure am enjoying the ride :)

Have a great weekend.

I go to the Lakewood CO center, and I like it. I prefer Jill and Sharon for counselors. And Tiffanie is good too. There are a couple of counselors that I do not prefer to see, but I don't want to prejudice you. We are all different, and you may like some one that I do not. The day and time you go in kinda determines who you will see to some extent, as not everyone works everyday. When I signed up in May, they weighed me, took a body composition on a machine called a Tanita, and that is pretty interesting. They do not push you into joining or into buying supplements, but they reccommend some. The first few days you will be on "pre-conditioning" to get you body used to the program. It is reccommended that you stop caffeine and cut down on salt and sugar. Many people lose on pre-conditioning. Then you will get your menu plan and attend a "food class" to learn about your choices. There are a lot of other classes, something each day and night of the week on food addiction, yoga, emotional eating, eating out in restaurants and traveling. And many more classes. I love the one on Motivation on Thursday nights with Sharon. There is also an Overeaters anonymous meeting. I have learned a lot from other people, and from this web site. Lots of support if you want it/need it. I have lost 16 pounds in roughly a month. My loss seems to be slower than some peoples' loss. I am perhaps older, less active. Still I am happy with it, and with the support I have received from the center. It seems to be a very busy center, and I suggest allowing yourself plenty of time if you go in after 5 pm. Many people pop in after work, and pop in to weigh in before a class, and it can be a bit of a wait unless you have made an appointment with a counselor you prefer. During the day, it isn't as busy, but that is not an option for many working people. I learned the hard way to make appointments. There are other alternatives for purchasing the supplements. I forget exactly what you HAVE to buy from them, but the online souces or Vitamin Cottage are much cheaper.

Hope this helps. Maybe we will see you there! Pattie

Thanks a lot Pattie! I hope I do get to see you at the center some time. I'm just so excited to start I can't wait till tomorrow.

Welcome! The program is pretty strict but it does work. 18 pounds on day 39(I don't count the days on preconditioning). I figured that was not too bad at all. The time would have past anyway and I would have still had those pounds to lose if I hadn't started MRC. They say the average is 3 pounds per week. So that is right on track.

I think losing 3 pounds a week or even 1 pound a week sounds awesome. Its more than I have lost without being on the program. I have been this weight for over a year and I need a change. I know the main complaint about the program is that it is expensive and strict but being unhappy with my weight have been restrictive and costly in other ways.

MRC hopeful
 

You are so right about the extra weight being uncomfortable and restrictive and costly in other ways.....and hold on to that thought as you lose. It can get tough from time to time.

Many of us get caught up in the number the scale is showing, and feel good or bad depending on what the scale says. This is a journey, a trip to a distant "place", and all kinds of feelings and emotions and conditions and situations come up to be dealt with, without turning to the comfort of food. For many of us, that is a major life lesson.

It really helps me to remember how I felt fat. (Unhealthy, unattractive, unmotivated) Daily, sometimes minute-ly (LOL at my made-up word), I choose not to go back to that "place". I am only 16 pounds into this, but I feel so much better. I am sick of swallowing pills and vitamins, I am bored with the drinks, I am craving some "forbidden" food, but I chose to go on the next leg of my journey, as the only other alternative is going back to the weight I have been.

And that is what I mean by "sometimes it is difficult" and why you need to hold on to your thoughts about why you are doing this FOR yourself.

Great job. Those plateaus are a pain but necessary. I am anticipating another one. Knew the first one comes at around the 7 to 10 pound mark but don 't know when next ones come. Guess after such a great loss last week, I feel like I have to pay for it. You would think staying on plan would be pay enough.
Hope you get a few more pounds down before the plateau strikes.

You said it! The amount I have spent on eating out, drinking and processed (ie easy to fix) food is more then what I have spent on this diet. Including HNS drinks! I would go to a drive through at least 5 times a week (so approx $40) and go to a restaurant at least once a week (another $40). Then I noticed that while the food is more expensive, (pound of cheap hamburger vs a pound of chicken breast) I don't eat as much of it so it lasts longer. I am finding myself drawn in by the options in the produce section instead of the bakery! Tried some new things like butternut squash only to find out it is not on the list! It was good though. Guess I will have to add it to my list of things I want to eat when I am on Maintence. More healthy then other things I ate before. Kids have had some changes in their diet too. Made the honey mustard crusted chicken the other night and they thought it was great.

Amen to all the comments about the importance of stabilization...there is a long story to my absence and gain but one part of it was thinking that I could keep off what I had lost without a plan. I will finish all the phases this time.

Personal note, after a weekend traveling to get the kids back from my in-laws, I am staring the yellow menu in the face. I grocery shopped today and have everything I need (though my orange is a little sad looking :( . At food class on Friday they referred to it as boot camp...these next four days will be a little reminder of why I should have stuck with it all the first time. Okay willpower here I come!!!

I like the skinnier me that the MRC way of life has given me, but I've also had some other benefits from the plan. During finals of my first semester in grad school, I had a huge and painful rash pop up on my wrist. It marched up my hand and in the other direction...up my arm. Eventually it crossed over to my other hand. I saw a dermatologist for this, as well as my GP, and tried numerous creams and oral medications, all to no avail.

It cleared up while I was on MRC last summer. It came back when I went off MRC. It cleared up again after two weeks of being back on plan this summer. Unfortunately, I don't know if it is the addition of something, like the flax, or if it is the removal of something, like sugar.

I've had a pretty crappy week that included a really bad blood drive experience, a no-show date, and a sprained knee, and I had an off-plan trip to a local burrito joint around 8:00 this evening. It has been about 3 hours since I had the burrito, and I already have a red welt forming on my wrist. So, I guess that means it isn't the flax. Now I'm left wondering if it is the sugar that might have been in the BBQ sauce or the tortilla itself that I am reacting to. If it were the tortilla, though, wouldn't the 40 calorie bread we eat cause a similar effect? I don't think it is stress, though, because I stay stressed out, and MRC hasn't changed that.

I went to WI on Saturday and lost 4 pounds! Yeah :D But then "allowed" myself to cheat TWICE this weekend! :mad: I too am so BORED w/ this diet. I'm not ever hungry and have to FORCE down my veggies! I'm glad I read your post b/c I was in NEED of a little will power so :thanks: I hope to stay completely OP for the week since I'm getting my Tanita run and measured at my next WI.

stuck in grad - have you ever had allergy tests run...sounds like an allergy thing to me?????

Suz175

Look at you there in Oneunderland! You joined in June and are down 15 pounds already! You'll be at your goal weight in no time! I seem to be taking the slower, scenic route, but each pound down is a good thing.

Yeah, I'm bored with the diet, but I am easily bored. I was bored with how I looked and felt before MRC. Boredom may have to be something that I look at in more detail so I am not tempted to cheat. I am a "foodie". I love how food tastes. I like trying new things, new combinations, new recipes, but I have found with MRC, that I can't get crazy with the recipes, or I overeat. I have also learned that I am sodium sensitive and retain huge amounts of water and get swollen hands and feet if I eat salt. So because I can't trust myself to quit with the portion I am allowed, and combinations of things (recipes) are not working for me, I am bored with the same old thing everyday. Yet the "same old thing" is working for me. So I'm going to have to find out what else, besides eat, I can do about being bored.

Like some other things I have discovered, it may not be about the food after all. It may be that I need some excitement in other areas of my life. Food was the only area that I had excitement, and take that away, and gaps in my life appear.

So watch out world! Kinda-mature, kinda-chubby, unused-to-flight, un-used to teeny-tiny wings, but this woman is cleared for take-off! (Think bumble-bee. Aerodynamically, they are a disaster, yet they fly!)

I have more work to do in this area, but my suggestion is to look into the boredom and what it may reveal. There is an old spiritual truth that says: "What you resist, persists". So embrace it as a teacher/helper that will reveal part of your hidden self to you.

As for me, I'm going to go learn something. What, I don't know yet. But I need to fill the space where I am bored with something besides an unhealthy pre-occupation about food.

Hit 10lbs!
 

Wow I can't believe I am down 10 lbs! I am so excited! I definitely get bored and my husband just deployed and so I was so use to going out to eat all the time when he is gone because I am bored. But we are going on vacation when he gets back in 10 weeks so that keeps me motivated! Well hope everyone has a wonderful week!:carrot: