Originally Posted by Hvnlymzic:
Haha...Welcome back nwgirl! Jump back in...the water's warm!

Hi Hvnly - I sent you a private msg - hope I did it right, let me know if you don't get it. :)

Originally Posted by ali g:
Hello Everyone: I have gone off the wagon and think that if I post here you will give me the accountability I need to get back on track. I have had a lot of little cheats over the last few days and this morning am up 3 pounds at home. We were on a cruise Thanksgiving week and I only gained 1/2 pound that week, but since then I am up 2 1/2 more. This morning I started back OP 100%, using the day 1-4 program. I will WI on Tuesday, and I doubt that I will lose 3 pounds by then (I'm a slow loser, but a fast gainer :)) To make matters worse, I only had 9 pounds to goal and now I have 12. I also stopped keeping my food journal on-line the last couple of weeks, so I wasn't seeing the amount of protein, carbs and fat. I was writing everything in a notebook, but for me when I see the numbers it helps keep me on track. I started my on-line journal again this morning. I will write again tomorrow to let you know how I did today. Thanks for the on-line support!

Welcome back Ali g!!! How do you do your food journal online? Did you make it yourself or do you use a certain program? Sounds like a great plan!! Reading these posts definitely is motivating to me!! We are all in the same boat!! Best wishes for great success - YOU CAN DO IT!

Originally Posted by FetchLizzie:
good evening all! I TIVO Biggest Loser - love to use it to get motivated. I wish they would have a mini biggest loser competition for some of us who need to lose 20-50 or so pounds!

anyway - I'm sure we would all love to have the time & motivation to work out 1 1/2 - 2 -4 hours a day - but lets be realistic! Also - I think if we look at other ways to move - it should count! We all know them! Stairs instead of elevators - parking farther away from where we want to be - instead of email - walking to the office mate we need to talk too. I know it doesn't seem like much - but every step adds up!

And once again - I want to mention how all of you that are losing and getting healthier are inspirations for those of us who are just starting this journey - no matter if you are a quick loser or it is taking more time that you want! Every ounce lost is closer to who we want to be! And whatever point we are - we are all beautiful women that deserve the best!

Totally agree FetchLizzie - great attitude and words to remember!! Nice to have you on 3FC's!!! :coffee:

Originally Posted by namaste:
Congratulations!!! and welcome to your journey!

I think that being able to eat your own food was a big time seller for me. The classes was the other. I wanted to understand why I made the choices I made and how I got to where I was. If you have a chance go to the classes.

What I've found with the consultants is that I always had my favorite(s) but they all have something valuable.... and each one is totally different; some are more about the heart and head issues, some are more scientific, some are gentle with you and others give you a little kick in your butt when you really need it. It's very interesting to get to know each of them on their own merits and use them to further your success.

So, about the ticker. It's 30 posts or 30 days until you get the ticker.... so start posting (from what I remember anyway)!

Welcome!:hug:

Namaste - I read your website and I am SO impressed! Thank you for sharing your story. You have had an amazing and inspiring journey. I can relate to many things that you described. Congratulations on your journey & continued journey! :hug:

Well I started Metaslim Days 1 -4 today. I learned not to put the HNS concentrates in the blender or you will get foam. It was still suprisingly very good. What are your favorite flavors. I have only tried grape so far. You are all such good inspiration. I know I can do this if I just keep focused.

Originally Posted by leigh529:
Well I started Metaslim Days 1 -4 today. I learned not to put the HNS concentrates in the blender or you will get foam. It was still suprisingly very good. What are your favorite flavors. I have only tried grape so far. You are all such good inspiration. I know I can do this if I just keep focused.

I like Kiwi-melon, Berry, and since I like tea...I drink green tea + cranberry hot. You can put shakes in the blender - yum! Wildberry shake is really good!

After weigh in yesterday, I FINALLY got to sign the 40 lb. board. Boy, did it take forever to get there! 8.5 lbs to go...........woohoo!

Originally Posted by Goose:
After weigh in yesterday, I FINALLY got to sign the 40 lb. board. Boy, did it take forever to get there! 8.5 lbs to go...........woohoo!

CONGRATULATIONS GOOSE!!! :carrot: That is super. You are so close now....I am so envious of you...but then, I am very proud of you. I'm hoping to sign the 40 pound board before 2009 is over!!! ;)

Originally Posted by CndLou:
I like Kiwi-melon, Berry, and since I like tea...I drink green tea + cranberry hot. You can put shakes in the blender - yum! Wildberry shake is really good!

Do you have a recipe for making the shakes....this sounds wonderful. I just purchased the green tea/cranberry so I am anxious to give it a shot. With winter here, it's nice to have warm HNS's for a change.:p

Originally Posted by CndLou:
Welcome back Ali g!!! How do you do your food journal online? Did you make it yourself or do you use a certain program? Sounds like a great plan!! Reading these posts definitely is motivating to me!! We are all in the same boat!! Best wishes for great success - YOU CAN DO IT!

CndLou - I use Livestrong to do my food journal on-line. Its Livestrong.com. click on Diet and Nutrition, and then click on The Daily Plate. They have thousands of foods in their data base and you select what you ate and when. They even have MRC food. If something's not there you can add it. It tells you everything you want to know about the contents of what you ate. I pay most attention to calories, fat, carbs and protein. You can also add your exercise. The only problem is printing it out to bring to MRC. I put it into excel, format it and print it. That part is a pain.

Originally Posted by ali g:
CndLou - I use Livestrong to do my food journal on-line. Its Livestrong.com. click on Diet and Nutrition, and then click on The Daily Plate. They have thousands of foods in their data base and you select what you ate and when. They even have MRC food. If something's not there you can add it. It tells you everything you want to know about the contents of what you ate. I pay most attention to calories, fat, carbs and protein. You can also add your exercise. The only problem is printing it out to bring to MRC. I put it into excel, format it and print it. That part is a pain.

Thanks, I will have to check this out.

Fifties Lady - I searched for your recipe on the Thanksgiving Chicken Salad and found it on Nov. thread p. 19 - whoohoo! I have a question...since this recipe makes a good-sized portion, how much do you pack for one serving. I would like to make it and split it up for lunch etc... Just want to make sure I pack the right serving size because lord knows, I can eat the whole thing in one sitting. Thanks for sharing.
Also, the Wildberry Protein Shakes...I just put in my Magic Bullet with a tad of Vanilla pudding (to make it extra creamy), add the water, a couple ice cubes. It's nice to rotate with the concentrates because it takes more like a dessert to me.

Whoopsies, I better repost the recipe for anyone who does not have it....

This is from FiftiesLady: Thanksgiving Chicken Salad

4 (6) oz. cooked chicken breast, chilled and diced
1/2 apple, diced
1/4 C raw cranberries, coarsely chopped in processor or diced
4 oz. celery, diced
1/2 oz green onion, thinly sliced
1 t MRC Mayonnaise (recipe in cookbook)
2 t lemon juice
1/2 - 1 pkg Splenda
Pinch of salt

Mix first 5 ingredients. Blend the mayonnaise, lemon juice, salt and Splenda and add to salad. Toss gently.

ENJOY! It makes a big bowl and quite filling. Perfect to pack for lunch to take to work.

Ok, everybody - let's gear up for a week of temptation!! I am sure that there will be a lot of holiday parties, work treats, and food temptation galore. I am going to pack an extra HNS, chocolate meal-replacement bar as my "shield" against temptation this week. Best wishes everyone for focus on our goals...WE CAN DO IT!!

**NOTHING TASTES AS GOOD, AS THIN (HEALTHY) FEELS!**

Originally Posted by nabeelmalik:
Hi all,

i thought i'd check in. I was pretty good OP while being snowed in in Nebraska, wanted to goto the center on wednesday but couldnt get out of my street, so i didnt. But i stuck to the plan while being home for 3 days, i did fudge the water a bit, but i hit the 100 ounce atleast daily ( normally its around 160 ish). Then came yesterday. Yesterday was bad, yesterday was just i dont know, it felt like my mind had just left me. It started with agreeing to going out to lunch at work ( i had stopped doing that after joining MRC). I agreed eventhough i had my chicken adn cucumbers with me...

So i went to this place where we used to go always on fridays, everything was good, snow was evreywhere, the birds were singing, and all the food on the menu was calling my name.... At that moment i decided to order a chicken ceaser wrap with veggies ( so eating a carb at lunch....) It came, the veggies came with ranch ( why do americans do that to veggies seriously?). I ate my wrap so quick, that i must have seemed like a hungry African child who hadnt seen food in months... Then i ate my veggies AND dipped, no SOAKED them in the ranch... All of this while knowing that i was doing something wrong... somehting baddd....

Went back to work and still had my fruit of the day with my apple, i was so full that i skipped my afternoon snack, and came home.

Now here is where the stupidness really picked up. We had a poker night planned with some guys and gals at work, so i thought you know what Nabeel, you've been bad, no go ahead, eat your dinner before you go out. Which i did, i then went out and arrived at the party.
Well suffice to say that it was a pokernight / food fest, with home made brownies, deep fried chicken, ALOTS of chips and salsa, beer, pop, all the 'good' 'bad' stuff. I thought what the heck i will have a pop, so i had one, then i thought hey i've had a pop, why not some chips and salsa to go with it? And before i knew, i was grazing everything from the fried chicken to the brownies... And i had good time stuffing my face while also winning some money ( i had never played poker in my life, but i had what they called 'beginner's luck'. ) I left with almost all the money that i had put in, so i was good. I had had 4 cokes and alot of other bad stuff to drink and when i came home, i didnt feel guilty but happy that i did it.

Now this morning i woke up, stepped on the scale and i was up a whopping 3 lbs... I know most of it is water weight that i am gonna loose next week in a hurry, but still why did i do yesterday to myself, while i was perfectly capable of being ON plan while i was stuck in the snow for 3 days... Why did i do this? To tell you the truth i dont know, but i did it and pushed myself back atleast a week and fudged myself out of reaching my goal before next friday definitely.

*sighs* i guess i had to write this out of my system. Hope evreyone else's week is going better then mine.

I am going for a WI in a moment and am afraid of the judging looks that i am gonna get.... :/

I did the same thing this weekend. It is hard to be with friends and eat "our food" when we are around our friends because we want to be "normal". I figure it still is a life style change to eat the MRC way 99% of the time and on those days when we "have" to cheat then I don't feel guilty because we are only human and we need to be with our friends without the pressure of how to eat. I do find myself eating less when I am with my friends.:dizzy:

Originally Posted by namaste:
Wow, "kick you out".... pretty strong feelings there. Remember this is your program so the decisions you make are really only going to impact you in the long run. It almost sounds like you have an adult/child relationship with your center. Like instead of being on the same team and working through your struggles together, you are just expecting to get in trouble or are awaiting your consequences for your decisions. Is this the case? Is it possible to reframe your relationship with your center so that you can think of them as trying to assist you in getting to your end goal? I would also offer this up to you; make a list of the reasons you walked through those doors in the beginning.... make a list of why you want to lose weight.... what are your priorities for losing the weight? What's your desperation? Then the next time those foods are in front of you, pull out that list and ask yourself "is xxx something I want more than xxx" For instance, for me it was "is that piece of cake more important than wearing my wedding ring again" "is that piece of candy more important than riding a bike with my son"? These were priorities for me.... not the food. And when I had these priorities straight, I didn't feel any need to eat off plan.

Ok, just some ideas. Hope I didn't push too much. :hug:

Thanks for the advice. Yes, I do have that sort of relationship and when "i am bad" I don't go to the center until I have lost the weight I have gained.:mad: I will rethink my relationship with my center and carry on. Thanks again for listening and responding.