Originally Posted by Hvnlymzic:
I just had lunch and dipped my oranges in my vanilla creme pudding... You'd think I discovered a whole new food group or something. Why have I never done this before. I've been on MRC for 14mo (two times OP combined) and I've NEVER done this. Crazy. Now I'm thinking I'd like the two blended together. And berries would be good in it too. All of this because I didn't have any of the HNS jello made up...a happy surprise for me.

ah yes! I love creamy things, and my magic bullet is my best friend. I blend cottage cheese, a tad bit of water, Splenda and either vanilla or almond flavoring and put it on my berries ... I can pretend it's whipped cream. (okay it's a stretch, but I pretend .... I'll bet if I mixed in the pudding it would be! ) Pudding has been one of the things that helps me a lot!

P.S. --- you dad is a peach! (I'm lucky to have a peach too!):)

Originally Posted by :
I have been testing myself with the Ketosis strips but never see a change it is always the very lightest pink which means very slight. Do you know at what levels you should be seeing for the Ketosis? Does anyone else test?

I thought I would never show it because i've been on plan for 5 weeks, lost 12 pounds, and never had it change color. At home or at the center. But meta-quick did it for me and now my home test and the test at the center are changing color.

They explained that for a lot of people meta-quick will kick them into ketosis if they've never seen the stick change, and it seems like it did for me.

Originally Posted by MGunz:
I have been testing myself with the Ketosis strips but never see a change it is always the very lightest pink which means very slight. Do you know at what levels you should be seeing for the Ketosis? Does anyone else test?

I personally have never been in ketosis.

YOu don't want the strip to read too high...thats dangerous. The lower amounts are ok. I've been in Ketosis 1 time...ever. It's no big deal....obviously i still lose weight.

back in the saddle
 

So i am back, 3 weeks of pizza's, burgers, + my mom's cooking. Result a gain of 13.5 lbs ( from 279 to 293.5) on Monday night.

I started being good again yesterday and had a very very bad day yesterday, caffeine and sugar withdrawal + jet-lag didnt make things easy, but i stuck OP and went to the gym( i felt like a big blob trying to run).

This morning my scale says: 284.5 :) So basically that means that my body is just going completely nuts, because its not humanly possible to loose 9 lbs in a day :) I will see whatever the MRC scale says on Saturday and go with that :)

Hope everyone is doing well.

Originally Posted by nabeelmalik:
So i am back, 3 weeks of pizza's, burgers, + my mom's cooking. Result a gain of 13.5 lbs ( from 279 to 293.5) on Monday night.

I started being good again yesterday and had a very very bad day yesterday, caffeine and sugar withdrawal + jet-lag didnt make things easy, but i stuck OP and went to the gym( i felt like a big blob trying to run).

This morning my scale says: 284.5 :) So basically that means that my body is just going completely nuts, because its not humanly possible to loose 9 lbs in a day :) I will see whatever the MRC scale says on Saturday and go with that :)

Hope everyone is doing well.

Welcome Back Nabeel! Hope you thoroughly enjoyed your trip!

It's funny how drastically our bodies react to changes in our routine. I consciously went off plan for the weekend (hubby surprised me with a weekend away without kids and I decided to enjoy the time and not worry about food). In 2 days I gained 6 lbs and today I am back to where I was Friday when I WI (and that was with a rough go back OP Monday - I didn't make it through the whole day OP, just couldn't make it through 4 hours of Business Finance class without caffeine). I'm sure a lot of it is water and when you continue to drink water - just flush out all that sodium and junk. You will see the lbs just drop away! I feel great today - just stick to it Nabeel! You will be back on the straight and narrow in no time!!!

Originally Posted by leigh34:
Welcome Back Nabeel! Hope you thoroughly enjoyed your trip!

It's funny how drastically our bodies react to changes in our routine. I consciously went off plan for the weekend (hubby surprised me with a weekend away without kids and I decided to enjoy the time and not worry about food). In 2 days I gained 6 lbs and today I am back to where I was Friday when I WI (and that was with a rough go back OP Monday - I didn't make it through the whole day OP, just couldn't make it through 4 hours of Business Finance class without caffeine). I'm sure a lot of it is water and when you continue to drink water - just flush out all that sodium and junk. You will see the lbs just drop away! I feel great today - just stick to it Nabeel! You will be back on the straight and narrow in no time!!!

Thanks Leigh. Yes i know all about sodium and losing that water weight like crazy, i tend to do this to myself that i'd reach a certain goal and then either by my own doing or travel i'd go off plan for a couple of days and when i get back OP, i tend to loose like crazy. What i usually try to do is when i do lose like that, i try to stay in the 'slip stream' of that losing streak to see if i can push my body to shed off atleast 10 to 15 more pounds, it has worked every time :) By the way, i just realized you are O N L Y 6 lbs away from you goal!!! that is awesome, you are doing really really well and an amazing inspiration !

Ah well, welcome back Nabeel. There have been several of us that have been roller-coastering for the last month or two. If I lose at my WI today it'll be the first back to back weeks of loss that I've had since the very beginning of February. I'm thinking there's no way I won't show a loss today. We'll see.

Anyway, jump back in...you know you can do it!

Thanks Nabeel - these last 10 lbs have been slow going...but my goal is the end of this month! I can see the light :)

Originally Posted by Joy2MeNu:
I personally have never been in ketosis.

Originally Posted by Hvnlymzic:
I've been in Ketosis 1 time...ever. It's no big deal....obviously i still lose weight.

I must say, I find this confusing. I realize that we're doing low everything - carbs, calories, sodium, fat - but I thought the whole purpose of our carefully crafted menus and the high protein drinks was ketosis. My DH did Atkins for several years and I know that diet was especially geared for ketosis. So, I know MRC won't take us to that extreme, but still. :dizzy: I've never tested, just figured when I was OP I was there - but I'm going to go buy some strips now and see.

Originally Posted by lolajean624:
I must say, I find this confusing. I realize that we're doing low everything - carbs, calories, sodium, fat - but I thought the whole purpose of our carefully crafted menus and the high protein drinks was ketosis. My DH did Atkins for several years and I know that diet was especially geared for ketosis. So, I know MRC won't take us to that extreme, but still. :dizzy: I've never tested, just figured when I was OP I was there - but I'm going to go buy some strips now and see.

If you are losing, then why concern yourself? The KETOSIS thing just always seems to remain a point of confusion for so many.

I don't worry at all about ketosis...couldn't care less about it. In my opinion, the menus and HNS are crafted for me to lose weight...and it works. I do like the tanita scale because it assures me that I'm losing wieght appropriately, not losing too much muscle weight or will tell me if i'm holding onto water or lacking it. But the ketosis strips are just an extra whatever thing for me. I don't sweat it at all.

It's not so much that I'm worried about it - it's just something I can get my brain around. There is a lot of upfront talk at MRC about the scientific basis for this plan, but I don't feel like the science is very available to me - so I'm just latching on to something I can research and understand. (yes, I am weird that way :book2:) It makes what I'm doing active rather than passive, if that makes any sense. I'm not just hoping I'll lose weight if I follow this plan - I know I will. Plus, I feel like I know what to do with my food choices in a more specific way.

Originally Posted by lolajean624:
It's not so much that I'm worried about it - it's just something I can get my brain around. There is a lot of upfront talk at MRC about the scientific basis for this plan, but I don't feel like the science is very available to me - so I'm just latching on to something I can research and understand. (yes, I am weird that way :book2:) It makes what I'm doing active rather than passive, if that makes any sense. I'm not just hoping I'll lose weight if I follow this plan - I know I will. Plus, I feel like I know what to do with my food choices in a more specific way.

LolaJean, you can search this forum across all the threads and read many things that have been said about ketosis and the strips or stiks. At the bottom of the page that lists the thread titles, there is a search box. Put the word you want to search on in there and you can read to your hearts content! As Joy says, there is confusion about what the sticks mean. Enjoy!

I did the same thing when I went on vacation a few weeks ago - I gained 10 pounds in a week. Within 5 days, it was all back off plus 1 pound, so it was obviously water weight. I know I ate more sodium when I was gone, plus flying can make you retain water.

I am a little frusterated with my center. I got to my 10 pound loss a week ago, and when I went back in this time, I asked what the boards were for (I already knew, after reading it on here), and they were like "Oh, did we forget to have you sign them" and I also didn't get my treat out of the basket. They are always forgetting to credit me with my free weeks for losing weight after a holiday, and other stuff. Oh well.

As of today, I have lost exactly 30 pounds. 14 of that was before joining MRC, but I plateaued. I really like the plan.