Hey, Tamikl -

Hugs to you... emotional eating is very real. I had a car accident Wednesday and just had an "I don't care" attitude. I allowed myself a few off-plan meals over the weekend, recognized how crappy they made me feel, and moved on. You can do this. It's okay to not be 100% on plan on the time... it's a lifestyle change, you know?

It's easy to forget that this is our new way of eating. Eating worse will just not give your body what it needs, thus, making you feel worse. And, it definitely won't fix your family relationships...

But, remember, we've all been there and will be there in the future. The key is something you've already done - recognize the eating and re-direct your thoughts/actions/whatever... try to remain positive and stay on track - plan your food and water and rest. But, don't beat yourself off for the occasional slip-up. It's okay. Onward and upward, my friend.

Tamikl...
Sending you a big hug... Emotional eating, it has hit all of us one time or another, but the good thing is , you recognize it and you will be fine.

My suggestions are..
You have done it, and it is over, and now it it time for you to focus on yourself.. Family situations are sure a stress factor. Don't beat yourself up on this, as it is something that happened, and it is time for Tami now.Feel good about yourself today and think of what you have accomplished on your weight journey.. This was a detour that can be corrected.. Tami, love the new you., as you have earned that. Look how far you have come . Remember, you are twice the woman for losing the weight and getting to maintenance. That makes you special.

When setbacks like this occur, shake them off, and move on. Fill your life with positive energy , and live for today.. The future is yours to create as you wish. You know what you want and what you have to do, so go for it and bring about what you desire, , this is about you.

Take a deep breath, put a smile on your face and go foward , as that opportunity is yours for the taking.

Hang in there,as we all have setbacks. Just come to all of us, and we will help you.

Patzi

Tamikl--
Don't get too down on yourself. Look at how far you've come already! The first step of the battle is recognizing your own behavior for what it is, and you've done that.

To get back on track, try not to be overwhelmed by your setbacks; think ahead only as far as your next meal. Then the next. Then the next.

Try to re-route that emotional energy, too. Every time you feel like opening a cupboard, a fridge, or a snack-food container, make yourself take a walk around the block and drink a glass of water. If you still want it when you get back, then you can have it--but chances are you'll feel better and won't feel like you "need" that food. Even better is if you can find someone to go walking with, who you can talk to; I read an article not too long ago about how walking and talking is extremely therapeutic. :)

Hugs to you, and know that you will get past this and get back on your own path again. IT sucks that you have to go through this, but it is part of recovering from an addiction--as we all have been doing.

Hey all,
I tried a new product from my grocery store the other day and thought I would share. It's called Arctic Zero, and it's advertised as a "protein shake in ice cream form."
http://www.myarcticzero.com/

That's exactly what it tastes like. It's only 37 calories per 1/2 cup, made from a whey protein base. It's pretty darn good (I had the cookies and cream flavor), and definitely has a creamy, ice cream texture. It doesn't totally replace ice cream for me, but it's a nice, creamy, cold treat for summer--with no guilt.

Just thought I'd share!

Thanks, TeacherLady! I was excited to find Walden Farms caramel in my grocery store... yummy!

Truly...ALL of you ladies are so very sweet:) I am grateful for all of the words of encouragement. I am so lucky to have you all to turn to, and you all really do relate!! To know we are in this boat together is such a comfort to me...thank you:))

I had my WI today and was actually down 1lb?! After the week I had, I will take it...and going forward, just get right back on track. I am going to try out their new pre-conditioning menu for a few days. I am told this will help me drop a few pounds..possibly.

Emotional issues are resolved at the moment...which helps. I would like to attend one of MRC classes on emotional eating sometime..it is an hour drive away, and with the kids home for summer, makes it difficult, but we shall see.

Again..thank you all so much. I am doing better:)

Yeah, Tami...glad to hear that you are getting back on track. I always think I have emotional eating under control, until I had an emotional day yesterday and I spent last night walking around Walmart dreaming about food (I settled for a Luna bar and some non-food items).

My race is Saturday. Starting Sunday I'm going back on metabalance for a few weeks. I just need to lose the last few and be done with it...and to just be as strict and focused as I can be. I also know I'll be exercising less for a few weeks since my body will need some recovery time (i.e. no running), so it's a perfect time to do it.

Gina good luck with your race.

Tami I'm glad that you are feeling better and back on track. I think we have all been there. The important thing is you are back on track. Great job.

I have been pretty much staying with the eating habits that I have developed over the past 6 months. I actually like this way of eating. I have added some of the fruits and veggies back and am eating more red meat but other than that it's the same. The counsler said that if I have a gain it could be because of the red meat. We eat "home grown" beef that is about 90% lean. I'm hoping that I don't have a gain and so far I haven't had one except during TOM which is normal for me. I'm hoping I can keep losing about 2 pounds a month until I get down to about 180 then I will see from there. I do like the way I look now but think I can do better. But don't we all. ;)

Warrior Dash complete! It was a blast. I ran with a friend and ended up taking 12 minutes off my time from last year (although it's always a slightly different course, so hard to compare). My knees however are not happy. Partly just from running on uneven surfaces, but apparently I totally bashed my right one at some point...it's bruised and scraped and really sore.

The other down side, I totally used the dash as a reason to overeat the past 2 days. I feel like poop in that respect. But I had already planned to be back at it tomorrow...back on plan to lose about 7ish pounds in the next month (the first 4 are pretty much water weight from bad eating/hydration).

But I can honestly say it has all been worth it. So fun. I got the end of the course and was sad it was over. I'm taking some weeks off of running...yoga, pilates, and swimming for this week.

Thanks for sharing! this sounds perfect and i like that the pint is only 150 calories - very cool. i haven't eaten an entire pint but if i did would be better than the 600 cal. that is in a pint of Ben and Jerry ice cream!

forgot about Walden farms caramel - i've heard that is really good and would be great w/ my granny smith apples for a treat :-)

thanks everyone for more healthy substitutes~

Stabilization for Metabalance menu
 

Has anyone gone into stabilization from the metabalance plan? I am wondering if there is a different procedure for those who were on metabalance. I asked the consultant and she said everyone does the same menu for stabilzation. It just doesn't seem right to go from eating 3 small meals and 3 snacks on metabalance to 3 meals during stabilization.

Stabilization for metabalance is different (at least mine was).

week 1: have an egg or cheese or other 1 oz protein along with your fruit for morning snack (take out the HNS).

Week 2: take out evening HNS and add 1 oz protein instead (to the evening snack or evening meal...I usually eat them together so it didn't matter). Also add 1 serving starch to noon meal. They gave me an expanded list, but for several weeks I stuck with what I'd been eating then slowly added others...none of them made me gain, but some trigger me to overeat and crave (graham crackers, pretzels...really anything pretty processed)

Week 3: Add 1 fat serving to dinner meal (ex: 1 tsp butter, 1 Tbsp cream cheese, 1 tsp mayo, 6 small nuts). I didn't really want a fat with my dinner, but I was dying for peanut butter, so we did 1 Tbsp PB with my afternoon starch instead. That was heaven.

Week 4: They give you your calorie goal. Mine was calculated at 1900 (I'm really, really active). We both agreed (have I mentioned my consultant rocks) to have a goal of 1600, knowing some days I may be higher, but I wanted to keep trying to lose.

I tracked calories with MFP for a month or so and it helped, but it was too time consuming for me. So then I started keeping a paper journal and I ate basically like metabalance with a few extra servings here and there. I did really well until a few weeks or so ago when I had several parties and traveling and thenn the warrior dash which I used as an excuse to eat. So this past week I went back on metabalance and lost most of what I had gained in my food frolicking. The next 4 days I'm actually going to try to do green because I am crazy busy at work and won't have time to think about food, so 3 meals is easier and may just kick out the last few pounds to go under goal.

Thank you so much for the info! It irritates me that I specifically asked if there was a different menu for metabalance and I was told no. It just did not make sense. I am going to call the manager tomorrow and ask her about stabilization for metabalance.

Apparently with the change to the metablance menu and stabilization process is now the same for all meal plans - 6 weeks of stabilization, first week is to add in a starch. The old stabilization plan that nwcgina posted makes more sense to me. Oh well - I'll just do what I am told.

My refrigerator died over the weekend and I have not been grocery shopping so I will have to figure out what I have on hand for the added starch. I didn't want to buy anything since I don't get a new fridge until Tuesday - have all the items that require refrigeration in coolers. It's been 100 degrees here in Colorado so the ice melts fast!

Hmmm...strange. I wouldn't mind the 6 week transition...but to go from having snacks to not...it would have been hard on me. But you can totally do it! I did the green menu today for the first time since Jan...I knew I could do it since I'd be busy. Going to do it a few more days then back to metabalance until it is all gone.