Teacherlady - fantastic suit!! I love the collar. :)

Rachel (& all)-I do best when I do like teacherlady does...eat according to a menu (either the green or metabalance, depending on how active I'm being) and just adding in a few servings of various things as needed. I'm still experiementing with what works best for me. I do best with 1-2 HNS's a day. Sometimes (like right now) I go without them, but I really do better with a few. I think a lot of it has to do with focus. Like when you make one good choice I continue on that trend. When I make a bad choice it seems a downward spiral. The next 10 days I'm doing my best to eat like I'm on preconditioning (I'm on vacation) and then will go back on metabalance or green menu when I return. My goal will be to hit 150 for my birthday on 8/31. My lowest has been 151.5...and today I was at 154.5. I can totally do it, and i need to do it for me. I actually used my "birthday money" last year to sign up for MRC. So to hit that goal would be perfect.

I actually just talked about this tonight with the friend who inspired me to sign up for MRC. She lost 101 pounds on MRC. She had recently been struggling and slowly (a few pounds at a time) found herself up 20. She said "enough is enough" and went back on plan...she's lost 10 and going to get the next 10 off. It was so good to talk face to face with someone else who is struggling to maintain, but we are both committed not to go back to who we were. We graduated high school 15 years ago and considered ourselves "the fat girls"...even took a picture calling ourselves that. I think someone had commented something about us. And now we both look (and feel) young and vibrant. We agreed that we were going to keep each other on track to bring our thinner selves to our 20 year reunion! It's so not easy, but it is soooo worth it. She inspired me again...we'd met up at the county fair where I justified pizza and ice cream (stupid)...and she had grilled turkey and brought her own veggies. I need that focus again.

I'll be joining you here in maintenance - I get my menu tomorrow. I am excited and nervous too. I never reached my goal weight and was hoping to in stabilization, but that did not happen. I have 4 more pounds to lose to reach goal. It looks like some of you have continued to lose in maintenance which is very encouraging. I have hope I can still reach my goal!

It's so great that you maintainers continue to post here - it's very helpful to us newbies :)

Welcome faerychic... If we can help you in anyway along the way, just ask.. Great group here.. I did not lose on maintenance, as I went 5 pounds under goal, per my choice, before starting maintenance, but I do believe that Teacherlady did, but not sure.
Patzi

Yes, I continued to lose on maintenance. I believe they gave me a 1500 or 1600 calorie plan, but I kept my calories at about 1200-1400 (depending on my level of activity for the day) so I could continue to lose--but much more slowly. My reason for this was that I started maintenance when I did because we were going to start trying to get me pregnant, so I didn't want to be dieting at the same time (just didn't seem healthy). However, we ran into fertility issues, so I decided to continue to slowly lose while we dealt with all of that. I went on maintenance in June of 2011, and have slowly lost an additional 35lbs since then (some weeks I lose, some weeks I maintain, just depends on how I ate and what activity I did).

I'm perfectly happy with maintaining where I'm at, so now I tend to eat about 1300-1600 calories a day (again, depending on my level of activity for the day).

I will also say that I have continued to be active--increased my fitness activities, as a matter of fact. I now do yoga about 3x/week, and run 1-2x a week (I was running 3x/week last fall, but have since cut back). Again, I try to match my calorie intake to my level of activity for the day.

If you're determined to lose those last few pounds quickly, I would recommend starting maintenance for a week or two, then moving back to the green menu for 3-5 days, then going back toward maintenance, then back to the green menu, etc. Sometimes having such fluctuations in calorie intake helps me drop pounds quicker. Otherwise, just stay on maintenance and cut 100-200 calories from what you're supposed to be eating (and try to keep your higher protein than carbs balance for the day).

Hope this helps!

Hi ladies!! I am hanging in there...I want to lose a couple of pounds, so the most recent suggestion is to go on the All Day Weight Loss supplement for a month and focus my dinners in particular to be strictly ON program meals. We shall see. It is tough being on Maintenance and bouncing back and forth to weigtloss mode. The supplement is really helping with cravings and feeling hungry...so that is good. I have 2-3 HNS per day. I also try tI eat more equal throughout the day. I am not real hungry at breakfast...etc...but by night, I munch constantly. So, bigger breakfasts, healthy snacks and lunch help.

I did order some PB2...looking forward to trying it! I got mine off eBay.

Glad to have this forum:). Hang in there all!

Tami..
What is the All Day Weight Loss Supplement? Are you talking about Phentatrim?

Patzi

Hi Patzi---not talking about Phentratrim...It is an All Day Weightloss pack that contains 4 different formulas (4 bottles). You take 2 specific pills before breakfast, 2 before lunch, 2 before dinner, and 2 before bed. I know the dinner one has a carb blocker built into it...the before lunch gives me energy throughout the afternoons, and the night time puts me to sleep. I haven't lost any weight...but who knows. Sometimes i just try things out when they are suggested and if they don't do what was intended, I just don't purchase again...this was an $80 gamble:( The combination does curb your appetite. I guess it just all depends on the individual!! lol May work great for some:)

Got my maintenance menu yesterday - I should say menu's! I was given menu's for the 1200 & 1500 calorie plans and told to stay somewhere between them. It's a bit overwhelming so I think I will just continue to follow the metabalance plan and incoroporate some of the new food choices.

I also like TEACHERLADY's suggestion to toggle back & forth between maintenance and the weight loss menu to get off the last few pounds. Thank you for the advice.

I was down one more pound yesterday so 3 more to go to make goal.

Faerychic.

May I ask why center did not let you go to goal before doing maintenance? Maybe it was your decision, not sure.

I agree 100% with teacherlady about toggling back and forth, I do that to this day. You will find a plan that suits you. I was given a 1200 calorie diet after maintenance but I never counted calories, and still maintaining, but that is me. I suggest you do as they tell you to start off with.

Patzi

Patzi-
My center scheduled the stabilization appointment for me when I was within 5 pounds of my goal weight with the thought that I would be able to lose those 5 pound by the time the appointment came around (it was a 3 week period). I told them whether or not I lost the weight in that time I was going to start stabilization because I did not want to pay for more weight loss weeks. Plus I was happy at my current weight - I am off blood pressure med's and I can fit back into my size 10-12 jeans. We decided if I go above 167 then I need to go back into weight loss mode.

Thanks for the tips, guys... I think you're right - I feel better just "green menuing" it for a bit and then adding things here and there... it just seemed like so much to keep up with!

Oh, ok.. I understand now. I am also off HBP meds. Isn't that grand?

Patzi

A week into vacation and I've been struggling. It is hard...HARD to stay on track when I'm relying on others for meal planning. Even with the best of intentions and starting the day off great (I always have an OP breakfast) one of my meals usually ends up jacked up. 6 more days of vacation, although I already planned to do some of the cooking...so that should help. I've been trying to just do the preconditioning, but I keep making stupid choices. Like 2 donut holes tonight, and they weren't even good. But tomorrow's another day. Back to preconditioning. I have got to pull out this sweet tooth...I know it takes me two weeks of white knuckling through the cravings to get through, then I'll feel much better.

Aug 31=<150 lbs. I just have to keep that focus.

A big win...my sister who I consider a beautiful size and always has been smaller than me...I tried on her capris while we were at the lake...and they fit. Not even tight. It probably made her feel like crap since I've always been big, but it made me feel great! I'm not going back. Repeat. I am not going back.

Congrats on fitting into your sister's pants. Even if it did make her feel kinda crummy. ;) My sister is super happy for me, but I can tell she's also very jealous--she started the diet before me, lost 30lbs, got pregnant (not planned), lost the baby, and has since had n extremely difficult time getting back on the diet--so she hasn't lost any more weight (and, I think, has actually gained 10-15lbs back). I feel badly for her; I support her as much as possible and try not to brag about my weight loss, but I know she's still struggling.

As to your own struggles; I always bring a box of protein bars with me on vacations. That way, I have an OP breakfast, and then if I'm totally off at lunch, I can have a bar for dinner (or a salad and bar). Or, I have an OP breakfast and--if I know I'm going to pig out at dinner--then I'll have a bar for lunch. It just really helps me keep my completely-off-plan meals down to a minimum each day. If you don't have bars with you, you can just swing by the grocery store and pick up some atkins bars--that's actually what I use. The chocolate-chip granola bars are bigger, more filling, and a few more calories than the MRC bars (which I actually didn't like that much).

Either way, don't forget to try to drink as much water as possible! Even if I'm drinking my normal amount, traveling makes me retain water.

You can do this!