Leo-a couple reasons why a few bites can show up on the scale...one is if they have a lot of sodium (water retention). The other reason is most MRC plans while not as low carb as Atkins, they are quite a bit lower in carbohydrate so your body doesn't store as much as glycogen (which is why some people like me don't have the physical energy to engage in heavy exercise while on the plan). When your body stores glycogen it has a high affinity to water, so you get a little more water weight that way. So the bites of cheeseits and cookies I had last week that caused the scale to go up...mainly water weight from my body saying "hey, here's some carbs, let's store them as glycogen..." which is totally a good thing when wanting to exercise, but demotivating on the scale. That is why when someone starts eating fewer carbs they see a rapid drop...depletion of glycogen and the water that goes with it.

And the other thing for me...one bite leads to 10. 1 cookie leads to a dozen. That's an emotional/spiritual issue I need to work through for maintenance. It's why I've never been able to lose in the past despite eating healthy most of the time and exercising like crazy. Undoing my healthy choices by a few bad choices that led to more bad choices.

I'm a newbie! Have truly enjoyed reading all of the comments and suggestions. Trying to get to sign the 20 lb. lost board this week.

Hey, Ladies! I am back...full time! Woohoo!!!

All the audits here at work are over for now, with none on the horizon. It didn't help whatsoever with my weight loss efforts. I faced the music today and got my butt back to the center. For the past two weeks, I've had an auditor attached to the hip. We ate out every day. My husband was on day care duty because of early starts and/or late nights. The pantry was bare since there was no time to get groceries, so that equaled a lot of eating out at night too. When the audit ended Friday, I felt like this huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders, but it landed on my butt. To the tune of 4.5 pounds. :(

Now, I have to get the weight back off and finish this phase of my journey. It's past time!

While I knew the ad was running in our area, I didn't know it was being taken national and neither did my center. LOL We got a great laugh. It's kinda fun, but also now I feel the pressure to live up to the ad and get these last few pounds off. I know I can do it and now, I have no reason not to.

I got my check today from the center for winning the contest. That was an awesome moment. I thought long and hard what I wanted to do with that check. I finally decided. I'm going back to a professional running store here in town and getting fitted for running shoes. The last time I did that was about 10 years ago. There's a 15K coming up and I want to run it again. I've run it 5 times in my life and DANG IT, I'm going to do it again! I haven't run it since I got married and then pregnant and I need to prove to myself I can do this! I won't be the fastest by any means, but I will finish it.

Since the ad was posted (thanks, BigDog), I thought I'd post the whole testimonial that I wrote since they only gave you a few lines of it. :)

Who says you can’t lose weight after having a baby?! Well, somewhere along the way, I got it in my head that once I got pregnant I would never see my old self again. I heard my other mom friends say that. Kiss your old body goodbye. Everywhere I turned, I was told I was doomed to a life of being overweight because I was a mom now. There would be no time to eat right or exercise. There would be no time for myself. I was a mom. If being overweight wasn’t bad enough, I was only 38 and on 11 blood pressure pills a day due to severe preeclampsia during the pregnancy. Suffice it to say, it was a depressing road to be on.

A little over a year after having my daughter, I was walking through the mall and had to stop and sit on a bench to catch my breath. I realized I didn’t want to live this way anymore. Something inside me finally said I wasn’t going to just give up on myself. Not only that, I wanted to set a good example for my daughter. I needed to learn how to eat right. I needed to learn what a normal portion size was. I needed to learn how to take the weight off sensibly so I could keep it off. I needed to learn good eating habits so I could teach her so she didn’t have the same issues I had. I was NOT going to just resign myself to being overweight. Enough was enough.

In February 2011, I walked into Metabolic Research Center and got my life back on track! Thanks to the incredible support of all the counselors at my branch, I am in better shape that I was when I got pregnant! I not only lost all the baby weight, I weigh less now than I did the day I got married. I’ve had to have my wedding rings re-sized down…twice. I’ve also went from having to take eleven blood pressure pills a day to one. It hasn’t always been an easy road, but I wouldn’t change a moment of it because I’ve learned from the ups and downs. I’m about to turn 40 and am in better shape than when I turned 30. It’s so exciting to know I’ll be going into the new year at my goal weight instead of making a resolution to lose weight.

The biggest lesson I learned is how much more of a mental game than a physical game losing weight is. The mind is a powerful thing, but if I ever had issues, I knew I could go in to my local MRC or pick up the phone and my counselors would be there for me. I couldn’t have done this without them and I’m eternally grateful.

If you’re a mom that needs to lose weight, I encourage you to take that first step and walk into your local Metabolic Research Center. It won’t always be an easy journey, but it will be worth it in the end.

I am slapping you a cyber high-five, girl! You speak the truth!
I know exactly what you're saying! As I mentioned before, I had a handful of caramel popcorn over the weekend, and after it was all said & done, I probably had at least 4 more over the course of the weekend. ****, I wanted to eat the ENTIRE tin! What helps me with my willpower is that mentally I actively think, "I'll be able to have these things again in 6 months or so" but hopefully in 6 months, I won't even want them - aw ****, who am I fooling - I'm going to have my "treats" - just not so often & not so much!

Hey Everyone,
So I was eating takeout chinese food this weekend (panda express catered for my daughter's birthday)....woops. I ate two large plates over the weekend, and was up half a pound. Probably because of all the sodium/water retention. I was bummed, but I knew I could have done better. I'll try to be perfect tomorrow and the next day and see if I can get down again.

i'm really a mich ultra beer drinker and love beer but since this diet had to switch to something i could A. nurse and B. add lots of club soda and ice to! i go to alot of art openings and they always have wine so used to drink red wine... i've found that w/ vodka, i'm not showing a weight gain and actually the lemonade HNS mixes well w/ it too! i do drink less and will drink also water w/ lemon or just club soda after one or two drinks. always make them give me a tall glass and i've been pouring the ice water in the glass to stretch it out. when we go to a party, i'll take a couple mini bottles w/ me and usually take a bottle of club soda or diet tonic water w/ me too as back up if the hostess doesn't have that available.

the main thing is planning ahead and being prepared. where i'll head to disaster if i don't have the right foods in the house and end up eating off plan. w/ all this stuff going on w/ the inlaws, the other day i bought groceries at Walgreens! eggs, cheese but they didnt have light bread so i got cinnamon raisin bagels. wrong choice but i figured out that 1/4 of the bagel was 40 cal.! so eat that in the am. it's like i'm programmed now! and refuse to eat even half of that dang bagel! if i get a sandwich on the road, i pick the meat out - 4 oz., no more! and get extra veggies to get the 8 oz in.
my DH wanted rice the other night so i put the extra in the dog food - it was not going in my mouth! CARBS are the devil :devil: (quote from Leo) LOL!

Hey Ladies,

You may have already heard about this, but I came across it on my playlist this weekend and I thought about you all. It's call Skinny Songs. You can find it on iTunes or visit skinnysongs dot com. They are funny, catchy songs that can help you stay motivated. You can listen to them while you exercise and work out. Hope you enjoy!

Mornin' all!
Bigdog, I think I'll put that quote in my signature line - "Carbs are the devil!" :devil: :D

I also LOVE red wine (especially "blends") & vodka - vodka not so much any more, but it is interesting that the vodka is the lesser of the two evils when it comes to weight loss/management. Interestingly enough, a former co-worker drank vodka tonics like they were going out of style & she was almost as thin as a rail! I haven't had a cocktail since 1/2/12, and I do miss my occasional glass of red during the weekend. When the family went out to eat last week, they were all drinking yummy margaritas & mojitos. I whipped out my "sparkling" water w/fresh lime, poured it in a goblet & was actually satisfied. It was pretty dry, so it was (sorta) a substitute for the dry reds that I like. :D

Do you all ever feel like your brain and your body are two separate entities that have very little to do with each other? This whole dieting thing is surreal sometimes! The last two weeks I've been on fire loss-wise (oh yeah, that's a good thing!). The weird thing is that I haven't done anything differently - just following my plan the best I can. It's kinda like my brain said "oh yeah, I get it" and told my body to drop some poundage. I wish it would always go this well!

Someone needs to remind me about this post when the pounds are coming off slowly again.

Have a great day everyone!
Chickadee

Hi...
I had maintenance weigh in today and lost 1 pound, bringing me to6 pounds under goal.. I went back on green menu to lose the weight I had gained , and one day on shakes, and it worked.

They told me my body fat is great as is my BMI, so I am happy with today's weigh in.

Wishing you all a great weigh in

Patzi

That's great, Patzi! You are living proof that it can be done! :)

Skinny tunes, i like that! lots of good information on these boards that are keeping me motivated. way to go Patzi - you have proved to all of us it's a lifestyle change if we want to keep this weight off for good. Jen B, your ad is on my bulletin board in my home office and thks for sharing the whole story- very cool and inspiring. Leo- you originated the Carbs Are the Devil :devil: i love it! i never in a zillion years thought i could cut out carbs but when i saw the numbers going down on the scale knew it was worth it. i do adore my cinnamon light wheat toast every am and my spicy pepper melba toast w/ my dinner salad and lean protein but i don't have the urge to eat 1/2 a box of crackers like i used to. i just hope my DH never brings Cheez doodles in the house though - they would be hard to resist!!! love those dang things!

it's a medi quick kind of day - had a Wonderslim dark chocolate protein shake for b-fast mixed w/ ice and left over coffee - yum!! for lunch, mixed my protidiet pink lemonade w/ frozen strawberries - like a rich strawberry ice cream shake. planning on 3 more HNSs and a regular dinner. love my GE single blender (my best buddy w/ this MRC plan) and i always drink my protein drinks w/ a straw...my DH asked me the reason and i told him because in my mind, it's a delicious shake! he says, well there you go then..LOL!

have a great week everyone !

just added to sig! good idea. i also like red wine, the drier the better...merlots usually. but my DH says wine makes me evil! haha! maybe because my GFs and i will go to wine tastings or art openings where the wine is flowing freely so we pretty much over indulge and then will park ourselves at the restaurant where he works and get all silly. was sitting beside Evil Knievel's brother Rob one time in a bar after a wine event talking up a storm and viewing his many tattoos - my DH was like, ok let's go - i was like, i'll check you later. haha, needless to say, i really needed to go home!!! i saw at Applebees the other day that they have the Skinny margarita for 100 cal. vs. the 500 cal! pretty good. when i do margaritas on vacation, i mix the sugar free margarita mix and my lemonade HNS w 1/2 the tequila - shake it in my blender bottle. i did that on my vacation last summer and ended up losing 2 lbs! i packed my scales in the camper and weighed every am to keep on track. i had a couple margaritas a day. now i did walk the beach alot, we biked and walked also through the campground and boogie boarded so did step up the activity...had cases of water handy too. when we ate out, i cut way back on the portions if i was having off plan foods.

HI everyone. I'm back at it again. I've been back OP for about 2 1/2 weeks now, minus a day here and there, and am down 7lbs. For some reason it's just clicking for me right now. Of course, that's everything I gained over Christmas, so I'm sure it will start to get harder. Only a couple more lbs to get back to my ticker and then the real work starts, I guess. Sounds like everyone is having a pretty successful new year. I'm glad to hear it!

LOL That makes me smile. You're doing better than me. ;) I haven't posted it anywhere. My mom posted it on her fridge, but that's the extent of it. I guess I should post it in our home gym as motivation.