Originally Posted by patzi:
In answer to TAMI... On this quote
Well I hate to be a downer on such positive conversation, but I am not doing real well and need a little extra support I guess. I am in week 2 of Maintenance and not making real great choices. I think I am honestly overwhelmed with the freedoms and am feeling afraid right now. I feel sometimes limeys I am not as in control because I feel less restricted. My little sister has been recently diagnosed with breast cancer, so I am emotional on top of it all. A tough time...but I see myself making poor choices and get frustrated with my weakness then turn around and screw up again. I sure havent worked this hard to gain it all back...please help me. Any thoughts or words of wisdom
would be greatly appreciated right now.

Tami...
You need to stop and breathe and refocus... I don't know if you cheated lots during your diet challenge, but if you did, this may be why you feel like this.. I have found people that took liberties while dieting, had a heck of a time with maintenance... Sooooo.. I know what you are talking about Cancer in the family.. I have been flying back to California for a sister with Cancer, back to Florida to take care of my job here, and back and forth up North as my daughter has had a stroke in her young age, so it is easy to be apprehensive... But you can do this.. Remember this always .. Failure is always success if you learn from it.. You need to put yourself in charge of this diet thing and eat new items in MODERATION. If it is a trigger point and you think you cannot do it, let it go, and try it later on when your mind is stronger. Start focusing on what you feel you can handle on this diet with the new choices and go slow.. Remember, you are in charge and only you, and no one has this power other than you.. I never think about what I can add to the diet. I just add whatever I can in moderation and keep it healthy.

Portion control is the key.. I was trying one -two new foods a week, if I gained, let them go and tried later... When personal setbacks occur, deal with them, shake them off best you can and move on. Fill yourself with positive energy with this maintenance. Please do not be frightened or apprehensive, as you should not be.. Live for each day on the diet .

As far as personal family medical problems.. I decided for myself instead of
fearing or even fighting the changes , try to deal with them as best as possible. Put your energy into making good and meaningful choices in every thing you do , which includes your maintenance choices.

My success in maintenance was to stay away from my trigger points as honestly, if I know that I can not have a few chips but eat the whole bag, it is off my list. I want you to remember the future is yours to create as you wish with maintenance. I wish you the best and if at any time I can help you, please feel free to ask. Go slow with your new choices and you will be fine. Remember me saying so many times, I never said it would be easy, but I said it would be worth it.

Patzi

Thank you, Patzi...very helpful. I need to figure out the psychology behind what you said about cheating while on the diet...I did do plenty of that, but not understanding how that relates to now?? Maybe because I am allowing myself too much freedom too quickly..believing that now I can justify those previous "cheats" because I am on Maintenance now??

I NEED structure with this....I need a menu that lays it out exactly...like the Green did, otherwise I find myself all over the place. They give you a basic "schedule" of how many servings under each category per day, but this isn't enough for me at the moment. I will talk to my counselor. I guess until I am stronger where food temptations are concerned, I need more structure. I am humbly admitting that I am weak when it comes to food. I know in my head to avoid that homemade fudge in the kitchen, but can't seem to do it all of the time. I feel so weak and that is embarrassing.

Originally Posted by nwcgina:
tami-I have no words of wisdom...I'm scared of exactly what you're talking about...once I have the freedom that I'll go crazy with bad choices. I told my husband today what if I take a bite of chocolate/carmel something and can't stop?? But you can make good choices. You made good choices to get you this far. Some of the maintainers may have more wisdom. Are you still journaling your food. I know from reading research that those who continue to journal their food do a better job of maintaining (I think planning goes with that). I know you and I have talked briefly about this book before but have you read made to crave? May be of help. She talks about getting out of that cycle of wanting to eat better, then messing up so we feel guilty and make another bad choice, then resolve to do better...

Thank you, Gina :) I am still journaling. I am going to look into this book!

Originally Posted by rachels77:
Sara and Tami -

I hate to hear that you are struggling. Stress plays a huge factor (along with lack of sleep) in my weight gain and/or maintaining... I did a slippery slope of eating this weekend as well. It started Friday night with a church dinner with my hubster... it was Italian, which I knew, but there were NO OP choices! So, I did my best to avoid most of the pasta in the dishes and allowed myself a tiny portion of desert... and GAINED a pound on Saturday... ugh. I thought I knew better and could handle things but I realize that, in this stage of my plan, I need to stay strict... I seem to crave the structure.

Tami - I wish I could help you more... but I'm not familiar with the details on maintenance... but I will say this: with the bad news about your sister and the things going on, cut yourself some slack. You have a right to feel sad and depressed, you know? And, maybe if it's easier to switch to "robot mode" on eating (i.e. your "go to" meals on plan... salads... chicken... whatever) and then switch back when things have settled down, would that be easier?

Sara - I have not had any family issues while being OP, but I do have a child with birth defects and some things with her bother me quite a bit... my best advice when life happens? Do the best you can... plan, plan, plan the meals... rest, rest, rest and more rest (I tend to gain when I'm tired)... and get that water in!

Have a great day, ladies!!

I like the "robot" idea! That WORKS for me! Thank you:)

nwcgina...

I agree with what you said on journaling on maintenance.. I still journal every day.

Patzi

Past due update...Went to my stabilization party on Friday. Had fun and I won the trivia contest! Got a free bottle of F&C Blockers. Love them! Then my hubby had to work all weekend which means solo munchkin duty for me. I'm so glad I had a plan going into the weekend or it could have been a disaster. I've never really done this before, not sure why, but I went ahead and mapped out my meals for the weekend. I made some changes, but stayed OP. It paid off because I was down another half pound at my WI today. 2.5 pounds to go.

Tami & Sara, I hate that y'all are going through such rough times right now. I'm definitely not the poster child for dealing with stress and staying OP. I turned to my comfort foods during 2 deaths in the family last year. What I did do was not let that be a permanent change. It may have taken a week or two (never more than that), but I forced myself to get back OP. I would think to myself, what were my "habits" for staying OP. And, like Rachel said, I'd go into "robot mode" and do those things I would when I was on plan. For instance, my thing is that after I go WI, I go across the street to the convenience store and get a soda (I'm sipping on it right now ;) ). It may sound trivial, but things like that is what helped me get back on track. Then, I'd add another habit back in and before I knew, I was OP again. Try not to beat yourself up to bad, life happens, but above all else, learn from it and get back in the game. :hug:

tami-a few thoughts with needing structure. One is to make your own menu of just a few meals that you'll use for breakfast and/or lunch. And you dont' stray from it unless it is truly a unique occasion. That's what I plan on doing...breakfast will basically continue to be eggs and bread with some milk and fruit (I already get milk, I'm going to start metabalance stabilization and I think I add fruit into breakfast first...she said it was different from metaslim stabilization). Then lunch will either be a veggie based soup with protein or a salad with protein...and I'll know through the process of stabilization what starch I can handle for lunch. I will probably also have a small list of snacks for my in between meals so they only meal in question is supper and I always, always, always plan that out (even before starting MRC). So you'll be setting your own structure. Also, if there are tempting foods around, just as before, get rid of them. I will always have to keep my chocolate in the freezer. I can't let DH keep regular soda in the house. We don't keep chips in the house. A strange one...I can't keep animal crackers in the house...I will eat and eat and eat those stupid things. That will be always and forever...changing my environment. We will not get drive through fast food unless we are on vacation (and even then I'll probably find a subway to get a salad because I've found they're really good).

Told my consultant I was ready to stabilize. I've been hungry and I want to exercise even more but am too afraid I'll be so ravenous I'll start eating uncontrolably...plus I feel awesome here. So she's sending me the metabalance stabilization. I was hoping to have it by now. She thought I got to add in a fruit at breakfast and switch out an HNS with a food protein.

Hi Guys!
Just wanted to "pop in" for a sec to say "hey!" and let you guys know I'm still fighting the good fight (lost over the weekend, but that's a whole 'nother story for when I have more time).
Been super-duper busy!
Will be back soon!

Got my metabalance stabilization...and it definitely sounds different from the metaslim...for one thing it is only 3 weeks of stabilization then maintenance. The first week I just switch out my morning snack HNS with a protein serving (like cheese...I'll probably do cheese. I want whatever I add in to be consistent over time so I can know if it causing gain...I can always experiment later).

Originally Posted by nwcgina:
sara-I had a big stressful situation a few weeks into the plan (a close friend was on life support after giving birth). The first thing I wanted to do was turn to cookies. I just had to tell myself over and over and over and over that eating would not change the situation. i literally cried for days and that comfort food kept calling, but I just kept having to say "you will not make her well, and you will make me unwell." It doesn't make it easier, but it helped me.

Thank you so much for your words of support... My father just passed from a heart attack. Although it feels harsh to me, I am telling myself that if I make the right choices, even during this time when we are grieving, I won't have the problems he had the last 15 years of his life. I miss him but tell myself he would want better for me.

Thank you again for your supportive words

Originally Posted by JenB72:
Past due update...Went to my stabilization party on Friday. Had fun and I won the trivia contest! Got a free bottle of F&C Blockers. Love them! Then my hubby had to work all weekend which means solo munchkin duty for me. I'm so glad I had a plan going into the weekend or it could have been a disaster. I've never really done this before, not sure why, but I went ahead and mapped out my meals for the weekend. I made some changes, but stayed OP. It paid off because I was down another half pound at my WI today. 2.5 pounds to go.

Tami & Sara, I hate that y'all are going through such rough times right now. I'm definitely not the poster child for dealing with stress and staying OP. I turned to my comfort foods during 2 deaths in the family last year. What I did do was not let that be a permanent change. It may have taken a week or two (never more than that), but I forced myself to get back OP. I would think to myself, what were my "habits" for staying OP. And, like Rachel said, I'd go into "robot mode" and do those things I would when I was on plan. For instance, my thing is that after I go WI, I go across the street to the convenience store and get a soda (I'm sipping on it right now ;) ). It may sound trivial, but things like that is what helped me get back on track. Then, I'd add another habit back in and before I knew, I was OP again. Try not to beat yourself up to bad, life happens, but above all else, learn from it and get back in the game. :hug:

Congrats on your stabilization party and your continued success!! Thank you very much for the supportive ideas. I am going to look into getting some carbonated water to mix my HNS in so the are a little bubbly, I think the fiz might help with some of them. The gals at the center have been a great support.

Sara, I am so sorry about your dad. My prayers are with you and your family. Please know we are here if you need to vent. :hug:

Sara-sorry about your loss. Do the best you can during your time of grief. Like you said, a reminder of why you want to get healthy.

I start stabilization today. Excited as I lost a pound since yesterday (I always do the day after I talk to my counselor on the phone...) If anyone needs a recommendation on a strength training video you can do at home I highly recommend Jackie WArner's Power Circuit (she's got a few, that's my favorite...along with the xtreme time saver). I've been doing the 40 minute full body workout 2x a week and seeing a huge difference. There's also a 15 minute full body that gets all the body parts (and probably the best place to start if you aren't used to strength training). There are also 15 minute sections for abs (killer), legs, and arms if you just want to focus on one area. I just got done with the 40 and I'm all sweaty and muscles shakey so I know I worked it:)

Lost another 1.5 pounds over the weekend at weigh in yesterday. The Wii, said I was down a total of 5 since I started 2 weeks before, but that was on Saturday. Slow, but since I had a cheat night I can understand it.

No more cheating until next week, we have tickets to see the Peking Acrobats, and honestly seeing how well toned and muscular those people are is pretty good motivation. I still feel motivated from seeing the drummers last week, some of those women had awesome arms and back mucles...I have muscle envy.

Made peach smoothies this morning with the plain nonfat greek yogurt, a cup of frozen peaches, packet of truvia, and my peach mango HNS. Not bad.

Feeling kind of rambly today, worried about husband, his grandmothers funeral is today and we could not make the flight back to Washington for it. I have that whole running around in circle, ringing my hands, trying to figure out what to do mentality right now. URGH! :faint:

Sara - I'm sorry for you loss. We are here to help you through this. I will be praying for you and your family.

Sara...
I am so sorry for your loss.. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

Congrats to the gals on stabilization. I wish you the best, and congrats to all that have lost weight.If anyone needs help on stabilization, please feel free to ask..

I was told today that it has been 9 months since I have been on maintenance and I have never gone over the goal.. I did not think it was that long. I weighed in today and stayed the same, 5 pounds under goal.U am very happy with that.. I am experimenting adding grains to diet, as they are big trigger points to me. I have added some for 4 days and no gain, so that is a plus.. Not large amt..

For those that are having a problem with HNS ... I mix mine with a flavored decaf. iced tea and drink it all day long. I have it on ice.. Center told me Iced dec. tea can take the place of water and I drink 64 oz. of it daily. Today I have red raspberry tea with grape HNS mixed in and a little stevia and lots of ice. Very refreshing..

Wishing you all a great day.

Patzi