Packaged Meals and Clinics - Nutrisystem, Medifast, Jenny Craig, EtcFor support and questions about diet meal delivery programs, or weight loss clinics that offer prepackaged meals and products.
I had gastric bypass surgery almost 4 years ago and I too, still struggle with binge eating. The lowest I ever got was 158 and now am 170. The surgery I had is a miracle surgery for the first 2 years, then it becomes all about choices. I can see how people gain weight back even with the surgery because now it's about the quality of calories I consume and their impact on my weight. I can eat half a sandwich at Panera and gain a lb but if I eat the same number of calories in chicken, I won't. Anyway, about binging. I have loved to binge when I am HAPPY but especially when I am SCARED (emotional). However, I do sometimes FEEL a DEEP HUNGER when I have been strictly on a plan and ESPECIALLY if I couple the plan with EXERCISE that will cause me to binge. It is not emotional, it is just a DEEP DEEP instinctual HUNGER. I get this around the TOM for almost a WEEK before, my appetite just goes through the roof and I am never satiated. I have read things about the increase in calories every so often, like you did last night, that can actually STOKE the metabolism, but I think any weight we go up the next day is just the liver refilling glycogen stores. So we can't let ONE eating episode totally derail us. I have done it hundreds of time and a year later, you look back and are still overweight and maybe even gaining weight.
I don't know if you are interested at all in natural remedies, but I have just started to take a supplement called 5-HTP, only 1 pill of 100 mg/daily FOR NOW but may increase it. I have only been on it for 3 days but I am hoping it will help my serotonin levels, and thus decrease my hunger and anxiety for when I begin my WS program completely. I will let you know!! But you are AMAZING and have come so FAR, so have a GREAT ON Plan Day today!
Hey ladies, I am SO EXCITED! I spent all morning yesterday customizing my 4 week kit for WS since DD has it on SALE! I talked to a representative online in real time chat and she made all the changes I wanted! I substituted the items on SALE - like the WS Cakes and the Vegetarian Sloppy Joe for other WS items, then I purchased them separately - 1 Cheesecake, 1 Double Chocolate Cake and 1 Vegetarian Sloppy Joe...Then I purchased 5 bags EACH of the WS pretzels and Chips. I wanted to buy them from NL with my $20 off coupon but they were going to charge me 14 dollars to ship 2 boxes of chips I would have only paid around 5 dollars for, so the shipping offset the coupon. I got tons of WS from DD for 271.
I should get the products on Friday when I am visiting my Mother's home in Mississippi, and the tracking shows this. That is some AWESOME quick shipping, they originally thought it would be Saturday but tracking my package, shows it is coming on Friday which is 5 weeks until my rehearsal dinner My fiancee is on BOARD - which is always important. I have used the NL Starter Pack yesterday but did it loosely by adding a small dinner and a Lean Cuisine for lunch. I am doing this to shrink my stomach until I get my 4 week kit on Friday. Plus, my birthday is Saturday and my mother wants to take me to dinner, etc. but I told her I absolutely did not need a birthday cake this year! I don't think I can fully begin the program until Saturday. But even just what I did yesterday already has me down to 170 this morning, from a high of 173 after the weekend of bridal shower eating and country cookin' from fiancee's mom. I am so happy about my package coming!!
So far I LOVE the mint chocolate hot cocoa - so wonderful and warming with cold weather approaching! I have 6 supplements and a bar left from my Starter pack so I will eat those today and tomorrow but want to do full supplements starting Saturday a la JEN!!
Jen, I am going to read through the old posts to learn how to do the FULL 2 week supplement program because I am sure you have posted it many times! I am not sure I ordered enough boxes for FULL 2 weeks but I have the 4 week kit plus 3 boxes (2 cakes and 1 veg joe) and 22 bags of the chips and pretzel snacks....
Hurray! I'm so glad that everything is on its way and you're feeling good. This is excellent news! As is the fact that you know you have a supportive family. That is definitely key!
Let me know if you can't find the information you're looking for in my posts as you begin your program. I know I've detailed just about everything at one point or another in the last week or two, but there may be some things you still have questions about. (Don't we all?! ) Don't hesitate to ask if you need help or clarification around anything. That's what we're here for!
I had gastric bypass surgery almost 4 years ago and I too, still struggle with binge eating. The lowest I ever got was 158 and now am 170. The surgery I had is a miracle surgery for the first 2 years, then it becomes all about choices. I can see how people gain weight back even with the surgery because now it's about the quality of calories I consume and their impact on my weight. I can eat half a sandwich at Panera and gain a lb but if I eat the same number of calories in chicken, I won't. Anyway, about binging. I have loved to binge when I am HAPPY but especially when I am SCARED (emotional). However, I do sometimes FEEL a DEEP HUNGER when I have been strictly on a plan and ESPECIALLY if I couple the plan with EXERCISE that will cause me to binge. It is not emotional, it is just a DEEP DEEP instinctual HUNGER. I get this around the TOM for almost a WEEK before, my appetite just goes through the roof and I am never satiated. I have read things about the increase in calories every so often, like you did last night, that can actually STOKE the metabolism, but I think any weight we go up the next day is just the liver refilling glycogen stores. So we can't let ONE eating episode totally derail us. I have done it hundreds of time and a year later, you look back and are still overweight and maybe even gaining weight.
I don't know if you are interested at all in natural remedies, but I have just started to take a supplement called 5-HTP, only 1 pill of 100 mg/daily FOR NOW but may increase it. I have only been on it for 3 days but I am hoping it will help my serotonin levels, and thus decrease my hunger and anxiety for when I begin my WS program completely. I will let you know!! But you are AMAZING and have come so FAR, so have a GREAT ON Plan Day today!
Boy do we think alike! Sounds like our bodies respond similarly to things, as well. While I've never seriously contemplated bypass (because I have so many friends who have still struggled even after having the surgery), I've suffered from binging my entire life. Which is why I know that I'm never going to be completely "cured." Like you said, sometimes binges are emotionally triggered. Other times it's like there's something off in my actual chemistry. And, as you know, when that happens, you just can't stop it. It's weird, but the urge is so strong, it's like there's nothing you can do about it. I always tell people it's like what (I imagine) drug or alcohol addicts experience. The urge for that next "hit" is so powerful it cannot be overcome.
It's also a little like the "perfect storm." Case in point (as you're about to see, I will share all of my failures and struggles with you ladies as readily as I share my successes! ): So, it's 10 a.m. I'm feeling hungrier than usual for my morning smoothie, as I've got a lot more carbs and sugar coursing through my veins after eating so much last night. I also have a 10 a.m. meeting with a co-worker and no time to make my shake beforehand (because I'm going from one meeting to another). Said co-worker, who is a lovely person and has no idea of my current weight loss efforts, brings two HUGE chocolate chip cookies to the meeting: one for me and one for him. Oh, and they're from a mutual friend's restaurant bakery, I should add. I don't have the heart to tell him "no thanks" (which is odd, b/c I have no trouble telling others). And I initially think "I'll just wrap this up and take it home to my hubby who will be thrilled to get it." Meeting occurs, and I'm getting hungrier and hungrier. And now I can smell the cookie...taste it in my mind. Co-worker and I finish the meeting and I think "I need to get rid of this. It's going to be a problem." Then I think, "Hmm...maybe I'll take a little bite. Just see how good it is." This is where the WARNING lights should have been going off and the sirens flashing, and the alarms "whooping!" Danger! Danger Will Robinson! I break the cookie in half and take a bite. It's buttery. And dense. And chocolately. "Throw it out!" I think. But it's too late. I'm starving and I've introduced the taste. So I eat the whole thing. In less than two minutes. Approximately 500 calories of mostly sugar and fat. Gone. *slaps hand on forehead*
So. I have two choices. I can either do what I've always done, which got me 101 pounds overweight and go the route of "Gee I screwed up, so I might as well just enjoy everything else I've been craving for the rest of the day and start again tomorrow." (If tomorrow even happens, because you ALL know how that goes!) Or, I can go drink that smoothie and get my rear end right back on the freaking plan! I'm going with the later option. I may have caved to the cookie, no thanks to the perfect storm, but I will NOT conciously make a decision to sabotage myself for the rest of the day. That being said, I can tell...it's gonna be a challenging one!
Jen - I think I agree with the author...Sometimes my cravings revolve around nothing - so it must just be hunger..maybe mental hunger?? Sorry you caved on the cookie - I would have too; I have no doubt...BUT good for you for choosing to continue the day with the RIGHT choices!! Keep your chin up...Rome wasn't built in a day - nor did 1 cookie tear it down!!
Water - Girl..I've been missing you like crazy...SO glad to have you back! I'm still plugging along - some days are better than most but yesterday was GREAT and today is on plan so far!! I'm hoping to hit 45 at tomorrows weigh in!! FINGERS CROSSED!!
Why is this all so difficult??!!!! Each and everyone of us KNOW what to do. We all could write thick books on how to lose weight (Lord knows we've probably lost and regained about a ton!) But Knowing and Wanting are two different things and sometimes I just get into the "You can't tell me what to do." Or "I know I shouldn't but I'm going to anyway" mode. Evidence: the cake I had for my lunch. I was so powerful when I first started this program.
I need to find my power back. I have a stress-filled meeting scheduled for this afternoon. Sure, I could use that as an excuse, but the fact of the matter is that sometimes I eat because I WANT to, consequences be damned!
Jen,
That cookie be damned, we cannot give food that kind of control over us, in that it makes us feel like we've failed. I have some books by Geneen Roth and she discusses the black and white/good and bad dieting mentality so many of us women have. What I am learning is that, always get back on the wagon. When I just let loose and let myself GO - like I have done this entire summer since I moved to Florida and took the Florida Bar Exam, I will EAT AND EAT AND EAT and I know I will gain all my weight back and more. And it is amazing how poorly 15 lbs makes me feel, I cannot imagine ever getting more overweight than this again, except when I am pregnant and having children. What I have seen from the thin women I am around, is that they may eat a bad meal but they make up for it the next day with either a little more exercise or cutting back on carbs or calories, or whatever. I think that is the key to maintenance, is to never let yourself COMPLETELY fall of the wagon because you figure, "oh I binged, I will start back tomorrow". And tomorrow never comes. I have been eating out a lot and I go on a lot of business dinners with my fiancee, and I notice the wives all eat what I eat, and yet they are thin. But I know they will either make up for it the next day by more exercise or healthier food choices because I will hear them say that...I hope you are warming some WS hot chocolate right now haha I am so excited about starting!! WE CAN DO THIS!
And sometimes we eat because quite simply, we are hungry. And much of it is biology!! I for one, am so severely anemic that I am on the verge of needing a blood transfusion. At the same time this was happening, I would find myself CRAVING the bloodiest rarest filet mignon you could find! And the next day I seemed to have more energy. My doctor actually told me I needed to eat red meat everyday, and I get a lot of jokes about that from men, like "we wish our doctor would tell us that!"...I have even read things about how when women menstruate, our body temperatures go up, and if we exercise, we can burn more calories than on an average day. And we actually burn more calories those days which is why we are hungrier. I have also read that serotonin plummets the week before your TOM which can cause one's appetite to increase...In other words, there are so many physiological factors that make WOMEN HUNGRY...so we can't beat ourselves up!
I'm still here, haven't posted in awhile. Just bought another box of shakes. I tried a few of the snacks, boy did they give me gas, I won't be buying those again. I wasn't using the shakes for awhile, took about a month off and just tried to watch what I was eating and working out hard. I did buy Jillian Michael's protein powder at Walmart's, chocolate and vanilla, and they do not taste anywhere near as good as WS, no way no how. So after all this time I finally figured out I only like the shakes, the bars are like candy, I didn't like the hot entrees. Live and learn.
Why is this all so difficult??!!!! Each and everyone of us KNOW what to do. We all could write thick books on how to lose weight (Lord knows we've probably lost and regained about a ton!) But Knowing and Wanting are two different things and sometimes I just get into the "You can't tell me what to do." Or "I know I shouldn't but I'm going to anyway" mode. Evidence: the cake I had for my lunch. I was so powerful when I first started this program.
I need to find my power back. I have a stress-filled meeting scheduled for this afternoon. Sure, I could use that as an excuse, but the fact of the matter is that sometimes I eat because I WANT to, consequences be damned!
I couldn't have expressed the situation better myself!
Morning all -
Thanks to those who chimed in yesterday with their own personal observations and histories. Seems that random bouts of uncontrolled binge eating are a common thread for this group, and I'm not surprised. I know I, for one, am always relieved to find a community of supportive women who truly understand the pain and frustration that comes with this type of addictive behavior. In part because I know it's always going to be something I struggle with. I will never wake up one day, simply "cured." For one, my father suffers from the same issues, and there is some proof that this type of issue runs in families they way other addictive behaviors do. That being said, I'm also pleased to see that I've been able to lose over 75 pounds this year, even with the issues I have. Which gives me hope. It shows me that maybe some day I will become so adept at managing my binges that they won't result in the 101 pound weight gain I started with last year. *sigh* One can always hope, right?!
So, try as I might, yesterday I just could not get back on track. First it was the cookie, then some Jordan Almonds someone brought in, then an extra protein bar, then some Halloween candy folks had laying around, culminating in a heaping pile of Whole Foods mac and cheese, a pumpkin gingerbread parfait, and two packages of Newman's Own PB cups. Needless to say I feel like CRAP today. I tell you...I remember the days when I could eat like this and still feel relatively normal. No more! After a year of more healthy eating than not, this kind of behavior leaves me feeling pretty awful. The scale, was of course, way up today (to 161.5) which I was not surprised about in the least. I've already decided I'm not doing an official weigh in this week. Instead I'm just going to do my best to get back on track today and give myself a "buy" week. I really don't need the added stress of having to rehash the behavior this week and potentially risk being reprimanded for something I'm already feel beat up enough about. This has, oddly, given me a sense of calm that I needed.
Today's biggest challenge is going to be massive Halloween parties in every department around me today. Lots of crappy food flying about. And I have a meeting shortly where breakfast is being served, too. I've already eaten my Cinnamon crispy bar and am working on my coffee, which I plan to take with me to the meeting. Hoping that, on top of the fact that my stomach is still less than happy with me, will overwhelm any other urge or thought I may have.
*HUGS* to you all. I love having your friendship and support. And HAPPY FRIDAY!
Jen - Just keep on, keepin on! Be so proud of that 75 lbs. because you must literally look like the incredible shrinking woman I ate VERY bad last night, I made a healthy lean and green for myself and the fiancee, worked quite hard on it. Only to pull it out of the oven with a potholder that had a hidden hole in it. So I dropped an entire tray of our dinner. I still have more mess to clean up in the oven this morning, and fiancee was like "let's just go to Taco Bell". I wasn't hungry but I ate 1 Chalupa and 2 bites of hard taco because of feeling sorry for myself like I was the housewife from H*LL. Then a few hours later, fiancee woke me up (it was 10 PM) to tell me he needed to run to the gas station and I was STARVING - don't ask me why, no rhyme or reason. I ate 2 small bags of Ritz Bits peanut butter and half of a Hershey's bar with almonds. I cannot beat myself up over this! I am just so ready for my supplements to arrive, I don't even know what to do! My birthday dinner is now on Saturday night so I know I really shouldn't start my plan until that is over because, quite frankly, I feel like I would be wasting supplements if I ate them around a potentially heavy birthday dinner. I am going to work hard today and tomorrow just on maintaining and not binging, I may drink my protein shakes that I already had just to try to manage my intake. Holidays are hard times, in our country, I often say, "we are fat for a reason" - constant junk food at offices, gas stations loaded with junk food, ordering a "medium" at a fast food place and they LOOK like the LARGES of my childhood, constant shows on TV about food (think: Man v. Food), and the worst is just the enormous portions you get at every restaurant. Only healthy thing when you go to the movies is a PICKLE and diet coke and that is loaded with sodium...Our country has a real problem!
Atty- you hit the nail on the head! Our country - although it a GREAT one - certainly has a issues with quality of food and a definite portion distortion problem! Last night we attended a Golf banquet for our son - they fixed grilled chicken breast, potato salad, baked beans, rolls...they were putting 2 chicken breasts on each plate - I said, "really I only need one of those" so luckily they did as I wished - but goodness - 2 chicken breasts...I guess I could have gotten 2 and had them leave off the potato salad and baked beans and been better off but it still looked odd to me!
I've officially hit 45 pounds this morning!! YAY!! I finally get to change my ticker!!
So my son went to school today as Joe Dirt..yeah I know...it was a rediculous get up, but he wouldn't hear of doing anything else...I tried to get him to do Gene Simmons - but we didn't have leathers or kizz boots...maybe next year I can get hubs to do that one!! What are yalls youngen's doin for Halloween??
Yes, this country has problems with portion control!! My cousins in South Africa are amazed at portion sizes. Our "small" soda is a Large for them! Plus we drive everywhere (and don't smoke) so it's no wonder we're hefty.
I can't wait to get the Halloween candy out of our house!!! I weighed in at 161.0 this AM. I guess I'll change my ticker. But I will be weighing in tomorrow and hope for a much bigger loss!
Hello!! I wish I could find more time to be on here and read up on what everyone has been doing. Between 3 kids, full time job, college, kids lessons...grrr.
But week 1... I weighed in and lost exactly 4 lbs on Wonderslim! YAY I even had 1 glass of wine in there somewhere. But I am really VERY happy.
I was reading a few posts back about binge eating. And it was funny to read this because last night I wanted pizza SO bad. I could almost taste it. So I headed off to the store and as I sat and looked at foods and labels what I realized I REALLY wanted was the cheese.
So I bought non fat shredded cheddar from Kraft. Galliano 55% fat free turkey and pork salami and on my foreman grill made a quesadilla with my quesadilla plates which made it all yummy and crispy and I found that I still lost .2 yesterday. I was very careful to realize that I used water for my shakes and not milk. Was pretty aware of what I had eaten so to not over do the calories, but it killed that craving and it was SO yummy. Felt like I was cheating a little.
What I found is that generally when I want to eat something I shouldn't have, if I just take 1-2 bites and that's it...it kills that craving. The thing for me is if I deny myself stuff, I will binge. So it's best if I take 1-2 bites of something in the day that I shouldn't have. Then that goes away.
So, on to week 2. I am excited. Only 72 more lbs to go!
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Be strong!!
Erin
My fiancee is on BOARD - which is always important. I have used the NL Starter Pack yesterday but did it loosely by adding a small dinner and a Lean Cuisine for lunch. I am doing this to shrink my stomach until I get my 4 week kit on Friday. Plus, my birthday is Saturday and my mother wants to take me to dinner, etc. but I told her I absolutely did not need a birthday cake this year! I don't think I can fully begin the program until Saturday. But even just what I did yesterday already has me down to 170 this morning, from a high of 173 after the weekend of bridal shower eating and country cookin' from fiancee's mom. I am so happy about my package coming!! 
) Don't hesitate to ask if you need help or clarification around anything. That's what we're here for! 
but yesterday was GREAT and today is on plan so far!! I'm hoping to hit 45 at tomorrows weigh in!! FINGERS CROSSED!!
Week 1 weight loss results.....
