I try, but can never get all of it out, but most of it.

YEAH! Such a great opportunity. I'm sure you will have a blast.

On the yellow menu soda and creamies are not allowed. But, today is my last day and then I move on to the blue menu (can have soda and creamies). The dip sounds yummy, I will definately try it. Thanks!

BTW How do you do multiple quotes in a post?

OH this is fantastic! i'm not even struggling yet but this made me feel warm and fuzzy. i am such a sucker for a good pep talk!

Next to the word quote there is the quote mark on the page click that to each you want and then Post reply when you are ready....it will have all the ones that you marked in the post

I have asked before....but what about goals. Do we use what the center gives us? Do we use what they say as a guide? I am concerned that either my goal is too high or that some others may have unrealistic goals at their height....how do we know what should be a good, healthy weight? What are everyones thoughts on this???

Cool, it worked. Thanks!

I think aslong as your goal is within a healthy BMI (taking into account muscle mass for very active people) then your goal is fine. My goal of 135 puts me within the middle of my healthy BMI range.

I tried this last night, and it was a great change from the usual! It seems like just about the time I'm ready for something new, someone posts something just perfect. Thanks!

Ok....so I went to Web MD and they say for a medium framed person at 5'9" that I should be between 154 and 171 (based on BMI). I think that I am OK.

What does MRC do if we come in with an unrealist goal then? I stated that I am concerned and I am. If I or someone else goes in with a goal lower than ideal according to BMI will the center warn us of that?

OK....I have actual done this diet before. Last year I got to 161 and the photo as my avatar is at about 167 so I know about what I will look like. I also know that you MUST to stabilization and maintenance so that this is a lifestyle. They teach you to live this. I didn't last time and will this time.

For those of you that have made your goal less than what the center states....what is the reason? Do they guide you by saying if it is a healthy and realistic goal.

I do not want to hurt feelings or push a touchy subject as weight loss is SOOOO PERSONAL but I am curious if some of the stalls at the end may be your body asking you to look closely and see if this is worth it. Please don't get me wrong....maybe I am looking at the numbers and seeing myself there instead of a smaller framed person that can handle that.

I've noticed sometimes that people have goals that seem too low for their height, but like you said weight loss is very personal. My original goal with MRC was 145. We (me and counselor) picked that number as it was right in the middle of their calculation of a healthy range. But, as your body fat drops, so does the calculation. 28% of higher weight=a higher goal weight. As that 28% is applied to lower weights, the healthy range drops, too. A couple of weeks ago I talked to the same counselor I started with, and we agreed to lower my goal to 140. She recalculated my healthy range after losing 40 pounds, and now it's about 135-145 (I can't remember exactly), so 140 is still in the middle. That discussion was also prompted by the fact that at 145 I would still be in the 'overweight' category of the BMI tables I was looking at.

I can barely comprehend getting to 140 (less than my 16 year old athlete weighs!!), much less into the 130's. I've decided to just wait and see. Supposedly I'll start the stabilization process when I get to about 150...8.5 more pounds. That scares me a little since my goal would still be 10 pounds away, but I've decided to trust the process. It has worked so far. My goal for this is to be at a healthy weight but not so low that life will always be about total deprivation when it comes to food. I need something I can live with and maintain.

I am not at my goal weight but am supposed to be starting stabilization because I hit the acceptable bodyfat% and BMI. I am probably 5-6 lbs away from goal weight. I am scared to start stabilization being above my goal, in that my weight loss will slow down now unless I really ramp it up even more in my workouts. Also now that I am getting closer to goal I may want to even go farther than that, but my center just says to stabilize and I will continue to lose. Having a tough time because adding carbs has already affected my weight. I also went to a wedding over the weekend and did induldge in a few glasses of wine and a small piece of cake, but that has thrown my week of completely because then on Monday I had pizza at dinner. I feel like it's getting out of hand and I know all I have to do is go back on program.... but I'm afraid of the carbs! Eeek.

Succeed09 - thanks for sharing that. I'm glad that they do seem to help you be reasonable. Oh...and thanks so much for understanding that I wasn't trying to hurt anyones feelings.

Lizg46 - I know from last time and the friends that I had doing this with me that they lost about 7 pounds during stabilization; they also teach you in maintenance what to do if you want/need to loose a little more. I would trust them to do what is right by you!

Jewliek, that is good to know about maintenance. I was thinking about extending if I am not at 135 by Thanksgiving(which I know I wont be) but maybe I can just do it during maintenance.

Another question. I lost 3 lbs in my 7 days of stabilization, but now I am kind of stuck, scale going up and down 2lbs each way. Could I have already hit a plateau?

jeweliek: when i went in for my consultation and filled out the personal info, i put down 155 because i felt like that's the lowest i could get while still being able to comfortably maintain it. i say this because when i first lost a ton of weight in college (via low-carb), i got down to about 150 and couldn't stay there for more than a day or two at a time, no matter how i was eating. i think i am just tall enough (5'8) and sturdily built enough that i'm not meant to go any lower than that! anyway, during my consultation after weighing in, my girl went over the specifics of determining a goal weight and she said i was dead on. 155 is somewhere in the middle of my healthy BMI range and it's something that i'm not scared to try to maintain and also that i think will look good on me, because silly as it sounds, 150 looked like a bag of bones! hehe