Thanks, Chickies. I will check the credit card situation online right away.
As to when to start, I will wait until January for sure. I just did a freezer inventory and do have quite a few healthy meals stashed in there - good stuff but not lean and green. I should eat them up so I'm not tempted. (They are all good and healthy meals but too many carbs in some of them.) I may as well wait until then as December is going to be hectic and pretty "social". I do avoid sweets so that will be some help but there are several foody events.
As Mzroz says, I want to get as much bang for my buck as possible.
I don't think I'll even bother logging into the MF website. It seems there is lots of compassionate support here.
Hi , Ms Ruthxxx! The mf website is really good for tracking your meals and your weight and info such as that. When you long on, click the tab that says "My Plan". You can enter all your mf meals and your l/g meal, and you will get a record of the calories/fat/carbs/fiber and a whole bunch of other stuff, so you can actually track what you are eating. You can weigh in every day or weekly, and it will give you a graph of weight lost. It will also graph for you calories/carbs/fat/protein etc. as individual components, so you can make sure that you are less that 100g carbs each day. Also, it has a record of the nutritional values of each MF food, and has online versions of the info that you received in your package. I know that there is a large section on condiments that I found useful, and it will help you with transition/maintenance when we get down to our ideal weights.
BUT, in general while this kind of information tracking appeals to the OCD in me, it is just info that may or (often) may NOT be useful to you.
You might just want to explore the site to see if the actual MF info will be useful to you. As for the discussion boards, they can be helpful but be warned! Threads often get "out of hand" and are deleted (usually 2 or 3 a week), especially when someone posts about intending to go off plan or being off plan...
Have a great MFing day (I ALWAYS LOVE SAYING THAT!!!)!!!
To those lovely Texans in our midst -- we just had a killer snow squall this afternoon -- so bad that I lost satellite reception for about 30 minutes! I wish I was in Texas....
Maya
Oh, and mroz -- I feel your scale pain! Pitch the darn things! For at least 2 weeks!!!!
Thanks, Maya. I will check out what's available on the MF site. I'm a bit OCD too which has both advantages and disadvantages.
We got the same snow, of course. I nearly drove down to your city to shop yesterday afternoon but am glad I didn't. Driving around here was bad enough.
CRAP! Are we really under another storm watch????
YIKES!
And today was just so beautiful!
OK, so on another note:
I weakened, and stepped on the scales today. It is December 1st, so I thought a one month check-in would be appropriate. I will NEXT step on the scales on January 1st. So my tracking will TRULY be monthly, and not every 4 weeks!
SO, from NOVEMBER 1st until DECEMBER 1st, I have lost a total of --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------18 lbs!!!!
I dumped a bunch of water retention from weeks 3 and 4, I'm sure, in the past 3 days (!) -- I was wondering why I was drinking so much and NOT peeing it out, and then the scales didn't budge, which was depressing!
SO,
This month's strategy -- 100% on plan, including over Christmas, and NO STANDING ON THE SCALES until January 1st!
Thoughts?
Anyways, hi everyone -- brace yourself Ms Meowee for the snow! And Ruthxxx, are you in a rural or village property? Are you going to be OK if we get a storm???? Thinking about ya!
Maya
Well--here in Texas, ya'll, it's supposed to get up to 80 degrees this weekend. It's a pretty good time of year to be in Houston.
Maya--I think you've helped me with your scale-talk. I have stepped on the scale every morning for years. However, for most of December I'm going to be staying somewhere with no scale (and probably some snow!--Pennsylvania) and I was starting to become concerned. It really sounds so liberating, though, to just not weigh myself for awhile. I had been seriously considering putting my scale in my suitcase...
I suppose my clothes can let me know if anything is seriously going wrong. It's not like I'm going to cheat on this MF-ing diet or anything.
Dang--we're just a bunch of bad MF-ers!
(bad, meaning good--right?)
You are SO right! The day I stuck the scale in the attic, I felt like a thousand-pound weight had been lifted off my shoulders. NO more anxiety every single day -- you know the inner monologue:
"OK, here goes, please please PLEASE let there be some weight lost..." and then, if the numbers aren't good:
"Damn! OK, I'll just kick the scales over to the other side of the bathroom. Are they zero'd? OK, so here goes...please please PLEASE..."
"Damn! OK, I'll re-rezero the scales, and move them a bit. Now I'll lean over to the left a bit, maybe my feet are too far back on the scale. OK that's better....DAMN!!! This ISN'T WORKING!!! WHAT IS WRONG??? I'M DOOOMED!!!!"
I SO don't need that anymore, so once a month it is.
As for going to Pennsylvania (what a lovely state!), take some mittens with you! Try some winter sports! Drink MF hot chocolate! And stay on plan IF you can, and if NOT, forgive yourself, check back in here for POSITIVE NON-JUDGEMENTAL support, and get right back at it!
Have a safe trip,
Maya
p.s. you know, we started at almost the same weight (I WIN at 243lbs!) and NOW we are EXACTLY the same weight! Talk about a super-close weight loss buddy!!!!
Fabulous? Ms Letting? Mroz? Ms Slim? Maryblu? mcz? How are you guys?
We have lot's of snow here too! What province are you in?
Things are going well for me, thanks for asking, yesterday was very tricky though, we had two Christmas parties to go to, the first was in the afternoon, it was the kids Christmas party at my hubby's work, that wasn't too difficult, they had pizza and chicken nuggets for the kids, thankfully my bars arrived so I just took one of those along and had it with some black coffee, had a shake on the way home in the car and I was good! The next party was in the evening and was a formal sit down dinner, I wasn't perfect but pretty good! I had some white turkey, tossed salad, and a teeny taste of stuffing just a teaspoon or so, I love dressing, but it was yucky anyhow! LOL oh yah and I had a wee little bit of cranberry sauce on my turkey ( kind of had too the turkey was a little dry!) All in all I thought I did ok, I resisted the little box of chocolates that were at my place setting- which is really something for me! I am a chocoholic!
I am currently down 13lbs in less than 3 weeks!
Take care and be careful out there driving in the snow.
Hi Terry! I too am in Ontario -- Kingston to be exact -- and it is SNOWING out there! I don't recall such an early snow for the last 8 years or so! Usually, we get a snow at or just after Christmas!
I love the snow, but my contractor is CURSING right now because we have siding to do and brickwork to do and a second floor over the garage! Personally, I think that in some ways a winter build is better than a summer build, because it SNOWS instead of rains, and you can sweep snow out of your way, whereas with rain EVERYTHING gets soaked! Although working in the cold BITES -- fortunately, that's what we pay contractors for!!!!
Anyways, GOOD FOR YOU on your food challenges. Don't be embarrassed about a taste of stuffing. If you think back to last year, you probably if you are like me, would have had at least a cup of it even if it DID taste bad (HEY, IT'S STUFFING!!!!!)
Get right back at it, which I know you will, and I think together we can ALL get through this holiday season reasonably intact (but not 100% which is JUST FINE!!!)...
Ms Meowee, everyone -- how are y'all? It's snowing and my garage is FULL of crap, so I have to dig the car out before it gets out of hand!!!
Later,
Maya
It's still snowing here -- well, I think it is anyway -- it's blowing so hard it's difficult to tell if its new snow or old snow that is flying around -- wish it would stop. The Weather Station was saying that we (Canada) are going to have a very cold winter this year and, after the last few having been milder than normal, it will probably really be a noticeable difference.
Just back from Church and my legs are darned cold. My black fake-suede pants are chilly. (I must remember to wear my really long coat.) We have a skiff of snow right now but expect around 12" today and tomorrow. Time to retire the ducky boots and dig out the winter ones. Yes, it's too early!
Maya, I'm in the village of Delta rather than isolated out in the boonies. I do have a generator in case of power outage, a cozy house, firewood and a warm cuddly dog. Best of all, I have friends who will be here in a trice if I need shovelling or wood lugging. I love small towns!
I'm still AC/DC on whether or not to start Medifast this month. I realize it's not optimal timing but sure would like to drop SOME weight by Christmas. I seem to have been stuck at 204 half my life! (Well, over 200 since 1991.)
I hear you, Ms. Ruthie! Why not try eating 4 medifast meals each day, and 1 lean and green, and take the last meal as whatever comes? You WILL drop some lbs, and you will still have the flexibility of Christmas festivities! As for the costs of the food, well, you will probably come out even, as your grocery bill will be less, and your MF food is already paid for!
Glad to hear you'll be OK!
I know that Canada is to have a colder winter, which is SO not helpful, because the roof over my garage/family room will be taken off this week!!!! The guys think they can take it off, and frame in and close it up within 3 days. It'll be chilly, here, but I'm going to move into our finished basement, where I have shower/laundry/fridge/microwave/tv/computer AND a gas fireplace. I think that I and the 4 cats'll be OK for the couple of uncomfortable weeks that we will have to endure.
I must say that this is a situation I wanted to avoid, but we couldn't get the builder IN before the middle of November, and since he works on REFERALL ONLY (via our architect-guy), we'll take it as it comes!
Later, all
Maya
just a teaspoon or so, I love dressing, but it was yucky anyhow! LOL oh yah and I had a wee little bit of cranberry sauce on my turkey ( kind of had too the turkey was a little dry!) All in all I thought I did ok, I resisted the little box of chocolates that were at my place setting- which is really something for me! I am a chocoholic! 
The Weather Station was saying that we (Canada) are going to have a very cold winter this year and, after the last few having been milder than normal, it will probably really be a noticeable difference.
Yes, it's too early! 
