Tina...
Congrats.. You are doing great. Nice weigh loss in 5 weeks..

Patzi

Hi everyone! I haven't kept up with the MRC thread a lot. I am having the same fears about maintenance! I had to renew my plan date to meet my goal. I'm not beating myself up about it or anything I just know stress was the biggest roadblock to my weight loss. I am still moving along and only 14.5 pounds from my original goal. I think once I reach it I will still have challenges but just different kinds. More of a lifestyle than a "diet". Thats what I'm working towards anyway. Anyone on maintenance keep taking the supplements? I asked my center and they said I might need the appetite suppressant at first then probably nothing more. They seem to have more faith in me than I do!!!!

Good luck to all for Monday! I weigh in tomorrow morning!

Meta-Slim as always. Just without all the cheating I did the first time around.

Don't be afraid. Knowledge is power. I highly recommend you read Brain Over Binge by Kathryn Hansen and/or The Diet Cure by Julia Ross and you'll get an excellent scientific explanation of what happens with our brains and bodies when we subject ourselves to low calorie dieting. If I had realized how low calorie this plan was I wouldn't have done it. As it was, I trusted the center and didn't ever work out the calorie level for myself until I hit stabilization and was told to start tracking calories with MyFitnessPal.com. Now I know I was starving my body. The survival instincts in our brains don't know that we are doing it on purpose and will kick into overdrive to get us to store calories in case we try to starve ourselves again. But we can train our brain to not send us those messages to indulge in the Highly Palatable Foods (scientific name for foods high in carbs/fat that are easily converted and stored as fat on our bodies).

I don't have proof yet that this will work for me, as I'm currently undoing the damage from the binge cycle I was sucked into after hitting maintenance. All the center's Connections classes focused on emotional reasons for overeating and I thought I was prepared. This purely scientific explanation makes sense to me and I believe will be key in doing better at my next attempt at maintaining.

Also, for those who have seen my posts, I do believe that my experience was worse than it may be for others since I reached an all time low for my body weight and fat percentage. I got significantly smaller than I had ever been even as a teenager; over thirty pounds less than my stated weight on my first drivers license at age 16. So I think my brain fought it worse, trying to get me back to what it considered my norm.

going4fit: gosh you hit the nail on the head. What are you doing now as far as eating? Are you following the green menu or have you cut yourself off from the center completely? I'm doing the IE way, still working out my body signals but I want to be free of dieting altogether and stop taking supplements. I'm so upset with the damage that has been done to my body also. I feel like I need to detox from all the crap I've put into my system. goodluck and keep posting I would love to hear how things go.

I just have to say that I'm so happy I didn't buy all the supplements. My body doesn't have to go through the withdrawal from them. My weight foes vary by about 5 pounds, but still a few pounds under my goal. I can pretty much figure out what might have caused the gain. It might be eating at a Mexican restaurant and not counting how many chips I devour before our entrees arrive, or it might be wine, or beer, which I try to limit, or that I miss the gym for days in a row. I have noticed my middle getting a little bigger but not enough that my new clothes wont fit. I would still recommend the program.

rwquilts: You are so smart not buying into the sales pitch of the supplements. its been so hard, I've gained 8-10 lbs and its all around my mid-section, i'm so frustrated I don't know what to do. They keep telling me to go back to the green menu and buy more supplements, now they are selling lipo b12 injections and swear it will melt off the fat. I bought some but called today and told them I don't feel comfortable taking them, and their response was no refund but you can swap for product. I told them no they can sell my injections to the next person. They are suppose to tell me Thursday what they have decided they will do.

rwquilts: I just noticed you are in Lafayette, so do you go to that center? The manager of the Lafayette center was the one I met with to sign up for the lipo b12 injections, she says they are wonderful????

I did go to the center in Lafayette and I think Denise was the manager. I haven't been back to the center since early January. Just don't see a need to go weigh in as I do that myself at Snap Fitness 5-6 times a week. I don't feel like I need to go to the center for anything. I won a huge container of V-Core from Complete Nutrition and sometimes have a shake in the evenings. I eat half of a Builder Snack Bar before I go workout in the mornings along with a bottle if water. Seems to be working!

Yes Denise is her name! I'm so glad that you are maintaining, one of these days maybe I can figure out how to.

Skelly - I am right where you are: up 10 pounds right around my midsection! I think those that do the plan without any of the additional supplements are much better off. It seems like once I stopped taking the "big 3" then I started putting the weight back on. Of course, it could be due to my age and the big M too. Anyway - are the lipo b12 shots new? I did the b12 shots and did not notice any difference. I think the only thing I did not try was the All Day Weight Loss - they said medically they did not suggest I try them (not sure if it was due to high BP or IBS). I have gained just enough weight that my clothes are too tight So frustrating.

Hi faerychic: I was wondering how you were doing. since I stopped the cortitrim and mrc-6 is when I noticed the weight gain. I still do one HNS daily just because I like the peach mango over crushed ice. The lipo B12 injections are new and I did some research online and there are a lot of great reviews. It's suppose to suck the fat out LOL! The energy it gives you is suppose to be awesome. I take my first shot Thursday so i'll keep you posted on how it goes. I tried the all day weight loss and didn't have any luck. Waste of money! I will tell you that I found online on this site a post that Tonalin CLA is the same as cortitrim but way cheaper, I bought it at Vitamin World and I've been taking it for a week now and they said it takes about a month but I've noticed that I don't feel bloated and I've lost 2lbs this week. Its worth checking out, my dr said it's harmless and its a good energy boost and metabolism boost. I'm going to be 58 in November and I sometimes think my age is against me also. I've been eating the Intuitive Eating way which is I only eat when i'm hungry and stop when im satisfied. It's starting to work and I've only been doing this for 3 wks.

Finally got in for a weigh-in today and was shocked at only a 2 lb loss. After nearly two weeks since my last weigh-in, during which I finished up the 30 day plan, did 3 days on Meta Quick, and then followed green menu perfectly, I expected at least 5 lbs. Guess I need to go back to trying to keep them from telling me my weight, because I'm extremely disappointed.

Tamikl, I didn't find it hard to be on the 30 day plan, but maybe it did mess up my metabolism because I lost more than a pound a week on green menu before.

Oh well, slower weight loss is supposed to be healthier anyway, right? The little voice in my lower brain is telling me I may as well give in and eat because it'll take forever to get off at this rate anyway, so what's the point in missing out? Don't worry - I'm ignoring it. Just interesting the messages it sends.

Something Going4fit mentioned earlier resonated with me and I had told forgot about it. I too was shocked when I had to start tracking my calories when I hit stabilization. It had always been follow the green menu and don't worry about it. To start making myself more aware of what I'm doing, I'm going to start using MFP account again just so I get back in the practice of journaling and tracking my food with more awareness. That way, it will be second nature when I get back to that point.

Going4fit: Oh wow I would have thought you would have lost more too! It just shows how messed up our bodies are now. I don't know what i'm going to do, I've gained 11lbs in the last month, I've tried everything I can and I will lose maybe 5lbs but then the hunger cravings come back and i'm back to eating too much. I'm trying to count calories and thru the week I do good but the weekend comes and i'm out of control. What has happened to me? I'm going tomorrow to weigh in at the center and i'm starting the Lipo B12 injections that are suppose to increase your engery and burn fat quick, i'm hoping to get rid of the fat around my mid section so I don't have the muffin top anymore when I where my new size 8 jeans that I bought when I lost all my weight!! I'm so disappointed that this has happened. So i'll keep posting on my progress with the shots and if this doesn't work then i'm doomed I think!