Hello all...just wanted to introduce myself.

I am new to Medifast and have 100+ pounds to lose.

I start Monday 2/6/17!

I hope I get to make new friends here!

Welcome PQ! Like I mentioned in your introduction post, I too have over 100 lbs to lose, so stick with me and we'll conquer this together!!!

Question to the room: how does one successfully prepare those pancakes??? I have removed them from my list of future orders because I have never successfully made them. They end up scrambled because when I go to flip the very thin, watery goo, it collapses on itself and I just hope it cooks thoroughly eventually. Very frustrating!!

Have a great day all!!

Cheers,
Laura

Good Morning!

Welcome PQ! I think I speak for everyone when I say, we are happy to have you join us. I can't wait to hear more about you as we all work to drop the weight and live healthier lifestylesl

Pancakes: Funny you should mention pancakes Laura, because I had one this morning and had the exact problem. My husband Scott is the pancake professional and said, "Geez Sheila, get out of the way and let me show you." Basically, it boiled down to having the pan hot enough when you pour it in and cooking it longer before trying to flip it. I know the package says 1 minute, but he let it cook 2 before turning it. Except for the part, I'd already destroyed trying to flip, the rest was perfect. They are thinner and larger than the 3 to 4 inches in diameter but still delicious. We eat them "as is".

Steph, Word of advice on "barnyard" foods. I tried the Optavia Green Renewal Shake. Worst barnyard/algae smell and taste yet! Yuck! We even added a little lemon and ginger to it but it didn't really help. Like you, I hate to waste so, making the best of it until its gone.

After yesterday's weight gain post lifting, today was better, down 1.4 lbs to my lowest weight yet. I do feel a little light-headed today so I may have a little broth and see if it helps. We plan to lift again tonight so I'll see if the weight returns for a day. Its an interesting experiment!

Stay the course!

Sheila

Good Thursday Morning! I am soooooo ready for the weekend! It's in the 50's today and tomorrow, 60 on Saturday and 73 on Sunday. I prefer the cooler air. We have had several days in the 80's which is too warm for us in Central Texas...I dread the hot summers. Did I say dread? ...I meant HATE.

Sheila – Start keeping inch measurements for key areas like waist. The weight lifting is GREAT but because muscle weighs more than fat, you may see more fluctuation in the next few weeks…and yes, muscle holds on to water after lifting because you are basically ripping the old muscle up to create a new, stronger muscle. YAY!! On the NSV.

Laura – My husband hates the smell of my oatmeal waffles. Oh well! Regarding the pancakes…they don’t make great waffles like the oatmeal does, I can tell you that! When I have had them before I had to use a new non-stick pan and still spray it with a little Pam. Add a little less water. Look up pancake muffins on the MF site. Now those, turned out okay but you’ll need to add an egg white.

Steph – My lean/green meals tend to be chicken (baked, boiled or sautéed), okra (pan or oven roasted…I like pan roasted because it burns off slime), oven roasted zucchini or cauliflower, or a salad with salsa instead of salad dressing. On weeks where I’m in a stall, I have “five days of fish” where I eat only seafood and a big salad for my dinners. If you have Tilapia LOINS available, I recommend them.

PolynesianQueen – Welcome!! Give the plan time and effort and you will see those pounds come off in the next several months. Just set your mind to it!!
____

The last few days have been pretty good. I didn't get in all of my MF meals yesterday, but I had "extras" to equal the same calorie count...not good. At least I counted the calories, but it's still counter-productive to my goals.

As far as exercise, we used to lift weights, and we have a weight room in our house BUT...I'm lazy. With my arthritic knees, I need to lose about 25 more pounds before I start light walking. But again, I'm lazy. My idea of exercise is working in the garden, grooming the horse or other things that don't really feel like exercise. LOL! Maybe I'll be more motivated as the weight comes off. With my weight loss in 2012, I was doing Zumba and Kettle-Bell Floor routines 4-6 days a week. Toward the end, my knees were not in great shape even with 100 pounds lost.

Welcome PQ! Tell us how you're doing! I'm always happy to see someone new join us.

Laura, I find Sheila's husband correct with the pancakes, but I also use slightly less water and make 3 mini-pancakes instead of one big one. Leave them to cook until they do not fold in when you start putting the spatula under the edge. I like them with sugar free syrup, or else add some cinnamon into the batter and have them with a little butter spray (ICBINB).

Sheila, LOL! Thank you for the warning about the "Barnyard Algae" Optavia green shakes! I just picked up a few Octavia meals off Craigslist from someone who started it for their New Year Resolution and is giving up. Thankfully, I got no shakes, but I did get a few of the biscuits, sweet potatoes, and 2 kinds of pasta to try. She was selling them for $2.50 a meal which is not exactly cheap (I am a cheapskate getting all my MF meals off CL and got some from a coworker for VERY cheap) but I thought they would make a nice addition for variety. I only bought a few to try.

BanTam, I think walking is the best exercise on Medifast, unless you were already rocking it prior. Plus walking is easy on the knees!

I am down another pound today so I am thrilled. I know I said I would weigh once a week but it is hard not to peek! I won't get on the scale anymore until Sunday. This morning I had a bit of an icky stomach again so I had a MF Orange drink. I don't know if I could have stomached anything else! I'm glad all my liquid meals are coming in handy!

YAY I am so excited. I got my box yesterday and I already set up and organized all my meals for each day lol.... #excitedmuch

HI Ladies,

Wanted to check in since today was my 3 week weigh in, and the results are

Starting weight:175
Week one: 170.4- 4.6 lbs lost
Week two: 168.8-1.6 lbs lost
Week three: 166.8-2 lbs lost
Total: 8.2 lbs lost

I am still losing at half the rate I did last time on this same diet, but the good news is that I am still losing, so I will take it. My initial plan was to stay on the diet for 30 days and then transition off and start working out a lot more. However, I was assuming I would lose 20 pounds in the first month like I did before, so now I am reassessing. I think will have to stay on the plan for an additional 2-4 weeks to get down to my first goal of 20 lbs lost/155 pounds, and that is okay. I am going to place a new order for food tonight after I take inventory of everything I have left.

I see that some of you are rapidly losing, kudos to you guys!! I remember it being a very exciting feeling and giving me the motivation to stay on plan and keep going.. Enjoy it!! Im pretty impressed at how many ladies on this thread are still around and going strong, that is a testament to how easy this program is once you get in the groove. And it works!!

My mini goal for the next week is just to lose another 2 lbs, which will put me at just over 10 lbs just in time for my 40th birthday I think that is reasonable and attainable-wish me luck!!

Have a wonderful evening everyone!
Best,
Carmen

Hi ladies-

Looks like everyone is still going strong! So happy we have new members, too! I'm in my 10th week now, and everything is great. Hit my "mini-goal" right on target at the end of January, so I'll just keep plugging along 10 pounds a month. As long as it keeps going down, I'm good.

Re: the pancake question--and come to think of it, the double meal question--I only do double packets of pancakes on Saturdays. That is my day to sleep in so when I finally make my way out of bed, my food schedule is off. You can look at my old menus and see this frequently "2x Original Pancakes (woke up late)." I've never had any problems eating two of those. It's the only time that I ever double up, though.

As for cooking, I mix the two packets with the amount of water in the directions in a big bowl. I mix it a LOT with a fork or else I see big lumps. In the meantime, I spray with Pam and heat a nonstick frying pan (medium size, maybe 8-9" in diameter). When I'm done mixing, I pour the whole thing in the pan and cook (4 heat, gas stove). It completely covers the entire bottom of the pan, for one big pancake.

Now the key here is to really let it cook. If you try to flip too early, it turns into a big mush mess. So be patient. Cook over medium low heat and keep cooking until you see lots (LOTS) of bubbles across the whole thing. Then, take a spatula and flip the sucker. I actually use two bc it is so big LOL! The other side cooks pretty quickly, and VOILA, a perfect giant pancake. YUM!!

Hope everyone has a great week! The weight IS coming off!!!

Thanks everyone for the pancake hints! Happy Friday all!! Tomorrow is my weigh in and I have no idea what to expect. We're going out for dinner to Olive Garden tonight for date night and I'm having the grilled salmon. My only concern is the sodium from eating out.

I haven't been weighing myself at all since last week so any loss will be nice. I had thought about weighing this morning but in light of eating out tonight, I may have set myself up for disappointment if the loss was less tomorrow than today's might have been.

I think I'm a little obsessive because I know how much farther I have to go and I worry about burning out on this meal plan. I look at someone like TWINCA who is still all in so many weeks later and it gives me that mental boost I need from time to time.

Glad you all are here and going through this together!!

Have a great day!!

Laura

Good Morning!

Tomorrow through Feb 12th is going to be a challenge for me. I am driving from PA to spend a week in Indiana where my family is. I'm taking my food but hoping that spending a week with mother doesn't derail me.

Luckily she is a small person at 125lbs and although she eats anything she wants, she doesn't eat much of any one thing. She has always been that way. A glass of wine in the evening, 1/2 an english muffin for breakfast, a small bit of tuna or crackers and cheese or salad at lunch and a healthy, moderate dinner. I ate that way growing up and am not sure where I got off that path. Maybe instead of a challenge, spending time with her will reconnect me with the way I should be eating and be a practice in maintenance.

There will be no weigh-in this week so my goal is to drop 1 -2 lbs for the week. I want to be realistic but committed to the my end goal. I'll stay in touch over the course of the week. It will definitely help me to stay accountable.

Twin, 10 weeks on the plan. I'm so impressed with your commitment. As Laura says, it really does give the rest of us a mental boost!

Tomorrow is the end of the 1st month for me and as of today I have lost 18 lbs! If I hadn't lived it, I would have never have believed it was possible. I'm so glad I didn't just give up and say, well, you're always going to be heavier than you should be. Live with it! And honestly, it hasn't been that hard. Not having to cook for little ones or teenagers has definitely helped the process. This plan does work and it has helped me to make better decisions every day!

Stay the course!

Sheila

I'm always so happy to come back to this thread and see it full of encouragement. I'm in my 7th week since my re-start on 12/12 and continue to have my mind so set to finish and a determination to get to the finish line. I've been fortunate to have my calendar cleared of all obligations until March when I have an out of town wedding. Medifast is so much easier for me when I don't have outside distractions taking me out of the norm.

TWINCA~ You've done great hitting all your goals. 31 pounds lost is amazing. So happy for you for staying on plan in the midst of traveling.

Laura ~ The sodium gain seems to happen to most of us if you eat out. Guzzle as much water as you can so you can get the sodium flowing out quickly. If it were me I'd either hop on the scale today or Sunday and let Saturday be the day that you work to process out the sodium. OR, if you are in the right mindset get on the scale tomorrow knowing that you might have less weight loss due to sodium.

Carmen ~ 8.2 pounds is GREAT FOR 3 weeks!!! Be proud of that number. Are you planning any type of maintenance?

I was thinking yesterday how few people know in my life that I am on Medifast. I find myself not sharing it outside of my very immediate family especially since they've seen my niece lose 150 lbs on Medifast 4 years ago and has kept it off. I think my decision is tied more to my failing so many diets over the last 5 years. People can tell I've lost a bunch of weight but I just tell them I've changed my eating habits along with consistent exercise. No questions asked.

So, now I'm curious, are there any other "silent" Medifast dieters on this thread?

Karen

Sheila ~

Wow 18 pounds is fabulous!!! Just think where you'd be had you not made the decision to start a month ago.

You sound like you've really thought through your trip home and how you'll navigate being with your Mom while on Medifast. I hope you have a wonderful time reconnecting with your family.

Karen

Sheila! Congrats on the 18 lost for the first month! That's fantastic! I like that as you were detailing your mother's eating habits that you realized it may offer a chance to reconnect on good habits.

I travel in a week for 5 days and I'm feeling confident that I'll be okay. It's funny because I also have travel plans in June/July that I am more worried about not losing/gaining during. Maybe because I'm going to be with family and next week I'm travelling alone. Weird. I also hope that 6 months in I'll be more on auto-pilot and not so self-aware as I am currently.

Karen, I notice you're 2/3 of the way through your journey. I'm glad you're here to share that with us, because I am feeling a little wobbly as I approach the end of my first month. I don't know why. My brain seems to be flirting with 'you're an outcast who cannot participate in things' negative speak. I think it's all the Super Bowl hoopla maybe. I'm not even a football person!! Just feels ridiculous.

There appear to be either leftovers from yesterday's tailgate party that I successfully avoided or a team has brought food in again today, but I hate being around 'food for everyone' situations. It's funny, my calendar for this afternoon is free and I thought about leaving at noon to work from home. Now I think I will... Sorry for the downer post, I'm having a day...

Thanks for being here!!
Laura

Laura ~

Medifast is HARD and some days are harder than others. The work place can be a difficult place to navigate. I'm glad you can leave and work from home today. Sometimes we just need to get away from all the temptations when we don't feel strong. I think we are the most vulnerable when we are feeling deprived.

I've had several downer days, too. It can hit out of no where. I think we both journal. Go back and read some pages in your journal as sometimes that can be uplifting and remind you of your resolve to stay on plan. I have a list on my frig that are all the things I'll do first before I eat off plan. It has helped me many times.

There seems to be a Medifast zone, if you will, that once you are deep in that zone the temptations, thoughts of failure, don't seem to be such a struggle. Allow yourself to get there. You have been wildly successful this first month. You have shown that you have great self discipline and motivation to reach your goals.

Hang in there. Tomorrow will be a new day.


Karen

Thanks, Karen, for the words of encouragement. Writing about it does help put my feelings in a nice package that I can pack away and get rid of.

I think it's funny that as I think about going to Olive Garden tonight, I debated whether to "indulge" in the salad in addition to my entree. How odd that before MediFast, my indulgence thought would be the bread sticks, but now they're not even in my scope of considerations. I don't want to be hard on myself when I'm considering eating more lettuce than usual... At least it's not cookies or chips, right?

I went back to the beginning of this thread to read it and get out of my head earlier, and it really did help. I love that this is an active thread but also a great chronicle of the challenges and victories this journey offers. So glad everyone is here!!!

L