Morning Sunshine!

Yes, I purchase ground buffalo frequently -- usually at Pay Less or Marsh. Pay Less on the west side keeps it on the far end, deli section against the back wall. I love it! A little expensive, but so versatile -- fry it up loose with some low-sodium taco seasoning and put it over a bed of salad for a taco salad, or turn it into a meatloaf, or just a burger with some low-sodium seasonings. And my husband loves it too, so it just does the job!

Joy2MeNu

so glad that info helped you Sherral. I honestly cannot say how much Peter Gillham's NATURAL CALM has helped me in SOOOOO many ways.

Yes, it does help with getting the bowels in action, but that isn't the reason I began taking it.

I was having chest angina, tight muscles, muscle spasms in the calves of my legs, unable to sleep, unbelievable stress and difficulty breathing, and in 3-4 nights of taking this right before bed time, ALL these things were GONE. I was going through menopause at that time, and I think it was making a lot of things much much worse, as well. That was at least 10 years ago, and NOW I am never without it. The fact that it helps me with the bathroom thing is, DON'T LAUGH, just "icing on the cake." There is no other product that I recommend to people more than this one. I am also a firm endorser of probiotics (Natren's Healthy Trinity), but if I had to give one up, it would NOT be the NATURAL CALM.

Wooooooooooo Hoooooooooooooo

Hi all,
I've noticed a few posts such as this and I SO know where you're coming from. Here's some tough love - so close your eyes if you don't want to see it....IT DOESN'T END. I had to really accept that this was my new way of life and eating. I will always fight cravings and I will never be able to eat a lot of fat and carbs ever again if I want to stay healthy. When I finally REALLY accepted this, I began to be happy about my food and looking at it as a way to treat my body.

You're right, this diet is hard. But, being fat is HARDER. Depression, hating to volunteer at the kid's school, not being able to hike, not wanting sex, embarrassed to go out...all WAY harder than dieting. You just have to pick your "hard."

I haven't really shared this on the board, yet, but my weight loss led to the finding of a large tumor on my liver. We're pretty sure it's benign - had an MRI yesterday and will find out hopefully today or tomorrow. I would NOT have noticed this had I still been overweight because the fat around was cushioning it. Now, it's pressing against my other organs and ribs and I KNOW something is there - it sent me running to the doc. Losing weight can save your life - in more ways than one! Chicken, fish, veggies, HNS...blah! Yep, I'm there with ya! But, those are the foods that will make you healthy and keep you healthy.

Cassondra, I hope you don't feel like I'm picking on you. I have just been really thinking long and hard about life and quality of life and I wanted to share with all of you that this journey is long and hard, but it is worth it. The icing on the cake of the "life saving" stuff is that I'm am rockin some skinny jeans! I love it!

So hang in there. If you want to be really successful long term, have a heart to heart with yourself about committing to this for life. I like to think of all the gorgeous movie stars out there who are so thin. You better believe they are exercising like crazy, eating their &^%$#ing tofu and dry chicken, and only having treats very occasionally.

s to all of you and wishing you the very best in your journey,

Debi

Very well stated, thanks for the dose of reality. We all need to keep a positive attitude and remember the moments that led up to us deciding to get rid of the fat. As you said the embarrasing, cruel, uncomfortable, rock bottom feelings.

I pray all will go well and your condition is benign. Please keep us posted, thanks for being such an anchor to our threads.

Sherral

This is awesome for you to share this. Love it. Keep on Rockin' Me Baby!

Don`t get suspicious
Now don`t be suspicious
Babe, you know you
Are a friend of mine

And you know that it`s true
That all the things that I do
Are gonna come back to you
In your sweet time

So keep on rocking me, baby
Keep on a rocking me, baby
Keep on a rocking me, baby
Keep on a rocking me, baby


Keeping you in my prayers too! Glad you found this culprit hiding out inside of you! --Joy

You are right, Debi, and you made me realize that I've been thinking of this diet as a "fix," but not a lifetime commitment. Yes, I knew I would have to eat healthier after the diet than I had been previous to it, but I guess I hadn't been truthful with myself in that just eating a little healthier than I used to isn't going to be enough.

As I lose more weight, I've been trying to exercise more. I'm hoping that by getting regular, challenging exercise in (like you, Debi!) by the time I hit stabilization will allow me to be a little more flexible with my eating when I'm done with the program than I can be right now.

I needed the tough love--thanks.

It's making me think I should just suck it up and sign on for a little longer to get to my goal.

And remember, we ARE eating to lose weight now. It gets a little better and easier once you are trying to maintain. One of my grad school professors did MRC...which is why I started...and she lost 80+ pounds, and she said she had to make some serious life changes. She has old recipes she never cooks for her family anymore (full fat cream chicken pot pie, etc)....but it is making her whole family healthier. She said she had to learn food gives you energy to live....instead of food tastes great and satisfies. She said once she learned to eat to run her body, she didn't want those fatty "bad for you" foods anymore because they weren't the most efficient thing for her body.

She has kept her weight off. She gives herself a treat every now and then, but she says, for every treat, she drinks two glasses of water and makes sure to excersize. Not because she is afraid of gaining a pound or two, but because when you take in extra calories, you body must do extra work to use them.

She tells me, this is not a quick fix....but a new way of approaching food. If you go back to before MRC eating once you hit your weight, you will be overweight again in no time. It is a life change. If you can't see it that way, you are wasting your money doing MRC because it will be futile in the end. So I'm just passing that info along from an MRC loser and maintainer. This program works if you make the life change.

All of this is such great info and insight! When I signed up at mrc I knew I'd be changing my eating habits for life and I was ok with that.. almost a month later even with the plateaus and such I'm still ok with that. Honestly I feel so much better physically then I did a month ago! I wake up energized! I don't need caffeine to get me through my day, my small portions of food leave me feeling stuffed which is nice.. the hns's keep me from being hungry between meals so I just feel balanced for once. So I'm super excited about this journey and about what stabilization and maintenance will bring. I know I'm still a newbie on this but you all help me so much to know what to do now and what to expect 3 months from now, I can't wait! My mantra each day is "I now eat to live! no longer will I live to eat!"

So no change today during weigh in. But its ok...I was down 3 pounds Tuesday. One day is not really enough to show a major change. And I wore jeans, so the consultant was pretty sure I'd lost .5 or so...but wasn't showing because of the jeans.

Question...anyone gotten sick of their HNS flavors? I can hardly down the Kiwi Melon or Green Tea Cranberry any more. I still like my other flavors...but those two make me want to vomit. I am just trying to finish what I have before buying more next week. Has this happened to anyone else?

yip, it happened. I started out just loving the kiwi-melon and wanted nothing else. well, that wore off pretty quick.

The only one I want and adore every time I have it is to combine the grapefruit (powder) with the fiber fill and as the sweet hits the sour, I love it! My favorite thing to drink. Think I will go have one right now, thanks.

Joy-Thank you SO much! I plan on going to pay less tomorrow and stocking up...getting so tired of chicken! The taco sald sounds delicious.

I'm thinking of trying the replacement shakes this week, has anyone used them? Are they like a slim-fast? I weigh in tomorrow, hoping to be down 3 pounds! Its been a good non-cheating week for me, so I'm hopeful. I went to Golden Corral today and had lunch, just had a salad with tomatoes, grilled chicken and used a light amount of cheese with cantelope on the side. It was wonderful, but I'm having horrible food guilt over eating out! I feel like I cheated yet...I cant figure out how. I haven't gotten eating out on the plan down yet. :-/
I have to say, everytime I start to feel unmotivated or wanting to cheat, coming to this board is a definete motivater for me, thank you all for sharing!

Had some setbacks, out of a job and can't afford to go to the center,,can anyone help with the MetaSlim program, and does anyone have the menus. We just moved and I can't find anything. Desperately need help, am going in the wrong direction.
Am also looking for a motivator partner.

OK, I was sitting in a planning meeting the other day, with my calendar, looking through the nov dates, when I noticed that on every Saturday was a number, I was trying to remember why in the world I would write just a number on my calendar, when I remembered that the last time I pulled out this calendar was at a meeting in July! (so I don't use my calendar much, lol) At that meeting it was exactly a month on MRC, and I was bored, so I started plotting my weight loss, at 3 lbs a week, until I reached 200. That was 4 months ago, and the number on November 6, 2010 says 218lbs, today I weigh 220, started at 292! Right on plan, what a great feeling to be lower than I have been in years!!!!!! At this rate my calendar says I should be at 200, the week before christmas, what a great present!!!

I got tired of the kiwi melon too, and found that mixing it with Sprite Zero is a delicious treat. Worked well with the mixed berry too.

CONGRATULATIONS!! That is so amazing!!! That must have been so awesome. I did the same thing with plotting my weight loss, so I hope to have a similar surprise in a few months! Good for you and keep up the great work!!!