Hi everybody, I introduced myself on the June last week, and at the end of today I will have made it an entire week on pre conditioning! It was/is rough! Worse than I thought but in different ways than I expected.

First, thanks for your advice on social situations. It was helpful. In the past week I have been invited to and eaten at a friends house for dinner 3 times and had company for a meal once and will have company for a meal tonight, and I've still stayed completely on plan. (I did have to slightly modify meal times. I'm not sure I followed the 4-5 hour rule exactly.)

It was much, much harder than I expected to force myself to eat all that meat! I am just not a meat person. I have ground beef or turkey cooked in dishes (that usually also include carbs and cheese) or chicken. I guess I never knew that when I didn't typically eat a full serving of chicken. It got the point where I felt like I was forcing it down. I think also part of it was/is psychological. The fact that I know I HAVE to eat this all this meat and that I'll have to keep eating for a while, somehow makes me like it less. I know it's strange and I'm trying so hard to be positive about it, but I'm not always succeeding. Has anyone else had this problem?

Also, today and yesterday I've had horrible cravings - basically for anything carby but especially for sweets, bread, and fruit. (Yes, I have been eating one serving of fruit with each meal as required on pre conditioning, but I would absolutely love more!) I thought this diet was supposed to help with cravings, but these seem worse than before. I hope they go away. I think something about knowing I can't have that stuff for a long time makes it a little worse.

My major issue, however, is that tomorrow I was hoping to move off of pre conditioning onto the real diet (beige menu). I drank my first HSN a few days ago, and it made me sick (nauseated, on the verge of throwing up)! So, I've tried drinking just part of an HSN drink with a full meal. I can drink up to half the drink with a full meal without getting sick. 3/4 of a drink with a full meal makes me mildly nauseous. So, I'm not up for a drinking a whole one plus I don't think I should drink really any on an empty stomach. Another challenge is that I'm not finding the taste of the HSNs to be very pleasant, but I could probably get past that part. I'm still struggling with some very intense hunger and I really think I will need something between lunch and dinner six hours later. (Especially considering I won't even be drinking a whole HSN with lunch.) What should I do? What should I eat instead of the HSN for a mid afternoon snack? Anyone else had problems getting sick because of the HSNs or not really enjoying the taste?

I have lost 4 pounds so far, so at least that's good, although I know some of it is water weight.

Patzi - Congrats on you loss!

Luvs2read79 - From what I've heard from others, they will probably just extend your pre-conditioning phase. It'll be ok. Just make the best choices you can with what is presented to you. Good luck!


I weighed in at lunch at since I posted a loss and went in last Friday & today, I got my 3 free weeks added to my time. Kinda frustrating that my centers scales weigh in half pound increments. So their scales read 169, but my home scale said 168.6. Oh well. A loss is a loss.

While I was there, I brought something up to them, that I'm sure many people wouldn't. I guess you can call it honesty paying off. I re-started my program on February 23. 17 weeks from that would have been 06/22/11. With my 3 free weeks from Memorial Day, that put me to 07/13/11. My chart showed that my new program end date was 08/15/11. So, I brought this to their attention. We looked at the contract (no clue what I did with my copy) and it was dated 02/28/11, program start date of 03/23/11 (strange), and end date of 07/18/11. Not sure if this was an error or time credited back to me since I didn't finish out the program last year (I was dealing with post-partum depression and was in no frame of mind to stick to it). Either way, she said they had to go by the contract. Woohoo!!! Now, I'm good till 09/05/11.

LauraJane - Congrats on staying on plan while eating at other's homes, it can be very difficult and sounds like you did well. . . . It is very common to have difficulty eating all the food you are supposed to in the beginning but your appetite will adjust as your body starts burning the protein you eat and fat in your body for energy instead of the glucogen (sugar) stored in your muscles. . . in the beginning I weighed out all veggies that I like to see which were heaviest so that I could get in all my veggies . . . The cravings are because your body is switching from using the sugar in your blood as an energy source to protein - how long this takes depends on how carb-heavy your diet was before starting . . . the cravings usually go away within 7-10 days - but if you cheat and have even a few extra carbs it can trigger these cravings to come back so stay on plan and soon you should stop having physical cravings - if you are "craving" something because you see or smell it, that my have more to do with your thinking than an actual craving. . . I'm not sure why the HNS are bothering you . . . have you tried the jello? It might be a way to ease into the supplements . . . Also, our center has a "swap basket" if you bought one and don't like it take them back and change them out for something you might like. This is a great way to try new flavors without having to buy a whole box. . . Personally I like the pink lemonade and wildberry for drinks and use the blue raspberry, pomogranet and grape as "snow cone" syrup. Cooking with the chicken broth might be another option so you would not have to "drink it". You should not be going more than 5 hours between meals - I would recommend trying the jello as it seems to be pretty much like regular jello and might not upset your stomach. I would not food to the plan unless recommended by the center.

CARMEN3498 - I was told that we could occasionally have sugar-free jello up to 1 serving per day (I think there are 4 servings in the small boxes of jello mix), but just because something does not have sugar or carbs, does not mean that we can have it so if in doubt it is always best to ask.

PATZI- It sounds like you are doing very well on maintenence and adjusting to the new mindset of maintaining. Your yogurt pop sounds wonderful .

LUVS2READ79 - Preconditioning is considered part of your plan and it is atually very important. It cleans out the junk and gets your body into fat burning mode. . . it helps you eliminate water weight and helps you mentally and emotionally prepare for what is to come. The food choices will be very similar (though it is a bit more limited during the first 10 days). You will start weighing and measuring everything and start adding in the HNS, but it will be very similar to what you are already doing)

COARKIKAYAKER - I'm not sure what your workouts normally consist of, but if you do a lot of strength training or high-intensity workouts you will probably feel weaker during your workouts while on the plan - the reason is that your muscles use carbs as fuel - you are not eating enough carbs to support strenous exercise - My center recommends no more than 5 hours of moderate to high intensity exercise per week - if you are doing more than this they may recommend switching plans or decreasing exercise. . . if not your body is probably still adjusting to useing the new fuel source (your body fat) instead of the carbs it is used to and this can effect your endurance and energy level while working out but it should imporve as your body becomes more efficient at burning fat.

JENB72 - Congrats on the loss and the extra weeks - Honesty does pay off!

Mariah

Just weighed in and I'm down 2.5 pounds, plus I'm holding an extra 3 pounds of water. I knew the water would be an issue because of the sodium I tried to flush...

Thanks momoffour - looking forward to the day my body likes to burn fat! :-)

Hi all--
Weighed in today, and I'm up 1lb. Not too concerned--the holiday weekend meant 2 of my yoga classes were canceled, and we went to a bbq on Friday night where I ended up overindulging some. So, not bad, considering I overate one night and missed 2 workouts. I'm still definitely within my healthy range for maintenance.

LauraJane-- do you have any allergies or reactions/problems with artificial sweeteners? There's artificial sweeteners in the HNSs, and what you're describing sounds like how my brother (allergic to sweet n low) reacts to sweeteners. Ask at your center what they recommend, but I like momoffour's advice to try getting your HNS in via the HNS jello, or through the soup HNSs and/or cocoa, puddings, etc. Otherwise, if you can't end up stomaching any of the HNS, it might be possible to substitute a high-protein snack like cheese sticks... but I would definitely ask your center for their suggestions, first.

LADIES!!!!


I have collar bones

that is all!!!

Chasing skinny, that's great! Congratulations!

coarkkayaker, that's a great loss! Good work!

I also had a good WI today - another 3lbs down for a total of 7. I put on this last 10 pounds pretty recently so I know it will be the easiest to get off and my loss won't continue at this rate, but it is really motivating!

IMO it doesn't matter that it was recently put on ??? But certainly not something to be minimized - celebrate! You did awesome@ Congratulations.

Hahaha! This made my day!

I've had collarbones for a few months now, but I will admit that I find myself constantly reaching up and feeling them without even thinking about it.

And, along the same lines... I have hip bones! (Though not bony hips yet by any means, lol)

After a week of preconditioning, I lost a total of 7.5 lbs! Last time I lost 9, but I'm very happy with the 7.5 this time. I didn't expect it to be very much since I've been regularly calorie counting for a couple of months now.

I started the yellow menu today (last time I was beige, so I've never done it before). They gave me a choice of doing this or going straight to green, and I think I'm happy I decided to do yellow. The huge salad for lunch was making me nervous, but with the oil and vinegar, it was really not bad. I think I'm over the worst hurdle for the day, and it was relatively painless.

Also, I weighed in at 189 today, so I"m out of the 190s-- yea!

I love this! Congrats!!!!


LetHerOut & tkdtara84 - Congrats on your losses!!!! That's awesome!!!!

I think I saw something in past posts about back pains that might be kidney related...does anyone know where that might be posted? I need to read it again - my back has really started hurting and I think it's because of the water I'm drinking, but idk

The water shouldn't cause back pains. If it's kidney related, the pain usually subsides with water intake-- the kidneys usually hurt when there's infection, kidney stones, or dehydration/excessive caffeine. My back hurt me in college when I drank too much coffee for several days straight. Once I switched to water, though, the pain went away.

This is a super-high protein diet, so it's definitely going to stress the kidneys if we don't get enough water.

I have collar bones but can't wait for those hip bones to appear!

There have been so many losers in the last few days . . . CONGRATS and keep going.

WI today but knew I was very bloated . . . I was up 4 lbs but my fingers, ankles, etc are very swollen. I spent about 4-1/2 hours in the garden yesterday in the heat of the day and think it is from the hard work in the heat and not enough water so hopefully it will be gone (with a few more pounds) when I WI Saturday. . . I ate OP and am proud of that and I refuse to let the scale upset me or ruin my day. . . Also, our center is going to have a float in a parade in a couple of weeks. They asked a few clients to join them and hand out water bottles and I was one of them.

Mariah

Does anything happen if you don't lose any weight on the pre-conditioning? Will they make me do another week of it? I haven't weighed myself, but I don't feel like I've lost any, and I'm afraid I blew it today. We went out of town and my first mistake was that I got Diet Mountain Dew, thinking I was doing good. It was only after I finished the drink that I remembered it's full of caffeine. Then we went to Chili's for lunch and I ordered the fajita trio, asked them to hold the sour cream. But then I took a bite of the shrimp and it tasted VERY salty. I did eat two of the very small tortillas, because my food list has tortillas on it (and it doesn't say low fat, or wheat or anything, just tortillas).

I guess my main question is, what if I didn't lose any weight during preconditioning? (I go in for my food class Friday.)

I should also add, so that you know why I'm worrying about it this much -- I went to a pre-MRC planned family get together Sunday and didn't eat on program at all. I have been getting 100oz of water in every day, though, since last Friday.