Hey there girls! Im a newbie & wanted to thank you for the inspiration! I am glad I am not the only one struggling! New Year....New me!! Thanks! Keep up the good work ladies!


P.S. I guess I was blessed with a nice MIL but I think ALLLL MIL's can get on your nerves at times! Lucky for me she only comes to visit for like once a month & it is usually just overnight! LOL

Shine On: Congrats on the 3lbs lost. This is very exciting news!!

Finz: Wow, that is amazing 99lbs....you will definitely be signing that 100lb board!

I want to thank you both for reminding me that our year of maintenance is a great tool. Yesterday, I went to the center during my lunch break. I spoke with a counseler that normally works at another location. She was great though, she understood exactly where I was coming from. I told her that sugar has taken over my body and I can't get rid of it. I told her I feel lost and don't know what menu to begin and I just want to detox my body from the sugar and get back in the groove. She did say to do pre-conditioning for 3 days then do the yellow,blue, & green menu....by this time I will have lost the extra weight I have put on. I may even lose a little extra. My main goal was 140, I made it to 145 then went into stabilization with the expectations to lose the other 5 but because I didn't follow that plan I ended up gaining 5 lbs instead. So, this time I will do it right, I owe it to myself to see this through to the end. So my WI yesterday was 149.5lbs, I'm not going to change my ticker though, I will be back there soon. I will WI again either Fri or Sat. Sorry, I have rambled on....I have a tendency to do that!!! Thanks for listening.....

That's great news - I'm really glad you got a good counselor. You'll get that weight off in no time.

My wi yesterday went well, another 1.5 down which is text book. However, my tanita and measurements were really disappointing. I forgot that they had taken it a month ago - before the Christmas carefree - I don't care what I eat phase! So I only showed a couple inches lost, 2 lbs of fat and 1 lb of lean tissue - which is on the high side. She basically said it was a good read, but we can't really judge the results since I gained before I started pre-conditioning. I know to just shake it off, I'm doing everything perfectly and losing right on schedule but it was still a little bit of a bummer. By the time they do the next one, I should be at goal weight. I really thought I would show a good loss in the inches - my clothes fit so much better now. I'm back to wearing the size 8's comfortably and I couldn't even put them on around Christmas.

That's great! I need to really use my maintenance better this time around too - I went in a few times the first 3-4 months, then stopped. Which was okay in one sense, I hadn't gained THAT much back, but I would've done better if I'd gone in more regularly. Think I'm gonna just pick a day of the week, or the first 5 days of the month, or something - tell myself "Get to MRC by the 5th of every month" - something along those lines.

I go in for my stabilization appointment tomorrow. Doesn't really feel "right" because I don't feel like I'm really there yet, but in reality I'm about 5 lbs from my goal (they say 9 lbs, but that was an artificial goal we set because I had so much time on my contract - 17 weeks to lose 15 lbs so we added 5 lbs). As it turned out - eh, not so much! Between real issues & my using those issues as an excuse to go off plan way too much it's been SLOW going. But my plan is to stick to the stabilization menu very very closely, and get those last few lbs off (with all the cheating I've been doing it'll still be a reduction in calories for me, sad to say...) Stabilization class is Monday night. I was thinking today I can be a real "cautionary tale" if there's anyone there thinking "Whew I'm there! I'm done!" Cause the truth is, we're never really "done" - if you've been 30 lbs overweight (or 80 or 150), it's all too easy to get back there. If you go back to eating the way you did, you'll go back to weighing what you did. It's a lifelong process to maintain. (Oops, sorry for the - I'm talking to myself as much as to y'all....)

Did anyone see the guy on Oprah this week that won "Biggest Loser" a couple of years ago? It was heartbreaking to watch him talk about having regained half the weight he'd lost, after he'd worked so hard. Actually that was me, too, when I went back to MRC in August - just on a much smaller scale...

Anyway, I like the idea of going back to the yellow, blue & green menus. And then you'll do stabilization?

I TIVO Oprah every day and just got around to watching the show from last Monday with Bob Greene where she discusses putting 40 lbs back on. WOW! She could have been talking about me or any one of us when she looks back to where she was, thinking she had this weight thing licked. It is definitely something we will have to deal with for the rest of our lives. I'll watch the one from last Tuesday tonight, where she has Dr. Oz on to talk about being healthier. It sounds like there are a lot of tips and suggestions on her website www.oprah.com so may warrant a looksie for some of you. I know I'll be checking it out.

Meemo: Congrats on making it back to stabilization. I think it would be helpful at your stabilization party to share with the others that this is not as easy as it seems when you reach that point. I remember how cocky I was, then took the trip to Hawaii and put several pounds on in a week.

After my last post, it got worse before it got better. I went all the way back up to 180. So I had gained 20 pounds. This past Sunday, I recommitted myself and started back on the green menu. I have not had any cheats since I started back and I am down 5 pounds. I placed a large order with Diet Direct yesterday. My husband had a cow, but I save $80 over buying at the center. I plan to go back to my center once I get back into my acceptable weight range. I just do not want to pay to resign. I don't mind paying for the supplements.

One comment about all the Oprah talk: I called my sister last week disgusted with myself for my eating habits. She talked me "down off the ledge" by saying "Oprah does not have to plan, shop, cook her food. And if she struggles with her weight then it really is hard work". That really helped me a lot.

I am going to try and post more here so I can stay accountable and get these 15 pounds off - or more hopefully.

Thanks for listening.

Gma to 4: Thank you for the kind words. Yes, I will start using my HNS on Sat. Probably 2-3 per day.

Shine on: Great job for the 1.5lb lost. I'm so glad you are back in your 8's, I love that #.

Meemo: Yes, I will do stabilization over again. The right way. I agree with you that this is a life long process and it will never be over. So, many people think the hard part is getting the weight off but I really think the hard part is keeping it off. I guess the hardest part is to start, once you see those pounds fall off week after week, it is enough to keep you going!!!

This is my 2nd day of pre-conditioning and everything is going great! Yesterday I said NO (without hesitation) to eating out and NO to icecream. Just by visiting the center and conversing with you gals has put me back in control..... I love it!!

Are you sure you would have to pay? Have you talked to any one at your center. I know for me it made a world of difference to go in an talk with someone. I on the other hand couldn't get through a whole day with out a cheat. So, I kept saying tomorrow, tomorrow. Congrats on no cheats and losing 5lbs....Wooo Hooo!!

I would have to resign for 10 weeks because I have gained more than 6 pounds from when I started stabilization. I think in my mind it is about committment to myself. And I think I am there for now. I heard something on the Oprah webcast - talking about your weight. "You never beat it - you just manage it". Something to think about.

I never watch Oprah and I did catch the episode with the Biggest Loser Guy on there. Funny, I've only watched one series of biggest loser and he was on that one, so I obviousely needed to see that. It did make me feel good that all the things Oprah was saying was my self talk too. You have to own it, know that you've never beat it and continue to work on it for the rest of your life. And thank your body for carrying you through. I feel so blesssed to not have major health issues from abusing my body for two decades. There's a big difference from being a little overweight, and carrying 100 lbs! It's amazing that my body has hung in there so well!

I thought the same thing about the Oprah show - funny, I went to the website to look for a recipe she'd mentioned, saw some of the comments on the message board - it's like people weren't even listening to what she said. Very selective hearing some people have...and some people just don't get it. One person said "Well, if you're looking in the closet and nothing fits, go buy clothes that do fit - she's got the money." Not helpful when you aren't comfortable in your own skin.

Anyway, yep - I'm hoping there'll be an opportunity to let people know that I'm a cautionary tale - the consultant I had today was one I'd never had before yesterday. She's a "repeat offender" herself & talked about how we're so goal-oriented when we go through the program, thinking when we hit that goal we've "made it". The reality is that it's only the first skirmish, the battle is for life. MRC does give us the tools with the stabilization & maintenance menu, but it's up to us to fight that battle day by day.

Here's to having sharp swords and being battle ready!! My sword (the 23 year old) already sent me a text asking if I could give her a ride tomorrow - no way I'm getting out of that workout!! And here I peer pressured her into working out with me!! Ha!! Good thing she came over to visit my daughter when she was home on break. This girl is the best accountability partner I've ever had!!

Happy 3-day weekend, everyone! I'm counting the hours until I get off, as we are heading to the mountains to enjoy the weather. I feel for all of you who are experiencing the frigid temps. Here in Colorado it is supposed to be in the 50s and 60s for the next week.

OK...here's the conclusion I've come to regarding MRC. Losing the weight really was the easy part. We had specific things to eat at specific times and once you got into the rhythm of it, it was a piece of cake. Then you hit stabilization and you still have some since of how and what you will eat, but you start to get cocky 'cuz you feel you have "arrived" at your goal. Then at maintenance, once you blow it, it starts to become a downward spiral. If you don't immediately correct whatever is going on, there is no way in h*ll you will continue to be successful.

And no, I didn't have a major fall again. In fact, at WI today I maintained the same weight I had been at for the past 3 weeks. But I am experiencing how easy it would be to completely disregard all I've learned, especially about why, when and how I eat. The minute I got back to my office from MRC, I raided the candy jar, ate my lunch fruit and starch an hour early (wasn't really hungry, just relieved I hadn't gained), then caught myself and wondered what had just happened. I've spent the past 3 days religiously on the treadmill and eating correctly, but the 4 days prior to that after the last WI were awful. Lots of BLTs, bigger portions than I should be eating, watching the scale inch up 2 lbs, then this overwhelming sense of panic, knowing I would have to WI again and needed to get it back down. The lessons I'm learning from all of you just aren't sinking in. I'm hoping some of my Oprah shows on TIVO will have something positive that I can apply.

We have our second maintenance support class next Monday evening, with a cooking class to follow on Tuesday evening. I'm hoping that these will help me get my head screwed back on straight. Hang in there with me and thanks for letting me rant and rave.