I always have lost using shakes from the center. I guess it can affect people differently.

Had a good weekend and stayed OP. Today is my last day of stabilization and tomorrow I enter the land of maintenance. Never thought I'd see the day.

Jen, I am excited for you!

Does anyone know if we can have Zevia soda? It is sweetened with stevia, can says Zero calories, No sugar.

When I drink one it makes me want to go off program.

After thinking about it, I studied the can more and is says total carbs 7gm from Erythritol.

My counselor was not familiar with it, plan on taking her a can in on my next visit.

The way it makes me want to cheat I guess I should avoid it but its nice to have a few cans of soda around, at least the old me wanted some in the house. I am slowly starting to prefer water over soda, never thought I would ever think that since before I started MRC I only drank diet coke and coffee.

I've never heard of it, but if it makes you want to go off program, my advice is not to knowingly sabatoge yourself. If I've learned anything, it's that if something "triggers" me to want to go OP, I don't keep it in the house. No excuses. I'm still battling it, now more than ever. I'm allowed to have all sorts of great things I couldn't while OP, but sometimes one isn't enough. So, out it goes. Keeping the weight off is hard enough.

the laxative was Exlax chocolate flavor and she also took Ayds, which was chocolate too! the diet pill was something like Dexatrim and she said it made her heart beat like crazy and she'd clean the whole house in a frenzy! she was always dieting and when i'd tell her i was starting Wt. Watchers again (and again and again and again!! LOL), she'd say, why pay all that money, just eat less. Actually what i did like about the WW meetings was the sharing of low point recipes, the member's experiences w/ family gatherings, parties, etc. and exercise tips. and getting weighed in every week.
But now i have all of you! and you keep me motivated each and every day. i can ramble on, share and confess!
one thing i know is when i start eating carbs, it makes me crave more so today it's all about protein, protein, protein, water, water, water!
Today is a new day and my goal is to be on plan for the week, then the next week, etc. do i really want to gain and be rolling over on the sandbar this summer? OH Heck NO! i really need some motivation to lift some weights...my upper arms need some work bad!!!

Congratulations, Jen!

i've never gained w/ any of the shakes...what makes me gain is extra carbs or not drinking my HNSs or water. also when i skip on the veggies, i stay the same and don't lose as quickly.

if you guys are missing the coffee mate or creamer in your am coffee, the Syntrax Vanilla Bean Torte powder mix is excellent! stir in w/ a fork to blend well. also, if you're looking for a low carb, low cal. protein bar, Chocolite Sugar free bars are really good and only 115 calories, 18 carb, 9 g. protein. if you want to just have a lower cal chocolate treat, the Chocolite Choc. pecan cluster is just like turtles and only 30 calories per serving. sugar free , 8 g. carbs, but only 1 g. protein. (all from Diet Direct) i don't use these for a protein bar but just a choc. treat. and i do hide them in the pantry so i can limit myself to no more than one a day. some days i don't have any, but just knowing they are there keeps me from my DH's oreos or whatever chocolate devil dessert he has in the house.... in a perfect world, there would be no tempting foods at all in the house, but my DH lives here too....Sigh (Haha!)

Have a great week everyone!

so, we tried making the snickerdoodles in the recipe book this weekend (substituting syntrax vanilla bean torte for vanilla pudding) and they were so dry. I was wondering if anyone else eats these and what their ideas are. I tried adding lemon to make them like lemon cookies, but I did not add enough. What about adding an extra egg?

Any ideas or suggestions?

Already looking forward to next weekend. Had to work 10 hours on Saturday to make up time and sunday was just not long enough.

Hey, all!

So... went to my daughter's field trip on Friday. Had a ball with her and she loved it! Did a lot of walking - but also sampled her cookie dough blizzard... yummy. But felt crappy afterwards.

Saturday, I babysat and had 4 kiddos. Again, had fun. Forgot my supplements at home and had an "oh well" moment and ate frozen yogurt... why do I sabotage myself like that? Yeesh! But, on a positive note, I played for two hours at the park with the kids... complete with a water gun war and everything.

Sunday, totally ate on plan... until I made a cake (to use up some cake mix....) Made it low-cal with strawberries and Diet Sprite (microwave)... had a piece,... then took the rest to my grandmother. Still not horrible, but I must get it in control this week! Back on plan... onward and upward.

Today,... feeling HEAVY and bloated. So water, water, water for me. Did a cereal bar this morning (which makes me gain, but I was late getting up). Going to increase the cardio this week and burn some calories!

I guess I'm feeling like I'm almost to the end of the weight loss portion of the program and I'm just feeling odd... you know? Ugh. I don't want to lose my motivation and am TERRIFIED of regaining the weight, but I wander what got into me this weekend???? Yikes!

Rowdy - as evidenced by my weekend wander off program... I am sensitive to carbs. Anything that makes me crave off-program foods (i.e. chocolate - even diet stuff - diet soda, pineapple) I have to watch and not have it in the house.

I can't remember but someone mentioned TOM coming too early... happened alot to me on the program. Even happened this week... I think it causes me to gain and crave bad foods also... maybe further proof of my weekend snafu.

These danged potato chips are gonna be the death of me. I haven't indulged, but every time I turn around there is either a commercial on tv, or someone is eating them in front of me. I can almost taste the salty goodness...

Time to brush teeth now to get the "memory of chips" out of my mouth!!

Rowdy, but why would you want to have something you know will make you want to go off program?? Alternatives: Hansons diet soda, crystal lite in sparkling water or even a clear HNS. I have read that any artificially sweetened product can make your insulin spike, maybe you are like that...

Jen, I am very happy for you.

Big dog.. Carbs are my enemy. As you know when I try things on maintenance, carb wise, and I gain, I don't eat it again, or may try it some months later. Look what happened when I ate the bagel and creme cheese, 2 pounds weight gain. Glad I enjoyed it as I will not eat that.

Rowdy, if something makes you go off program, I would not have it. You are only cheating yourself for a good weight loss.. Substitute it with something else.

Wishing you all a great week of great losses.

Patzi

Not a great weekend for me. My youngest daughter - age 21 is being harrassed by her ex-boyfriend and it is really stressing me out which makes me want to eat junk food. The situation with her is really bad - he actually broke into her apartment and robbed her last Monday evening. We were not certain he committed the crime but on Saturday he showed up at her work and confessed and begged her not to press charges. He is mentally unstable (which is why she broke up with him) and will be getting a restraining order against him today. In addition to being worried it makes me sad that she is having to deal with this. She is such a good kid, so sweet and thoughtful -always takes the time to call me or come see me.

Yesterday I went grocery shopping and in addition to all the good fruits and veggies I had to throw in some cake batter ice cream and dark chocolate. Ate some of the ice cream last night and tossed the rest. I know that stressful situations make me want to eat badly and yet I still do it! So, my plan for today/this week is drink 120 oz. of water, all 4 of my HSN's, plan my meals ahead of time and eat accordingly. I have 9 pounds to lose by 6/29 and will NOT be buying any more weeks of weight loss. So I really need to re-focus and stick to the plan so I have a good chance at getting rid of these last 9 pounds.

Thanks for listening.........I feel like if I confess my "cheats" to you all it's gonna help me get back on track (especially since my center is only open 3 days a week now!)

I TOTALLY understand this. For some reason, my daughter only wanted half of all of her snacks this weekend. Then, it was "Mommy, hold my cheese crackers....Mommy, hold my cookie..."

OMG, it was SO HARD to have self control! I had to hand them to my husband so I didn't eat them. LoL

Thanks for the advice! My counselor said any of the low calorie spritzer ones would be fine. YAY! Now I can eat my salad without cringing! LoL