I received my box of new food yesterday. It felt like my OWN Christmas gift with the excitement I had opening it. Ha- I even knew what was inside but a new box of food was a nice boost for me yesterday. I tried the Lemon Meringue bars for the first time ---- I'm in heaven. They are delicious. I find myself gravitating to the chocolate tasting stuff more often than not, so this is a good change up for me.

I try to be creative when I eat my Medifast meals like with the bars I slice them into several bites and put them on a pretty plate before I eat them. I remove all the "cruncher' type food out of the packaging and serve it to myself in a pretty bowl. Somehow and in some way it doesn't "look" like diet food. Go figure --- I KNOW it is!!

I'm on re-start day 11 and doing great...feeling strong. 100% on plan with no cheats. The cheating bit is such a derailer for me, even just one bite. I just can't do it. Period. I moved my Medifast boxes to my linen closet so that I don't have to open my pantry 5 extra times a day and look at everything that is not on plan. Helps my mindset stay strong.

I am wishing all of us great success this time around.

Karen

Well today is my weigh-in at the Medifast Center. I felt like I would have a big loss...maybe 2-3 pounds. Nope, the scale registered 1 pound... very surprised, but I accept it. My GPS (Medifast plan) is clearly showing me I am on the right path. I always love changing my ticker factory ticker to a new one each Friday...as long as the progression is tracked, I feel great! It may be a longer journey than anticipated...but hey, the scenery is beautiful and my mindset is vacation-y...so all is great!!!

Karen ~ I got my MF shipment yesterday, too...so much fun to see "what I got" for Christmas...and it will be a surprise for 35 meals per week X 4...healthy and happy going into 2017!!! I like your presentation of your foods, too: Pretty and enticing without the need for more - a perfect meal each time.
I agree with you about the 100% - I love the control, the peace and the lack of "wants" . I am on Day 50 and I feel confident that I can do this. I like the honeymoon phase. I want to keep in that way. Is it realistic? I don't know. I just know today I am doing the plan as written.

I can't wait to hear from everyone. I know it is an extremely busy time, but remember this thread is an anchor. Our "ship" can not float out to sea and get lost. I think we all know what that's like!
We need to stay focused. We are only getting better with time...keeping our priorities first and forefront.

On that note...have a wonderful Christmas. God bless all of you for helping me maintain my "sobriety" - I don't want to go back to that sugar addiction.

Merry Christmas everyone!

One word... Ham.

I hear crickets...Where is everyone during The.Hardest.Part.Of.The.Year?

Here's been my menu the past week or so. I'm at Day 27 today, and will hop on the scale tomorrow morning. If I manage to lose even a pound, it will be a Christmas miracle!

Medifast Day 22 (Wed., 12/21/16) - French vanilla shake, cinnamon pretzel sticks, sour cream & chive mashed potatoes, beef vegetable soup, L&G taco salad (shredded beef) - 728 cal., 71 g protein, 66 g carbs, 21 g fiber, 15 g sugar, 22 g fat

Medifast Day 23 (Thurs., 12/22/16) - Dutch chocolate shake, cinnamon pretzel sticks, lemon meringue bar, chicken noodle soup, L&G taco salad (shredded beef), chocolate pudding for dessert. - 838 cal., 83 g protein, 75 g carbs, 25 g fiber, 24 g sugar, 26 g fat

Medifast Day 24 (Fri., 12/23/16) - Pineapple Mango smoothie, sour cream & chive mashed potatoes, cookie dough chewy bar, beef vegetable soup, L&G taco salad (shredded beef), chocolate crunch bar for dessert - 818 cal., 80 g protein, 82 g carbs, 26 g fiber, 24 g sugar, 26 g fat

Medifast Day 25 (Sat. 12/24/16) - 2x Original Pancakes (woke up late) with 0.2 cups (probably less) sugar free syrup, cinnamon pretzel sticks, peanut butter crunch bar, Xmas eve dinner - sour cream & chive mashed potatoes, spiral cut ham (no glaze) (4 oz--yes, I cracked out the food scale--4 oz is ALOT!), and steamed broccoli & cauliflower. 700 cal., 78 g protein, 80 g carbs, 22 g fiber, 17 g sugar, 14 g fat

Medifast Day 26 (Sun., 12/25/16) - Can you say 'leftovers'? - Dutch chocolate shake, cinnamon pretzel sticks, 1 oz. spiral cut ham (no glaze) (I snuck a piece when I made an omelet for my kiddo!), peanut butter crunch bar, mixed berry cereal crunch, more spiral cut ham (5 oz this time, but no "green today"), brownie soft bake for dessert - 770 cal., 88 g protein, 69 g carbs, 20 g fiber, 21 g sugar, 20 g fat

Medifast Day 27 (Mon., 12/26/16) - Strawberry shake, peach Oatmeal, chicken noodle soup, 1.5 oz spiral cut ham (no glaze) (couldn't help myself when making my son's lunch)... The rest To Be Continued.

A few thoughts on the fast few days:

NEW food for me was the lemon meringue bar, pineapple mango smoothie, beef vegetable soup, and peach Oatmeal.

- The lemon meringue bar was a solid "meh." Probably won't order again with so many other choices that I like better.

- The pineapple mango smoothie. Another "meh." To me, tasted almost exactly the same as the berry smoothie. It is okay, but has a weird aftertaste. Like the variety, but most likely not reorder either one again. I'd rather stick with the shakes.

- The beef vegetable soup was good (needed a little Mrs. Dash) and definitely will reorder. This was rehydrated in the morning and stuck in the fridge until lunch...a MUST.

- The peach oatmeal. I liked it, but still like the apple better. Will likely reorder.

OK, now for the ham. Let me just say that I love ham, and it's even better as cold leftovers. I'm uncertain how this will affect the scale. It is all protein so still in ketosis. Salt is higher than, say, chicken, but sodium levels for the day have still been quite low. Tonight will be last night for my leftovers. I think I will be fine, but we'll see. At worst, I'll be retaining a little water, which should disappear by next week.

Bottom line is that--all things considered--I think I did quite well in avoiding cookies, chocolate and all the other yumminess around the house, including my Xmas stocking as Santa apparently forgot all about my diet. Sigh... My son was happy to take mine, though. LOL.

That is a solid victory in my book.

HOW DID EVERONE ELSE DO???

One more thing that I didn't fully appreciate during my intense research on Medifast before joining...this is considered a "Very Low Calorie Diet" or "VLCD." I guess I'm not surprised given that it is exactly that, but googling VLCD opened up a whole bunch of new info I had not seen before.

Even though Im eating VLCD, I can safely say my nutrition is better overall than it was pre-diet in terms of macros and vitamins. I ate like crap. My morning Starbucks run alone was setting me back nearly 1000 calories. Geez...no wonder I gained weight.

So, slowly but surely I'm going to drop the weight and keep up with good eating habits. Mark my words. I've never been more determined in my life!

I'm here but currently heading out of town for the week on Holiday.

So a quick check in since today, Monday is my weigh in. Down 8 lbs for a total of 13 lbs since my restart 2 weeks ago. I am feeling super good.

Would love to chat more but will catch up tomorrow since I'm sitting here waiting to catch a flight.

I was totally 100% on plan every moment. I'm not going back to cheating or talking my way out of strick Medifast.

TWINCA ~

Good for you sticking on plan during what can be a really tough time with holiday food all around you. Keep strong and stay on plan no matter what might tempt you.

I'll catch up with everyone once I'm back on the ground in the morning.

Karen

Hello to all, I did well navigating all the sweet possibilities (desserts) or
should I call them pass-abilities or past-abilities!

We went to a lovely Baltimore seafood restaurant, where much to my surprise, they offered a new item: gluten-free crabcakes! No bread filler, almost pure crabmeat, perhaps egg was the binder, didn't really taste any mayonnaise. Just old bay and crab! I had that plus a side of asparagus. Superb Christmas meal - all on plan!

Later that evening I had the S'mores Bar for my last meal - hit the spot rather than indulging in Christmas cookies on the counter for the "kids."

So as we wind down the year, we should be so proud that we are happy, healthier and sane before the ball drops at midnight! We have made our resolution early and nothing is going to stop us!!!

Karen ~ Safe journey and look forward to hearing more from you this week. Have a wonderful holiday!

So nice TWINCA that you were able to have your ham and eat it, too! Your menus are right on target...so a nice loss should be in order. Just keep drinking the water and any retained sodium should be minimal.

4 week weigh-in:

11/21/2016 - Medifast Center weigh-in: 246
11/30/2016 - Medifast Day 1: 244
12/03/2016 - Medifast Day 4: 237
12/11/2016 - Medifast Day 12: 233
12/20/2016 - Medifast Day 21 (Week 3): 230
12/27/2016 - Medifast Day 28 (Week 4): 228 - YAY!

Since I am extremely "goal oriented," here are my newly set MINI-GOALS:
End of January (Week 9): 215
End of February (Week 13): 205
End of March (Week 17): 195
End of April (Week 22): 185
End of May (Week 26): 175
4th of July (Week 31): 165
End of July (Week 35): 160 (END!)

Today, I changed my end goal from 165 to 160. According to this site, that last 5 lbs is the difference between "marginally overweight" and "normal range."

halls.md/body-mass-index/bmi (DOT) htm

Confirmed by other sites, too:
Healthstatus (dot) com/perl/calculator.cgi

Ideal Weight Results
According to your height of 5' 11" your ideal healthy weight is 160 pounds. Your recommended weight range is between 143 and 178 pounds.

This was calculated using Hamwi formula, a simple formula commonly used by many clinicians.

These are recommended weights. Talk with your doctor about what weight is best for you and before undertaking any new diet or exercise programs.


Overall, I still really like the program. Super convenient, food is good, and IT WORKS!

TWICA ~

I really like your mini goals. You've broken your weight loss down to really attainable numbers.
I get a bit OCD-like with weight loss, too.

You have had fantastic weight loss numbers

Upward and downward!

Karen

Happy Tuesday!

I'm at my parents house for the week which makes being on Medifast both easy AND hard. They already knew I was dieting and are super supportive of my quest and are not sabotage-type people so I feel super blessed for that. The BAD part is they are not coffee drinkers...so I am sitting here with the most monumental caffeine headache. I had one of my cappuccino drink meals but clearly I am drinking more caffeine than that due to my pounding headache today. My dad offered to go get some coffee but then I thought this: I really do not need coffee and I've always wanted to kick the habit so why not take advantage of an entire week out of my comfort zone and make it happen. I have guzzled down quite a bit of Tylenol but I'm sure tomorrow will be easier than today and so on. Oddly, I had the best sleep last night which I think might be the benefit of having so little caffeine in my system. I am just drinking water like crazy so I am hoping the lack of caffeine and the extra water will give me a good number again next week.

I'm happily on plan and learning how to knit this week. I am so not a crafty person but I've wanted to learn how to knit from my mom for years now and we promised each other on this trip she would teach me. I like to catch up on TV shows I've taped in the evening with my husband which was, in pre-Medifast days, when I would snack. So, I am working to replace that bad habit with a good one ----knitting.

It sounds like we all made it through all the Holiday food and drinks with flying colors. Hooray for us!

Hello everyone, remember me??? I completely blew it, I lost my will power and started eating all the holiday goodies. All the parties, baking, special meals etc pulled me back into old habits and I gave up. I got into a mind set that I may as well wait until after the holidays because of all the FOOD around me. I know I must have gained some weight So I feel bad about it, but I am trying to get into the mind set of going back on the diet next week. I know it is always advised not to wait and start on a Monday, but I just don't have it in me to start YET. We still have fudge and cookies and leftovers all over the house, and we have NYE parties and special food for that too. I know this is a bad move but I can't bring myself to start until I KNOW there is not a stumbling block in my way for awhile. My goal will be from Jan 2 on to stay 100% on plan. I hope it will be ok for me to come back and join in with you all. I have not read all the posts to get caught up just yet, but will read them to help myself stay on plan when I come back for good.

Maybe we can start a New Year starters thread of there are more people starting in January?

STEPH - Welcome back! The fact you're even looking at this board means you are on the right track. It is definitely okay to wait until January 2. I did a "goodbye to food tour" the week before I started. Ate all my favorite foods. Went to all my favorite restaurants.

The important part is that you start when YOU feel ready. Vow to stick with if for one month. The weight loss results you achieve in that short time will provide enough motivation to do another month, and another until you reach goal.

For me, I have an entirely new mindset. Every time I see a cookie or slice of pizza, I ask myself if I would rather indulge for 5 minutes of food happiness, or if I'd rather be cute, skinny and healthy FOREVER. I always choose the latter and feel SO proud of myself when I do. Enough is enough already.

YOU CAN DO IT!!!

KAREN - Just one more habit that is not particularly good for you. Think of your folks' house as "coffee rehab"!

GOOD LUCK! YOU CAN DO THIS, TOO!

Hello everyone. I come to the boards once in a while. I was hoping there would be more action since the Holidays have almost passed us by. I've been on plan since mid July. I had planned to have a cheat week the week of Christmas and then get back on plan. I know people say that is a horrible thing to do - but I have it within myself to do that. So here I am (actually started back yesterday). I do not consider this a restart but a continuation. Hoping to get to know some new folks along the way.

to everyone that was able to stay on plan or refrain from total indulgence during the holidays.

Karen~ TWINCA is right and her comment made me laugh!
Though you may not be laughing now as you are detoxing from caffeine, believe me you will feel better once you are through it! I "discontinued" a Diet Pepsi addiction about 6 weeks ago and am so glad I did! I was drinking about 3 liters a day!! Now I drink plain or flavored seltzer water only. I do have the occasional cup of coffee - but only for something warm. I was using the diet soda as a replacement for junk food, but I knew I was only hurting myself with all the aspartame and caffeine I was consuming. I do use stevia in my occasional coffees...but that's it!

You are doing so well with Medifast! And good luck with the knitting! I am not crafty at all! I have a torn tendon in my right index finger - surgery only allows me to bend it, but not lift it up...so I think I would not be a good candidate for a knitter! Let me know if I am wrong!

Oh, did you see your niece that you mentionned in a previous post? Let us know how she is doing.

And TWINCA ~ it is always a pleasure to read your daily menus! Your weight goal is certainly an achievable one - sounds sustainable, too!

Welcome back, StephGetsHealthy ~ Of course, I remember you! I encourage you to read back through all the posts - there are many "words to live by" within those pages! Mentally, you are preparing yourself for Medifast. You will put your whole mind and soul into it come January 2!

And to ginamay28 ~ Yes, a continuation certainly is the perfect description of picking up where you left off - you will be a definite asset to this group! Your experience since July will certainly be valued, along with your holiday plan of being off Medifast. We want more details!!!

HalfPass and cbi3 ~ We miss you!!! Please come back soon!

And so we wind down 2016 happier and goal-oriented for 2017!!!