I hope it's okay that I started this thread. I just felt like June signals a new season and a new start.

At my WI yesterday I stayed at 195. I was a little surprized because I thought I'd drop a couple of pounds. But the most important thing is that I stayed OP despite a very tempting pitch-in at work. I think the scale will show my committment next week. So I'm looking forward to Monday.

Today I'll be getting my hair highlighted and trimmed. That should be a nice pick-me-up for the next few days or so.

And today is the last day of school for my kids and I'm so excited. I like having them home with me. I'm going to start walking tomorrow and try to find a yoga class to take.

I think you'll find that you'll just make better choices! I have already had the instance where I had to eat OP for one meal. And I found that at least I made way better choices than I use too.

quick note - i put my mixed berry concentrate in a coke zero today... it's like a cherry coke! takes more coke than water to get it to taste right but i put NO water in it so the flavor was strong. YUMMMMY...

I know coke has caffeine but they told me that it wasn't giong to stop my loss or really even slow me down to have every so often when I complained of being super tired one day because we'd had a late night. I confessed my diet coke as a NMC and they told me it wasn't the end of the world. Since I've had maybe 1 coke a week, sometimes spread over a couple days. thought I'd share the YUMMY!

Happy June to everyone....I hope it will be a successful month for all of us!

Great tip on the "Cherry Coke" delight!!! I think someone said they did that with the DR soda too...I love these great hints....I am learning from all of you.

Have a nice day...it is beautiful out!

I had one day a couple weekends ago where I had planned to go off plan. I went very crazy because it was just 1 day. I ate my normal OP breakfast and took my HNS and pills then but come lunch, I was faced with a buffet of yummy ballpark food and I took my fat & carb blocker and that was it for the day. It just seemed like a waste to me to take the supplements and HNS at/after lunch. My day was blown.

But since you are planning to be off plan for an entire week, you should probably keep with your HNS and supplements the best you can. Do you have the fat & carb blocker? You can take 2 of those once a day (30 mins before a meal with 16 oz of water). I'm sure you won't go as crazy as I did on that one day but be prepared to see a huge jump up in the scale. I gained 10 lbs in one day (water weight that I lost in a weeks time) and it's shocking and sad when you see it go up that much.

I know exactly what you mean by "I want to eat and enjoy myself". Some of us will just ALWAYS love food. I will always equate food with enjoyment and celebration. My motto is moderation not deprivation. The difference for me is I have "good" food only for special occasions. That's moderation. Every normal day though is smart choices. Enjoy your vacation but try not to go crazy every day. Maybe pick a couple days that week to have the food you REALLY want but other than that try to stay close to OP. Don't stress it but do your best. Good luck and have fun!

Sounds very exciting... where are all of you heading? I agree with everyone else, your food choices will likely be a whole lot better now b/c you've been doing this for so long (lol, ok 11 weeks seems like a long time) and it's become a new "habit" to do so. You'll see. I too think that you should aim to stay at least as close to on plan as you can w/o weighing/measuring food, generally following the main principles and just allow yourself the special things you may want to have as well - a dessert or some bread etc. That way you will feel as though you had a good time without stressing out over the food issue and will have less to stress over when you come home. No matter what, just have a good time!! As far as the protein drinks, I had a cheat day recently and just skipped them, my thought was I didn't need the extra calories but in hindsight I bet drinking them probably would not have been a bad thing - the extra protein could have helped counterbalance the extra carbs. MRC counselor said I should have had one so I think in the future I might do this if faced w/this situation again.

One more thought about planning your cheat, I would highly recommend planning your restart day. I think that the 1st whole day you are back at home should be your day to restart on MRC OP - as if nothing ever happened. That way your habits of eating OP at home will have never changed you know? The off plan was just a "vacation" thing. I hope you make wonderful new memories with your family having a great time!!!

I refuse to give up my Pepsi....if they want everyone in my house to LIVE!! I have cut myself down to 1 a day and that's as good as it's going to get.

Hello everyone, I am going to stop procrastinating and start exercising tonight. I plan to walk for starters. I would like to walk for about an hour a day. Most days of the week. I know there are guidelines to walking more then 30 minutes a day. Can anyone remind me what they were? I think it was like more water or take extra HNS's...something like that. Also, I don't want the exercise to slow the weight loss. Can anyone please tell me what they find most successful as far as what amount and types of exercising has really helped move that scale (in the RIGHT direction of course!) Thanks everyone!

Good Morning All,
or for those of you who wake up at normal times, good afternoon. My kids tease me about being a vampire with working nights!
Talked with the assist manager of the er that I am contracted with and guess what? She totally forgot my contract ended this week and doesn't have anyone to replace me. So she is trying to get a few weeks extension so she has time to hire in someone else and that gives me time to find another position! Would try to do a full extension but hospital policy frowns on extending too long. Guess they feel that if you are going to be there that long you should take a perm position. If only they paid the same!

Been reading older threads to keep me motivated through the long night shifts. The two things that kept coming up was, favorite foods tend to make people sick and didn't taste the same. The second was that once off, you need to get right back on. The longer you wait, the harder it will be. So, you have to make the right choices for you. Hope you have a fabulous time.

I walked for the first time in a very long time today...4 miles! I will probably be sore tomorrow but I did it! Yeah! I even ran a little (ok, technically, that was when the neighbors dog was chasing me but...running is running, no matter what the incentive-right? What types of things do all of you do to exercise? I am thinking I need to find more active things that I really enjoy so that I can be more active with out it feeling like a chore...Any ideas?

I enjoy the Wii and Wii Fit. A little on the pricey side, but it is lots of fun.

My center said no more than 4 hours per week, plus for every 15 min. of exercise you need to drink 8 oz. of water. I 'try' to do 30 min. a day or every other day. I've heard that when you first start exercisign some people hit a plateau because your body is adjusting and such. But maybe someone else out there could offer some more input.

Good for you Jace...4 miles your first time back to excerising is great....I am so very proud of you. Maybe you should let your neighbors know ahead of time so they can be sure their dog is out to speed you up....you could call the dog your "personal trainer"....lucky you. I am proud of you....way to go.