I have been overweight all of my life and not because I eat a lot but because I do not eat enough and I have a terribly slow metabolism. All in all, it sucks and I have tried nearly everything to lose weight but bit by bit it has went up and up and up with little intention of going down.

I have done the Alli pills and I have been taking them since July and I have lost about 9 pounds which is a good thing. My weight somehow manages to flex between 210 and 215 throughout the week. But I want to get back down to the 100s again -- 150lbs to be exact. And the last time I was 150 lbs was in the fifth grade which was a long time ago.

I have looked at the different programs out there like Nurtisystem and Jenny Craig but they really don't have any appeal to me because I want to cook my own food. I found a MRC in my area and it seems like it's in my alley. But I have a few questions!

* Is it very expensive (the joining cost, the supplements, vitamins, etc.)?
* Are the meal plans difficult to follow?
* How much do you normally pay in a month?

Thanks in advance!

Welcome and you and I share similar startings stats and I've lost a total of 58pounds as of this morning! It's a great program but pretty restrictive but it works! It is very costsly but if you consider what you're spending on going out to eat (for me that was between $40-$50 per week), this program is doable. I can tell you I'm sure that I've spent over $3,000 in 6 months ($399 for 24 weeks of program, 6 weeks of stabilization, and 52 weeks of maintenance). I bought all the recommended pills at the very beginning and those ran me about $250/month, therefore I scaled back. The HNS (high nutrient supplements) are where the bulk of the cost. Depending on what program you're on, you can have up to 4 a day and that's 4 boxes a week. They have specials where you can buy 10 boxes for $90 and that's really teh best deal they have. So that's about $40/week just for those, plus your food or normal groceries that you buy. Per month, it's hard for me to put a price on it but just with the HNS's/pills that I take, it probably runs about $225-$250 but again that varies based on what meal plan you're on and what pills (if any) you decide to take.

The meal plans aren't difficult to follow if you just eat/do what they tell you to The big thing for me was getting enough variety so that I wouldn't get burnt out. I considered myself a picky eater before I began this program but no longer!

This is a quick scenario. If you want more details, there's an 'advice for newbies' thread that has some great info in it! Good luck.

Wow, thank you so much. It makes a lot more sense to me now. :3