Oh I finally tried a smoothie with vanilla pudding sup, cottage cheese, frozen strawberries and water. So so good. I actually felt bad for the kids when I made them one without the vanilla supplement. Mine was much much better. I had it for lunch, didn't add a veg. I think I will stop by and wi tomorrow. I will see if that gets a head shake or not. Actually didn't have any extra room for anything else. It was very filling.

Goal4Life ~ I get tired of people making negative comments about MRC when they really don't know anything about it! So just let them talk....while you walk away with a new body! If my friends & family comment on my loss and ask if I'm dieting, I just say "I'm trying to a make a lifestyle change".

And....congrats on the smaller size jeans! Isn't it wonderful?

I love the AAAAH moments! My latest AAAAAH moment....getting a pair of my little sister's jeans this past weekend! AAAAAAAh, it's been a long time since we've shared the same size!

Donuts ~ I'm ready for the fish day! Thanks for the recipe....one of the restaurants (?) has a dish that sounds a lot like your recipe! DH doesn't like "baked" fish so I usually put together a version of "shake & bake" to keep from cooking two meals.

Today was tough. It is my youngest child's birthday and he wanted a chocolate cake...chocolate is my kryptonite! Every time I started to 'taste' or pick at it, I would say out loud, "It's NOT worth it!" By the end of the evening the kids and I were all laughing about it, and as I settled down with my cinnamon toast & hot cocoa (with peppermint extract, thank you Raemi13 for the brilliant idea! ) I realized that I was perfectly content without a bit of that cake...of course the kids had better gobble it down quickly this week! :laugh:

Jan, I love your response, "I'm trying to a make a lifestyle change", because it really is a lifestyle change, isn't it? I will say that since I've been on MRC (May 2007), I haven't had ONE head cold, ONE sinus infection or even felt that bad...an occasional headache, but that's usually more work or family stress related than diet related, unless I miss a meal, or am more than an hour late on having a meal. In the past, I would get a sinus infection whenever the seasons changed. It's a nice side effect! BTW, congrats on the smaller jeans!

Let me know what they say. I thought that if you had a shake or meal bar that you don't have the fruit, but could add the veggie if you wanted... but that might be for the meal bar and pre-made shake they make. (not the powdered shake). Let me know if you find out different, as I don't wi until tomorrow. If we can have the fruit in the shake then I know what I'm having for lunch a few days a week!!

Springfield...what brand is that tea, and where did you buy it, sounds delicious!

Jant..that is a great response! I think I am just going to stay quiet around those 3 meddling relatives, and if they ask, I am just going to say what you said, that I am changing my lifestyle. GREAT! I love it!
If feels so good to wear those jeans now! I have to go buy another pair, a size smaller, and make that part of my next goal.
I have added some 2lbs (don't laugh) weights to my morning workout (walking) and then some sit ups/floor exercises. I want to work on toning my arms up a bit along with my stomach, that way I might not get to much flab as I lose to my goal. My dh has a mini gym in our spare room, but it is a little intimidating to me, all those functions and all, but I might have him give me a quick lesson on using it, and try to do some of the leg and arm workouts on it 2 times a week. I have to pump myself up for that though. LOL

Goal4Life - No one here is going to laugh at adding a 2lb weight to your arms while walking. Thats a great exercise. I've done that before and my arms got so tired. It's amazing what just that weight will do.
Jant - I would love to be the same size as my sister...and she's not all that tiny. I think I'll get there soon enough though. I'm into 22/24 stuff now and she's probably a 16/18. I'm gonna get her! (and then I'm going to talk her into getting skinnier with me)
losingweightnow - she had a smoothie that was made with the pudding, not a shake. When you eat the meal replacement shake (pre-made or powder)or bar thats exactly what it is...a meal replacement. You are supposed to go ahead and have a clear HNS with it, but thats it. I've done that for lunch one time and breakbast lots of times and it is very filling. I was kinda scared to do it for lunch actually because I didn't want to be starving around 2pm...turned out ok. Maybe we can get springfieldamy to post that smoothie recipe again for us...otherwise I'm sure someone else has it (I probably have it at home...so I'll look it up if I need to).
Nan - I started at the same time you did and now that I think about it...I haven't been sick either. Hmmm....maybe there is something to this whole taking care of yourself thing, huh?

I WI tonight and am hoping for a good solid number. My pie-in-the-sky goal is to hit 100lbs lost by New Year...thats a BIG loss for me. I would need 4lbs a week from now until then. I average 3 a week, but there are some lower and some higher. We'll see what I can do

Ok, so I could never aim to be as small as my sister, she is like a 2! I don't think I wore a size 2 since elementary school LOL But I will be super with a 10/12. That is my official pie in the sky goal(love that phase Hvnly). Right now, I am a 20, we shall see.

Hvnly...you and I are very close in short term weight loss goals, I too am shooting for 20lbs but by Christmas. I will keep cheering you on til New Year's. You can do it!

Knock on wood, I usually am sick around this time of year also...hhmmm...

So, I'm back from Ohio! There was a lot of catching up to to and a whole new thread!!! Great job to all the losers out there!

Ohio was interesting. It was a wonderful trip.... my father in law has terminal cancer and we were able to get the whole family together for Thanksgiving. He was so happy and we all had a great time laughing, crying, and being together.

The issue I had was with the feeders! it like walking into a feeder convention! My Mother in Law (who has had gastric bypass but continues to have an eating disorder) and my Sister in Law went at me from the moment I walked in. They were on full attack mode saying things like "you won't be able to say no to this...." and "one bite won't make a difference" and "why would you do something like this before the holidays" and "you're not going to be able to eat anything". When my father in law asked if I would bring him a brownie from the kitchen my sister in law said "see, I knew you couldn't handle it", then I had to inform her that it wasn't for me, but for her father and when my Mother in law told me to try something and I asked if it had sugar in it she said "well, I didn't put sugar in it" knowing darn well what she used (bbq sauce) had sugar in it so of course, I had to say since we didn't know for sure, I would have to pass.... It was things like that all week.....

but I took it as a challenge, and I am stubborn as heck.... so I weighed in for the first time in 11 days last night and.........

I lost 9 1/2 pounds!

HA!

I'm at 28 pounds total lost now, and going strong.

You know, I thought that family would be the supportive ones but I've learned a lot this trip. You never know who the enemy is! I've missed you all! I'm so happy to be back, and hear of all your successes and I look forward to losing more with you all!

Have a great day!

Namaste...Awesome Job! 9.5 pounds in a little over a week! Keep it up!

SpringfieldAmy - For your kids - try adding sugar free/fat free vanilla pudding to the cottage cheese and strawberries smoothie.

That's how I used to make my cottage cheese. I don't like cottage cheese, so I would just blend it until smooth with some sf/ff pudding in different flavors, and it made it very edible.

I love smoothies, I'll have to try one of those you mentioned!

Rae

WI today and I lost 1.5. That's fine by me. But I've noticed the last few days that, even though I'm doing the same things, I'm HUNGRY. Any ideas?

NAMASTE: WOW!!! Now, that loss is almost as inspiring as your ability to deal with the negative energy from your inlaws! Keep it up

There was a conversation going on a few days ago about self-sabotage. I noticed as I left MRC today (HUNGRY as it was lunch time), I had the first negative thoughts I've had about the program. Like, "This is just too hard. I want Taco Bell." and even, "I'm not sure I'm any different than I was 16 pounds ago. Maybe I'm supposed to be fat." Does any of this ring a bell or make sense to anyone else? You guys are my reality check about this.

Sam, from what I understand, there is a fine line between adequate exercise on this program and too much exercise. I was told at one point that I was exercising too much. I was doing step aerobics 3 to 4 times per week. I started losing less weight per week...they told me that I was spending too many more calories than what I was taking in and my body was holding on to the weight because it was not getting enough. I started exercising 2 -3 days per week and started averaging 5 pounds per week.

Sunny

Sunny, my center told me not to exercise more than 200-300 mins per week right now, that may change as my weight decreases, I am not sure. I walk 5 days a week for 20 mins, and do some strength training for 20 mins 2 days a week, and sit ups also. I seem to fall right in the 200 mins range right now. Step areobics is much more exurting than what I do, so I can see why that would have happened to you. A friend of mine does Curves 3 days a week on MRC, and she is also doing great.