Well I am striving to lose 3 pounds this week. I want to make it to a 70 pound loss! I'm walking on the treadmill daily and staying OP. I've been doing well so far, I just hope the weight loss on my scale at home holds true to the center's scale!

Weighed in today at I'm another 1lb down. Friday is my birthday and I'm feeling a little uncertain about it. I know that I want to "celebrate" but I don't want to sabotage a GREAT week (5lbs down in 7 days). Any suggestions?

What did YOU do for your birthday?

I didn't have my birthday OP yet, but when I want to celebrate (like my first 20 pounds was a big victory) I did something non-food related. Get a pedicure, massage, go have your makeup down at the makeup counter, dress up fancy and go out dancing or to a show (THIS was super fun with my friends....we went to a cheap theater performance all dressed up!)....don't focus the day on food and you'll be fine.

If you want dessert, go somewhere where you can get something small...like Applebee with those little dessert shooters...and just have a few bites.

I am day 4 on the plan with the HNS and everything. Down another 2.5 lbs. It is very encouraging to see the discipline result in a pay off. Now I need to drag out a workout DVD to start the excercise portion of this journey. We are making the Chicken Gumbo recipe for din din. Hope it is good!

I had been OP for less than a month when my birthday came. I was really dedicated to the program and stayed 100% OP. You can do this. You will have another birthday next year!

Okay so I am on the menus made easy program. My center won't switch me to the one most of you guys are on. There is a reason for some reason or another why I am on this one. I was curious on what each menu contains to see how different it is than mine. Does anyone have the menus so I can compare the difference on what I am doing now and what you all are doing. If someone could send information to me that would be great!

horsemaster09 @ hotmail.com

That's weird that they won't even show you the Metaslim menu, or explain why they don't want to switch you.

One of the metaslim menus is posted in the December thread. Just look for a little paperclip. I think it's the beige or white menu (for over 200 or 250lbs, respectively). From what I understand, menus made easy is a little less restrictive than the metaslim menus, but I could be wrong.

We went out somewhere so I didn't have to cook a meal, but I made sure it was a place where I could eat OP for my meal (I had some sirloin, roasted veggies, and brought my own bread). I had my MIL make me an amazing chocolate choco-chip kahlua cake with Godiva white chocolate liquer poured over it, but I only had a tiny sliver, and then made her give away/get rid of the cake.

It was really, really hard not to ask for more cake, or to continue to splurge. I would suggest the same as razorbackbritt, and stick with just a tiny dessert (like the Applebee's shooters), or just a bite of someone else's dessert--or nothing at all. It's really hard to go back to being mostly craving-free after eating something like that.

They need to explain to you why you are on the menus made easy plan. Do you have any health issues or lifestyle issues that owuld have made them put youon that one?

Basically- I'm on the green menu...and its
-Breakfast: 4 oz. protein and one serving starch
-Lunch: 4 oz protein, 4 oz cooked or 8 oz raw veggies, 1 serving fruit
fish-Dinner- 4 oz protein, veggies, one serving starch

and 2-4 HNS, one cane creamy a day.

Proteins rum the gamut....eggs, cheese, cottage cheese, turkey, bison at breakfast.....chicken, turkey, bison, fish, eggs, cheese for lunch....fish, turkey, bison, chicken, occasionally beef, pork, lamb, shrimp for dinner.

I accidentally let my dinner veggies fall out of the oven tonight. The floor got my veggies instead of me :-( I was headed to dance class and didn't have time to cook more.

Hi..
I weighed in today and stayed the same.. Had a bad week so far. Had very bad cravings, for peanuts or peanut butter.Figured maybe I was not getting enough fat, and added a bit more olive oil while cooking.. One craving, I did take a HNS, that did not stop it, then took a bar right after that, and that stopped the craving in it's track.. Center told me one HNS with 1/2 bar, but that did not do it, took the other half and success.. Usually a piece of chicken does it, but not this time..

I am now 7 pounds to goal.

Wishing everyone a great Wednesday

Patzi

This Will Be An On Plan Day, This Will Be On On Plan Day, This Will Be An On Plan Day.....repeat Re[eat Repeat

@Pbolton-- that sucks! I've done that before. On one hand, I thought "yay, I don't have to eat my veggies" (I'm don't particularly care for them), but on the other hand, I thought "Darnit, I'm going to be hungry later on."

@Patzi-- Last week was rough for me, too, with my cravings. Sometimes my TOM doesn't bother me much, but last week it caused some wicked cravings that I had to fight. Congrats on being so close to goal, though! I'm excited for you!

I tried quinoa for the first time last night--it was really good! Nice and light, kind of like couscous, but with more flavor. We had it with salmon and broccoli. I did some reading on quinoa, too, and found that it's related to beets and chard and it's seeds (the part we eat) has a grain-like quality. It's high in amino acids & essential nutrients, and contains some protein. I'm surprised MRC doesn't push it more, rather than just having it be an add-on (they wrote it in on my menu, underneath the starches).

Here's what I did with it:
1 1/2 c. white quinoa, rinsed
2 3/4 c. unsalted chicken stock (I'm sure you could use water and add MRC chicken bouillon instead)
1/4 c. (give or take--didn't really measure) lemon juice
1/2 tbsp dried basil
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried parsley
cracked pepper & sea salt to taste.

Put stock, quinoa, lemon juice, and herbs in medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer 12-15 mins, stirring occasionally.
Add salt & pepper to taste, fluffing quinoa before serving.

Yum!

You know I really wondered about quinoa and whether we could have it. I haven't experimented with it but I will probably get into it the further into my journey I go. Thanks for the heads up!

Yeah, my center wrote quinoa and edamame onto my meal plan sheet (as starches) when I first started--they said they were only recently approved for the program.

Makes sense, though--they're both so good for you!

I love rice and couscous, and I've been worried about how to not overeat those starches when I go on maintenance, but then I tried quinoa--I think it could replace rice in just about any dish, except maybe Chinese food.

Funny--I've never experimented with so many new food items until I started MRC. I never had any reason to step out of my comfort zone before.