The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[Dean0408]

Hey there all my old buddies and new ones I haven't spoken to yet.

It has been almost three weeks since I have posted......(or maybe even more)

I have been totally busy since returning from my daughter's wedding........I apologize if any of you thought that I had abandoned the forum.

I have been trying to catch up on all the forum news.........lots of very interesting things and some great success stories.

I am so very pleased that your surgery was approved Christi........it certainly has given you a new outlook and if you are happy........I am happy.

Donna the WAHM is plugging along and continues to get ever closer to goal.

D........our once Jamaica bound and now beach bound friend is really looking good in her pics. I really don't see the need for lipo though. Your thighs look just fine. Just don't send off for one of those "Home Liposuction Kits" that they sell on TV. A friend of mine ordered one, and when the package arrived, all it contained was a razor blade and a long straw. (this is a joke for those that don't know that I joke a lot)

24K.........I saw your pics and you are really slimming down nicely, you are looking good!.....great job!! (speaking of jobs.......I hope your new one is going well and that it is everything you imagined it would be)

Donica......I don't believe you when you say you cannot start humor but can only chime in. I am certain you could start it.....and I will chime in.

I am sure you are all wondering how maintenace is going for me..........I will tell you that it is going just great!! Maintenance however does not just happen.........you do have to work at it. I will be posting a lot of maintenance tips in the next few days. These tips work for me and I have stayed at or near goal for the entire time. Sometimes I go below goal.........and I will explain that in the maintenance forum.

I will also be giving my thoughts concerning exercise, portion size, planning for big events that will have food and drink and other things that I find are helpful. I will share my experiences with really great (but fattening) foods I had back in my home town of Cincinnati while at the wedding, etc.

I realize that some of you who are close to goal are a little worried about going on maintenance due to the loss of the regimentation of being on the full fast or the 5 and 1 diet for so long. I will give you a little tidbit which is the key to maintaining.........You MUST get the right mindset BEFORE you reach your goal. More on this later.

Finally, nothing makes me sadder than to read a post (usually by a new forum member) stating that they had lost 35-40-50 or more pounds in the past and that they have now GAINED it all back and THEN SOME! Sometimes there are some pretty lame excuses as to why it happened........but I will not single any out.

I want each and every person to hit their goal and MAINTAIN it for the rest of their lives. This does NOT mean you can never eat what you like.........I will discuss all this and more in the MAINTENANCE SECTION, so.............stay tuned....

For now, I have to go and clean some mineral deposits off the tile in the pool.

Until next time, keep imagining the new you and savor each and every compliment you get along the way regarding your weight loss............as time goes by, and you get thin and stay thin, these compliments will stop. You want them to stop by the way..........when they do, it means that people no longer think of you as a heavy person who is slimming down.........they are thinking of you as a person who is continually in shape. After all, we don't go up to people who have always been trim and say "I notice you are still slim and trim just like you have been for the last five years!", ....now do we?

It is nice to be back.....

Dean

P.S. You may have noticed that Rae and I have been gone for about the same amount of time. We started a business together on the Mexican Riviera. We built a string of open air thatched huts along the beach and we sell marguaritas to the resort guests. The name of the business is "El Red Ear's Marguarita Shack". Rae has been too busy mixing up the drinks while I drum up business and take the drinks to the patrons.

Actually, the above paragraph is a total and complete LIE. I too wonder whatever happened to wonderful Raederle. Is it time for a search party?

[24KaratGold]

Medifast margaritas?? Yummy!

I miss Rae, too. Don't know where she's been.

'Bout time you got your donkey back here -- we've had a dearth of male companionship on this board!

Tile? Pool? Pool party at Dean's and Heidi's!!!!

Welcome back, ya bum. Don't be gone so long next time.

[want2Bthin]

'Bout time you got your donkey back here --

VERY FUNNY!!!

Angelia

[itsgonnaworkthistime]

Dean's back...the medifast planets are now all aligned!!!

We can't wait for all your "stay tuned" posts on maintenance, tips etc.

I hope the wedding went well, and that the mexican margarita business is flourishing. When you can spare Rae, ask her to post and let us know she is still hanging in will ya?

Maura

[DonicaB]

Well.......well........well...........if it isn't our dear friend, Dean. I thought maybe you slipped into the punch bowl at your daughter's wedding and was never heard from again. Or maybe, someone else slipped something into the punch bowl and it took you 3 weeks to recover. Anywho..........glad you're back.

I'm glad you are doing well on maintenance. I am on a bit of a hiatis (sp?) right now, but am planning to get back at in full force on Sunday. Things have just been so crazy. Never fear though, I refuse to gain it all back.......NOT THIS TIME.......NEVER AGAIN.

Well, I just wanted to say HI I have to go make supper for the family. They haven't eaten well in about a week now, so I guess I had better fix a meal for a change.

Chat with ya later. I hope you took some pictures of you and your lovely wife to share with us.

DonicaB

[LuzInIt]

Dean... You have been missed . Great to have you back!

[martha]

Dean-- I'm Martha and I am sure I am one of the newbies that posted a weight gain that just happened to be back for a lame reason.. I am sure you may not understand why it happens as much as all of us who have it happen don't understand why.. We all know there's really NO reason to regain but it happens and i must say you are right about getting your mind frame right before each goal.. that's what happened when I lost before and that's what has happened now.. So thanks for pointing out all of our mistakes to us.. and for pointing out how to stay on mainteance.. I personally can't wait till I see exactly how to do it.. Always looking for help in that field..I am sooo proud to have found MF and this forum and that i'll finally be doing it the right way.. cause we all know there are alot of wrong ways out there and have tried them all.. it's called yo-yo dieting and it is soo hard on our bodies.. I will hit my goal and will maintain it this time with all the help and support I get for this forum.. Thanks again --Martha

[doglover]

DDEEAANN.......Yeah! We are so glad you're back buddy! thanks for the lovely idea of a razor and straw - you know - I have all those supplies at home!!! We'll see what I can come up with. My hubby got quite alarmed the other day when I was looking longingly at the vacuum!

Glad you're back and I for one will be eyeing the maintenance board very closely!

Donna

[Dean0408]

Thanks for the "Welcome Back" ladies. 24k.........that donkey comment was way too funny!!

Hi Martha! I may have missed your story about your losing then regaining some weight. I am not pointing fingers at anyone, so I hope you didn't think I was being a jerk and saying that ALL reasons for regaining lost weight are lame.

I gained weight because I ate too much. I used to eat an entire large pizza on my own.........I could eat a plate of spaghetti and meatballs that was larger than some northeastern states.....I would eat till I was stuffed......not until I was no longer hungry. I love food.......I love the taste of it. If I would get out a new bag of chocolate chip cookies.......before long, the entire thing was gone. Now, this was not anything new........I used to eat like that all the time and not gain weight. All of a sudden, eating like that began to take its toll. I suppose it happened as I got older and less active. A knee injury took me out of organized sports and made exercising difficult. (it is fixed now, so I am back to exercising) You would think I would have had the sense to realize that less activity meant I could not consume so many calories........but.........NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I just ate as usual.

Sometimes when I first started reading this forum, I thought I was the only one who ate a lot of food because I LIKED food!! Everyone else seemed to have other reasons........this happened so I ate........that happened so I ate........something happened to someone close to me so I ate.........I thought something MIGHT happen so I ate.........I thought I might eat.....so I ate. You know what I mean. I guess I am lucky that the only thing that made me eat was the fact that I liked to eat. I could change that a lot easier than if I used food as a crutch whenever something happened to me. Heck, I don't know how I would have controlled that if it was truly some sort of mental reaction to stress. I guess I would have had to get some sort of therapy to get rid of the food addiction before any diet would stand a chance.

Anyhow, I still stand by the premise that you have to have the right mindset before you begin any diet. The cool thing is, that Medifast will most definately work if you simply follow the rules as close as possible. Sure, every once in a while everyone may be in a position where they go off plan. I did it on my birthday right in the middle of moving towards my goal. The key is not to make it a habit. These special occassion treats should be few and far between.

I am sure you will be totally successful this time Martha......before you know it, you will be at your goal.

Dean

[LilMsTexas]

OH MY GOSH..........DEAN..........I'm THRILLED that you are back. I surely wish I had more time to write but I popped on this morning to make sure there were no major catastrophes in the night and I have to get ready for work. I will be in the field all day today seeing my little criminals I will write WAY more to you tonight. I'm really glad you are back.

And Donna........I wrote you a really long post last night and then Broden fell off the bed while watching TV with my son and I didn't hit send Then when I came back my husband had shut it down thinking I was done So.......I'll recreate that little BOOK later lol

Have a great day everybody......I'll be around this weekend,
Christi

[martha]

Dean--
Didn't mean to make you think I was going crazy over what you wrote BUt I'm also in love with food and know that not many people say that is why we gained the weight back but if we didn't love food so much we would not be here on this MF program struggling to get through it.. I kept my weight off for years till I moved back in to care for my mom(24 hr care).. after a good round of good old self-pity and being literally homebound and not being able to walk outside; go to the gym or be around other people or even go to church ; you turn to your old friend FOOD.. It was such a comfort to me. and i love the taste and love food... unlike my sister who never eats when she is upset I really ate and spaghetti is my all time favorite and I probably could have given you a run for your money for eating it.. I have siblings who either drank or did drugs as their comfort and always thought I was better than that cause I never did any of that till my sister while in court told me I was addicted to food.. WHAT!!!!!!!!! Well I never!!!! I was floored because I never took the time to understand any kind of addiction .. in my thoughts anyone could just walk away if they REALLY wanted to.. Boy oh boy what a slap in the face when I really saw the light about my food addiction.. I now know I will always face this addiction on a daily basis just like a drug addict or alcoholic does.. this foreum is the best thing I have ever found and the people seem to really care.. I stalked this foreum for a while before joining and Nancy and everyone on it helped me to take the right step in joining it as well as MF.. My head is right on losing weight this time therefore I KNOW I will suceed. After that being said and on this foreum for all to read I plan on sticking to program..if for any reason a problem pops up I know I can turn to all of my new MF friends for the help I would need to get it back on track..Thanks to you and everyone else on this foreum..Martha

[Dean0408]

Well Martha..........it sounds to me like you have a good plan. I believe that with the right attitude, bad addictions can be turned to good addictions. I think I am becoming addicted to exercise and staying fit. My goal is to have a six pack where the huge belly used to be. I sure have been doing a lot of situps to try and accomplish this.

Keep up the good work Martha.......37 pounds lost is nothing to sneeze at. It is a huge step towards your ultimate goal.

Dean

[fedup]

Hi all! Like Martha, I am also someone who regained what I lost. I definitely do not point fingers in any other direction except myself! When I did MF last fall, it was MF and this forum that helped me through it! I lost 30 pounds in 8 weeks, never cheated once... I felt in control... so what happened? Like Martha said, we all have issues with food or we'd not be here. There were some major medication issues as well as emotional issues, and I think those issues are very real. I don't think they are in any way "lame". (And I know 100% that Dean didn't mean it in that way also! ) I just wanted to respond because it really amounts to the fact that of course it is our own fault if we fall off the wagon. But just like a person addicted to other things, there are times life throws you tough stuff that make it harder than others to deal with that addiction. So we turn to our "comfort" and our food. Is it healthy? of course not!! Are we ultimately responsible for it? Of course! But it's a learning process and we're all getting there... WHen I started MF I was in the completely right mindset to lose... I think Dean's advise that you need to be in the right mindset to transition to maintenance is 100% right. I made that mistake. I WAS NOT in the right mindset to maintain. Sure I could be 100% on program, but then I fell apart. But I'm gonna learn from that mistake this time. And I think we all can.

I think Dean's point about mindset is very true, and we need to keep our "head in the game", especially during transition! I'll be eagerly reading about how he's doing it, as well as the other transitioners! After all, I want to learn from my mistakes (don't we all), and how better to do that then by watching you guys here!