The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[casma500]

Way to stick with it and keep trying new things! Do you have a health advisor you can ask for some advice? Maybe more water? They say that should help with the sandbox issues as well ~ (not sure why they call it sandbox issue -- i'm sure i'm just missing something in that analogy) LOL.

Anyway, love your daily writing and information!!! Keep it up!!!

[DogMa]

Thanks, Casma. I drink 118 ounces of water a day. I'm also on maintenance and not on Medifast anymore, so my adviser can't really help (I'm also an HA, too, anyway). Like I've said, I'm not really trying to lose weight anymore. I'd like to lose some body fat (and am doing so), and for no rational reason I'd like to drop a few more pounds. But that's more an emotional, irrational goal, since I'm already at a healthy weight.

The sandbox issue actually predates Medifast and is more just my system. (And sandbox as in kitty litter or kitty sand.)

[DogMa]

I didn't want to hijack a thread and get in a big argument over this, but - being me - I do feel the need to respond, so I'm moving it over here.

The health thing was the whole point of my post. I respectfully disagree with you here. If you're fat, you're not healthy. It may not show up as a serious problem now, but down the road it will.

Meeting a goal of x amount of lbs in a given time period is fine, but if we strive to get healthy we'll realize it's not over when we meet our weight loss goal. This is why most "diets" fail.
This is an ongoing life-long process.

All I can give is my experience. I'm not knocking Medifast; my goal on the program was to lose the weight, and I did that. With much difficulty, but I did it. HOWEVER, at the same time, my fitness level declined because I couldn't work out at the level to which I was accustomed. My waist-to-hip ratio, an indicator of the risk of heart disease, worsened. My blood pressure, which had always been low, went up - not enough to require medication, but enough that I wasn't happy about it. Everything else - cholesterol profile, blood sugar, etc. - remained about the same.

Since "finishing" the program and transitioning to a higher-calorie, lower-carb, higher-fat plan that included strenuous workouts I was incapable of doing while eating 800 calories a day, my blood pressure dropped back to its pre-Medifast 90/70, my cholesterol dropped (while my HDL rose), my waist-to-hip ratio improved and my fitness level increased tremendously as I gained muscle and burned fat.

Of course, I was not a typical Medifaster from the beginning. After years of low-carbing, I didn't eat a lot of sugar, carbs, junk food or fast food. I didn't eat a lot, period (about 1,000 calories on a normal day). I exercised regularly. My main issue was that I was fat and couldn't seem to lose weight anymore no matter what I did.

So yes, Medifast helped me with what I needed at the time. But did it make me healthier than I already was? I really don't think so. I AM healthier now than I was before Medifast, but I'm also healthier now than I was when I transitioned OFF Medifast.

Again, I'm not knocking Medifast. It helped me accomplish my goal when nothing else worked. But for me it was strictly a weight issue. My health was really not a concern.

[DogMa]

128.6. Workout is upper-body weights with the trainer. It's also free day. I was planning to have fried chicken for dinner, but I'm starting to rethink it. I'll have to see how I feel after the gym.

Tomorrow I'm going to try cutting back on carbs a bit more to see if it helps. Although I also want to try the trainer's body-fat gizmo to see if it shows I've dropped any. Tanita seems to think so, but I'd like to try the other one, too.

Hard to say if the lack of loss (and even slight gain) is because I'm eating too many calories (hard to believe at 1,050) or because I'm finally eating enough to allow me to build muscle a little faster.

[DogMa]

130.2 after free day. Not bad. I had some unhealthy stuff, of course, but I also went kinda heavy on good foods like pistachios and all-natural peanut butter. Woke up feeling GREAT. So today I'm going to try boosting my calories even more (my trainer was really on my case about it yesterday). I'm going with about 1150.

I'm petrified it's going to make me gain, but maybe it won't. I'm keeping carbs low (87 grams, 26 of which are fiber) and fat below 30 percent.

And I finally found a way that I like the Medifast shakes (obviously, this is only appropriate for maintenance). Adding peanut butter does wonders for the taste.

Off to pop a breakfast frittata in the oven so it'll be done when I'm finished running.

YAY!! I ran nine of the 26 minutes!! Woo hoo!!!!

[Lizabette]

130.2 after free day. Not bad. I had some unhealthy stuff, of course, but I also went kinda heavy on good foods like pistachios and all-natural peanut butter. Woke up feeling GREAT. So today I'm going to try boosting my calories even more (my trainer was really on my case about it yesterday). I'm going with about 1150. I'm petrified it's going to make me gain, but maybe it won't. I'm keeping carbs low (87 grams, 26 of which are fiber) and fat below 30 percent.
And I finally found a way that I like the Medifast shakes (obviously, this is only appropriate for maintenance). Adding peanut butter does wonders for the taste.
Off to pop a breakfast frittata in the oven so it'll be done when I'm finished running.

Looks like we are running neck and neck! I haven't really started a free day, yet! Kinda scared to.
I do add some favorites once or twice a week, but try to make up for it by juggling food a bit.
And I know I don't keep as good track of calories as you do, but try to eat healthful stuff!
I actually may not be getting enough calories some days!
And for sure I can't keep up with you with the exercise.
Three days, I do about an hour of water aerobics, and try to walk 20-30 min. on other days.

I love peanut butter and may try that in my shakes...chocolate or vanilla?
Have you tried Lean Pockets Pizza Ultra (about 200 calories each) Delish!
I'm helping MARILU, my sister-in-law get started on Medifast.
That should keep me straight!
You are doing so good, I doubt that aside from fluctuating a bit, you will gain at all...

Lizabette

[DogMa]

You're doing great, Lizabette!! I added a spoonful of PB and some ice to a chocolate RTD, actually (it was the handiest thing I could find). I would think it'd be good with vanilla, too.

I'm having a hard time increasing calories, especially while keeping carbs low. The Lean Pockets sound good but I'm guessing they're too high in carbs for me. Plus I'm trying to have fewer prepared foods and mostly stay as natural and healthy as I can get (on my normal days, that is). Here's today's basic menu (it's kinda South Beach-y):

1/2 cup Egg Beaters, 3 egg whites, 3 tablespoons low-fat feta, half a package of frozen spinach, 6 frozen artichoke heart halves, a little red onion and some roasted garlic (this was my frittata for breakfast; it was HUGE, but still kinda low in calories)
Pistachios and low-fat string cheese
Stacey's soy crisps
Chicken breast with roasted green beans and butternut squash
Pistachios and low-fat string cheese
Medifast oatmeal with a tablespoon of natural peanut butter added

That brings me to 1164 calories. Still too low, but at least it's rising. Hopefully this will help my weight and not hurt it. It should definitely help my workouts, at least.

Part of the problem seems to be meals vs. snacks. It's easy to do two meals and four snacks, but I can't seem to do three meals most days with my schedule. I need to come up with some quick and not-too-filling, but calorie-heavy. meals.

[DogMa]

As for the free day, it just seems to work better for me than having little treats here and there. I've always run into trouble that way in the past, and since I know that NEVER having any of that stuff isn't feasible for me, I figured this is a good way to deal with it. Seems to be working so far, too.

Yesterday I didn't track anything since it was free day. I had a pretty standard breakfast, though, and then a bar before going to the gym. The big fried chicken dinner was two smallish pieces, a little side mashed potatoes and a little side of jambalaya (which I really didn't need, but at least it was small). And part of a biscuit (I split it with the dogs). Then later I wanted chocolate, but instead of having sugar alone, I had some chocolate chips with peanut butter (and then a few more with some pistachios). That seemed to work, since I didn't crave any more sweets and didn't touch the Halloween candy I set aside last week for future free days.

Then I was a little hungry at my usual pudding time, and had the RTD-PB blend.

The point being, free days are less of a big deal already. It wasn't a big food orgy or a big sugar binge or anything like that. It was basically just a few less-healthy foods than usual. But I doubt my calories were even all that high.

[DogMa]

129.2, so still dropping after my free day. Which is good, I guess, since I just increased my calories considerably. I had trouble last night, though. Couldn't finish my dinner because I was too full, so later I had a BFL bar instead of soy crisps, because it has more calories but isn't too filling. That raised my fat and carbs a little more than I had planned, though.

Hopefully today will go better. Yesterday's afternoon snack was later than normal, and so was dinner, but I think they were still too close. So today I'm going to have my snack earlier and keep dinner at the same time, and see if that helps.

Did the treadmill today. For a change of pace (ha! get it?), I did less jogging and more incline.

Food:
Frittata (same as yesterday but only 2 egg whites with the Egg Beaters)
Medifast shake with 1 tablespoon peanut butter
Pistachios and 2 string cheeses
Chicken breast, butternut squash, string beans
Glenny's soy crisps
Medifast pudding

[DogMa]

Small adjustment. One of my string cheeses was ... off, somehow. There was black on it and the rest tasted weird. So I tossed it, of course. But since I was at work I couldn't grab another.

So instead of crisps tonight, I'll have a BFL bar. Nutrition works out pretty well.

[DogMa]

OK, so all posts from the weekend disappeared AND we were down for three days? Yikes. (For the record, yesterday I was 130.2 after a free day Tuesday.)

129.6 after a free day Tuesday (which involved a slice and a half of thin-crust pizza, two Dove Promises and one "fun-size" Nutrageous).

And big news. I'm transferring to features, which means I'll be getting day hours and weekends off, like normal people. The copy chief pulled me aside the other day and said someone was leaving and they need a slot (a copy ed who reads stuff after the regular copy editors and checks headlines and the rest of their work; what I used to do and what I do some of the time in news) in features and asked if I'd be interested. No interviews, no applying for the job, nothing. I'm meeting the features ed today, but only to meet her. Felicia said I already have the job. Only thing is it's a secret, although I think tonight I can finally tell people.

Anyway, so yay on that. Boo on missing the gym yesterday, but by the time I finished all my errands, it was 7 p.m. and I hadn't had dinner yet. I did a little weightlifting at home, but not nearly enough. Blech. Plus I got my hair cut and colored (first time in several years) and spent WAY too much on products. Then spent even more at the vet because I had to get a six-month supply of heartworm stuff for the dogs, which costs big bucks, AND Maggie was due for an exam instead of just her usual monthly stuff (nail trim and getting her anal glands expressed; not THAT kind of monthly stuff!!). The good news is she's doing great, except for arthritis in both knees where she had surgery (but she's around 13 or so, so I'm not surprised; her heart and lungs and everything were fine).

And turns out those Lean Pockets Ultra things ARE OK for me, at least some days. I bought some yesterday and will be trying one today. They're even low in sodium.

[Serendipity]

Hey, congrats on the new job, Robin! That's great news.....well, except for the adjustment period. I know a big change like that would really throw me off, but you'r up to it, I'm sure.

I'm gonna have to look at those Lean pocket Ultra's. I used to love lean pockets and thought they would be off the short list for me.

[DogMa]

Lizabette recommended them first. The one I had was pretty tasty and very filling. I'm pretty excited to have another convenient option. And the low sodium made my day!

And yes, the adjustment period is the hardest part. Although I think it's actually easier to adjust back to days than it is to nights, at least for me. When I'm on vacation, I tend to start going to bed and getting up earlier. Although I HATE having to use an alarm clock. And I'm going to have to get up pretty darn early so I have time to run in the mornings.

Kinda funny, but almost the first thing I did when I found out was to start planning my workouts around the new schedule. I think it'll actually HELP with my food, though. Right now, I find it really hard to eat more than two meals a day, so I eat two meals and four snacks. Which makes it hard to increase my calories. But with day hours, I think it'll be easier to have three meals and three snacks.

[casma500]

Congrats Robin!!!!

I hope it will make it easier for you! Glad the forum is back up & running though!

[DogMa]

Thanks, Mary! It'll make it easier to plan a North Texas get-together, too.

128.8. Decided to do a slightly different workout this morning, just to see how much I could jog. I was doing great, till I THOUGHT I had a bit of a potty issue and had to get off. Unfortunately, the sandbox issue continues. Sigh.

I'm thinking maybe it's the string cheese, so I'm not having any today. I'm not ready to cut out the feta yet, but it's not like I have much of that.

Anyway, only worked out for 17 minutes today, unfortunately. Of that, 5 was warmup and 9 of the 12 minutes was jogging. I'm going to try again tomorrow (but still go to the gym for weights later on). I want to push a little till I leave for Thanksgiving, because I'm not sure how good my workouts will be when I'm gone. Or how many I'll even get in. I should have picked a hotel with a gym.