The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[Sylvia]

I have to say that my weight loss remained reasonably consistent when I moved to the 5/1 from the full fast. I actually started adding some exercise at that point and figure I burned any additional calories I was eating.

[Nancy]

Diane,

Your resolve is firm, follow the doc's orders. You'll do fine, the weight will come off. Carefully follow the guide book for the serving sizes and your weight loss will happen. No worries.

re: Holiday dining...check our my November 2003 http://www.makemethinner.com/newsletter/medifast-november-newsletter.htmand December http://www.makemethinner.com/newsletter/medifast-december-newsletter.htm2003 Newsletters for some helps and search the Forum for more ideas on dealing with foody events.

Oh yeah, I fondly remember Biscotti...

There are many things in my very foody past that are just mere memories, or perhaps I should say, nightmares.

Some of my former foody friends just aren't needed in my life any more.

The entire time I was on my weight loss program and for transition and much of maintenance, I baked every weekend for two years for my church coffee fellowship - I mean I BAKED and sure, I wanted it at first, but after a while, it became just stuff I made for other people's enjoyment and not mine.

Somehow, I've gotten to the place where I can actually separate myself from the NEED for food and I know that it is merely fuel. It is easier to say, "No, thank you" now, to truly mean it and to be satisfied.

I am not perfect - I've confessed to vacation poundage...it has not been easy to get it off. I am half-way there but it is truly amazing how fast it attached itself to my waist and buns and how agonizingly slowly it is coming off.

This is the first time ever that I have allowed more than five pounds to land on me and it freaked me out when I got home and saw the damage I did.

I absolutely did not eat as much as any of my co-vacationers but gained more than any of them. I also did not have all my meals on time and I skipped some meals, wrongfully thinking I could save calories for later. Huh, uh..doesn't work that way. For the first time in 27 months, I did not do as I say and it bit me in the buttocks!

[DutchChoc]

Di, don't be let down by proof of your progress. This is just a different approach and most here do it -- the 5&1 I mean. At least it seems that way to me.

Nancy, I think "you'll" be alright, as you seem to have a strong determination not to let guilty pleasures rule, or ruin, your existence. By the time the year's over, long before, your attachments will have gone by the wayside once again.

I'm feeling pretty blown away by the magnitude of my own self-engaging problem. Anyone remember feeling like you needed a few days on the sideline just to sort a food problem out, just to avoid the chubby consequences, the afterlife of a few bad days, or more? You'd like to kinda hide until it's over and you can emerge from the hole you've been in, looking none the worse for the bad time? Well, I know THAT "ain't" going to happen anytime soon in my life, BUT!!!!!

When something like shakes works, as it did for me, it makes me want to go back to "those days" -- but in the end, I couldn't control what I did -- COULD I HAVE? Did I set myself up for failure by not practicing with the 5&1 -- when I already "knew" that I'd have trouble regulating the 5&1 and therefore avoided meddling with it? I feel right now like my only option is to go back to the shakes, whether I want to or I can, and forgettaboutit for a while that I might fall apart all over again next time I try to exit? Eating sensibly for more than a few hours of the day seems to be more than I can do. Do ya think I'm underestimating my "ability" in favor of just having my foody "way"? It's pretty hard for me to tell. I just know that in spite of making wishes and promises, I did not spend day 47 holding onto my prize, nor enjoying myself, nor feeling at peace in my own skin, like TamiL mentioned. I didn't even go to the gym because my fat, today, does not seem tameable.

Guido, I KNOW you don't behave like I do because I give in to eating the wrong things without much of a fight, without much sense of self-preservation -- with only epicurean delight!! -- but do you think, not holding you responsible in any way, that shakes again is a lucrative choice for me for a while -- or does the peril of another bad exit really negate any short-term benefit? What discourages me now is thinking it will "always" happen, or perhaps happen "even especially" if I follow a particularly rigid approach. Anyone is welcome to answer, it's just that GUIDO did over 100 days of shakes and apparently survived with the firm belief in not crashing thereafter.

[Sylvia]

DC,

Forgive me if I'm being too blunt. I think you are fighting the symptoms here but not curing the disease. You have mastered for a pretty significant amount of time the ability to forego all food and do shakes only which enabled you to lose weight. You did not, however, get to the root of the problem that causes you to lose all control over food - instead allowing it to control you.

I think you can do the full fast, 5/1 or whatever, but until you identify your issues and figure out how you can deal with them effectively, you will find yourself in this same place.

I would say go back to the full fast but this time, really think about how you are going to change this pattern from this day forward and start developing the tools that will help you get from here to there.

I understand where you are. I am in transition and it is much harder already. There are choices where before there weren't. That will only become more pronounced as I move into maintenance. I want to eat things I know I shouldn't.

I am going to force myself to eat like a thin person. To eat mostly healthy, wholesome foods. To exercise regularly to get my metabolism as high as I can. To avoid stuffing myself and to eat only until I am comfortable. I am not willing to have gone through this for nothing. I am not willing to give up looking and feeling good. I am not willing to give up my size 8's. I am not willing to give up all of the activities I now enjoy. So I will deal with the fact that I will no longer gorge myself. Will no longer eat fried or greasy foods. Will not polish off 6 pieces of pizza by myself.

I like how thin feels and I haven't been here in a really long time. Now that I'm here, I'm not leaving! I want to be thin for so long no one even remembers I was ever fat.

I might have it easier than you. I don't think I have any deep rooted issues - just like to eat in quantity. But eating tons of food never made me as happy with myself as I am now so it seems like an easy choice.

You need to understand why you do what you do and you need to own it. You can't talk about it as if it was happening to someone else, you need to take responsibility and control. You need to work to figure it out, with counseling if needed, and then work on getting it solved.

Just my 2 cents and just because I care.

S

[DutchChoc]

Yes, Sylvia, I have no difficulty believing all of what you said.

Fortunately, I woke up hopeful again and feeling like I can at least get the symptom under control for today, which, if true, will help to clear my head of the OC nature of this whole thing, i.e compulsively eating and then obsessing about "the problem about compulsively eating".

I went to the gym and feel bolstered by that. My reflection isn't at all bad -- but in my mind I weigh zillions when I'm obsessing.

Here's to day 46 in style. I'm striking out for where my peace was, the shakes only. Like a short walk off a short pier, maybe, but I need some mental order.

[BerkshireGrl]

Dutch, thank you sweetie poo "Pluck"? I like that. Makes me feel like a Girl Friday from the 40's...

Let's set our caps, and get this done!

For people wondering... Di & others... On the Full Fast vs. the 5 & 1, for me, right now, doing the calorie math, it works out to me losing an extra half pound a week. Not a huge difference really. I would not worry about having that tiny dinner... I think it only amounts to about 300 calories unless you get food-crazed and ate a giant chicken-fried steak or something! Really it's all about what you can handle doing... I am doing mostly Full Fast but I do toss in a Lean & Green once a week or so when I'm feeling REALLY hungry. Like after my recent gym-a-thon.

Biscotti lovers unite! Boy, who knew that those little dry crunchy things would cause such a crazed passion to erupt? Maybe when you all hit goal, I can send you some of my Christmas Cranberry Almond special recipe hehehe! Thank God they don't do it for me. I mean, they're not bad, I'd certainly eat them if I had them in a cookie jar, along with some nice hot coffee... but they do not cause me to break out in a cold sweat and climb the walls while I bake them. There are other things that DO, but describing them would be bad for everyone I think, heehee! Last thing I need is to go into a certified Food Rapture

Nancy, kudos to you for your vacation honesty, and hey, everybody lets their hair down now and again. Well, ok, except the one and only Guido! (If only we could bottle his magnificent resolve!) You will definitely wipe out that Hawaii flab-o in no time! I think fat is always hovering around us, like a sneaky shadow, and if we succumb... heck sometimes just for ONE NIGHT... bammo! 3 pounds! 5 pounds! And it doesn't just fall off in a couple days. (Umm... not that I know anything about this. Right! Snort!) But it does and then we can say "Haha! Beat you for another day, dastardly fat!"

Dutch, I think you are asking a lot of questions about planning and motivation and follow-through that only YOU can answer. What Guido did is tough, but he set his steely resolve and did not waver one inch. I'm guessing there is no "how" to do that, it just is.

As Sylvia said with care, it is you that needs to figure out why you are sabotaging yourself. However you go from now on, shakes only or adding in that small dinner, it can work to get you back down, but transitioning will still be there waiting at the end.

I definitely sympathize with the whole food issues problem (I'm sure I have some hefty ones lurking in my closet.) But you need to get to the point of being able to STOP eating too much and get yourself back on track, and STAY THERE... for your own sanity and self-confidence. The better you do with rallying your willpower, the better you feel... speaking from personal experience!

That "bad exit" you speak of can happen any way you come off this. It's entirely within your power to maintain, if you decide to do so. Getting your mind wrapped around the goal and SET on it is the challenge. You seem to have the fearsome craving to eat and eat sweet things, obliterating your hard-won lean and mean bod. Get down to the nitty gritty of why you are putting yourself through the agony of feeding that craving if you can... to stop it. Whatever it takes, find it and study it and get a solid friendly grip on it and don't let it overcome you. Try not to let your mind run a million miles a minute with worries or cravings or what-ifs, as I see you have a very nimble and speedy mind! Let yourself be at goal, happy, and calm, and relaxed... and enjoy your slim and strong body!

Because we all care too... YOU CAN DO THIS!

[explorthis]

gr8views: She asked how I was eating on plan and I explained my schedule and the foods I've been eating. She immediately told me I needed to go on the 5&1 - not full fast... OK, OK!!

Hey Diane… What was your Doctors reasoning for wanting you off the full fast, and onto the 5:1? Real concrete reasons, not just “because she said so” ??

I have found that most Doctors (and I cannot find my original post which talked about this) are completely ignorant to Medifast and its benefits. Of course you have seen no results (laughing) 9 pounds is not progress? And she wants you on 5:1?

I would really like to know why. My guess is there is no reason, except lack of understanding…

-Mike

[fedup]

Diane- I too was wondering what the doc's reasons were? Did she do some tests, explain what her worries were. I don't mean to "discount" her opinion, she is a trained professional, but if it were me I'd want more information about her reasons, and make sure they're valid. You need to be an active participant in decisions affecting your health. And if you do go on 5-1 it sounds like people do very well with it so don't let it get you down. I would just want some concrete explanations from the doc.

Dutch- I agree with what Sylvia was saying, and it sounds like you already know this yourself too. I think you could probably do ANYTHING you set your mind to,... whether it was all shakes, 5-1, etc. The thing is going beyond that time frame to the bigger picture. I know for me I've been discovering things I "knew" about myself and food, but never fully understood. Like I always knew I was an emotional eater, but by taking all food choices out of my life I've really tried to develop a different idea of food. It's fuel, yes. It's also good, yes. I can enjoy the flavors etc. But does it really make my problems go away, does it make an argument "all better?" No way. It makes me feel worse in the long run. I know this is easier said than done, but I've found that during my MF time I've really started to resond differently to food. Now during my high stress moments, food is not the first thing I think of. It used to be. I know the "fight is not over..." I've spent a lifetime building these food issues, and I'll likely always need to be "on guard" about them... but I feel that during this time on MF I've put myself on the right path, and I've started to "heal" some of those food issues. It's a beginning, but it's one I'm proud of. I know you can do this too.

[Nancy]

Yep, I totally agree about docs being uninformed...many have no idea about the program and most have limited nutritional knowledge.

Carrie, in another post you mentioned that your doc wants you to go off program for a few weeks, to drink OJ etc. What's with that?! I have horrible allergies, take 180 mg of Allegra in the AM and 60 mg in the evening, take Prednisone daily and an inhaler a couple of times a day, too...am susceptible to those gnarly sinus infections but my health is better than ever before with Medifast.

The neat thing about Medifast is that it is flexible in that one can utilize both the Complete and the 5 and 1 programs.

Sara, my vacation flabbage was a planned time for me to enjoy the foods of the tropics and while I did gain some weight, this is the first time in 27 months that I allowed more than a few pounds to rise. It is going to be a concerted effort of watching what I eat for the rest of my lifetime. Medifast is not a magic concoction or an innoculation that will forever prevent flabbage from returning. Weight maintenance requires a change in eating habits.

[Carrie]

Nancy,

I seem to be a seasonal allergy sufferer. 3-4 times a year I have a flare-up and am miserable for a week, use my meds and then I'm fine for several more months.

For some reason this fall has been agony for me. I had the first bad flare up a couple-three-four weeks ago. My ears and throat get sore, I feel feverish, can't stop blowing my nose and sneezing and can't get any rest because of the sinus issues. I made it through that one but was pretty worn out by the time it had run it's course. I felt fine for a week or so and then BLAMO they came back. I've never had back-to-back episodes like this. And I'm frankly physically exhausted. I can't get any quality of rest like this. I switched from Nasonex to Flonase to see if that would help and I take 180mg of Allegra daily. I was thinking of taking another half pill daily out of sheer desperation.

The Doc thinks my immune system was being compromised by the allergy attacks and the low calorie intake. She advised me to eat 'regularly' for 1-2 weeks, with plenty of antioxidant-rich foods. So I have 'enough energy' to fight off the allergies. Honestly, I am so miserable that I will try anything, so I have done as she suggested and I think it's a minor miracle I've only gained less than 2 pounds. Of course I feel so crummy physically that it's impossible for me to do my Pilates - I don't have the strength.

The problem is I don't think it's really helping anything and it's stalled my weight loss, so I've been slowly deciding that if I'm gonna have the allergies I may as well be on my plan and losing. I also kinda wish I had disregarded the Dr's advice. I've been hovering at the 200 mark for too long, it's time to break through it. <shrug> I don't know what to do, I'm really worn out physically, but can't think what else I can do to combat the allergies. Hopefully they're slowly resolving themselves and I can get back to feeling good physically.

Don't get me wrong I am still committed to losing more weight - especially after my triumphant shopping expedition - it's just that I'm so physically weak right now it's hard to be excited about it/do anything about it.

I started back to the shakes today - I was 'eating regularly' for a week and it didn't make me feel stronger or seem to provide any benefit. If anything it just made me anxious because I was afraid I'd gain 10 pounds.

All in all, it's not a terrible thing, just a bump in the road to be endured and get past.

Carrie

[Carrie]

DC,

I just want to second Sylvia's motion.

This is really about WHY we do what we do as it relates to eating. Until I started the HARD work of figuring out WHY I couldn't control myself when it came to food, I had more failure than success.

I started this program out of desperation and lost 40 pounds pretty quickly. The desperation edge wore off and I grew complacent. I didn't look 'that bad' anymore, matter of fact people were telling me I looked great. And that was fine for a while, but when the 'glow' wore off I realized I was still 220 pounds with a long way to go. Thus began a period of several weeks where I would start MF and by the end of the day go off the program. My weight began to creep back up. I asked myself WHY WHY WHY could I not say no to food.

I bought a book called "I wish I was thin, I wish I was fat". This one helped me the most, but Fattitudes is good too. It is hard to face our 'issues'. Trust me, I did not want to stir up that old pain and look it straight in the face. But I was DETERMINED to overcome this devil in my life. I am now learning WHY I eat when I don't want to. I'm learning the role our unconscious desires play in getting us to blow our diets. Now when that impulse to binge comes along, I can most of the time fight it off by reinforcing my CONSCIOUS desires. A couple times I have looked it straight in the face and still said "I don't care I still want to eat, I accept the consequences" And I did eat. And then I dealt with the consequences. My last 'meltdown' was 2 days - as opposed to several months - I consider that a major success. (Obviously I wish I hadn't had the bad 2 days - but all in all it is PROGRESS)

Big picture? I am losing weight. And I am learning to deal with my life without abusing food. If it takes me longer to get to my goal then so be it. But to me this a long-term process and changing old habits takes time. I would like to just sail through to my goal without anymore problems, but I don't think that's realistic. Life is gonna happen and I'm gonna have to choose to deal with it with or without food. Every day, I'm gonna have to choose. I'm gonna keep working on it until I get to my goal weight and then I'm gonna have to keep working on it to STAY at my goal weight.

But I can tell you that uncovering, facing, and beginning to resolve those problems that make us want to eat is worth it. I am more at peace in my heart, and don't feel so much of that old emotional pain. It's still there, but being able to deal with healthfully makes me feel GOOD about myself, as opposed to the old endless cycle of eating and hating myself. It's not a fun thing to have to do, but it is SO worth it. You'll be glad you did.

Carrie

[Nancy]

Carrie, a sore throat may be the result of the Flonase - it happened to me. I had horrible sore throats when I was switched to Flonase from Beconase. The pharmacist told me that some people get sore throats from it so I had a little chat with my doc. She changed me to Nasarel (fluisolide) and Ipratropium Bromide. No more sore throat!

Hopefully this allergy season will end soon ad you can get some rest!!

[Carrie]

No kidding Nancy, I'm so desperate I'm about ready to beg for a konk on the head - ANYTHING to knock me out for awhile! LOL

[DutchChoc]

My day 46 was good Medifastly... which is remarkable in light of the fact that I was feeling, should I say FEELING hostile and bitter and annoyed about some other things. A bit hard for me to be sure whether it was for valid reasons or not, i.e. perhaps trying to displace some of my anger at myself or not -- NO, much is valid. In short, I survived in spite of being annoyed -- and who knows? Perhaps I survived because I was outwardly annoyed rather than doing the neurotic thing of turning it inward on myself.

Although A. Flo is visiting, I got on the scale this morning so I'd be able to know where I was if I succeeded getting back on track starting today and it said 144. That's nearly 20 pounds in nearly 3 weeks of bad eating -- quite vigorous growth. Maybe it was good for me to see that.

Thanks for the pep talks, ideas for reflection and reading, your generous stories, and so on. I improvised a plan today that's kind of related to introspection based on simple list-making -- what's making me happy, what I could do to feel happy or happier, and what's bugging me or detracting from my experience. I think that's a decent start. Above all, I decided I needed to try to return to something stable for my mental health more than for my physical appearance or even for my health, in general. I have a resupply of "fuel" to enable me to take another fairly long "trip" on shakes....... duh...............

[Simmshe]

Carrie, I just remembered a supplement that really helps me when I have sinus and/or asthma problems (I haven't had to use it for so long that I almost forgot about it!). The supplement is Quercetin, which is a bioflavanoid. Here is a brief description I copied from a website about what it is (my brain is too tired to articulate this on my own): Quercetin belongs to a group of plant pigments called flavonoids that are largely responsible for the colors of many fruits, flowers, and vegetables. Flavonoids, such as quercetin, provide many health-promoting benefits. They act as antihistamines (which are useful in reducing allergy symptoms) and help reduce inflammation associated with various forms of arthritis.

Anyways, if you want to try it, I would recommend the Solgar brand (Solgar vitamins and supplements are a bit more expensive than others, but the quality is superior). But I swear by this--it has helped control asthma attacks that were almost going out of control and helped when I was having debilitating fatigue from sinus problems. If you want more info./advice about how I take it (dosage), send me a PM ! And do a google for "Quercetin"--there's plenty of info. on the net. I hate to hear of you suffering like this--I'm hoping you will get relief soon .

Dutch, I'm glad that you are finding your way back, seemingly slowly (it feels that way to us when we are trying to change something), but surely. When you first posted about your bingeing (during your first week off plan), I had to chuckle a little about my own experience--your experience sounded almost identical to the binges I had back in October when I went off plan. It wasn't funny at the time, of course, but it is humorously insane to me (I can always see the humor and irony in everything in my life) when I later reflected on what I was doing. There I was sitting down in my bedroom, surrounded by 6-8 foods that I had purchased for my binge. I mean, I had the food around me in a semi-circle and I would just go from plate, to bag, to plate, to cellophane package, to wrappings, to boxes of "goodies," eating like I was in an eating competition. After about five days of this, I was done. What was interesting for me is that unlike before with my binges, I just couldn't, or didn't want to, eat every single last drop of every food that I bought. For the first time, I was actually "wasting" food. After I had a good taste of what I wanted, I set it aside for the garbage. In the past, I didn't care how much food I was bingeing on--usually 5000-6000 calories worth and enough to make me sick, unable to move, hurting, and barely breathing--I would force myself to eat it.

Anyways, didn't mean to make this about me--I just wanted to let you know that I do relate and I know how difficult it can be to stop bingeing during the post-binge days of when we get back to eating semi-regular food portions, but food that isn't necessarily healthy. It's a process getting back in control and I know that you are working hard to move beyond this, learn from this, and grow. I thought what Sylvia said was so poignant, as well as what Carrie said. I had that same understanding of my own situation years ago (after I had lost 100lbs, only to slowly re-gain 80 of the pounds and pick up binge and compulsive eating again). I knew then that I was always going to find myself in the same place--losing and gaining, as long as I was focusing on the symptom. I focused solely on losing the extra weight for 15 years--this obviously wasn't a complete focus. The weight is only a side effect of my poor, abusive relationship with food, which was only a side effect of my unhealthy relationship with myself--unresolved emotions, low self-esteem, and deep-seated faulty beliefs about myself . I know you are cognizant of all that has been said, but I think you mentioned something before in another post a while back about us having an intellectual understanding of our problems, and you have this understanding of your own issues/problems. But it's getting down to the heart of it, moving beyond understanding the "whys" to focusing on the "hows." We all process our problems and emotions differently, and I'm glad to read about the tools that you are beginning to use to help you process and move beyond your emotions and setbacks. I feel the fight in you, you are not going down--take no prisoners Dutch--I know you can do this! And the "this" is not just to reach your goal weight, but also reestablish your relationship with food, feel great about yourself, and experience all of the joy that you want in your life !

Uh oh, work beckons--gotta run now!

Later everyone .

Sheryl