The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[hollyhouse]

Hi everyone,

I was just wondering if anyone made it an entire month without cheating even once?

hehe i think im trying to find an excuse to cheat hahah

but please do tell anyway im just curious is someone actually made it through without cheating at all.

[MusicalMomma]

Well, cheating on the plan only cheats yourself I know there are MANY that have gone way more than a month without a single cheat. It can be extremely difficult to get back on track after a "cheat". It all depends on how suseptible (sp?) you are to self destructive guilt. I'd advise not "cheating". You'll feel so great about yourself if you get past those cravings. Hey, this is a journey. I'm sure in the course of your journey there will be some celebrations, vacations and other foody events. If you're gonna have an "off plan moment", wait for a special occasion and make wise choices even then That's my two cents

To answer your question, I did have a couple of "cheats" in my first month. I can testify that the next few days are REALLY difficult to stay focused and work the plan because I have an addict mentality towards some foods. So when I go off plan, the next few days of cravings are REALLY difficult.

[cynben]

It's odd that you would ask this today. I actually cheated last night...but I had planned to cheat. I decided at the beginning to reward myself with each 20 pound weight loss...so, last night I ate two pieces of fried chicken. I am fine today (retaining a little bit of water) and don't plan to cheat again until my next 20 pounds come off. I can say, though, that it wasn't as much fun as I thought it would be. I got really, really, miserable full and it just wasn't that great. Who knows, I might not even do it again.

[falisamarie]

Holly

Today is my one month anniversary of starting Medifast and yes I did it without any cheats Was it easy NO!!! I just told myself that not only do I need this weight off but I need to learn to make wise choices concerning food. This is a new lifestyle for me. Something that I will have to do the rest of my life. Overeating and eating unhealthy food is not a good thing for you to do to your body no matter what you weigh. Please don't think I condem anyone who has a slip because, yes, it happens and we are all human. There were days that I spent praying to God for strength and I believe that He got me through. I am in no way a hero or better than anyone else here just very blessed to have had the strength to overcome temptation. You too can do this. Like Joyce said wait for a special moment and then use it as a reward. My B-day is May 8th and I have told myself if I make it that far with no cheats that I will allow myself one piece of lasagna which is my favorite. It gives me a goal to look forward to and who knows maybe when that time comes I will pass on the lasagna and stay on program till goal.

You can do it Holly--stay strong

Lisa

[ljm498]

Hi Holly. Go as long as you possibly can without cheating. Because once you do, it is very difficult to get back going again. I've been doing this since last March. If memory serves me correctly I went the first 7 months without one single cheat. Because I knew if I did, that could be it for me. Thankfully I have gotten over my all or nothing way of thinking. But I will tell you what, once I did cheat it was much easier to do it again and again. Finally, I've gotten my resolve back and will do this until my goal but it took many, many retries before I got back to where I am now. What finally got to me with cheating was that I was getting ticked off having to re-lose 1 or 2 lbs everytime I went batty. For about a month I was re-losing the same weight! ARGH! And not reaching my goal is not an option so I will keep doing this until I hit it. Don't care if it takes me another year! But, if it's all the same, I just assume it not

Really, do yourself a favor and don't do it!

[Hyperion]

Ok, time to share my thoughts about cheating. They may not be the same as you women, since I'm a man, but it can be interesting.

Since November 3rd, I didn't cheat once (full fast). Never, not even at Christmas. My girlfriend, who is following a proteined diet (kinda like the 5&1 from MF), cheats every week. We have discussed this matter for a long time now and here's what I came to:

Cheating CAN be a positive thing. When you cheat (or plan to), you have to ask yourself one fundamental question; and you have to be honest.

1. Are you cheating to reward yourself?
If so, cheating is BAD. Part of a diet plan (especially MF) is to learn to get rewards from other things than food. Offer yourself a haircut, new clothes, or whatever you think would be satisfying. Learn to ban food from the "rewards list". If you don't, chances are you'll have more problems when it comes to maintenance...

2. Are you cheating because of an emotion?
If so, cheating is BAD. Pigging out as the result of an emotion is a sign of a self-control loss. It is very hard to learn to control ourselves, but as for me, I learned that a good punching bag could do it. My GF goes drive with her car and finds a place with no people, then she yells very loud.

3. Are you cheating because you actually NEED food and getting bored of MF (or whatever the diet)?
If so, cheating is GOOD. But careful on that one. If you feel that you need to cheat out because you will not be able to hold on, my advice is that it's better to cheat than to go completely off the program. However, do that very carefully, as cheating too much will eventually make you lose all motivation in doing your plan.

Ok, now let's come to the survival guide of cheating! Cheating is something you can plan... My girlfriend was cheating with chocolate cookies, fries, pizza, etc before. She never needed those things, however they were the first things that came to her head.

If you know you will cheat eventually, buy some things that are not allowed, but not THAT bad. Here is a list (sorry I speak french so the terms may not be the exact ones):

- Rice cookies (30 calories per cookie, and they're HUGE)
- Light popcorn
- Low-cal chips (baked)
- Zero-cal coke
- Light cheez whiz (to be combined with celery, and don't put too much when cheating)
- Diet strawberry jam (10 cal/tbspn) --> for sugar urges

And while cheating, remember to eat slowly. Enjoy your cheating, and hopefully guilt will come at you and make you stop before you eat 800 calories

Those are only examples of what my GF uses when she falls off... So now, instead of cheating with half a bag of fries, or a slice of pizza, she cheats with 2 sticks of celery and cheez whiz, etc...

Of course, cheating is still cheating. But it's much better to cheat with 100 calories than to cheat with 800 (and let's not forget carbs + fat coming from fries, pizza, etc compared to what I just listed).

So here it is folks... As of myself, my only "cheating" consisted of dill pickles, shrimps, etc... Things that are permitted on the 5&1, but not on full fast.

For those of you who may not want to read it all, here's the important part:

Cheating is a reality that can be planned to limit it's negative aspects. And cheating is not ALWAYS bad, as it can permit you to stay on a diet instead of COMPLETELY falling off.

[Lauren]

Hey, Holly, and the rest of you folks who've responded:

So, right on the tails of Hyperion's reply (we have been doing that for several months now!), I must respond to your post.

First, Cynben, I wish you tremendous success and luck and everything good, but I can not get over the fact that you are rewarding your weight loss with food - especially off the diet! One of the reasons so many of us are here is that we've given food a power that far exceeds its intended use - as fuel. The constant urge to go to food for comfort, to feel better, more relaxed, whatever, that's part of our huge problem. I think (and yes, this is just my humble opinion) that using food as a reward just reinforces the "power" that food has over you. I think the rewards from weight loss are enough - feeling energetic, buying new clothes that fit, looking better in the mirror, getting compliments from friends and family, etc. It's all so good, we feel rewarded every day from it! I have truly begun to view food as the fuel that gets me through the day. Yes, I have cravings and moments where my old food thoughts creep in, but then I remind myself of how great I feel and look!

Okay, now to Holly regarding cheating - I do think you may be hurting your success by asking for others' cheating experiences. It sounds like you (or anyone else) could then use that as justification. Don't give yourself that option, and see what it feels like! I have been on MF since November 10th, and have not cheated once. But that doesn't mean that I know I won't cheat tomorrow. What it does mean is that every day when I wake up, I promise myself to push through the day without cheating. And every night when I go to sleep, I know I've been true to my own word, and I am proud of myself, and know that whatever the scale says in the morning is a reflection of my good day prior. For the first time in my life, I am NEVER worried about the scale, because I haven't ever done anything to affect it negatively. That's comforting, and it has given me a whole new relationship to the scale!

Anyway, we all have times in our life where we might slip, and we get back on the horse. But don't work a slip into your plan, it makes it too easy. Fight with every morsel of your being to avoid it. Make a choice to NOT cheat. And make that choice every day, or every hour, if that helps. Tell yourself that you can do this, and you can do it better and faster and more easily then ever before.

Don't give yourself permission to cheat, because you're cheating yourself, not just the diet, but your sense of fulfillment!

Lauren

[Marseilles]

Personally, I agree wholeheartedly with Lauren. I think planning to cheat is a very slippery slope, one that will often find people falling right off the medifast wagon. All of the non-compliant food will be there after your weightloss journey is complete, in moderation, of course.

I came to the realization that I am not denying myself ANYTHING when I am compliant to Medifast, but was when convincing myself that my old ways were the way to go. The only person you will be cheating by eating off program is yourself.

Cheers to your continued success everyone!
-M.

[falisamarie]

Lauren and Hyperion

Thank You Thank You Thank You!!! I never stop learning from this program and this forum. You are so right. I was planning in advance to reward myself with food of all things!!! That is what got me where I am in the first place. Now I will come up with a new reward for my B-day. You guys who have been doing this for a while are priceless!!

Thanks for the kick in the butt!!!

Lisa

[MusicalMomma]

I came to the realization that I am not denying myself ANYTHING when I am compliant to Medifast... The only person you will be cheating by eating off program is yourself..

Marseilles, very WISE words! I needed this reminder! Although I refuse to beat myself up over my off program moments, because I refuse to let guilt have any power over me. I do need to remind myself DAILY, sometimes hourly, that I am NOT denying myself ANYTHING, I am rewarding myself with good health! Cravings are a big fat LIE! I need to treat them as a lie! Cravings tell me "I NEEEED chinese food". That's a big fat lie!!!! I NEEEEED to be healthy and eat what is healthy! Thanks for that reminder!!

[Ginabobina1969]

I may not have room to speak yet since I don't start the plan till tomorrow.

I can compare this tho with when I quit smoking.
My original quit date was back in Oct of 04 and I had in the back of my head that I could have a cigerette "once in awhile" I did...and it kept the obsession of smoking active ALL of the time. When I was not smoking all I was doing was thinking about smoking and when I was smoking I was thinking about quitting and how guilty I felt by "cheating".

How does this compare you ask?

Well, Once I decided that I was QUIT...I was never taking another puff ...smoking is not an option..... the struggle with the obsession ceased. I became free from the obsession.
The answer to any crave was solidly fixed as NO! no more mental debates.

As I see it, the way to succeed at this plan is to follow the rules.
If you allow the thought of a "cheat" it will haunt constantly..you will be so obessesed with when and what you are going to cheat with that you actually lose sight of your goal. Make up your mind now that THERE IS NO CHEATING! Put that obsessive nagging "cheatin demon" in it's place and believe in the power within yourself to work through this and reach your goals.

Thats just my 2 cents.
You CAN do this...you can do ANYTHING you set your mind too! I believe in you!

(((hugs)))

[Hyperion]

Ginabobina1969,

I couldn't have brought a better example

[Lauren]

A round of applause for Gina, please! :-)

Lauren

[cynben]

Well, I guess I am in the minority, but I am doing what will work the best for me.....I am rewarding myself with food, but in my "world" by learning how to limit it and only "cheat" on special occasions or pre-planned times, I am learning how to control my food. For me (and this is just me), I believe that I have to learn to co-exist with food...not completely live without it. It can't be the answer to all of my problems and it's not my only reward (I bought 2 new pairs of jeans yesterday too), but a lesson in moderation.

I don't believe that anyone can lose the weight and keep it off simply by depriving ourselves 24/7...at some point we all have to learn how to eat healthy and how to, on occasion, eat not so healthy. Like I said, to me, it's all about learning to co-exist..not to do without.

Anyway, with that said, I will do what I need to do for me and each of you need to do what's best for you....and I applaud us ALL for it.

JUST MY OPINION

I wanted to add one more thing.....all of us with eating issues feel "guilty" when we cheat, and I am no exception. I think that learning how to refuse to let food control our emotions is also a part of the process. I am a brittle diabetic and have had eating issues for years, but after only one month on MF, I am completely off of my insulin injections (2 per day) and down 21 pounds. I am a firm believer in this program, but each of us have to tweak it to meet our own personal needs....i have to eat a few more carbs in the evening than most because of my blood sugar drops during the night. It is neither right or wrong, it's just what I have to do...and so far, it's working.

[Hyperion]

Haha cynben,

I feel a defensive opinion here

Your way to look at cheating is an excellent one, it makes sense. My thinking is that we indeed need to co-exist with food, learn to eat healthy and sometimes not so healthy.

BUT, where my opinion departs from yours, is that this co-existence cannot go with MF thingie. If you want ketosis to do its work, and have all the energy you want, and make your body act like it's supposed to act, I think we have to stick to the plan.

I take that time (the trip with MF) as a time to learn how to reawrd myself without food, how to break free from it. Then, on maintenance, the goal is to live with food, to choose the good ones, and to react accordingly (exercise anyone?) to junk food.

Maybe you are part of that minority who can manage to cheat while on a diet and go back immediately on track, but the fact is proven that most of people who cheats usually abandon after a certain time.

If you can cheat and still manage to lose weight, great! Keep up the good work! But cheating as a reward or as the result of an emotion is a bad thing IMO while on MF. Let's not forget it's our body at stake, not only our mind

That being said, I don't hold a grudge against you (as some may think I am harsh), it's very interesting to discuss different opinions on a controversed subject such as cheating (food of course!)