The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[Karli]

Okay, it dawned on me why today's weigh in feels so important to me. It's because I had been hovering for weeks up near or just below 170. I would get to 167 and do something stupid, putting myself back to 169.5. Then I really went off last weekend and though I didn't stuff myself, I ate completely wrongly and then exercised pretty hard and think that I retained water on top of all the junk that I ate, putting me back up at 174 last Sunday. Argh !!

Anyway, got back on and though I let myself blip again with the bars on Monday, and things seemed like a bit of a struggle, some things just clicked for me when I went shopping for some new clothes and got a new pair of jeans that helped me see where I am at with my weightloss. Well, it's been such smoothe sailing since then and I am now closer to 160 than I am to 170 and that just feels SO good after struggling for a few weeks.

I still have another week in my personal compliance challenge, and I am still using my little calendar to plan my MF days and help myself stick to my plans. I am going to carry this system over into transition and maintenance, but I think I will have to get a better calendar .

I am pretty happy with myself for having made it through a Friday and a Saturday perfectly on plan, that's not been easy for me for weeks now. I am really excited about and looking forward to this next week . Thanks so much to those whom have supported me along my way, both in private and in public, it's made such a difference for me .


Cheers,
Karli

[katieb920]

Yay Karli less then 10# to goal. You must be very proud of yourself wright now. I am proud of you. You must be doing cartwheels right now.
<img src="http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/18/18_14_103.gif" alt="SmileyCentral.com" border="0"><img border="0" src="http://plugin.smileycentral.com/http%253A%252F%252Fimgfarm%252Ecom%252Fimages%252Fnocache%252Ftr%252Ffw%252Fsmiley%252Fsocial%252Egif%253Fi%253D18%252F18_14_103/image.gif">

I can not wait to see Your skinny jeans. And your new goal pictures. Just a thought you might have to buy new skinny jeans. 9.5# can make a huge difference.

[nickieluv]

Congratulations Karli! The hardest part is breaking those old habits, and now that you've made it through this weekend compliant, next week will be easier I'm sure.

And yes, you may need new goal pants in another 9.5 pounds. Although I'm still wearing the same clothes after losing 25 pounds - so that just tells you how badly I was squeezed into them before!

Great job, and I've really enjoyed reading how happy you've been. I hope it keeps right on going! Oh, one last thing - Biki's right - you must have a bigger diamond. Or maybe a birthstone ring of the month you reach goal, or the month you started MF - something to symbolize your rebirth into life?

[Tawanda]

You are doing so awesome!!!

[Karli]

Thanks so much, ladies . I really appreciate your enthusiasm. I have to admit, I am pretty elated lately, I am doing cartwheels inside of me ... hee hee. Maybe one day soon I will even do some real live ones on our grass !

Well, yes, I definitely plan to have a new pair of goal jeans. I am hoping to have size 10's in the same kind of style I have now. I will keep these current guys around though. I am going to get a number of new things once I hit goal, and my hubby is cutely even getting pretty excited about fashion with me... hee hee. He wanted a fashion show last night in the new stuff I already got.

So, I have been realizing that I am going to have different "looks" ... I am going to be like a camellean all the time. When I sing in churches, I will have my "professional, cute, church-type, singer" look... hee hee. I have decided that look is pretty similar to my choir-member look, except this morning I wore pumps and a knee-length, black skirt with the pink sweater I am wearing now, and for choir I will wear my new skinny jeans . I won't just look like "Karli" and always have the same look, I am going to look like different characters that all represent parts of who I am ... hee hee.

In thinking about transition and maintenance eating, I have come to some grounding thoughts with it, thus far. One thing that I have been doing with my program lately is deciding ahead what I am going to eat and when. And, part of that decision process has been that I eat certain types of food at certain times during the day.

For example, while I am still on program my menu looks something like this :

7 -- Oatmeal or MF eggs (I choose the day before)
10 -- Shake
1 -- Soup
4 -- Bar
6 -- L/G
9 -- Hot cocoa or Choco pudding

And, I have two rules that can change what I eat in the moment :

1. An RTD or Shake can replace any meal at any time.
2. I may switch certain things, like where my L/G falls, depending on time constraints that I did not foresee when I made the plan.

Anyway, I really like the structure. I will keep something very similar for transition and maintenance, too. The main thing is that I keep more breakfasty items in the first part of the day, and the desserty things for later. Something sort of lunch-like in the middle, and my L/G for dinner. I have come to these decisions based on my invaluable experiences with both successes AND failures while in the fat burning portion of my journey. I have constantly been thinking about what worked for me and what didn't, and why.

So, I have realized that if I am home in the evening, I am apt to be more successful in my eating if I save my L/G for my second to last meal vs any earlier in the day. Same goes for the bar, I am more successful at staying compliant when I save it for later in the day AND during a time when I can't keep going to the cupboard for more (some of them have been triggers for me on occasion).

Also, I am much more apt to stay compliant in a day if I have a L/G than if I don't. So, if I am going to be away and BUSY -- busyness being an important part of staying compliant, as we all know -- during the time I normally like to eat my L/G, I will have my L/G for lunch (or whenever it will work out) so as not to skip it altogether and risk a binge later on because "I hadn't had any real food yet today."

Okay. Just felt like writing this down. This is just what seems to be working really well for me right now.

Cheers,
Karli


ps --- I am tempted to wear "frosted" lipstick with my pick sweater to my rehearsal this afternoon Am I just plain wrong with no escaping for that ?

[Karli]

Okay, I just tried something while eating my caramel nut bar (which has become my absolute FAVORITE). First of all, I really let myself enjoy it and, I addressed a sense of guilt that I recognized over enjoying something that seemed like candy and tasted *so* good to me.

I realized that I was not doing anything wrong by enjoying this. And, besides the fact that it's my right to truly enjoy flavor in life, it is truly guilt-free eating as it's actually part of my program and packed with nutrients that are great for me ! I am realizing more and more that kind of food and eating is my favorite; the kind that every part of who I am feels okay with (there is not some lurking condemnation going along with it). That will obviously change depending on the day, but the principle works for me.

So, what I actually "tried" or decided to take note on anyway, is in recognizing which bites tasted the absolute best to me. I realized it was pretty great to begin with, even better somewhere in the middle of eating it, and then it got less delicious as I finished it. This is interesting and something I am going to try with all of my food for awhile.

Cheers,
Karli

[DogMa]

That's great, Karli. I'm trying to adopt that attitude even with foods that aren't so great for me. The other night, I just really wanted a peanut butter cup. So since I'm in maintenance, I had one. I didn't fight myself about it, I didn't give myself guilt about it, I just ate it. And guess what? I had one, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I was done.

And count me in with the people who can't wait for the after pictures!!

[dede4wd]

I say go for the frosted lipstick AND the skinny jeans and cute sweater!

Your post about your different "looks" really got me thinking. My friend Lauraly and I got into this discussion last week. I realized that some of the things that made me "me" had gone by the wayside when the weight increased. I always used to wear a ton of interesting rings and something interesting jewlery-wise around my neck. It was always conversational. When I got big, the rings didn't fit and I didn't want people palying too much attention to me anyway.

Now I'm trying to figure out what "me" looks like now. I'm realizing that I can wear fitted shirts without showing too much and I can accessorize with some interesting shoes and such without putting off that "look at me look at me" look that just isn't me anymore.

One of my neighbors said something funny the other day...he said, "she's back" as I got in my car...I asked him what he meant and he said, "you're wearing your rings, and your thumb rings...DeDe's back". He's right, just a few little things, like my rings or your skinny jeans do so much for the motivation...that "we" are BACK!

It'll take a while for us to figure out our personal style, but I for one plan on having a GREAT time figuring out what that style is now!

It's infectious to her you so excited!

DeDe

[Karli]

Thanks, Robin and DeDe for stopping by with your encouragement. I really appreciate it !!

I have realized that I am feeling a bit vulnerable today (though doing very, very well), or I am not just feeling all of the sheer excitement and assurity that I have been feeling the past several days since my skinny jeans, but, this is good for me. One thing that I have been very aware of is the fact that, if I do maintenance correctly, being thin will become rather old news. So, I got a burst of motivation when I saw myself in skinny jeans and realized I had passed some kind of milestone in my weightloss, but after awhile, it's nothing but straight plateau ahead (aside from the small fluctuation I am already assuming will be around).

Two thoughts on this :

1. I have been in public before with my new look, but last night I went to choir rehearsal where I seemed to really make a splash. I got several comments from people -- and funnily, mostly it's only men who do the commenting -- about how great I am looking and so on.

Well, I suddenly started feeling some kind of pressure to now maintain this look. I remember this is part of why I "let myself go" in several ways for a time... I didn't want the pressure, I didn't want the expectation, so on and so forth. Sometimes any pressure about what people are expecting of me can be too much for me, but really, I have done this for myself and not for them. I can tell that I am going to be wanting to really dig in with that over the next several months or I don't think I will stand a chance. I need to lay down some really strong and deep foundation-stones here as a place for me to really stand on.

I think a key for me in my maintenance-success is going to be in having *a lot* of physical activity in my life, like I LOVE, and having plenty of alone time to remember who I really am without everybody expecting me to be somebody in particular. I guess I'll have more on that as I learn and grow.

2. Old habits, old habits, old habits. I guess they are often lurking, even when we don't really think they are there. I was recently with a group of people where I knew I would be seeing a woman who has been very hot and cold with me over the years. She has often been downright mean and spiteful, and I have become convinced that she just doesn't like me and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it. Anyway, I got to feeling pretty anxious about it last night.

Between both of these, I found myself back at the whole temptation with food thing again last night. And, I had too many soy crisps, too much L/G, and too much PB (and I had 2 snacks instead of one) LAST NIGHT. I was really struggling and I wasn't even sure why, but my husband was so kind and wanted to talk with me about it.

I was talking mainly about this woman whom I was going to be seeing today and how I felt about her, and how I thought she felt about me. I didn't even consciously recognize that this is what I was feeling so anxious about until I was talking with hubby about it, and as I talked with hubby about it and he spoke passionately and supportively in response, I found myself to be not in need of food anymore. Interesting.

Well, a couple of things I am learning. First of all, I can trust myself because I know enough about myself now to know that I will never give up. Second of all, no matter how good I look in jeans, I still have to address stuff inwardly and not let the wool be pulled over my eyes. The good times can be good and I can enjoy them as much as possible, but I won't let up my guard until there is truly nothing to guard against anymore.


Cheers to all and thanks so much for your support.

Karli

[Karli]

Some realizations :

Just because something's there doesn't mean I have to eat it.

Just because I think about eating it doesn't mean I have to eat it.

Just because it tastes good it doesn't mean I have to eat it.

Just because I want to eat it, it *still* doesn't mean I have to eat it.

I don't ever have to eat it.



And, along those lines :

Just because I took a bite it doesn't mean I have to finish it.

Just because I took more than one bite, it doesn't mean I have to finish it.


And something random :

I can fix meals for others that are entirely program-compliant for me.

[nickieluv]

Some realizations :

Just because I think about eating it doesn't mean I have to eat it.

Were you in my head tonight or what? THINKING about cheating is not cheating. Maybe it's my Baptist background that says if you even think about a sin, it is as if you committed it already. So what the hey, in for a penny in for a pound, right? Nope, that's not how it works - or there would be not one blessed person on earth worth saving. It's never too late to turn around, walk away from the fridge, throw out the rest of the cookie, whatever. Very striking realizations - thank you, I needed this tonight.

[Karli]

Were you in my head tonight or what? THINKING about cheating is not cheating. Maybe it's my Baptist background that says if you even think about a sin, it is as if you committed it already. So what the hey, in for a penny in for a pound, right?

I COMPLETELY GET IT !!! :shock:

argh... eh ?

Always happy to be of help to you, Lady Nickie .

[Mike]

Just because I took a bite it doesn't mean I have to finish it.

Just because I took more than one bite, it doesn't mean I have to finish it.

In addition to Nickie's, you've been spying into my brain as well
I had this realization just recently. I was eating something, and it wasn't really what I wanted, but I was eating it anyway. I stopped, and thought, I don't HAVE to finish this (I don't need the calories anyway). So I did, and I actually felt good about myself for doing it.

Glad someone actually put the words out there.

[Karli]

In addition to Nickie's, you've been spying into my brain as well

Yeppy, I spied it with my little eye

I had this realization just recently. I was eating something, and it wasn't really what I wanted, but I was eating it anyway. I stopped, and thought, I don't HAVE to finish this (I don't need the calories anyway). So I did, and I actually felt good about myself for doing it.

Glad someone actually put the words out there.

Mike I am really happy for you because that is a step of progress for sure. Congrats on that and it's nice to have the good feelings to go along with it !! Thanks for stopping by and lending your encouragement, it's very appreciated .

Karli

[Mike]

Anytime.... we MMT people gotta stick together. BTW, nice new avatar pic.