The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[Simmshe]

Hey guys, I just wanted to reflect on the mental part of Medifast, after finishing my first month. I haven't posted much about my day-to-day experiences--I'm just more accustomed to giving support and listening to others than I am with sharing and/or asking for support.

Well, I'm not going to lie and say that this experience has been easy--it's been far from it. After the "honey moon" period of the first couple of weeks passed (along with it's lightening fast weight loss), some old thought patterns took hold of me. This last week, in fact, brought with it some of the strongest urges to eat off plan that I've experienced. I found myself feeling familiar emotions that have always prompted binges for me--anxiety, namely. I've had at least three days over the past couple of weeks where I have felt anxious and stressed out from sun up to sun down, and in the past, food, and lots of it, has been my only release. My brain is wired for this now--this mechanism has been in place for 16 years and, of course, will not change easily .

So, I sat there in my bedroom a couple of nights ago, with the old, spoiled brat Sheryl (or the little devil as Camille called it!) telling me that it would be okay if I just had a "handful" of chips--I was going out of my mind with cravings . And mind you--I wasn't hungry. Soon, old voices--the enablers that have kept me fat since I was a teenager--promptly took their respective places: "Go ahead Sheryl, you need the carbs to raise your Serotonin level--you will feel soooo much calmer," "The scale hasn't budged in a couple of days anyway, you might as well eat a few chips." I was even rationalizing the "cheat day" plan. You know, when you are on a diet and you eat perfectly all week, and allow yourself a cheat meal, or even a cheat day, once a week. I laughed at myself as I was trying to convince myself to go through with it . "You know this will work Sheryl … the extra calories will boost your metabolism and your body will go back to burning even more the next day …" Ha! Camille, you are not the only schizophrenic around here--I have many conversations with myself sometimes!

Anyways, I'm very, very happy that I was able to lick these urges to eat. I'm on the look out for old thought patterns and triggers … they are quite stealth sometimes, so be on guard. I remember something that I read in a book about cravings (for anything addictive). The author said that the more we resist giving in to temptation, the more it loses its power. I'm finding this to be true.

So, I'm going into my second month 28.5lbs slimmer, and a bit mentally stronger . And I just wanted to let you all know that I am so thankful for you all. To be honest, another thing that has helped me to not give into those strong cravings the 2-3 times that I have had them, is this forum--I feel accountable to everyone here. And I feel like the better I do, the more I will be able to help someone else to succeed. I know that I'm human and that I may not always do this perfectly, but I certainly don't entertain the thought of fallibility--I strive to be 100% compliant. I want to be successful and I want this badly for all of us!!

Thanks everyone! Keep it going, and if it's not going, get it going !

Sheryl

[Sylvia]

Sheryl,

Let's face it - if this was easy, everyone would be thin! This is hard work. MF makes the weight come off relatively quickly but certainly not without a lot of effort, willpower and an almost fanatical commitment to the program.

The other real benefit of doing the full fast is it take you off of food - period. I used the time I was following the full fast to really assess those cravings and to think about my past "relationship" with food and how it will be different in the future. As I prepared meals for my family, I started thinking about what I would eat post-MF - not in a bad way like "I'm going to gorge on cake", but in a positive way like, "I will have a very small helping of brown rice, a reasonable amount of protein and really fill up on veggies".

I also have started to exercise just about every day. In reading various materials about people who have successfully kept weight off, the one common denominator seemed to be making exercise part of one's daily life so I am trying to make my exercise plan a new long term habit.

I understand where you are. After the honeymoon period when the weight seems to be just falling off. I have had several times where I was convinced I would never lose another pound. During those times, it is much easier to convince yourself that you should eat since you're not losing anyway. RESIST. You will continue to lose although most likely at a slower pace.

This is all about determination. You have it in spades. But please come here when you need help - you give so much to others but you also need to feel comfortable taking it for yourself.

S

[explorthis]

The other real benefit of doing the full fast is it take you off of food - period.

Sylvia said what I think perfectly. Here I go again, been there, done that, 18,392.4 times, all failed diets, all to no avail, all that have caused me to lose .325 pounds, and gain back 4.325 after I gave up, 15 minutes after starting. Ringing any bells?

I know there are advocates of the full fast (though few) and advocates of the modified version. WHAT EVER YOU CHOOSE IS FINE. My point, A FORMER FAT GUYS POINT is, we, all of us eat. We eat too much, what happens? We get fat. We are destined to be fat. Nothing we can do will change this. I am a fat guy in a thin guy’s body, bar-none. It’s been a little over 8 months for me since loosing the weight. I am still a fat guy. I am always gonna be a fat guy. I still have the same cravings Sheryl talked about above. The same Demons are in my head as hers, as well as Nancy’s, and yours. They probably will not go away, but I have learned in this past 8 months what I can and cannot eat. At least now, I can happily say I am thin, and when I do eat, I eat consciously – smartly, monitoring everything I put in my mouth. This happiness I have is NOW winning the battle, over eating compulsively. Its worth much more, being thin, than 2 seconds worth of shoveling a trough of food in my mouth. I am not perfect, I make mistakes, but once the weight is off, it’s an easier battle, SEEING what Medifast did for me, as opposed to being so obese in the past, it is EASIER. In the past, I just did not care, now I do. I am a proponent of the full fast; Sylvia says the “other real benefit” is taking you off food.

Face it folks, we have hard decisions to make, and the second we allow a “cheat” or “binge” in, our brains take over, like a malignant rapid spreading cancer. The brain is stronger than the body, duh, I guess it controls everything!? Why can’t my brain realize I worked hard for this? I lost a ton of weight, and I am happy for the first time in my life. Nope, the brain does not comply; it wants to sabotage the body. They refuse to work together, thus Guido (and I have to call on Guido frequently in this case) the mediator has to step in all the time, and just say NOT IN THIS MOUTH.

Thoughts…

[Simmshe]

I completely agree with you Sylvia and have read some of your posts about your weight loss slowing, or coming off in spurts. I draw strength from your patience and mental fortitude with this. I have to remind myself to be patient sometimes and to have faith that the weight will come off as my body wants to let go of it.

I'm one of those people who has been "possessed" by the scale. Until Medifast, I had banned scales from my house. In the past, one scale I threw away (a really nice one!), and another I gave to a friend to "babysit." But I've decided to keep my scale this time ... what I need to change is my expectations about what it will say and not let it dictate things for me.

I'm with you on the exercise, too. Thankfully, I have been a regular exerciser for the past five years (90% regular, I have had month-long lapses here and there), and I'm actually missing doing high intensity cardio . Exercise is not only a part of my physical health plan, but my mental health as well.

Thanks for reinforcing how I am going to need to be patient with my weight loss and not expect "miracles" from the scale. I love doing this full fast as an aid in breaking away from food. Having this break from food and being forced to come up with new ways to deal with my emotions-related cravings is a BIG reason for why I wanted to follow Medifast. It's 50-50 for me--50% for weight loss and health improvement and 50% for breaking food compulsion. After 12-16 weeks (most likely 16 weeks), I'm going to switch to the modified plan so that I can up my exercise and get my stomach acclimated to eating a bit more food, as I prepare for a trip to Europe in late December. By this time, I'm sure that I will have a much better take on food, eating, control. I feel like I'm being reintroduced to food and eating ... kind of like learning French grade school, only to lose your knowledge of it later because you stopped studying and speaking it, and then taking French again in college. You remember some, but you have to learn it from the beginning again.

And I'm working on the soliciting support part . It's hard for me because I have been this way for years, since my teen years. Part of my childhood/adolescence I spent in foster homes and group homes, which made me very independent and, sometimes, feeling isolated. Felt like I had to be extra strong and not rely on others ... just kind of fell into the pattern of not wanting or needing any help from anyone (and this has not served me very well). I'm glad that I am growing beyond this old way of being and allowing myself to be vulnerable by sharing and seeking help--I've never done this before. Thanks for reminding me that it's okay for me to ask for help/support when I need it .

And thanks, Mike, for reminding us of how the wanting-to-eat demon will always be around. In my mind I think that one day this demon will eventually disappear, but it probably won't--I will probably always have to struggle from time-to-time with this. Remembering this helps me to stay focused and aware, and to not get too ahead of myself, thinking that I can just have a relationship with food like people who have never been plagued by this gluttonous demon in their lives.

I have a Guido of my own, too ... don't know what I call her though. I kind of just think of her as a serious, no nonsense adult Sheryl, who needs to give some tough love to baby Sheryl sometimes!

Sheryl