The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[joylk]

Hello to all. I started this program on Saturday March 12th, 05. I had lost 11 pounds my first week. Then easter hit..then job training out of town. I just can't get focused. I am at 17 lbs lost 6 weeks later. I know this program works but I can't get a grip. I need to lose 45 more pounds. I have my supplies ready and bagged up. I WILL start tommorow the full fast for 1 week to get things going. WHY AM I SO WEAK? Chocolate is still the same and yes lays chips have not changed! Why do I do this to myself...OK thanks for listening. I NEED TO DO THIS BECAUSE I NEED TO BE STRONG FOR THE FUTURE.

[Dean0408]

Hi Joy,

Don't think of it as being weak or strong. Think of it as a choice. When we choose to eat chocolate or potato chips rather than staying on plan, in reality we are saying that the brief pleasure we get from eating sweets and munchies is worth more to us than being thin. We take the easy path and give in to our desire for junky food. It takes no perserverence to consume the foods we love rather than the foods that are for our own good.

I have seen a lot of people starting over with Medifast. Some more than once. Maybe it is because starting over is something we can always do. "So what if I eat this bag of chips, I can always start the plan again tomorrow.........or next week." When we do this, we are postponing our goal of being slimmer, feeling healthier and looking better.......and for what? A chocolate bar, some potato chips..........maybe some fries or a pizza........the list is endless.

Do the foods we have always eaten (and overeaten) for years taste better than diet food............of course they do. Is it hard to switch to Medifast food and stick to the plan?...........well, the answer to that depends on you and your situation. If you are totally fed up with being overweight........if you have health problems due to the weight you are at..........or if you cannot participate in some activities due to your weight........then going on the Medifast plan becomes easier and your resolve and determination to reach your goal keeps you from being tempted. If you are going on Medifast in a halfhearted manner, then staying on plan is extremely hard.

You should not decide to go on the plan unless you are 100% committed to do so. Without full committment, you will be in misery and will stray from the plan.

Some may tell you that it is okay to go off the plan.........that we all have done it........ I don't know if we all have done it or not......... and even if we have, the last I heard, two wrongs STILL don't make a right. Actually, I do not really think everyone goes off the plan only to restart again and again. I do know that with each restart, the date that you will be at your goal weight gets pushed further and further away. You will begin to get disappointed in youself..........you may even decide to give up. This would be a mistake.......but who wants to fail over and over....right? But why fail at all? Remember..........you will only fail if you CHOOSE to fail.

The neat thing about the Medifast plan is that it is a proven product. If used correctly, it flat out WORKS!! If only we could be placed in an induced coma......and have Medifast fed to us intraveinously.......we would awake and be at our ideal weight. Well, that is not going to happen, so...........we become part of the equation. Medifast plus our committment equals our goal weight. We have to take part in the transition. Medifast provides the tools..........but YOU are the workman who takes these tools and creates a NEW YOU!

When the job is finished you will be very proud of your work. Yes, it is work.........you have to work hard to avoid temptation. The beauty of it is ..........that is ALL you have to do.

Make up your mind.......and JUST DO IT! YOU have the power.........go ahead and use it! Choice equals Control. Control equals POWER!!!..........

I know you will be successful once you decide a slimmer, healthier you is much more valuable than a bag of chips.......Good Luck!!!!

Dean

[bikipatra]

I disagree in the friendliest of ways. I don't believe that you have to be 100% committed to do anything. You just have to have enough willingness to drink that first shake instead of having waffles in the morning. Then you drink some water. Then you say, yeah you know what, I think I can drink some bouillon and not have some chips. Then you have another shake or some soup! You get by until your feelings match your actions. You don't feel yourself into RIGHT action, you ACT yourself into it. Sometimes it is minute by minute but you get by your first day, and then the next until you feel ok on MF again. I am speaking from the experience of a person who has come back twice. Once after trying MF for 5 days in early March, and quitting for two weeks, and once after my battle with the bottle which is well documented here. Of course I wish I had never "relapsed" but my story is my story.

"If we wait until everything, absolutely everything is ready, than we shall never begin" Turgenev

[Dean0408]

Hi Biki,

Feel free to disagree......I expected some disagreement with my post since I took a somewhat different path than is the norm regarding going off plan. Now I too will somewhat disagree, again in the "friendliest of ways", with your comment regarding my post.

I believe that success in any endeavor begins with a 100% committment to achieving success in the area you are pursuing. Whether you are attempting to invent the lightbulb, become a concert pianist, build a business, "put a man on the moon and return him safely to earth by the end of the decade" or lose weight............you HAVE to be totally committed to successfully achieving the task.

Yes, there will be stumbling blocks along the way......a bad idea here, a wrong turn there.....but........what gets you back on the right path quickly is NOT reassurance from others that eating a bag of chips is okay, but reasserting the committment you made to yourself to lose weight and realizing that to stray is to insert a self imposed set back on the path to achieving your goals.

It is interesting that you chose to quote the 19th century Russian novelist, Ivan Turgenev. Most of his quotes are somewhat whimsical in nature........however the one you cited seems clear cut.

".....if we wait for the moment when everything, absolutlely everything is ready, we shall never begin." Ivan Turgenev

You took this to mean that you should begin even without 100% committment...........I take this quote to mean that you SHOULD make the committment and get started even if all the other components of the task are not at hand.

We all want to lose weight..........we all want to continue to eat the foods that made us flabby.........we can only do one or the other. We can pray that we will still lose weight and still eat a few snacks of our choice....

Turgenev has a quote that addresses this:

"Whatever man prays for, he prays for a miracle. Every prayer reduces itself to this---Great God, grant that twice two be not four" Turgenev

Dean

[heathhes]

Hey There! I am new to this board. I think you are both right in some respects. I do think there needs to be a determination and commitment to start something like this, but I also think it is a moment by moment plodding along to hang in there. I did 2 weeks and lost 8.5 pounds. I went off for about a week. Gained 3 and have started back. I hated the whole re-entry my body went thru, lighted headedness, hunger, etc... That is my new motivation to gut this thing out till the end. I do believe in the ketosis and want to keep that fat burning going!

[bikipatra]

I said nothing about reassuring people that chips were ok. In your post before mine you gave ADVICE. You gave opinions I did not do this. I shared my experience. This is different. You can't disagree with someone's EXPERIENCE, silly.

[raederle]

I hated the whole re-entry my body went thru, lighted headedness, hunger, etc... That is my new motivation to gut this thing out till the end. I do believe in the ketosis and want to keep that fat burning going!

Hi healthhes, and welcome to the board! I just wanted to butt in between biki and Dean to tell you I feel your pain (I *thought* I was committed to MF but realized I really wasn't when the holidays hit and I let my love of cheese and wine win out over my desire to be thin...). Congrats, though, for picking yourself up and moving forward! Don't look back-- keep making one good choice at a time, every minute of every day, and you will make it. Burn that fat! Drink that water! Shake that shaker cup!

[DonicaB]

Joylk I have asked myself those same questions many times. I would like to suggest you get the book "Life is Hard, Food is Easy" by Linda Spangle. Someone on this board suggested it to me and it is changing the way I think about food and myself. I have only read 3 chapters of the book and I cannot believe how mixed up our thoughts can become. I really think it would help you.

Heathhes, welcome to the board. I think you hit the nail on the head (where else would you hit a nail ). I too think they are both right and for the exact reasons you mentioned. You will succeed in sticking with it, and we are here to help one another when the going gets rough.

DonicaB

[Dean0408]

Biki.........I think we should shut our dialogue down before people think we are arguing. We are discussing........right?

I am not disagreeing with your experience.......you are right, how can you disagree with experience. One may be able to disagree with the conclusions one draws from experience.......but, that would indeed be opinion.

As for my post being advice rather than experience........advice is based on experience, isn't it?

The committment thing to which I referred is just the way I approach life. I have been doing it for a long time now.........it has served me well in all things I have attempted. Whether in school, on the battlefield, in business, in sports or in my personal relationships........It makes me do my best.....

Dean

[doglover]

Hello new friends! I am going to respectfully say that I think everyone is right - for their own experience. We are all different and come to the table w/ different plates! I wish you much success on your experience and hope that coming to this forum will help be an inspiration to you as it has been to me!

Welcome!
Donna

[raederle]

Hey Donna-- I meant to ask ya-- how didja manage to lose 149 pounds this week? I see you've not only reached your goal, you've surpassed-- weighing in at only 1 pound!

How will ya ever find bathing suits that small for your Jamaica trip...?

[doglover]

Hey Rae - too funny! I don't know how that happened but maybe it was wishful thinking!

Actually - couple things. I've had to go off plan for one meal (dr orders due to a med test) and that really pi..ed me off! But I got right back on the horse and realized it was only 1 meal. Not one whole day! And the next day I immediately got on the scale and had not gained any weight, thank goodness! But as of yesterday morning I still have not lost one single pound

I am being realistic that this is that "magic" number where my body says, ok, not bad, I can stay here a bit. But then I went and tried on a bathing suit. OMG! Yuck! So I feel really anxious to get some more pounds off. I am trying! I am keeping a healthy outlook and slurping away!

Anyway...talk w/ you soon. I'll celebrate big time when that scale moves again!
Donna

[raederle]

Donna, silly woman, remember how you would have looked in that bathing suit at 176??? You've lost serious flabbage!!! You should be proud!!! And yes, I think you're completely right-- you're sitting at what your bod thinks is a comfy weight, but as Success In a Shaker Jar says, this is common, and it, too, shall pass! Once your bod figures out you're not relenting this time, the rest of the weight will come off. (I know you know this, but sometimes it feels better to see it out loud! )

140 will come! Remember how long it took me to get from 127 to 125? Gads!!!! But it did happen, and the best part was, I continued to lose fat but retain/gain muscle, so when I eventually reached 125, I looked (I thought, anyway!) much better than the 2-pound difference would imply. Chica, at 140, you will be fantabulous, so don't give up! You'll get there. Your bod just doesn't realize it yet!

[bikipatra]

Dean I totally get (I sound like a valley girl!!! ) and respect that the 100% committment is the way that you have done things and it works for you! I bet a lot of people are like you! That is your experience. Some of us get by on seconds and inches doing what we know to be right whether we feel like it that day or not! That was my only point about my experience. Someone may doubt my committment because I do spend a portion of my of days and my dreams thinking a martini would be good. But regardless of my thought life and feelings, I am a 100% success if I do not drink and stick with my MF program. Whatever gets you through the night and on to the next shake

[Dean0408]

Fair enough Biki........

I will tell you that not a day goes by that I don't want a pizza......or a big old burger and fries.........and classic coke by the gallon.....and spaghetti and meatballs..........and chocolate chip cookie dough.......and gyros.......and on and on....

When I get to my goal.......and it will be soon........I will have some pizza.

The only reason I don't have a little now..........is that I would be so MAD at myself...........I have found that the worst person on this earth to have mad at me is.............ME!!!!

As for the valley girl thing.......I hear the real thing all the time since moving to SoCal.............. I didn't know the word DUDE could be used so many times in normal conversation..........(shades of The Big Lebowski)

Dean