The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[Mike]

The oatmeal was not cold and mushy - it was hard and warm. I don't know if I didn't use enough water or if I let it sit too long after cooking, but it was a circular pancake of oatmeal that you could have eaten with a knife and fork. Still not awful, though, the little peach bits saved it from being a total disaster.

I am hungry and fantasizing about cinnamon rolls. I'm reading the MF book and it talks about how baked goods are so bad for you because of the high fructose corn syrup so of course all I want is baked goods.

Nickie,

On the oatmeal... if you let it sit to rehydrate, you may have oatmeal taking the shape of the bowl. Here is the solution... add a little more water and restir it. It will save you from the toughts of how ucky it may seem (I know, I've been there). This pretty much works for all of the "sticky" types of medimeals.

On the cinnamon roll... try the muffin recipe Di has in the Lean Cuisine section.... use the apple cinn oatmeal and add a little more cinnamon.
I've actually been contemplating using the white grape peach infuser in that to see what the flavor is like myself.

Hope your day goes well today.

[nickieluv]

Mike - if you have to bake it, I can't make it. Our oven is broken and we haven't decided yet whether to fix it or get a new one. The price for each is similar, and we probably won't get around to either for a while. Although, I could go cook at my mom's - she's literally right around the corner.... OK, I'll go check out the recipe.

Hanging in there today. Had MANY thoughts of 'I've done pretty well today, maybe I can just have a "normal" dinner' but I am staying strong. Had the hot cocoa today and I'd forgotten how good that was - I have lots of that, I might just have cocoa for all the supplements until my sweet tooth dies down a bit.

Determined to make today a fully on-plan day - except for the fact I've had no water - but meal-wise, fully on-plan.

[rodeomom]

I LOVE the hot cocoa cold, but I am not crazy about it hot - go figure!

Anyway, sounds like you are going strong! YAY You!

[nickieluv]

I officially made it through the day - hopefully it's not a problem that I've had to have my last two supplements really close together due to not wanting to be up late. I'm having one more cocoa (that's three for today!) and then heading to bed. Hoping to catch a big chunk of the baby's long sleep session - watch, tonight she'll be up in an hour.

No water at all today - I know, that's not good. I'm usually better about that but I was hitting the soda to try to feel like I was really having something - probably had 50 or so ounces of soda today. I'll stick to water tomorrow if I'm feeling stronger, or I'll at least have SOME.

Very proud of myself today that I stuck to it and didn't give in. Doing the same tomorrow!

[Mike]

Once you get into the fat burning state, the water will be extremely important. Try to drink as much as you can, and maybe ween yourself off so much diet soda.

You are on track though.

[rodeomom]

The absolute BEST water out there is Smart Water! I love it!! The flavor is really clean and fresh and it has electrolites in it too!

[Mike]

By the way... Dasani at Disney World.. $2.00.... Smartwater... $3.50.


We drank Dasani once our stash was out.

[katesmom]

Go Nickie Go !!

We are all in this together and I really believe we can help each other ! Thanks for stopping by my journal and offering support..It means a lot !

I am trying to get more water in too. Love Diet Coke, but can be really gassy with the Medigrub food !

Here's to a great "losing" month of August !! Yahoo !!!

[nickieluv]

It is so nice to have so many of you keep stopping by to offer support! So much for me thinking the boards were quiet - I'll take credit and say I brought you all out of hibernation.

Thanks for the water advice - I'm using my fridge dispenser which filters the water but nothing exciting. Free - on a major budget crunch for the next 13 months, remember? Thankfully I got over my hatred of plain water - now I can chug it down like I used to drink regular Dr. Pepper! And when I'm thirsty (like dying) it's the first thing I reach for. The diet soda is more for getting me through these first few days - it's something I can have when I feel like eating, and because of the flavor it seems more filling. Pretty soon I can use my infusers to fill that bill, right? (Thanks again to my benefactor. ) But normally I can go without it. And in fact it was a splurge item, so won't be in the normal grocery budget from now on anyway.

So I can't help getting on the scale multiple times a day - but I think I'm doing much better at not letting it influence my choices. I was down already yesterday despite my first day including only 3 supplements and then a mini-binge - so that might have led me to say that I could 'get away with' not being perfectly on program. Then the number I saw today confirmed that the program is what it is for a reason - it WORKS! Can't wait to weigh in next week officially, but even if I don't lose a pound more than I already have it would be a great result.

Heading to a family thing tonight, so I'll be having my L&G for lunch and saving my bar to have there. Practically all of my immediate family have been on MF in my absence, for varying amounts of time (inspired by my example - what a trip for the baby of the family!), but they are all off it now for various reasons. Sad that they didn't stick with it, but the upshot is that they understand the plan now so I'll have lots of support this time around. Maybe when I start showing these stellar losses in the next few months they'll be re-inspired to start up again.

So yesterday I kept from eating by researching family vacations - a Disney cruise. Not sure that we'd ever be able to afford it this year, but I have a sort of 'bonus' check that I get in December for an extra-curricular at school so I thought that might conceivably pay for it. Looking to go in February or April, and it was lots of fun to look at the staterooms and the activities for the kids. Then in the evening I looked at a Disney Florida vacation, but my husband says he votes for the cruise. Maybe we can do Disneyworld when the girls are older. I really would like to try to budget for a family vacation once a year - it may be a pipe dream but there are so many things to do, and they don't all have to cost thousands of dollars. We have some fun things locally, too (well, within 4-5 hours drive).

That's all for now I guess. I'm not feeling any urge to eat off-plan so far, so I'm hopeful that maybe since this is not my first go-round, I'm getting into the groove faster. Now I have to find the cable for my camera so I can upload the 'before' photos I had my husband take last night. You should see the computer desk - wish me luck finding a darn thing....

[DogMa]

I don't know what length cruises you were looking at, but when we went a few years ago, they had a land-and-sea combo, so we had a few days at the parks and then a few days for the cruise.

[Diana]

. . . : : strains of "It's a Small World" and the theme from the Mickey Mouse Club floating through the air : : . . .

[nickieluv]

Robin, I would LOVE to do the land-and-sea but for the time frame and number of people we have to work with, it was like $10,000. In my dreams! We're looking to spend about a third of that and even then, it's a lot of money in our world....

Diana, I could tell you such a story of 'It's A Small World' - my family laughs hysterically at it but from my point of view it's a tale of anger and horror.... I won't tell it, just keep you guessing....

Hmmmmm. So, it seems that a few months of non-dieting behavior does not suddenly erase years of programming. As I put in another thread, I have restarted every day since Wednesday. Well, not technically every day, since I was compliant one of those days. But 4 of 5 anyway. I realized this morning that no day is going to magically feel like the right day to stick with it. And while I may feel strong in the morning, it's very easy to make bad choices - and precisely because it's easy, I'm vulnerable to doing it.

I should know by now that I have to just muscle through and DO IT already to get through the first few days. Each day OP does give you strength to attack the next one with vigor. But that doesn't start to happen until you get in 5 to 7 days - at least for me - until that streak is reached, it's just as easy to rationalize going off as staying on. This is all part of my 100 days - shame on me is all, if I get to the end of it not one pound lighter.

I keep trying to think of little motivational things that will make this easier. When will I learn that it will never be easy? Not for me, I don't believe, not ever. I think I could be always fighting the battle with food. I mean, I WILL be. I have to eat my whole life, and I can't envision a time when it won't be a battle. Unless, of course, I give up and stop caring. Then it's not a battle.

Okay - so food does not exist any longer. There is only one shelf in my house - the one with the MF on it. My fridge does not even open - it's frozen shut and only the water/ice dispenser in front works.

My hope is that I have done/am doing/will do the right things to raise my kids with healthier food attitudes. I'm sure I'm making mistakes but while food can be pleasure, I am trying not to equate it with comfort or love. I know I'm not always doing that well, but I'm trying. With two girls and a husband who likes to joke about weight, I have to be sure he understands how sensitive kids can be to those kinds of remarks. And while my daughter knows I have special food, I am trying not to give her the idea that I'm not happy with myself (think I'm ugly/fat/whatever) because I don't want her to enter the place where she thinks her appearance determines her worth. But it is so hard to know if you're doing the right things by your kids.

One thing we do know is that kids copy their parents, good and bad. So if I can do my part to make us a healthy, active family, I have to do it. Each time I choose to binge rather than fuel my body properly and with love, I am sending the wrong message to my daughter. It is for her that I need to make these changes. For both of them (although the infant isn't aware of things so much right now, of course).

I am in conscious control of my choices.
I prefer to be active and energetic.
I eat right and exercise.

Oh, and by next summer I'm going to be one of those smokin' hot mamas in a bikini and heels. What? Nobody in real life wears a bikini and heels? You're kidding??!?!? Next I suppose you'll tell me no one vacuums in their best dress and pearls either....

[nickieluv]

Noticing some behaviors that are almost always linked to each other:

Desire to eat (has now faded but was strong the last few days)

Desire to spend money (peaking today - have made some little purchases recently but there's the whole vacation thing that we can't afford but I want to book anyway....)

Staying up late (usually I'd be up late AND eating but now I'm just killing time online - ostensibly waiting for the baby to wake up but there's no reason I couldn't carry her up to bed right this second, or two hours ago for that matter)

All of these are unhealthy behaviors - at least the way I do them. I'm not eating carrots or paying off credit cards or doing housework after all. And they all seem to go together when I am sad, lonely, depressed.... They all seem to be a way to feel better temporarily without addressing the real issues or problem.

Not sure what the problem is - I suppose it could be as simple as being tired. Or it could be deeper. But tired I can try to fix - by napping and by going to bed early. The baby is getting to a point where I can get at least a little nap (overlap when both girls are sleeping) if I force myself to lay down (or is it lie down?) instead of doing mindless pointless stuff. And at this point that also means eating. I think if the choice is eat an MF meal on schedule OR get a nap, I have to choose nap. In the long run it will probably be better for me. I can also ask my husband for an hour or so in the early evening when he will watch the girls so I can snooze for a bit. I think I definitely need to make naps a priority until I'm feeling better and the baby is sleeping through the night. I can't keep staying up half the night 6 nights a week and trying to make up for it on the one remaining night when my husband takes baby duty (I'm on baby duty overnight lots more because I'm not working and he is).

OK - goals for this week (Mon-Fri):

Take a nap at least once a day, twice if I feel like I need it.
Go to bed before 9pm every day.
Stay on MF even if it means a few extra supplements and no L&G.

If I want to binge I can at least shift the medium to MF meals (not bars). It's a better bad choice. It's progress. And then I'll re-evaluate where I'm at emotionally on the weekend. So - no non-MF foods for the next 5 days, and no limits on the MF food I need/think I want. Keeping the L&G but measured and only if I want it - if I'm too tired to make my dinner then I tend to think of snacking on junk and instead I need to just accept that I don't want to make dinner and have another supplement or two instead. This will deplete my stash a bit sooner but it's worth a shot I think.

I'll probably be on a ton tomorrow so I won't say that I won't check in, although I'm going to try to focus on my kids and not this place. That sounds bad - I just mean I can make a greater effort to play with my older daughter and not let my tiredness mean that she's bored all day long while I sit and veg. OK, baby is stirring, time to go to sleep - eventually, after changing/feeding/burping - it will serve me right if she picks now to have an alert couple of hours looking around at the world....

[nickieluv]

Not a great night's sleep but about as good as you can expect with a three-week-old in the house. Man, but is she cute. I think that's a baby's best defense - pure adorable-ness. No matter how sleep deprived you can't help but coo and smile at that little bundle.

Had my cocoa today - not within an hour of waking but that, too, will be a rule I'll relax somewhat since I do have to feed two girls before I feed myself. I imagine the timing will improve as we get used to each other and I get used to being on plan again. How long does it take to make an MF meal, after all?

Has anyone bought a case of shakes/cocoa anything before? Do all cases have the same amount in them, and how much is in a case? I'm thinking when I do order, the hot cocoa will be the closest I can get to a chocolate RTD and so I'll probably want a case of that, plus a couple boxes of bars to get to my $200. Just wondering how long a case will last.

I'm off to edit my trade post - not getting any more nibbles so I guess everybody here is pretty happy with what they have. I've pulled a few things that I think I can handle pretty well - but still, if anybody wants chicken-based stuff or chili, seek me out.

[nickieluv]

Doing well today - two supplements down and I'm feeling in control with the girls, I feel like I'm getting a lot done today even though I've basically just been here, on e-mail, and on the phone. But you have to catch up with people sometimes, right?

Fully committed to being on plan today. Just thinking about today, though, not tomorrow. Going too far ahead mentally gives me false security, thinking I've got lots of time so what's one more day off plan? But if I ever want to reach my goal I have to have more days on than off, and right now I'm not doing well as far as that goes.

I'll still post a bit of a loss tomorrow, though, if today was any indication - not a huge loss, like you'd hope for in your first week, but not too shabby either considering I'll have been compliant only 2 days out of 7. I'm going to turn that around, though - taking words like 'hope to' and 'try' out of my vocabulary for the time being. I either will or I won't - 'try' gives me permission to fail and 'hope' takes all the power away from me, like I have no control over my eating. And like it or not, I make all the choices - good and bad.

I'm off to play a quick game with my oldest and get her some lunch before the youngest wakes up. Oh, and I opened the curtains today and let in the sunshine instead of living in a dark cave - I think that's done wonders for my mood as well. Uh oh - baby is stirring - gotta hurry!