The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[Nova]

Had some nice clothing NSVs today. I put on a couple of shirts that I bought that were too tight across the chest. Today, they fit! And this morning, I was at a new low weight for me: 162.5.

Been doing good with my transition plan. Today I'm up to carbs, and I was so looking forward to a simple serving of corn cake or brown rice, but as it turned out, we went to a Christmas party. I'd been planning on this, so I ate normally all day, and we had a nice L&G before we went. When I got there, I gave myself permission to try anything I wanted. I ended up with 3 nachos, 2 Ritz with some cheese spread and half a plate of apples and grapes. I even went back for a second helping of apples and grapes, and I managed to skip all the cookies and fudge.

I did find myself obsessing about the turtle brownies really badly though. So I went and put one on my plate and set it next to me. It helped, for some strange reason. That was my brownie, and I'd eat it sometime. Until then, I didn't need to worry about if any would be left, or what I could be eating. Eventually, I did eat the brownie, but it was fairly small, and it was really good. I very much enjoyed it. But that was it. My mouth wanted another one, but my stomach said if I gave it any more food, and especially any more sugar, I'd regret it, so I listened to my stomach. That's a huge change for me. I used to go to parties and eat far too much. Tonight, I felt normal, even if I was obsessing about the brownies in my head. I still acted normal and it wasn't too hard.

And I made sure to exercise before I went to account for some of the extra calories I knew I'd be eating. I have a feeling my new low weight won't show up on the scale tomorrow though.

[DogMa]

Yeah, but it'll probably be back soon enough.

I do that, too, with the obsessing. At Thanksgiving, I had a little taste of each pie plus a taste of stuffing and potatoes and whatever else. And yes, I THOUGHT about having more (especially of the pies), but it was more just a thought (gee, that was good, I want more) than a compulsion (MUST have more; must eat until it's gone). I knew I would be too full if I had seconds of anything, so I just ... didn't. I think we've learned control!

[Nova]

Amen, Robin. For dinner tonight, we had a friend over, and to celebrate my recent entry into Grain-Land (heh), we had a chicken curry stew and biscuits. I had one biscuit and a bowl of the chicken soup/stew, and as tasty as it was, I didn't eat any more because I was full. And I was satiated with my one biscuit.

Another part is that I think my stomach really shrank doing Medifast. I'm used to eating tiny meals very frequently. I don't want to get used to eating big meals again. That one bowl of stew (chicken, broth and a bag of mixed veggies) has made me uncomfortably full, so I'm doing housework to work it off. I can't imagine going back for seconds anymore.

[Nova]

Okay, maintenance is way harder than the weight loss phase. Made some christmas cookies this weekend, and I admit I had some. A total of 3 sugar cookies, for about 150 calories. I accounted for them in my daily calories, and I still didn't go over 1500, but i had a stomach ache from the sugar. Well, I learned, and today was a good day. Went up to 1600 calories because I exercised. My extra tonight was a single serving bag of healthy popcorn, for 110 calories. My weight is fluctuating by 1-4 pounds every day but staying around 165 still.

I have my meals all planned out for tomorrow. Steel cut oats with blueberries, and yogurt for breakfast, and flavored tuna on 2 halves of a red pepper, a salad for lunch.

[bikipatra]

The tuna on a pepper sounds yummy! I am having weirdo weight fluctuations too...

[Nova]

Did much better food-wise today. I absolutely loved breakfast. I made steel cut oats the night before, heated up a serving in the morning and mixed in a half cup of blueberries and a half container of vanilla yogurt. The rest of the vanilla and blueberries were my morning snack.

I think I'll have to come up with a lower cost alternative to lunch though; flavored tuna cradled in 2 red pepper halves instead of on bread. Red peppers are expensive. I hate to put it on bread because I want to avoid wheat products as much as possible. Maybe I can come up with a corn muffin instead.

My back is bothering me, so instead of cardio tonight, I'm going to do some yoga and stretching.

My advice so far...when you go into transition, avoid sugar for the first month. It makes it so much harder to eat fruit and veggies if you let yourself get that taste for sugar back. Bleah.

[dede4wd]

when you go into transition, avoid sugar for the first month. It makes it so much harder to eat fruit and veggies if you let yourself get that taste for sugar back. Bleah.

I'm writing this down...as I'm writing down all the pearls of wisdom you guys in transition/maintenance say!

Sounds like you're doing well and I'm so happy for you!

DeDe

[Nova]

I had my first 'free day' today, to borrow from DogMa's experience. I went on a girl's shopping day to Spring, and man, was it loaded with temptations. I think I did pretty well though. I didn't get any fudge or candy or kettle corn, and there was plenty to be had.

Breakfast was at Denny's, and as much as I was coveting my friend's pancakes, I had the skinny Moon sandwich with egg beaters and no cheese, and some fruit. Lunch was a low-carb wrap. I did really well until we got to the wine tasting, and I bought a glass to walk-around. I'm halfway surprised I didn't get hammered on one glass of wine, but I guess all the walking helped burn it off. And on the way home, we had a cup of cocoa and a brownie each. The rest of my night was L&G, then MF pudding. My total calories were around 1700, but I walked for 6 hours today, and I still feel like I made good choices while still allowing myself a couple of goodies. And I felt like a normal person, enjoying the day with my girl friends.

Now I just need to stop shopping!

[dede4wd]

It sounds like you did REALLY WELL on your free day! You made wise choices AND walked a lot!

DeDe

[Nova]

It's been so busy lately I can barely catch my breath. Sometimes I mean that literally. When I get stressed, I have mild anxiety attacks where I have trouble catching my breath. I'm getting plenty of air, but it feels like I'm not. It sucks! So I have to manage my stress levels very carefully.

Sunday I worked 4.5 hours, and the workload at work is insane. They've set us a schedule that is quite impossible to keep. Our special project is to take precedence over our regular work, but we're still supposed to do our regular work because no one else in the plant can. Our office is very small-4 people, and we all already do 2 different jobs. I could go on for much longer, but suffice it to say that the pressure is unreal and the support so far is not what was promised. I'm also going to lose a week of vacation, and I may lose the other one. THey're not sure yet. Fortunately, I'll get it restored in February, so I won't lose it completely. Here's to taking the month of August off completely and going to Montana or someplace cool.

In spite of the stress, I'm having no problems sticking to my maintenance plan. That's one thing that makes me very happy. I'm plenty content with my food choices. The only problem is that I made Christmas cookies as presents for my friends and coworkers, and I've got the left overs still in the house. So I had a couple of cookies last night, about 50 calories each. Still in my calories limit for the day, but I need to get rid of these things, pronto!

Yesterday's food:
MF oatmeal
Cottage cheese and applesauce
2 eggs and homemade tomato soup
MF bar
soy crisps (snack)
MF hot cocoa (after an intense cardio workout)
L&G - 5 oz sirloin, 1 cup steamed butternut squash and 1 biscuit
MF pudding
(plus 2 cookies...shhhh)

Total calories: 1586
Exercise: 10 min elliptical - hard; 15 minutes running at 5.0 (my fastest speed yet); light upper body.

[Karli]

Hi Nova, you are awesome !! I am so inspired reading about your life . It sounds like you are doing wonderfully even with the amount of stress and pressure that seems to be going on.

Does putting those types of things in the freezer work for you ? I find it works for me. I have a lot of goodies in the freezer for my hubby that I do not find myself being tempted to eat. If that doesn't work for you, give them away (preferably somewhere that you are not also sitting around all day long (like the office)) !

Keep up the fantastic work !!


Karli

[Nova]

Still doing good on maintenance, but I'll be glad when the holiday season is over. I think I've just about got all the pent up baking out of my system now, for which my husband is also grateful. Made one last thing for a gift basket for tomorrow and then I'm done. I hope.

I actually got to take Friday off, a small miracle right now. So we went to the Museum of Fine Art in Houston and had a good time. There was too much modern and contemporary art in there for my taste. I never did appreciate much modern art. They had an installation on color and shape, and I could see what the guy was doing with it. I kinda liked some of it, but he had one series of studies where he contemplated black on white, blue on white, red on white, and finally, yes, white on white. It was all about how he applied white pigment to a white canvas. Um....Give me the old masters any day. They exhibit on African gold was pretty neat too.

For lunch, we went to the Cafe Express in the museum. It's harder when you have the whole menu open to you, theoretically. I looked at the creamy potato soup, and the turkey and avacodo sandwich. In the end, I got grilled chicken and steamed brocolli and enjoyed it. I kept telling myself, this is only a meal to get you through the next 3-4 hours. It's not a fancy gourmet meal, so stick to your L&G. Once I'd ordered, I was fine.

[Nova]

I figured I'd post to stay honest and accountable. Sunday night, I was making stuff for a gift basket, and I decided to make some cookie bars. Turns out, the bars were too soft to give away. They would never have survived even a short transport. So I ate one. Hubby wouldn't eat them because they had coconut in them. Then I had a second. Then I gave myself permission to go crazy because I was just going to throw them away. I ended up eating four of them. Ugh. My stomach hurt. But I put them into my daily calorie counter, even though I hated doing it. Brought my total calories to 2400 for the day. The next day I was up 3 pounds, from the sugar, I guess. I felt so guilty that night, it just wasn't worth it. I threw out the bars and a couple other things stuck in my freezer, so I wouldn't be tempted. I exercised a lot and stuck to my eating plan. Lost 1 pound, but that's it so far. But I am doing well since then.

I love cooking and experimenting on maintenance. I count all my calories, so even if I don't get in 3 MF meals, I know what I'm eating and I'm trying to stick to my ratios.

WARNING-Food talk ahead.

The other night, I had blackberries spritzed with ICBINB, some splenda and a crushed up graham cracker. I microwaved them until they were juicy, soft and a little warm. Then I wanted something ice creamy to top them, like a fruit cobbler. I thought...and made up a single serving of SF, FF white chocolate pudding (65 calories). Total calories for my fruit dessert, about 200.

And last night, I made a cranberry butternut squash bake. 1 cup of cranberries boiled with 1 T honey til soft. Spooned over 1 butternut squash mashed up with cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup sliced almonds. Delicious, and it made 5 servings. I guess I'll be eating squash the rest of this week, but I don't mind. I feel like it's healthy, and 1 T honey split 5 ways isn't a whole lot.

On the exercise front, I'm keeping regular on my cardio. I tried to get to the gym to do weights yesterday. Got all the way there, started changing, and realized I had no shorts. I wasn't too upset though. I didn't feel very strong yesterday. Felt like I was coming down with something. Maybe it's this constant fog affecting me. Haven't seen the sun in a week.

[bikipatra]

Thanks for your honesty.

[Nova]

Thanks for your honesty.

You know, I think accountability is a big part of staying on track. It's easy to lie to yourself, or even to lie to a spouse about some things (I told hubby I only ate 2 bars). But when you know you have to be accountable for your actions, you think twice about what you're doing. That's why writing my food down every day helps me. Although I need to learn to look up the calories on some stuff -before- I eat it and not after, so I'm not surprised.