The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[dede4wd]

I know not everyone will be willing to put this amount of work into planning and prepping meals, but I feel like I'm planning an experiment on myself. This meal plan is supposed to be very effective at stripping off body fat and retaining muscle, and since I feel very flabby now, it's exactly what I'm looking for. I plan to start in earnest next Monday, and I'll be tracking meals, measurements and taking pictures to see if it works.

If you want something, you have to plan and work for it! If not for you, then for who? Not everyone may be willing, but you're doing it for you!

I think it's GREAT and I will be watching carefully to hear how it works out for you! What plan are you following? Is it a particular book or expert?

[Nova]

If you want something, you have to plan and work for it! If not for you, then for who? Not everyone may be willing, but you're doing it for you!

I think it's GREAT and I will be watching carefully to hear how it works out for you! What plan are you following? Is it a particular book or expert?

That's exactly right, DeDe. The same thing applies to Medifast, going to school, doing well at work. Everything. If you see someone who looks great, chances are, they worked hard for it. You have to do the same thing, or accept that you're happy with a flabby body and watching TV all night. I exaggerate, but you see what I mean.

I've been reading articles by John Berardi. He's a nutritional PhD who advises world-class and elite athletes on their eating. You can Google for his name and 'precision nutrition' and you'll find links to lots of articles he's written. Be warned, it's very in depth and a little over whelming at first. I've read a lot of it before, years ago, but I wasn't ready to take it in and follow it until I'd learned eating discipline on Medifast. And there's still a lot of things I'm trying to understand. Namely, calorie intake.

He's got a book called PRecision Nutrition that a lot of weight lifters swear by, but it runs $100 and I don't have that much excess cash right now. So I'm using his articles and his 7 rules to make up my meals.

[Nova]

I'm beat. I feel bruised all along my neck and shoulders. I can't stand to have anyone touch it after my massage yesterday. She got a lot of kinks out, but I seriously messed it up somehow. So today was a rest day. Big rest day. Got up, got a hair cut (and a new style), then back to bed for 2 hours because I was too tired and sluggish to even watch tv. How sad is that? Feel better tonight though, but still sore.

Found a new recipe. When I was young, my mom would make a chocolate mayonnaise cake. Everyone who hears it says ewww, gross. It's delicious though. You replace the oil and eggs with mayo, which is nothing but oil and eggs anyway. It gives the chocolate cake a great tang and very moist. I would make it and eat the batter. I thought I'd never be able to have it again, but tonight, I put 1 T of lite Kraft mayo in my MF chocolate pudding and it almost tastes like the cake batter. Yay! 20 extra calories - I can deal with that.

[Nova]

I love snuggly kittens, but do they have to be quite so snuggly when I'm trying to type? It's really hard to kill orcs and monsters when there's a fuzzy face peering up at you and a fuzzy butt resting on your mouse hand.

Work is getting difficult. Have to go in today, Saturday, for 4-6 hours. A couple times this week we've worked through lunch which meant I couldn't get my workout in. Rearranged my evenings to do them when I get home. Except for Thur. I was just so tired and I had a monster craving fora BBQ baked potato from the local BBQ joint. I'd been having this craving for a week now, so I gave in and called it my cheat meal for the week. Then I came home, had a piece of Christmas candy and threw the rest of the box out. I'd been saving it, and hadn't had any in a month. It wasn't stale (guess there were a lot of preservatives or something) but it just didn't taste that good. And it made my stomach hurt a little later from the sugar. Never thought I'd be throwing out chocolate candy.

[bikipatra]

I try to believe that all those preservatives keep me young! Did you see your pic in the Disney thread? I hope you like it!

[Nova]

I'd been skipping weighing myself every day since I was getting worked up about it. So I did this morning for roll call, and I'm up 5 pounds! I don't know if I should or cry. I thought I was doing everything right. I'm eating 5-6 small meals a day, mostly L&G with one serving of grain a day. Sometimes 2 because that's my favorite thing, but I don't eat simple carbs. It's something like a slice of whole grain bread with FF cream cheese, or oatmeal with cinnamon and splenda. I had one cheat meal this week. Just one. My calories stay between 1600-1900 depending on my exercises, and even that cheat meal didn't take my calories over 2200 for the day.

Everything I've read says I should be at 2000-2200 for maintenance, so I should be losing weight. Not frackin' gaining it.

I haven't had breakfast yet and I'm so mad I just want to starve for the next 2 days, 'so I can lose weight'. I know, I know. It doesn't work like that. I'm so disgusted with everything I don't know what I'm going to do. Oh, I won't go drown my sorrows in food. I'm not giving up.

It just seems like I can never win. I can never maintain my weight. I thought it would be different now, and I feel different. I like exercise (well, mostly), and I really have changed my eating habits. I feel like no matter what I do, the pounds are going to come sneaking back and in another year I'll be fat again. It doesn't help that I never managed to reach my goal weight in the first place and still have a fat stomach and legs. @#(*)$ @#$)#@ 5()#$.

[bikipatra]

I don't know much about maintenance, so forgive me for popping in here. But as much as you are dedicated to your fitness regimen couldn't this gain be due to muscle gain, which weighs more than fat?

[Lauren]

Morning, Nova, I hope you're feeling a little better than when you posted last. :-)

Okay, take a few deep breaths, let's chuck the emotional component aside and look at this from a practical side. Everything I've read from you Nova, you seem very practical and you seem to be attacking the diet and exercise regimen with care and thoughtfulness.

Can I make a few recommendations? God knows I am no more the master of maintenance than anyone else, but I've been maintaining below goal now, so I can at least share what's working for me. And since I am also an avid exerciser, it seems we're on the same page in terms of calories out vs calories in...

First of all, while getting on the scale might make you crazy, in maintenanceland it is REALLY important to weigh daily, or at the very least every other day, because it's the only way to gauge what's working for you and what's not. Also, that way, if you see it go up a little, like 1-3 pounds, you can automatically tighten the reigns for the next couple days, to bring it back down. You can certainly do this with your 5-lb gain as well, but it would feel less daunting, and less overwhelming, and I assume you wouldn't feel like it came out of nowhere. The truth is, Nova, this 5-lb gain could be ANYTHING! You could have been below goal for the whole week, but yesterday had too much sodium, and it blew up today. You know what I mean? But by not weighing everyday, you don't know when the "flare up" occurred. So there's no way of isolating the reason.

Next, like Biki said, you are exercising a lot and lifting a lot. While muscle does weigh more than fat, it's not likely that you gained 5-lb in muscle in one week. However, you know as well as I that if you have a good lifting session, you tend to retain a lot of water to protect the muscles. I always weigh more the morning after a good strength training session. Have you been able to determine around how many calories you're burning during exercise? Is it possible you're not getting enough calories?

Did you do the formal transition process, Nova? Where you incorporate each food group over a period of time? Because I know that Jo and I both stretched out the transition phases even longer than recommended, so that our bodies didn't "rebound" with new foods. It's possible that even if you did do transition, your body is just trying to adjust.

Also, just out of curiousity, why did you start maintenance before goal? Were you planning on still going back strict to get to goal, or are you planning on staying at this weight and exercising to firm up where you are? I am curious, because it's possible that if you hit MF strictly again for a couple weeks, you'll lose the 5 plus perhaps some more.

Most importantly, Nova, absolutely do not get this defeatist all or nothing, my life always turns out this way, what's the point attitude. You've done AMAZING things, you treat your body wonderfully now, you exercise regularly, eat healthily, you are living a life of wellness. This is just a momentary setback which can be remedied so quickly it's crazy. Do not get frustrated, just get focused. Use this as a tool to figure out what works and what doesn't, treat it like a science, look at all the variables (what food have you eaten, how much exercise, is it TOM, did you have too much sodium, was it right after a lifting session, etc) and then try to attack them.

You are going to do great at this maintenance thing, just keep it simple. Perhaps this week you don't do the whole grains, maybe go back to the plan for a few days, and get on the scale, and see if that helps. Do not lose focus! It's going to be fine, I promise!!!

We're here if you need support, I am happy to do anything I can to help!

Lauren

[Nova]

Thanks Lauren and Biki. I've gone over all sorts of reasons in my head, and I'm at a loss, still. My period ended a week ago, and I'm not eating any more salt than I normally am. I know I take in too much salt, but in my thinking, if I'm always high, I'm always retaining the same amount of water, so that's not a variable. If that makes sense.

Calories in is easy to calculate, but I've never been able to really gage calories burned. I've yet to find a good calorie calculator that I can truly believe in.

I followed the transition plan as it's laid out in the QS guide. The only thing I did differently was after the first 4 weeks or when you go into 'maintenance', my calories ended up being closer to 1600-1700 instead of 1500.

*shrug* Not sure exactly what to do next. I'll keep chugging away at exercise. I took some more pics today because I want to change my definition, and it's always nice to have something to compare it to for after. I have to say, I was really surprised when I looked at my pics. I did the standard bodybuilding pose, front and back, and I have a lot more definition in my shoulders and arms than I had thought. And in profile, I'm not as fat as I see in my head. So...eh. Good and bad. I'll keep on with what I have been, although I'm going to make more of an effort to get more protein and fat and less carbs. My ratios have been more like 50/30/20 instead of 40/30/30.

[DogMa]

One thing they do mention, I think in the guide, but it may have been somewhere else, is that you may need to keep your calories lower than normal for several months after transitioning. Because, they say, your metabolism will have slowed from being on so few calories for so long. So maybe you just need to cut back a little longer?

[Serendipity]

I probably eat less than 1500/day on most days. I'll plug today into Fitday tonight and let you know, but I'm pretty sure it's more like 1300-1400 on a normal day.

I do not, however, exercise like you do. I do light circuit training 3 days/week and jump on the treadmill a few times/wk for 1/2 hour.....that's about it.

[Serendipity]

Nova, Today was a typical day for me. I had the following:

MF oatmeal
MF bar
MF pudding
2 L&G's
Banana
Yogurt (no fat)

Total calories - 1,277
Carbs - 139
Protein - 129
Fat - 38

Later, I may have some soy crisps. So my total calories for the day will be around 1400.

Don't know if this helps, but for what it's worth..... I would say I do this 6 out of 7 days. The 7th day, I have a more relaxed menu, but don't go overboard. It's keeping me, give or take, 4 pounds under goal. I dipped a little lower for a few days, so I ate regular meals including some starch, then went back to above when my weight went back up to 130.

[Karli]

Hi, Nova. I just wanted to post in and say that I am thinking of you and I know this will get figured out. Overall, though, I have to say that I am very impressed with your healthy lifestyle. Don't give up on that, you know you are doing some really great stuff as evidenced by your photos . You are probably still finding the balance of it all .

Cheers to you,
Karli

[Nova]

Thanks for all the info and nice words. I've been alternately sulking and busy. Oddly enough, I heard something that made me feel better, and you'll probably think I'm insane. We'll all die someday.

I heard that on the radio as I was flipping through channels. I think they were talking about disorder or giving yourself to the universe or something touchy feely. But it's true. I only have a limited time, so I want to enjoy it. Whether my weight is up 5 pounds or not, I'm no where near where I was a year ago, and I'm healthier. And somehow, I managed to lose 4.5 pounds overnight. I would have thought the days of 5 pound weight swings were over, but no. :P

Here's my typical workday meal plan:
2 egg beaters/ veggies and 1/2 serving oats
L&G
Post workout shake of 1/2 serving oats, 1 scoop whey protein, 1/2 banana
soy crisp snack
protein bar of some sort
L&G + occasional fruit
PRotein pudding

It just varies so much depending on the 'lean'. Today it's 1458 calories (36/44/22), and yesterday it was 1770 calories (40/33/30) (carb/prot/fat). The only difference was having leftover meatloaf (extra lean ground beef, 5 oz) instead of the tuna steak I had today.

I'm trying to modulate it to around 1600-1700/day when I exercise and 1500 when I don't. So I give up worrying about it. I'm eating right, exercising. There's nothing left I can do. Whatever happens, happens. Meanwhile, I'll be happy until I die.

[bikipatra]

Thanks, Nova. Indeed, life is a death sentence. Let's be happy while we can. Really, thanks. I was feeling really sad this morning and feel a bit better.