The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[smartiegrrl]

Eariler this week my 2nd order arrived. My initial order was the 2 week starter kit and I didn't care much for the oatmeal bars and I haven't even cracked the oatmeal packets. I never really was a fan.

Anyways, while I was ordering the new supplies I thought it would be fun to try some of the new products. I didn't suspect the temptation I had set myself up for. I got the box and I wanted to try *everything* right away!

But I've been good and not succumbed to the temptation and so everyday is a new MF taste experience, whether is the soups or the bars or the shakes. Its fun and I look forward to it now every day!

I have to say I am really digging this plan, mainly because the results are fairly quick. Its taken me a month to lose 8lbs in the past - and it was a struggle the whole time.

Now for the expected temptation. My BIL's bday party is this weekend. My husband of course knows I'm on medifast, but I'd prefer to dodge the issue with my in-laws. Not so much because I'm embarassed, but rather I don't want to answer a lot of questions about it and I don't want unsolicted "advice".

Last weekend I think I handled the spontaneous just fine. I ended up in a diner at 3am and I had scrambled egg beaters with some cheese on them. (The cheapest date ever. ) The next day I found myself eating my salad and protein at a bar. I think my choices were ok as I still lost weight. But Birthday Cake? I'm almost dreading this gathering. :-/

Any tips for the newbie?

[explorthis]

I commend you for being strong and resisting the additional treats, I know this has to be a chore in itself. My take on friends/relatives knowing, is say all, or say nothing. This is your deal, not theirs, and if you wish to keep mum on it, then make something up. There is always “excuses” to be found.

Question about your “diner” expierience, uh egg beaters and cheese? While on Medifast? This is definitely NOT on the lean green modified version…

Just curious.

-Mike

[smartiegrrl]

Question about your “diner” expierience, uh egg beaters and cheese? While on Medifast? This is definitely NOT on the lean green modified version…

Just curious.

Well it was 3am and I was hungry, playing sober cab for a bunch of drunks and I needed something in my stomach from the club soda and diet coke I had been drinking all night and it really was the only thing on the menu I could eat. (w00t - run-on sentence) I mean hash browns are out. Sausage and Bacon, nope. Pancakes or Waffles? Toast? Hmm no. I can't stand egg yolks, so nope and egg beaters are gross by themselves and cheese isn't really carbs. It was a diner - all breakfast joint that the hipsters go to after bar close. There is no salad or sandwiches - if something is green there, you probably shouldn't eat it. I know that 2 servings of egg beaters are ~60 calories so even with the cheese it could not have been more than 200 total. Probably closer to 150.

But I think I did ok considering the situation and I still lost 8lbs that week. I mean I *could* have had a cajun skillet or something. (Their andoullie is house-made and quite yummy.) Instead I watched the others eat their skillets. It may have not been lean and green, but I'm patting myself on the back for that regardless. I still think it was the best choice at the time.

Next time I'll carry a bar along with me. (I carry the *tiniest* purse, a bar would be a tight fit, but I suppose the nutrients are there even if its smushed.)

[LongWay2go]

Smartiegrrl,

I tried to resist, but can't. I have to respond.

cheese isn't really carbs

Hon, on THIS planet it is! You seem to have your heart in the right place, but it seems to me that a salad with no dressing would have been a better choice. You might also consider carrying a bigger purse with some RTD's in it. Personally, whenever I travel I carry an insolated lunch bag with RTD's. That way I can't make excuses to eat what I know I should not have. You have to be honest to yourself. An excuse to eat is just that, but don't kick yourself about it; just plan better for next time!

We're here to support you all the way!

- Gerald

[hawaiiwhatnot]

Hi smartiegirl,

Know whatcha mean about others' critical comments about a 'fasting' diet. I now just tell people instead that I'm on a strict diet prescribed by my doctor, and boy - that really shuts their water off! They have no comebacks, and actually back off thinking it's a serious matter not to be interferred with. Most people respect your privacy and won't ask any further questions. If they do, I tell them it's been used by John Hopkins University for decades. This is diet namedropping I guess. People then don't go off on the usual dissertation of the dangers of a liquid or fasting diet. If they still persist, I tell them I had to go on this diet to prevent diabetes. Then the subject is usually done. Then, people actually watch what you're eating or drinking, and this helps YOU to stay ON PLAN! Hope this helps you avoid those little pitfalls like the birthday cake and 3AM hunger pangs.

Bless you for being a designated driver, and you have my utmost respect and undying admiration for managing to carry a purse almost too small for a MF bar! This is, well, simply a miracle.

I'm gonna put my purse on a diet,
Camille

[explorthis]

and you have my utmost respect and undying admiration for managing to carry a purse almost too small for a MF bar! This is, well, simply a miracle.

Ok, this brought on an outloud chuckle.......

Tito, get me a tissue...

[AJ]

I think you made the best decision you thought you had at the time. As we are in the learning process, we may not make perfect choices. But we are trying.

Hopefully, as we continue our journey, we learn, we improve and we move on.

Good luck as you continue to refine your Medifast journey and hang tough!

AJ

[smartiegrrl]

yeah I carry only a wristlet. The outside pocket holds my (very tiny) cardcase and the inside fits my cell and some lipbalm. I've never been one to carry a large purse.

I broke down and had a very small piece of birthday cake tonight. I just had salad for dinner and I managed to avoid the lasagna. But my resolve grew weak at the birthday cake. Hopefully it wasn't enough to ruin my diet. Other than that - it was a normal medifast day.

Tomorrow is my weigh-in and marks the two week mark. I'm excited to start excersizing again. I was starting to miss my elliptical trainer. So I have a date with it in the morning. ~<3

[Nancy]

A piece of birthday cake knocks you out of ketosis.

Three more days of faithfully Medifasting it and you are back in the fat burning stage.

Ketosis is where your body has good energy, no hunger, and rapid, consistent weight loss.

Eating cake (bread, pasta, taters, fruit or drinking fruit juice, alcohol, etc.) tips the balance of nutrients and can jeopardize your ability to stay on Medifast.

While it may SEEM unfair, the truth of the matter is this:

it takes as little as one slice of bread or 15 carb grams for your body to shift its choice of fuel from the stored fat - and that's what we're trying to do here, Folks - to using the 'ready' fuel - or in your case, the birthday cake.

When we are properly Medifasting our bod is in a mild state of ketosis - this is the Fat Burning Mode and it is easier to be program-compliant because hunger does miraculously go away.

I always ask myself, "is it worth three days of growling stomach, cravings and being ticked off at myself to eat that piece of cake?"

It would have to be a mighty good quality piece of cake - a home made from scratch or specialty bakery cake to get me to decide it would be worth it.

[Lois]

What a thread

Eggbeaters, purses, and all!!!!! Where else but HERE, on our beloved MF site, do we get to read stuff like this?!

Yes, this IS a learning process....at times we make the best choices we can, and realize later that NEXT time we'll plan ahead or choose a different option.

Nancy is SOOOOoooo right about the 3 days of no carbs and staying in ketosis. Today is DAY 5 of my 100 Day Challenge, and the growlie stomach is GONE (well, the stomach is still here, but the growlie part is gone )

When I started MF, I got a grown-up looking insulated luch bag for toting my supplies....it is stocked with:

MF packets (shakes and soups)
sweetner
tea bags (I am a tea snob and will NOT drink poor quality tea )
bullion cubes in a little zip bag
an extra shaker jar
1 or 2 RTDs

This little bag stays packed at ALL times, so if I'm in a hurry, I can just grab it and run, knowing I will NOT be caught by surprise and "forced" in to hunger/bad food choices.

If I am in a resturant and ask for hot water, I can make tea, soup, bullion, or MF hot chocolate right at the table

I don't worry about being "embarassed" on this diet. It is not embarassing to be fasting or losing weight. It IS embatrassing (to me) to be 90 pounds overweight and feel depressed and self-concious about my body every waking moment of the day! Those days are GONE FOR GOOD

Keep up the good work, Smartiegirl! Stick close to the program....IT WORKS

hugs,

Lois

[LongWay2go]

Lois, you are my HERO!!!

- Gerald

[Lois]

Gee, thanks Gerald

hugs,

Lois

[explorthis]

Hey, SG.. Lemme ask you a question in all honestly. What is a normal M/F day to you? Is it a L/G modified version, which includes your shakes, and a small dressing free salad, and perhaps a small piece of chicken? Or is it doing Medifast and having some of this and some of that, thinking that since you are not eating everything, like usual, that your piece of cake is allowable?

What actually goes through your mind when you have this piece of cake, but don’t have the lasagna? Do you justify it and say OK, since it is a piece of cake, though a small one, its OK? Do you think to yourself, this is not OK, but my strength is wavering, and I just don’t care?

Medifast is a decision that is made for legitimate weight loss, and it is a costly one at that. This includes, not only $, but their CORRECT choices as well. There are rules and regulations to make this work the way it is supposed to work. Your choice is your choice, and I am chastising you for it, though you might be reading into this like it is.

Are posting your eating off the program, reaching out for help, wondering if there is anyone out there in the same boat as you?

I want you to succeed at this. My point is, having cake (SUGAR), and cheese (CARBS) are a detriment to your success, though small in the amounts you listed, still a detriment. They hamper your loss, and lest we forget, you’re here to succeed.

Thoughts?

-Mike

[smartiegrrl]

Hey, SG.. Lemme ask you a question in all honestly. What is a normal M/F day to you? Is it a L/G modified version, which includes your shakes, and a small dressing free salad, and perhaps a small piece of chicken? Or is it doing Medifast and having some of this and some of that, thinking that since you are not eating everything, like usual, that your piece of cake is allowable?

I'm doing the modified version. So I have organic mixed greens with some balsamic vinegar and occasionally I'll add a small amount of veggies, if they are alredy pre-cut at the store. (Something I've always enjoyed anyways) and usually chicken. I weigh out the meat on my digital scale. I look forward to this meal.

What actually goes through your mind when you have this piece of cake, but don’t have the lasagna? Do you justify it and say OK, since it is a piece of cake, though a small one, its OK? Do you think to yourself, this is not OK, but my strength is wavering, and I just don’t care?

It was more like I wanted to be part of the celebration. And I didn't realize the ketosis "balance" left so little room for error.

Medifast is a decision that is made for legitimate weight loss, and it is a costly one at that. This includes, not only $, but their CORRECT choices as well. There are rules and regulations to make this work the way it is supposed to work. Your choice is your choice, and I am chastising you for it, though you might be reading into this like it is.

Actually for me, its significantly cheaper than the money I was spending on food before. I've never really been a binge type eater or someone who sneaks food. My main problem is that I'm lazy and I tend to go for the convenience foods and/or my husband and I eat out. We were eating out about 5-6 times a week. A large chunk of our disposable income goes/went to eating out. And we're not talking Perkins, but upscale places where we would have a before dinner drink and maybe split a bottle of wine over dinner and then an afterdinner drink on top of some really rich food. You get the idea. My main issue is that our recreational happenings started to solely revolve around food and drinks.

My usual day would be wake up, have a latte. No breakfast or maybe the left overs from the night before. Meet a friend for lunch or have a frozen lunch, like Amy's. Maybe have a cookie or small scone or crackers with another latte to tide me over until DH gets home. Go out for dinner, bring home leftovers. On the weekends, go out for drinks with friends that usually land us in a late night diner for an early breakfast.

So my DH is also having to withdraw from the eating out and he's been eating a lot of chicken and salad for dinner. For him tho, he can eat like a horse and never gain any weight. Whereas I gained a bunch of weight after adopting our new lifestyle but I've been "maintaining" at the 210/220 mark for about 4 years now.

This is the thing I like about Medifast most, that the packets are easy to deal with and work for someone lazy like myself. They seem to be working. Only two days I can think where I was noticably hungry. But OTOH, this isn't really teaching me to be a more responsible eater, etc. Thats something for me to keep in mind.

Are posting your eating off the program, reaching out for help, wondering if there is anyone out there in the same boat as you?

Part of it is to keep me honest. Its pretty easy to deny it if you don't type it up, eh? I mean there it is for everyone to see. The other part is to get some feedback and advice about to better handle situations like this in the future.

[smartiegrrl]

When I started MF, I got a grown-up looking insulated luch bag for toting my supplies....it is stocked with:

MF packets (shakes and soups)
sweetner
tea bags (I am a tea snob and will NOT drink poor quality tea )
bullion cubes in a little zip bag
an extra shaker jar
1 or 2 RTDs

This little bag stays packed at ALL times, so if I'm in a hurry, I can just grab it and run, knowing I will NOT be caught by surprise and "forced" in to hunger/bad food choices.

Ahh thanks Lois - this is a really great idea! I could probably just leave this in the car and then I don't need to carry the smushed bar in my purse.

I am also a total tea snob! There is a great place in town where they hand blend full leaf tea. Good stuff! I drink a lot of tea.