The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[DogMa]

Tim - Yeah, as you can guess by the 1 a.m. meal at the end, I work nights so I don't go to bed till 3 a.m. or so, and I don't get up till close to 11. That first meal is never more than half an hour after I get up.

Mike - I've been curious about the full fast since I started. You don't get hungry? Or bored? And do you have a plan for maintenance? I'm hoping the many, many months of measuring my lean and green helps me train myself for the "real world." (This isn't a criticism in any way. I'm just curious about other people's strategies.) I think that if I had only shakes (and you really don't even have the soups or anything? That's so impressive), when I finished losing the weight I'd just totally slip back into my old habits and gain everything back immediately (still one of my biggest fears with this program). Do you plan to stay on the full fast the whole time, or eventually add the meal or what?

Nancy - Is there any research on how people doing the full fast maintained their weight long-term vs. people on the 5 and 1 plan?

[coco]

hey there, happy saturday night! I am about to have my last medimeal, so I think I'll post for the day

Today I had
1) oatmeal
2) chili
3) lean and green: salad of baby spinach, onions, and hard boiled egg
(one whole, one just the white part)
4) mint bar
5) choc shake
6) about to have some chix rice soup

my water total for the day will end up being a bit over 100 oz. Yay, it was another good MF day! ope everyone is doing well =)

[mytime]

At the risk of looking like a total nut I will post that the last month or so I have eaten the exact same thing sans the "1." Which is apple cinnamon oatmeal at 6am and then 3 chocolate puddings spaced every 2.5 to 3 hours and then my 1 at about 5:30 which is some kind of meat and broccoli (yes broccoli everyday) and then guess what I have about this time of day - yes ! WINNER ! Chocolate pudding. Ok so I guess I am a nut. But I LIKE IT. Mytime

[sidrah]

mytime,
How do you make your pudding? Just regular in a cup add wate or do you mix it upa little with flavors adn frozen, creamy? You must really like the taste of it!

[Nancy]

Many of you do not know my story and you will have to really read my Newsletters and previous postings to get it all in your mind. It is just too much for me to write it all out for you at 2:30 AM. I have to get up early for church and that will be all too soon if I go into my usual writage mode here.

When I began my program, I was so out of control with food, I could not be trusted with a fork and spoon.

When I first began recounting my story to others, I thought that I weighed 259 pounds – our scale was wonked out and after checking my doctor’s print out, I now know the freshest weight at her office was 267 pounds. I was 53 years old.

Anyhoo, I was more than fat and I was under tall.

I was morbidly obese and I needed serious intervention.

I knew weight loss would not be a piece of cake for me and it was best that I went cold turkey from food.

I lost a load of lard drinking nuthin' Orange Pineapple shakes five times a day.

Once in a great while I swilled a French Vanilla 55 made with sugar-free root beer or a Dutch Choc instead of the OP shake.

All were made in the blender with 8 ounces of water and whole lotta crushed ice. Smoothy-style.

After the first three weeks of going to to avoid TV commercials and their foody temptations and to forget about my growling stomach (there are cures for that growling and now I know them!)

I had: No hunger.

None.

No cravings. Oh yeah, there were foody desires now and then but no true cravings.

I talked myself out of them when they came by.

After three months, I switched out one or two of my five shakes for a packet of Medifast Oatmeal or Creamy Brocc soup.

Then sometime around the 3.5 month mark, I became very adventuresome and had a packet of the itsy bitsy Multigrain crackers with my soup and I always licked the inside of the package to get every crusty salty bit.

Once in a while I had a Chocolate Divine bar in place of a shake. After four months I had totally OD'd on the OP shakes and switched to Dutch Choc.

I had a teensy bite of lean beef on my birthday (3 months & 5 days into the plan) and nearly had a crap attack in the van on the way to our condo. It was a blessing I was with friends… we were on a three week vacation in Kauai.

After a while I began to like the oatmeal more and more and ended up having three shakes and two oatmealies a day and some days I reversed it. Thrilling variety, huh? I never get tired of tasting thin!

I followed the transition program very carefully – the only digression at this point was that I made a dippy choice to eat salmon (very fatty fish) instead of very lean deli chicken for my first lean protein portion.

I wrote about that adventure somewhere here in the Forum – I am too lazy to search for it right now but it has to do with tending to the violets in our parlor and having a random act of poopage (use some of those key words as you search) right there in our front room near the bay window. Leopard Woman just loves making a spectacular spectacle of herself...

I did not cheat the entire time I was on the weight loss program.

I was serious about getting the lard out.

I decided I would not go through with my doctor’s suggestion of gastric by-pass surgery.

This was it and nothing else would do.

Medifast was my last hope.

Medifast was my only option.

I was desperate to succeed so why would I want to cheat and leave myself with nothing else?

As a general rule, cheaters get caught and they don’t win.

Foodies cheat, get caught up in the food game and they don’t end up at the goal line.

Snitching and snacking got me to live my life larger and larger and I hated it and I hated myself. Then I began to hate others because of my failures. No more.

I was desperate enough to do it right.

The weight loss averages advertised by Medifast are based on the 5 and 1 Program, DogMa. Dr. Andersen said the difference in weight loss rates is not significant between the two programs. Complications can be.

Here's the sticky issue...

Medifast and Take Shape For Life does not recommend that people use the complete program unless they are under the strict supervision of a physician to avoid complications to their health.

A certified Health Advisor is not the same as a doctor. We do not have adequate training, the knowledge or the credentials to monitor a person on the complete program.

There are possible health complications (gall bladder issues is one of them) when people do not follow the transition plan and for people who are on the complete program for a while and then pork-out. 5 packets a day is considered to be a VLCD (Very Low Calorie Diet) and Take Shape For Life’s 5 and 1 Program is a nutritionally balanced low calorie meal plan, allowing for adequate protein levels and the caloric intake is in the range of 800 – 900+ calories, depending upon the products and the Lean and Green choices (the diabetic and senior programs include fruit and some other protein additions).

Diabetics must see their physician or diabetes specialist for monitoring their health and absolutely cannot be on the complete program.

Seniors who use the 5 and 1 Program must do so under their physician’s supervision and absolutely cannot be on the complete program.

People who take medications or who have medical conditions are recommended that they participate in the programs only under their physician’s supervision.

Medications most likely will be readjusted and or eliminated as their weight is reduced.

I am not a dietician.

I am not a physician.

You need to check with your physician before beginning any weight loss program or exercise program that will affect your health.

I am not qualified to monitor people on the complete program.

People who choose to do so are on their own.

I am not Big Brother and although I am VERY sophisticated (she writes, tongue-in-cheek) I am not technologically sophisticated enough to take internet peeky-poohs in your home to know what you do there or which program you are on but I am sure that you can understand my position.

I love my family and I love our home.

I intend to remain sitting cheek-to-cheek next to my family members and blab up-close and personal-like without a glass partition separating us, to wear a gold ankle chain and not an iron chain and to walk around in my leather pants and leopard underdoodies and not an orange jump suit with striped boxer shorts. I want to continue bouncing my grandkidlet on my lap, meeting and greeting our fellow MakeMeThinner losers and shaking it up with them for as long as my happy little life endures. I wanna live forever in the MakeMeThinner Cottage writing to the people I love and care about and not have a long-term stay in the Gray Bar Hotel.

I am not a physician.

[explorthis]

I've been curious about the full fast since I started. You don't get hungry? Or bored? And do you have a plan for maintenance? I'm hoping the many, many months of measuring my lean and green helps me train myself for the "real world." (This isn't a criticism in any way. I'm just curious about other people's strategies.) I think that if I had only shakes.....

Robin, I would never take it as a criticism! Do I get Hungry? He** yes. Do I get bored? He** yes. Am I human just like you? He** yes. Sometimes the thought of ripping another shake packet open, just about turns my stomach. But again, being thinner SURE feels good. I am no different than any one on this board. I just know it works, AND since I have been on both sides of the fence, I like the skinner side of it. There are 5,000 reasons why thinner is better, but first and foremost to me, is it just feels DA*N good! Of course there are the medical reasons that go with it. I know the first time, it took about 4 months, and looking back that 4 months was like 2 days in the general scheme. I lost it about 3 years ago. Keeping it off is not the easiest chore, and for you and MANY others on this board it will be a life long task.

Maintenance? Yes, once it is gone, I plan again on eating sensibly. Define this? I dunno. I was able to maintain within about 10 pounds for a year by just not eating crap, and watching the calorie intake. Will I be able to do it again? I sure hope so. Wish I had the magic wand to fix this, but I am sure it’s 40+ years of bad habits that got me (and most the rest of us) here, and the habits will take years to reverse. All I can do, like you is do it one day at a time!

Yes, I only do the shakes. When I began M/Fast, originally there were not a lot of options, like there were now. So, I do the old tear the packet open Dutch Chocolate, and that’s it.

-Mike

[nwgal]

Nancy ... Do tell!!!!

what are the cured for growling tummys




Your fan!

B.

[Nancy]

Hey, there, B ~

I will write a reply to your question and post it as a separate writing so it will help others that may do a search for this topic. Okie Dokie?

I'll put it in FAQs and also in the Weight Loss web rooms.