The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[doglover]

Hello again MF friends! I am still alive and well! I believe in my last note I had told everyone that I went to maintenance land for the summer as my schedule was too stressful and although I was compliant I could not lose. It seems to be that stress and distrupted sleep patterns do not equal good weight loss for me! But I am happy to report that I am having a good time on maintenance and staying w/in the 139-141 lb range, which I am happy with.

I did get the promotion, got the BMW and Friday night returned from beach vacation #2 for the year! We went to Assateague Island off the coast of Maryland and had a wonderful time camping and being beach bums. I bought a real bikini and wore it comfortably. We jogged and rode our bikes a lot. We boogy boarded in 4-5 ft. waves! It was great!

I still eat 3-5 medimeals a day but have also added in some regular food like fruit and a little pasta. I have not had bread but don't miss it a bit. I also stay away from sweets 99% of the time. I did have some home-made ice cream on Chiconteague Island over vacation but ate a very little bit of it. I also had cookies another day (4 small ones) but this has not affected my weight and also feels good to be able to stop at a small amt and not need them every day! I feel really in control.

Yesterday was my birthday! Although I did not get to my final goal as I'd hoped (due to my choice to maintain until Sept) I went ahead and got a tattoo!!!! I now sport a wonderful sun on my front belly between my belly button and my right hip. A couple friends have asked how this may be affected when I get my tummy tuck, but I'll cross that bridge later! Due to my new job I have delayed that to after the first of the year.

So, that's all from here. 2 more weeks of summer vacation for the kiddies! We are enjoying the time off together immensely! Next vacation - Mexico in November!!!

Your medifriend-
Donna

[want2Bthin]

Donna-

Wow!!! Sounds like you have been having a fabulous summer! Glad to hear all is well! It's inspiring to know that you are successful in maintenance!

Congrats on the new tattoo- job promotion- & the BMW!
Angelia

[Nancy]

Donna ~

Wowee! I am so happy for you! What a rockin' summer!

You must love wakin' up thinny every day.

[martha]

DONNA--

WOW what a great summer for you..and a bikini too --you are soing so good maintaining your weight loss. keep up the good work..and Happy Birthday Again-- Can't wait till I can join you in thinny land --Martha

[Mommy2girls]

Donna, WOO HOO on the bikini and doing good with maintenance. Thanks for the update and definitely keep coming back with the good news, "Maintenance is attainable!!!"

[Nancy]

Sheila ~

One of the most important things to me is for you Folks to understand that Take Shape For Life makes it possible to not only lose weight but to truly manage your weight for life.

That is what separates us from other DIEt programs. We don't want people to do this for a month or two - what would be the advantage of that? Fitting into a pair of jeans for a week?

We want people to get healthy and then to stay that way for the rest of their life. We are virtually adding life back with every nutritious shake we drink or serving of soup we slurp.

Party on and love your health - being slender is a by-product of improved health and life!

[Mommy2girls]

Fitting into a pair of jeans for a week?
!

Oh, that is SOOOOOOO true Nancy!!! I know I know I know, that this (my weight and control over food) needs to be a lifelong committment and change, but since I'm a former Medifast loser and then gainer I feel like the chance to fail is SO EASY!!!! Don't get me wrong, I'm not pinning the blame on Medifast at all, because put simply, NO matter what way you LOSE the weight, you can always put it back on. Easy as pie. Or easy because of pie?

That is why for me the maintenance part of losing weight is the scariest. And I'm SO thankful that you are a living, breathing example of what you can accomplish and keep the weight off when you work at it, I just wish there were more of you out there! (We know there is no other "lepoard woman" out there, unless you start cloning yourself...you are a TRUE original, but you know what I mean!)

That is why I'm so excited that Donna is MAINTANTING her weight and SHARING it with us. MORE PROOF that it CAN be done!!!! I get all excited when people post that they are losing weight of course, but I'm more thrilled to hear that people are KEEPING IT OFF!!!

Thanks for your post, I'm going to REMEMBER what you said about fitting into your jeans for a week! That is a good reminder!!!!

Thanks,

[Nancy]

Sheila ~

re

keep the weight off when you work at it

Both phases of weight control (weight loss and weight management) take effort. It is not easy to maintain weight - it's a constant challenge and this summer has really been hard for me - I guess that after two years of this, I thought it would get easier.

I got a little cocky recently - you know, having a little more of this and a lot more of that - BECAUSE I CAN! and I had it more than every few days.

This last 6 weeks has been totally killer for me. Just prior to our Take Shape For Life summer conference I began to have a flare-up of my auto immune disorder and my Prednisone was increased, we had a lot of foody functions this summer, we are eating out more than we have in the last two years, etc.

I am back on the program as of yesterday.

I made it thru Day 1. Headache.

Day 2: I got a call from my Daddy this afternoon to come to Portland to pick him up as his Jag broke down and he and Mom were stranded and needed a ride home from the repair shop.

Terry made a shake for me before I left home here in The Couve and I slurped it as I dressed.

When we got to their home, Daddy offered me a Pepsi. I declined.

He was a starvin' Marvin and he decided to make a hurkin' roast beef sandwich on thick brown bread with veggies from the garden and he dished up fresh canteloupe. I declined.

Mom tried to get me to eat a plateful of homemade chocolate walnut cookies with chocolate icing. I gnawed on the back of my hand and declined.

Every day we are bombarded with opportunities for a feeding frenzy. It's a choice. Whaddya want more? Food now and flab later? Or water & a shake now and thinner hips tomorrow?

I had some vacation memories to remove last fall when we returned from Kauai and it came off fairly soon. I am sure this recent summer fluff will be off soon; too but just know that there is never a time that foodies can truly let their guard down.

Oh, we can have sweet foody abandonment but it needs to be in controlled circumstances - like during a vacation for a set period of time, etc. but we cannot vacate our senses and be on vacation every day for weeks on end or we will twang right back up the scale.

Every day is a choice as to how I will live my life - I cannot be only self-centered and eat to please my foody nature and desires; I must be motivated not only by pleasing myself but must consider those within my circle of life that depend upon me - there are many people depending upon me to be healthy and well-balanced in my body, my mind and my spirit. My Darlin' husband needs me, my aged parents need me, our daughter and s-i-l and their Baby Nicky and you, my MakeMeThinner Family - you all need me to be as healthy as I can be. I am not my own.

As you consider maintenance, please know that there is life beyond Medifast - once you reach your optimal weight, we want you to continue to eat breakfast, small portions of food, eat every two to three hours, eat low fat foods and try to eat as many natural foods as possible - the less processed, the better. Exercise most every day and monitor your weight regularly. (Just follow our BeSlim philosophy!) We feel it is ideal to use several packets of Medifast a day not only because the calories are low and lean but so we keep on getting the wonderful soy protein that is so good for our heart health and particularly good for a woman's system.

We can have pie and ice cream, chips and beer, a burger and fries but not every day. We must eat healthy nearly every time if we are to maintain our weight. The American public has been duped into thinking they can eat all the stuff they see on commercials and we believe the lie that having platter size meals is the best value for us. It takes time to replace old habits and old 'thinkings' but it is possible to make the changes necessary for thinny life.

Sure, I miss having a bag of Buttlerlicious microwave pop corn with half a cube of melted butter on it but you know what? I have not had any since July 14th, 2002 and I am still alive!

I have learned that there are some things in life that are not good for me and if I want to live my life to the fullest, to be as healthy as I can be, then I must say, "No, thank you" to them and to not be angry or feel deprived or get honked off because of it. I have accepted it.

I hate the little eye crinkles that I have now but you know what? They are a part of livin' in the fabulous fifties! I have accepted it.

I don't particularly like wearing my glasses - they get all smudgy and make me look like a granny (duh!) but if I wanna see the road when I am bipping around town in my VeeDub and avoid smooshing into others, I wear 'em. I have accepted it.

If my doctor told me that I had a horrible disease and would likely die in two weeks unless I ate three earthworms and drank two gallons of pickle juice a day for the next month, I'd scarf 'em and suck it down. Do ya know what I mean?

So after all the years of obesity, unhappiness, self-loathing and despair, I will gladly have several MF shakes, a couple servings of MF oatmeal and have a couple lean and greens every day so that I can have pie and cookies (or whatever I want) just once or twice a week. It's a good trade-off for me.

[martha]

NANCY--

YEAP you did it again Hit the nail on the head so to say ..I now understand exactly what you said about the right choices.. after the last very large weight loss and no mainteance at all it (and I do mean just about every pound) came rolling right back..No it didn't hapen over night but it did happen ..The funny part is I knew what to do but didn't do it..Well you can rest assured that mistake will not happen this time.. I can't wait for the day that I am mainteance and keeping it off..No one but Doug and my daughter think this will happen BUT I KNOW IT WILL. I can do it..and so can everyone else It is a lifetime change and one I am proud to do to keep the pounds away.. I got to the point of hating to eat but did it anyway just to have something to do--Does this make sense at all?
We all need to remember to not get sucked into T.V. land commericals and into eating to please others around us..This is very hard as most people overeat and don't want to do it all by themselves--therefore they will continuesly (sp) try to get you to join them.. On my end they would accept I was watching what I was eating the whole time but after the 1st time of having something I normally wouldn't have on program they just kept shoving it in my face ..almost like saying okay she is done and now it's time to get her to eat.. Was it on purpose?? For the most part I would hope not BUT now know it was for some..Some even said as I was regaining the weight " I knew she wouldn't keep it off" DUH!!!!!!!! I would say "not with you shoving it in my face every second of every day "BUT they didn't sit on me and PRY my mouth open..I allowed each morsel to enter ..It didn't just fly up there on it's own--NOPE I DID IT..
Well I never like to hurt anyone's feelings BUT lookout world this time I plan on letting it rip THE new and improved MF Martha(hehe and I love it).. Not only does it cost to much to keep losing and regaining ( money and wear and tear on the body,mind and soul)but it is to time consuming for me to keep having this happening in my life..I want to enjoy life to it's fullest and not be hidden away --stuck inside again--embarrased someone might see what has happened to me again ..NO MORE I have finally had enough..I'm tired of missing family get togethers--funerals-- things with the grandkids--and just plain old LIfe in general.. I am ready for mainteance !!!!!!!!! BRING IT ON --OH yeah I think I need to be at goal first(just got carried away in the excitement of it all)
So to everyone out there--WE CAN DO THIS and to you NANCY-- THANK GOD for you and this forum..for your sharing all of your wisdom with us on MF and making yourself available to us 24/7..We love ya--Martha

[Nancy]

Thanks, Cutie!

I think this is what it truly takes to be successful - wanting success more than we want failure.

Wanting health more than we want huffing, puffing, dressing in the dark, staying home, avoiding certain people - gulp! wanting health more than disease and death!

It's a daily fight but we CAN win it and we WILL win it, if we choose it!

We are in it to win it.

Doing it together!

[Mommy2girls]

Every day we are bombarded with opportunities for a feeding frenzy. It's a choice. Whaddya want more? Food now and flab later? Or water & a shake now and thinner hips tomorrow?

So true, so true, thank you Nancy. I don't ever want to have to lose this much weight again in my life!!! I need to visually SEE myself 1 year, 5 years, 25 years down the road maintaining a HEALTHY weight, not just right now. IT IT SO MUCH ABOUT THE CHOICES WE MAKE!!! That is just so true, and thank you again for being living proof that good choices = health!

[doglover]

Nancy, you have such great wisdom! I have had 3 days of not so great eating - things that are too carby and salty and man am I feeling it today! I feel bloated, crummy, tired, just blech.

But what is great is that I know tomorrow is a new day. I will wake up to my shake, have my oatmeal at 10. It will be all done and I will be in control. Just feeling this yucky way makes you realize how healthy you can be. My summer is winding down and I made a committement to get these last 5 lbs off starting 9/1. I then realized that is very close to my TOM. I considered changing the date, but guess what? I'm not going to. I am sticking to it and reaching the goal I KNOW is mine. I've done it 3 times before. Here I come! I can't wait!

In the meantime, back to reality, and back to feeling great!
Thanks for being here Nancy and all my medifriends. You are all more precious than you know!
Donna