The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[jayzoe]

GOAL WEIGHT: 140 or thereabouts

REASON I'M DOING THIS: As much as I love my mother and would wish to become her spiritually and emotionally, I do NOT want to become her physically. She has diabetes, fibromyalgia, high blood pressure, high triglycerides, the list goes on and on. She's on so many medications that her prescription cabinet looks like a pharmacy. And every year I look like her more and more, and I don't want to have to deal with all the trouble she has since most of it is caused by her weight. I want to be healthy with lots of energy to play with my two fabulous boys (who are 3 1/2 and 2 years old). I want to be the cool athletic mom!

Eventually I'd love to become an aerobics instructor since I love to choreograph routines and such. I do physical warmups for a vocal group I sing with and everyone seems to enjoy them and I think I'd be really good at it.

I started on January 2 2008 with a weight of 193. The disappointing thing for me is that I had made it to 167 (from 210) last year at this time with the help of Jenny Craig, but then I went back to my old habits and gained a bunch back *sigh*.

My biggest problem is that if something tastes good, I just keep eating it. If it's around me, it'll go in my mouth! This is cut and dry addictive behavior and I have to deal with it like any other addiction. This will be extremely difficult but I'm determined to work on it one minute at a time!

Must run for now, the children call me!

[rodeomom]

HI - seems to me like you know what triggers your habits and are really ready to make some changes. My advice is to make sure you use the time you spend on Medifast to train your mind and body the correct habits. We are here for ya - welcome to the forum.

[Tawanda]

Welcome!

[lifelovinaries]

<img src="http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg189/lifelovinaries/welcomedragonfly.gif" border="0" alt="welcome dragonfly">

[Unca_Tim]

Hi Jayzoe and welcome to the forum,


Sounds like you have your "whys" in order and are ready to get things done. The "weight loss" phase will help you form the good habits to stay healthy for a lifetime.
You can do it!

Glad you found us...

[DogMa]

Welcome. And what rodeomom said. If you just follow the program but don't do the work to change your behavior, then it'll be just like any other program: Once you return to old habits, you'll gain the weight back (usually plus more). We have plenty of restarters who can testify to that!

BUT if you use this as kind of a break from food and start learning portion control and how to deal with emotions (anger, stress or even boredom) that trigger overeating in a healthier, more appropriate way, you'll do great!

[jayzoe]

thanks for all the welcomes and happy thoughts!

I must confess to some grumpiness today, I'm starting to HATE the grocery store. My store has a fabulous healthy section where I can buy some Walden Farms stuff and some flax seed for some recipes RIGHT NEXT TO THE BAKERY where I swear they pump in the "cookie baking" smell. It tests me every time, but I've come thru okay with only buying what I'm supposed to buy! PLUS they put the ice cream right next to the frozen vegetables...

Also, is it just me, or do really skinny people tick anyone else off? I get grouchy when a teeny little woman walks by me in her teeny little jeans and teeny little shirt I want to beat on them for being so skinny! *sigh* most of them probably do work at it, but I just haaaaaaate it when they can eat whatever they want and get away with it...

that's the addict in me again, I'm like an alcoholic who can't understand why some people can just have one drink but the alcholic can't stop, I don't understand why some people can eat just one bite of a delicious food but I can't stop with one bite... I'm dealing with the fact that I'm going to have to look at food in a whole different way for the REST of my LIFE and that's a scary thing...

anyway, six days down and I feel pretty good physically anyway, it's just all the emotional crap is starting to come out now... I've read lots of good advice around here tho, so I'm gonna keep on keeping on...

[Serendipity]

What it gets down to is that we all have choices to make. Sometimes I have to ask myself with each bite whether I'd rather be thin or eat whateveritisgooeything that's right in front of me. And sometimes I say, who cares and I have it, but the next time, I have to ask myself again and usually the answer is that I would soooo much rather be thin than eat that stuff.

It is hard. And I have gone through mourning for some of my favorite things, but

Thin

Is

So

Good!

I can't tell you how easy the choice is when you're sitting there with the benefit of being thin to remind you.

Hang in there. Worry about the losing for now. Use the time to retrain yourself. Think about your trigger foods and how you will manage them. But don't be sad because it's all good. Take it from someone who has had a life long love affair with food.

[DogMa]

Besides, if you work it right, YOU can be one of those skinny women. Not one who can eat whatever she wants and all she wants, but most of the ones you see can't do that, either. For all you know, that skinny little woman in the skinny little jeans used to weigh 300 pounds.

I've had people comment on how lucky I am that I can eat all the time and stay so thin. And of course that's not true at all. I eat all the time because I eat small meals throughout the day, just like I learned on Medifast. I stay thin because I eat healthy 90 percent of the time, don't indulge in emotional eating and work out every single day.

Did you just start the program? Some grumpiness is natural in the beginning, while you're getting used to having so few calories. Also be ready for some extra estrogen floating around in your system, because estrogen is stored in fat cells (what this means is be prepared for some cycle changes and plenty of moodiness; not everyone experiences it, but plenty do).

Hang in there, and it'll all pass and you'll see how quickly the pounds start falling off and how much better you feel, and things will look a LOT better.

[Mike]

with the help of Jenny Craig, but then I went back to my old habits and gained a bunch back *sigh*.

My aunt did Jenny multiple times, losing and regaining... the thing with Jenny (and any diet) is that if there is no program to teach you how to change your habits along the way... once you reach your goal, you have problems keeping it off.

Thats the beauty of this PROGRAM, especially the 5+1, you learn how to make healthy meals while you lose the weight so you can maintain after.

[DogMa]

Wellllll ... the lessons are there on MOST programs (very few weight-loss programs call themselves diets these days), but you have to do the work to LEARN them. We have plenty of restarters here, just as other programs do, who either lost their way before reaching goal or reached goal and then gained some or all of the weight back before returning.

I think it's a matter of being ready to do it AND of really working hard to learn new habits. And being vigilant afterward to keep UP those new habits.

[jayzoe]

yah, what happened with Jenny is that I got to my halfway weight and then we moved due to the military and our new town doesn't have a Jenny center, so I had to order food thru their phone in system and they were totally horrible... so I got lazy and blamed them and decided I'd just eat however I wanted to and that's why I gained over twenty pounds back *sigh* I have no idea how their transition program works since I didn't make it that far...

first week is officially over today, so I'm sure that's why I'm so grumpy, I"m still getting used to it! I still really appreciate all the well wishes and suggestions, so just keep telling me how y'all made it thru the first month and before I know it I'll be at goal, right?

My weekly goal is to lose two pounds a week as an average. This week I lost 4.5, so yay!

[DogMa]

That's a great start! Don't get TOO upset if you don't lose 2 pounds every single week, though. Pretty much everyone stalls or at least slows down at some point (frequently in the third or fourth week, so be prepared; stick it out and you'll start losing again).


You can do this! I don't know about being at goal before you know it, but following the program DOES kind of become second nature after a while. And believe me, if I can make it to goal, anyone can.

[jayzoe]

Good point DogMa... I'm trying to make it an "average" of two pounds per week, so that way if I even out about 8 pounds a month, that's still meeting my goal, does that make sense?

[DogMa]

Sure. Just don't freak out if you have a slow week or two, as some do. And don't be TOO disappointed if you don't quite make it in the time you set. Either way, you'll be a whole lot CLOSER to your goal in the end of that time than you would be if you weren't on Medifast, you know? So if it takes you an extra couple of weeks to get there, it's not the end of the world; you still have the rest of your life to enjoy being at that weight. Our bodies don't always like to cooperate with the schedules we set for them, unfortunately, and some people get a little hung up on a weight-loss timetable (and then drive themselves crazy when it doesn't happen).