The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[Nova]

Alright, I'll give this a try. I've found so much support in the group, and I know journaling is supposed to help too.

A bit about me. I'm 37, happily married with 2 cats. I grew up in rural Illinois, got my engineering degree from a top 10 school, moved to Virginia where I worked and lived for 17 years. Last year, things were looking a little shaky at work, so I decided to make a major move. I applied for a job in Texas, and I got it. It was a good move professionally, but personally, I wish I had stayed in Virginia. I don't make friends easily, and it was very, very hard to leave my friends behind.

When I was a senior in college, I decided I didn't want to be a mechanical engineer, but I was too broke and too tired of school to change my major at that point. I went to work and spent a couple of years figuring out what I wanted to do. I was very fortunate in that my work paid for me to take a leave of absence and go back for my master's degree.

Also while I was in undergraduate, I met my future ex-husband. I've been heavy since I was 12, and I never dated in high school. I had a few disastrous dates in college, and when I met my ex, I thought this is as good as I'm ever going to get. In retrospect, I sold myself short. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't meant to be. After a few years and much soul searching, I decided to strike out on my own. My birthday wish that year was to find a guy who was smart, sexy, funny, well-adjusted and who thought I was pretty just the way I was. Six months later, I found him, and we ended up getting married a couple of years later in Vegas. By Elvis.

I don't regret any part of my life. It's made me who I am today, and I'm very happy with that person. One of my mantras is "no regrets". If I do something, I'll grab it by the horns and do my best at it, no matter what, and I'll learn and grow from it.

So that's who I am, in a nutshell. I'm by turns crazy, utterly practical, the perfect straight guy, the mad gamer, the brilliant engineer, a renaissance woman, and the woman who melts in front of a kitten. I'm also 60 pounds less than my highest weight, and so very excited that for the first time in my adult life, I'm going to be 'normal.'

I can't wait to go back to amusement parks and not worry about fitting in seats. I want to shop in all the cute boutiques and not just for quirky jewelry. I think I might even want to run a half-marathon someday. I want to shock all my friends and family who haven't seen me in months by showing up looking utterly fabulous. I want to make sure that I have no more sad moments in my life that are related to being overweight. I want to live my life to the fullest, and that means not being held back by anything.

[Nova]

Okay, I got all the sappy, syrupy stuff out of the way. Now I can get on with the interesting stuff.

Two weeks ago I was in Portland, OR (which is gorgeous!), and I didn't have any time to exercise. Then last week, I caught a bit of bug while traveling and didn't want to make it worse, so I laid off a couple days. Then my hubby got sick. He had what he thought was a rash. Turned out to be a staph infection. The doctor gave him a steroid shot, and later that night, the rash covered most of his arm and had blistered up. He went back the next day, and a new doc told him it was infected, and if he couldn't get it cleared up in 3 days, he was going to have to go the hospital for intravenous antibiotics. Urp! Luckily, it repsonded to the doctor's antibiotic shots and pills, and he's all better now, but it was a scary weekend.

So last night, I finally got off my a$$ to go lift again. I work out in Matt's garage. He's got all kinds of powerlifting equipment, a squat rack, bench, dumbells, 800 pounds or more of plates, and all sorts of great weight lifting equipment. It's better than most commercial gyms, except that it's not air conditioned, and it's in Houston. Did squats, and even 185 was feeling a bit shaky for me. Before Medifast, I was pushing past 225 raw.

I talked with a good friend of mine, and he suggested that I just accept the obvious and reset my maximum lifts while on Medifast, because it's just impossible to keep my strength up in 800 calories a day. But I'd rather lose the weight and work to get strong again. So today was bench day, and I'm glad I reset my lifts, because benching 115 was pretty darn tough.

I've dropped my workouts from 4 a week to 2-3, and I cut the volume down considerable. Probably by half. I'm also cutting the intensity down. But it's really hard sometimes, when the guys I'm working with are getting stronger and doing a 500 pound squat, then when it's my turn on the bar, we have to unload 300 pounds. I feel even wimpier than before, because before I could at least get over 200 pounds. Now I feel like I'd just get crushed.

I'm also very hungry yesterday and today. I've never had the loss of hunger so many other people have raved about. The longest I can go is 3 hours, so I guess it's like a Medifast alarm clock in my tummy. I've got the 70 shakes because I lift so much, but I rarely drink them. I prefer all the other food instead. It could also be because I get insanely hungry for one day in the middle of my cycle. Don't know if any other women ever experience that or not. All I know is it seems I'm constantly hungry this week, and I hate it. I'm watching the clock just like I was on my first three days. Another 20 minutes and I can have some pudding!

[Nova]

Maybe all that hunger the last few days was my body readjusting, because I hit a new low this morning. Won't update my ticker until Sunday, but I'm happy.

I'm ecstatic about fitting into size 14s this morning. I think they must run big, because my other 16s still fit just fine, but it's one more step on the way, and I love the way these pants make my booty look.

Last night was kind of rough. Spur of the moment, we went to a mineral swap meet, and that ran through dinner time. Since we were out, we decided to get dinner someplace new. We got directions to one location, but didn't see anything we liked. Then we took some turns, got lost, ended up on the west side of Houston heading furtrher west. Drove around some more until we found a big road and drove toward downtown Houston. It's already almost 9 pm and we're both starving. I see Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, so we decide to try that out, because I could really go for a good steak.

I had sticker shock at the menu prices, but hey, we haven't eaten out in probably a month or more. I ordered a spinach salad and the petite fillet, and oh my goodness, that was one of the best steaks I've ever had. I'm sure I had more than 5 oz, and it had butter on it, but I just didn't care. It was worth every penny. I was a little worried that the spinach salad vinaigrette had some sugar in it, but we'll see how I feel, if I keep being hungry or not.

This morning, I felt really wierd. I was lightheaded all morning, and when I was walking down the hall, it felt like I was walking at an angle. So I had soup with lots of extra salt in it and a botle of water, and I'm feeling better now. Not sure what caused that.

[Nova]

I finally got my new copy of Quicken last night. I tried MS Money, but I kept getting so frustrated with the stupid thing. Half the time it wouldn't connect with my bank, even though I could connect just fine. Simply inexcusable in a professional program of that sort. So I spent an hour or so loading all my data into Quicken. Used it for years until they stopped supporting my old version. I think I'll be happy with this new one.

I also recovered my pics from my recent trip to Oregon. I had to flatten my hard drive this weekend and reinstall all my software and data. I thought I had backed up all my data and pics, but somehow, my Oregon pics got left off. Eek. Fortunately, I still had them all on my camera, so I grabbed 'em off again.

It's funny. I was in Oregon on vacation about 5 years ago, and I went to Mt. Hood. I looked at pics I'd taken with my friend, and then on my most recent trip, there I am at Mt. Hood again with different friends. Unfortunately, it's so cold and I'm wearing jeans and jackets, so it's hard to tell a whole lot of difference in myself. The other thing I noticed is that neither time did I actually have a winter coat. I'm freezing my heiney off in just a jean jacket or a flimsy cloth jacket in both pics.

As I was going through those pics, I thought I'd try to look for a good one of 'before'. That's a hard job. I'm usually the one taking the pics, and I didn't like to have my picture taken because I didn't like how I looked. I found some from when my parents visited once. My mom snapped a candid of me, and oh my god. I had no idea I looked that heavy. I really, really didn't. I'm horrified, and it was really hard to look at that picture objectively. I'm still not photogenic, but at least I'm not as bad as I was. I hope.

[Nova]

I had a pretty nifty night. There's a VF outlet just down the road, and I need a pair of jeans for when my only current pair gets too loose. Women's sizes are so wonky, I thought I might need another 16, because maybe my current 16s are just sized big. But for fun, I picked up a pair of size 14 capris. I slipped them on and they fit perfectly. Must be a fluke, I thought. So picked out a couple more pairs of size 14 shorts, because my 2 pairs of shorts are 16s. They all fit too! I guess it's official. I'm a size 14, on the bottom at least.

I tried on some tees, and I could wear a M tee. But I still need at least a XL in any sort of button down shirt. Still, I'm wearing my new size 14 shorts and my medium tee, feeling very happy. I'm officially shopping in the misses section from now on.

Here's a random thought about shopping for pants in smaller sizes. They hang front wise on the hanger, instead of being folded in half and hung sideways. That's cool.

[Nova]

Forgot to mention this last night. Yesterday I had a dentist appointment to get my teeth cleaned. First dentist visit since I moved to Texas. I probably wouldn't have bothered, except I was afraid I was getting a tiny cavity in my back tooth, and I do not want to have to get a tooth drilled. So I went to have the dentist check it out. Turns out it's nothing, but he and the hygeniest both beat me up about flossing more. "You only have to floss the teeth you want to keep" Okay, okay, I get it. I should floss more. Sheesh.

Anyway, they took my blood pressure, and they used this little gadget that strapped around my wrist. I've never seen one of those before. Here's the shocker. It said my blood pressure was 99/66! What? Is that okay? I've always been right around 120/80, and when I asked how accurate that thing was, the hygeinist said everyone else who used it reported it as being accurate.

So I'm wondering, is my blood pressure really that low? Could that be part of the reason I've been so light headed lately?

Tonight for some reason, I had a major salt craving. Started with my L&G. I had 2 boiled eggs and a salad. Instead of cutting the eggs up, I just dipped them in salt (a fancy Hawaiian black salt) and ate them that way. I could'nt get enough salt. I ended up eating the rest of the salt out of the little dish. Then for my last meal, I ususally have pudding, but tonight I had chicken noodle soup with extra salt and pepper in it. I'll probably be up 3 pounds tomorrow morning.

Oh, and I made 4 cabachons and freeformed an opal today at the Houston gem and mineral workshop, and I signed up for a wire wrapping class in July.

One more thing. I weighed 200.0 exactly this morning!!!

[Nancy]

Hey, Nova ~

You are on the verge of entering ONEderland - oh yeah! It looks like you are half-way to your goal weight. Kudos!

Your comments about your blood pressure and weight lifting prompted me to drop you a note here. As you know, I am not a doctor but when we lose weight, most of us also have a lowered BP. Our meal plan is low fat and low sodium plus we are drinking a lot of water = the old BP responds accordingly for most of us. A low BP can leave us feeling weak and washed out. You are doing a lot of lifting on low calories. Our meal plan really does not provide enough calories for heavy duty workouts.

We want people to do a max of 40- 45 minutes of exercise - the key is to keep the heart healthy and to tone our muscles. Are you also doing the treadmill, a stair climber or anything aerobic in addition to lifting?

No wonder you have hunger issues.

You most likely need to add 1-2 more packets of food if you are doing that much of a work out.

The shakes give us more soy protein than any of the other food items and better help to keep hunger away. If you are hungry, have the packets closer together. Like every two hours.

Some of us can get cues from our stomach about when to eat - I am not one of them. If I went by what my stomach told me, I'd be eating constantly, like I did before I went on the program. I eat by the clock.

I'd suggest that you eat every 2.25 to 2.5 hours the days you work out. Try two more packets on those days and let us know how it goes.

Drat! Wished I had known you were in Portland, I am 8 10 minutes from there, I can see the airport from our family room...I would have enjoyed meeting you.

[Unca_Tim]

Hi Nova,
You may want to order some Medifast 70 for those exceptionally active days.

Keep us posted.

[Nancy]

Unca, she said she has Medifast 70's but doesn't use them very often...I would have a couple a day on workout days....

[Nova]

Thanks Nancy and Unca. I do have the 70 shakes, and I guess I need to use them more on days when I lift. I've cut my lifting down to 2 days, about 20-30 minutes of actual lifting. The whole session takes about an hour, counting time between sets. I've also lowered the weights, mainly because I have to. My strength has dropped considerably, but I expected that to happen, however I'm still aiming for an 85% exertion rate on my main lifts. I'm limiting my main lifts to triples instead of sets of 5-8.

As for cardio, well, I've never really liked it. I say I try to do some cardio, but in actuality, I haven't done any except for general walking around in 3 weeks or more. When I do cardio, I limit it to 30 minutes, medium to med-high intensity.

I tend to either do stuff full out, or not at all. This light intensity stuff makes me feel like I'm not doing anything.

I just looked up low blood pressure, and I guess I don't have to be concerned until it drops below 90/60, so I'm still good. At least it means I don't have to worry about limiting my salt intake. Yay! Must be because TTOM is coming up, and my craving has switched from chocolate to salt. Wierd.

[Nancy]

Once you reach your goal weight, you can begin rebuilding the intensity and frequency of your strength training sessions. I'd add some cardio for the days you don't lift; nothing intense - just start off with 10 minutes on the tready and work up to 25-30 minutes.

Cardio isn't as thrilling and it's not as competitive either...I know how much fun it can be to sweat & grunt and lift or press to match the guy beside ya! It is unlikely we will be able to have the strength of a 6 footer testosteroner but for your height and weight, you will do a great job once you are at your optimal weight and fitness level!

Easy does it – we are undergoing stress to our body as we lose weight.

Our program is muscle-sparing when we follow the guidebook. Never skip packets, drink plenty of water, add another packet or two if you are burning up a lot of extra calories with exercise. Get some physical rest and sleep to allow your body to renew itself.

[Nova]

I've always said I'd much rather get to a healthy weight and build my strength back up from there. It's just hard, because before, I really could almost match a lot of guys. It's thrilling to go to a meet and see a half-dozen guys go up before you, becuase every lift is done in increasing order of weight attempted. So to see it drop so precipitously now makes me feel...girlie.

Yeah, it sounds stupid, but I've never been girlie. Probably because I've always been heavy since I was a teenager. Since I couldn't fit into girlie clothes and date the HS football guys, I've always dismissed "girlie" as worthless.

Now I can start to wear smaller and cuter clothes, and heaven help me, I nearly bought a pair of lime green high heel sandals today because they looked cute. Fortunately, I put them back, but it was a close thing. I don't own a single pair of high heels and haven't since high school. Too girlie. (And I was too heavy to wear them comfortably.) I guess I have a lot of mental adjustments to make, too.

[Nancy]

Yup, prepare mentally NOW for being thinner and healthier.

Develop some positive mental affirmations:

I love my body.

I look good and feel great.

I choose to eat and do the things that lead to optimal health...

[Nova]

Yup, prepare mentally NOW for being thinner and healthier.

Develop some positive mental affirmations:

I love my body.

I look good and feel great.

I choose to eat and do the things that lead to optimal health...

I think I'm getting the hang of the third one pretty good. I'm almost never tempted by 'bad' foods anymore, and when I am, it doesn't last more than a few seconds.

Still working on the first two. I say them and believe it, then a little later, I'm back on my old self image. Overall though, I'm feeling too darn good about myself, and I'm so much happier in everything.

I even went back at lunch today and bought those lime green sandals and I'm wearing them now. And I love them.

[Nova]

Had a pretty good day today. Had a major breakthrough in my deadlift form. It's now twice as hard to do a deadlift, but now, I'm doing it with proper form. Before I had my shoulders too far over the bar and couldn't get enough leverage from my lower body, so my low back was doing all the work. Now that I have better form to work on, my lower body has to do the work and it's forgotten how to lift. That's okay. Gives me something to work on for the next few weeks, and I should see some huge gains there.

I was really happy that my strength in the DL hasn't diminished nearly as much as the other two lifts. My friend said that was typical when dieting. I also finally broke down and told my lifting partners what I was doing with my diet, so I don't feel like I'm hiding anything. It was probably stupid to keep it to myself, but we all have our little hangups.