The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[Nancy]

Serendipity and others, you mentioned that maintenance scares you...
and we had dialogue about the importance of staying connected once we've reached our weight goal. I've tried to teach others to learn all we can during the weight loss phase of our program - it will help pave the way for maintenance and life long weight control.

Maintainers need to be retainers….

We are in training right now for maintenance. It is needful to retain what we are learning and to re-train our brains – I had to re-train the way I approach food.

It’s a mystery why people on weight loss plans think that they will be ‘cured’ simply by mixing up a shake and drinking it down.

I had that kind of faulty thinking for many years. I even thought when I first considered weight loss surgery that it would be the perfect answer to my conundrum. It sounded like such a simple solution…

Nurse Sternfinger would wrap a stretchy band around my fleshy upper arm, thump the inside of my elbow, pierce my bulbous vein with a needle and start the IV drip. I would then lie down on the hard hospital bed, my ample buns hanging over on either side of the narrow mattress, the orderly would arrive with a clipboard and he would verify my last name and chart number.

My husband and daughter would kiss my chubby cheeks buh-bye and I’d be wheeled down the hall, careening around corners and into the elevator on my way to the surgery unit.

People walking in the hallway and riding the elevator would stare at me and I would be embarrassed because every trace of lipstick and mascara were wiped clean from my pudgy face.

I would be wearing one of those dippy-looking hairhats that remind me of the bowl cover from the 50’s my Mama used before Saran Wrap was available…

The orderly would drive me into the OR, set the brakes, I would be transferred to the operating table and my arms would be strapped down to the table. The lights would be adjusted, masked surgical staff dressed in green papercloth scrubs would surround the table and peer over their masks at me.

I thought I would count backwards from 100 while the anesthesiologist dripped a sleeping potion into my veins.

While I slept, the doc would slice me open, remove a section of my stomach and rearrange the pipes in there.

Then several hours later, I’d awaken in my hospital suite to the Prince Charming smooch from my husband. My teeth would be chattering and waves of nausea would wash over me. The blankets from the warming oven would calm me down and feel so welcoming.

The nursing assistant would bring a tray with clear soup, a package of saltines, a bowl of rubbery Jello and I would eat two bites, announce in a loud voice that I was full and to take away the tray…

life would be simple and I would be thin for life, all desire to dine would be gone.

After discussing the pitfalls of WLS, I decided my fairytale scenario would not come true.

I’ve figured it out after a gazillion diets and a gazillion + 1 failures…to make my weight loss permanent, I must permanently change the way I used to do things.

Maintenance is no picnic.

It feels safer to be on the weight loss phase. I have to be as disciplined today as I was on July 25th, 2002, the day I embarked upon my deflabbing journey.

I have tried to be very honest, to share from my heart the experiences I have had with all aspects of weight control.

Maintenance is not easy-peesy. Some people have no problems assimilating back into the world of food. I think they must be some kinda alien life forms ‘cuz I doubt they are of this world.

I have a wait problem.

I cannot wait until the next meal.

I have a weight problem. Maybe that's the wrong thing to say, I have a food problem.

I would love to think that I am ‘safe’ but I don’t think I ever will be – I am just a forkful away from doing foody damage on any given day.

Eating on time is my salvation. Eating low-glycemic foods prevents me from drowning in a sugary quagmire of carbolic foods.

From the time I used the candy caramels called “Ayds”, the liquid meal replacement drinks called “Sego” & “Metracal” when I was 12 years old in junior high, I have had to fight flab. In my nearly 58 years of life, very few of them have been lean years. Thanks to Medifast and the TSFL Program, my history is changing.

I fight every dang day to keep from blowing out of my pants. I diligently follow the Medi-rules, using Dr. Andersen’s BeSlim™ Philosophy as my guide.

When I go up a few pounds when we go on a trip or vacation, I get right back to living clean when I get home.

I monitor my weight faithfully.

The day I do not, I know that I am in foody trouble and will need caloric intervention.

During the first few months of weight maintenance, I got as low as 128 pounds – it was near impossible for me to stay at that weight. It was neither practical nor reasonable for me to weigh 128 pounds. My doctor suggested that I readjust my goal.

We need not live in fear of not being able to maintain our weight – we must begin to examine the source of our fears and systematically wipe them out. When we know how to do - what to eat, how often, how much, etc., we wipe out the fear factors.

Living life large is no longer an option for me. Living my life emaciated is also not an option. I want to be at an optimal weight for my height and age.

I eat the things that will enable me to remain in optimal health.

I used to eat the things that I liked; and I liked everything but organ meat and cod liver oil.

Now I know which things are best for me and I eat them.

Sometimes I wish that I had never had butter, popcorn, or ice cream – it seems like life would be so much easier if I did not know what I am missing! I also know that I am missing high blood pressure & diuretics; huffing, puffing & sweating; shopping at Catherine’s & Lane Bryant; snoring and gastric reflux; inflamed feet & plantar fasciitis shoe inserts; emergency runs to the hospital with heart palpitations, etc.

I’m fed up with that kinda life. That is no longer the life I wanna live.

I’ve had a taste of life as a healthy person and it tastes delicious!

I read food labels. I eat organic whenever possible.

Fat makes ya fat; don’t eat it,

Carbs make my blood sugar cwazy; a crazed woman searching thru cupboards is not good.

I don’t buy and bring home stuff that makes me fat. If I do, Terry eats eat and so do I – we don’t need it; it’s not good for us.

I eat every two – three hours. I compare my feeding schedule as being similar to a baby’s – when ya stick to the routine and the schedule, the whole family is happy.

During the weight loss phase, we are learning and practicing how we need to eat for the rest of our healthy lives.

Learn all you can now….this is the time you have the training wheels on. When you decide to take them off (when you move away from the MakeMeThinner Forum, your Health Advisor and Medifriends), be prepared for a fall.

Some people crash, burn, and do not get back on the bike, and do not run to Mom for a Band-Aid. They drift away to exile island and end up in never-never healthyland. It is devastating, humiliating, heart-breaking - do not go there!

We cannot do this alone.

As a rule, winners at the losing game are not Lone Rangers.

Accountability counts…

I want health more than I want Oreos, plastic cheese and pig lips and snouts.

Don’t get me wrong – I am NO saint. I mess up, I pork out on stuff occasionally, and when I do, I get right back on the Mediwagon the next day.

I have not arrived but I am learning day by day to live the healthy way. Support is vital. Having a meal plan is important. Being prepared is necessary.

A small bite here and there, once in a while is a good thing.

A whole lot of good things = a whole lotta flabby hips.

Every three hours, we get closer or further from our goal.

Every bite we take gets us closer or further from our goal.

Be careful whatcha bite – fat and sugar bites back and lives forever on your chins and buns!

Nothing tastes as good as thin feels.

[DogMa]

Thanks, Nancy. I'm curious, though. I know you were on lots of diets before; I've been on most of the same ones (I remember those Ayds candies - and how the company went out of business when AIDS became a common term). Did you ever reach goal before? And if so, what was the longest you maintained your weight?

We've talked about this before. My main concern has always been long-term maintenance. I previously lost all my weight on Atkins and maintained the loss for three years - I'd probably STILL be at that weight if I hadn't listened to all the people saying how unhealthy it was to limit carbs and how we should all eat low-fat instead!!!

[dede4wd]

I LOVED your post Nancy, thanks for that! Although I still have a WAYS to go, I am already making a game plan for transition and maintenance I cannot fail, I must not fail. I am trying to retrain myself, how I think about food! Thanks for your post, it was GREAT!

DeDe

[Nancy]

Robin, this is the first time since I was in my thirties that I have gotten to a 'normal' weight.

I lost 80-85 pounds many times, 50 pounds many times but did not maintain the loss for more than a few months - my middle name is Duncan, like in the yo-yo...truly my weight was on an elevator ride for most of my life.

I pinch myself every day now - to me, this is a miracle that I have maintained my weight.

It takes effort and hard work. I know this sounds very snarfy and puffed-up, but I am really proud of myself but I know that I have not arrived.

[DogMa]

You SHOULD be proud. But you're right. If there's one thing I learned, you've NEVER arrived. After three years of thinness, I of course not just gained it back but gained back much, much more. It's SO easy to slip back into old habits.

It's why I worry about the folks talking about the goodies that will be there when we're "done." For most of us, we'll NEVER be done. We'll always have to be vigilant and limit treats and restrict what we eat. When people ask when I'll be able to eat like a "normal" person again, I tell them never.

On the other hand, the fact that I maintained so long on Atkins gives me some hope. I truly believe I only gained the weight back because I abandoned the plan. And I just won't make that mistake again.

[Nancy]

Robin, this weight management thing is truly a learning process for all of us.

I truly believe there are some people that don't have the foody issues that I have - they might be the women that gain weight when they're preggers and have trouble getting it off because they are too busy to prepare healthy food for themselves and once they lose their baby weight and get a handle on meal preparation, they are good to go. There are some men that get into the habit of eating snacks in the evening because they watch TV after a long hard day and eat from boredom or because the commercials tell them to...etc.

But then again, there are many out there that are learning to sort through and deal with the 'issues' of life that plague us or those of us who eat because we just love food and it does not love us.

re:

When people ask when I'll be able to eat like a "normal" person again, I tell them never.

Robin, right on!

I will never be able to eat the way I used to eat IF I intend to stay at a reasonable weight.

Never.

I never ate like a 'normal' person to begin with - if I did, I would not have weighed 267 pounds.

Now that more than 65% of Americans are overweight, we live in a country with an obesity epidemic by the way...perhaps I should ask, why would I want to eat like a normal person? If the 'normal' person is now overweight, why would I ever want to eat like that again - I've spent thousands of dollars on weight loss programs, products, exercise machinery, cases of Kleenex for wiping the tears from my eyes and nose over crying and sobbing over my plight, I wasted YEARS of my life, my body is an arthritic mess from hauling around my flabber - why would I want to eat like a normie, huh?

I might not be a Mensa Member but I am also not a french fry short of a Happy Meal!

I get sort of cheesed when people ask me, "Do you STILL eat THAT stuff?" (referring to my Medifast)...

It makes me want to reply,

"Do you STILL wear glasses?"

"Do you STILL wear underdoodies?"

"DO you STILL drink wine?"

"Do you STILL take birth control pills?"

"DO you STILL eat half a bag of sliced potatoes cooked in partially hydrogenated soybean oil heated to 360 degrees F, sprinkled with salt, sugar, corn flour, maltodextrin, paprika, onion and garlic powder, monosodium glutamate, dextrose, hydrolyzed soy and corn protein, spices, extractives of paprika, natural smoke flavor with your tuna salad sandwich?"

Yep, diligence, vigilance, restrict, constrict, limit, avoid, choose, select, appreciate, etc. these are some of the things I do now in contrast to my former foody way of life...

You'll get there, you are ALMOST to Thinsville and together, we'll keep ya there, Robin.

You are a thinker - you think about what gotcha to Flabberville, you analyzed the situation, made a choice about how to get out and are planning how to stay out of there.

When people go away, when they cut the ties with their Health Advisor or their Forum Friends, they are in trouble.

It grieves me when I try to make contact with them and they ignore me.

I know what they are doing and I care about them, I do not want them to go back to their old ways. I want them to escape forever. We need one another and being needy is not such a bad thing!

[ktrout]

As I get closer to my goal, I think more and more about the maintenance phase which will last the rest of my life. Your post is awesome and I look forward to reaching and maintaining my weight.

[jump4joy]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us about maintenance Nancy! It is absolutely imperative and ESSENTIAL that we learn the principles you talk about and internalize them forever....for the rest of our lives.

As I was reading your posts, I exclaimed "amen!" "Yes!" "Right on target!" I've been on that rollercoaster too since I was 20 yrs. old (I'm now 49) gaining and losing the same 25 lbs. over and over (and the sad thing is that I never ever percieved myself and thin or having "arrived"), until I had my 1st baby girl at age 32 and found myself about 80 lbs. overweight. Had my 2nd babe at 35. Over these many years I tried Weight Watchers 3 times, the "pre-digested Protein (cow barf?)"....didn't last a WEEK on that gaggie one!....Diet Center, Slim Fast, and numerous low-cal diets that never worked. None of them worked until I lost 80 lbs. in two years with my own diet and exercise plan at age 39.....so I was skinny for 5 mintutes....and didn't keep up my new habits (obviously!).

Found Medifast a couple of years later and did it through a Dr. who didn't understand the program....he had me eating too many carbs, so it was essentially a low-cal diet with him using the MF too. I only lost about half my weight with him. At that time, you could only get MF through a prescription and had to buy my shakes from him. Of course, I didn't keep the weight off.

I didn't give up on Medifast because I really believed in it and felt that God had led me to it. So I found another Dr. (who understood the plan) and bought my supplies (finally I could!!!) online and luckily Linda Spangle's book "Success in a Shaker Jar" came out (in 2000), and I lost it because of the knowledge I was able to get in the book! I'm sorry to say it, but my experience with Dr.'s hasn't been encouraging....they aren't very helpful where it counts. He was ok, though...not great, ok. I didn't understand transition or maintenance very well, and my Dr. just cut me loose after I got to goal, so I sadly put it all back on. I got too thin that time, though, and I think that was part of the problem....starving all the time to maintain a LOOSE size 4.

Anyhoo, not to ramble soooo long.....but got back on in 2003, found an HA when TSFL was new and stuck to the full-fast like GLUE and lost 63 1/2 lbs. in a little less than 5 months when my hair started falling out in handfuls. That scared me off the plan, and because of my all-or-nothing thinking, because I stopped 13 lbs. from goal weight....I didn't perceive success, only failure to reach goal. I didn't do anykind of proper transition and my maintenance was slip-shod. I left my HA and didn't seek support....just became a "Lone Ranger", as you said.

After the holidays, in January, I hit my all-time high weight and was MISERABLE. I was always aware of my fat bulk and how it got in the way of enjoying LIFE. Achey joints, heart palpitations, snoring and acid reflux (I take Prilosec every day), constant tiredness and fatigue, PRE-DIABETIC, and high blood-pressure and cholesterol......that was my wake-up call! I was NO LONGER a fat but (mostly) healthy person anymore.

I feel so blessed to have found this forum, Nancy.....THANK YOU. I found a great HA (Jan) from MMT, she's a PERFECT fit for my personality. Through all these roller-coaster years I finally feel like I've learned from all my mistakes in the School of Hard Knocks and heart-breaking dieting experiences. I KNOW that Medifast is an effective and healthy weight-loss plan.....it wasn't this diet's fault that I regained my weight...l just never looked beyond the weight-loss phase to maintenance....my eyes were only on reaching the GOAL. For some reason, many "professional dieters" think that they can go back to eating what they consider "normal food".....after all, don't we deserve a reward for all our sacrifice and deprivation?! It's a crazy, vicious cycle FULL of Stinkin' Thinkin'! There's a scriptural phrase that's apt, but nauseatingly descriptive......something to the effect that "we return to our sins like a dog to its' vomit"! Ickey, but an effective analogy.

I enjoyed your comments and insights too, Robin.

Thanks again for sharing your wisdom Nancy! You are a port in the storm.

P.S. No more Lone Ranger for me.

[Serendipity]

Thank you, Nancy for a wonderful post. Thank you for taking the time to address this issue with us.

The thing that scares me about maintenance is that I'm doing all of this thinking about it and studying and reasoning about it and it all makes sense to me right now, BUT.....when I transition out of ketosis am I just going to be too weak to fight off the hungries I'm sure to get? I know in my mind that nothing should be stronger than my will to stay slim, but I also have no delusions about how hard it will be. I know that all the preparation I do for maintenance right now, will mean nothing if I am weak. My history is proof that I can be very weak.

On the other hand, I can see progress in my thought process. The other day, one of my co-workers and I were talking about this restaurant that has simply the very best garlic bread in the whole wide world. I commented that ummmmm, I could just taste it right now....but then laughed and told her that the memories would have to do for me because there was no way I was putting another bite of that stuff in my mouth. She said.....(and I can't believe she said this)......I would rather be fat than give up the stuff I like. I looked at her quizically and answered.....My dear, you have never been fat.

So I guess I'm changing without really knowing it. I have learned so much from you and others on this board. I've got a new attitude....(are you familiar with the song? It's a great song)

jump4joy, I felt like I was reading the script for my turn on "This is your life".....right down to the MF doctor stuff. Mine told me to come back if I gained more than 10 pounds and he would put me back on program....well, by the time I had the 10 pounds back on, I was too ashamed to show my face. What did I do instead? Ate my way back to my starting weight and beyond within 2 years. We are the same age, too, lol. Maybe it's the thought of turning 50....the question comes up - Do I want to live the second half of my life the way I lived the first? My answer is a big NO!

Robin, thanks for your insight, too. I am so hoping that many of our friends who are doing so well on the program now will stick around after reaching goal, so that we can support each other.

Right now, I will pledge to do that. I will stay.

With the help of Nancy and this forum, I am planning a whole new life filled with all of the things I passed up because I was too fat to enjoy them.

[dede4wd]

Great post JO! I loved it! Here's some more this is your life. Regarding your garlic bread conversation...I have had several friends take a whiff of my playdough smore's bar and tell me they'd rather be fat than eat that. I laughed as I remembered Nancy's post that she'd eat CAT POOP to get these results...I promised them they didn't taste like playdough (from what I remember), and they had NO IDEA what the "I'd rather be fat" comment really meant.

I pledge to also stay here through transition and maintenance. I know I'm going to need the support as the appetite supression of ketosis goes away...and I'd love to help anyone else too!

I'll be here with ya, Jo!

Nancy, You have NO idea how much you've done for me! I will forever be grateful! Jan, you are an angel!

DeDe

[Nancy]

Being in ketosis is very helpful in terms of suppressing the appetite but don't turn into a Nervous Nellie about maintenance when we're not in the fat-burning state. I eat every couple of hours and that helps take care of it - that's one of the reasons I have Chai or Oatmeal before bedtime - keeps my blood sugar from dipping during sleep. Eating low-glycemic snacks (mostly vegetables for me) is a great way to manage my weight.

I eat big honkin' green olives stuffed w/ bleu cheese or garlic or habaneras peppers - not gallons of them but two or three olives = a perfect snack. I eat 8-10 almonds together with a celery stalk or a zuke = snack.

[Serendipity]

I've been trying to get my husband to eat smaller and more frequent meals. He is trying to lose 20 pounds, so he eats a small breakfast, and a lean cuisine like meal for lunch.....by dinner, he's ravenous and blows his diet....almost every day. (He loves ice cream by the pint and sometimes more!) I asked him to eat a piece of fruit at 3:00 and see what that does. Well, he tried it one day and it really did help him to stave off the hungries at dinner. He's not been consistant with it, but I do think I convinced him that his starving himself during the day isn't working.

Yeah, I don't know when there has been a time for me that I couldn't wait an hour to eat, so eating 6 times a day in maintenance should really help.

[Nancy]

Jo ~

No wonder Husband is a Starvin' Marvin when he gets home - he is not eating often enough. He needs a morning and an afternoon snack. You don't mention his activity level but most likely he is eating a bit more food during the two meals than what his bod requires at the time so the excess is stored as flabber. His blood sugar drops down in the late afternoon and during the stress of the commute home, it creates a gap in his blood sugar, too.

When we wolf down our meals, our bod does not have enough time to recognize that it is satisfied and then we eat a lot more. Our stomach does not send satiation signals to the brain very fast - it usually takes about 20 minutes for the tummy to telephone the cranium and tell it the belly's full.

Ice Cream is my husband's evening snack of choice, too. Terry USED to polish off a quart of Breyer's with Hershey’s Syrup or Caramel sauce every night. He loves ice cream so much that even Healthy Choice Ice Cream would have been unhealthy for him because his serving was so large! It sounds as if your hubby is having a fat/calorie/ and carb load after supper and if he's a nighttime lounger inactive after supper and dessert), the food goes into storage and his bod’s not gonna release the flabbage.

If he followed the 5 & 1 Program exactly right, he’d have those 20 pounds off in a month without experiencing hunger…

[DogMa]

Also - just a thought - but fruit probably isn't the best way to stave off hunger, because the fructose will raise and then lower his blood sugar. He's better off having some protein, or a combination of protein and carb like we have. Protein - and a bit of fat - is excellent for reducing hunger.

Nuts are a good choice. An egg and a bit of veggie, like cucumber or something, is good. Or a little low-fat cheese and high-fiber crackers.

And I, too, pledge to stick around through maintenance and beyond. I may not post quite as often, but I think actually posting at least weekly - and participating in roll call - might help keep me honest.

[Nancy]

I agree with you, Robin. Fruit = sugar.
Just think about what we give diabetics when they have a low blood sugar: OJ.

I don’t eat a lot of fruit, never drink fruit juice. If I have fruit, it is a small serving – organic fresh fruit, peeling & pulp included. I prefer a tart apple, blackberries, marion berries, blue berries and strawberries. I notice the additional sugar and it spikes my blood sugar rapidly, gives me a weirdly odd feeling and then when it dips, I start looking for more sugar/carbs so I just don’t go there very often. If I do eat fruit, I am sure to have some cottage cheese, an egg or meat with it so it balances the carbs/sugar. Using a fruit alone for a snack is not what works for me.