The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[raederle]

Boy, is it *weird* posting in the Maintenance forum! Woo-hoo!

I've been reading voraciously about the transition process in all my MF materials, and in the Shaker Jar book, and in Nancy's transition newsletter. The plan sounds easy, but I have one question... It seems that during the transition phase, I will be at times adding a food (such as a serving of veggies in Section 3) while eating one fewer MF packet per day. A serving of veggies, though, has fewer calories than an MF shake does, and later, even a serving of dairy or whole grain has only about the same calories as an MF shake. Soooo... I'm wondering, is the point of transition to stay at the MF calorie level (800 calories or so) while replacing MF calories for "real food" calories? And then when transition is over, I start eating 1200 - 1500 calories per day, gradually ramping up over time?

Does anyone know if I've got that right?

[Nancy]

Welcome to the world of Maintenance!

Rae (and others) ~

Yes, that’s right! When you are on the weight loss program, your metabolism slows down a little to conserve energy. When a person begins transition, we slowly change the eating plan, begin exercising and gradually increase our calories. I takes a while to rebalance fluid levels so it is important to continue to drink all your water and to eat your meals during your regular three hour intervals – I do that to this day – like a bird, I eat frequent small meals every three hours – birds don’t tank up on one barge-load of food; if they did, they’d never get off the ground.

Since I had been on the weight loss program for 7 months and also because my metabolism is resistant, it was needful to keep my calories at the 1200 range and only gradually increase them over time. I still keep my caloric intake low – partly due to my age, my activity level and the fact that I am on Prednisone. You will be able to gradually increase your calories over time.

I added one food item per week, making my transition plan last six weeks; others transition by adding a food every 4th day.

We don’t ever buy chips, crackers, cookies and snack foods.

Our refrigerator is filled with green, red, white and tan stuff – cukes, pickles, olives, lettuce, radishes, celery, tomatoes, Essential 1 Chicken and Tuna salad packets, cauliflower, romaine, mushrooms, salmon, zucchini, shrimp, green beans, red pepper, chicken and cabbage.

Our cookie jars are filled with Medifast bars; the breadbox with Medifast oatmeal and the pantry has Medifast shakes and Essential 1 Chicken breasts. Our freezer has Starbuck’s coffee, salmon, chicken breasts, shrimp, halibut and salmon filets, green beans and blueberries. NO Ben and Jerry’s, NO Hagen Daas.

We keep the house prepared for our success – our cars have RTDs in the glove box, a short case of water in the trunks and we keep our Starbuck’s cards stocked for a coffee of the day – no Frappachino or macchiato for us!

You'll do fine with maintaining, rae - because you know how hard you worked to get it off, you know how to do it - what to eat and when to eat it, to drink plenty of water, to never skip a meal plus you have smaller very cool clothes - you want to stay in them!

[raederle]

Ahhh-- thanks for the great info! Just wanted to make sure I wasn't gonna screw somethin' up. And you're right, Nancy-- I AM gonna make this work, because I promised myself this would be the last diet I'd ever have to do. And I'm going to the mall tonight to add to my collection of small (and non-elastic-waisted) spring clothing! No turning back now!

MF really *is* fantastic for teaching you how to eat, despite the fact that it might appear to do the opposite. You're absolutely right-- I now know to eat 5 - 6 mini-meals a day (in fact, I can't imagine changing that!), to drink lots of water, and to exercise consistently even if I'm not tearing up any land speed records when I do get movin'. That's a heck of a lot better than eating 2 or 3 buffet-style meals, drinking nothing but diet cokes, and trying to "fix" all that by working out like a fiend at the gym (which never lasted long because I'd feel so wiped out and miserable afterwards that I never wanted to do it again!).

Here's to learning stuff the hard way...

[Nancy]

Yassirreree!
re:

Here's to learning stuff the hard way...

I USED to learn stuff the lard way...

Yesterday I saw the saddest sight...a very overweight young woman drinking two sugar Cokes and she had a pile of Easter candy, and she ordered a plateful of goodies at Starbuck's...Oh, I wanted to talk to her about Take Shape For LIFE...she is headed for lots of health problems down the line if she doesn't make a turnaround.

You can use Medifast for a month or you can Take Shape For LIFE with our products and programs - including transition!

I KNOW you'll make it - happing spring shopping!