The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[Aerie]

Well it's been close to a month on MF and I'm just so happy with the results I'm seeing and how great I'm feeling. My questions is about staying on plan for a long time. Right now I'm super gung-ho but I've got several months ahead of me and what if my enthusiasm begins to wane as I go along?

To those of you who have been shaking for several months how do you stay focused? Do you have little tricks you use to keep you going? Play mind games with yourself, set small mini-goals, use a reward system?

I'd appreciate any tricks and tips you may have so 6 months from now I'll still be on top of my game.

By the way I've lost 19.9 pounds as of this morning so 20# club look out here I come!!!

[DogMa]

I guess I count. I've been on Medifast just over a year.

I guess a few things help me stay on plan:

1) Success. Mine may be slow, but every time I put on a pair of size-8 jeans (or lately, some in a 6), I forget all about any off-plan eating.

2) This forum. I know people are watching me, and I want to live up to their expectations. (Plus I really want to post a thread in the maintenance section someday.)

3) Occasional cheats. This is kind of a weird one, but it works two ways. Either I eat something off-plan and totally enjoy it, and then prove to myself that I'm going to succeed long-term by getting right back on plan, OR I have something off-plan and it's not nearly as good as I expected.

4) Rewards. I have rewards planned for when I hit goal, but in the meantime, my rewards are really just clothes, clothes and more clothes.

[Aerie]

Robin; Thanks for the tips. I like the idea of new clothes!!!! A smaller size definitely would motivate me. Boy I can't wait til I can fit in a size 8.

[Serendipity]

I've been on plan for 8 1/2 months. I thought it would be a lifetime, but it really has gone very fast! The initial enthuesasm lasted about 4 months for me because I lost very fast and there were so many changes in my body.

Now, I'm still very excited about the program, but I'm not obsessed with it. I'm kind of coasting along now, realizing that I have several months to go, but I'm very comfortable just staying on plan and waiting for that goal to arrive - whenever. I don't think about it as much. I just eat my supplements and my L&G. It's part of my life......and I don't really look at my goal as being a big event with lots of changes in what I'm doing now.

Unlike Robin, who I consider the MF queen(!), my program is strict. I don't add many extras (only low fat/carb sauces and no calorie stuff), I don't snack, I eat about the same way everyday. I have not cheated and don't plan to. I get alot of variety in my L&G because I buy really good food. I have shrimp, crab, steak.....all kinds of stuff. I'm worth it!

I also reward myself every chance I get. When I started the program, I made a list of rewards. I've made it through quite a few of them, but really I don't need any rewards other than my new life. I don't need any more motivation than a look in the mirror or a comment from my husband or a friend.

The bottom line? My mindset as it pertains to food has changed. This is my life now and I thank God every day that I somehow became ready to receive what Medifast has to offer.

[jump4joy]

I'm a veteran of the Medifast Wars going back to 1998 (I've kept detailed records). This first skirmish didn't last beyond 14 weeks because the Dr. didn't understand the plan.....he was my ONLY source of information since buying MF was only obtained through a prescription at his office.

2nd time, 2000-2001: Lost 80 lbs. in 8 months doing the Full Fast with the occasional Modified Plan (that's what they were called at that time). Didn't cheat once. No Transition plan was offered, and the Dr. cut me loose at goal weight. I finally was able to start buying products from the official MF site at that time. Gained it all back, tho I fought it.

3rd time, 2003: Found TSFL, lost 63 1/2 pounds in five months doing the full fast.....no cheats. Stopped 10 lbs. from goal because my hair was falling out and it freaked me out. Didn't do transition. Gained it back in spite of restart after restart after restart. I couldn't seem to find the ZONE.

2006: Weary from 3 YEARS of restarts, but still determined that MF was my best course of action, I worked HARD on my mindset and things finally clicked for me on March 31st. Lost about 30+ pounds (taking a break from the scale for now), with about 50 to go.

I know some of you may be sick of hearing my story, and I don't like airing my past "failures" to keep the weight off.....but I do it so that it's a solemn reminder that you can and will gain the weight BACK if you don't make the permanent lifetime changes needed. I stuck with MF because I knew I'd finally found the answer to my question: "What Diet?" the Honeymoon period with the newness of MF was OVER LONG AGO. So it's hard, but I work at maintaining my determination and enthusiasm any way I can. Medifast works. It's the best diet for me. And I'm not giving up EVER. I'm not a failure, my success has just been a "2000-step process".

Longterm things that work for me now:

K.I.S.S. Rule--"keep it simple, stupid." Get in a routine of eating on time, and I do best when I just have simple RTD's, or shake up a Chocolate 70, Cocoa, and a bar every other day or oatmeal every other day. I just eat my tried-and-true favorites and don't bother with recipes very much. Creating the HABIT of everyday routine is IMPORTANT.

Keep a simple Food Log. Write down every bite that goes in my mouth and make a checkmark for every 8 oz. water.

Plan and Re-commit every morning. Evaluate how I did every night. Put stickers on calendar to represent each area accomplished. (i.e. Complete or 5 & 1, exercise done, was it a gain, maintenance, or weight loss day?, etc).

Joy

[Zinkette99]

Sorry to go off topic for a second: Is hair loss something that happens with this? Or is this something that can be prevented somehow?

Sorry, joy, that would freak me out too! I am so glad you are sticking with this.

[Aerie]

Jo: Your matter of fact approach coupled with your obvious patience helps to remind me that MF isn't a quick fix (despite how quick it is) but instead needs to be something I intergrate into my life and accept as "Just what I do"

Joy: I'm sure nobody is sick of hearing about how you've been able to overcome perceived failures and have the courgae to keep trying. Your ability to recommit on multiple attempts is inspiring not boring. It tells me that there may be mini battles lost before I win the war.

It seems like both of you recommend routine and persistence as a way to suceed. Thanks to both of you. I wanna be just like you 8 months from now. Still Shakin!

[Lauraly]

Joy,

Thank you for telling your story. Would you mind talking about how you gained the weight back? One of my niggling worries is that I am teaching my body to live on less calories, and I won't be able to "unteach" it. Did you eat normally once off Medifast, but the weight came back anyway?

[jump4joy]

Joy,

Thank you for telling your story. Would you mind talking about how you gained the weight back? One of my niggling worries is that I am teaching my body to live on less calories, and I won't be able to "unteach" it. Did you eat normally once off Medifast, but the weight came back anyway?

Sure, of course others may disagree, but these are my own perceptions as to why I gained it back several times. The reasons are more complex than I can write them out, I think.

1. I didn't ever go through a proper Transistion. There wasn't one available to me in my first few attempts. No excuse for the last time.

2. I didn't compensate for the fact that my metabolism was depressed for 2-3 months after going off the fast. I didn't eat large amounts of food, but my body wasn't ready for the higher amount of calories I was eating. I've never been a binge-eater, but I am a NIBBLER. And nibbled it all back on.

3. I didn't keep up my exercise and implement it as part of my maintenance life.....I think that regular exercise is essential to maintenance.

4. I focused too much on getting to my GOAL, and not much beyond. I thought I could just eat "healthy" and it would stay off. After being in deprivation-mode for so many months, I fell into the trap of thinking..."I've been so good for so long....I DESERVE this little treat." After too many days of too many little treats, it starts to creep up on you. But you're still in denial for a while because you're still skinny and getting lots of compliments. Then comes the next trap...

5. I'll start Medifast again tomorrow or on Monday, so I can have this LAST fling with my favorite snacks. Last Supper Syndrome!

6. Then comes the desperate feeling of restart after restart and not making it past 3 or 4 p.m. before you turn the I've-blown-it-now-the-heck-with-the-diet.....I'll start TOMORROW. Then you lose your confidence and belief that you can ever get back on again.

7. Start justifying by saying, "oh, I've at least only gained 20, 30, 40, (you pick!) pounds...at LEAST I don't weigh what I did before." Until you can't say THAT anymore.

8. Final humiliation facing the looks from your former complimenters. The dead silence. Or if you try MF again, they never compliment, they just say, "Medifast? That's too extreme.....didn't you learn your lesson from LAST time?!" or my favorite: "Do you think you'll keep it OFF this time around?" A woman at my church asked me this question.....true story.
You find out who your true friends are when you yo-yo up and down.

9. The most important reason I gained back the weight: I didn't address my emotional eating issues. I didn't commit to or learn how to change my eating and exercise lifestyle FOR LIFE! I got thin on the outside, but I still was a FAT-Head. I didn't change my attitudes. I didn't change the way I think about my relationship with food. I was GREEDY and let myself feel DEPRIVED. I gave my Inner BRAT free-reign...."NO fair! I should be able to eat whatever I want and STILL be skinny like so-and-so!" I wasn't willing to make the sacrifices I was required to make in order to STAY thin and healthy.

This isn't all of the reasons, but a good start. It's so important to do the mental-work WHILE we're in the weight-loss phase and plan ahead for transition and maintenance. I've gobbled up all of Nancy's posts and reading everything I can get my hands on that will help, so that I can do this RIGHT this time. This time WILL be the LAST time, so help me God!

Thanks for asking, Laura! It's been good for me to write this out.

Joy

[jump4joy]

Sorry to go off topic for a second: Is hair loss something that happens with this? Or is this something that can be prevented somehow?

Sorry, joy, that would freak me out too! I am so glad you are sticking with this.

Thanks Zinkette! I really was freaked about it because my hair is thick and wavy and has always been my best feature....fat or thin. I didn't know if it would grow back. I take 1000 mcg. of biotin and three large horse-pills of Total EFA to get my essential fatty acids. I talked to Dr. Anderson about it on one of his weekly TSFL calls, and he recommended these supplements to me to counteract hair-loss. Do a search on it. Nancy has some great past posts about it, and if I'd read her posts at the time it was happening, I wouldn't have stopped medifasting and just kept going. My hair did grow back and I had a funny thick halo of hair growing in for a while. I was doing the full-fast at the time...only 5 shakes a day. Now I go back and forth between the Complete (6-7 shakes) Plan and the 5 & 1, and I'm sure that hair-loss won't be a problem this time. At 450 calories a day, I was too much on the edge, and something had to give!

Joy

[dede4wd]

Joy, No, we're not tired of hearing your story. You teach us ALL a lesson! I plan to post for a LONG time on maintenance because this board keeps me so accountable!

Zinkette, I'm over 3 months, so I'm in the "danger zone" for hair loss. I take a vitamin for hair/skin/nails and take a flaxseed oil cap. That is suggested in the quick start guide for us "long-termers." My hair is definitely falling out less than it was with the "all Taco Bell all the time diet."

As for keeping myself motivated...I carry a picture with me of me at my highest weight 265. I pull it out EVERY time I consider eating off-plan.

My "honeymoon period" lasted into the 3rd month...then I got bored. I fought this by ordering a bunch of stuff I hadn't tried before to get a bit of variety, I'd fallen into a rut, eating the same thing at the same time every day. I tried new things with my L & G too. It worked for me.

I do the mini-goal reward system myself. At 50lbs, I got me a new dual-tuner Tivo, I buy myself a little (not-food) "present" for each week on plan (a DVD or a face product).

But to be honest, that BEFORE picture is all the motivation I need, I will NOT go back there again! EVER!

As for transition and maintenacnce, I plan to follow the transition plan to a T, post often so I can remain accountable, and I'm starting to incorporate more exercise than just walking. Heck, I might even bring a swimsuit out on the road next trip! I used to LOVE swimming!

Also, I plan to incorporate the "diagnostic pants" plan as well. If I can't zip up that pair of pants...it's back to some RTD's until I can!

Okay, this novel is over, hope ANY of it helps!

DeDe

[jump4joy]

You know, DeDe, after three years of fruitless Restarts, it still amazes me that when I found this forum, it was one of YOUR posts that clicked with me and got me going again!! It was one in which you simply said that what got you going was just committing to MF for 30 days. I thought, "I think I can do that," and that was ALL IT TOOK to get me back into losing-mode again! It's so funny sometimes how hearing the right thing at just the right time can make ALL the difference! I want to thank you again for that post!

Joy

[Lauraly]

Joy,

Thank you for the wonderful response. I realize now that in the back of my mind, I had been expecting to go back to my old ways once I reached my goal weight. Pizza, fast food, and bagels! Thank you for pointing out that the journey is only half done once we hit goal.

[jump4joy]

Thank you for pointing out that the journey is only half done once we hit goal.

You're so welcome! How I wish I'd realized that very thing long ago......! At least I know it NOW. Best to learn from others' mistakes rather than losing so much time learning it the hard way.

Joy

[Aerie]

Dede you know the before picture idea is probably the best one I've heard so far. When I see pictures of myself I still think I can't possibly be that big. Knowing full well that I obviously am.