Falling off the wagon

When I went to see the nutritionist for my two year follow-up she was aghast that I was on the Medifast diet. She said this was the sort of thing I needed to avoid because it did nothing to teach me how to eat and made me rely on artificial food.  Well, I suppose she was right. But now I'm floundering again. Last week, I gained three pounds.  And this was after starting a regular walking regimen. I walk at least 30 minutes every morning before work.  I need to concentrate more on my food consumption I guess.  And I've been getting progressively worse about drinking during meals. Gotta stop that. Also, I've been consuming a lot of caffeine.  I need to do something.  140 is the number on the scale that scares me and Wednesday it said 138. 218/208/138/110 4'11"

Hi Sheryl, Just wanted to say i am sorry that you are struggling right now. I know how it is because that is the boat i am in (except i have not made it to or near my goal) I just wanted to let you know I am here and I hope someone will have some good advice to get ya going again. Did your nutritionist put you on a different eating plan since she does not support the Medifast?

I think your nut is right in advising against Medifast. I wonder how many people keep weight off after they go back to eating real food again. I have a friend that tried it, and she was allowed to eat one regular meal a day. Hell, she gained weight. She ate McDonald's junk for an hour every night until she nearly exploded, probably as much as she would have eaten without any of the Medifast. I had an infected wisdom tooth one time and had to go on a liquid diet. I drank Ensure like crazy. That stuff's got something like 600 calories in a little can, and I actually gained weight with a bad tooth and liquid diet. WTH? Can anybody really do that? I'm right with you on the struggling thing. I haven't had a really big gain, but I think I cheat too much. Sometimes I take it for granted that I've lost the weight and seem to forget the 100's of times I've regained tons back. Have you been allowing a lot of bad carbs? They mess me up pretty bad. It's great that you're walking a lot. I've found adding some weight lifting makes a big difference, too. I just started the first of the year and it's amazing the difference it's made. I started off with bean cans for weights. Try not to get discouraged. You've done a good job and it won't take long to drop those few pounds.

Are you sure you were getting 3500 more calories for each of those pounds you gained? I'm pretty sure you have to increase your intake that much to gain a pound and I would bet it's cuz you are building muscle.  I do the same thing smokers do with smoking when it comes to drinking. Some smokers just have to have a smoke while they're driving. When I get in the car, I have a 24 oz bottle of water with a flavor packet in it. The 40 minutes to work and from work has a whole container in there and each time I get in the car, I feel the need now to drink. If I don't have a water bottle now, I feel like I'm missing something. It really works for me.