Medifast Diet Weight Loss Blog

Well, the official start of summer is upon us.  There are some great outdoor meals ahead for a lot of us, but they don't have to be fatal to your weight loss.  If you lose the bun, you can pretty much enjoy grilling out with your family and friends as before.  Watch the portions of the meat and pile on the veggies.  Here are a few grilling tips for you:

1)  Be careful with the temperature of the meat.  Make sure things are cooked well, but not blackened.  There is a debate about the risk of charred meats.

2)  Also, try to avoid high flames.  The smoke from the flames comes right back to the burgers.  Again, there is a debate about the carcinogenic effects here.  Granted, the flames are part of the thrill (for many guys, anyway), but don't try to overdo it!

 Happy Memorial Day!  Try to remember those for whom we celebrate this holiday and all those in service today.

Posted by rocketscientist at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

One of the questions that often comes up is how does the Medifast food taste?  Being that you are going to eat their weight loss meals for 5 of the six times a day that you do eat, it is an important question.  To recap briefly, the plan is to eat what they often call supplements, which are their food replacements, every 2-3 hours, and then have one "lean and green" meal each night.  Actually, you can have the meal anytime you want, but most people make that dinner with the family; although you could use that if you have a lunch meeting or appointment.

So, in my opinion, the weight loss supplements are average, but given the results, they are more than adequate.  Tasty enough to stick with it.  The shakes are mixed with water, not milk, so you can forget the rich, creamy image of a shake that may come to mind.  They have a number of flavors and most are ok, so long as you accept the fact that it's, well, watery.  Tip: don't let it sit for too long.  If you have a meeting at 10:00, don't leave the 1/2 empty cup there to come back to at 11.  The hour will made the shake mix and water separate, and it's not an appetizing result.

Beyond shakes, you can have pudding, bars, soups, and oatmeal.  The oatmeal is a little bland, but ok.  Try some splenda in there.  The rest of the food is good.  Not outstanding, but good.  Use the official web site and tools to find out how people mix and match to make the supplements more interesting. 

By the way, if you are comparision shopping for a fast, meal replacement weight loss diet, in my humble opinion, the supplements are far, far, better tasting than Nutrisystem.  That was a painful experience.  We didn't last one week on that plan...

Posted by rocketscientist at 05:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If you are considering Medifast for fast weight loss, on the surface, it sounds great.  Just eat five of their meals, which can be shakes, chocolate bars, pudding, soup and some other options, plus one "lean and green" meal, and the fat melts away.  At a basic level, this is all true.  When you get started, one of the first surprises is that 7 oz. of lean chicken or turkey is a surprisingly large amount of meat, and life seems good.  The weight falls off, and you can report a 5, 10 or even more loss in the first week (mine was 11.5).

And then the first weekend challenge arrives.  It may be the ball game, it may be Friday night happy hour, or your kid's birthday.  Whatever it is, it is NOT Medifast friendly.  So you figure, heck, I've lost some weight, and some people have noticed, so I'm feeling pretty good.  I'll have just a small piece of cake, or some of grandma's potato salad, and then get back on the diet tomorrow.

Suppose you do pretty well, you don't go overboard for the party, and it's back to shakes on Monday.  But by midday, you feel terrible.  The headache is slowing you down, you feel like you could eat the cafeteria at work, and the three hour gap between meals feels like 3 years.  The week's weight loss is slim or non-existent.

What happened?

The weight loss success in Medifast is in the method of burning off the excess carbs so your body turns to the fat stores for energy.  The first three days are an adjustment period when you are getting rid of lots of carbs that are so much a part of our diets.  That's one reason why you visit the restroom so often- the carbs are releasing a lot of water.  After the adjustment, the fat stores start depleting, and the weight loss is, at times, amazing.

When you cheat, even a little, especially with lots of carbs, your body is taking what you give it and in effect, saying, 'thanks for the carbs!  I can now stop burning my fat reserves and use this!  More, more more!'  When you get back on the diet, the tension between what your body wants and what you are giving it is the adjustment period.  Again.

Don't get me wrong.  Medifast is the fastest weight loss program I've ever encountered.  The start of beach season is two months away and you could be down 35-50 pounds by then!  If you are strong, and ready for a change, do it.  But do it right, and be committed.  Pass on the sweets; show up late for the party; do whatever it takes and you will lose weight.

Posted by rocketscientist at 08:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So, the basic medifast plan is five supplements and one "lean and green" meal.  We are allowed to pick any times of the day to have these supplements.  Most people, unless they have a planned lunch outing, have the lean and green meal as dinner.  It's somewhat natural to consider dividing the meals as:

• Breakfast
• Mid-morning snack
• Lunch
• Afternoon snack
• Dinner
• After dinner snack

When I first lost 45 pounds with Medifast, I kept to this pattern.  As I resume the journey, I'm trying something a little different.  Basically, I'm trying to save up two supplements for the after dinner period.  It gives me something a little more to look forward to at the end of the day. 

What's neat is that so far, it has been easy to incorporate that into the schedule.  I have my first supplement at about 8: 30 AM, using the water dispenser in the office cafeteria to mix up a shake.  The meals last about 3 hours, so that gives me meal #2 at 11:30 to noon and meal #3 in the mid afternoon.  I can have dinner at 6 or so, then I'm able to have a medifast chocolate bar and cappachino, or pudding and hot chocolate, or even some soup if that's what I'm in the mood for.  Having the freedom for two supplements in the nighttime hours even gives a solution to the midnight snacking-- something that is always an issue when you live in a household with little kids who tend to wake up a lot!

Any other medifasters have any meal spacing tips out there?

Posted by rocketscientist at 05:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I'll be honest with you, it's been a struggle to truly engage in this final battle with fat.  I call it final because, by the grace of God, I am going to make this the last stand.  I will succeed.  That said, I know I will not give up the battle of the bulge, but there has been a lot of back and forth in the skimishes.

It's been about a month and I've lost 11 pounds.  That's not too bad.  It's on the low side for a first month of Medifast, but well within the average to high amount when compared to most guidelines for losing weight.  There has been some ups and downs, and recently, it's become clear that one key component must be in place.  It's the gray matter between your ears.

Face it-- when you are going through the course of your day, you may be hungry, but it's seldom an overpowering urge to eat, or overeat.  When we look honestly at the situation, you know that you have the ability to walk away.  So why are so few about to do so, and instead find themselves starting at what was a full box of candy or a full plate of food wondering where it all went?  I believe the ability to stop and evaluate the choice is the solution to weight loss.

Steven Covey's 7 Habits book talks about the space betwen stimulus and response.  We are not simple animals who act on instinct.  We have stimulus, and then we can choose our repsonse.  It's the key to personal and business effectiveness, and to losing weight.  Here is one example- the stimulus is getting home from a long work day.  It's about 5:00 PM on a Friday night.  The week has been tough, the weather is crappy out, and you find yourself looking at the workout plan you laid out with a big red X for Friday's workout, right next to the circular offering a special on Pizza Hut's newest pan pizza.

That's the stimulus.  You know the two possible responses- pick up the phone or pick up the gym bag.  The outcome lies in that space where you realize you have a choice.  You have the ability to stop and think.  What will be the best decision?  What will I regret later?  I believe that the ability to stop grows when you are able to articulate what you are doing and why.  Know your goals and write them down.  Be accountable to a friend, a spouse, an exercise buddy.  Do whatever you have to do to have things click in your own mind.  You will be able to, perhaps for the first time, regain a little control, realize you are not a slave to habit or appetite, and you will finally get on the road to not only rapid weight loss, but a whole new outlook on life.

Posted by rocketscientist at 05:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

It's been about four years now since I've followed various flavors of a diet "program".  I've gone through Weight Watchers, NutriSystem, The Zone, South Beach, some others I've forgotten, and now, finally, Medifast.  Another difference between Medifast and all the others is the consistency of weight loss. 

With many other diet programs, you expect to gain weight now and again.  The slow and steady program is indeed slow, but not always steady.  Overall, the scale goes down, but you lose 2 here, gain 0.5 there, lose the .5, then lose 1, then gain .2, etc..  Most of the weight loss charts have the general downward trend, but the ups are plentiful.

With Medifast, most of the stories, including my own, echo a theme of consistent loss.  If you follow the diet, you lose weight.  Each week may not be the 2 to 5 pounds lost that they advertise, but you lost 3, then 1, then 2, then 4, then 0.5, but you are losing, losing, losing. 

Medifast's motto is "easy. fast.  Medifast."  While the easy is debatable, the fast is not.

Posted by rocketscientist at 09:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I heard somewhere that if you have strong enough 'why', you can figure out almost any 'how'.  Once you know why you are doing something, you increase your chances of success so much that without a why, there's almost no point.  If we don't know why we do what we do, we are likely to drift and are not nearly as effective. 

So, why do you want to lose weight?  The answer will determine your success.  I think that it needs to be more than 'to look better,' or to 'be healthy'.  That's great and they are worthy goals, but does that inspire you, excite you, give you the strength to avoid that chocolate your co-workers brought to the office?  If it does, great!  But for me, the reasons tend to be more personal:

I want to be around for my children
I want to not have to plan on being the fattest and slowest on the church softball team
I want my clothes to fit.  To know what it is to have a pair of slacks hang like they are supposed to.

Ok, well the last one was a little vain, but the point is, you have to make the goal real.  Tangible goals, measureable results, and focus are the keys to weight loss.  It doesn't matter if it's medifast, taking supplements, or any other program, success comes with certainty of purpose. 

Posted by rocketscientist at 06:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)