2 Months

I'm a little late with doing my Month 2 update, but better late than never I guess. I had wanted to get an "update" picture to include, but haven't gotten coordinated for that yet...guess that will have to be a Month 2 supplement! :)


As of May 2nd, the official 2 Month mark, my total weight lost was 29.2lbs. Woo Hoo!


I must admit that it is a little hard for me to get my head around that I've lost 30lbs (as of 5/11 that's where I am) in only 9 weeks!


The second month with MediFast went well overall, although there were some ups and downs along the way. The rate with which the weight is coming off has certainly slowed over Month 1, but that's ok. It actually took a long while to gain the weight, so stands to reason that it should take time to lose it!


The beginning of the month was a little frustrating - I had a couple of "free meals" (I'll explain my approach on that in a bit) around my husband's birthday and Easter and between that and that I was sick - my weight pretty much stood still for about 2 weeks. However, once I started feeling better (stupid spring allergies) and stuck to my MediFast plan, everything got back on track.


One of the things I've given myself permission to do in this process is periodic "free meals". My goal in all of this is not just to lose the weight, but to make permanent changes to my lifestyle and relationship with food. Recognizing that I'm not going to spend the rest of my life eating strictly MediFast I want to be able to eat "normal" thing once in a while.


What once in a while means to me is once, maybe twice at the most in a month. I've given myself permission to use my monthly book club brunch as my main free meal, and then another sometime over the month if needed. I'm finding that this is keeping my head in a good place, that I am not feeling like I am missing anything, and that it's just a single meal, it's not going to derail me.


I've also started exercising - riding the recumbent bike I have. It's certainly easier with some of the weight lost, and I recognize that I need to do it to build strength and toning. I'm having ups and downs with my knees, so consistency with an exercise regimen is something I'm going to have to continue to work on.


In the end, I'm feeling comfortable with where I am so far, proud of the progress that I'm making and feeling adapted to MediFast enough that I have no problem continuing on. My goal is still to lose at least 40lbs. before I go on my summer vacation in July - feeling pretty attainable right now!

1 Month In

The first month of my MediFast journey is in the books, and I'm still at it. Once I got through the yuckiness of the first few days, the remainder of the past 4 weeks has gone by pretty quickly. I feel like I'm getting into a groove with the program now and definitely adjusted to the parameters of the program.

Some observations from this first month;

1. My tastes have changed - the first week, everything tasted bad to me. I really didn't like the taste of a lot of the MediFast foods and could really taste the artificial sweetners being used in everything (and I have always HATED the taste of artificial sweetners). I've since adjusted, the taste of the foods don't bother me, and I'm even ok with the occasional diet pop.

2. I've found some little tweaks to some of the MediFast foods make a BIG difference! For example, adding cinnamon to the Original Pancakes dramatically improves the taste. Also, 1/4tsp of baking powder also helps the pancakes to be a little fluffier too. Another tweak is adding a little sugar free maple syrup to the Maple & Brown Sugar Oatmeal.

3. Having the Take Shape for Life App on the iPhone is a tremendously helpful tool. It allows me to set reminders on timed intervals (I've gone with every 2.5 hours) and it will tell me when it is time to log one of my daily meals. Since I am not hungry most of the time, having the reminders is proving to be a great way to ensure that I do get all of my meals in each day - and not worry about sabotaging myself with forgetting to eat!

4. I have had almost no urge to cheat. This is a big one for me....in the past, I've usually suffered from obsessing about thing that I "can't have" and sneaking things (and of course then wondering why I'm not losing anything). But I'm not doing that this time....I think it's got a lot to do with the fact that I really did get myself into a good mental place to be able to start this.

Possibly the best part of this first month is how quickly I've been able to see a change...clothes that I felt packed into a month ago are now loose. Some clothes that I've been holding on to for "when I lose weight" either already fit again or are getting really close to fitting. Heck, even my shoes feel more comfortable! In only a month....it's amazing!

And, I can already 'see' a difference! I had B take a picture of me at the Blues game the other night, and compared it to a similar picture from a game in November....and I can see a difference in my face! So encouraging!!

So drum roll for the first month total lost..... 20.6lbs!!!

I think it's fair to say that the stage has been set for continued success on the program and stay tuned for next month's progress update!

The First Step is a Doozie

This is why I am doing this....this is what I looked like on March 2nd, 2012 at 259lbs.

I look tired, old, WAY too big and like I'm about 8 months pregnant again.

I'm not cool with this at all.

I've started the MediFast and am on Day 3. I'm managing ok and am very glad that I started this on a weekend.

I'd been told and read that the first few days on the program would be rough due to basically detoxing from carbs and sugar. Well, I can tell you that it is the god's honest truth. The first two days were ROUGH. I felt like complete crap - tired beyond belief, had a constant, dull headache and hungry. I expected the tired/headache but I hadn't really expected the hunger. The MediFast meals were not fulfilling at all, I was hungry literally 15-20 minutes after eating. It was brutal, but I soldiered through and did not give in to it.

The MediFast meals are going to take a little getting used to. I typically have not opted for anything with artificial sweetners in it for ever - I could always taste it and didn't like it at all. I can certainly taste the artificial sweetners used in the MediFast meals. I'm not wild about it - but I'll get used to it I'm sure. In the mean time, I might be using mints or drinking peppermint tea a little more.

B has been incredibly supportive, offering encouragement and exercising his cooking skills with some wonderful "lean and green" dinners for us. Eating better dinners are going to be great for the whole family.

Today has not been as bad. The hunger has not been as pronounced and although I'm still tired and feeling weak, it has been a much better day. I'm hoping I'll feel even better tomorrow.

My plan is to weigh myself on Monday, Wednesday and Friday - just to keep an eye on things, and track my progress. I'm looking forward to tomorrow being the first weigh in that I'm going to track. I'm not expecting too much, but some movement downward would certainly be a nice shot in the arm.