Portion Sizes Emotions and Obesity
As the advancement of technology has brought inches to our waist another event took place with little or no notice at all. What I am speaking of is portion control, or more precisely, portion size. The evolution of portion size has moved to a point that the average citizen does not even know what a correct size portion actually contains. Just a few short years ago you had to pay for every glass of a beverage that you ordered when dining out to eat. If you had a refill for a coke, you paid extra for that refill. In today’s culture you can run a hose to your table and yet only pay for one glass, while consuming many more. Without our even noticing the average plate on your dinner table has increased in size by 30%, or more. I love the story behind the creation of the book “9 inch diet.” Hamburgers are now huge, steaks that now serve one person used to feed a few. The list goes on and on and on until…well, you are fat.
When you grew up you were told to “clean your plate” and now the plate size is huge and so is our collective waistline. When you portion out your meals you should only serve up what what is a healthy serving and put the rest away. Unfortunately, most of us have no idea what a portion size really looks like. As you travel down your weight loss trail you will encounter many bumps along the way. If you do not have a working knowledge of a correct serving size then that bump will be portion control.
Many people tired of getting out the scale to weigh each and every morsel of food so let us train our eyes to see what we should be placing in our stomach.
A serving of:………………..Visual Reference
Cheese……………………….4 Stacked dice
Meat, fish or poultry……….Deck of playing cards
Raisins………………………..1 Large egg
Baked potato………………..Size of your fist
Pancake/waffle……………..Size of a compact disc (cd)
Ice cream……………………1/2 size of a baseball
Butter…………………………Postage stamp
Peanut butter………………..Size of a ping pong ball
Cereal…………………………Size of your fist
If you are like most you will need to wean yourself off the massive amount of food you take in when you eat. You need to retrain yourself that you do not “need” four scoops of ice cream. You do not “need” to eat the entire pack of cookies. You do not “need” to eat seven slices of pizza. Now that you know what you DO NOT NEED and are able to separate it from what you WANT… it all comes down to just how bad you really “WANT” to lose weight! I can speak from the experience of being overweight myself and I struggle with food choices each and every day. It is sort of like being a recovering addict of sorts. I have lost well over 100 pounds and I never intend to going back to my obese size, or weight. Being able to get portion size under control has been an inner struggle for many years. If I have ice cream…I want the entire box. If I have a burger…the double cheeseburger is better. It is sort of like I get hypnotized by some spell when I sit down to eat.
It was not until I understood weight loss and I understood portion size did the entire weight loss process actually start to work for me. I used Medifast to help get a grip on my portion sizes, while struggling to achieve healthy weight loss. By choosing Medifast I was able to not only lose weight through smaller portions, I was able to ensure I was getting the needed nutrition to stay in fat burning. Also, because of all the nutrition that is loaded into the Medifast portions, I did not have all the sagging skin that is so typical of those that lose weight through weight loss surgery. I now know that since I have lost all my weight I just need to maintain it through smart portion sizes. I have learned I can have a couple of cookies and I can survive without the entire box. Portion sizes…emotional issues…they go hand in hand for me and I struggled with them for too long. I hope to maintain my weight and it really comes down to portion sizes being smart and understanding what a portion size really means. I now understand the two meanings of portion size as they pertain to physically on the plate and emotionally in my head.
Medifast and Still Hungry
Medifast and still hungry are words that last for only about three days, if you are following the Medifast 5 and 1 meal plan. I have helped many people get started with the Medifast program and I have heard the same conversations over and over again. Since I have helped so many people lose weight using Medifast, as a weight loss tool, I thought that I would spend a moment with you explaining the Medifast and still hungry statement.
If you want to use Medifast to lose weight you have to realize that the overall plan is not like any other weight loss program out there. Sure you will find other programs that you will be able to lose weight, but there is one huge difference with Medifast. When using Medifast you will be eating about 800 to 1,000 calories every day. Other programs offer similar meals that help create a calorie deficit, but the big difference with Medifast is two-fold. What a seasoned Medifast user realizes is that Medifast and hungry really is a statement that is rarely uttered, after the first three days. I will not go into the importance of the first three days because there is already a feature article on the importance and difficulties of those days. (Medifast First Three Days Article)
What you will soon realize is that Medifast gets it name from “Medi” which symbolizes that the program is medically approved. In fact over 20,000 doctors have approved of Medifast as a safe way to lose weight. Upon further reflection it will soon be realized that because the program is low on carbohydrates, the blood sugar levels remain flat. This is often referred to as a low-glycemic plan and this is also why diabetics find the program so beneficial. (Medifast and Diabetics)
Medifast and still hungry is not a common statement because when the blood sugar remains consistently stable there is a noticeable drop in cravings and overall hunger pains. This is not to say that you will not be EVER hungry when using Medifast. What it does mean is that after a week or two on the program, most people actually start to miss or forget that it is time to eat. Since a Medifast user will eat six times a day, there will be times that you run past your scheduled time to eat. What you will soon learn is that even though there are smaller portions and less calories…you will not ever really be hungry.
What I will admit to is that for the first week or two I really was eager to eat my Lean and Green Meal, but even those days only lasted for a couple of weeks. What I will also further mention is that when I was in full swing weight loss with Medifast that eating became less of a priority to me. It was not long before that I was very content with the brownies or the pudding, or the pancakes or the eggs or whatever other Medifast Meals I was eating. The smaller portion sizes were more than adequate and that was a big leap for me and my weight loss journey. The home made or eat out Lean and Green Meals were also meals of surprising versatility and portion size.
I lost 112 pounds of weight using Medifast and I have been able to keep those pounds off. Losing weight with Medifast was a very easy thing for me to accomplish. Looking back on it now it is hard to believe that I did it all in about 5 months. I loved the program because the food was actually pretty good and I got to eat often. The portion sizes were adequate and I simply have learned that Medifast and still hungry statement is really only uttered by those that have not endured the first three days of using Medifast.
If you are here reading this as a new Medifast user and you are within the first three days, then just go eat an extra Medifast Meal. Eat two extra if you feel the need. The reason you can do that is because you will continue to move your body towards fat burning by eating Medifast foods. By eating an extra meal or two you will not devestate the plan, you will just get rid of the hunger. The difference with Medifast is that the fat burn is easy to continue… as long as you simply follow the plan. Once you get past the first few days you will soon realize just how easy it is to just not really be all that hungry.
If you are thinking about using Medifast to lose weight the photograph you see is actually me. I did it and I struggled with my weight for years. If you really want to lose weight Medifast will work for you as well as it did for me, because in reality…I am nobody special. Medifast and still hungry….you will soon see that is simply not true!!! Doubt that? If so, feel free to call me. Yes, call me. I will answer the phone and I am not some big company scamming anyone. I am just me and I struggled with my weight until my doctor gave me dire warnings. Do not let yourself slip further towards an early grave!!! Medifast is the real deal and it works….
There really is nothing more that can be said!
Keith Q. (850)449-0121
A Problem With Medifast
I must admit that I have come across the first problem with using Medifast, as a weight loss solution for my wife and I. We both started on our Medifast weight loss journey 12 days ago and she is not too happy with the results we have both obtained today. We weighed in together and as soon as I saw the results of that weigh in I knew there was going to be a problem.
When I first stepped on the scale I and saw that I lost 18.40 pounds in one week and I knew I was in trouble. It was right when my wife stepped on the scale and she realized she lost 8.6 pounds her first week. She became depressed because she thought she was a failure, when compared to my numbers. Once she realized that I had lost so much more weight than she did, the problem created by Medifast began. I tried to tell her that woman lose weight slower than men, but that did little to soothe her ego. Despite all of my attempts to convince her that an 8.6 pound weight loss in the first 12 days was really great, she still felt like a failure. I felt really bad that she felt like a failure compared to my numbers and all of my conversation did little to help ease her frustration.
When I started Medifast I knew there would be problems, but I never expected that me losing too much weight too quickly would be the issue that would surface. She was not upset with the fact that I had lost so much weight the first week, it is just that she felt she should have done better. I threw down such a good number that she assumed that she should have done the same. I tried to alleviate the matter by talking about the differences in male and female weight loss, but it did not help.
It took a few hours of silence and being mildly depressed, but after a short time I convinced her that we should go to the mall and spend the Sunday walking around for some cardio. As the day wound down I convinced her that she was doing a great job, all-the-while wondering why I had to make peace out of a Medifast problem that really should not have existed! I just wish that the matter of losing too much weight too quickly did not become an issue at all.
I never thought in my wildest dreams that losing too much weight too quickly would be a problem while using The Medifast Weight Loss Program!
Medifast Review Day 35: I Gained Weight
For this brief Medifast review I just want to say that I gained weight and it does not bother me one tiny bit. That may sound strange in a Medifast review to say that I have been using the Medifast Weight Loss System for 35 days and do not mind that I gained weight, so let me explain. Before I started Medifast I thought I was doing it all right and on the days that I stepped on the scale I would get so depressed when it seemed as if the dial was glued because it seemed to never move in the direction that I was striving to go. When I awoke this morning I realized that in one day, despite doing everything right, I gained .40 of one pound since yesterday. In the days before Medifast I would have been discouraged as those days happened all too often. Yes I realize that weighing everyday is not recommended but then I did it and what more can I say?
The reason why I am not upset about the mild weight gain is because even with that fluctuation, I have lost a total of 29 pounds in 35 days. On average that calculates out to .82 pounds lost every day, on average. Waking up this morning and seeing a small amount of weight back on the scale was almost refreshing, as the decline has been so rapid. Yesterday I did nothing “wrong” on the Medifast Plan and it did not even phase me that I gained some weight. I know this program works and that very soon I will start to see the number plummet once again, as long as I continue to follow plan.
I have been writting about weight loss for quite some time and always had marginal results and had always said that that fast weight loss was a myth and now that it is happening to me I am amazed. Medifast has proven to me that if I can maintain a little will power, Medifast will take care of the rest. I have come to accept it as fact that the creators of Medifast really know what they are doing and my weight loss is the only proof that I need.
For this brief review of Medifast I just want to shout out that I gained a small amount of weight… and that is alright. Medifast works and it works fast! Nothing more really needs to be said other than it can also work for you if you are willing to make it work… by simply sticking to the plan. If you are committed to losing weight, then Medifast will be committed to you. The difference that sets Medifast apart from so many other weight loss plans is that Medifast works and it works really well!!!
Medifast Experience: We Started Medifast!
Today I came home and UPS had delivered my first order of Medifast. Tomorrow my wife and I start the Medifast experience and we are both really excited because we have been getting ready for this for quite some time now. When I say “getting ready” I mean that it was not some impulse order that we just placed on a whim. We organized our finances and cut back on the groceries in the house and read all we could about what Medifast was all about. My wife text-ed me at work to informed me that the two packages had arrived and that we were ready to get started with the Medifast Weight Loss / Meal Replacement Program.
When I walked in the house the two boxes were right there in the living room in the brown cardboard boxes they arrived in as my wife (Sue) waited for me to get home so we could open and explore the boxes together. What I was slightly surprised to see was how they were able to squeeze five weeks of food into those small boxes. My first reaction was that this would NEVER be enough food to eat and Medifast was going to help me to lose weight by starving me to death. I included a photograph to show that the boxes were rather non-descript and other than one label with the word Medifast on it, the Medifast shipment really arrived in a plain brown box. I was hoping the boxes would not have big words stamped all over announcing to all my neighbors that I was starting Medifast. I am not ashamed of that fact, I just want to keep it quiet. I consider myself a private person and I was relived to see that the box the Medifast came in was just basically brown cardboard with an address label glued on the side.
What I soon learned about my order was that I did not understand the fact that I was not getting a one month supply of meals, I was getting 4 weeks of food. For some reason when I placed my order I thought that 4 weeks would equal one month, but that is really not the case. (One month is 30 to 31 days, 4 weeks equals 28 days) To put it a tad bit more accurately, I received 5 weeks of meals because I got the one week FREE (of two weeks) since I joined the V.I.P. Membership Plan. I received a total of 35 days of food, or 175 meals. What you need to understand is the definition of the word “meal” when using it in the context of what it means in the Medifast world. In the discreet cardboard box was a mixture of Medifast Crunch Bars, soups, shakes, oat meals and other food items that were essentially powdered foods that all need to have water added to them. Since I am on the Lean and Green Meal Plan I get to eat 5 “meals” like this daily and then I will also get the one “Lean and Green Meal.” (Medifast 5 & 1 Meal Plan Article)
When I first opened the box I was surprised to see just how much Medifast food was packed inside. It was all very neat and after I sorted it all out I was very happy to see that the order was perfect and there was nothing missing and the count ended up just right. 
At first look I was concerned because it really did not look like enough food to get me through an entire month, but my wife just kept telling me that it would work and I would be fine. I still looked at the packages of food and thought to myself…”I am going to starve to death!” I will keep you posted in future entries because I really intend to give this Medifast thing a real good try to make it work. I know it will require some adjustment on my part, but I am ready to get this going and to drop all of this weight that is slowly killing me.
We watched a great YouTube video that showed us how we should sort out our Medifast meals and set ourselves up for success by preparing ahead of time. We had a supply of ZipLoc Quart Bags
Well, it is time for me to call it a day and tomorrow starts the first day on Medifast for my wife and I. We intend on adding articles here often to chronicle how we are doing and what our opinion of Medifast becomes over the next few weeks and months. I have about 65 pounds to lose and my wife wants to lose 68 pounds. We feel really good about Medifast and soon we will be able to let you know everything we have learned throughout the Medifast experience.
Wish Us Luck!
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