Archive for the ‘Medifast Personal Journey’ Category
Medifast Review: Day 137, This Story Is Mine!
I have now been using Medifast for 137 days and I have to tell you that it has changed my life in more ways than I could ever write on this entry. I am now down a total of 110.4 pounds and I have to tell you that I never thought that I was as overweight as I was, when I started the journey. I am 6′ 1/2″ tall and when I first looked at my BMI I thought that a healthy body weight was a joke. I thought that if I weighed a healthy BMI I would be too thin because I was not that overweight. When I started Medifast I think I felt as if a healthy weight would be too thin because I really was not that fat. Now that I have been using Medifast for 137 days I have to tell you I am now 110 pounds thinner and my life has been altered in ways that I never dreamed possible.
At first I did not like the taste of the Medifast food and I had someone helping and coaching me that told me that if I were to stick it out for only 3 to 5 days I would realize how polluted my taste buds were and that I would learn how to doctor up the individual meals to suit my taste preference. If you were to go back into the earlier entries you will see that I learned to add Splenda
I now am thinner and that thinness has brought the following changes into my life;
- Not on any prescriptions
- Did not become the type 2 diabetic my doctor warned me was headed my way within 3 to 6 months
- More energy every moment of the day
- No longer take naps….ever, as I no longer have the desire
- Finances have soared because I have been able to take control of my mind and my body, which has offered me more business opportunities
- Sex life has improved because my wife and I now have a combined total weight loss of 182 pounds. It is like we are meeting each other for the first time again!
What you need to realize about Medifast is that it is only a tool to help a person lose weight and whether or not it will work for you is entirely a choice that you will have to make in a definitive direction to make weight loss a reality in your life. You can try this program and be an utter and dismal failure, or you can be a soaring success…the choice is all yours!
For me the choice was simple to make and once I started to lose weight I stuck with the program through to completion. Now that I have lost all the weight I am cheering on my wife as she completes her last 34 pounds. Once we are done we will no longer do the 5 & 1 plan and we will resume a more “normal” life with the intention of staying thin for life. We did not allow our bodies to take this shape only to let it all just come back. This program has taught us to not only allow our bodies to be the shape we had dreamed of…we have learned to allow this shape to be with us for the rest of our lives!
Medifast works really, really well if you are willing to allow it to work in your life. I have a photo below that to you may seem like a million other before and after Medifast weight loss photographs… but the big difference is that the photo below is personal to Sue and I… as it is the story of our success.
Medifast Success
Medifast success is one thing that I never really expected to happen when I placed my first order to start the plan. I think I felt that way because I have tried so many other weight loss plans down through the years that were nothing but failures. I could list those plans that my wife and I tried and you more than likely tried some of them yourself. I have been so impressed with Medifast I can say without qualification that by using Medifast I have now lost 112 pounds and it has changed my life. I am no longer worried about becoming a diabetic and my doctor was quite please by all of the changes that have taken place inside my body. If that does not count as being a Medifast success, I do not know what would be considered one!
Sue, my wife snapped the photograph of me with her cell phone the other day while shopping for some new clothing. The shirt proudly proclaims how thrilled I am to have lost so much weight. I have been so inspired by how much weight I have lost that I had two of the shirts made up and I wear them everywhere. The shirt says I lost 109 pounds in 5 months, but the actual weight loss leveled off right at 112 pounds.
Medifast has been a success in ways that I never really anticipated because becoming overweight happened so gradual that I never noticed all of the changes that were taking place to me down through the years. Sure you can measure success by looking at the scale or by wearing a smaller pants size, but there is really so much more to becoming a healthy weight than can be expressed in words.
Everything I do has become easier for me. Walking is no longer tiring and I can even jog for a mile or more. My sex life has become effortless and shopping for clothing has become more of an adventure for WHAT I WANT instead of finding what will fit. Losing weight with Medifast has changed my life in SO MANY ways that I can not possibly write it all down here. Being able to tie my shoes without lifting my foot to a ledge or being able to push a cart at work without being winded are but two simple and yet tiny success that I have encountered in my Medifast journey.
I no longer need to do the Medifast 5 & 1 Meal plan but I will confess that I still include Medifast into almost everyday of my life. The food iS not bad and those meals that I do not like, I simply do not order. I really enjoy the ease and convenience of the Medifast Meals when I am at work. The cost to use Medifast while at work ends up being less than eating out and easier than packing a lunch. Overall being a Medifast success has made my life easier physically and even easier on the wallet. No prescriptions to pay for anymore and I am even spending less money on groceries.
The only thing about using Medifast that cannot be considered a Medifast success is the cost I have had to endure by needing ALL new clothing. I lost weight so fast I had to get them from a second hand store for a few months, but now that my waist has dropped from a 48″ and settled into a 34″ I have started to search out new clothing on a permanent basis. I guess overall the WORST thing about becoming a Medifast success is the cost incurred by having to purchase replacement clothing.
Medifast is the best thing that has happened to my wife and I in a long, long time! It is great being a Medifast success!
Did Medifast Work For You?
Many people have come up to me and asked ”Did Medifast work for you?” and I felt as if it was time to answer the question, since I have used Medifast for about 13 months now. In the first five months I lost 115 pounds and my friends told me that I lost so much weight that I looked sick, to the people who had not seen me. It was really odd to have the people I knew think I was sick, because I had rapidly lost so much weight. After being obese for well over 20 years it was as if I woke up a new person, in a thinner body. The truth of the matter is that there is really a much deeper answer to the question of “Did Medifast work for you?” …than just spouting off how much weight I did, or did not lose.
When I was in full throttle weight loss mode I was on a mission to lose the weight. It felt great to jump on the scale virtually every week being thinner than the previous week. On the day I had reached my goal weight I stood there on the scale, in the dim light of the morning, and despite having hit my target weight…I felt a tad bit depressed. Despite having successfully lost all my weight I stood there in the early light sad because there were no bells and whistles. I was all alone and the ceiling did not open up with confetti. There were no sounds of happiness or jubilation, there was just the new thinner me standing there, all alone. How does all of this work for the question of did Medifast work for you?….let me explain.
When I had a “perfect” BMI I was as thin as I was, when I was 18 years old. Despite having gained the physical perfection I had sought for so long, the day I reached my goal weight I was not really that thrilled. I think this was because the steady weight loss progression achieved with Medifast made the moment sort of a non-event. I remember all the episodes of The Biggest Loser and the cheering and the applause and prizes received. When I made my goal weight…I had only myself.
As the days went by I started to eat more of a normal routine and the first three weeks I put back on about 15 pounds. I was not concerned with the weight gain because I was “done losing weight.” In the seven months since my weight loss event I have to tell you that I gained a total of about 20 pounds and now float around the 200 pound mark. Since I stand 6′ 1″ tall, it is a respectable weight and I still do not look, or feel, overweight. What I will also say is that although I am no longer using Medifast to lose weight, I order some every month and actually enjoy to eat the stuff. I love the night snack of a brownie with chocolate soft serve on top. Since I split the soft serve with my wife, the whole Medifast treat is only 150 calories each. On the days I work I always bring three Medifast meals because the $7.00 for all 3 meals is about the price it is to eat out and I know Medifast is well beyond healthy while McDonald’s is not.
Did Medifast work for me? I really did not realize just how much it did work until two personal events. The first of those two events was when I saw my son for the first time in months. He had been away (Navy) and I was at work, behind the customer service counter. I am not normally behind the counter but that day I was helping out, and my son walked up and asked me if I could tell him where “Keith” was located. I had lost so much weight he did not immediately realize it was me…his Dad! I had to convince him I lost the weight to be healthy. My drastic change from morbidly obese to thin had scared the heck out of him for a few moments. Once he grasped I was thin and healthy, he grinned from ear to ear. That was a moment I will never forget.
The second event was when I went to for a physical, for a life insurance policy. Because my weight was “perfect” I qualified to get a 30 year term life insurance policy, for a, extremely low rate. Since I am currently 50 years old, I was amazed to be able to get new insurance coverage for the next 30 years. My wife Sue also has an exceptional weight loss story and now that we are both thin…we will need all those years!
So what do you think I say when people ask me “Did Medifast work for you?” I will leave you with that question and let you ponder for a moment on what you think my answer is…even though I had no confetti or prizes. Since my weight loss I take no prescriptions and I no longer suffer from chronic indigestion and I no longer suffer from back pain.
What do you think my answer is?
Medifast On Vacation: Day 1
Today marked an interesting day for Sue and I as we left the house and drove over 700 miles towards our son’s graduation from boot camp in Illinois. Because of the current economy money has been very tight for us, but we would never want to miss the graduation so we planned, and off we went. The interesting thing about the day is that the driving went faster than normal, the day was less expensive and we attribute it to using Medifast. We took and used Medifast while on our first day of vacation and it was a success.
As we planned for our trip / vacation the dilemma was whether or not we would stay on food plan and what we realized was that staying on plan was going to be less expensive than eating out for every meal. When we were preparing our Medifast food order we ordered more things like pretzels, cheese puffs, crunch bars, brownies and Medifast Meals on the go. As we drove today we found that the only time we really needed to stop was to get gasoline and go pee.
We found out that since we ordered Medifast, and were staying on plan, we were able to drive straight through and the cost of the day was overall less expensive than if we were stopping at places to eat. As we drove past the golden arches and other fast food places the only food we did pay for was coffee, which is my one vice that I won’t give up. By following the Medifast food plan our travel went faster, was cheaper than eating out and we did not gain any weight. Actually we more than likely lost weight, despite the activity of sitting in the car all day, as we stayed on plan!
At the end of the drive we pulled into a Ruby Tuesday and ate our Lean and Green Meal, which was fantastic! We ate from the salad bar and I ordered the steak. I was really particular to request the steak to be cooked with no salt or seasoning and the broccoli was to be steamed only. The meal was great and we walked out very satisfied.
As I lay here in my motel room I am quite satisfied with being able to stay on the Medifast Meal Plan, while on vacation. Even with all of the days events I found that Medifast on vacation was not only going to be easy, but I never realized that it was going to make the drive faster and less costly!!! I never realized that Medifast on vacation was not only going to be easy…it was cheaper than anything else we could have done.
I do not know how tomorrow will go, but Medifast on vacation went really well for today and it feels great to have made it through the first day with no real temptations and no problems what-so-ever! I never realized Medifast would be so easy to follow while on vacation!
Opinion of Medifast
I have been contemplating about what to write about my opinion of Medifast and I realized that this article really needs to contain two questions being answered, wrapped into one. What I mean by this is that the first question some people think is often related to how well the weight loss plan works and the second question is related to an opinion of how good the food tastes. Although it may be one single question, the answer can be given in either context. For the sake of this post I will answer each question individually in the context mentioned above. It is my intention to provide nothing more than my honest opinion of Medifast.
Opinion of Medifast Food Taste
When I first ate Medifast food I thought it was one of the most disgusting foods I had ever eaten and that is a strong statement considering my years of service in the military. Looking back on it now I crack a smile because I have to say to myself…”what was I thinking?” I say this because my first meal eaten was scrambled eggs. Given the fact that I really do not like eggs unless they are drowned in ketchup, I do not know why I even chose scrambled eggs as my first meal! When I ate those first eggs I said to myself that I would puke before I could stick with this program. My opinion of Medifast food at that time was that it was horrible and yet that was then and this is now.
After I struggled through the first three days I began to really enjoy the flavor of Medifast foods. This is even easier for me to say today and I have been eating Medifast for over 13 months now. I no longer eat the food to lose weight, I eat it because it is truly economical and it is what I enjoy to eat. When I go to work I pack 3 Medifast meals which are often 2 meals like pretzels or bars or my all time favorite…parmesan cheese puffs. The 3rd meal is often chili with crackers. I pack these meals because they are full of all the vitamins and minerals I need, they foster simple weight maintenance and I really enjoy the convenience and taste of the food. I often find myself in the break room playing with my iPhone during my lunch break, while others are driving to buy fast food, spending more money on their calorie dense junk food. I no longer NEED to eat Medifast food but I do so because I actually enjoy the taste and with all of the reasons listed…why not?
My final opinion of Medifast food taste is that I continue to eat the meals quite often because I really see how they are cost effective, healthy, convenient and actually taste pretty good. I only started to enjoy the foods after the initial 3 days, which is what most Medifast noobs do not understand because nobody has ever explained it to them the importance of the first three days of Medifast.
Opinion of Medifast Effectiveness
I really only need to tell you that I lost 115 pounds using Medifast to demonstrate my opinion of the effectiveness of Medifast. I added the photo here to give you a sample of what it has done to me, and to also my wife Sue. She has also lost an amazing amount of weight and the end result has been one of renewed life. My, and our life has changed in ways I can’t place on this page because they are too many and you would rapidly grow bored. The one thing I want you to understand about my opinion of Medifast here… is that if you are struggling with obesity Medifast is the real deal.
Medifast is the real deal and I did not get commissioned from Medifast to write this article. I am not an employee of Medifast and I am here penning this because Medifast is the one weight loss program that changed my life for the better. Medifast has worked for me and it can work for anyone that is ready to make the commitment. If you are thinking about Medifast to lose weight you should give it a second glance, but only if you can be committed. I lost my weight in about 5 months. How long will you need to be committed?
If the photographs above are not enough you can check out another article (Our Story) and if that does not work, feel free to call me on my cell phone. (850-449-0121) If I can answer it I will, it is MY phone and not a phone in some office. My name is Keith and it is my opinion that Medifast gave me my life back and it can do the same thing for ANY healthy person that is ready to make the commitment and make weight loss a reality in their life.