Health Fitness

How to be successful with Medifast

I guess if you judge in terms of pounds, I’m a Medifast success story. But I think the real success is in how I have changed my life. I’m so much healthier, I have so much more energy, I’m so much more confident, and I see food (and how it relates to my body) in a whole new way. I finally believe that I am worth something and I am as important as anyone else. I will offer tips and advice on how to be successful with this diet in the following article.

As simple as it sounds, follow the instructions and trust the process: When I tell people that the first piece of advice I would give is to follow directions, I am sometimes met with sighs and rolling eyes. But I have a lot of experience on this diet and on weight loss forums and I can’t tell you how many people (myself included) think they know better than the doctors who developed Medifast.

It’s very tempting to look at the plan, know you’re eating six times a day, and think you can do better. Countless people cut back on the number of meals they eat or substitute one of the Medifast meals for one of the larger, fresher, “lean and green” meals. I can tell you with 100% certainty that the weeks that I lost the least amount of weight were the weeks that I skipped meals or skipped lean and green meals.

You’ll only consume 1,000 to 12,000 calories per day with Medifast, so cutting back is no longer necessary. If you do, you risk slowing down your metabolism and tricking your body out of the nutrients and energy it needs. Eating so frequently may seem weird at first, but you quickly get used to it and there is a reason the diet has been designed the way it is. It’s been repeatedly tested by institutions like the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and has been successful by countless others, so trust that you will too and follow the program even if you resist all six meals at first.

Know yourself well and do what works for you: Some people like to surround themselves with others when they are on a diet and others feel that it is a personal process and prefer to do it alone. No matter where you are on this spectrum, you can make this work for you. The company’s website offers tons of free support, resources, and advice. You can interact with others online or in person. Accountability really helps and while I am by no means joining a group, I have found these resources to be quite helpful.

Some people are introverted and feel uncomfortable having to interact. That is perfectly acceptable too. The company offers you tons of resources that allow you to go it alone if you want to.

Finally, I would say know where you have failed before. I know I need a lot of variety. Therefore, I add “safe” ingredients to my foods, such as sugar-free syrups, whipped cream and fat-free cheese, etc. I knew this would be necessary to continue with this and it certainly hasn’t slowed my progress at all.

Don’t let the traps derail you. Accept it and move on: It’s a fact of life on a diet that you’re going to cheat. It is highly unrealistic to think that you will never have a bad day on your diet. Perhaps you eat at a restaurant and choose not to go “lean and green.” That’s perfectly fine and no big deal. However, it becomes a big problem when you allow this to get you down and repeat the process the next day.

When you cheat, just shrug it off and promise to do better tomorrow. It’s not the act of cheating that sabotages you, it’s allowing cheating to become a habit or a derailment. Essentially, you are trying to get into the habit of a new lifestyle. This will happen as you start to have a lot more good days than bad. So don’t let the bad days feed on themselves and prevent this from happening.

Understand how ketosis works: Ketosis is the metabolic state that makes this diet so effective. Because Medifast is low in carbohydrates and high in protein, your body will burn fat instead of carbohydrates. And when you get to this state (which you can test with ketone strips), you’ll feel less hungry and more energized. The best way I can put it is that once you’re in ketosis, you no longer think about food as intensely as you used to. You don’t think so much about diet anymore. You start to lose your cravings and this is generally when you hit your groove.

Obviously, this is your goal and where you want to stay. When you cheat, it takes 2-3 days to return to this state. And, while you can test yourself, you can usually feel ketosis when you’re in it. So use this as a motivation and know that if you fail and get eliminated, all you have to do is regroup and continue.

Know that it is the small victories that change your life: A lot of people get intimate and turn off on diets. They feel very pressured and give in before they even start. What you must realize is that it is the small victories that count, the victories that are repeated and add up. Two pounds becomes five and then ten. Ten becomes twenty. Keep repeating your success until you reach your goal. Don’t look at it as a big, big change. Look at it as little baby steps over time.

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