Health Fitness

How to Succeed With Medifast – My Top 3 Tips to Help You Get the Results You Want

No one wants to waste their time and money. And no one wants to put their faith in another diet program that will disappoint them and leave them more frustrated and skeptical than when they started. And yet, this is what many of us secretly suspect will happen every time we prepare to start a new diet program. I know that, at least in the end, I failed on many diets before turning things around with medifast. Some were better and lasted longer than others, but in the end my body always seemed to return to where it felt comfortable. (This weight was where my body felt comfortable but not where I personally felt comfortable.)

Honestly, when I came to Medifast, I had no illusions that it was going to be the solution. She was just looking to fulfill a short-term goal: lose weight for a wedding. And maybe that’s why it was so much better than the others. Somehow it caught my attention because I didn’t resist, I didn’t question myself or analyze excessively. My goal was to just take it one day at a time, do it well enough to hit my weekly goals, and keep going if I wanted to. This “one day at a time” approach took the pressure off and made the whole process that much more desirable. And, once the results kept coming in, that was the motivation I needed to keep going.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that dieting is really about overcoming short-term obstacles and then just getting on with it. You should continue to lose weight gradually for as long as you can continue. When you stop, the weight goes back up or progress stops. That’s why it’s so vital to choose a diet you can actually live with. In the next article, I’m going to offer more tips I’ve learned along the way that I think have contributed to the success I’ve had with this diet.

Tip #1: Define success short-term: Don’t allow yourself to feel pressured or stressed – here is a basic truth of all human nature. People will generally avoid things that feel undesirable. If you’re not getting a positive reward, then you’ll start making excuses, not giving it your all, and eventually may give up.

Look at it this way. Let’s say you want to lose 100 or even 50 pounds. Both seem like life-changing yet daunting goals. But, if you were to lose just 2 ½ pounds each week (which really isn’t that hard), then you’d lose 50 pounds in about five months and 100 pounds in less than a year. And along the way, because you weren’t stressed about it and took a somewhat sensible approach, you probably would have enjoyed the process more and maybe adopted a new lifestyle that has a lot to do with whether the weight will stay off.

Tip #2: Understand ketosis and glycemic load: (and how Medifast helps you achieve this:) There probably aren’t many people who equate medifast with high-protein, carb-controlled diets like Atkins or the belly cure. But, in a sense, it works on the same principle. Medifast foods are low in sugar and carbohydrates and are high in protein. Before you sigh or groan (as I did), understand that the food has been modified to make this happen. You’re not eating eggs and bacon. You’re eating pudding, oatmeal, milkshakes, chili, candy bars, and chips, and not always foods you’d associate with being “low carb.”

By combining low calories and low carbs, you are inching your body into ketosis, which is where your body finally gives in and starts burning fat stores instead of carbs with the that has been feeding. This truly is your promised land and where you will want to stay as often as you can. And, this is why you want to reasonably follow the directions for your great “lean and green food” each day. If all goes well with your five medifast meals but you then load up on carbs at dinner (if that’s when you’re lean and green), then you’re at risk of slipping out of your hard-won ketosis. And then your progress could slow down.

Of course, it is completely unrealistic to expect that you will never cheat or fall a little short and this is perfectly fine. It really is a marathon instead of a sprint. It is the cumulative effect of all your efforts. Don’t beat yourself up or stress yourself out. Just get back up and move on.

Tip #3 Find your unique step Where things are clicking and keep going: After a few weeks, many people find the combination of foods and preparation methods that will make this process the most comfortable and desirable. For me, it was making the shakes very cold and adding a little more liquid to them. It also took me a while to find a good rotation of lean and green foods. I also learned that adding fat-free cheese to chili and chips or sugar-free syrup to oatmeal, pudding, and smoothies didn’t affect me negatively. These things made me like food more and I was still losing weight. Don’t feel guilty or bad about making things work for you. As long as you’re getting results, everything is fine.

Some people will make charts and rewards for themselves and others don’t like the pressure this creates. Anything that works for you as an individual is absolutely fine. I think there are really only a few keys to this. Make it as pleasant and as stress-free as possible. Find what works. And then repeat the process so that you get the results you want and make these things habitual.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *