We’re back with this month’s tips from our talented bloggers participating in the Medifast program. If you need inspiration, be sure to visit their blogs and follow along with their weight-loss journeys!
Take Before and After Pictures
Medifast Blogger, Daria from Mom in Management, has had extreme success on the Medifast program by staying motivating from her before pictures. At her six-week interval, Daria decided to replicate the image of her before picture by wearing the same clothes and taking another photo of her body after losing 20 pounds. In the image, you can see where Daria has lost her weight and it shows you the progress that sometimes the numbers don’t show on the scale.
“You can get to see what can be accomplished in just 6 weeks, and it’s not in an abstract, numbers kind of way but rather in pictures. Hopefully this is encouraging you to realize that you can take control, that you can make a change, that you can be the person you feel inside.”
Write about your success and your setbacks
Keep a journal! It’s important that each week you can see where your progress is and where you find a connection between your struggles. For instance, if you set a day in the week to do your weigh-ins, you can keep a consistent schedule of maintaining your goals (especially if they are on a week to week basis). Something that all of our bloggers have noted and done is write about their experience with this journey. It helps you recognize where your setbacks could have come, or better yet, where your successes came from!
Get creative with your food!
Medifast Blogger, Censie of Building Our Story, has had great success mixing up their Medifast’s food in order to treat their cravings! Censie has found that making her Medifast meals into fun recipes makes her feel like she’s cheating by rewarding herself with a nice treat! She craves cookies, so instead of cheating and eating Oreos, she decided to use the Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal meal, and create a cookie out of them! This helps sustain that craving and prevent you from cheating.
Staying on plan during vacation
Bloggers’ Tim and Dawn Wells from Review Dad and Blogging Mom of 4, have noted that traveling and taking a vacation when on a diet can sometimes be discouraging! However, with the right preparations and motivation, you can still lose weight while on vacation! A helpful tip from Tim and Dawn has been to rent a vacation house that allows you to cook your own meals and restrain you from eating out all the times. By purchasing all of your meals, you can help restrict your extra intake on vacation and regulate all of your meals!
Organize your meals
“Fail to plan, plan to fail,” is a quote that Medifast blogger, Aly of Michigan Mom, has noted when you’re on a dietary plan. When you’re on a dietary plan that requires you to change your eating habits with portion control, it’s easy to get off track if you don’t plan ahead. If you’re a busy bee, it’s easy to get lost when your trying to pick out your food for the day. So instead, use Aly’s helpful tip of packaging up your 5 Medifast meals for the day as soon as you get your Medifast shipment. Try putting different combinations into Ziplock bags for each day.
“It’s a very straight-forward diet-follow the plan, and you’ll lose the weight. If you prep your meals in advance, then it will make it easier for you to stick with it.”
I cut-up celery, lettuce, peppers & whatever I have handy a day ahead of time & make the Medifast pudding the day or night before. The following day I decide at the last moment what I feel like having for breakfast, lunch & dinner-Medifast ginger bread for example for breakfast, Medifast Shake for a snack, Medifast soup for lunch, Medifast pretzels for snack, Medifast turkey meatballs w/marinara sauce for dinner w/a vege:) Fruit during the day or for dessert. I use the cut-up veges for snacks also:) I’m doing great & it doesn’t feel like a diet!!
Carol Ann, are you in maintenance? I didn’t think I could have fruit on Medifast.
I have a SMALL serving of fruit-I bruise easily & Dr. thinks it’s a good idea for the fiber also:) I’m not doing Medifast ONLY, since it’s too expensive. I am doing 80%+. We all need fresh vegetables or a tleast frozen, too.
I’m going to a luncheon today but plan to have a Medifast shake before I go. That way I’ll eat very LITTLE at the luncheon & will concentrate on good conversations w/friends. I’ll bring a Medifast desert just in case I’m tempted:)
Janette, How are you doing w/Medifast plan? I love it!! I do have cheat days but get back on plan the day after & I don’t feel guilty, since I’m only human & this is my way of eating for the rest of my life. I’ll always have the snacks, pudding & shakes in my pantry & add the meals, too. BUT the first 3 listed are a MUST for me!!!