Off Medifast and I feel a zillion times better!

carriempls

I’m a newbie to this forum and website, but not new to tracking nutrition and weight loss. I lost 50 pounds a few years ago by tracking calories & exercise on a similar site. I hadn’t yet reached my goal in a healthy weight range, but I plateaued and was no longer obese so I decided to maintain for a while. And I did for about 3 years.

A couple months ago I decided it was finally time to lose the rest. I hadn’t had success getting back on the calorie-counting bandwagon over my 3 years fo maintaining, so I decided to try something a bit more extreme. Medifast. It certainly dropped pounds, but at a hefty price – namely the lack of energy, never being able to socialize with food involved, being hungry all the time and so on. I felt far more physically fit before I started. I gave it a good 2 months but I never really felt great. I finally decided it was all too much.

So here I am! 3 days off the crazy carb and calorie restricted diet and I feel so, so much better. I already have more energy, I’m not starving all of the days and I’m far happier. I know some people swear by low carb, but it’s clearly not for everyone. And I’m easily keeping to 1200 calories a day, feeling great and only hungry when I'm supposed to be. I even plan to boost my calories in a few weeks when I’m exercising more.

Anyone else who’s transitioned away from a really restrictive diet? Tips and tricks to offer? Pitfalls to look out for?