Medifast

LadyFisch

Hi - anyone afraid to eat after doing Medifast? I lost 34 pounds and now I want to eat real food. Worked at transitioning back to the real world but finding the more I add things the more I want to eat. I'm afraid of adding real food back in to my diet because I gain so easily. I didn't quite get to my goal, went on a cruise and gained 8 pounds. Been fighting it for 5 months and it's getting harder to stay in control. Oddly, I don't have the endurance with my exercise like I had before I started Medifast. I could go for a 45 minute walk/jog but now it's a chore to make a 30 minute moderate walk.

SmallMimi

Not sure what Medifast is but, I just watch what I eat and log EVERYTHING. I am accountable to no one but myself. If I eat more than I should I pay the price. Eating a better balance diet has help me with endurance. I have no problem walking 5-10 miles and love to ride my stationary bike. Working up to being able to do a 50 mile ride with my cousin, need to be able to maintain a minimum of 16-17 miles per hour for 3 hours (finally up to two hours). Just hang in there and watch what you eat, make smart choices and put one foot in front of the other!

susan2396

I tried Medifast and lost 25 lbs the first month. Now I was 325 at the time so those 25 came off pretty quickly. Due to some major changes in my life, I took a break from it. I've since gained 9 lbs, but part of that was my fault. I started MFP a week ago and lost 10 lbs, which was great! I tracked. I exercised every day. The weight came off with regular food. I prefer to eat and make good choices versus the premade food from Medifast. I really struggled with a lot of the food and it was so gross tasting to me. The bars and shakes were about the only things I would eat. I did like eating every 2-3 hours and getting all the protein, but really missed my fruits and veggies. I know some people have lost really well with the program, but it just wasn't for me.

peacemongernc

Ladyfisch,

I'm curious if you were exercising while you were losing on medifast? I realize it is a very high protein diet, which is important for building muscle if you are exercising, and also is important for keeping blood sugar and insulin levels in check. But if you cut your calories drastically, the way I believe medifast does, and you don't exercise, your body will burn muscle quickly, along with the fast you lose. This could be why you have less endurance than you did before medifast. Also, when your body burns muscle for weight loss, it does this to try to make your body more efficient. Your body doesn't understand that you are trying to lose weight, just that there is less food. So it decides to do what it has to to increase your efficiency so you will need less food in the long run. If you are exercising while you are losing weight, your body HAS to keep more of the muscle because it is being used. If you aren't, it burns up the muscle and saves the fat in case the "famine" is a very long one.

My guess is that you have less lean body mass than you did before medifast, and that your body fat percentage didn't change quite as much as a person might expect with a 34 pound weight loss. If this is true, your metabolism has indeed slowed down, and you are less muscular than you were before. This means you need fewer calories to maintain your weight than you did before you started the weight loss, and it is more work to exercise now than it used to be.

If this is the case, and you want to keep the weight off without eating a more restricted diet (probably means eating less than it takes to keep you from feeling hungry much of the time) you need to build some muscle back. The increase in lean mass will make your body need more calories, even need more calories when you are sleeping and watching tv! You would need to eat enough calories, especially protein, to build the muscle and fuel your exercise, and you may not lose quickly while your body is transforming you into a person with more muscle (which is heavier than the same volume of fat it replaces).

This is the sort of situation when people find that they up their calories, exercise but find it difficult, don't see the scale move much, BUT lose inches. If you decide to try this, use a tape measure more than a scale because that is where you will see the big changes! it can be very encouraging to watch the inches melt away, but very painful to watch the scale be stubborn!

I'm not a medical professional or a trainer, so I could be way, way off on this. But I've been trying to figure out why some things have worked for me and some things just seem to defy all the math and logic of calories in vs calories out. Based on my learning, this is my best guess for you.

Shannon

LadyFisch

Thanks Shannon for replying to my post. I did exercise in the beginning. I didn't have as much to lose as some do and I am pretty lean anyway. I was walking, doing work out videos etc and my weight loss was way to slow so I quit working out as much and I started to lose more, never like the 5 pounds that some do a week. They recommend not doing anymore than 45 minutes of exercise anyway. The reason I started Medifast is because bariatric Docs here at Johns Hopkins where I work use this as one of the bariatric diets. It's safe and my own PMD is fine with it. I've had a terrible time losing weight. I had weighed 260 pounds at one time, did Weight Watchers but never could lose past a certain point,182, then started gaining. I just could not see weighing 260 again. I managed to eat my way past 205 and had to do something. I got down to 165.5 and wanted to get to 155, with Medifast, then went on that darn cruise and I just haven't had the motivation to go back to the plan doing it right. I'm trying to supplement my diet now with MF foods as they are very high in nutrional values. I just tend to crave carbs and if I add fruit to my diet all heck breaks loose. So that's where I am. I have always been a fairly active person. I don't know if it's maybe hormonal too, with the lack of energy. I have a doc appt coming next week to inquire about this.
Thanks for responding.

LadyFisch

Ahh Susan, someone who knows the MF system. Thanks for responding. I'm trying to supplement with bars and shakes but I'm finding that with the bars and fruit, I have to be careful as these thing trigger carb cravings. What I really want to do is add beans and brown rice back in to my diet. I love beans in everyway. I'm just nevous about my weight getting more out of control. So, yesterday I added a whole grain muffin to the day and today I'm going to add a sweet potato. We'll see how it goes. A little at a time and I know I have to add some calories back in. I read a post from somewhere here in the community section about glycogen and fluid retention. Was very informative. I now know why if I eat a donut, I will hold fluid. Every 1 gram of glycogen hold 3 grams of water. Imagine eating mostly bad carbs and I mean poor choice carbs like lost of sweets and junk food, not the good carbs, that is how my body sucks up the fluid and holds it.
Thanks for responding.