By September 7, 2013 Read More →

Follow Along On My Journey

Weight_Loss_ScaleUsually I am a chicken and will take the easy way out. I think everyone does to a certain degree. But I am going to step out of my comfort zone here and document a significant change in my life.

Over the years, I put on the freshman 15, the sympathetic pregnancy weight, and all of the other excuses one can come up with to justify being overweight. Last week, I decided that I was going to take control and get back into shape–other than one that is round! And I am going to use the blog portion to keep myself motivated and hold myself accountable.  I suspect that many single parents are in a similar boat. And if my journey can help motivate you–then all the better!

My timing is right. I have two kids in college who are no longer here all of the time (save money on groceries) and one who is a junior in high school with a busy life of her own. I have some time on my hands, and as I get older, I realize I need to take better care of myself.  I need to be able to live long enough to be a pain in the butt to my kids!

I am not going to be obsessive and document each pound lost. I am not even going to tell you my goals…we can wait till the end and I can reveal the whole before-after thing.

What am I doing?

medifast20kdoctors_logoI have two friends here in Annapolis who recently have lost a lot of weight. One of them I see infrequently and last saw him in June. When I saw him again in early August, I literally did not recognize him. Literally! Now guys don’t talk about how much they lost and all that chit chat, but I did ask some general questions and in a nutshell, he was on the Medifast program and started to walk a lot for exercise.  Hmm.

So, I went to the Medifast center near me to talk and ended up signing up. My local center just launched an “ambassador” program where they will waive the program fee in return for me sharing my story at events they host during my time with them. I do need to buy their food for the diet, so there is a cost of about $85 a week. I figure it equals about what I would spend in the grocery in any event. I am not sure of the program fee, but I seem to recall my friend saying it was close to $1000–spread out. But you can do the program without the program fee and you can buy the food online–so there is the ability to save!

I am also serious about this. I went and bought a used bike to get me on some sort of exercise regimen. Running bores the heck out of me. Gyms intimidate me. I figured that as long as I can avoid spandex (a requirement I told the bike dealer) I would enjoy biking.  So there you have it.

Results!

The program is designed to have you eat 6 meals a day, but smaller meals. Oh who are we kidding, they are nibbles. Their meals are all about 100 calories a piece and for the most part are not winning any culinary awards. They are bland, dry, and sometimes tasteless. Never get the honey mustard pretzel bites–by dog turned up his nose at them. But there is enough variety that it is tolerable once yo get used to them. For me, I find the granola-ish bars to be great. Easy to eat and easy to take with me–chocolate, cinnamon, and lemon meringue are my favorites. The chicken noodle soup is not bad. The eggs (egg whites) look funny, but toss in some peppers and you are good to go. The shakes are ok as is the macaroni and cheese.

You do need to avoid a lot of fattening oils and carbohydrates. They are good at explaining it to you as well.

And on top of the five meals per day that they provide, you eat one of your own that is considered “lean and green”–they also tell you some good suggestions. I have cheated a little here and there–glass of soda, a few Pringles, a plate of wings–hey it was football night! And they understand that and are not real jerks about it. But after a week, I was definitely more conscious of portion size and what I order when I am out.

So, without the benefit of any exercise the first week and solely following the 5:1 plan from Medifast (with a few cheats), I went in for a weekly appointment to shop for cardboard food and check the weight.

Down 9 pounds!

They say that the first month will see the most drastic drop and then it slows down as you go along. We estimate that I will be losing weight for six months to get to my goal. And then from there there is another six months of weaning off the diet and increasing the “on your own” meals. And finally after a year, they want to check you out for another year (monthly or quarterly) to make sure you are not re-gaining, etc. In the end, their product will have helped me shed the weight and their counseling and my willpower will have re-trained my brain to eat smaller and better. And my metabolism will have adjusted to survive and operate on many fewer calories.  That’s the plan anyhow.

So there you have it.  I will keep you posted periodically and if you have any questions, please ask away!

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5 Comments on "Follow Along On My Journey"

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  1. Laura says:

    Wow – GOOD FOR YOU JOHN!!! Best of luck to you and definitely keep us posted! You are right – many of us have to

  2. Laura says:

    was saying….
    Many of us have to focus on our health now that we are getting older and sometimes the stress of single parenthood with the old marital home to care for as well as a full time job leaves little time for exercise. I do try to fit it in when possible though as I LOVE how you feel after. I am always inspired by the success of others so keep us posted. I know you will be successful!

  3. John says:

    Thanks Laura–time will tell–stay tuned!

  4. Susan Liber says:

    Good for you John!! I used this when I lost 25 pounds for my son’s wedding about 8 years ago. Unfortunately I have now put it all back on and need to start again. You will do great with it.

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