Some say it takes 30 days to form a new habit, others say 90 days. I’m not sure if that is true, but in the middle of my 3rd week of Medifast I’m finding that I have formed new eating habits and they bring with them some comfort. To be perfectly honest, I’ve been having a struggle with cravings, little “cheats” here and there and overall temptations of food. But, I made some changes this week and I think I have finally past that barrier of the “new habit” where my daily diet is concerned. I no longer find myself wanting food that isn’t on the Medifast program. I found that even though I’m not hungry at the time, if I have my meals in a timely manner (every 2-3 hours) I have no cravings what-so-ever.

I think this is an important milestone for me, as most of the time I have failed to lose weight in the past was due to cravings and giving in to temptations. I have a really warped set of emotions and rationales when it comes to food. I always find myself ordering food or preparing food and before I even take the first bite, I have always felt this little tugging panic that says “is there enough?” “Will I be hungry again after?” You would think with that kind of associated panic I would have some sort of history or childhood where food wasn’t available. That is hardly the case, I grew up in a stable family where food was never an issue.

In addition to those feelings, I always feel a sense of depression when my food is gone. This feeling of emotional emptiness when my meal is done. I think this comes from two things. Number one, I am an emotional eater and in times of stress, anxiety or depression, I turn to food as a comfort and I let it be there for me. Number two, I use food to fill times of boredom in my life. This can be especially true at work, as I realized in the last couple of days that I was drinking a ton of diet soda, not because I was thirsty but because getting a soda and drinking it was filling in a slight bit of boredom for me. It was keeping me somewhat sane at work.

I guess now would be a good time to divulge another little fact about me since I’m being personal. I have ADHD and I have it bad. Some people don’t believe it to be a real affliction, others know all too well it is. Whatever your thoughts on it, I can tell you that my mind goes 200 mph pretty much all the time and nothing is worse for me than having nothing to do. I don’t take naps, I don’t like to just “chill” or hang around. I can’t even be a proper couch potato without something intellectually stimulating on the television unless it is one of those times where I’m so mentally exhausted that I just want to “veg”. I tell you all of this because it is therapeutic for me to admit to each of these little contributing factors to my obesity. By admitting them, I am acknowledging them and telling myself “this behavior is wrong, stop it!”

To tie up this long thought, I can tell you that the Medifast Program works, if you work it. By that I mean, drink plenty of water, stay away from carbs in your lean & greens (and drive-bys in the kitchen) and above all get in all 5 Medifast meals in a special manner (every 2-3 hours) rather than piling them up or skipping meals. I have found that doing these things gets me out of the bad habits and into some new ones that will help me be successful long after I have completed the program. The goal isn’t to hit X number of pounds and go back to eating like a hog, I need to hit that goal weight and have a plan and ingrained habits that will help me keep it off for good!