Traci, I am also an emotional eater and have had a really hard time battling this. I did great my first about three weeks on the Medifast Program and then had a really hard time for about the next three due to issues with finding out one of our good friends has less than six months to live, a husband who was having a hard time dealing with this, and a daughter who was not sleeping well.

I started Medifast on February 19th, so I have been trying to do this for a little over two months. I lost 13 pounds the first 2 ½ weeks, and then my tough times started and I ended up fighting with my body because I gained six back and would lose two, gain one, lose one, gain two. I was in the same six pounds on the scale for that entire three weeks. Now I have lost those six pounds plus a couple more, and I figure that as long as I keep trying to succeed even if I do fail a couple times I will make it through this journey.

I kind of look at it as my own personal mountain, where I want to be is at the top of the mountain, where I am is at the bottom. I am going to keep climbing this mountain no matter what. So if a “storm” pushes me back down the mountain a little bit, I will recover that and more the next day. Don’t be so hard on yourself; losing weight is not an easy journey. It is a battle in which you are fighting with so many difficult obstacles. I firmly believe that although there are several others who are losing weight faster than I am, I am succeeding.

I have always lost weight extremely slow, so I wasn’t expecting a miracle with Medifast. I needed a program to help me succeed, to help me get through the tough times, and to give me something to lean on when I just felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere. I am not going to say that this is the easiest thing or that I haven’t had issues, because I have. Just know that each day is a new day, and even though you may have screwed up yesterday, that doesn’t prohibit you succeeding today. Just keep fighting and you will win.

My office is having another eating thing this week. Thankfully I will be gone. My office loves to eat. It seems like once or twice a month there is some sort of a party or potluck going on. This is when it is the hardest for me to stay away. The smells here in the office are like little demon people running around flaunting food at me. Last time, luckily there was a salad I was able to munch on, but in order to get to the salad I had to walk past all the tempting desserts, rolls, and wraps. And that is when I have to argue with myself. Except for this past time, I have been making excuses and taking my lunch hour during these wonderfully horribly packed full of calories and carbs occasions. I am the only birthday in the month of March, and thankfully they took into consideration that I didn’t want to have a food packed party and got me a really nice gift instead.

Normally when I tell people that I am doing this, they are considerate in what they do around me. Not that I would ever ask people to make sacrifices on my account, but take for example my husband, when we go out to eat we used to get desserts and drinks which now would be a huge no-no, but I had told him that even though I couldn’t do that he could if he wished. Needless to say he hasn’t, which has made it that much easier to stay on plan.

Support is essential to success. It doesn’t matter what kind of success you are looking for or trying to gain. But everyone striving to get there needs some sort of support from somewhere or someone. One day it may be my husband that has helped me succeed in making it through that day without succumbing to my temptations. I don’t have great willpower so anything helps. Other days it may be one of my coworkers, (who has a huge bowl of that horrible wonderful thing call chocolate on her desk) putting the bowl of candy away when I come in there, or telling me that I don’t need it when she sees my eyes drifting over there.

Thankfully, this week I have lost another pound. I feel that I am losing at a pretty consistent pace, but my body is just so stubborn. I am thankful that I got on Medifast as I am going to get down to my goal weight with their help. Anyways, hopefully at next week’s weight-in I will have some more wonderful news, as normally that is how it goes, 1 pound one week, three pounds the next.

Until Next Time…

Hello everyone! This past week has been a little tough for me. I came down with laryngitis last week and due to the medication I was given, I needed to get off Medifast for a week and eat good sized meals with each dose of medication. I fought tooth and nail to be able to continue on plan, but with no success had to submit to my doctor’s wishes.

Due to being off the plan, I gained a little bit of weight back. At this point in time, I would have normally thrown my hands up in the air and just said “forget about it” and not even pursued getting back on the program. But I am losing weight, and I do feel so much healthier. Prior to getting sick, I had some blood tests taken, as I do every year, to test for Diabetes, Thyroid levels, Blood Cholesterol, and other things that run in the family. I do these tests at the same time every year. Well, I am happy to inform you that I compared it to last years and everything, and I mean everything went down. I am 25, but last year my Cholesterol was so high they thought about putting me on medication. Of course, I fought and ended up winning that battle with a promise to watch what I eat. This year’s test showed a dramatic drop in my cholesterol levels. All I have to credit that too is the Medifast Program.

Despite having to be off plan this past week, I feel that Medifast has given me the knowledge and the ability to eat right even being off of the plan. I didn’t feel the need to “snack” all day. I unconsciously make better choices in my meals throughout the day. I drank more water. I actually missed my Medifast Shakes and meals. I have come to find out that I actually look forward to my shake in the morning. I did continue to use my Medifast Shakes for the snacks in between meals, so I feel that helped tremendously. I did notice that my candy cravings were significantly less often then prior to Medifast.

I will be getting back on the bandwagon tomorrow. I have come so far, but yet have so far to go to meet my goal. Wish me luck as I have been running alongside the wagon, and tomorrow hope to be able to catch up enough to jump back on.

Until next time…

I have always been the kind of person who steps on the scale daily, so I can watch and learn my body’s patterns. I tend to hold on to weight as long as possible and then one day there are four pounds gone. Since starting Medifast this pattern is even more present. I will be the same weight for three or four days and then all the sudden the next morning I am three pounds lighter, which at some times can be great or discouraging. But this morning was one of the mornings that I have gotten on the scale and it was a couple pounds lighter. YEA ME!!!

Medifast is working. The weight that I have lost will not be coming back. I refuse to even think of it coming back. I was thinking last night about how much I still have to lose, and figured that it’s twice as much as my three year old daughter weighs. I kind of got excited and at the same time a little upset. I mean I was thinking on one hand “What am I going to look like with the weight of two of my daughters gone off my body!!!” and then on the other hand “O-my-god, that is a lot of weight”.

One thing that has helped me get through a couple times during this past couple weeks, is the amazing support offered at MyMedifast.com. I love reading how other people are doing and how much they have lost and continue losing. Everything offered at this website is amazing, and it’s neat to know that you have that kind of support system behind you.

I know that I am going to make my goal. Sometimes, I don’t lose as much as I want at weigh-in and sometimes it surprises me, but I know that my body is losing weight at a healthy speed due to the wonderful Medifast Program. One thing that I have figured out is that Medifast makes me already feel so much healthier. I wake up in the morning knowing that today I am going to do something good for my body, and I fall asleep at night with the acknowledgment that I have successfully completed one more day. That is how I have to do things, one day at a time and sometimes I do it one hour at a time. Whatever works to make sure that I successfully complete my day.

Until next time…

Hello Fellow Medifasters! We just got back from vacation. I think my most exciting news for you is that the energy that I have been having is just amazing. I owe it all to Medifast. I am just so excited to tell everyone that Medifast is working. There have been some definite obstacles but through it all I am still happy to tell you I am trudging on.

I do not have a lot of will power and have found before that I will sabotage myself from succeeding. I remember thinking just about every summer when school let out that this was going to be the summer I lost weight and went back to school a skinny girl. Unfortunately that never happened. I always went to school the same exact way I looked before. This thought continued through college and now into my adult years. I always start out having good intentions, but never follow through.

I was thoroughly afraid that this would happen again but it isn’t, I am going to keep going on strong until I reach that wonderful goal accomplished line. I cannot wait until the day I can wear a size eight and maybe even a size six. Except for once that I can remember I have never fit into anything this small.

I wish everyone out there good luck and motivation to continue on your personal journey with Medifast. Medifast is definitely one of the best decisions I have made concerning my health and weight. I went to see my doctor for my yearly physical last week and mentioned to him that I was going to do this. He had all good things to say about the Medifast Program, which motivated me even more to continue….

Until Next Time…

I had a couple Non Scale Victories this week. I had several people comment on how they can see how much weight I have lost. When in reality I feel that although I have lost a lot of weight in the long run it really isn’t a dent. But people noticing is really good motivation. My clothes are starting to be baggy and I have to start thinking about going and buying smaller ones.

I am now getting to where I prefer my Chocolate Shakes. I actually am starting to crave them. I love sitting down to my shake and look forward to my next one. It amazes me how your taste buds change when you are trying to get away from things. I find myself wanting things other than the things I use to be craving before I started Medifast. I actually spent a little time researching our taste buds and reading about the physiology of them.

As always, I keep the goal in my mind and try to keep focused. I have heard a couple sayings about once you envision the goal it is within reach. There are so many motivational speakers out there that talk about something similar. As long as you know what you are reaching for you have more of a chance of obtaining it. This seems to help when it comes down to the parties at work and the what seems like weekly pig outs. This is when nasty little will power seems to disappear and I have the hardest time sticking with the program. But with the help of my coworkers, who know what I am trying to do, I normally get through it pretty well.

OK, so this was my three week weigh in and I only last .5 pounds, but fellow MediFasters’ have told me that the third week is normally a pretty slow one as my body adjusts to the weight loss phase. So now I am going to up my water intake and definitely watch my carbs more closely. Saturday I got a huge migraine and so I didn’t eat all of my meals or drink all of my water over the weekend. This next week will be better though. Everyone has their weakness’s right. I guess one of mine is seeing all the weight that is just melting off of other people and then comparing it to me, which I know isn’t the right thing to do.

I know that the Medifast Program is right for me. I need something that is a little stricter with the plan, which Medifast is, while allowing me to feel like I have many choices. I absolutely love the chocolate shakes, and the maple and brown sugar oatmeal, and just lately have fallen in love with the hot chocolate.

I just keep counting down the days until I meet one of my goals and it seems that there aren’t very many days left. I would like to be a certain weight by a certain date and that would require almost a 4.5 pound loss every week, which I know is a lot to be asking for. So all I can do is work, work, work, and stay on plan and make sure that I get all my water down, in order to get as close as possible.

I hope that those of you that are out there that read this have had a wonderful week with life and weight loss. Let me know how you are doing as I love to hear from fellow Medifaster’s.

Until Next Time…

I have a feeling that my mess up last week slowed down progress, but I weighed in this morning at another two pounds that have disappeared forever (hopefully). So that makes for a very happy 8 pound smaller woman walking around today. Although I still cannot see a difference, the scale is giving me the motivation to continue on. I fell absolutely great about where I am sitting, and feel a little bit more energized throughout the day. I have heard and read that losing just 10% of your body weight carries great health benefits. They say that it can reverse or prevent diabetes, which is a big health issue in my family. They also say that it will lower your blood pressure, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels and it improves sleep problems (which would be a big help). Ten percent of my body weight would be 20.5 pounds. So I am a little less than half way there, but still pretty far from my final goal. With Medifast I feel that reaching all of my weight related health goals is possible.

Just a side note: In about a month we are going to be making a trip down to Texas to see my in-laws. I heard on the radio, and again later on read in a magazine, that extra weight in the vehicle means lower gas mileage. On the radio they said that it figures out to be about every forty pounds of weight in your vehicle equals out to an extra 2.5 gallons of gas used at each fill up. So I decided to look at about how much that would save us if I was twenty pounds lighter. It is approximately 1200 miles down there and back with an additional about 300 miles driven while we are down there, which comes out to 2700 miles. If gas prices stay at about $3.15, we would be spending approximately $386.60. So if you figure twenty pounds would save about 1.25 gallons of gas at each fill up, that equals out to a savings of an entire tank of gas over the whole trip. That is over a $50 dollar savings. Wow!

Until next time……

Hi everyone. Everything so far has been great. Tuesday was my first week weigh in and I lost six pounds!!! I was ecstatic and even more excited about continuing on the Medifast Program. Something happened on Wednesday that I thought was worth sharing. We live about 15 miles out of town and I work full time and take a class on campus during my lunch hour, so I cannot go home during the day.

Well, Wednesday morning I was running extremely late and was trying to do a million things at once. I got my daughter ready for daycare, got myself ready, got my Medifast meals packed, moved on to do my chores with the animals, started the car, made sure I had my daughter’s dress for her dance dress rehearsal, got everything in the car(or at least I thought I did) and drove in to town. I went on about my day and about 9:45 when I am normally getting my second meal in for the day, I went to go get the packet out of my bag, and couldn’t find my bag. I panicked because I don’t have extras here at work, and yesterday I wasn’t going to get to go home until after 7 in the evening. All that kept running through my mind was “No, this cannot be happening” Well unfortunately it did.

I couldn’t figure out what to do, didn’t have anyone at home to bring them to me, couldn’t get home… I ended up eating a grilled chicken salad for lunch and having some sugar free oatmeal that I had in my desk from a while back for a mid-afternoon snack. As soon as I got home, I found my bag, and I had a shake for supper.

I got up this morning with the thought that the dang scale was going to tell me that I had gained an obscene amount of weight from yesterday. I try not to weigh myself every morning, but seeing that little bit of loss every couple of day’s keeps me motivated. Well, thank god, I didn’t gain any weight, but then again I had not lost anything either. I didn’t weigh myself yesterday morning since I just did Tuesday morning, so I don’t know if I had lost some and gained it back with yesterday’s horrible mishap. So as of this morning I am still at the weight I was at on Tuesday morning. This isn’t a bad thing, but not what I was hoping for either.

Until next time…

Growing up was pretty difficult for me as I am sure that it is for anyone. But as much as I tried to be fit and thin, it just seemed like it never worked. I was active in just about everything that I actually had the ability to do. I was a cheerleader, in color guard, and in Marching Band. I was always going somewhere and doing something. But for some reason that was not enough. I remember being called Thunder Thighs and Marshmallow Belly, just to name a few. As I have gotten older, I have managed to lose and gain that same 40 pounds over and over again.

Now, as my daughter gets older, I want to be able to experience life to the fullest with her. I want to live healthy as long as possible so I may get to see so many things. We enjoy going up to the mountains and hiking, currently I cannot go very far or very fast. I feel like I am a weak link in my family. I want so much but at the current weight I am, I can’t get all those things. I am so incredibly unhappy as I am right now. People always used to tell me that I need to love the body I was given, but I was always trying to find something to give me the body I would love. I wasted so much time trying those miracle products, and nothing and I mean nothing, ever worked for me.

I have been seeing the Medifast Program’s commercials on TV for years. I have been checking out the website about every three or four months and not ordering. Well, I finally got enough momentum up and enough frustration built at everything else I was trying to finally order. I am finally going to take the step to becoming a healthier mother, a healthier wife, and most importantly a healthier me. Medifast is going to help me get there. With everything they offer, I know that I can do this and not only do it but be successful doing it.

My main goal is to hit 130 pounds for the first time since I have been about 13… I have learned though that mini goals are the best way to go, so here are my goals as I take on this journey. I’ll update you as I move along, I’m sure there will be lots to discuss. Wish me luck!!

1st goal = lose 13 pounds total… $250 dollars put in savings towards new wardrobe and an IMAX Theatre Movie and Dinner date with husband

2nd goal = lose 30 pounds total… Another $250 dollars put in savings towards new wardrobe and a pedicure and facial

3rd goal = lose 50 pounds total… Another $500 dollars put in savings towards new wardrobe and a weekend away with no kids with husband

4th goal = lose 73 pounds total… yeah…get to spend money in savings toward new wardrobe

5th goal = maintaining!!!