[itsablondething]

I am just curious.

My reason... I lost 50 lbs a few years ago, kept 30-35 off, but can't seem to get any further. My body is hurting more (back pain, foot pain, etc) and I actually had an appointment to talk to a Dr. about bariatric surgery (either gastric bypass or lap band). I could still stand to loose 95-100 pounds.

I also lose SO slowly on traditional diets, even when I am "perfect" and weight and measure and exercise like a demon, so losing 1/4 to 1/2 a pound a week just wasn't cutting it. It seems like a tremendous amount of effort for a little bit of gain (or loss, I guess you could say)

I was initially very suspicious of limiting my calorie consumption to 800-1000 calories a day. .. it seemed so drastic.

But then I was considering bariatric surgery. I have multiple coworkers or friends who have done it. Some with major success, some with little to no success, depending on how well they stuck with it after the initial year.

But I noticed that many of my coworkers had gastric bypass were eating next to nothing after their surgeries (the first few months).. and they weren't dying from it. So I figured a low calorie diet wouldn't kill me... and it certainly was less drastic than surgery. And, if this works, I won't have to "re-route" my body the way it was intended to be, and I do have some concerns about long term effects of decreasing the bodies ability to absorb nutrients and medicines as is done after gastric bypass... especially since I have a few conditions that require medications they don't recommend you take after bypass.

Tell me why you decided on Medifast... and tell me how it is working out for you.

I've just started... and am surprised I am not a raving lunatic from lack of food, but strangely, I'm not real hungry....

[Suzanne 3FC]

Jen and I tried it because of the members here that were doing so well on it. We were very cynical going in, but found it was surprisingly easy. When we tried it, we weren't hungry either, and thought it was strange.

[oshvay]

I decided to diet because it was finally time and I was ready. I have only ever dieted once before in my entire life. I am not a big believer in wasted energy, which is how I see most dieting. I was ready and motivated because like you I was experiencing more difficulty with the aches and pains associated with weight; my blood pressure was edging into a danger zone (something that probably would have happened earlier if I hadn't been fortunate to start out with a naturally low BP), my hypoglycemia was threatening diabetes, and with no other real health issues beyond my weight, a life expectancy calculator showed that losing 100 pounds could add as much 16 years to my life.

At 46, I currently have two granddaughters (ages 6 & 8). I was fortunate to spend considerable time with my great grandmother, who lived long enough to hold my first child (1892-1983). I don't want to cheat myself out of seeing my grandchildren grown, their children born, and if I have the genes to stay as healthy as "Mom", perhaps I too will have the opportunity to meet a great-great grandchild.

The realization that I my inaction could cause me to cheat *myself* out of knowing future generations, but it could prevent *current* generations from enjoying the same benefits that I enjoyed. My granddaughters deserve to have me in their lives as long as possible and besides, we've tried to teach our children (with tongue firmly in cheek) that they will be responsible for us when we get old, and my husband and I have a running bet over which of our five children actually took us seriously. They are all adults now, so the race is on. If I die too young, I'll never know.

I too considered bypass, and I was committed to it. I had already been through all the pre-op testing and everything when we learned that my insurance wouldn't cover it. I had been under the impression that they did because I knew of several people with the same carrier who were covered. As it turned out, however, the particular policy that my employer had with the company specifically excluded anything weight related. It was a seriously devastating blow, and honestly it took me nearly two years to recover. When I finally came out of the fog, I chose MediFast.

I chose MediFast because it was the diet I followed 22 years earlier to lose 50 lbs after my second baby. The only diet I'd ever been on before. It worked fabulously before, and I knew I could do it. Little did I know that now you can actually eat food while on the diet. Wow! What a surprise. Honestly, I feel like I'm cheating every day.

I'm not losing as quickly as I did before (50+ in 3 months vs. 57 lbs in just under 5 months), but this time around I'm not a young 23-year old with two young children. I'm a 46-year old grandmother who works at a computer 50-60 hrs/week. The diet itself is also different with the 5 & 1 plan, so all in all, I'm perfectly pleased and not at all concerned that I'm losing more slowly than before. I figured out last week I've been losing an average of 1/3 of a pound per day. It's not drastic, but it is steady. Just right I think.

I chose MediFast 22 years ago because my doctor recommended it. It worked and I was able to maintain my weight for many years after without any difficulty.