New to Medifast - am I missing something?
 

hi all,

My hubby and I started last week and are feeling good now, don't mind the food at all, and love the convenience of the program. I've lost 6 lbs and feel I'm on a good path. My hubs weighs 450, hasn't cheated once, and has only lost 3-4 lbs in the week. What are we missing? I know he drinks 120-130 oz of water a day but is that the problem, he needs more? We were really hoping to see some encouraging results after the first week and being so good. Any thoughts/ideas would be great!! Thanks!!

The early losses have nothing to do with fat loss. When you go into ketosis, your body depletes glycogen stores in muscles and in the liver. Glycogen binds a lot of water. That adds up to 6-9 lbs normally. Medifast is only mildly ketogenic, so there may be differences between people and when they deplete glycogen stores. Even in ketosis you need to have a deficit of 3500 calories to loose 1 lbs. So, you can calculate your weekly losses based on how much you burn versus what you put in. Ketosis may lead to preferential fat loss over muscle. No scientific proof, but that was my impression.

So, no need to get frustrated. Medifast is an easy diet in my opinion and you just have to buckle up. Weight gained over a period of time also takes time to loose. There will be higher losses and lower losses. But a year from now you will reap the benefits.

Are you both doing the 5&1 plan? Make sure he is eating all 5 Medifast meals plus a full, weighed or measured Lean and Green meal each day. Is he using condiments, or maybe salty things? I am sure it will level out over time.

I just started back this week doing Medifast. It was VERY successful for me in the past. Tell your husband not to get frustrated. This sometimes happens the first week while is body is getting used to it. Do you think he has cheated at all? Sometimes people don't even realize they are cheating and might have soda or something. Hopefully he will have a huge drop on week 2!