Like a madwoman
 

Hi guys,

I was wondering if any of you would be able to provide some advice for me. I’ve been trying to lose weight for the last 7 years and all I do is gain. I tried calorie counting and found it too hard right now, maybe when I’m at a lower weight.

So I’m trying to do Medifast which I’ve tried before and I know that it works. So today was going to be my first day on Medifast. I packed my bag with 4 MF meals to have at work so that I wouldn’t go hungry… YET I bombed it already, it’s not even lunch time. There was a breakfast meeting at my company and I overdosed on pastries. I had a chocolate croissant, an almond croissant, and a slice of blueberry muffin…. Oh and I saved a bagel for my lunch later.

WTF am I thinking??? Seriously. I feel so hopeless. And I’m not hungry but it’s like I can’t NOT have those pastries if they’re there and they’re free. WTF I hate my life…. At this point, should I just give up or just continue on my Medifast “diet” for the rest of the day. I feel like such a failure….

That's too bad about the pastries--I always take free food if it's available. You should just feed the bagel to the birds and get back on track.
They don't have free pastries regularly, do they? If it just happens rarely, I doubt it is a real problem. Just get back on board.

The pastries are free? You may need to redefine what free means. Sure, they didn't cost you any cash, but what else did they cost you?

They certainly cost you your feeling of self worth if you are now feeling like a failure. What value do you place on your happiness? On your wellbeing? Your health? I would think those things are worth way more than the cash value of a few baked goods.

Throw the bagel out. Get back on plan. You are worth it.

I have a hard time passing up free food, and also not finishing what's on my plate. I grew up really poor in a big family so food was kinda scarce sometimes, I think it has been ingrained in me since.

I am 32 now and haven't had to worry about that for a long time but I still have to fight those feelings.

I have to remind myself constantly that throwing something away or passing it up is NOT wasting it. I have to have more respect for my body than to consider it the alternative to the garbage can.

Whether I pass something up, throw it away, or eat it-the result is the same in that it is gone. The difference is that with the first two choices I am not harming my health and making myself miserable.

You aren't failing unless you give up. The fact that you're here posting about this and looking for a way out tells me that you havent. This is just a matter of getting the right mindset. You just have to value your body and health more than a croissant. Get a game plan for how to distract yourself when you're faced with this situation. You can do this!

Love this!

True story. No bagel is worth it, they only make you hungrier later, and crave more bagels. Once you start cutting these things out, little by little, the cravings really do disappear.

Don't give up!
 

Oh I feel your pain my boss loves to bring in donuts and homemade goodies all the time and I feel horrible to just let them sit there. My parents raised me to never leave food on my plate never waste and all that which I think is good but at the same time I think it is part of the reason I have such a hard time losing weight. Don't give up you slipped it happens just dust yourself off and toss the bagel and keep moving forward. You can do it!!!:carrot::carrot:

Thanks, everyone! Your comments are very encouraging. I just sprayed the bagel with windex and threw it in my garbage can LOL...

My problem is that I know that I'm going to feel terrible and disgusted after having the pastries, I know that now and I knew it earlier today when I saw them. I knew that last night when I packed my meals for today. The thing is that my mind seems to go blank when I see those delicious pastries, I dont think about being Obese, or my doctor telling me that if I keep eating as much as I do I'll be 300 lbs, or that my knees have inflammation. I completely forget those things and all I want to do is eat. Just writing these things make me feel like crying because I know that I'm doing my body, and my life, so wrong. Yet I dont remember these things when I want to eat...

I can relate to the not wanting to pass up free food but you just have to say no which believe it or not is very empowering. Try it next time and good job in tossing the bagel.

You say you don't want to count calories and that's fine but I will tell you this:

If you want to lose weight and keep it off you need to create dietary habits that are sustainable long term. Medifast is fine and dandy for losing weight but it is not a sustainable plan long term.

I like counting calories myself because it makes it easy to say no to pastries and bagels. Each pastrie depending on size could have 250-500 calories. EACH. A bagel without anything on it runs around 250-300. No way I can hit my numbers for the day and afford a calorie bomb like that.

Other people like rule based dietary programs like Atkins or Paleo. The rules say you cannot eat the bagels or pastries so you must say no.

Goodluck

I disagree, JohnP, Medifast is a sustainable plan. They do have a Transition and Maintenance plan in which one learns how to eat so as not to gain weight.

Fatsincebirth, I started Medifast last week. I can't imagine what you were thinking when you scarfed down those pastries, and probably you can't, either! :dunno:

Unless you want to repeat this every day, you have to plan to have a Medifast meal BEFORE you go to the breakfast meeting, or even have it DURING the meeting. I suggest one of the shakes--they are sweet and satisfying, and you can sip it slowly.

You simply have to understand that if you're doing Medifast, those other things are Not Your Food. Free is not free. And, those are not the last pastries on the planet, I assure you!

Good for you for tossing the bagel. Have your Medifast foods for the rest of the day. Start tomorrow sticking with the 5+1, and this time, do it!

Good luck! It can work for you, but you have to be able to say No.

Jay

Jayell is right. Remember Medifast is easy to follow but hard to do! I'm also on MF and I can tell you how hard it is at times to watch people eat the food you want!

At meetings I take my meals! I'll take either a hot drink or a bar or puffs and wait to munch on that as long as possible. I also will sit far away from items and walk in at the last minute if I can. It totally helps. If you enjoy the oatmeal you can double up on meals and take an oatmeal and hot drink or bar and hot drink and eat with everyone else :) I double up now and then on my meals.

You messed up today- think about what and why (which you are doing) and what you can do tomorrow to NOT repeat that process. Even if you have to sit through meetings and chug water then do it!

Medifast is a very sustainable plan IMO because it helps you not have to worry about meal preparation while at the same time teaching you better habits.

Don't give up on the MF! Get back on it. Today finish out the day as if you hadn't messed up (eat your lean and green and 1-2 MF meals for the rest of the day and GIVE THAT BAGEL AWAY).

Remember too you don't have to eat that food- somebody else WILL.

You will feel so much better about yourself if you pass on the pastries and lose 5 pounds... and then the 5 pounds turn to 10 pounds.... 15 pounds... no pastry is worth how good it feels to lose that extra weight.

Thank you, guys! The fact that I threw out that bagel and had my medifasr meal DOES make me feel good. I'm definitely going to try harder to say NO. People are sometimes a little pushy when it comes to food, but I really do need to remember that I'm doing this for me. I didn't spend money on those Medifast meals for nothing!

I definitely think that Medifast is a wonderful weight loss plan, and as jay said there is a maintenance plan where you start adding back more food. My goal is to lose at least 20 pounds on medifast and then start weaning off medifast into calorie counting, which I did like but it was just too slow for me. I'm having a lot of problems with my knees because of the weight and the faster I can get a couple of pounds off the better.

=) thank you all so much!

I saw the site of this Medifast thing and it is EXPENSIVE!!!
If you simply buy healthy groceries it is like 1/10 the price omg. From the day I started my healthy plan I have actually SAVED over 2000 euros in eight months and it actually helps me eat less and healthier to think of all the money I save.
I doubt this mealplan is really worth it for life... This is like eating in fancy restaurants every day and getting half a serving. It would be better just to prepare meals on the weekends for the whole week.

Chubbykins, any meal delivery program is "expensive" compared to just buying groceries and cooking them. Look up Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, etc.

But some people want the convenience of not having to calculate, go shopping, cook, choose, etc. Also, the Medifast program is nutritionally structured so that you get necessary nutrients if you follow directions. It's not for everyone, but so far I like the convenience.

You still eat 1 meal a day that you make yourself or can get in a restaurant, so it's not all packaged.

I counted calories in the past, but that is just not working for me anymore because I can't make myself do it. :dunno: I'm trying this, and so far it's OK.

Jay

Before the point gets lost on the medifast issue, I wanted to comment on a great success that you had. That was THINKING about your choices and opting to get rid of the bagel. It is all about these kinds of moment to moment changes that make the next decision that much easier.

Free food is not a reason to eat. The time on the clock is not a reason to eat. Restaurant meals cannot be suspended from reality...every bite counts. It is how we think of these things, how we play out the games in our head to justify eating when we know deep down we simply don't need it.

Challenge the logic of your own thoughts. It helps not to make a thousand eating rules you will more than likely break, because that has been the pattern up to now. Instead, challenge the thought that pops up in your head. You see pastries, they look great....admire them! Think about how pretty they look and smile at the thought that you want one. Think about how many things in life you really want but cannot have for whatever reason. Does it cause resentment? Do you accept that if you eat one that the time it will take to lose weight will be delayed? How long do you want to be cycling the same pounds?

There will always be pastries. Not having one now won't mean that they will disappear off the face of the earth never to be seen again. Not eating a free food doesn't mean you've missed out on an opportunity of a lifetime. See how it is all a way of thinking?

And when you do make a decision to stay on your plan, feed your body well and make wise choices, don't think negative thoughts like "poor me" think about how well you will feel and how much closer you are to goal.

It is just my opinion and I apologize for not stating it more as my opinion.

I personally don't think a program that supplies all the food and takes the thinking out of it is sustainable but then again I am not a medifast expert. The people I know (small sample size obviously) who have been on programs like Jenny and Medifast have been very unsuccessful once they are off the program and I believe this has to do with education, knowledge, and most importantly habits. (Granted - someone who is on this site and doing Medifast probably has a much greater chance of success due to the excellent support they can get here for free.)

From what I have read of the major weight loss programs the one that has the best long term success is weight watchers. My guess would be this is because the point system is really just a simplifed calorie counting system and being in charge of your choices builds habits which are sustainable for the long term.

This! Excellent point and well stated.

JohnP, just wanted to point out that anyone who goes "off the program," no matter what it is, is likely to regain. One can't go back to the old habits and expect to keep the weight off. You have to stay with the "aftercare." This is true for WW just like anything else.

Jay

Of course. My point has more to do with making food choices and meal planning becoming habits compared to eating what you're given to eat.

I also am not a fan of the diet industry, in general, including Medifast, Slimfast, Jenny Craig, or any plan where you have to purchase special foods. That's neither here nor there, just a thought.

I was just thinking that turning down free food for me isn't about the food, it's the type of free food offered. I guarantee if someone at my office brought in free lima beans or free liver, I wouldn't eat it or obsess over it. BUT, bagels, donuts, pastries, YEP, I have a tough time with those as well. We used to have meetings in the morning at one of those long conference tables. Before every meeting, someone would make a long trail of mini candy bars down the middle of the table. I couldn't concentrate on what was being said at all. I was having a struggle in my head over whether to eat the chocolate or not. I felt like a crack addict must feel. It was ridiculous. Now that I don't eat any sugar, it's not a problem. The cravings went away. I'm so glad I did this. I feel so much better physically and mentally.

Passing up freebies is hard, especially when someone brings you a homemade treat. But self-control around temptation is the only way to lose weight. Sadly very few people can eat whatever they want all the time.

Not to turn it into a MF thread but MF is not a "for life" plan. Most people are on it from 6 months to 2 years it seems, depending on how much you need to lose.

And also if you think about it $300 a month isn't much because you not only cut out all eating out, you also only need to buy enough additional veggies and protein for 1 additional meal a day. Since I've been on MF my food bills have decreased because I don't worry about breakfast or lunch anymore- just dinner :)

People don't do MF because they don't want to work hard at weight loss but because this helps make things a bit less overwhelming. It's easier to worry about one meal a day while you are trying to lose weight and then like has already been mentioned when you transition out of MF you slowly encorporate more meals and overall learn how to continue to eat healthy. All the literature MF provides for free is a great tool to sustain the program for life. As with any program if you don't follow it you won't see results or keep the weight off.