Woolly M's Diet Blog

My Experience With Medifast

When you have a weight problem and you try dieting, you try exerice and nothing happens it can be devistatingly depressing, and sometimes you resort to trying things out of desperation.  For some people it's lap band surgery, for some people it's something more serious like anorexia, but for me it was trying the Medifast diet.

Now, I'm a cynical person... I don't believe in magic weight loss potions, I believe most studies about obesity are nothing but nonsense, but for some reason Medifast struck a chord with me and I'm not quite sure why.  Maybe it was the advertising, or maybe it was the success videos I watched on Youtube but whatever the reason I decided to try it.  

If you haven't tried it or haven't looked in to it, the plan is mostly very low calorie shakes, bars and a few snacks.  You eat five of them a day and then eat something reasonable at night (they call the reasonable meal "lean and green").  Sounds easy enough right? So I bought in.

First of all the plan is VERY expensive, so if you have a money issue you should consider something else, because you really need at least a few hundred dollars to do the diet fully (with or without a Medifast coupon).  If you don't care about the money then what the heck, give it a shot. I kind of regret spending so much but whatever.

So to be honest, the food is gross, but you didn't expect Bobby Flay to be personally cooking for you right? So I lived with it.  The plan is really low calorie, which is part of why it's so effective, so some people would have a problem with that.  Personally I felt hungry often but I got it in my head that I would be losing the wieght so I pressed on. 

My first wiegh in I lost a couple pounds... not bad, I'm happy.  Then a few days go by and still going strong until my girlfriend of five years decides we're through. Yep, I'm trying to lose weight in large part because of her and she smacks me with this right in the middle of everything.

Naturally since I console myself with food (a HUGE problem I have), I binge eat for days and not only give back the wieght I lost with Medifast in the first place but I add a few more pounds on top of it. So now not only have I wasted my time but I wasted my money as well, but it's not Medifast's fault... their product worked ok when I used it so I plan on doing it again in a few weeks and I will give a much better review when I do.

Three Things That Sabotage My Diets

Sometimes I find myself getting all pumped up about a diet… I say things like “I’m sick of feeling fat”, “I’ve had it with this belly” or “tomorrow I’m starting for real!” Sometimes I stick to it for a few days, sometimes I don’t even try but at some point I fall through the cracks, give in to temptation and totally sabotage my whole diet and go out of control.

To help keep myself in check I’m going to list all of the things that sabotage me here and I encourage anyone reading this to contribute your own things as well. Maybe we can make this a good resource eventually.

1. Having snacks in the house

This is one of the things I’m actually good about doing. When I go to the grocery store I don’t buy snacks at all, and if I do I make sure I eat them or throw them away by the end of the day. Why? Because if I have Doritos in the house I will literally eat the entire bag.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a snack back (I’d probably eat two or three of those) or a family sized jumbo bag… I will eat the entire thing. So how do I avoid doing this? I don’t bring them in the house! Since I know myself and I know I can’t control my overeating the only thing I can do is not eat them at all.

2. Take out food is far too easy

This is my biggest downfall… we have some GREAT takeout places nearby and believe me we take advantage. Whether it’s pizza, chinese, wings, burgers, or whatever, it’s much “easier” than cooking, but unfortunately its not smarter than cooking.

I have no idea what the calorie count or fat content is in these meals but they taste delicious and they’re probably the worst thing I could be eating in the world and I do it pretty much every day, or at least every other day. If I could cut this out I would probably be 50 pounds lighter… seriously.

3. Not exercising

I mentioned this in my intro post, but I used to be in great shape and its almost all because I used to work out constantly. I did a great job of getting in the gym and running or lifting weights (or both). Now I sit on my butt at home and at work and I don’t do anything more than go for a walk now and again, and not a brisk one. I used to bench press a good amount of weight and now I cant even do a single pushup (literally).

Well anyway that’s my list for now, I plan to keep this post going whenever I think of something new I’ll update it. If anyone is reading this blog (doubt it) then I encourage you to leave some suggestions in the comment section. I would love to hear it!

The Story of My Weight Problem

Hey everyone I’m Jeff (but everyone calls me “Woolly” ... don’t ask!) and this is my diet blog.

Since I was a teenager I have always struggled with my weight. I came from a big family, who liked to gather around the food table at holidays and stuff our faces.

Exercise? None of us did any of that. Sure, I played sports but back then running was more for punishment than preparation and good overall health.

I first passed 200 pounds in 7th grade, which always made life hard for me. I always felt self conscious in the locker room, my chest was flabby and I didn’t want the other guys to see so I would change as quickly as possible. Once a girl asked me what bra size I had… pretty much the low point in my life. So I probably whipped myself in to shape right?

Well, yes… for a little while. I got myself in to great shape, had a fantastic diet, got a membership at Bally's and hit the gym at least once a day (usually twice) and I was looking great.

Then I moved a little further away from the gym… “No problem, I’ll still go.” Then once a day became a couple times a week, then once a week, then once a month. Finally it came down to “why am I still paying for this gym membership?” and I canceled it.

Long story short, I got married, we had a baby and I'm trying to avoid hitting the dreaded 300 pound mark (I haven't hit it yet but it's close). Between work, baby, and everything else I do there never seems to be time for exercise… I know, typical story.

The real problem is my diet, we dine out WAY too much, at least a few times a week and it’s always something greasy like pizza or burgers. Both my wife and I hate cooking, so we always talk each other in to dining out and not only is it bad for us but its really expensive too! But that’s the biggest culprit (and some exercise would help too!!!)

So anyway that’s my story. I created this blog to keep me, and my diet, in check, and hopefully to inspire a few of you to get on board with me. I know I can do it because I’ve done it… now I just have to get off my lazy backside and do it.