(read Kate's real Medifast interview…)
She Cheated On Medifast And Still Lost Weight
Here's a Medifast journal to a very special destination: weight loss, emotional strength, inner peace, and external achievement. I found the following Medifast success story on YouTube. This lady (her username on YouTube is BeBoldMom) created a video blog to record her Medifast success.
Starting the Program
When she began, it was November the 9th, 2008. She weighed 187.5 pounds, having been 172 pounds just five months earlier. Her weight was really becoming a problem for her, and when she received an email from a health coach about the Medifast program, she did some research about it and ordered it almost straight away.
The First Update
By November the 26th, BeBoldMom had been on the program 13 days, and was now down to 181.5 pounds. She recorded that she’d experienced a difficult couple of days with cravings and other strange feelings. As it was just before Thanksgiving she knew she would have some problems sticking to the program. Because of the temptations she’d face, she made a plan to stick to Medifast as best as she could, while still allowing herself a bit of a treat. By keeping herself motivated and committed to the program, which she knew would work, she hoped to achieve a big difference in her weight and appearance by the first of February.
The Second Update
By day 22 of her Medifast program, BeBoldMom weighed in at 176 pounds, having lost a total of 12 pounds in 21 days. While she was very happy to have achieved an average weight loss of four pounds per week, she also acknowledged that she’d had several setbacks. Firstly, a couple of days before Thanksgiving, when she went grocery shopping, she cheated. She ate samples that the store was giving away, and then on Thanksgiving itself, she pretty much fell off the wagon. While she is sad that she gave into temptation and ate food that wasn’t on the program, she was still very happy that overall her weight was down, and she was still very excited about the program, and her ability to get back into it.
The Third Update
On the 31st of December, BeBoldMom admitted she’d been on a roller coaster, ranging from 100% compliance, to 0% compliance and back again. She went off for a full week, and her weight shot up 6 pounds, which depressed her but also gave her the impetus to continue. She found that the Medifast program definitely works, because when she follows it she is guaranteed to lose weight. She acknowledges, however, that had she maintained 100% compliance she would have lost more weight.
Her clothes were now much looser on her. She found the positives of the Medifast system were firstly that it was very simple (not always easy though), with the 5 Medifast meals and the one lean and green meal. However, she still found temptations very difficult to resist over the holiday period, and found herself rationalizing them. For example, “I’m down 16 pounds so I can cheat a little…” but of course, a little led to a lot and she’d end up out of control. Fortunately, she was able to reign herself in and get back on the program, which was ultimately the most important thing.
BeBoldMom recognized the need to understand why she gave into temptation, and how to work through those issues so that temptations become fewer and easier to resist. At the time of making the video, she had been back on the program 100% for three days and was feeling it, as she experienced ketosis. She felt very positive for her ability to get back onto the program.
While she had lost 18 pounds to date, which was fantastic, she knew she could have lost 25 to 30 pounds had she stayed 100% on the program. Nevertheless, she was able to take the loss she’d had and move on and accept the consequences.
The Fourth Update
BeBoldMom’s next video log was on January 23rd, which was the end of week 9 on the program. By this time, she had lost 21 pounds and several inches, her clothes fit better but she still wasn’t comfortable going down a size (even though her clothes were getting very loose). She was very excited to be moving forward and collecting tips with the aim of being able to help others follow her and also succeed at the program.
She was at the stage of really focusing on behavior modification and how important it is. Her goal was to internalize new behavior techniques (such as sticking to 6 meals a day once she is done with the Medifast program) and adhering to them. While she had several slip ups, she was still 90 – 95% compliant with the program, and her weight had continued a slow descent. She knew she could have been lighter had she remained on it 100%, but more important than that was the fact that she’d still managed to lose weight, even with the ups and downs.
The Fifth Update
BeBoldMom’s next video blog was on March 4th, almost at the end of week 16. She was now 161 pounds, having successfully lost 27 pounds in the 16 weeks. She admitted to having at least two weeks off the program, and had experienced some profound personal losses that made it almost impossible for her to focus on her weight reduction program. While she entered a challenge on the Medifast boards to lose 10 pounds in February, she managed 4. However, given the tough time she had, the fact that she got back on the program and continued to lose weight is of prime importance. She admitted she was getting very tired of the food on the program, and looked forward to transition and maintenance. This kept her going because she knew that if she can stick to the program she’ll get there sooner.
The Sixth Update
By July BeBoldMom was down 33 pounds, to 155 pounds. She’d had a couple of months off, had struggled with cheating (saying the biggest problem with cheating was not the single cheat, it was the fact that one cheat would lead to two, and two would lead to many more and before she knew it she’d have several days of cheating and would have fallen off the program entirely). She emphasized the necessity of getting back on the program after a single cheat, and not beating yourself up over it. At the end of this final video blog, she said she still had15 pounds to lose, but she was exceptionally happy to have come as far as she had, and that if her videos can motivate and help even a single person to lose weight, it would be worthwhile.
By keeping her watchers updated with her Medifast progress, BeBoldMom also helped her own weight efforts, because she kept herself accountable and motivated. She proved that if she could lose weight with Medifast although she cheated multiple times and faced some family tragedies that kept her back, others could achieve the same or much better results.
BeBoldMom realized that the name she gave herself on YouTube (BeBoldMom) was quite right “because I am making a bold statement,” said BeBoldMom in the end of her Medifast journey, “Medifast is my saving grace in my journey to become healthier!
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