The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[centuryclub]

Hi all. So, I’m waiting on my shipment of Medifast and am going to be starting the day after the stuff arrives. Because the summer goes kinda slow, and because I want to get practice writing in a blog-esque format for when I start mine up, I’m going to write in this journal daily, if not multiple times daily, and the length may be longer than average. Read if you want, don’t if you don’t.

So a little bit about me – I think I’m a bit different from most of the folks on this board. First, I am very young – 19 years old to be exact. I’ve always been the big kid throughout my life, and hopefully medifast can help me correct that.

I’m in college, am a guy, majoring in Economics/Government and doing a pre-med sequence.

In addition to eating the medifast, based on the advice I got from my doctor and some lady from Medifast I called up, I will be doing full workouts from day 1 and monitoring how I do on those. If I feel dizzy/nauseous or whatever the case may be, I’ll make sure to take it easier but I don’t think I’ll have those kinds of problems (being young and, wrestling in high school only 2 years ago, there were times when I only ate 2 protein bars a day and would lose 6 pounds of sweat in one wrestling practice (definitely not healthy or something I’d recommend…) but I’m fairly certain I can handle it.)

My current weight is about 300 lbs (I’ll get an exact measurement soon, probably when the food comes. Definitely gained a lot of weight after the wrestling career – those kinda starve diets do make you put on a lot of weight afterwards). My goal is to get down to 150, then gain muscle up to 165 and maintain between 160-170. I’m around 5’9”.

I’ll be taking one non-medifast shake with my workouts. I have been advised against this by Mike, but the lady from Medifast I called and the doctor said the extra protein shake would be okay. Also, with the extra research I did, I feel like the shake will be totally fine. Here’s why:

I’m using isopure, the purest protein powder. I’m only going to take 1 scoopful at a time post workout, which will contain…

100 calories, none of which are from fat, 5mg of cholesterol, 160mg of sodium, no carbs, no fiber, and 25g protein (along with various other things like phosphorous, magnesium, calcium, iron, etc.)

So, all in all, when taken with water, this shake contains no fat, no carbs, no sugars, and 25g of protein. I was worried about the amount of sodium at first, but I looked through the nutrition facts of the medifast products and they all have some sodium content, so I assume that the extra 160mg wont really affect anything (especially because some have said that when they workout they have an extra shake, but the shake itself contains 250mg, so I guess I’ll be fine.)

My meal schedule for the next month is going to look like this…


Meal 1: Oatmeal or Eggs
Meal 2: Soup or Chili
Workout Shake
Meal 3 – Crackers
Meal 4 – Bar
L&G – Chicken/Salmon/Beef with Broccoli, cucumber and celery
Meal 5 – Soup or Chili

With my workout schedule, this is how it’s going to look

Wake up ~9

Morning cardio 9:15-9:45 (I like doing a morning cardio – wakes me up, and if you do it with intensity your metabolism gets a boost for the rest of the day)

Meal 1 @ 10

Meal 2 @ 12:00 Noon

Lift from 12:30-1:45

Workout shake @ 1:45

Meal 3 @ 2

Meal 4 @ 4

L&G @ 6

Meal 5 @ 9


In addition to the morning cardio and the lift, I’ll be going swimming most days when I can fit it in. I’ll do anywhere from 30-50 laps in the pool (I’m currently at 30), with mild intensity.

Morning cardio will probably just be half an hour on the elliptical

Lifting for upper body days will include bench press, pec flys, lat pulldown, lateral raises, rows, bicep curls and tricep curls.

Lifting for lower body days will include – leg press, leg curl, seated leg curl, seated lex extension, calf raises and ab work.

I know I’m working out ~3x a day, but the morning cardio is short and the swimming is really mild. If I feel sick or dizzy, I’ll make sure to cut back but I don’t anticipate any setbacks.

I don’t think that the crackers are supposed to count as a real meal, but considering I’m taking a shake with my workout I think I’ll be okay calorie wise.

I know that sometimes setting down a schedule like this can be stupid, but this is just a rough deal that I’ll try to adhere to as much as I can.

Being a college student in the summer, I’m only working part time and most of it is internet consulting and work and such, so my time is generally pretty free.

In 6 months, or around thanksgiving, I hope to be around 60-70 lbs down, at which time I will go to my cousin’s wedding in India, forget the plan and get all liquored up and eat what is there. I’ll come back having gained maybe 10 lbs, go back on medifast and work through the end of the school year, hopefully achieving goal around this time next year.

I know that was obnoxiously long, but I’m doing this more to keep track of myself and what I am doing than anything else. Sorry for anyone who got to the end and thought to themselves “well, there’s 5 minutes of my life I’ll never have back…” but considering most of us are on MF, you’ve probably gained a bunch of years anyway ;-)

Well, here’s to a new start and hopefully a happy ending!

[rodeomom]

Hey there, and thanks for your encouraging words in my journal. These past few months have been a very bumpy road, but I think I am climbing out on the other end.

You will really want to watch those workouts the first few days of the program. As you may have read in my journal, I had an issue with my PT being too intesive for the 5 & 1 so I have altered my program to a 4 & 2 (sometimes 4 & 1 1/2) on the days that I do my PT and 5 & 1 otherwise. The problem isn't always in how you FEEL during or after a workout, often it is how your body reacts to it. If you start using more energy than your body wants to allow you to use while taking in so few calories, your plan may backfire on you. Meaning, your body will hold on to the fat and kinda go into that starvation mode because you are doing too much too soon.

TSFL HIGHLY reccommends that you cut your workout in half for at least the first 4 weeks of the program until your body realizes that you are feeding it.

In addition, you may find that you will not need that protein powder at all. I mean, check out the stats on the MF supplements. The soy protein they use is super high quality and is probably better than the other stuff.

Be wise, do your homework and stay safe!

Good luck on your journey.

[Sojourner]

Welcome, CC!

Ditto what Rodeo said ~ and you're correct about the crackers. They're a snack, not a meal. I think that if you're using the protein shake for the workout, it should not take the place of a MF meal. I'd do all 5 MF meals, the L&G, a snack if you need it, and the protein shake if you really think it's necessary. But I'm not you.

Another thing to consider is the protein content of the shakes. Did you order the 55 shakes or the 70 shakes? I used to be a jock and have a pretty solid muscle base; I've found that the 70 shakes work much better for me. Two MF 70 shakes per day, would give you 28g of protein which would more than cover what you'd get from the isopure one. Just something to think about...

Another thing: you might want to take your measurements as well as stepping on the scale. The inches melting off you is highly motivating and can keep you on track when the scale is being stubborn. Sometimes our bodies take a while to register the changes on the scale, and the tape measure is just as important a tool by which to gauge your losses.

I know that was obnoxiously long... Sorry for anyone who got to the end and thought to themselves “well, there’s 5 minutes of my life I’ll never have back…”

Duuuuude. Don't even fret. My first journal post was prolly twice as long as yours.
Feel free to be as verbose as you like ~ if folks here can handle me, they can handle anybody!!!

Again, welcome ~ it'll be interesting to read about your journey!

[centuryclub]

thanks guys. Yeah, I think for the first week at least I should take it easier, but I will anyway because I pulled a muscle in my back a little bit ago and that hasn't yet gone away. Can't really weightlift or do real cardio right now, so I'll be taking it easy anyway.

I actually didn't order any of the shakes other than the ones that come with the one free week because I'm just not really big on liquid meals. I'll try one week without the protein powder shake, one week with, compare the results & see how i feel, and proceed from there. The biggest thing is that I don't want to fall out of a ketogenic state, so as long as the protein shake doesn't have any carbs I should be okay there.


Should be good times.

[Mike]

Oh, and one question - Why under your picture is it the 60# club when you're over 150?

Thats because on this site we want to represent only the loss using the TSFL/Medifast program. I lost about 100 lbs before I started (actually 160 lost before then gained a bunch back).

Welcome to this wonderful forum and congrats on making the change to your life.

[Lauren]

Welcome aboard, Century! We're always thrilled to see some new blood - and it's extra cool that you're a young guy, because we need more testosterone here (no offense Mike and Unca, but the more the merrier!).

I think it's awesome that you've done all your homework, called the doc and nurse to confirm your plan, and reached out to the folks here. So often people try to just jump in, and from what I've seen, the people who really make a plan and wrap their heads around the process show the greatest long-term success. However, I want to warn you against having weight-loss expectations (from a specific number of pounds perspective). It can really take over your process if you're too focused on reaching certain time goals of pounds lost, when, if you think about it, it's totally arbitrary, and you actually will have no way of knowing how much you'll have lost by Thanksgiving (for instance).

My take has always been that if you follow the plan, sleep enough, exercise, and keep a great attitude, the pounds will melt off. That's it. There's no great secret, and little reason to tweak things (but I have no issue with the extra protein if you are in fact doing major weight lifting, as it helps "heal" the tissue damage done from extensive weight lifting). Just keep in mind that we don't actually burn that many calories during strength training (as opposed to cardio), so make sure you're using the protein only when appropriate - it may not always be necessary.

I don't have a journal, but I "hang out" mostly in the Maintenance section, so if you ever have any questions at all about MF or exercise or anything else, I'm here to help, just drop a line!

Cheers,

Lauren

[centuryclub]

Thanks everyone for all the replies. I'll definately keep in mind the things you guys said.

The stuff just arrived today, so I start tomorrow, Wednesday, June 11th. Here we go...

[Mike]

I just reread your initial post (fine toothed comb) and I am sure the protein powder is fine. I do see a couple of issues with your schedule though.
1. The crackers are a snack, not a meal, so if you intend to count the protein powder as a meal (which you really wouldn't given that you have no complex carbs with it) you would actually want to use a medifast meal there and not a snack.
2. To really boost your metabolism in the morning, you really should have something before the workout. Remember, we want to spare the muscle in our body and by exercising before eating anything, our nutrition store will have been used up overnight and with nothing else to feed on to get going, it may begin to use muscle. Have a shake or have your protein powder at minimum before your workout.

Good luck, and one more suggestion that I have, if you are using TSFL, get on the Dr. Support call and ask Dr. Andersen what he thinks about your plan. He can explain clearly why the program is designed as it is. You assuredly have an Health Coach (probably the gal you called), so discuss things more with her.

[cydj21]

Hey CC!

Welcome! I won't reiterate what everyone else has said, but ditto to them, and I also just wanted to say that I think it's great that you're getting organized and preplanning in advance. I believe the toughest thing about MF is working it into one's life in a way that is manageable and sustainable. By giving it a lot of thought you're setting yourself up for success. With that said, don't be shocked if things do not always happen 100% according to plan - life happens and some flexibility is required. With that said, I am glad you are here and cannot wait to see your progress!

Remember your before photos along with your official start weight and measurements! I am so glad I took those when I started!

[centuryclub]

Okay, thanks Mike. I'll definitely take another medifast meal and see if I can do without the crackers. I guess when the cravings kick in so do the crackers. And I'll adjust my cardio as well.

I just had the first Medifast Meal (Scrambled Eggs) and I wasn't really a big fan. I'm thinking of exchanging for some medifast 70 shakes (I currently dont have any). Any flavor suggestions?


And are we really allowed to have UNLIMITED diet soda? I was reading the nutrition label and they do contain a decent amt of sodium...

Anyway, hope you folks have a good day!

[DogMa]

Welcome! Unless the plan has changed from my time (on this point; I know it's changed as far as Lean and Greens and such), most of your liquids should be plain water with limited sodas.

Re: the taste of the meals, you might visit the Lean Cuisine section for some ideas on making them more palatable. Also be aware that most people's tastes change while on the plan, and something you now find inedible might become one of your favorites in a few weeks (it happened to me with oatmeal; oddly enough, when I stopped eating Medifast products after being on maintenance awhile, my lifelong hatred of oatmeal returned).

[Mike]

I just had the first Medifast Meal (Scrambled Eggs) and I wasn't really a big fan. I'm thinking of exchanging for some medifast 70 shakes (I currently dont have any). Any flavor suggestions?


And are we really allowed to have UNLIMITED diet soda? I was reading the nutrition label and they do contain a decent amt of sodium...

First, I bet you made the eggs in the microwave? If not, did you add anything to them. I find best results with the eggs is to treat them as eggs. Cook them on a skillet with a little garlic, pepper, or chili powder. Whatever is your best spice. I love them ( a little salsa helps ).


I have no idea where you got UNLIMITED sodas. We are allowed 3 caffeinated drinks per day. Keep the sodas to that limit, even if its caffeine free as its not great to have all of that carbonation as well.

Hope this helps.

[centuryclub]

I'm honestly not sure where I heard it - my mistake. I'll try to shoot for one diet ginger ale a day

yeah, i cooked it in the microwave. Will try the skillet tomorrow

Cream of Broccoli soup was pretty good. I added 3/4 Tbsp of lime juice and it made it nice.

2 down, 3&L&G to go

[DogMa]

Might as well warn you ahead of time ... do you have the chili? Do NOT just microwave it straight out of the package. Either cook it in a pan or mix it with the water and let it soak awhile in the fridge before you nuke it. Unless you enjoy your beans crunchy.

[centuryclub]

so today was like...

Eggs w/black pepper and 1 tsp ketchup @ 9

cream of broccoli w/ 2 tsp lime juice and black pepper@ 11

fruit and granola bar @ 1

swim 1:40-2:20

crackers @2:20 (u know how hungry you can get after swimming...)

crab soup @ 4

L&G @ 7 - small piece of grilled chicken with black pepper, 1 cup cucumber, 1/2 cup celery (i never realized how much 1 cup of veg was!)

Chicken and Wild Rice @ 9 w/ 1 tsp lime juice and black pepper

I went a little bit much on the condiments today, but it was the first day and I wanted to make the stuff taste not so foreign.

I did 30 laps of mild swimming today in just half an hour including breaks, which im pretty happy about. I could have done more but just didn't feel like going until I couldn't move. I'll try to add 5 laps every time I go. Didn't lift or do morning cardio due to an injured back. When that gets fixed, I'll get to my real plan

Thanks for the heads up on the chili and advice on the eggs. I'll definitely alter preparation methods

one day down, a bunch more to go