WeKnowDieting.com’s Blog

I finally got to talk to a nutritionist with Medifast yesterday. After struggling through parts of the weekend with low energy, it was nice to discuss my options with someone who can help. In all honesty, Sunday was a great improvement from the past few days, so I wasn’t in as desperate a mood as I was on Friday and Saturday.

The nutritionist asked me a billion questions, and after she decided that I wasn’t doing anything “wrong”, she suggested I split my lean and green meal into 2 parts of the day. I told her that I didn’t think that would increase my energy level because I would still be taking in the same amount of fuel for my body.

Her next suggestion was to change the plan from a 5 &1 to a 4 & 2, having 2 lean and green meals with 4 medifast meals. To be honest, I was a little surprised this was an option. This diet has seemed to be all about minimalist portions and calorie levels. Adding a whole other meal seemed like it would screw up the chemistry of what is at work in the body. She acted like it was no big deal and that people do it all the time. She did say that the one negative to doing this is that you will be taking in a few more calories than what I was before so it may slow down the process a bit.

At this point, I am not questioning the diets ability to help me lose weight. The results have been tremendous with my losing just under a pound per day. What is most important to me is that I have the energy I need to get through the day, while helping take care of my family and doing my job well.

I can’t wait to see what type of an impact this will have on my body and how this will affect the diets progress.

If you’ve been following our blog, you might have noticed that my “Monday morning rants” are becoming a bit of a habit. Indeed, I do enjoy blowing off steam and voicing my opinions once a week. But I also have a chance over the weekend to plug back into the world a bit, actually watch a little television, spend time with friends and family (over the age of 3)… and witness the stupidity that is going on around me. Now, remember that I have to speak in generalizations, and I know that stupidity isn’t everywhere. However, I did find it on Sunday afternoon… in reality television.

I know what you’re thinking: just a few days ago, I was singing the praises of reality television as quality entertainment. Let’s just say that was before I saw “Ashley Paige: Bikini or Bust.” Now, the premise of the show is interesting: a successful bikini designer (as in, high-end, $700 swimsuits) attempts to expand her business while continuing her dog rescuing efforts on the side and keeping her head above water. However, after watching an episode and a half of reruns, I was quickly becoming annoyed. If you are a person who feels you have common sense, see if you can figure out where Ashley might be able to save some $$, since she is struggling to even make her rent payment.

Possible Solutions:

A. Ashley’s mom can try to get a job.

B. Ashley’s mom can try to find Ashley a man to help her pay the bills.

C. Ashley can cut back on her staff of 4-5 assistants.

D. Ashley can try to land a licensing deal to mass market a more affordable swimsuit line.

E. Ashley’s mom can try to hire an agent for their house dog, who sits and stays for cheeseburgers.

In the course of a few episodes, Ashley and Mom, Leah, actually try all of these options except “C.” Her mom attempts to get a job and is unsuccessful, goes from hardware stores to doggie parks looking for Prince Charming, and takes their lapdog to an agent, who has a hard time keeping a straight face as the dog refuses to sit or stay. Ashley is also in the midst of working toward a licensing deal that will generate some cash flow, but here’s my favorite part: in the midst of a semi-breakdown, Ashley goes to a life coach (I can only imagine how much those sessions cost), who listens to her story and suggests she pare down the number of employees at her bikini store. Since when does someone need a life coach to tell them that if they can’t pay the rent, maybe they should cut back on their employees’ hours and do a bit more work themselves?

Now, I’m not against the idea of a life coach. I also realize that some people are leaders and problem-solvers while others are followers (and sometimes part of the problem). But when I look at all of the weight loss websites out there, it seems like common sense checked out a while back for some people.

For the large majority of dieters, though, I have a feeling that the problem is not necessarily the lack of common sense. Instead, I suspect that like Ashley Paige, many dieters are overwhelmed with their situations and find it difficult to self-evaluate. Am I eating too many calories? Am I eating too few calories? Am I not exercising often enough/hard enough/long enough? Are my portion sizes too generous? Are my jeans just shrinking with each wash?

Answering any number of questions about your own habits is not easy. And of course, there’s nothing that says once you’ve identified the problem, you can wave a wand and adjust your habits. I don’t know many smokers who believe that smoking is actually good for their health, but that doesn’t necessarily make it any easier to stop smoking.

So, while I’m not sure if Ashley Paige is a few bricks shy of a load, I do know that she’s worked pretty hard to get where she is, and to her credit she did take the life coach’s advice. The next few minutes of her show revealed a tearful Ashley stumbling over her words, letting her staff know what adjustments she needed to make. If only restructuring our diets were so easy.

Well…what goes up, must come down. My weight was up and now it is down. My energy levels were up and now they are down too. This is not a good thing. I am on day 10 and the last 3 days have been REALLY tough for me. I have been dragging and yawning all day. It is weird because I had been doing so well for the past 4 days or so and now I have hit this big roadblock.

I am really not sure what to do. I tried calling the Medifast nutritionist, but they are only open Monday through Friday, so I am going to have to suck it up this weekend before I get any help. I really hate feeling this way, because I seem like I end up being a drain on everyone around me.

I have followed this diet to the letter of the law so far, even allowing myself the one snack you are permitted each day. I have lost 10 pounds in 10 days, which is extraordinary…but at what cost. I hope I am just doing something wrong. I will persevere and hopefully get some answers on Monday.

Only the second state to do so (New York was the first), California has officially banned the use of trans fats in restaurants and retail baked goods, with the process beginning in 2010. Although a spokesperson for the California Restaurant Association says that most companies were already in the process of phasing out trans fats (including nationwide fast food chains like McDonald’s, Wendy’s Taco Bell, and KFC), the NY Times reports that the state legislature felt it was necessary to adopt legislation so that trans fats are officially banned. Why the fuss regarding trans fats?

* Trans fats have been directly linked to heart disease, which has been on the rise since the introduction of these partially hydrogenated oils.

* The process that creates trans fats results in a mostly artificial product, which allows products to keep longer on the shelf, but can clog your arteries in the process.

* The growing obesity epidemic has also been linked to trans fats as well, although partially hydrogenated oils are certainly not the only culprit.

We can’t argue that California’s goal to rid the state of trans fats is a positive step, but there are still a few unresolved issues:

* Trans fat is still allowed in packaged products, so it’s up to consumers to ensure that they don’t consume trans fats. One study suggests that consuming just 2% more trans fat can lead to a 25% increase in your chances of developing heart disease!

* As we already mentioned, while trans fats are certainly bad for your heart, they are not the only culprit. As a restaurant owner quipped, “people who eat French fries are not concerned with their health that much.”

* Completing the switch to alternative oils has proven to be a costly process as well, and restaurants are likely to pass this cost on to their customers. With cost of living already borderline ridiculous in California, I can’t imagine paying $2.75 - the projected price from one restaurant owner - for an order of fries.

So, while we applaud California for their step in the right direction, the government can only mandate so much good health. And of course, there’s always the chance that you’ll ruin what’s usually good by frying it in a vat of partially hydrogenated oil (check out our previous post on preparing veggies in the healthiest way possible). The bottom line is that it’s up to the consumer to avoid those products that are bad for you (at least, according to today’s news) and consume more of the products that are good. At least in New York and California, you know you’ll be somewhat safe…

I admit that I missed a few days between my last post and now, but to be honest, it was partially intentional. You see, I have pretty much felt exactly the same since day 4; GREAT! I did not expect that to be the case. In fact, I keep waiting for something I was told by the Medifast people to be a lie and I have yet to find something.

During day 4 my body made the necessary adjustment and I have felt perfectly normal since. In saying that, I have not pushed myself physically at all. I have not done ANY strenuous exercise to test my level of endurance.

The highlight of my day each day seems to be the lean and green meals. No matter what I do, I guess I still take comfort and joy in eating…and when I mean eating, I mean EATING. The medifast meals do fill me up somehow, considering how little substance I am consuming, but there is nothing like sitting at the table and eating a real meal. They tell you in Medifast to savor each bite and to chew around 20 times per bite, but I have not been able to do that. As much as I would love to have a huge amount of time for my 6 meals in total, that is just not the reality of my life…or probably yours. This will continue to be my greatest challenge…both during the diet, and after.

I definitely think the honeymoon stage is starting to wear off with me on the excitement of the new diet. I am still persevering and have tried to follow the diet to the letter of the law. I am happy to report that in the first week, I lost 7.5 pounds. This is of course very exciting…but most of that weight loss seemed to be in the first few days. It has definitely tapered off recently. I am interested to see how things will progress over the next week. Stay tuned…