Deep breath - let's get started!

Hello! Nice to meet you all.
Before I start blogging about Medifast 5x2x2 , a little background info on me.
I am currently 52 and “a little” overweight. But let’s leave number for after my first weigh in.
I have – as most – tried all of the diets since my late teen years. From the ever so popular Mayo, through protein, pineapple, liquid, stars, horoscope, etc etc etc, all the way to the post modern Dukan and Venus. Guess what? Nothing. Pounds are shed and recovered at some point.
Biggest success has been with re-education program, but even that one is good to a certain point.Until I was introduced to Medifast 5x2x2.
It is composed by dehydrated meals that you combine with leans and greens, and healthy snacks.
In this blog I will try to write a little bit about the meals, the program, the taste and my eventual goal, obviously, reached.

Medifast 5x2x2 is a program that has recently reached Canadian grounds. For that reason I was invited to participate in a trial group. For this trial group we will be completing the 8 weeks at no cost (doesn't get any better, right?).

So, it will be 8 weeks which equals to 56 days. If I miss a day, I’ll try to make up for it. Fingers crossed, a glass of water and follow me…

Day 1/56

This day started off differently because I started fasting for blood work.A banana on my way to work and then, my first Medifast meal – the cinnamon pretzels. Delish!!
For lunch was a lean and green meal of chicken breast, lettuce and tomato salad. Yes… hungry at 2:30 so I had the chicken noodle soup. Again delish!
Usually I would get home and have a coffee and some form of bread until dinner time, which would be around 8. So here I had an oatmeal and to finish the day I went for the mac & cheese with my add-on of spinach. And still got a French Vanilla shake before going to bed.

About the meals, I am not too sure about the consistency of some of the meals. The oatmeal was a bit watery and so was the mac & cheese but once I mixed something or left it stand, it was OK. The taste though is actually very good.

Change of habits – I should try to go to bed earlier. It’s a plan.

It’s important not to forget that (and this is commom to all diets, dieters should know) water, water, water!

Day 2/56

Tuesday and now let’s plan from the beginning of the morning.
Pancakes it is. Mix, water, shaker. Um…. again, kind of watery. Pour on the skillet and no! didn’t work. It was a mess. You know when you try an omelet and it breaks into crumbles, well tht was my first pancake. Each sachet will make three. Tried a second one and it went 50% really bad (like the first) and 50% just sort of bad. Finally the third pancake was almost OK. Good lesson learned: the taste of all that mess was actually good.
The sn !
Lunch was another lean and green made of pork tenderloin and spinach. My snack wwas a hot cocoa and later on a pear.
Dinner I went with a Sloppy Joe meal, humm… a bit too spicy for my taste, but I am very sensitive to spicy – so don’t take it seriously!
Still keep up the water.
I forgot to mention in Day 1 that exercise is advisable. I have fun with Jazzercise three times a week. It’s great, has some cardio, some strength and a lot of laughs. I am not training for IronMan but I can proudly say that I am active. So, works for me.

I am also working on the going to bed earlier and that means…. good night, sleep tight!

Day 3/56

Hi again.
Today I had a weigh in… remember I wasn’t too worried because I only started on Monday. But hooray! – 2lbs. Not bad. Of course it is the beginning of a diet program, but it’s always a big motivation.
That’s what I decided to write about today.
Motivation.
Don’t we all need it? Shouldn’t we all do things that we are motivated to do? Even the simplest things like go for a walk, read a long book, write a blog, cook a special dish…. whatever you do, you need motivation.
It’s up to each one of us to find what motivates us to do whatever we chose to do.

To me… my motivation when starting a diet are always the numbers that show on the scale. Even when I don’t believe in the work I put up to do something (in this case to keep up with the diet plan), but in the end the number is lower… man!! I instantly feel like pumping up the game. Today I even went to the gym.
Find your motivation. Too many people give excuses. Dare to be the different one.

Now talking Medifast – My oatmeal was good this morning. Consistency and taste. Yummy! I tried the chocolate pudding too. Also quite good, especially for the moment “that I need a little booster of sweet”. Talking over with the doctor that is following up with me I realized that I am not eating everything I should! Yaay!!!

Have fun and be good!

Day 4/56

Posted on February 27, 2015

What to do in case of a diet cheat?
I had one of those today. A party, a special occasion. How to deal with it?
Well, the way I see it, when you start a diet you can make arrangements around these dates and decide not to go at all. That’s fine but will you do it all the time? Maybe hibernate alone in your home? If this is what you want, great ! By all means do it.
You can chose to go and socialize. If you do that there is a chance that you can not eat anything, or maybe a salad, if that’s an option. And you can drink water. There are people who can chose socializing over water. Chances are though, if you are on a diet, you probably enjoy food and drink.

My personal take on this is: I will eat what I like, enjoy taste and texture of food. Before going to the event I’ll try to keep to the diet but once there I’ll actually enjoy. Drinks… well that should be controlled anyway, right. So there you go! Have fun and only allow yourself to intake whatever you really want.

Here’s the important catch: as soon as you are gone…. get back on track. Something like a party should not trigger you to break the diet the day after and on. Go back to being serious on your commitment the healthy eating.

And the weekend approaches….

The Medifast news: I tried the oatmeal again today and this time it was too dry. So between 4 oz and 6 oz of water, I’ll stick to 5 ounces and it should work well.

Day 5/56

TGIF! First Weekend approaching, seven to go (once I get through this one).
So this was the Friday (afternoon off!): bagels in the morning. Skipped! Check!
Donuts halfway through the morning. Skipped. Check!
Had my delicious pretzels!
Lunch came. Had a lunch meeting, tried to cancel it. It would have been easier to deal with the food that was available in the office. OMG! Food in the office??? Well, we tried but no. So let’s head out to lunch.
Montanas. OMG and OMG!
OK, lets pick. Sorry but the beer was a given. A small half pint at least.  Weak weak me. But then I ended up choosing a steak, the smallest one available (8 oz) and veggies and salad.
So I consider I have the 2 leans of the day (it should have been two 5oz pieces of meat, but made it one 8oz).
I still have 3 Medifast meals for the rest of the evening. I’ll win the Friday over.
My daughter has asked for pizza! Nope. Sorry. If I buy, I eat. So no!

Binge on House of Cards, from Season 1. Do something to avoid the kitchen.

Stay strong! See you tomorrow!