I had my first major MediFAIL yesterday.
I’m going to call it a MediFAIL whenever I fail and go off program. Everything had been going really well and I was in an awesome fat-burning stage where I could almost FEEL the fat burning off of my face. But the perfect storm of a pretty girl, a nice restaurant and a vodka on the rocks sent me careening off the cliff.
Waking up, I immediately realized that I had totally blown it. Since I am keeping an open and honest account here, I knew I was going to have to write about it. But it did get me thinking that this is something that everybody on Medifast or any weight loss program is going to have to deal with. From time to time, you are going to screw up. The important thing is how you’re going to deal with it and whether or not you’re going to let it turn into a major setback.
We all have underlying food issues.
If you are on Medifast, you probably have some underlying issues with food. I haven’t run into many people who are on the problem because they “just want to lose a few pounds.” People tend to turn to Medifast when they realize they have a serious problem and want to actively take steps to take care of their weight. Coming to grips with your weight problems requires you to look at the underlying issues that got you into the situation you’re in.
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My underlying issue is that I binge eat to take my mind off of other problems. I don’t consciously realize that I’m doing it. Sometimes I’m not even thinking about the food I’m shoveling into my mouth or even about how it tastes. In the past, my refuge was in fast food or salty junk foods like potato chips. In some deep recess of my mind, a switch would flip and before I knew it, I was decimating a Filet-o-Fish sandwich and a huge order of french fries (washed down with a large Diet Coke, of course).
Since being on Medifast, I have come to grips with a lot of the things that would tip me over the edge. When I go off program, it isn’t because of fast food or sweet foods. I have those taken care of.
I really love social eating and drinking.
My problem is that I really enjoy a nice meal at a nice restaurant with nice company and… a glass of wine or a cocktail. I can usually find a variation of salad to substitute for my lean and green meal of the day, but I have a very hard time turning down a drink. It’s not the drink itself, it’s the overall experience.
And once I have a drink, I figure I’ve blown my plan and I may as well enjoy a meal because I am going to go out of ketosis anyway. And if I’ve blown my ketosis and am going to have to have go through 3 days of Medifast detox again, I might as well have another drink. AND, if I had a drink before dinner and know that I’m probably out of ketosis… so I might as well have a steak and enjoy my window of off-program eating.
Right?
Am I a junkie for life?
The first place I turn to for advice about Medifast is usually the official discussion forum. There is a lot of information there … and a lot of noise. I found a lot of threads discussing what to do when you Medifail and go off program. The consensus seems to be that most people don’t make it back on program and instead just descend into a nightmare of gluttony and grotesquely swelling bodies.
One forum member even compared it to a junkie shooting up with heroin. I had a nightmarish vision of lapsed Medifasters dragging their morbidly obese bodies across the parking lot of fast food joints, searching zombie-like for deep-fried meats and cursing the day they ever drank a Dutch Chocolate Medifast shake. If failure is so close, maybe somebody should just pass the french fries right now!
It’s pretty extreme stuff. I think some of these attitudes towards food are as destructive as the attitudes that got us into our situation in the first place.
My Steps to dealing with MediFAIL
- Remember: You are awesome!
The first part is psychological. Give yourself a pep talk. Take control of your thoughts and remember: You are taking concrete steps to make your life better, healthier and happier. Food is not evil and therefore you are not a junkie. You can’t be addicted to something you REQUIRE to survive. Losing weight and changing your attitudes towards food is an ongoing process and you are getting better and better at it.
- Remember: CALORIES
Ketosis is what makes Medifast work so quickly. People on Medifast get obsessed with it. And it is cool. It is awesome. But if you become overly obsessed with the concept of ketosis, it’s easy to forget about calories. Even if you do fall out of ketosis, you are still consuming less calories than you need to maintain your weight.
So, if you slip up and eat something that’s off-program, don’t use that as an excuse to binge eat (or drink). If it’s a small slip-up, you are still operating at a calorie deficit. So don’t blow your overall calories for the day. Just get back on program and power through.
- Remember: this costs money.
Now that you’ve given yourself some positive reinforcement and forced yourself to really think about calories, it’s time for some cold hard reality: Medifast costs money. You are spending money because you are serious about losing weight. Even though you will have success from consuming a deficit of calories, you will get to your goal weight faster if you can stay in ketosis. The longer it takes, the more money you spend.
It will probably cost around $70 to get back into ketosis. That’s adding up three days of Medifast foods and three basic lean and green meals.
Moving On
So I went overboard. But it’s all a matter of putting it into perspective. Guilt over a meal doesn’t really benefit you. It’s just another bump. Take the experience and use it to make yourself better, healthier and happier.
Today, I have stuck to the program perfectly and I have really enjoyed it. I like the Medifast foods and I’m not depriving myself. Experiencing Medifast is a luxury and I want to enjoy the process as I enjoy the results.
What about you?
I would love to hear about your experiences. Please leave a comment below.