How to Stay Positive Even When You’re on a Diet

by Julie Staker on December 21, 2011

I’ve been there … looking at yourself in the mirror and just getting down on yourself. How did I get this big? What happened to the “hot” me?!?!?! While completely normal, the negative energy can really drain you and before you know it, depression sets in and you start to eat more. It is a vicious cycle and I have been there many times before.

It just sucks.

Losing weight seems like an easy task. Watch what you eat, exercise, etc. But it isn’t as easy as that. Believe it or not, our bodies have been literally poisoned with the food that we have been giving it and simply making a change isn’t enough. I went through a period where I restricted my calorie count to 1,500 per day and ran five miles a day. Guess what? The weight barely came off and it was so frustrating. I didn’t have a “thyroid problem” that a lot of people blame their weight gain on. The issue was, I just wasn’t giving my body what it needed.

That’s when Medifast was introduced to me. It wasn’t enough just to go on the plan, I had to adopt a positive attitude about it as it is a drastic change. I am a mother of three with a career and a lot of responsibilities. It is so easy to just go through the fast food drive thru to get my kids and myself something to eat quick. But that was damaging us. I needed to focus on what was really important. Seriously, a nutritionalist going through the fast food drive thru! Yes, that was me.

The vicious cycle I mentioned before runs rampant in your head doesn’t it? And it seems to kill anything good you want to do for yourself giving yourself every excuse in the book with why you are going to fail losing weight yet again.

What I did, which really helped me is I focused on the things I COULD do instead of the things I couldn’t do. I also focused on the positives instead of only looking at the negatives, as we tend to do. There are restrictions with the Medifast Diet Plan … of course there will be, you need to lose weight, and this program is clinically proven to do just that, but you have to stick with it. Having a positive attitude towards this diet program is vital. It is easy to go off and tough to stay on, but anything that is worthwhile is going to be tough – you already know this.

So, when it comes time to cooking your “Lean and Green Meal” instead of thinking about all the foods you can’t have, focus on making the food you are preparing taste the best. Use fresh herbs, read up on other spices that you haven’t used in years or perhaps ever. This will give your food new tastes and wake up your taste buds. Yes, you will screw up every now and then and create something just awful, but you will also create things that you will just love. And since the meal is healthy, you’ll look forward to having it again.

The best thing you can do is realize the unhealthy food you were eating before was bad for you – real bad for you…literally killing you slowly. It is best that you move on from those foods onto more healthy choices. While they may be your comfort foods, this time is now to create new comfort foods. Grilled asparagus is one of my favorite comfort foods, in fact, I use the grill outside more than my husband does. Even in the dead of winter, I will fire up the grill and lay down some veggies with olive oil in a metal basket. Add some spices and you have a winning side dish! My kids even love it. Something about the grill just makes food taste better.

Always get fresh veggies when you can, and when they are out of season, get them frozen. Never, never, never get veggies in a can. They are LOADED in sodium and much of the nutrition is gone. What I do, is I chop all the veggies when I get back from the store and put them in Tupperware in the fridge. Then, when I need to cook, everything is chopped up and I can get a full dinner done in usually 20 minutes or less. There is never stress over dinner anymore.

I know staying positive can be tough, especially around the holidays, but you can do this. Medifast gives you the tools you need to lose the weight you need to and by focusing on healthy meals and exercising, you can see the excess fat begin to melt right off your body!

 

 

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How to Count Calories and Cut Out Bad Carbs

by Julie Staker on December 20, 2011

It is normal for someone on a diet to check on the types of food they eat – after all, if your goal is to lose weight, you want to avoid the foods that are going to make you fat. This isn’t rocket science after all, right? Most people believe incorrectly, to cut out nearly all carbs out of your diet, which is the secret to losing weight.

Not true.

There are good carbs and there are bad carbs. Cutting out carbs completely will basically kill your energy, as carbs is the gasoline for your body. Without this fuel, your body just won’t function as it does normally, and one of the first things to go in your brain … your creativity and your ability to function at your job will be diminished. And that just isn’t smart.

Start learning the differences between good carbs and bad carbs.

Carbs are a part of a healthy diet. Without them, as stated above, your body will not function properly. What are the best sources for good carbs? That’s easy: whole grains, fruits, beans and veggies. These good carbs will flood your body with the nutrients it needs, the vitamins it craves and fiber, which is vital as a way of dealing with the excess sugar we tend to consume.

So, you might be asking yourself, what exactly is a carbohydrate?

The bottom line is the basic building block of the carb is a sugar molecule. Yes, sugar. While sugar is a danger to your body, if you can remember to consume fiber with the sugar, your body will be able to process the sugar the correct way. This is why an apple is healthy to eat, despite the high sugar content because it is also high in fiber. Make sense?

A carb also has carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. It is also understood that starches/fibers really are just chains of sugar molecules. But this isn’t going to be science class and my  aim isn’t to bore you, it is to show you why you need carbs in your diet.

In short, low-fat diets will always fail and the reason they will is foods that are processed as “low fat” contain a higher level of sugar and little to no fiber. This is what is evil about diets. Ever single the US adopted this “low fat, low carb” diet, obesity rates have skyrocketed. The key is to focus on good carbs so your energy levels and brain function are at their peak levels.

Here is what I would recommend to you:

1. Focus on nutritious whole grains. Steel cut oats are often a favorite, but they aren’t for everyone, so plain oatmeal is a good choice too. Just skip the brown sugar but focus on adding cinnamon. The properties in cinnamon give a boost to your cardiovascular health. You can turn to the Medifast Oatmeal for breakfast as an alternative. If you have to eat cold cereal, which is not recommended, but if you have to, look for one that lists whole grains or whole oats in the ingredient list and make sure it has less than 8 grams of sugar. You don’t want to go backwards.

2. Use Whole Grain Breads. Whole wheat or whole grain should be first on the list of ingredients and whenever possible, get breads that are gluten free. Gluten just causes health problems.

3. Ditch the Potatoes. Use brown rice instead. With the exception of a sweet potato, potatoes are just not healthy. Other options would be using bulgar, which is a newer grain, or millet bread.

4. Whole Wheat Pasta. While it is highly recommended never to eat pasta after 4pm due to how it is digested, using whole wheat is a much better choice. You should know that the whole wheat pastas will be more chewy than you are used to which can kill the dining experience for you. You might be best just to skip pasta for awhile.

5. Choose Beans. How cool are beans? They are not just a great source of protein, but they are a slowly digested carb which is a good source of long, sustained energy.

 

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Effective Dieting: Medifast

December 19, 2011

People ask me all the time how I lost my weight and I tell them that I did it. Sure I used the Medifast Diet Plan, but it was me who chose to start it, stick with it and see it to the end. I had previously tried every diet under the sun and all [...]

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