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Issue
7 |
MakeMeThinner February Newsletter |
February 2004 |
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Maintaining and Sustaining those New Year’s resolutions…
Being overweight dangerously taxes your cardiovascular system.
Obesity and being overweight have been linked to heart attack,
stroke and high blood pressure. Your heart is required to pump
over 4,300 gallons of blood through over 70,000 miles of
arteries, veins and capillaries every day. Every extra pound
adds more miles of blood vessels through which your heart must
pump the needed blood supply. Two years ago I weighed 265 pounds
and believe me, I had a whole lotta fatty tissue on my five foot
six inch frame! Fatty tissue requires more blood than lean
tissue so my heart had to pump faster as well as harder.
Americans annually spend $33 billion on diet programs and I have
been a great contributor to that total! In February 2002 I began
researching alternative weight loss options since I had failed
so many times before to lose weight and to permanently maintain
the weight loss. I gathered facts, investigated various weight
loss programs and began to feel extremely desperate as many were
unhealthy, even risky weight loss schemes. I seriously
considered gastric bypass surgery until I realized its dangers
and life long limitations and complications.
During my contemplative and investigative stage (January 2002 to
July 2002), I managed to lose seven pounds in seven months. Big
Hairy Deal, eh? S-e-v-e-n lousy pounds (28 cubes of butter) in
seven months…
For those of you who may not know my story, Medifast came into
my life (via a caring and generous guy - Scott Anderson) and
Medifast melted off 130 pounds (that’s 520 cubes of butter) in
seven months. That’s what I call True Value, Folks!
How Come
When I began my weight loss journey, I made a list of all the
reasons WHY I wanted to lose weight. Some of the things on my
list are for my eyes only but there are a few things I could
share with you: wear a bathing suit during daylight hours. In
public. Comfortably fit into a movie or airplane seat. Shop in a
regular size department store – NOT the custom-sized specialty
store!
I started Medifast on July 16th, 2002 lost 59 pounds in 12 weeks
and reached three of my WHYs. My Husband, Terry, bought me a
size 18 leopard trimmed bathing suit in the misses department at
JC Penney, we flew to Kauai, Hawaii in a plane with NO seat
extenders and I wore that leopard trim suit on the beach and
poolside. In public. During daylight hours. That was a big hairy
deal to me. Now I know that a 199 pound woman in a bathing suit
may not have been a pretty sight to some of you but I was so
happy to be able to enjoy the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean
and to know that the next time I visited Kauai, I’d be even
slimmer because Medifast worked for me.
What’s YOUR Why?
My office mate has a sixteen year old son who is beginning to
make some changes in his eating habits. He recently told his mom
that he didn’t have a specific weight goal in mind, but he did
want to lose enough weight to be able to brush his teeth and not
have his belly jiggle. His WHY is keeping him from raiding the
refrigerator late at night. His WHY is helping him to chose H2O
and not suck down a six pack of soda after school. Eating
breakfast every day, choosing low-fat, balanced meals will do
away with his flabdominals. Every time he brushes his fangs
he’ll be reminded that nothing feels as good as brushing thin!
Mr. Jelly Belly is on his way outta here, the flabdominals will
be a thing of the past and hopefully this vibrant young man will
stave off type 2 diabetes.
Terry and I recently had supper with Steve and Bon-Bon (part of
our MakeMeThinner Team) and we were discussing how the recent
holidays, birthday parties and foody events have been rough on
the old waistline. We were also planning our upcoming trip to
Kauai this fall and Terry, ever the exhorter, said, “You don’t
want to empty the pool on your first dive!”
Gulp! It is easy to have a few pounds creep up on ya if you’re
not careful. Even the fabulous Leopard Woman must plan ahead
what she will eat, how much she will eat and she must eat
regularly – every three to four hours or she’ll become Flab
Woman if she’s not careful.
For long-term weight maintenance, never ever over-eat two days
in a row! Make a note of it and re-read that L.W. exhortation to
keep you healthy and happy...:)
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February 14th ~ Happy Heart Day
I received a gift book from J. Bug, a dear friend of ours who
moved to Montana. I am continually drawn to a poem called
"Grounded Lesson" written in February 2000 by a pre-teen with a
rare form of muscular dystrophy. In his book, Journey through
Heartsongs, Mattie J.T. Stepanek writes,
“Life is a treasure. People should enjoy it, Even if digging To
it, or Through it, Is a challenge.”
In light of the recent heart attack, heart surgery and back
fusion experienced by my parents, I have grown to truly
understand the writings of this extraordinary young author. Life
is indeed, a precious treasure. We daily give thanks to God for
His blessings to us and we endeavor to appreciate the wonders of
life itself.
When it comes to YOUR heart, the best gift you can give it is to
commit to exercising most days of the week. Remember, your heart
is a muscle! Like other muscles in your bod, the heart becomes
weak and flabby if it doesn’t do enough work. Gulp!
“Those who think they have not time for EXERCISE will sooner or
later have to find time for ILLNESS.” Edward Stanley, 15th Earl
of Derby
Once you’ve been Medifasting for several weeks you are ready to
begin some gentle exercise. Always start slowly, especially if
you have not exercised before. Give your muscles and heart time
to ease into the activity, be sure to keep your body hydrated.
Sandwich your exercise between a Medifast shake and a Medifast
bar.
Since food will be added back during the transition and
maintenance phase, one must incorporate exercise most days to
increase and assist your metabolic rate to assimilate the higher
calories.
Dangerous Territory
As I peek into the Forum there are a number of people who have a
serious case of the ‘Can I-Could I’ disease. You know what I
mean – they ask “Can I have this…can I have that? Could I just
have a little bit of this instead of having that?
Let me address a few issues that I see here:
If you are using Medifast for weight loss please know that this
is a weight loss plan that works. You will safely lose more
weight, faster and easier than ever before IF you follow the
plan as it is outlined.
The program was carefully designed to create a gap between the
calories that are taken in (The food you eat) and the amount of
fuel (or calories) that your body needs for daily activities.
When you take all of the prescribed Medifast Meal Replacements
for your individualized plan, at the right intervals and in the
right amounts, you will then have exactly what you need to meet
all your body’s nutritional needs and you will lose weight
consistently and safely.
Each nutritionally balanced meal replacement is formulated with
a proven combination of protein and carbohydrates to allow you
to successfully lose weight without losing muscle.
I know sometimes I may be a knucklehead so I do not want to lose
any more of my brain muscle than is necessary and I really like
living so I don’t wanna jeopardize my brain or my heart muscle
in any way- especially since we have nearly lived inside the
cardiac intensive care and surgery recovery units on a daily
basis for the last eleven weeks!
We all have different dietary needs – some who write to the
Forum are diabetic, some have coronary issues, some may have
complicated medical histories who must be monitored by their
physician more frequently than others due to medication and
dosage issues, some are older adults, some are young with
virtually no health issues other than the fact that they just
want to lose some weight so when I write a response, I must take
all these things into consideration.
Many people wanna know if they can make some deviations to the
program. I have been on both sides of the table, Folks, I have
been through it all! I have been in the thinkin’ and lookin’
stage – where I was contemplating attempting to lose weight,
then I chose Medifast as the vehicle to lose the flabbage, then
I went through the weight loss phase for seven months and, I
might add, survived that very well!!!
Now I am enjoying maintaining my weight loss and finding what
works for me in terms of maintenance. When I look back,
sometimes the weight loss phase seemed easier than the
maintenance phase I’m going through right now. The beauty of
Medifast for weight loss is that it is totally outlined for you.
There is no guess work. Maintenance is a life long process.
I take control of my success by sticking to a planned,
consistent eating schedule. The key is to maintain normal blood
sugar levels throughout the day. Non-nutritive eating (junking
out) and unscheduled eating (Mindlessly scarfing down anything
that’s not nailed down) results in inconsistent, undependable
blood sugar levels. This is dangerous territory!
Peaks in your blood sugar level lead to immediate storage of any
excess sugar. In other words, excess sugar over the lips, lives
forever on your hips, hiney, bat wings, belly, and that flab
also surrounds your vital organs and taxes your ticker. Not a
pretty picture.
When your blood sugar level dips hunger and binge eating can
occur. This, too is dangerous territory.
I get mildly cheesed then when people on the weight loss program
ask me if they can substitute other foods in place of the
prescribed Lean and Green meal.
Some people want to have cheese or eggs in place of the 4-5
ounces of lean meat or meat substitutes.
Our Diabetic and Senior Plans include 1 cup low-fat or non-fat
cottage cheese, 1 cup of egg substitutes (such as Egg Beaters),
4 ounces of Fat-free cheese, 8 ounces of Lobster (if ya can
afford it!!), scallops, shrimp, crab, clams, 1 cup of tuna
(water pack! NOT oil packed).
My experience may not be the same as yours but my first thought
is this: Don’t mess with the plan. You are treading on dangerous
ground when you begin to tweak the program. Medifast utilizes
the most advanced and comprehensive nutritional formula – it is
a balanced medical food which meets our nutritional needs for an
energetic and healthy lifestyle.
This is a relatively short period of time that you are on the
weight loss program; you have a lifetime ahead of you to taste
all sorts of things. You already KNOW how most foods taste
anyway. Your taste buds fondly recall how buttered popcorn,
bagels and ‘tater chips taste and feel, right? Don’t mess with
Medifast! Mrs. Fields, Cinnabon, Cold Stone Creamery and Krispy
Kreme will still be around when you complete the transition
phase and ease into maintenance. I’m into maintaining this
weight and my bod for life.
Owning up to the problem of obesity is difficult but it is the
first step to doing something about the problem.
Avoid dangerous territory. Don’t mess with Medifast.
Delay a lick now and enjoy the feeling of thinness for ever!
Plateaus and Pouting
Uh, oh…I was away from the Forum for a few days and you guys and
gals are all going bonkers because your scales are not behaving!
People, people, people: CHILL OUT!
You really truly pock-a-dooly WILL release that fat, trust
me!
I know how it feels to be totally program compliant and to leap
on those dreaded scales and have the needle go up. Been there.
More times than I care to recall…
Thoughts of violence begin to boil and were it not for your kids
being in the next room you could easily blow a gasket and commit
scale-a-cide right there on the bathroom floor, right, Bunky?
If you faithfully follow the plan, the fat will melt away. Yup,
there are some factors that can affect our weight loss but all
in all, we are talking about averaging a weight loss of 2-4
pounds per week for women and 3-5 pounds per week for men. Yup,
some weeks are better than others. Some people may have lower
weight loss averages than those substantiated by the Johns
Hopkins study but they do lose weight consistently and safely.
When you are in the middle of a plateau, go back to shakes and
eliminate bars from your daily plan – especially do not have a
bar late in the evening. Be sure to drink all of your water and
have all of your shakes. The natural tendency is to think that
if I take in less food I’ll lose more weight. That just ain’t
necessarily so! Your bod knows just how much it is ready to give
up. When you do it right, it will come off the right way.
This is the fastest weigh (pun intended) I ever lost weight but
more than the weight loss, I love the healthy weigh I feel – I
NEVER felt better than I do now!!
You can choose the weight you want to be and stay there if you
follow the plan. It is so easy when you don’t mess with
Medifast.
"Snowflakes are one of nature’s most fragile things, but just
look at what they can do when they stick together."
(Anonymous)
Stick to your program. It takes effort. It takes willingness.
Stick together. It takes the Forum to keep us going!
Don’t give up and don’t give in; we’ll make you thin!
My metabolism is probably messed up more than anybody in the
whole fat world because of all the yo-yo dieting I’ve done in my
lifetime. I never thought there would be anything that could
help me but Medifast made me thinner than I thought possible. I
am healthier now than I was when I was in high school!
Do not let your scale discourage you or make you think that the
program isn’t working. Gosh, we’ve got a gold mine here and it
DOES work and you ARE losing weight and you ARE doing it safely,
quickly and you DO feel good.
We cannot compare our weight loss to another – our bods are all
different and our very own bod knows how much it wants to dump
per day – let it release that flab in its own weigh at its own
rate.
Re: How often to weigh. You know you best. Choose what works
best for you. Unca’s philosophy is to weigh once a week or every
other week. Gosh, that Unca is so disciplined - he probably
never had to weigh himself ever in his whole life. He is
naturally a skinny dude – he wears size 30 x 30 Levis for crying
out loud! It’s easy for him to say weigh once a week. I weighed
every ten minutes when I was in the major weight loss mode.
Oka-a-ay-y-y, I’ll come clean: every time I went to the sandbox,
I weighed!!! I still weigh every single day and sometimes twice
a day. Yep, I AM obsessed with my scale – it keeps me on the
straight and narrow. It keeps me in my leopard jacket and my
size 4 leather pants.
When you hit the wall, when the needle of your scale just
doesn’t seem to budge, analyze your food and water intake. Keep
a food journal; are you measuring your meat portions? Adding any
little extras to your salad? Drag out the tape measure and check
your progress – often we lose inches even if the scale doesn’t
seem to budge. Have you been drinking all 64 ounce of water,
eating your meals on time – NOT skipping meals?
You are on your way to a healthier new you! Plateaus are a
natural part of life – they were a part of our life before
Medifast and plateaus are a part of life on Medifast. Stay true
to the program and it will stay true to you.
VOICE OF VICTORY
Susan - who had been on diabetic meds for twelve years,
is now off of her meds, down nearly 50 pounds, feeling and
looking awesome!
Maggie - down nearly 50 pounds and going strong.
Pam - at week two and down 18.5 pounds.
Dawn - a newbie at day 12, down 9.5 pounds.
Jackie - down 16 pounds in 18 days.
Jade - joining our 20 pound club on day 26.
Marsha - 17 pounds in 20 days.
Sher - down 4 pounds this week for a total of 14 and
loving it.
Julie - down 2.5 pounds this week for a total of 17.5 in
4 weeks - even with a little ice cream accident.
Brenda - another newbie down 13 poinds in 6 days.
Stephanie - 6 pounds this week for a total of 26.
Susan F - 6 pounds this week for a total of 14.
Safechic - left 8.5 pounds behind her first week.
Last but not least, our biggest loser Mike - waved
bye-bye to over 100 pounds now and did a quick tally on our
MakeMeThinner Forum of losers. There’s nearly 500 pounds outta
here for everyone who has responded. Let's break that 500 number
next week, y’all!....:)
We're so proud of everyone on our MakeMeThinner Forum. We salute
you for your hard work and dedication to the program.
The nearly 500 pounds lost reflects only the people who have
registered as members of our Support Forum. Registered members
are those who wish to share their success with everyone but we
have many more customers who call us and personally email us
regarding their great success, too.
We highly recommended that everyone join in the discussion by
visiting:
http://www.makemethinner.com/forum/
Awesome Announcement
We may have reduced the size of our waistlines and downsized our
prescription medication lists but we are expanding our
MakeMeThinner team! We have a growing team of health advisors
and want to give you a thumbnail sketch of each of our new team
couples.
One size does not fit all and just like our wonderful Medifast
specialty products that are designed to meet individual health
needs; we’ve selected and designed a staff to provide you with
customized support and the highest quality of personal
attention. Be watching for them soon in the "Health Advisor"
room on our Support Forum.
Steve and Bonnie Wills
Bon-Bon works closely with physicians in a major health center
and hospital. She loves what Medifast has done for her – she was
over-weight and has arthritis. She’s lost 45 pounds, her hip and
joint pain has improved, and she loves to swim, snorkel and
drink mochas! This high energy lady spends weekends shopping for
smaller clothing sizes at Goodwill and garage sales. She’s a
whirlwind at decorating and rearranging her beautiful home.
Steve is the financial controller of a large sporting goods
store, has hereditary coronary disease, had triple by-pass
surgery in 2003, and suffered from joint pain, sleep apnea and
high cholesterol. He lost 45 pounds, his cholesterol levels have
been lowered, he exercises daily and slurps Medifast Plus
Coronary Health drinks to keep his arteries healthy. Bon-Bon
loves his lean profile and is thankful for his improved heart
health. Steve enjoys playing with his grandchildren, ‘puters,
digital photography, visiting book stores and reading in his
spare time.
Christopher and Becky Renfro
While other men are consumed with sports or reading the
financial pages, Christopher reads cookbooks, visits kitchen
gadget stores and concocts and shares his latest culinary
delights with others. Before Medifast he was always lethargic,
tired, had IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), heartburn and was
overweight. He’s lost 45 pounds, plays electric guitar and
mandolin in the worship band at his church where he is known as
“Smokey Joe” and recently became a certified Health Advisor.
Becky is our favorite daughter and Christopher’s beautiful wife.
She is a Human Resources Analyst and works for the district
attorney. She has neck and joint pain resulting from two auto
accidents, had foot pain and was overweight. Becky plays the
piano, keyboards, saxophone, bass guitar and sings in the
worship band at Journey Community Church. She’s lost 45 pounds,
her joints are happier than they’ve been for years.
Medipet Note: Since Becky’s joint pain improved from the good
nutrition and the benefits of soy, Christopher began serving a
French Vanilla Medifast Plus Joint Health drink to Bonnie Dawg
each morning. The fifteen year old dog no longer needs to be
carried up and down the stairs – she whips up and down two sets
of stairs with ease. When either Christopher or Becky uses their
shaker jar, their Lhasa Apso comes running, begins to hop and
jump with excitement and begs for more. Christopher has to tell
her, “This shake’s not for you!”
Bonnie Dawg turns up her cold nose to regular pet food, she
wants a ‘Medipet’ shake twice a day!
Who’dda thought that we’d get friskier with Medifast?
Martin and Lynn Garcia
A business systems analyst for a national chain, Martin became
interested in Medifast for its health benefits. His co-workers
say – “if Martin says something’s good, it’s good – he
researches everything!” Martin was taking 50 mg of Atenolol to
control his high blood pressure. Before he started on Medifast,
Martin’s BP was 150/90 with medication. He has lost 81 pounds,
his BP without medication is now 118/68, his Lipitor dosage has
been reduced from 80 mg to 40 mg for cholesterol and he is
totally off of Prevacid for acid reflux. Martin is a go-give
kinda guy, involved with his family, active in his community and
likes to read Stephen King novels and listen to Mo Keb CDs in
his spare time.
The Garcias are our neighbors and had been watching my body
shrink. Martin’s wife was a pharmacy tech and therefore
concerned about Martin’s prescription list. She was hopeful that
he would consider using Medifast after observing our good
results. Lynn was amazed at how she also benefited from
Medifast. She has fibromyalgia, was often fatigued and plagued
with daily migraines. In addition she experienced menopausal
symptoms and wanted to lose a few pounds. She easily lost 41
pounds and regained her health while using the Modified 5 and 1
Plan. Lynn has been set free from pain and fatigue. She has
renewed vitality and much needed stamina to care for her
preschool niece and nephew and her 77 year old father!
Jaime and Lisa Castro
Lisa is the owner-publisher of a luxury high-end real estate
magazine. Before Medifast she was overweight (carried all of her
weight in her hiney and thighs), had low thyroid which made it
extremely difficult to lose weight and she also has an auto
immune disorder. Lisa lost 30 pounds and her clothing size went
from a size 12 to a size ZERO! Her sister calls Medifast a “Home
Liposuction Kit” because the weight came off in all the right
places – hiney and thighs! Lisa’s doctor is really puzzled – he
said she should be very sick according to her blood test results
regarding the auto immune disorder but she now has absolutely no
symptoms. Medifast IS a miracle! Lisa no longer takes any
thyroid medication. She went through the transition and
maintenance program and has maintained her 30 pound loss for six
glorious months!
Due to the nature of his profession as a Police Sergeant, Jaime
has always kept fit and exercised regularly so he is ready to
respond as needed in emergency situations. He is bi-lingual and
his experience and skills are frequently needed in the line of
duty. He rarely has time to eat. Since taking good care of his
health and body is important to him, Jaime uses Medifast for its
excellent nutrition. Typically he has two Medifast Plus Joint
Health shakes and a bar per day in addition to his regular food
meals. He really appreciates the convenience of the products and
is able to easily utilize them during the course of his busy
day. While Jaime did not use Medifast for weight loss reasons,
he did lose twelve pounds and noticed that his physique has
toned up and his muscles are more defined. Lisa just loves those
rippling muscles! It’s the Home Liposuction kit at work again in
the Castro family – fat melted off, the muscles became more
prominent and we have another satisfied Medifit family!
Don and Shawna Graves
The Graves just joined the MakeMeThinner team this very week!
Shawna got started using Medifast less than a month ago for
weight loss and to improve her nutrition. She was so anxious for
her product to arrive quickly because she was going out of town
for a week. I loaned her several of my bars so she could travel
and stay on the program. She easily lost 12 pounds and loves the
support of our Forum. She’s a city girl that’s recently moved to
the country. Shawna enjoys her cat Cooper, decorating her new
home and is anxious to have a baby in the very near future.
While she will not use Medifast to curb her caloric intake
during pregnancy, she will use many products for their high
nutritional value. We are excited about how she will be able to
support our customers via the web.
Don is vice president of an international company and also
wrestles steers! What a combination, eh? Tall and muscular, he
certainly has the look of a corporate analyst – it’s hard to
picture him with chaps and a dirty shirt! Surely the Medifast
Plus Joint Health will be his beverage of choice!
In The Huddle
The coach gathers his team together, strategizes with them,
reviews the plays, speaks encouragement and hope into the
players and then sends the players out of the safety of the
huddle and onto the field.
There is no victory if ya stay in the huddle and avoid the
field. There is no victory if you remain too long on the field
and never return to the huddle. Winning is a balance of huddle
and field.
Balanced nutrition is THE key to your good health. Don’t mess
with Medifast. The food field is dangerous territory if you’re
not well-equipped. The MakeMeThinner Team is here to be your
personal Take Shape For Life coach. |
Medifast/Take Shape for Life are registered trade marks of Jason
Enterprises, Inc.
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