Medifast
September Newsletter

Expiration Inspiration Perspiration

Labor Day weekend always leaves me feeling a bit panicky. For most of my life I was an elementary school teacher, assistant principal and a curriculum director. My educational background and related experiences have developed some habits and weird longings within me. Maybe I am sortta like a salmon or a swallow that naturally returns to its roots. In late August I feel the need to buy pencils, glue and new shoes!

Habits

There are some things about teaching that I do not miss – having paste, peanut butter and boogers perpetually on my sleeve from kids vying for my attention by tapping me on the arm saying, “Teacher, teacher!”

For some the New Year begins in January but for students and teachers September is the time for new clothes, new faces and fresh starts. As an educator, I did long-term and short–term planning mid summer so that once school began, I was mentally ready for the school year and merely had to make minor adjustments as the year unfolded and circumstances warranted it.

My husband is a pastor, a reader and also a planner. Together we are forward thinkers. We find that when we are planned up, our anxiety is at a minimum, we feel confident because things are under control, and we are relaxed and able to really enjoy the event to the max. To be sure there are surprises and glitches that come along but we are better able to deal with the incidentals when the majors are under control.

To demonstrate how anal we are about planning ahead, we have been seriously planning and making arrangements for our upcoming vacation for two years. We have had several family planning sessions for this vacation, the air fare, rental cars and the condos are all paid for and we are ready to go!

With that in mind, do you folks realize that in a mere two months it will be Thanksgiving and in only three months Christmas time. Will you be feeling and looking your personal best by then? If not, you can begin NOW to be in a better place by then and we have just the tools you need to be ready. In December, you will wish that you had started on your weight loss plan now.

Are you overwhelmed by your weight and poor health?

A little over two years ago I was at the end of my rope, I was on my last nerve, I was sick of being fat and angry at myself for allowing my weight to get so far out of control. All areas of my life seemed to be in order and following the plans I had laid out for myself except for my flabbage.

The task was daunting. Imagine needing to lose half of one’s body size!

Expiration

It seems like all products these days have expiration codes clearly stamped on them. If I had been a food product, my code would have indicated that expiration was just around the corner.

My kidneys, heart and other organs were encased in fat. Five out of ten of the leading causes of death in the USA are obesity related. Since I cannot take a peek inside my arteries, I have no idea of their true condition but I assume they were filled with sludge as I ate so much butter and other fatty foods. I moved like a slug.

In overweight people with high blood pressure, a weight loss of as little as 7 pounds can reduce a person’s blood pressure. Obesity can cause fat to build up in your liver causing it to enlarge and for people who drink a considerable amount of alcohol (which I do not) and also eat an unbalanced diet (which I did) severe liver damage can occur. Gulp!

People who accumulate fat around their waist are at a greater risk of heart disease than are people who accumulate fat around their hips and thighs. That would describe me perfectly – before Medifast my waist was 46 inches – and please note that I hadn’t measured myself until I had been on Medifast for 6 weeks.

At five feet nine, my husband Terry weighed 220 pounds and had the proverbial beer belly (also not a drinker). Like most people with central obesity, his blood pressure was climbing and so was his cholesterol level. He was also showing signs of insulin resistance. His waist circumference alone was an indicator that he was marked for an increased risk of a heart attack. His expiration code was getting close.

Over the last ten years, the number of Americans with high blood pressure has risen from one in four to one in three; therefore more people are now at risk of having a heart attack, a stroke or kidney failure.

As we age, increase our weight or lower our physical activity, the risk of high blood pressure increases. Blood Pressure measured at 140 over 90 or higher is considered to be High Blood Pressure and BP less than 120 over 80 is considered to be ideal.

The more overweight a person is, the greater the risk for developing heart disease. A person more than 30% over their healthy weight is three times more likely to develop heart disease and as little as 10 pounds overweight can increase one’s risk for heart disease.

In January 2002 I weighed 265 pounds and at five feet six inches tall, I was a heart attack about to happen.

Yep, our expiration codes were about up…if we did not make some major changes in our eating habits, our obesity would shorten our lives.

Talk About Killjoy…

My size prevented me from doing the things that I wanted to do – my blubber killed my fun.

For a while I denied that I had a food and a weight problem. After repeated diet failures, I gave up and resigned myself to a life of flabdom. Oh, I certainly didn’t like living that way, mind you – I hated every chubby thought about myself and every porky way I behaved. I was on a one way road to self destruction. I was headed for expiration.

When I first heard about it, I wondered how Medifast differed from all the other weight loss programs that I had used. I watched my friend’s progress and I researched Medifast – there was NO MakeMeThinner website or MMT Forum then! We were impressed with the fact that Medifast is not a fad diet. While it is a rapid weight loss plan, we didn’t have to be afraid of false promises or dangerous side effects because Medifast is nutritionally balanced – includes adequate levels of carbs in balance with the protein content and is muscle sparing - and it is something we could stay on for a continued length of time. When Terry and I started Medifasting, we committed to one another to get off as much poundage as possible in three months. We followed the weight loss plan exactly as outlined in the Quick Start booklet that came with our first order.

Our weight loss was quick and consistent. Terry is no longer taking Prilosec for gastric reflux and no longer taking medications for his high cholesterol.

Inspiration

People often ask me how I was able to maintain my momentum as I continued on the weight loss program for several months beyond Terry, who reached his goal before me. We inspired and encouraged one another.

We started a care group for people who wanted to lose weight and called it “Why Weight?” Not all participants in our group used MF. One man followed The Blood Type diet and we all watched his belly size increase as our weight melted off.

I have made lists off and on over the years about the advantages of losing weight vs. the advantages of remaining a chubette. I was continually adding to my list. One of my entries was that I did not want others to perceive me as a glutton.

My in-laws used to enjoy going to those all-you-can-stack-on-your-plates-and-stuff-in-your-mouth-buffets. On occasion we would accompany them to such a restaurant. My mother-in-law (who was normal-sized) was always amazed at the amount of food people would select. I felt concerned that I would put too much grub on my plate in her presence and therefore be categorized as a glutton.

I was beginning to notice that I was pre-occupied with food and that I began to be a sneak eater.

I’ve written about some of the reasons why I wanted to lose weight in other Newsletters and in Forum postings which you may want to ferret out later but just know that I was inspired to lose the lard once and for all this time and Medifast proved to be the ideal vehicle for the Pettit’s.

We looked at Medifast as a lifestyle change. We did not focus on the fact that this was merely a diet. Diets tend to be temporary in nature and our past failures proved the point – we dieted for a while, and then went back to our old eating habits and larger clothes.

Today we eat pretty much the same way we did while we were losing weight – low fat, low sugar, small meals eaten frequently throughout the day and plenty of good old H2O. We plan ahead for our daily needs and we never leave home without our Medifast!

Perspiration

We thought about how much we wanted to quit the negative eating behaviors, the way we used food and how much we wanted to enjoy the positive outcomes that result from eating healthier. It made our choice to stick to the weight loss phase so much easier when we considered all that we had to gain as we lost our weight.

Changing old habits is not easy. It takes a conscious decision to make significant behavioral changes and it takes effort and consistency.

Sure, there are days we feel like saying, “Bag it!” and we do eat trans-fatty acids and foods high in sugar – but those days are rare. Certainly NOT every day. (I’ve had a burger and fries twice in the last year.) We eat healthy almost every single day. When we are able to prepare a healthy meal, we do so. When we are on the run, are busy or when we are just plain too lazy to stop and prepare a balanced healthy meal of regular food, we have a Medifast meal replacement.

We eat more often than we ever did – we eat smaller portions more frequently.

We made life style eating changes – changes that will last for the remainder of our lives. We like livin’ here and eating nutritionally balanced, low fat, low sugar meals ensures that our body’s freshness codes last a bit longer than our former expiration codes.

Some of you are beginning to realize the importance of making long-term changes in your eating habits and food choices. To maintain a normal optimal weight for foodies takes great discipline and effort. It IS NOT EASY. If you have been overweight for many years it will take diligence and great effort on your part to maintain a healthy weight but the effort pays off in better physical and mental health, improved quality of life as well as a longer life expectancy.

For us, Medifast has proven to be a long-term solution for our former long-term health pollution.

As a Former Fatty and Forever Foody, I know for certain that Nothing tastes better than thin feels.

Expiration is when you’ve come to the end of yourself.

Inspiration is what you use when you are ready to begin Medifasting and what you focus on when you get tired of Medifasting.

Perspiration is what it takes to get the job done and to keep the porkies from returning. It takes work. No free rides. Nothing comes without sweat effort….maybe I should say, “Shake Effort.”

As we enter the new fall season, it is a great time for you to make some changes that will lead to a healthier new you.

To make your dreams become a reality = commitment and action.

Every day I talk to people that tell me that they are afraid to begin yet another weight loss program because they never can stick to a diet long enough to reach their goals. They want to know my secret.

Since I cannot come to your home and stand guard in your kitchen or do a ride along during your commute to prevent you from stopping along ptomaine alley for your favorite fast food let me share my secret:

Medifast works. Do it. What do you have to lose?