I often hear from people who want to lose weight very quickly on Medifast. Often, they are tempted to skip meals or over exercise in order to achieve these goals. They think that if they do more than is asked, then they will be rewarded with weight loss that is more or faster than what is typical.
Believe me when I say that I totally understand being motivated to go all in. Once you make the hard decision to finally address your weight, it's very normal (and admiral) to want to get started right away and to want to work really hard in order to enjoy results that reflect your hard work. But I also want for you to believe me when I say that going over the top does not always get you the best results. I will tell you what I think is a better strategy below.
Understand That It's Better To Shoot For Gradual And Realistic Results: We have all known someone who has lost a dramatic of weight very quickly but who also gains it back just as quickly. This is because in order to lose that type of weight, they had to take drastic measures that they couldn't sustain. It's my belief that you don't want to make any habit that you can't keep. You don't want to get into the habit of yo yo dieting. That's why you are better off going for very gradual but steady weight loss. The ranges given for Medifast are 2 - 5 pounds for the first couple of weeks and 1 - 2 pounds after that. This may not seem like a lot at first, but it averages out to be around 6 - 12 pounds per month for a mean of 9 pounds. That type of weight loss certainly adds up, but it is also sustainable.
Know That Ketosis Means That You Shouldn't Skip Meals Or Over Exercise: Medifast works in at least two different ways. First, you take in fewer calories (around 1200.) And second, you burn more fat because you are taking in a high amount of protein a low amount of carbohydrates. This puts your body in a metabolic state called ketosis where it is laboring somewhat to burn that fat. And in order to labor that hard, your body needs fuel.
But if you skip meals, you are not giving it that fuel. So what happens? It can't maintain ketosis and it stops burning fat. Do you see the irony of this? Many people think that they are doing themselves a favor when they skip meals but in fact there are risking thwarting or slowing their progress.
Over exercising holds the same risk. Your body is already working hard so you don't need to over tax it. Now, power walking, biking and sensible exercise is not the same as over doing it. Again, you want to introduce things that you are going to be able to sustain without too much difficult and sacrifice.
Think About The Long Term Instead Of The Short Term: I probably sound like a broken record when I constantly say that dieting is a marathon and not a sprint. Of course, you will go off of the diet when you have hit your target weight loss, but the idea is that you would have learned how to eat and exercise sensibly and to make good choices. It's not something that you do and then go right back to your old bad habits. If you do that, you'll gain the weight back. But if you look at this sensibly and know that it is a gradual and lasting process, then you have a much better chance of keeping the weight off without too much effort.
It's my believe that the people you see on the blog who have lost (and kept off) the weight are those that understand that are in it for the long haul and they are committed to doing it right. They aren't interested in cutting corners only to gain temporary weight loss. They'd rather take their time so that they don't have to start over when they gain the weight back.