“We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success.” - Henry David Thoreau

My recent computer problems have really screwed up these progress reports, so I have simplified them a little bit. In previous reports, I was reporting on the previous day while giving that mornings weigh in. This was a kind of terrible way to do it because even I was getting confused.

So I am just going to make it a short one today. As of day 9 and I’ve lost six pounds. These are not exactly awesome results for a man, I feel like I should have already lost 10 pounds. But, I refuse to be get disappointed yet.

The initial excitement and drama have kind of worn-off and now I’m just doing it. It’s kind of settled into a routine. Medifast is really pretty easy once you get into the groove. It’s particularly easy if you don’t rea towards red wine.

Day 9: Weigh-In

STARTING WEIGHT (01/04/2010): 221 lbs.
TODAY’S WEIGHT (01/12/2010): 215 lbs.

“You can’t keep blaming yourself. Just blame yourself once, and move on.” - Homer Simpson

Don’t worry, I haven’t already fallen off program. I apologize for the radio silence but I was tweaking a few things here on the site and made a really stupid mistake. The front end stayed up, but I was unable to post or approve comments for a few days. I think I have it all back up and running again. Thanks to everybody who emailed to see how things were going.

The good news is that at the end of the first week, I am firmly at 216 pounds, so I’ve lost 5 pounds. There was a day that dipped under that amount, but as of this morning I was at 216 so that’s what I’m going to go with. There are always going to be fluctuations due to water, etc.

Medifail: I should also mention that I went off program on Friday night with two glasses of red wine – always my downfall.

Day 6: What I Ate

• Banana Cream Shake
• Fruit and Nut Crunch Bar
• Chicken and WIld Rice Soup
• Dill Pickle Spears
• Parmesan Cheese Puffs
• Lean and Green Taco Salad – Still love this!
• Chocolate Pudding

Day 7: Weigh-In

STARTING WEIGHT (01/04/2010): 221 lbs.
TODAY’S WEIGHT (01/10/2010): 216 lbs.

“You have to know you can win. You have to think you can win. You have to feel you can win.” - Sugar Ray Leonard

The first 3 days on Medifast kind of suck. I like to think of the first three days as Medifast Detox. Your body is suddenly not getting all the junk it’s grown accustomed to. It’s also getting a LOT fewer calories. On Day 3, I felt pretty terrible. I was tired. I had a mild headache. I was HUNGRY. But since I’m writing this in hindsight, I am happy to report that today, I feel really awesome! I’ve got lots of energy and just feel overall better than I have in quite awhile.

I’ve dropped a few pounds and I definitely FEEL lighter, but I don’t expect these to be really reliable numbers. Water affects a lot and I have been drinking a ton of it.

Weight Loss Tip: If you get sick of drinking water, add some fresh lemon juice. It definitely makes it taste better. And although I don’t have anything to back up these claims, many people have told me that lemon juice is good for digestion and weight loss.

At this point, I’m not going to get too hung up on numbers. I expect the numbers to increase a pound or two every now and then.

I’m dashing off this post before I leave for a dinner and housewarming party. This will be a challenge for me, and I’ve pretty much already decided to have a glass of red wine. I’ll report back on how I fared at this event. Social events are always the most challenging.

Day 3: What I Ate

• Dutch Chocolate Shake
• Peanut Butter Crunch Bar
• Carnitas Salad from Chipotle
• Dill Pickle Spears
• Parmesan Cheese Puffs
• Peanut Butter Crunch Bar
• Chocolate Pudding

I’m getting totally hooked on the chocolate pudding!

Day 4: Weigh-In

STARTING WEIGHT (01/04/2010): 221 lbs.
TODAY’S WEIGHT (01/07/2010): 216 lbs.

“The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win.” - Roger Bannister

Okay… so I am in the thick of it now. The first 3 days of Medifast aren’t so great, but I know from experience that it gets way better. I woke up this morning with a weird taste in the back of my throat. This is the taste I associate with ketosis starting, so hopefully I am right. I only experience this taste when I am actually losing weight, so it’s just another theory I have. I don’t have a lot to write today, I’m actually pretty exhausted right now… but I definitely plan to get a lot more prolific with these posts in the days to come.

Day 2: What I Ate

• Dutch Chocolate Shake
• Peanut Butter Crunch Bar
• Peanut Butter Crunch Bar
• Dill Pickle Spears
• Parmesan Cheese Puffs
• Ribeye steak with lots of green salad
• Chocolate Pudding

The steak may have been a little overboard, but my girlfriend cooked it for me and it was delicious. During this Medifast journal, you’ll probably notice that I don’t stick to the Lean and Green meals 100%. Occasionally, I will go a little overboard on the meat or avocado, but I am really careful when it comes to dressing and I completely avoid any kinds of grains. We’ll see how this works out.

Day 3: Weigh-In

STARTING WEIGHT (01/04/2010): 221 lbs.
TODAY’S WEIGHT (01/06/2010): 218 lbs.

“What you are must always displease you, if you would attain to that which you are not.” - Saint Augustine

And here we go… I will be documenting 31 Days on Medifast for your reading pleasure.

I’ve been laying some emotional/psychological groundwork for my weight loss this time. Over the past 6-9 months, I haven’t been very mindful about anything that I’ve been doing – and that includes what I put into my body. Last summer I was at the best weight I’d been at in probably 10 years. I was feeling pretty great. And then I totally blew it.

Now I am getting back on track. I have a clear vision of what I want to look like and how I want to feel. I’ve also made a list of some of the ways being overweight negatively impacts my life. The primary one is a lack of self confidence. I’ve also noticed a distinct lack of mental clarity in the time that I’ve been over-eating. I haven’t been productive and I haven’t been having as much fun or enjoying life as much as I want to.

Weight Loss Tip: Keep a Journal

If you’re setting out to lose weight, I would advise you to do something similar. Keeping a journal really helps. That’s really what this blog is all about for me. It will keep you accountable to your future self. Write down what you hate about being overweight. Write down some of the things you’re going to enjoy about being thin. You might be surprised at some of the things that come to mind. The simple act of writing these things down, will put you in a mind-frame of mindfulness. When you write, imagine that you are writing these for your future self.

So, yesterday was my first full day and here is the report.

Day 1: What I Ate

• Dutch Chocolate Shake
• Peanut Butter Crunch Bar
• Carnitas Salad from Chipotle
• Parmesan Cheese Puffs
• Dill Pickle Spears
• French Vanilla Shake
• Chocolate Pudding

Now, I’m not 100% sure that the Carnitas Salad fully meets the requirements of a Lean and Green meal, but it was really delicious and I needed something within walking distance from work.

Day 2: Weigh-In

STARTING WEIGHT (01/04/2010): 221 lbs.
TODAY’S WEIGHT (01/05/2010): 219 lbs.

I realize it’s been ages since I’ve posted on this blog. Yet somehow, thanks to all of the people who still visit, it has managed to take on a life of it’s own. We still get a TON of comments here (particularly from those of you are are pretty riled up about the changed Medifast Pretzels!) and I’m kind of overwhelmed at the little community that has built up around this site. I still correspond with a lot of people via e-mail and I really love reading your stories and giving what limited feedback I can.

For the past year, I’ve really been focused on getting my life financially and professionally back on track and I really haven’t had any time to devote to this site. That’s all going to change in 2011. Since it’s a New Year, I thought this would be as good a time as any to give you a quick status update before launching into some of the exciting things I have planned for the coming months.

The Past

When I first launched Get Skinny Be Happy, it was nothing more than a personal blog. I was weighing in at a very uncomfortable 260 pounds and I was not happy with my life. The original blog was very simple, just something I set up on a free Blogger hosting account. In the early days I was trying my best to count calories and follow The Hacker’s Diet (which I still think is pretty cool). I connected with some great people and the fact that I was blogging served as a way to keep me “virtually” accountable to people I corresponded with but never actually met in real life.

It was through one of these people that I first learned about Medifast. I was at about 240 pounds at that time and I decided I would shift the focus of this site and detail my experience with Medifast. I was pleasantly surprised to say the least. I quickly lost 20 pounds and eventually even got down to 203 pounds. This was the lowest I had weighed since college. I started to really explore the community that has grown up around Medifast and began to supplement this site with things like Medifast Recipes and Coupons. These sections brought in a whole new group of people, who were hungry for more information. The site had definitely grown beyond a little personal blog and I began to feel a little inhibited about sharing my weight loss trials and tribulations.

Towards the middle of last year, I became overwhelmed by the whole thing and just let it kind of sit here. I still thought about the site a lot, because we get lots of new comments and emails every day. But, I just wasn’t sure where to take it or what to do with it.

Our lives are not determined by what happens to us, but how we react to what happens to us, not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes. It is a Catalyst…. a spark that creates extraordinary results. — Unknown

The Future

Now, I have a plan. Starting tomorrow, I’m going to begin a series of posts called 31 Days of Medifast.

31 Days of Medifast is going to be a detailed account of 31 Days 100% on program. I won’t spare you any of the gory details. And there will be photos. Those of you who have followed this blog for awhile know that I get pretty good results for awhile but am inevitably derailed by something. My hope is that you will follow along and post details about your progress in the comments section and this can become a temporary online support group.

My current weight is 201 pounds.

The last few months of my life have been pretty crazy – in good ways and bad. I won’t lie to you and say that everything is totally settled now, but things are getting better. And compared to most of the world, I have nothing to complain about. I do know that when I get stressed out, I have to be very careful about overeating. Stress seems to be my overeating trigger.I knew I was gaining weight and completely avoided the scale for a few months.

But now it’s time to stop being in denial, face reality and move into the future in a healthy way.

I hope you’ll join me!

I’ve been excited to turn a few new people on to the Medifast Diet over the past few weeks and have found myself spending quite a bit of time walking them through the Medifast ordering process. It’s pretty simple, but there are a few areas that I noticed were a little confusing for newbies. I decided to put together this simple walk through of the Medifast ordering process so I could just send out a link. It’s pretty basic but there are a few tips here that I think could help out even experienced Medifasters.

There are a lot of different ways to get your hands on Medifast. You may have a health coach who will hopefully have already shared this with you. (Note: I am not a health coach even though I have people ask me about it all the time. I’ll explain my reasons for NOT being a health coach in an upcoming post.) There are also Medifast Centers popping up all over the country, but that method will end up costing you a lot more. I prefer the do-it-yourself method.

Medifast Ordering Strategies

Before you start to build out your order, you should decide how much Medifast you need. There are some really simple starter packs. If this is your first time to order Medifast, this is a pretty cool option.

You can choose from a 2-week or 4-week supply of food. You’ll receive a big box with an assortment of various shakes, soups and oatmeals. This is a great way to familiarize yourself with the different types of foods available. The downside is that there are going to be a few things in there that you probably won’t like at all.

Now that I’ve been around the block a few times, I know which foods I love and which foods I hate (Swiss Mocha shakes). This is going to be different for everybody, of course. When deciding how much to order I break it down by the week.

1 week = 35 Medifast meals

Conveniently enough, the Medifast foods are packaged in boxes of 7 meals each so:

1 week = 5 boxes

With this knowledge in mind, I plan my orders based in segments of 5 boxes. If I’m ordering for a month, I’ll plan for 20 boxes. Now that you’ve got some basic numbers in mind you can log-on to the Medifast Official Site and start shopping.

Anticipating Your Eating Schedule

I’ve been keeping things simple by concentrating primarily on Medifast Shakes and Crunch Bars. I use the shakes at home and take the Crunch Bars with me for the office or when I’m going to be away from home. This doesn’t take advantage of the variety available, but my schedule is kind of hectic and I need a way to not think about it very much.

Depending on what your life/work situation is you can be quite a bit more adventurous. If you have enough time in the morning to whip up pancakes or scrambled eggs, definitely consider adding those to your order. Soups and Chili work great for lunch and don’t require much additional preparation. As you’re preparing your order, use this time to make a mental picture of the weeks ahead and what your life is going to look like. Envision what your routine is going to be like and also how great you are going to feel to stick to the program. I find this mental preparation to actually be quite helpful.

Fill Up Your Virtual Shopping Cart

If you’ve ever shopped online before this is pretty simple. If you want to make things easier on yourself, go to this page and see what kind of Medifast coupon codes are available. If you already have an idea of how much you’re going to spend, just click the appropriate link.

Head to the Medifast Official Site and browse the selections. Start adding products until you have hit your numbers. You can always remove things from the cart later, so if something looks interesting, click on it and made adjustments later in the process.

Don’t overlook the flavor drop-down menus. This is one of the things that I noticed people were missing as I walked them through the process. Almost every product is available in several different flavors. Seems simple, but pay attention to this or you could be in for a surprise when you end up with 20 boxes of Dutch Chocolate shakes instead of the flavor varieties you really wanted.

Checking Out (Time To Save A Little Money!)

Once you’ve selected everything you want, it’s time to check out. IMPORTANT!!! This is your chance to enter the coupon code I mentioned earlier and easily save yourself up to $50. If you forgot to grab a coupon code, open a new window and go to this page. Pick the appropriate Medifast coupon, copy it down and click the link. This should take you back to your shopping cart but you’ll still have to apply the code. You won’t see the discount applied just yet, but you’ll see it on the next page.

Did it work? Awesome! You just saved some money. Usually this is enough to at least offset the shipping. Every dollar counts!

There are a few other options on this page that give you the opportunity to add Expedited Processing, supplements and even a blender. I am terrible when it comes to ordering on a regular basis and am usually choose Expedited Processing for an extra $10. I’m not sure how much this actually speeds up the process because I don’t think I have ever placed an order and NOT chosen expedited processing. I may be getting totally scammed!

Enter Your Billing & Shipping Information

If you’ve ordered Medifast before, this may already be filled out for you. But this is the standard page where you enter all your billing and shipping information. There are a few shipping options and another chance to add Expedited Processing. If you’re not in a rush, just go for the Standard Shipping. I’ve found that delivery is still pretty quick.

At the bottom of the page make sure the Product Total is correct and that your discount code is still showing up and has been applied.

Submit Your Order

That’s it. Your order is complete and the hard-working folks in Owings Mills, MD will be packing up your order very soon.

I hope this answers some questions, but if anything is confusing just let me know in the comments section below.

“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments.” – Jim Rohn

I am going to be expanding the content here at Get Skinny Be Happy! It will definitely still be focused on Medifast and healthy, quick weight loss, but I want to branch out a little bit so I’m not boring you by talking about myself all the time. This is a video I found via FaceBook recently and I thought it might make for some good inspiration today.

This video is focused on a guy who got really fat before getting inspired to start running. While this particular story is focused on running, I realize that running isn’t everybody’s thing. The message here applies to any decision you’ve made to improve your life: running, Medifast, a home workout routine or even just the decision to take a walk through your neighborhood everyday. Once you decide to do it… do it. And keep doing it.

This video is actually pretty awesome, so take a minute to watch it and let me know what you think!

When I started my recent attempt to lose 20 pounds in a month, I stripped down my Medifast order to consist only of shakes and crunch bars. When I’m at home, I mix up the weight loss shakes in my Rocket Blender (which is still going strong) with a little ice, but if I’m on the road I pack a few crunch bars. I even have a box in my desk at work.

I love the bars, but in my opinion, the weight loss shakes are really the quickest and easiest path to quick weight loss. Medifast has done an amazing job of rounding out the diet with a wide variety of food options, but the shakes are definitely what have worked best for me.

I’ve tried just about every type of Medifast food, but when it comes to the taste and to the level of “fullness” they provide, the Medifast shakes beat out all the rest. I stick to Dutch Chocolate, French Vanilla, Orange and Banana. A lot of people complain about the shakes getting boring after awhile, but I honestly love starting my day off with one. If you’re getting sick of them, I highly recommend you ditch the shaker cup and blend them with some ice. They taste a lot better, have a more pleasant texture and seem to be more filling.

During my many years of attempting to lose weight through various methods, I’ve actually tried a lot of weight loss shakes: SlimFast, Special K, MuscleMilk and a bunch of other brands I can’t remember. The Medifast shakes are the only one that left me feeling full, content and like my blood sugar levels weren’t spiking all over the place.

If you take a look at the nutritional profiles of the Medifast shakes, you’ll find that they are very nicely balanced when it comes to nutrition. In addition to only containing 90 calories, each shake clocks in with very low sugars and carbohydrates.

Just for kicks, let’s do another Medifast vs. Slimfast comparison using the nutritional information from a Medifast Shake vs. a Slimfast Shake: A Dutch Chocolate Medifast shake contains 90 calories, 1 gram of fat, 8 grams of Sugar and 13 Total Carbohydrates. Compare that to a Slimfast Milk Chocolate Shake which contains 190 Calories, 6 grams of fat, 18 grams of sugar and 25 Total Carbohydrates. The lower counts allow you to have more shakes spread out over the course of a day. This prevents blood sugar spikes and keeps you feeling a little less hungry throughout the day.

This is my 4th day of staying 100% on program. It’s actually been really easy and I am feeling great today. Recently I’ve started so simplify all areas of my life, and even though Medifast is pretty simple to begin with, reducing some of my options has taken some of the thinking out of it. Right now, I’m not even using any of the Medifast Recipes to jazz things up. I’m keeping things simple and minimal.

Current Weight: 210.5

Is it even possible to lose 20 Pounds in a Month? I know it’s technically possible, but is there a way to do it’s that safe?

I’ve decided to experiment with myself to see if I can lose 20 pounds in the month of July. I will be the human guinea pig. If you’ve ever read this site before, you’ve probably already guessed that I’ll be using Medifast as part of my experiment. It may seem crazy to even try for a 20 pound weight loss in a month, but there are documented cases out there of people having done this on Medifast. Unfortunately, I have not been one of them.

You can check out the blog archive to read about my previous experiences with weight loss in general and Medifast in particular. But I started getting serious about weight loss about 2 years ago and weighed almost 280 pounds. I didn’t discover Medifast until last year and when I did it was like something clicked. My best weight loss period so far was last July when I lost 13 pounds. That’s definitely not bad, especially considering I wasn’t really following the program 100%.

Although I’ve made a couple of attempts over the past year, I haven’t been able to stick with Medifast for an extended period of time since then. I could make excuses because I moved, started a new job and have been traveling a lot, but that’s not an area I really want to get into. Looking back, I see a whole year where I have only made a half-hearted attempt or two but haven’t made any progress.

One area that I feel really good about, however, is that I’ve truly learned to think differently about eating. My weight has fluctuated a bit over the past year – mainly during the holidays – but even after months of not dieting or thinking seriously about weight loss, the scale still lands at 213. So if I were analyzing my weight on an annual basis that would be a 3 pound weight gain. Given my history, that’s not bad, but it’s not super encouraging either.

So I’m going for it. I restocked my Medifast cabinet and I started on July 4. So I’m on Day 3. I had a slight headache yesterday, but other than that, I haven’t even experienced any signs of Medifast detox.

Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall. – Confucius

Doing a Few Things Differently

Before starting up my attempt to lose 20 pounds in a month, I took some time to reflect on issues dealing with weight loss and being overweight in general. In previous attempts, I just tore open the box and got down to it without really thinking. But, I’m making a conscious attempt to be more mindful about all aspects of my life. This includes not only what I eat and drink, but the minor details of how I live my life.

With this in mind I developed a plan that included a schedule for eating and exercising. I also wrote out a general strategy for how I was going to approach this. As I wrote this out, I realized that there are 2 primary things that have derailed my weight loss in the past.

My 2 Medifast Stumbling Blocks

Ordering Product. This may sound ridiculous, but keeping my Medifast stocked up is probably the #1 problem I have with the program. My schedule is really busy and I travel a lot. Somehow, the logistics of ordering new product always becomes an issue. This time, I actually went to a Medifast Center and asked to place an emergency order. It was a little more expensive but I walked out of the center with 3 backs full of shakes and crunch bars. I’m still a little confused about how the Medifast Centers work, but I was happy to pay the premium just to avoid ordering and waiting for delivery.

Alcohol. While I’m far from a raging alcoholic, I do enjoy alcohol on a fairly regular basis. Recently, I realized that my alcohol consumption was on the verge of becoming a problem in areas of my life other than affecting my weight loss. So I’ve made the decision to quit drinking altogether for the rest of the summer. This is a personal decision, pretty much unconnected from my goal to lose 20 pounds in a month. But, it definitely won’t hurt. So far I have gone almost 2 weeks without a drop. It’s been quite a bit easier and more pleasant than I had feared.

Easing into It

Another thing I did differently was to give myself 2 days of eating Lean and Green meals before jumping right into the Medifast 5-1 program. I actually like eating Lean and Green, so this wasn’t too hard. I also think this may have helped my avoid the symptoms of Medifast detox. I didn’t follow the Lean and Green recipes to the letter, but I concentrated on eating nothing but lean meats and lots of vegetables (particularly leafy greens). This is the way that I prefer to eat now, so I think I will actually be able to rock the transition process pretty hard. (I have a feeling that easing into the program this way will have a slight effect on my overall pounds. Normally, you lose a big chunk of weight in the first week – but it’s mainly your body getting shocked into ridding itself of water and other junk. I never trust the numbers from the first 3 days.)

So I am on my third day and I’m feeling great. I already have excess energy. I have been drinking lots of water, eating celery for snacks and keeping my eyes on the goal. Will I really be able to lose 20 pounds in a month? I don’t know, but I will report my results truthfully here on the site. I will try to post weight updates once a week (but regular readers know how sporadic I am with blogging).

I would love to hear from you if you’re starting up or in the middle of losing weight with Medifast. Use the comments section below to tell us about your experiences and let us know how you’re doing.