7 Ways To Prep Before You Go On A Diet

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by MediFast. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I’m going to be boldly honesty. I dislike diets. I don’t use the word diet in front of my kids and I don’t generally believe in cutting out food groups. The last time I went on a “diet” I was in my early 20’s.

I believe in fresh foods, I believe in real ingredients and I believe in treats. If you don’t have treats in life that’s just sad.

Today though, I’m 37. I’m 148 pounds and I’m not getting any younger or thinner on my own. I work out on a regular basis. 2 -5 times a week. I run, I use the elliptical for an hour, I bike 10 plus miles and yet here I am…stalled.

I’ve been this way since about May. Between January and May I lost about 12 pounds and then I hit a plateau. Two plus years after my son was born and I’m still over here trying to get rid of the baby weight. I need a boost.

When I was approached about the Medifast diet I thought it might be exactly what I need to jumpstart my weight loss again. So I agreed to go on the Medifast Flex plan for three months. I started yesterday.

Medifast is often recommended by doctors for people looking to lose weight and it is a food/calorie controlled eating program. You order their food, you follow their plan that allows you to eat six times a day and you lose weight.

The main ingredients to success on the plan (So I’m told) are the Medifast meals. The meals are interchangeable and count as one of your six for the day.

On the Flex plan, my plan, I will be eating two Lean and Green meals per day too. The “Lean” portion of the plan means that I’ll be picking a serving of any approved protein from the Medifast protein options.

The “green” portion of the plan means I’ll be choosing from a combination of the Medifast approved green vegetables, which range from lower carb vegetables to higher carb veggies like broccoli, peppers, spaghetti squash and more.

After speaking with the Medifast nutritionists, we agreed that this program would be the best fit for me because I’m physically active. I’m supposed to be training for a 10k in November, although I’ve been nursing a knee injury for the last two months. However, as I mentioned I do work out 2-5 days a week still and plan to it to 5 days a week more often soon.

As far as losing weight goes, truth be told at 138 (which is where I was before I got pregnant with my son) I was happy. I was proud of that weight and felt good at that weight. I would be happy to reach that again. I would be thrilled if I could actually reach anywhere from 128 to 132. Most of my adult life I was at 132. In high school I was at 128 so I sort of feel like that might be a tall order for me, but maybe…?

Since this diet is a pretty dramatic switch for me in eating, I started prepping myself last week. Here’s what I did before I started to get my head in the game.

Drink Up

I started drinking more water last week, or trying to. I understand that water is a big part of success on any diet plan and I don’t have an issue with drinking it. I do often forget though. It’s so odd to me because I was obsessive about drinking it when I was pregnant and breastfeeding. After I was done breastfeeding it’s like I unconsciously revolted against drinking it. I’m working on 60 oz. a day now.

Start cutting back on portions

I tend to eat large portions because I don’t eat often enough throughout the day. In my head I always feel like I’ve skipped a meal so I get to eat more. I do this a lot at dinner. But, that shouldn’t really be the case. I’ve tried to make my portions smaller in the last week. In some instances I’ve even used a smaller plate to make sure I didn’t get too much.

Eat smaller meals more often

This goes hand in hand with the one above. If I’m eating less then I can eat more often and likely won’t over eat when I get to meals.

Work in the green veggies

I’ve tried to start making sure that I get my vegetable servings in. While I love vegetables and eat a lot of them, I do get lazy because they are often more work to prepare. We often add in kale to meals but I’ve tried to start making a point of getting the greens in at lunch and snack time too.

Start removing extra carbs and sugars

I love carbs! I love sugar! My body love carbs and sugar too. It loves to hold onto them forever and ever. I know I can vastly improve here and I will on MediFast, but in the last week I’ve started trying to make small changes in my diet here, like using less creamer in my coffee. MediFast is a lower-carb, type-of-plan. While you don’t cut them out completely, there are no turkey and cheese sandwiches on this plan.

Start eating breakfast

This is so hard for me! I’m not a breakfast person. I’m a coffee person. I’m a snuggle-15-more-minutes-on-the-couch-and-then-rush-around-trying-to-get-everyone-dressed-and-out-the-door-on-time person. MediFast has hot and cold options for breakfast and I’m really liking their Mixed Berry Crunch Cereal.

Test foods to find your favorites

Since I’ve received my Medifast food I’ve been testing them. I’m the sort of person who could eat the same meal for two weeks straight it it’s something I like. For me finding favorites is really important. There are crunchy options I like that are a lot like rice cakes, sweet granola bars, soups, pancakes, shakes, dessert and more. They have a collection called Flavors of Home, which can be used as a Lean and Green option. I’ve still discovering but so far I really like the Tukey Meatball Marinara, the Nacho Cheese crunchers, the cereal I’ve mentioned above and the Parmesan & Olive Oil Crisps.

So here’s goes nothing! Follow along with me on this journey and see how it goes. I’ll still be posting recipes in the food section of my site that my family will be eating and seasonal sweets because it’s fall and it is my favorite time of the year to cook and bake. We will see how I do avoiding it all or how I alter it to make it work for me during this journey.

If you want to learn more about MediFast because you’re thinking you need a jumpstart too or if you want to take the leap and try it, click here. Save $145 on the 30-day Flex Kit. Offer includes 21 Free Shakes on their renewal plan.

“*Average weight loss for Medifast Direct® customers using Medifast Go™ is 11 pounds. Medifast Direct customers are in weight loss, on average, for 8 weeks.”