A month of transition, sort of

Well, I didn't transition the 'approved' way, as we decided to cut out the majority of our Medifast purchases.

In the past month I've taken to eating Yoplait 100-calorie greek yogurt with granola, protein meal replacement bars from Aldi, and Campbell's 'on the go' soups, and still eating the occasionaly Medifast shakes, bars, and etc from our stash.

I've also started eating more carbs and variety at dinner. Some pizza, some pasta, even some bread.

I haven't been tracking very religiously, I wanted to see what would happen if I tried to just wing it. Well, I moved between 254 and 262 lbs. About an 8 pound swing over the past month, but never got a new low.

I know that I was going to immediately add some weight as my carb intake increased, so that's ok. And I also was on a steroid regimen for my foot, and I know that increases water retention. And finally, while I was at GenCon I was eating a out more, since I was, you know, at a convention.

Well, I think I've learned that while I can fairly easily maintain myself at this rate, it's time to buckle down and start tracking seriously again. I'm going to reset my MFP to a new baseline next week. that will give my body one more week to recover from the steroids and once there, I'm going to create new spreadsheets and track everything to try to get a feel for my actual BMR while eating real food.

Currently my food plan is:

Breakfast: Turkey Bacon and eggs, or a shake
Morning Snack: Greek Yogurt and Granola
Lunch: various: soup, tuna, mac and cheese, leftovers, etc
Afternoon Snack: protein bar
Dinner: lean meats and veggies, occasionally go out
Dessert: protein smoothie or low-cal ice cream treat

Expect to see more weekly charts and graphs again starting next week as I keep transitioning off Medifast and onto something permanent!

Progress pics, before and after

Long before I started Medifast, I took some 'before pics' when I decided to start losing weight on my doctor's advice. Over the course of 6 months or so (honestly I'm not certain when the first pic was taken, May 2013 is an estimate) I went from 345 pounds to 332 pounds, at which point I decided to start Medifast. Despite 332 not being my 'heaviest recorded weight', I completely reset MFP to zero at this point, to give me a baseline. However, I didn't take fresh progress pics then.

In addition to the loss of 90 pounds between these two pictures you can also see a few other interesting changes...

For one, we finished painting the bathroom! I'm wearing my Fitbit in the new picture. I'm not wearing my wedding band, as it is at the jeweler getting resized so it stops falling off my finger, and finally, I've got a new phone. Also notice that I have learned to take pictures in landscape mode as well.

A mostly Medifast transition day!

So, I weighed in at 255 this morning, just over low, and have decided to do an 'almost not Medifast' day.

Breakfast (replacing: Medifast Shake)
2/3 cup egg whites
1 Laughing Cow wedge
4 slices turkey bacon

• 202 Calories, 4g carbs, 8g fat, 26g protein

vs Medifast:
90 calories, 13g carbs, 2g fat, 11g protein

2x the calories, lower carb. This breakfast fills me up much better than Medifast ever did.

Morning Snack (replacing: Medifast Bar)
5.3 oz Strawberry Cheesecake Greek Yogurt
1/4 cup Bear Naked Chocolate Granola

• 230 calories, 33g carb, 4g fat, 15g protein

vs Medifast:
110 calories, 13g carbs, 4g fat, 11g protein

I actually used too much granola today, and can probably cut the amount in half, saving 65 calories, 10g carbs, 3g fat, and only losing 1.5g protein. I really, really like this as a snack. The last time I tried Greek yogurt, I did not like it, texture-wise and flavor-wise it just didn't work. However, the cheesecake flavor masks the 'weird' flavor, and the crunchy granola mix-in really fixes the texture problem. This stuff is really good, and I will be trying more flavors as I go. The stuff I'm eating now has sucralose in it, and I'd like to not be eating much of that.

Lunch (replacing: Medifast Hearty Meal with Cheese and Chicken)
Quest Bar - Cookies and Cream

• 180 calories, 22g carbs, 7g fat, 21g protein

vs Medifast with add-ins
263 calories, 15g carbs, 11g fat, 29g protein

I really, really liked the Quest Bar. It was very dense, nicely sweet and cookie-like. It's got good macronutrients. Again, we've got Sucralose and Stevia in it, which isn't ideal. However it is more ideal than a candy bar and bag of chips. These guys are pretty expensive, but I think I'll keep eating them if they hold up. Which means I need to find a place to buy them in bulk for cheap.

Afternoon Snack (no change)
Medifast Pretzel sticks.

• 110 calories, 14g carbs, 2g fat, 11g protein.

I'm not changing this up today, but eventually I'll want something non-Medifast here that is higher protein and lower carb. I can easily see this ending up being canned tuna regularly, since it's protein-dense carb free. I'm one of those weird people that like canned tuna plain, so I can get away with that, I don't need crackers and mayo with it.

Dinner (no real change)
Tonight I'm going to make a turkey burger in a portobello cap bun, add cheese, and eat a few tater tots. Other than the tater tots and cheese, this is basically the same meal I'd normally eat.

• 413 calories, 23g carbs, 9g fat, 53g protein

Dessert (replacing Medifast SoftBake Smoothie)
1 Scoop Isoflex PB/Chocolate Whey Protein Isolate
.5 oz Neufchatel Cheese
1 Tbsp No-sugar added Quik

• 168 calories, 6g carbs, 4g fat, 29g protein

vs Medifast with add-ins
190 calories, 21g carbs, 6g fat, 21g protein

I'm going to end my day (presumably, if I don't snack extra) at:

• 1303 Calories
• 102g carbs
• 34g fat
• 155g protein

I'm also hitting 2433 mg sodium and 29 g fiber.

My 'IIFYM' targets for today (including my gym trip) would have me eat another 1200 calories, 59 carbs, 68 fats, 70 protein, and 31 fiber. I'm not yet to that point though, as I'm still transitioning. That said, I'm very happy to be eating different food, even if it is from the supplement store and not the grocery store. I think doing things this way will give me a much greater chance of success, because I can keep up my habits, shift away from them slowly, and not be tied to big shipments of Medifast.

So far so good! I'll keep cranking up my calorie intake, adjusting my macros, adding more foods, and see what happens!