Take Shape For Life featuring Medifast Meals

There are many reasons why it is important to drink water, especially when you are trying to lose weight on the 5 and 1 Program:

• Cravings are really a sign that your body is thirsty. So when you feel a craving coming along, reach for your water.  It’s the cheapest, safest appetite suppressant there is.
• Your initial weight loss is largely due to loss of water and that is why you need to drink a sufficient amount of water in order to avoid dehydration.
• When your body starts burning calories, it needs an adequate supply of water in order to function efficiently; dehydration slows down the fat-burning process.
• Dehydration causes a reduction in blood volume and this causes a reduction in the supply of oxygen to your muscles which can make you feel tired.
• Burning calories creates toxins in our bodies (think of the exhaust coming out of your car).  Water plays a vital role in flushing these toxins out of your body.
• Drinking water before and with a meal makes you feel fuller and will make you eat less.   However,  drinking water alone may not have this effect. In order to feel satiated (not hungry), our bodies need protein, sufficient calories and nutrients.  All of which can be found in each of the Medifast Meal Replacements and in your Lean and Green Meal.

Read our other post:  WHY WATER IS GOOD FOR YOU

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Keeping the Weight Off – A new plan that can help you make your slim-down permanent.

Watch Dr. Andersen on “Good Morning America – HEALTH”

There’s life after weight loss, and it starts with Take Shape For Life Transition Plan. Once you’ve reached your weight-loss goal, it’s time to make the transition into lifelong healthier eating.

The idea behind the transition phase is gradually increasing your calorie intake over time, while re-introducing a wider variety of the foods.

In general, how long you spend in the transition phase depends on how much weight you have lost:

• If you lost less than 50 pounds, allow 8 weeks
• If you lost 50 – 100 pounds, allow 12 weeks to transition.
• If you lost over 100 pounds, allow 16 weeks to transition.

Your transition needs may be different depending on your gender, age, height, weight and activity level. You’ll be adding an additional 100 calories each week until you reach your goal calorie level.

The Take Shape For Life Transition & Maintenance Guide helps you create an individualized approach to staying at your new, healthier weight.

For lifelong weight management-and other benefits of Optimal Health, be sure to get copies of Dr. A’s Habits of Health and the companion guide, Living a Longer Healthier Life, and follow their guidelines for a lifetime of healthier eating and living.

Maintenance

Once you’ve completed your transition phase successfully, you’re ready to sustain your weight loss and improved health for good. Monitoring your weight, balancing your calories, making smart food choices, and staying active can help you keep what you’ve worked so hard to achieve.

Like the transition phase, the maintenance phase isn’t one-size-fits-all. Your gender, age, height, weight, and activity level will determine your calorie requirements. 

Hints for lifelong healthy eating

• Continue to eat 6 small meals a day.
• Continue to weigh yourself every week.
• Begin or continue to exercise daily.
• Make vegetables account for ½ of your plate at mealtime.
• Eat at least 2 servings of fruit each day.
• Choose lean cuts of meat in 4 – 6 oz servings (about the size of a deck of cards or a computer mouse).
• Bake, grill, steam, poach, and broil. Avoid fried foods and cream sauces
• Read food labels for serving size information.
• Drink calorie-free beverages, including plenty of plain water.
• Restaurant servings can be up to four times the size of a regular healthy serving of food. Get a“to go” box when you order at a restaurant and put at least half of your meal in the box as soon as it’s served. Or, split your meal with someone.
• Order sauce or dressing on the side, and use only a portion of it.
• Enjoy the superior nutrition of Medifast Meals as part of your lifelong approach to healthy eating.
• Stay in touch with your Health Coach and friends on Support in Motion, and reach out to new Take Shape users: It’s a great way to make your new beginning an inspiration to someone else.

If you start to regain weight

For an extra metabolism boost, try our Essential1: Calorie Burn products. Each serving of Calorie Burn Cappuccino or Calorie Burn Flavor Infusers^TM contains 100 mg of caffeine and 90 mg of EGCG to enhance fat burning and decrease appetite.

Essential1: Calorie Burn is specifically designed to help you break through a weight-loss plateau and maintain weight in your maintenance phase.

Here are some more tips to keep from regaining weight:

• Work closely with your Health Coach, who can help you learn to embrace healthy habits for lasting change.
• Watch portion sizes.
• Keep an eye on stress, and take steps to address the emotional issues that can undermine your success. Yoga, meditation, and walking may be good options.
• If you’re exercising, consider stepping up your routine in terms of duration or intensity.
• Surround yourself with your Bio-network, and plenty of healthy, supportive people who value what you’re trying to achieve.

Pay it forward

One of the most powerful things you can do to ensure your continued health is to coach others who are struggling to do what you have done.

Also, when you become a “walking billboard” for the Habits of Health, you are providing a powerful and inspiring success story that’s beyond words!

Let us know if you are interested in becoming a Health Coach yourself or if you would like to share your success story, click here.

In my keep on track last week I shared that I was turning 45 years old on Wednesday.  What came of that revelation was a number of pleasant birthday wishes and also some interesting comments from clients of all ages. What has always struck me as a phenomena is how some people in their 40’s look, feel, talk, think and act like they are getting old while others, well into their 70’s and beyond look, feel, talk, think and act young.

If you didn’t know your age, how old would you be?

Suppose you developed a very rare form of amnesia that wiped out just the memory of your own age.  Naturally, being very concerned about not knowing your age, you seek out a doctor who specializes in this rare condition.  He asks some questions and runs some tests and then comes back to you and, based on his expert analysis, tells you your age. What do you think he would say?

I can’t count the number of weight loss “before” and “after” photos I’ve seen over the past five years of coaching optimal health.  I’ve seen a lot.  But it probably won’t surprise you when I say in every single “after” photo the person looks much younger.  And for those who I have known personally along the way, and including my own story, not only do they look younger but also talk, think, act and feel younger.  Which begs the question, do we have the power to choose our age?  If the answer is yes, which I believe it is, it’s got to start with getting to your ideal weight.

Think and Grow Thin

The message of Take Shape For Life is that anyone can create optimal health in their life.  In the creation process, you are not trying to get away from something (like being overweight, on medications, etc.) but moving toward a vision of health that you have created in your own mind.  And by moving toward your vision, something that did not exist previously comes into existence.  Just this morning I heard this quote.  It’s by Lao Tzu, author of the Tao Te Ching.  He said:

“When you correct your mind, everything will fall into place”

I like this quote because it makes clear the secret to getting what you really want.  It’s in the way you think.  I’ll play devil’s advocate to make the point as it pertains to losing weight.  Let’s say I offered you $10,000 per month to strictly follow the plan until you hit your goal weight (a BMI of 25).  How do you think your body would react?  There’s no doubt you’d lose weight quickly and feel really good.  You would get healthy and look and feel younger too.  But so often people get pitted against themselves because their internal dialogue says otherwise; the mind is not correct in thinking you can’t; in thinking there is something preventing you from having what you really want.

Making 2010 YOUR Year

This is it!  This is your “second chance”; this is your hope for authentic change.  Losing weight is the easy part.  I believe that.  By following the plan specifically, you’ll lose quickly and safely with low-to-no hunger and good energy levels.