How I lost 100 pounds in six months

About seven months ago, my weight was approaching 290 pounds. Ugh. I'd actually hit 290 a year and a half earlier and managed to lose about 40 pounds following the hCG diet under the supervision of a local weight loss clinic, but while I saw pleasing results, it took a lot of willpower to follow and obviously didn't stick. Several months later, I tried the Atkins diet and saw moderate success but, as with hCG, my defenses eventually caved and the weight returned.

Understandably, I felt discouraged. I was tired of always feeling tired and fat, but I couldn't imagine giving up the poor eating habits which were causing me to gain weight. Such emotional dependence! Also, the idea of dieting and exercising was daunting. Who relishes the thought of a long road of deprivation and physical exhaustion with the dim hope you'll get thinner? I don't see any raised hands, so here's my story.

Two days before the diet

In passing one day, a friend mentioned she recently started using a weight loss product called Medifast. Founded in 1980, Medifast is a portion controlled meal replacement product (PCMR). It consists of bars, shakes, soups, oatmeal, chili, and even cookies, brownies, and pudding. Everything is ready to eat or comes in powder form, no refrigeration required. Five times a day at regular intervals you fuel up with one PCMR. The products taste good and are generally effective at staving off hunger. Additionally, once a day, you prepare your own meal which includes a portion of protein and a serving of vegetables. Eager to try something new, I asked a lot of questions and, upon researching it a bit, placed a two week order.

The two week order cost about $170, which seemed like a low risk way to try out the program. The first week, I lost eight pounds. I was encouraged, but I've learned from experience many diets deliver impressive results in the first weeks. As the second week progressed and I continued to lose weight, I placed a four week order (about $330) and committed to trying it out a little bit longer. By the end of the second week, I lost five more pounds.

By the time my second order arrived, I'd started reading Dr. A's Habits of Health by Dr. Wayne Scott Andersen. Dr. Andersen is the medical director for Medifast, and his book puts PCMRs, like Medifast, in perspective as part of a larger approach to losing and maintaining a healthy weight and pursuing optimal health and longevity. It's not a quick read, and at times it felt a bit pedantic but, by the time I finally finished it seven weeks later, I concluded it is perhaps the best health related book I've ever read. I'm so convinced my success using Medifast is tied to reading and digesting Habits of Health, I predict poor results, if not failure, for those who try this program (called Take Shape for Life) without making a similar study of the book.

In my third and fourth weeks, I lost six pounds each week for a total of 25 pounds lost in one month! That may sound impressive, but I lost 32 pounds in a month on hCG. The difference this time is I wasn't going raving mad from hunger. In fact, after the first week when, frankly, the hunger pangs were rather strong, the hunger was relatively easy to manage. Spacing six meals a day means you're eating every two or three hours. Eating several times a day like this isn't unique to Medifast; many modern diets advocate such an approach, but what I found pleasing now was that the bars and shakes I was eating were satisfying and just enough to keep me going until the next fueling. As I settled into a pattern of losing five pounds my fifth and sixth weeks, I began fantasizing I could lose more than just the 50 or 60 pounds I originally aspired to lose.

I wasn't surprised to find that I felt low levels of energy the first few weeks of the diet. For longer than I care to admit, the quantity and quality of the food and soda I consumed day after day after day was a sharp contrast to this drastic new program I was following where each PCMR averages just over 100 calories! I was surprised, however, and pleased to read that not only does Dr. Andersen recommend not exercising the first few weeks of the program but that exercise is not even an integral part of the weight loss phase of the Take Shape for Life program. Mild exercise, such as walking and making conscientious decisions to take the stairs and simply move more often, is encouraged but not required to lose weight. So, while I have become more active over the course of using Medifast to lose weight, I do not attribute any of my weight loss to exercising but instead to simply dieting. Chew on that.

By the end of the second month, I'd lost a total of 43 pounds, and I set a goal to lose 100 pounds. I still wasn't sure I could do it, but I was nearly done reading Habits of Health, and in addition to easily losing the weight, I felt bigger, fundamental changes occurring within. My attitude was shifting upward in both subtle and significant ways. I felt happier, more peaceful, more forgiving, and everything around me started coming into focus for the first time in nearly 20 years.

At first and for a long time, I attributed this lifting of the fog to the absence of excess sugar in my diet. Eliminating soda, sweets, and fried and fast food was bound to be beneficial, but I never imagined the emotional and spiritual benefits that came with the increased levels of energy I felt as I started my third month. 100 pounds later, I'm certain eliminating sugar, particularly high fructose corn syrup, contributed to my elevated mood and outlook, but I also believe the simple whole foods I've been eating deserve credit for transforming my attitude.

3rd month

The weight loss slowed a bit by the end of the third month, but I always averaged a loss of two - five pounds per week for a total weight loss of 57 pounds. While the lean and green meal each day (the protein and vegetable portions you prepare) allows for steamed vegetables like asparagus, I settled into preparing a salad every day. Prior experience taught me how to prepare separate containers of salad vegetables and lettuce greens ahead of time. I learned to assemble a salad in three minutes each morning and take it on the go, if necessary. I even learned to appreciate the flavor of low fat dressings (use a shaker bowl to coat everything in dressing!).

For the lean portion of my meal, I settled into rotating chicken and fish each day. (The individually frozen portions of chicken breast, salmon, and tilapia at Costco are practically the perfect serving size and extremely tasty when broiled in a toaster oven.) My rate of weight loss increased a bit the fourth month, and I concluded it with a total loss of 74 pounds.

4th month

My goal of losing 100 pounds was in sight, and by now, I was determined to reach it. That I had the potential for such determination in me was remarkable. I long ago abandoned pursuing real goals as a strategy for achieving happiness and consigned myself to a lazy, mediocre existence. I could blame my sloth on food, but that could easily devolve into a chicken-egg argument: did my crappy diet lead to feeling lousy and hopeless, or did such feelings lead me to make consistently poor food choices?

Regardless, now I found myself spiraling upward for a change, and it felt great, life changing great. That others were taking notice only made it better. The most thoughtful feedback I received came from a friend who texted, "I am excited that you are reaching your goals. I see you have incredible focus that I had not known before."

5th month

When I started this diet, I was wearing 3XL tee shirts, my neck was 19.5" big, and my pant size was 48". As I've gotten bigger over the years, I was reluctant to buy bigger sizes, and I convinced myself it was temporary by hoarding my smaller clothes. Now, as I was shrinking in size, it was quite satisfying to cast off my too large clothing in exchange for my old 2XL, then XL shirts, for example. I made regular donations to the thrift store as I replaced the big clothes in my closet with smaller shirts and pants from storage. By the end of the fifth month, I was wearing XL tee shirts, 16.5" neck dress shirts, and 36" waist pants, and I'd lost 87 pounds, putting me at 200 pounds for the first time in 22 years!

Like any diet, a person can use Medifast and follow Take Shape for Life strictly or not. Believing there was some mystical, chemical, magic going on in my body that would be interrupted and ruined if I so much as ate an M&M, I never once ate anything prohibited by the program. Once I started losing weight, I didn't want to stop until I reached my target weight. I drank lots of water throughout each day, and weighed myself just once a week. I occasionally curbed my appetite with diet soda (bless you, Coke Zero), but Habits of Health doesn't forbid it, and I always stretched a 20oz. bottle over two or three days.

Lost: one 14 year old girl

My sixth month ended last week, and I was ecstatic when I weighed myself and the scale read 187 pounds. That's exactly 100 pounds lost! As happy as that makes me, I don't feel the euphoria I thought I'd feel if I ever won this weight loss lottery. Instead, my happiness was spread out over the course of the journey as I felt great, hopeful, and new nearly every day.

I've often heard people suggest you should reward yourself for reaching certain milestones as you diet, but I never did because the reward was inherent in the way I felt along the way. I only chose to splurge on the day the scale read 100 lost by eating a double portion of fish for lunch. Delicious!

I'm still following the program and expect to reach my target weight in another month. Then, I expect to spend 3-4 months transitioning off Medifast and back to normal, healthier food and a sustainable daily calorie intake, but, I wonder, will I be able to maintain my new weight over several years and longer?


I own two belts, one black, one brown. Though my wardrobe is all "new" now, I've used these same belts for several years. Every two or three weeks over the past six months, I'd drill another hole in each belt to accommodate my smaller waist. It's a nice reminder of what used to be and that I don't want to go back. The end of each belt now reaches half way around my back. Perhaps when I reach my target weight, I'll retire them. Then I’ll look forward to conquering my next, formerly impossible mountain.

6th month and counting (and wearing a long belt)!