I use an app on my android phone called Runkeeper which uses GPS along with google maps to plot your activity (walking, running, biking, canoeing, what have you) which showed about a 100 calorie burn during that time.  This is really the first time I’ve exercised more than my normal daily activity since I started on Medifast and I immediately noticed the hunger about an hour afterwards.  I had eaten my 2pm Medifast Meal and then we went for the walk, by 4pm I was starving and not going to make it to my Lean & Green so I opted to take my 5th Medifast Meal which is normally around 8pm at 4pm.  This turned out well as we decided to eat out for my wife’s birthday at Red Lobster.

We didn’t get a seat until about 6pm but because I ate at 4 I was only slightly hungry.  It was hard to find something that fit the plan that I liked but I opted for salad along with grilled chicken, scallops and shrimp.  I’m sure I ate a bit more protein (maybe 8oz total) than I should have but it was a special occasion.  For dessert everyone had homemade ice cream and pecan pie at home.  The temptation proved too much and while I managed to avoid the ice cream I had to have a tiny sliver of pecan pie.  When I say tiny I mean it was pretty much a forkful but it was good enough to get the taste and craving behind me.  I know I’m going to have these small setbacks from time to time but when you are around family in a party atmosphere I felt giving in a little was better than going whole hog off the deep end.

Tomorrow we plan on canoeing and I’m going to bring a few extra crunch bars for energy if I need it.  Should be fun.

Today was a pretty good day.  I found out I can eat PIZZA!  Well, ok, not real pizza but there are Medifast Pizza Bites that if you try to imagine real hard actually taste somewhat kind of like cheese pizza.  Ok, after 12 days I’ll take what I can get.

I’m really liking the pretzel bites and snacks.  I miss the crunch of snacks and these fill that void nicely.  They also help me to get over my need for bread and they don’t taste bad at all.  My favorite so far is the Honey Mustard Pretzel Sticks.

My hunger stayed at bay for most of the day although I was pretty busy and didn’t have time to think much about eating.  I actually managed to make my afternoon interval go 3 hours instead of my normal 2.

Lean & Green was a turkey burger with some lettuce.  I added an egg and some turkey bacon as the burger was only 4 oz.  I wasn’t ravenous going into dinner and my night snack came late.  Perhaps my body is adjusting.  The weekend is coming up but we will be on the road so temptations shouldn’t be that great.

I had a special treat for my Lean & Green.  My wife was craving Japanese Steak House so we went.  It wasn’t quite the same as I didn’t eat the rice or the sauces and didn’t get my normal chicken, lobster, shrimp, steak combo but instead opted for just shrimp and chicken.  I shied away from the onions and concentrated on the (you guessed it) zucchini and bean sprouts.  I pass the mushrooms on to my son who loves them.  I’m not sure if he is really my blood or not…

My portion size was considerably smaller than it usually is when we eat at these types of places but I filled up quickly and as of 5 hours later I’m still sated.  Got tired again early tonight.  10PM seems to be my wall now.  Off to bed.

I’ve begun looking around for more Lean & Green meals online and have a bunch of recipes, forums and even videos of Lean & Green meals.  There is a ton of support for the Medifast Plan online.  I should also mention that Medifast offers a free personal support person with your purchase but I haven’t taken advantage of that yet.  I found a recipe for Turkey Taco Salad which I made and was quite happy with.  The wife and son had the crunchy taco shell which I skipped but the turkey in taco seasoning along with lettuce, peppers, salsa and a small dollop of light sour cream really made my day.

I got pretty tired fairly early this evening.  I’ve been going to bed about 11-12 pm and getting up at 7 but about 10:00 I hit a wall an will head to bed early.

From their website:

Medifast Meals are individually portioned, calorie- and carbohydrate-controlled, low-fat meal replacements. Every Medifast Meal is based on a similar nutritional “footprint” that provides just the right balance of protein, carbohydrates, and fiber. Medifast Meals are fortified with at least 24 vitamins and minerals for optimal nutrition.

After being on the Medifast 5 & 1 Plan just a few days, your body shifts to a mild fat-burning state so you can lose weight quickly while preserving muscle tissue.

According to the nutritional facts on each packet each Medifast Meal has about 20% of each daily vitamin.  5 of those a day is 100% so the Medi in Medifast appears legit.  Just in case, I supplement with a Daily Men’s vitamin as well.

As far as carbohydrates go, they say that between 80-85 carbohydrates a day will keep you in fat burning mode also known as ketosis.  Each Medifast Meal has about 12-15 grams of carbohydrates so that’s 60 to 75 grams of carbs plus the Lean & Green meal.  I’ve read that people push up to 100 grams of carbs and still lose weight just fine but I try to keep the carb amount as low as possible.

As far as my Lean & Green meal for today I went with baked salmon and salad.  I’m not much of a fish eater but salmon I can do and it wasn’t bad.  It wasn’t pizza….but it wasn’t bad.

I’ve decided that I should do my weigh in once a week.  Water weight can fluctuate and the day to day weighing can play havoc on the psyche so once a week it is.  Except this week.

I still don’t have a good scale.  I was going to go buy one over the weekend but a friend said he had one so I would use it, but I haven’t gotten it yet.  And I haven’t fixed the Wii yet….perhaps it is time.

For dinner i grilled pork chops and yes…zucchini.  About zucchini.  It is about the only vegetable I like that fits in the low carb selection.  I don’t like broccoli, spinach, collard greens, mushrooms or asparagus which leaves lettuce and squash.  In fact, the few vegetables I do like (corn, green beans, onions, carrots, etc..) are on the no-no list.  As I mentioned before I love Japanese Steak House style restaurants which serve zucchini and bean sprouts as vegetables and I like them.  I can’t cook bean sprouts so zucchini it is!

I made my son his normal B.E.C. (Bacon, Egg, Cheese) sandwich and he indicated that he very much liked the turkey bacon.  Great.  Easier on me not having normal bacon in the house.  At about 25 calories a slice, I splurged and had a couple with my Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal.

For dinner I decided it was time for steak.  I grilled steak along with (yep, you guessed it) zucchini and green beans along with some salad.  I don’t know if it was the fact that for almost a week I’ve been eating low calorie items or if it was the new seasoning I put on the steaks but WOW was that the best steak I’ve had in a LONG time.  I think at this point even mushrooms might taste good to me…but I doubt it.

Lunch was another curve ball.  My boss and I had to make a run to another city over lunch and since I didn’t want to just sit there while he ate I made the decision to move my Lean & Green meal to lunch again today.  We ate at a Mexican restaurant and I ordered the combo fajita minus tortillas, cheese, guacamole, rice (cry) and mushrooms (which I can’t stand).  I’ve found that my Lean & Green meal has begun to be the highlight of my day and this lunch was a fantastic treat.  Chicken and steak along with peppers, lettuce and a few onions.  Onions are technically a no-no as they are high in sugar but how can you eat fajitas without onions?  Another slight cheat.

I use water as a filler to help during the meal times.  It works for the most part as I have not been hungry until right before it is time to eat my Medifast Meal.  I can almost set my clock by it.  Every 2 hours my stomach starts to grumble and depending on where I am I’ll either eat then or try to make it to the three hour mark before eating.  I drink a lot of bottled water.  It is convenient, cold and helps me gauge how much i’m drinking at a sitting.  I usually drink 8-16 oz. per meal.  This translates into a workout for my kidneys.

Had grilled chicken and grilled zucchini with salad for dinner.  I need to find something other than chicken to cook!  I’ve looked on various websites and have found a couple of sites I will look more at such as Get Skinny Be Happy.