For the love of Fish!

Last week’s weigh in went FABULOUS!! Loving every minute of this plan!

During the first week on the Medifast Plan, I could only have shakes and bars.  I came to realize that packing just shakes and bars was much more convenient than adding the punch, teas, pretzels and cheese puffs. Why? Who knows! It just worked out better for me.  I LOVE the both cheese puffs and both pretzel flavors. I enjoy those more during the weekends or evening, they take a while to get through when I am at work. Also, during my first week I lost 4-7lbs compared to the 2lbs I was now steadily losing per week!

So last week was a copycat of the first week, well almost!  I made nothing but shakes, shakes and more shakes. There were some bars thrown in there for fun.  I cooked mostly fish, Tilapia and Salmon. Repeating the same Lean and green meal all week may not work for everyone, but I find it helps out with managing my time.  I am in the middle of planning a birthday party for my two year old and staying up late into the night! Having 2-3 meals prepared and having only to worry about fixing my veggie side is great! 

I purposely stayed away from the scale.  I had started the bad habit of weighing everyday, so stressful!! It made weighing in much more enjoyable! Almost like being back in school waiting for  test scores! And it happened! Four pounds lost in one week!!!! WOW!!! I was so happy! Total weight loss to date (as of last Friday) 22.5lbs! Oh my!  Super excited!! Super Happy! This is such a nice number to know that its gone and really...just to think about how easy it has been! If you let the plan work and don’t sabotage it, it will work.  During my initial consultation my counselor pointed out that the plan works. And it sure has! 22.5 is such a great number for me and its very inspirational to know how far I have advanced towards my goal in such a short time!  I always say time is going to pass anyway, why not get to the end of the road, at exactly where you want to be. I am nowhere near my ultimate goal (1/3 of the way there), but I have been re-assured I will reach it by the end of November of this year.

That is the most exciting part, to be at my goal by November. How far is November really? It’s practically around the corner! And it’s been so easy, more than easy; it has made my life less stressful. Meal planning has taken care of itself!!!  Just to think back on the Friday nights of meal and shopping planning we would do! So much easier now!  And I feel great!

Second Weigh in - Day 9 of Medifast Plan

Yesterday was my second weigh-in.  Scary and exciting. They confirmed, I am now less a total of 11 pounds!! So excited!!! Sticking to the plan is the easiest thing. And since I have been following the recipe book they provide, the Lean Green meal is easy to prepare and plan for. The recipes have a small number of ingredients which makes preparing them even that much easier. I just prepared my shopping list for tommorow. Can't wait to try new recipes.

Tonight's recipe was the Broccoli Chicken Dijon. Overall, I would give this recipe a solid B. Good flavors, easy to prepare and fast to cook! This are the ingredients for two serving sizes.

 I sauted the broccoli with garlic and olive oil.

 Cooked chicken, added broth and mustard.

 Then mixed everything together.

Dinner is served. Again the portion is huge! I have literally compared the book ounces to the scale to confirm! I find that the 5 Medifast meals really help me enjoy the Lean Green. I take more time in savoring the taste.

Earlier today, I had the Chicken and Wild Rice soup for lunch. For work, I usually make them the night before and leave them in the fridge until lunchtime. Today I only prepped it an hour before lunch.  The overnight soak really helps the texture of the ingredients. I noticed a few hard pieces of rice....=(. The taste was still good. Lesson learned, SOAK SOAK SOAK!!!!

Last night's dinner was the baked salmon. Delish!!! Love this dish, I looove salmon and asparagus!!

This was a great week! Can't wait for next week's weigh-in! I am hoping for another great week!

First Weigh-In and More Recipe Pics!

Hi there! It's officially begun, the weigh ins! Yikes!

First week in, I am less 4lbs!!! Yay!!! Super Yay! Just knowing that this plan in working is making it even easier to stick to it. The plan is the easiest thing really. It has your 5 meals ready for you, all you have to worry about one! Super convenient food that is also pretty yummy. The support at the office is great! Super friendly and so accommodating!!

Since I passed the first week mark I can now begin getting food other than shakes and bars. I did love the shake and bars so I definately made sure to purchase more of them! I got used to them. =) It was starting to be a routine.

Here are the goodies!

 A list of what I got this week:

• Honey Mustard Pretzel Sticks
• Cinnamon Pretzel Sticks
• Chocolate Crunch Bars
• Essential 1 - Calorie Burn Cappuccino
• Chicken Noodle Soup
• Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
• Dutch Chocolate Shake
• Coffee Soft Serve
• Chili Nacho Cheese Puffs
• Soup bowl w/lid and spoon.

Which in about 5 minutes of assembly line style work, got me these beauties! Great organizational trick from the online Medifast Community.  I place 4 meals in these baggies. I take out a bag the night before, make the shake for fridge if any, then throw the ziploc into my purse and take to work. I leave the 5th meal at home. No point in giving it a field trip!

 What remains goes into the recycling bin!

Organization time! The food made me expand into the second shelf. On the first shelf is the scale, measuring cups and daily medicines.
The top shelf has the meals, bottles, extra pill bottles/boxes and the 5th Medifast Meal packages in the plastic container.

 All lined up and ready to go!

 I tried out another recipe from the Medifast Recipe booklet. This time it was the Spicy Tilapia with Spinach and Tomatos.  Here are the ingredients. Ready for some serious chopping and mixing!

Which gave us this beauty. I placed a layer of the spinach then the fish with the seasoning mixture and finally topped on the chopped tomatoes.

 Close up!

The finished product......so SPICY. It was tolerable but it was definately spicy!!!!!! I will modify to make it less spicy next time.

I was so excited to try new food. It was hard to pick which one! So I tried these sticks. They are pretty good! The taste is not overpowering which I like, just enough of the honey mustard to taste it!

 This is the full serving....less three sticks!

The next recipe we tried was the Italian Sausage Patties. I love peppers, so those were good. The patties were seasoned just right. The warmer the food was the better it tasted!

 They smelled wonderful!

Next up...........is the Grilled Sun-Dried Tomato Salmon. Less the grilled. I will be baking these instead. I am familiar with the taste of both of these babies in the oven, in the grill, not so much. I am afraid they will come out pretty dry. With organic salmon, I leave the experimenting for later!! =)

That's it. Hope you found something useful. If anything, seeing the actual pictures of recipes always seems to help me out. Let me know if you have any questions!