post pregnancy weight loss Archives - Medshape Weight Loss Clinics

I Managed to Lose 2 Sizes in a Month!
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I Managed to Lose 2 Sizes in a Month!

Weight Loss

I Managed to Lose 2 Sizes in a Month!

Things have been going pretty well for me! Since joining up with MedShape Weight Loss Clinic, a medically supervised weight loss clinic in Arizona, I’ve managed to lose 2 sizes and am almost at the 1^st tier of my weight loss goal…in only about a month! And there are many people who joined around the program same time that I did who have lost more… it all depends on your initial weight loss goal. I thought it was great to lose 2 sizes but, from what I understand, the more you have to lose, the faster it comes off.

What are your weight loss goals? I’ve already managed to lose 2 sizes!

Sure, I’ve had a couple of ups and downs but, I think that’s natural. I travel a lot, which makes it a bit harder but, the great staff at MedShape has been able to keep me motivated and on track. They reassure me that many people struggle with weight loss, so I’m not alone. At my last weigh in, I was down 12lbs and feeling great. And it’s so exciting that I’ve managed to lose 2 pants sizes in a month! I am happy that my clothes are fitting more comfortably and I can wear shorts that haven’t fit me well for a long time!

When I signed onto the MedShape program, my consultants ask me what my goals were. I replied that it’d be nice to lose 15, great to lose 20 and amazing to lose 25. Now, I’m so close to my 1^st tier of goal, it really motivates me to keep pushing forward.

Motivation and support are so important, whether your goal is to lose 2 sizes, 10 sizes or more. Every time I check-in with MedShape, I get some time with a consultant who takes a look at my progress, answers any questions I may have and just generally guides me along the way. During my last check-in, I met Chelsea… she was great. She was excited that I was able to lose 2 sizes and gave me some great tips to fine tune my diet and nutrition. She also reminded me that 4 evenly spaced proteins throughout your day are vital. It’s preferred that these proteins come in the form of an animal protein that is not processed (chicken, beef, etc) as they take longer to breakdown in the body, so they work much better for healthy ‘fat loss’ instead of just weight loss. Good to know! Thanks, Chelsea!

So, who wants to lose 2 sizes in only a month? Or more? Talk to the super staff at any of the MedShape medically supervised weight loss clinics in AZ.

Are you on the program? Have you managed to lose 2 sizes or more? Share your stories!

How to Resist Cravings with MedShape Weight Loss Program
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How to Resist Cravings with MedShape Weight Loss Program

Weight Loss Programs

How to Resist Cravings with MedShape Weight Loss Program

So my 2^nd week on the MedShape Weight Loss program has come to an end and let me tell ya, this week was full of temptations! To start, I went camping with my fiancé’s family (naturally skinny people who would eat the moon if they could reach it). Then, Aunt Flo dropped in for her monthly visit, bringing the typical chocolate chip cookie cravings. Ugh.

Despite these 2 trying events, I was able to avoid any ‘cheating’ setbacks. My ability to resist cravings and stick to the nutrition plan was much stronger than I thought it would be! The tips that my MedShape consultant told me really worked.

Here is a quick rundown of ways to resist cravings.

Drink Water – not only is water the best natural appetite suppressant, it also optimizes your body for weight loss. Water will help keep your belly full until you can put a healthy snack in front of you… and resist cravings that are damaging to your weight loss goals.
Prepare Ahead of Time – by making sure you have your daily nutrition planned, you won’t waste time or the valuable energy required to resist cravings and hunger. (Always have a protein shake or protein bar with you and consider carrying a ziplock of sliced cucumbers, zucchini, etc. in your purse so you’ll have a healthy snack on hand.)
Eat Small Meals – I know you’ve heard this a million times but… it really works. I am eating or drinking a protein shake 5-6 times a day and, I never get hungry. Many times, I have trouble eating 1200 calories a day. Because I am never hungry, it was a lot easier to resist cravings of chocolate chip cookies (my weakness and monthly ‘girly week’ addiction) and the roasted marshmallows that were being offered on the camping trip.
Eat Healthy – this is simple common sense when you want to lose weight, right? Well a lot of people may not understand that frequent protein-packed fiber-rich meals are key to craving reduction and weight loss. That’s why, as mentioned earlier, I always carry snacks that include both protein and fiber.
Keep a Food Journal – food logging may seem like a pain but it can really help your weight loss consultant in figuring out what may be causing your continued cravings. Sometimes, lacking a certain nutrient will make it harder to resist cravings of different natures.
Additional Help – if you’re practicing all of these tips and still struggling with cravings, the MedShape weight loss clinics offer extra help with their SLIM Now therapy. For example, they have a supplement designed especially for cravings called Crave-B-Gone. Just give them a call; they understood my needs so well, I’m sure they can help with yours, too.

Keep these points in mind when you are trying to resist cravings. If you stay on a healthy track, you will speed up your weight loss and get the results you want. Remember, even cheating only once a week will throw your body’s rhythm into whack and reduce the results of a typical 5-week weight loss program by half or more! Stay Strong! We got this. 🙂

What else works for you when you are trying to resist cravings? Please share your ideas with me in the comments below.

Having a Weight Loss Plan Helped in Unexpected Ways

Weight Loss Plan Recipe - Cauliflower Pizza

Can you tell which side of my cauliflower pizza was for me? My weight loss plan recipe hunt found this.
It was fun to make and tasty.

How organized are you? On a scale of 1-10, I’d teeter between an 8 and a 6. My mood sets my level of organization so now that I’ve chosen my weight loss plan and am almost a week into it, I’m more confident and organized with it. This is largely because I realized early on that I needed a weight loss plan for the trivial details. My MedShape Weight Loss consultant was great in setting me up but there were some minor points I wanted to tackle on my own, at home. Some helped and others were 110% unnecessary but… now I can share some personal do’s and don’ts.

Here are a handful of silly random things my weight loss plan included in the first week, in as close to chronological order as my mind allows.

Make copies of the essential MedShape Weight Loss food allowances pages (because I am prone to lose stuff).
This… was a good idea for me. During this week, I’ve been training myself to think like the staff at the MedShape clinics think. I am constantly grabbing these papers for reference. Having them in more than 1 location around my house has been convenient. Stick them to your fridge door!
Make copies of the food log papers so I won’t run out.
This… was unnecessary. A few hours after I copied the food logs and started writing things down, a friend reminded me about the MyFitnessPal app. It works on both my computer and my smart phone and I’ve been using it ever since. It is super awesome for food accountability. You can customize your food allowances but, all that detailed monitoring is actually stricter than what MedShape recommends. It can also be time consuming.
Look up some recipes. Honestly, with the exception of the Cauliflower Crust Pizza pictured above, the recipes I looked up have gone unused unless they were super simple. As a work-at-home mom of a 2-year old, I don’t have much time for elaborate recipes. What I have loved though, was finding things like Cauliflower Rice on Pinterest. That stuff is delicious! (Can you tell I like cauliflower?)
Go shopping for healthy food and health gear. Stop. You don’t need to buy the whole store. I must have been afraid I’d starve so I went and spent over $100 on healthy food. While that was fun, I bought too much and then worried it’d go bad before it was eaten. Also, the fresher the veggie and fruit, the more nutrients it holds so it’s better to buy for only 1 or 2 days, if possible.

On gear… be careful not to buy too many protein shake bottles or they’ll start spilling out of your cabinet doors. It’s just not necessary to your weight loss plan. That’s all I’m saying. :-/
Get a DXA body scan.
This is the coolest thing ever! If you haven’t heard of the DXA body composition scan, please read up on it in the DXA wiki. It is basically a scan that tells you your total body composition, fat, bone… everything. Mine cost $85 and took less than 15 minutes total. Now, I know my bone density (my bones weight just over 7 lbs), my exact body fat percentage and that my right arm weighs 2lbs more than my left. Haha I decided to do a DXA scan to make sure I was losing healthy weight but really, it’s a cool scan for anyone who wants to educate themselves on… themself.
Figure out a food intake schedule.
This was pretty tricky. For a weight loss plan to be successful, you have to plan your food intake around your schedule. It took a while to work out for me but this may be an easier task for someone with a regular schedule. Basically, I learned to take snack baggies (full of a protein meat and veggie, usually) or a protein shake/bar with me wherever I go. This way if I get held up, I never get too hungry.

The craziest thing I’ve realized so far is that when I plan my snacks and meals right, I’m truly not hungry. I can’t believe that I’m not hungry on only 1200 calories. Actually, most days I’m struggling to get all the calories in. I think it’s because I eat so many high protein and fiber-rich food; I never have a chance to build up hunger.

So… my weight loss plan made has made my life a little easier this week. I’ll probably have more to add next week!

Do you have weight loss plan ideas to share? I’d love to hear them in the comments below.

Woot! I’ve Lost 6.5 lbs in My 1st Week with MedShape Weight Loss Program

Cauliflower Rice is one of my new favorite things to make!

Wow, I’m so excited! Today was 1 week from my start on the MedShape Weight Loss program and I can’t believe that my weight is down 6.5 lbs. I guess it’s just kinda surreal to me because I thought that weight loss would be harder than the MedShape Weight Loss program is making it. I’m never hungry and since I’m eating real foods, they actually taste good. From what I understand, my weight loss will be higher in the 1st week than the rest but still… woot!

So, just a run down on what I’ve been doing… I divide my food into 4-6 meals/snacks a day.

BREAKFAST
The most important meal of the day… don’t skip breakfast because it gets your metabolism up and running so you can burn weight! I’ll start my day with 2-4 eggs, scrambled or fried, depending on my mood. I will sautee onions, mushrooms, spinach, etc, in a pan for a few minutes and then add the eggs. Sometimes, I mix in some Canadian bacon. It’s delicious.
SNACK 1
My snacks are simple and typically consist of a protein shake or some berries (strawberry, raspberry or blackberry), or both… depending on if I’m hungry. Luckily, the MedShape Weight Loss program has a lot of protein snacks to choose from.
LUNCH
For a great lunch on the MedShape Weight Loss program, I’ll choose between a large variety of things. Example include… 2 cups of mixed spinach and greens salad with chicken or turkey on top. Fresh and Easy’s pre-cooked teriyake chicken with a cup of sauteed onions and mushrooms. An avocado, cucumber, and arugula salad with Girard’s Greek dressing (yum). I’ve also made tuna salad with celery, greens, and random chopped veggies. Be sure to watch your yellow listed veggie intake, though!
SNACK 2
During the afternoons, I’m usually on the go so I’ll pack a small Ziplock baggie of sliced cucumbers, a few cherry tomatoes and some rotisserie chicken. Other options include one of the many MedShape Weight Loss protein drinks or protein bars, or leftover veggies that you have in the fridge. When I cook, I try to make extra so I’ll have things to throw in my snack baggies. By doing this, I ensure that I never get too hungry and go binge eating on something that’s not in line with the nutrition guidelines.
DINNER
Dinnertime at our house is a circus. My fiance always likes his fatty foods (natural six-pack, y’all… it’s totally unfair) but I prepare tasty healthy food for my 2-year old and myself. Examples dinners include beef adobo and cauliflower rice with side veggies, rotisserie chicken with a mixed greens salad or sausages with grilled zucchini.
SNACK 3
Because my food is tracked so easily with the MyFitnessPal app, I use snack 3 to catch-up on anything I might be lacking in my daily intake. Crazily enough, I’m usually trying to eat more calories so I don’t slip under 1200 calories a day. If you eat less than 1200 calories a day, your body goes into starvation mode, which slows down weight loss… definitely something you don’t want! So… steamed broccoli dipped in ranch dressing (regular, not full fat – low fat is no good in many ways), a hard boiled egg, avocado or, if I’m in a sweet mood, a protein bar from the MedShape Weight Loss program. Lemme tell ya, the Caramel Chocolate Crunch is delicious. It tastes just like a candy bar!

So, I hope that helps you get an idea of a detailed average day while on the MedShape Weight Loss program. I know I’ve learned a lot and already realize this education will change my life long eating. My meals are delicious and after a bit of an attitude adjustment on my part, I’m actually enjoying the challenge of finding new things to eat. I wish you much success!

What are your favorite foods for healthy, low-carb eating? If you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them in the comments below. 🙂

Weight Loss Nutrition is My Biggest Challenge

My 2-year old and me, enjoying lunch together. This would be an ideal meal for my current weight loss nutrition plan!

This has been a good week. Making the decision to go to the MedShape Weight Loss and take the 1st steps towards a ‘healthier me’ has drastically improved my mood and opinion of myself. I know there will be countless challenges but I am ready to take them on. I’m tired of only posting the ‘good’ pictures… you know, the ones that I look less fat in. :-/ My biggest concern is with weight loss nutrition… that’s my personal challenge. I’ve tried before but have a hard time figuring out how to change my eating habits and successfully implement the changes.

There are so many different weight loss nutrition ideas out there… low fat, low calorie, high fat, high protein, etc… which one should I choose?! The low fat and low calorie seem to involve a bunch of chemically enhanced ingredients. Booh. The high fat… just doesn’t seem like a good idea. Fortunately, when I went through the initial consult at MedShape Weight Loss, my consultant laid out nutrition goals that were easy to understand. Their guidelines were developed using solid medical research, but are also commonsensical. Thank goodness.

So let me go back to the beginning. I’ll start to walk you through my experience.

After talking to friends about their success on the program and how much they liked their weight loss nutrition plan, I set-up a free consultation (immediately, so I couldn’t make excuses and put it off longer). Then, I proceeded to pig out on all my favorite bad foods for a few days (haha) to get ready to take the plunge. I think I feared feeling deprived so, much like a squirrel, I was preparing for the long haul. By the time the day came for my appointment, I was grossed out on unhealthy eating. haha Anyway, I arrived a few minutes early, was greeted with a warm smile and was still seen almost immediately. (That’s a nice change from most doctors’ offices.)

My consultant, Brittany, took me back to a room and had me start filling out basic medical history paperwork while she got me some water. When she returned, we talked a bit so that she, and the rest of the MedShape Weight Loss staff, would know how to best help me. It quickly became apparent that weight loss nutrition was my biggest concern so when we began to go over the MedShape Weight Loss nutrition guidelines in detail. After a brief explanation of the way the body burns fat and muscle, Brittany started in on the food recommendation. She gave me a moderate amount of paperwork, which broke down my daily recommended intake for weight loss nutrition. It featured 4 color coded columns that clearly tell you about recommended proteins, veggies and fruits. The foods in the green charts are allowed in unlimited quantities. The yellow charts allow up to 4 servings, the red chart allows 2 servings, and the blue protein charts recommend 4-6 servings. That’s it. It’s that simple. You can even eat up to 2000 calories if you want!

Now I understand why my friend said she doesn’t get hungry on this program. Still, I’m pretty motivated right now so I’m going to use MyFitnessPal to monitor my food intake and limit it to 1200 calories. Wish me luck!

Somewhere in the appointment, we took my current weight and height. I kinda wish they’d have offered to take a ‘before’ pic to put in my file but that wasn’t part of their routine (so I took my own at home). We also talked about their product line, which features protein shakes, drinks, bars, cereals, supplements, and more. I expected there to be more of a sales pitch here but there wasn’t. In fact, I was told that I could be successful without the products but that they were there if I wanted the convenience, variety, or extra boost. Because I am super motivated and want all 3 of those things, I ended up getting a variety of protein drinks and bars, which I’m sure I’ll blog about in the near future, as I try them.

I feel lucky to the MedShape Weight Loss staff helping me with my goals. I need the structure of their weight loss nutrition guidelines as well as support and accountability!

We’ll see how it goes…

MedShape Weight Loss for Post Pregnancy Goals

This is me, Susan D, expecting my first child.

“Without my belly, I wouldn’t have his belly.” What a great quote. I heard it (ok, I saw it on Pinterest), when my son was a newborn. I have embraced that idea ever since… clung to it, maybe. But, it’s true. Without my stretch marks and baby belly, I wouldn’t have his amazing little belly. So I’m at peace with them. Kinda. Ok, not so much, anymore. Actually, I’m ready to stop using my pregnancy as an excuse for my excess body weight. Instead of using my little boy as a reason to not worry and feel bad about how I look, I’m ready to use him as a reason to become more fit. I want him to have a healthier mama… one who can have fun and keep up with him.

These thoughts are what spurred me to start looking around for some help and eventually find MedShape Weight Loss Clinic.

In all honesty, I’ve been ready to start getting healthier and lose a little weight since I stopped nursing, when my son was 1. That was more than a year ago. He’s 2+ now and though I’ve spent beau-coup bucks on a trainer in the last 6 months, my post pregnancy weight hasn’t budged. I am still about 20 lbs heavier than what is probably healthy. Sure, 20 lbs doesn’t sound too bad (unless you’re just under 5’2”, like me) but, it’s enough to make my knees hurt and endurance poor. It’s enough to make me look for educated help.

But where can someone find educated weight loss help that’s trustworthy? I don’t subscribe to trendy fad diets so I wanted real, medically supervised, results-driven help. Luckily, a friend of a friend had recently gone through the MedShape Weight Loss program at the clinic in Scottsdale and recommended it to me. (One of her guy friends had recommended it to her after going to the MedShape Weight Loss clinic in Peoria so I guess word-of-mouth is doing good things for their program.) After a few days of thinking it over, I scheduled my appointment and went in. It was such a cool, educational experience that I decided to start this blog about it. I am convinced this program is the right one for me and I want to track my progress. So…

Welcome to my new Medshape Weight Loss Blog! 🙂 It’s nice to meet you… I’m Susan. I hope you enjoy my progress blogs and pictures and find inspiration to start your own weight loss journey.