Clockwise from upper left: apricot tart, apple tart, Madeleines made at Sur La Table, caramel apple tart made at Sur La Table

Post Title: My Medifast Diet Experience and French Tarts

Post Date: March 11, 2013

It all started with my quest to perfect French baking, back in November of 2012. I had a burning desire to get some special, exquisite desserts mastered in my home kitchen. Especially French tarts.

I believe the passion began when my mom passed away on November 6. She had been sick for a while, although we had no idea how sick she was, and when she went to the hospital, things went downhill fast. Two weeks later she was gone.

This experience brought feelings of overwhelming sadness, but also a desire to hold on to all things about her that I treasured. This is why I started baking. Many years back, she gave me her copy of The Joy of Cooking. She said that because my Dad had bought her a new one, it was time to pass this one on. So after she died, out came The Joy of Cooking, along with some flour, sugar, and butter, and the test kitchen was open.

What followed was a lot of fun — especially for my coworkers, friends, and family, who were the benefactors of my experiments. I also took a class in French desserts at Sur La Table in Carlsbad. Along the way, I managed to eat quite a few of my creations myself and found myself 20 pounds heavier after a few months.

A selection of Medifast-friendly meals

This is where I get to the topic of this post (finally): how I ended up on the Medifast diet and how it has been so far. I had no choice but to go on a diet. But I hate diets. After discussing several options with my doctor, we chose Medifast, as it has worked for so many of his patients. It’s pretty easy to keep up with, as you don’t have to do a lot of calorie counting; they do that for you already. I just grab five packages of “meals” as I walk out the door for work and then cook a gourmet meal for dinner (with restrictions, of course). A diet that allows lobster can’t be that bad, I thought.

So...this is what I get to eat: I get five Medifast “meals” a day, which are 110 calories and all equal in nutritional value. Then I get one “lean and green” real meal. Just to be clear, I don’t get to eat these tarts in these pictures or the yummy desserts I made at Sur La Table. Those are what got me on the diet in the first place. They are also what I will have when I am off the diet and 20 pounds lighter, but in moderation.

Two weeks and two days into the plan, I have lost eight pounds. I haven’t worked out much — twice I did the Precor machines at 24 Hour Fitness for 15 minutes. I did yoga once and walked the dog three times. That’s it. I’ll make another post soon, showing a full day’s worth of meals, my weight-loss progress, and how it’s going overall.

Post Title: Medifast Diet Experience, Part 2

Post Date: March 17, 2013

In follow-up to my earlier post, I am sharing what I eat in a typical day on the diet. Three weeks and 11 pounds lost so far.

I eat something about every two hours. Yeah, it might not be a juicy In-N-Out Burger, but I can have gourmet salads, lobster, crab, steak, tofu and veggie stir-fry, and turkey burgers (no buns). I had a pork chop tonight. What I like about this diet is that I don’t go hungry and the Medifast foods are pretty good (brownie, cappuccino, and the Maryland crab soup are my favorites).

[Posts edited for content]