In a couple of recent Medifast Facebook group discussions, I found out some MFers avoid telling their friends and relatives they are on the Medifast 5&1 Plan.
In one case, the OP shared her dilemma of being invited to her sister-in-law's house for a luncheon, and other group members suggested she make up an excuse not to go or tell her hostess she had diabetes and needed to bring her own food.
In the other, the dieter accidentally posted a weight loss status update on her public page instead of the private Medifast group page. She deleted the post, but worried that some of her friends and relatives had already seen it. Her reason: "I just didn't want all of their well-meaning advice, or questioning/warnings about Medifast, etc."
I felt kind of sad about this secrecy for a couple of reasons. For one, when people trim down on Medifast, it inspires others to try the program. I was motivated to try Medifast after a distant cousin posted on her Facebook page it had helped her lose more than 50 pounds.
Equally important, there seems to be a shame base in hiding the fact they are losing weight via Medifast, as if they're secretly mainlining heroin or doing something shady. As a superfan of anti-shame queen Brené Brown, I believe in owning what I do and being secure enough in my choices that other people's opinions do not shake me.
We're all grown ups here, right? Why should someone else's view on how to lose weight make me feel "less than."
One of the Facebook group's members mentioned there is a social bias against doing Medifast because the replacement meals are processed foods. "Negative comments I used to hear about Medifast is that it's packaged, its not organic, it's soy based blah blah blah ... and they didn't realize you can eat actual food."
She said her coach advised her to tell people she was on Take Shape for Life instead of Medifast because TSFL focuses more on developing healthy habits instead of consuming Medifast replacement meals.
Happily, not everyone keeps their Medifast diet a secret. One group member posted, "I love my success on Medifast TSFL and I want everyone to know! I'm a walking billboard now! Everyone asks me how I did it!"
And though I wouldn't recommend eating five Medifast replacement meals a day forever, I'm glad that I made the choice to do so more than 18 months ago -- and that I have kept my weight off for more than a year.
These days, the only thing I keep in my closet is a wardrobe of smaller-sized clothes.
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this is so true, I am a nurse and a couple of the drs teased me about it, and so one of my coworkers who just lost 100 pounds on mf, so we both kind of hide it, but we shouldn't if it works for us then so be it....
ReplyDeleteInteresting, Connie. I can see how it might be easier to just avoid the negative comments and naysayers. I know people who say they're doing "low carb" instead of MF because that has more of a coolness factor.
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