I would like to know the answer too. Anyone here know what is the answer. I'll do some poking around and get back to you if I discover an anything. You should email the people at Medifast as they probably can answer it..

Hi Gogi! Could it be bloat or water retention? The first thing that popped into my head was, how much sodium are you consuming? Also, certain foods cause more bloat than others....onions, Brussels sprouts, beans, cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli......also, sea salt/Himalayan salt will do it for the water retention (you likely know this already....but it's all I could think of!). Cutting that stuff out will stop the bloat, at least! That's the best I can do, I'm afraid. I hope someone else has something for you!..

Thanks for the advice - I appreciate it. Did you feel awfully tired and lethargic while you were on the lemonade diet? I'd be really interested in learning more about the other benefits you gained from it - if it's something you're willing to share? I'm also curious to know how much weight you lost and whether you quickly put this back on, once you'd finished the cleanse (I only ask because that is the accepted norm for low-cal diets)..

And thanks for the exercises - I guess imagining myself with a flat stomach will motivate me to do them, and keep doing them..

Thanks...

Hi goji, be happy to share..

In july of 2007 I decided to do the master cleanse for 7 days - a fast that supposedly detoxes and tonifys your digestive system (stomach, liver, kidneys, and intestines), gives your body a break from the energy-intensive job of digestion (which supposedly takes about 75%-80% of your body's energy resources per day, which seems amazing) and rids your body of any stored up gunk in your colon. The reason I did this was because over the year prior, even though my Medifast diet had improved somewhat from the year before and I was exercising more, I was actually gaining weight, plus I was often constipated, and started having acid reflux. I thought it might have something to do with poor digestion / body not handling Medifast food very well. So I thought the cleanse might help. I'd read a lot of good things about it, and I've known people who have done it, including my former yoga teacher, who is a 60 year old man who looks like he's in his early 40s, he does the cleanse once a year for 7 days and highly recommends it. It's been around since the 70s, and literally millions of people have done it..

During the cleanse, you do not eat any food, but drink a mixture of fresh squeezed organic lemons, filtered water, maple syrup and cayenne pepper. There is an option for diabetics that substitutes blackstrap molasses for the maple syrup, and a lot of strict rawfoodists use agave instead of syrup. The sweetener provides calories and energy, the lemons provide tons of enzymes and are an overall good cleansing/toning tonic for the digestive system, and the cayenne pepper promotes cleansing of the colon and kills hunger. You also drink an herbal laxative tea in the morning and do a "salt water flush" in the evening..

I was never hungry during the 11 days that I did the cleanse (I did the original 7 days and kept going until it felt right to stop. ), which is not the same thing as saying that I didn't want to eat! we eat for all kinds of reasons besides hunger Medifast food is interesting, it looks good, it tastes good, it's enjoyable, it's a social activity, it's our routine, we're bored, it's fun to prepare, etc. So there were lots of times when I wanted to eat. But when I checked in with my stomach and asked myself "Am I HUNGRY for that?" the answer was always "No". It was very illuminating! I felt like I was really getting in touch with my eating "issues"..

Other interesting things about the cleanse. #1) I had tons of energy! All that energy that your body usually spends digesting Medifast food is freed up, and since you're getting plenty of calories from the sweetener, you wind up with all this excess. In theory your body uses some of that energy to help detoxify you, but still plenty left. #2) You'd think after not eating solid foods for 5/6/7 days, you wouldn't have anything to poop! But it was amazing how much crap, literally, was coming out of my body. In theory this is all the stuff stored compacted in your colon for years and years, a source of belly "fat" and sickness/disease..

Anyway, once I completed the cleanse and got ready to start eating again, I felt so "clean" and healthy that I didn't want to put anything junky or unhealthy into my body. I started to read more about raw foods, and it seemed like something to try for a while, to see if it really did what people claimed. and the rest is history, i've been "raw" (with some human moments, to quote someone on this board) since. I lost 10 pounds on the cleanse itself, and started on raw foods right after that so never gained any weight back. I felt FABULOUS during and after the cleanse, it helped me on so many levels. I felt like I was letting go of so much STUFF that I had been holding on to, emotional and physical. the MC marked a real turning point in my life, and I a hope to do it annually...

I have done several water only fasts and found that once the fast is completed there is an excellent opportunity to change eating habits. From your description of the Master Cleanse it sounds like the MC also provides the same opportunity. Thanks for your post..

Goji, it sounds like you have a lot of bloating! One problem I know from my own experience is the high intake of fiber when eating raw foods. My fiber problem has been much relieved since I cut nuts and seeds and all fats from my diet. My plan is to stay low-fat, because obviously I am doing much better that way. I got inspiration from Frederic Patenaude's "Raw Secrets", very interesting reading, so I decided to give it a try, and it seems to work for me..

The other thing which can be a problem is high potassium/sodium balance. With fruits, and many other foods you get a high intake of potassium, which may be is not compensated for by enough natural sodium. That is one reason why our greens are so important, especially the sodium-greens, like kale, dandelion leaves, spinach, chard, celery, etc. I tried to compensate the potassium with celtic salt but that did not work for me, I need the natural sodium. And it certainly helps to relieve the bloating..

And of course, exercises are needed to strengthen the abdominal muscles..

Hope this will help you!..