My vim environment that does a pretty good job with showing formatting as one edits markdown and keeps my preferred behavior.

Vim Markdown support.md

An example of configuring Vim to support Markdown.

.vimrc

"
" .vimrc
"
" Vim configuration resource file.  Specifies desired
" behavior for the vim editor.
"

" REQUIRED. This makes vim invoke latex-suite when you open a tex file.
filetype plugin on

" IMPORTANT: grep will sometimes skip displaying the file name if you
" search in a single file. This will confuse latex-suite. Set your grep
" program to alway generate a file-name.
set grepprg=grep\ -nH\ $*

" OPTIONAL: This enables automatic indentation as you type.
filetype indent on

:set showmode          " Tell you if you're in insert mode
:set tabstop=3         " Set the tabstop to 3 spaces
:set shiftwidth=3      " Shiftwidth should match tabstop
:set expandtab         " Convert tabs to <tabstop> number of spaces
:set nowrap            " Do not wrap lines longer than the window
:set nowrapscan        " Do not wrap to the top of the file while searching
:set ruler             " Show the cursor position all the time
:set showmatch         " Show matching [] () {} etc...
:set smartindent       " Let vim help you with your code indention
:set nohlsearch        " Don't highlight strings you're searching for
:set formatoptions+=ro " Automatically insert the comment character when
                       " you hit <enter> (r) or o/O (o) in a block comment.
:set backspace=2       " makes backspace work like you expect
:set nu                " shows line numbers
colorscheme darkblue

" Switch syntax highlighting on, when the terminal can support colors
if &t_Co > 2 || has("gui_running")
    :syntax on
    " Change the highlight color for Comment and Special
    " to Cyan.  Blue is too dark for a black background.
    :highlight Comment  term=bold ctermfg=202 guifg=orange
    :highlight Special  term=bold ctermfg=green guifg=green
    :highlight Constant term=bold ctermfg=205  guifg=hotpink
endif

" Make vim turn *off* expandtab for files named Makefile or makefile
" We need the tab literal
:autocmd BufNewFile,BufRead [Mm]akefile* set noexpandtab

" Make vim recognize a file ending in ".template" be a C++ source file
:autocmd BufNewFile,BufRead *.template set ft=cpp

" Use perl compiler for all *.pl and *.pm files.
autocmd BufNewFile,BufRead *.p? compiler perl

" Make commenting a little easier
vnoremap # :s#^#\##

markdown.vim

" Vim syntax file
" Language:     Markdown
" Author:       Ben Williams <[email protected]>
" Maintainer:   Justin Fincher <[email protected]>
" Version:      1.0.2
" Last Change:  2014-08-13
" Remark:       Added notation for code blocks and additional italics
" Remark:       Uses HTML syntax file
" Remark:       I don't do anything with angle brackets (<>) because that would too easily
"               easily conflict with HTML syntax
" TODO: Handle stuff contained within stuff (e.g. headings within blockquotes)

" Read the HTML syntax to start with
if version < 600
  so <sfile>:p:h/html.vim
else
  runtime! syntax/html.vim
  unlet b:current_syntax
endif

if version < 600
  syntax clear
elseif exists("b:current_syntax")
  finish
endif

" Don't use standard HiLink, it will not work with included syntax files
if version < 508
  command! -nargs=+ HtmlHiLink hi link <args>
else
  command! -nargs=+ HtmlHiLink hi def link <args>
endif

syntax spell toplevel
syntax case ignore
syntax sync linebreaks=1

" Additions to HTML groups
syntax region htmlBold    start=/\\\@<!\(^\|\A\)\@=\*\@<!\*\*\*\@!\S/  end=/\S\\\@<!\*\@<!\*\*\*\@!\($\|\A\)\@=/  contains=htmlItalic,@Spell
" Added by Fincher
syntax region htmlItalic    start=/\\\@<!\(^\|\A\)\@=\~\@<!\~\~\~\@!\S/  end=/\S\\\@<!\~\@<!\~\~\~\@!\($\|\A\)\@=/  contains=htmlItalic,@Spell


syntax region htmlItalic  start=/\\\@<!\(^\|\A\)\@=\*\@<!\*\*\@!\S/    end=/\S\\\@<!\*\@<!\*\*\@!\($\|\A\)\@=/    contains=htmlBold,@Spell
syntax region htmlItalic  start=/\\\@<!\(^\|\A\)\@=\<_\@<!___\@!\S/      end=/\S\\\@<!_\@<!___\@!\($\|\A\)\@=/       contains=htmlBold,@Spell
syntax region htmlItalic  start=/\\\@<!\(^\|\A\)\@=\<_\@<!__\@!\S/       end=/\S\\\@<!_\@<!__\@!\($\|\A\)\@=/       contains=htmlBold,@Spell

" [link](URL) | [link][id] | [link][]
syntax region mkdLink matchgroup=mkdDelimiter start="\!\?\["  end="\]\ze\s*[[(]" contains=@Spell nextgroup=mkdURL,mkdID skipwhite
syntax region mkdID   matchgroup=mkdDelimiter start="\["      end="\]" contained
syntax region mkdURL  matchgroup=mkdDelimiter start="("       end=")"  contained

" Link definitions: [id]: URL (Optional Title)
" TODO handle automatic links without colliding with htmlTag (<URL>)
syntax region mkdLinkDef matchgroup=mkdDelimiter   start="^ \{,3}\zs\[" end="]:" oneline nextgroup=mkdLinkDefTarget skipwhite
syntax region mkdLinkDefTarget start="<\?\zs\S" excludenl end="\ze[>[:space:]\n]"   contained nextgroup=mkdLinkTitle,mkdLinkDef skipwhite skipnl oneline
syntax region mkdLinkTitle matchgroup=mkdDelimiter start=+"+     end=+"+  contained
syntax region mkdLinkTitle matchgroup=mkdDelimiter start=+'+     end=+'+  contained
syntax region mkdLinkTitle matchgroup=mkdDelimiter start=+(+     end=+)+  contained

" Define Markdown groups
syntax match  mkdLineContinue ".$" contained
syntax match  mkdRule      /^\s*\*\s\{0,1}\*\s\{0,1}\*$/
syntax match  mkdRule      /^\s*-\s\{0,1}-\s\{0,1}-$/
syntax match  mkdRule      /^\s*_\s\{0,1}_\s\{0,1}_$/
syntax match  mkdRule      /^\s*-\{3,}$/
syntax match  mkdRule      /^\s*\*\{3,5}$/
syntax match  mkdListItem  /^\s*[-*+]\s\+.*\n\(\(^.\+\n\)*\n\?\)\(\(^\(\s\{4}\|\t\)\+.*\n\)\(^.\+\n\)*\n\?\)*/ contains=mkdListCode,mkdCode,htmlBold,htmlItalic,htmlSpecialChar
syntax match  mkdListItem  /^\s*\d\+\.\s\+.*\n\(\(^.\+\n\)*\n\?\)\(\(^\(\s\{4}\|\t\)\+.*\n\)\(^.\+\n\)*\n\?\)*/ contains=mkdListCode,mkdCode,htmlBold,htmlItalic,htmlSpecialChar
"
syntax match  mkdBlockCode  /^\s*\n\(^\(\s\{4}\|\t\).*\n\)\+/
syntax match  mkdListCode   /^\s*\n\(^\(\s\{8}\|\t{2}\).*\n\)\+/
syntax match  mkdLineBreak /  \+$/
syntax region mkdCode       start=/\\\@<!`/     end=/\\\@<!`/
syntax region mkdCode       start=/\s*``[^`]*/  end=/[^`]*``\s*/

" Added by Fincher
syntax region mkdCode       start=/\s*```[^`]*/  end=/[^`]*```\s*/

syntax region mkdBlockquote start=/^\s*>/       end=/$/           contains=mkdLineBreak,mkdLineContinue,@Spell
syntax region mkdCode       start="<pre[^>]*>"  end="</pre>"
syntax region mkdCode       start="<code[^>]*>" end="</code>"

" HTML headings
syntax region htmlH1       start="^\s*#"                   end="\($\|#\+\)" contains=@Spell
syntax region htmlH2       start="^\s*##"                  end="\($\|#\+\)" contains=@Spell
syntax region htmlH3       start="^\s*###"                 end="\($\|#\+\)" contains=@Spell
syntax region htmlH4       start="^\s*####"                end="\($\|#\+\)" contains=@Spell
syntax region htmlH5       start="^\s*#####"               end="\($\|#\+\)" contains=@Spell
syntax region htmlH6       start="^\s*######"              end="\($\|#\+\)" contains=@Spell
syntax match  htmlH1       /^.\+\n=\+$/ contains=@Spell
syntax match  htmlH2       /^.\+\n-\+$/ contains=@Spell

"highlighting for Markdown groups
HtmlHiLink mkdString        String
HtmlHiLink mkdCode          String
HtmlHiLink mkdListCode      String
HtmlHiLink mkdBlockCode     String
HtmlHiLink mkdBlockquote    Comment
HtmlHiLink mkdLineContinue  Comment
HtmlHiLink mkdListItem      Identifier
HtmlHiLink mkdRule          Identifier
HtmlHiLink mkdLineBreak     Todo
HtmlHiLink mkdLink          htmlLink
HtmlHiLink mkdURL           htmlString
HtmlHiLink mkdID            Identifier
HtmlHiLink mkdLinkDef       mkdID
HtmlHiLink mkdLinkDefTarget mkdURL
HtmlHiLink mkdLinkTitle     htmlString

HtmlHiLink mkdDelimiter     Delimiter

let b:current_syntax = "markdown"

delcommand HtmlHiLink
" vim: tabstop=2