Medifast?

michellechawner

$339 a month? You're sh!tting me, right?

I eat right, check in with the doctors, and do light exercise only right now. I'm losing it slowly, but i'm still losing it.

Yes getting older is harder and so you may not lose it as quickly, but I bet you can still find people on here who have, without the crazy "diets" and "magic food".

This is just like Herbalife, once you go off their products you gain all the weight back. I've had a ton of friends waste their money on that too. Some people just like the taste, so that's fine, but I threw up my first two shakes so that was a waste of time and money.

Find what works for you - if it works, great. It does not work for the majority. Most of these diets don't.

yarwell

Find what works for you - if it works, great. It does not work for the majority. Most of these diets don't.

Including the "eat less and move more" prescription.

ndj1979

Then I really didn't get your sarcasm.
My point was that simply eating less and working out more doesn't work for everyone.
*I wasn't saying that the opposite of your statement is true at all.* So your sarcasm there is also lost on me.
Many people cannot eat gluten, dairy, corn, etc. Simply eating less will not help those people if they aren't cutting the right foods. There are other medical reasons why simply eating less doesn't always work.

you said eat less does not work for everyone...OK, find me the person that eats more and loses weight then...Obviously if eat less does not always work then there is someone that eats more then they take in and still loses weight, right?

msjames1999

Absolutely everyone that I know who have loss weight using Medifast has gained it all back plus some!

ScouseNerd

Is there a difference between Medifast and Optifast? I had considered WLS until I discovered I would need to do 8 - 12 weeks of Optifast (900 calories of liquid per day) and then would need to eat a restrictive diet the rest of my life or I would be subject to dumping and all sorts of other ailments. Realized then that I needed to just eat better and smaller amounts and start moving my body. It may be slow going (50 pounds in 6 months so far), but I believe in slow and steady wins the race.

Good luck to you if you should choose to do this. Sounds pretty horrific (not to mention BORING) to me!

8-12 weeks?? How??

My mum got a lap band and had to Optifast for only two. Lost 15lbs in two weeks. Of course she was miserable and couldn't have so much as tea.

AJisCommittedtoSuccess

I said that JUST eating less doesn't work for everyone. There's more to it than cutting calories. OF COURSE you don't eat more and lose weight. You apparently aren't really reading what I've said very thoroughly.

I don't spend $339/month on Medifast. I agree that would be ridiculous. I'm not sure where that figure came from.

The fact that everyone you know has gained all of their weight back isn't very scientific and I have to wonder how many people you know who have tried it, done it correctly, stuck with it through transition and maintenance and still gained all of their weight back.

AJisCommittedtoSuccess

Medifast is not the same as Slimfast - someone equated the two earlier.

SteelySunshine

Funny how the original poster vanished and deactivated. But, for prosperity i.e. those that read this topic after it gets bumped a dozen or so times.

Medifast is a scam. The OP proved it to me when saying s/he has 60 pounds to lose. No real medical doctor would advice a VLC diet for someone with that little to lose. /thread.

krazyforyou

Gross, gross, gross. made then give my monry bsck

jellis1388

Im on Medifast.... its not a scam. It really works. And I have 75 pounds to lose. I am 40 pounds down and my doctor recommended it. ITS THE BEST THING I HAVE EVER DONE

gr8bigcfan

I have been on Medifast and have lost 25 pounds since June 1, 2013. Not exactly a quick fix. I have had some real challenges lately, with a lot of work travel. All last week I was in a hotel room with a fridge but no microwave. Was so glad I brought my mini-blender to make my "frappuccinos" with the soft serve ice cream in the morning, and my nightly treat of a medifast soft serve ice cream. I used 1/4 a packet of the vanilla pudding, watered down as my 'milk' for my cereal. I could not make the oatmeal or the soup work with the water from the coffee maker, just not hot enough. A hotel room with a microwave would have been a game changer. I brought the orange drink and the pretzels for my on the go snacks. The other crunchy snacks are just too smelly to snack on in an airport. I don't like to eat the bars when I'm doing airport travel, because they give me very bad gas.

Only went off plan a little, with three beers at different social events. My lean and green meals were torturous, because I had to eat what I needed to eat, and not what I wanted to eat. Everyone around me seemed to be shoving breadsticks and french fries into their faces. I had a handful of tortilla chips and a couple of pieces of pita bread, but pretty much stuck to plan otherwise. I was dreading the scale on my arrival home on Friday night, and it was indeed up by 3 pounds. By the next morning though, I am happy to report that I lost .5 pounds, even with those off plan incidents and never ate more than 1400 calories a day. My official weigh in is Monday, and I think I'll be able to report that I still lost over a pound, which is great in a week when I planned to lose nothing. I have a lot of these weeks coming up, and I know now that I'll be having diet coke instead of beer at social hours.

I thought being on the road with Medifast would be the deal breaker. It turns out that, for me, it was a lot easier than trying to not go over 1400 calories a day on three restaurant meals a day.

brigidpaige

People seem misinformed about two things regarding Medifast:

It is NOT a very low calorie diet. it is around 1100 calories, with plenty of protein and fiber and nearly 100 g carbs.

It isn't as expensive as it seems either. Of course buying a months' worth of food at a time involves some sticker shock but 12 dollars a day isn't a lot for food....that and a salad with chicken on it is probably what, fifteen dollars total? That's less than one meal out at a sit down place or a couple of fast food meals.

AbsoluteNG

I find this thread interesting because people are so critical of others who only eat 1200 calories and the feared mythical creature, starvation mode, but they are accepting of a very low calorie diet program like Medifast. They are even so critical to demonize one's doctor when said doctor suggests very low calories. You're eating around 800 to 1000 calories a day on a Medifast program for those who don't know.


Edit No exercise calories are eaten back on Medifast programs.


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sorcha1977

Not all Medifast plans are 1000-1200 calories. My friend is on one that is 1400-1600 calories per day, and the plan advises you to not exercise too hard, as it will put you under calories. They recommend walking 30 minutes per day once you're used to the plan (they say to give it 2-3 weeks). They further advise that if you DO want to exercise harder, like swimming or running, you should eat another snack or some lean protein to make up for it.

Don't make assumptions. This is really good for people who are bad at weighing/measuring and have an easier time having it laid out for them. It's also good if you don't have much time to cook. It's no different from reheating a Lean Cuisine. Additionally, the cost is around the same as a month's worth of groceries. So, really, I don't see the down side. My friend is healthy (and yes, that's according to her doctor and recent blood tests), and she's lost 123 pounds in just over a year. I'm very, very happy for her.

amandatapar

I've never used medifast but I've lost 52 pounds since the end of march of this yr and have 32 more pounds to go. I've lost steadily but I've eaten in a way that I'm not starving and that I can maintain after I get to my goal weight. In my personal opinion the chances of gaining weight back is high if you don't find a way to eat healthy and keep it off that way. I exercise 3-5 days a week too.

bybyadipocytes

Medifast is a wonderful program. I have used it to lose the last 15 that just stuck to me after pregnancy. I lost 30 lbs the old fashioned way and the rest with medifst.
It has given me the leanest body I have ever had and taken away my insane cravings for sugar/bread/carbs in general. I think this program is good for those of us who overdo it on carbs because it kind of breaks the cycle and removes you from over indulging but you still get to have a reasonable amount of carbs. To keep the weight off I just keep my carbs at 100-120 grams and voila ( more if I am exercising) easy peasy maintenance.
I would recommend this product for people trying to lose the last bit. It is nearly always marketed to people who have a lot of weight to lose but it also works extremely well for the last few imo.
given the cost is for a month it is not more expensive, and the lean and green always has my fam eating healthy too.

DavidC1857

I did Medifast. I lost 128 pounds in about 9 months. Faster than most people can expect, but I had a lot to lose and I'm a guy, so it's easier.

I did not feel tired, nor did I lack energy. If anything I had more energy. The only negative symptom I saw was that the last month or two I felt cold. I assume my metabolism slowed some.

I did a proper transition and have been in maintenance since February. So far, I have not gained weight back. I am trying to lose a few more pounds the old fashioned way.

To all those who have said that most people who do Medifast will gain the weight back, yes, that is true. But then, most people who do ANY diet (including calorie counting ie. MFP) will gain the weight back. If you don't change what you were doing before, you will gain the weight the same way you gained it before.

I'm sure I could have just done MFP and lost weight. The thing I liked most about MF was the convenience. I did not have to plan meals, trying to figure out what had so many calories and what not. I did have to do that, eventually. But I did it in transition, after I had lost the weight and was in a much better mind set for doing so.

Medifast is a pretty extreme diet plan. That's why I did it. I needed something extreme. It has been well studied however and I have not seen any research suggesting it is unsafe. I would not recommend it for anyone who did not have a fairly significant amount of weight to lose.

trentwhatcott

"It is one thing to be self-taught and yet another to be self-certified." Forums are a horrible place to seek health advice. Most of these people do not know what they are talking about. Do the research. Find out what happens to the human body on a diet like Medifast and why it is actually healthier for the body than other diets for some people! Learn why stupid people go on a diet like this and then gain it all back. (Hint: They didn't learn anything and are destined to repeat their previous weight gain.) the responses to this post are ridiculous. Research Ketosis online and you will come across ACTUAL studies from people who are ACTUALLY qualified to speak on the subject and leave the self-certified forum trollers to their high sugar, low fat, exercise to lose weight "diets".

kimbelle_vie

bump

419er

Hey all,

I'll jump in here with my own experience - and I promise I *won't* disappear! Short version: I lost 53 pounds just using MFP to track about a year ago - have been stuck for a while - trying MediFast/TSFL to kick-start the last 20-30.

Here's my story. I'm 5'10" - I started at 220.7 and used ONLY MFP for most of 2012. I lost 53ish pounds and finished at 167.9 I think. (But granted that was an 'optimal time' weight-in, if you know what I mean). I also took up running during that time and ran my first Marathon in 2013.

Over the middle/end of 2013 I put about 15 of it back on. I've been successful at keeping in the 182 range for a while, but that is still considered overweight - and I know I still have weight to lose. We can argue about what a healthy weight is, but I figure I've got somewhere between 20-30 pounds of fat to lose.

One of my very best friends has been a "Take Shape for Life" Optimal Health Coach for a long time and has tons of clients. I'll be honest that I pooh-pooed this whole thing as "the latest fad diet" and preached the "I lost 50 pounds just using MFP" message as often as I could.

Anyway - to make this already too-long story slightly longer - here's what made me decide to try MediFast:

1) I have been unable to stay solid in MFP for more than a couple of weeks lately.
2) My "coach" and I have one mutual friend who lost 50lbs in the past 3-4 months on this thing and he looks awesome.
3) I have a trip to Hawaii coming up in 8 weeks and I'd like to look better with my shirt off
4) I want to PR in my marathon later this year, and that will be way easier if I'm in the low teens for BF% than the mid 20s.
5) I had the $ to give this a try for at least a month.

All that being said - I'm 3 meals into my plan. For now it feels like my biggest challenge is going to be limiting caffeine to 300mg per day - but I started weaning myself off that a week ago.

More in a couple of days...