Medifast Users: Questions and concerns.

wish21

I have been doing as much research as I can on this. And I have gotten the negative side and the positive side of both. Most people will say (negative side) that you can accomplish the same things using MFP and that diet fads dont work, etc. I hear ya, but then you hear stories of how this "diet" was life changing. A lot of people credit this diet for that.

Here goes:
I cant say that I am not worried because I am. For example what kind of stuff am I am putting in my body? Healthy?? How so if its a powder. Cost factor, YIKES! From what I heard 800 calories a day, now I'm no doctor/fitness expert but i know thats unhealthy. Are the visits/appointments free? Just plan and simple is it worth it.. I know only i can decide that part though.

Help me out? Is it another low carb thing like atkins? I would love to here from you who've done medifast and whether or not it was a success or failure. And also from you who oppose it and why? I'm no fitness expert so I dont understand a lot of things health and fitness though I hope to get better at that. I am desperate to losing this weight and being HEALTHY! Time is not my friend I am busy busy and go go all the time. Some may say make time or the old fashion way diet and exercise. But from past experiences its gonna take more than that. I havent made up my mind yet. I am still thinking about it so dont blow up on me for considering medifast.

kristenstejskal

I don't know much about Medifast to be quite honest with you, so I won't be much help in that arena. I have heard the hype about it but I definitely believe that is exactly what it is...just hype.
What I wanted to point out is that Medifast, or any "ready made" food plan (Jenny Craig, etc) doesn't teach you anything about nutrition or how to create healthy, nutritious meals that facilitate weight loss or weight maintenance when you get to your weight loss goal. Essentially, unless you are staying on the plan for the rest of your life, when you go back to the real world of cooking your own food, I would certainly think that you will fall back into the old habits that lead you to need to lose weight in the first place...

If you can't tell, I'm a huge believer in the old fashion way: Eating enough but not too much much and eating as nutritiously as possible in combination with exercise. It WILL work if you commit to it. And best of all, its sustainable for life! Just my two cents. Good luck with your decision

Also, I'm no nutrition/fitness expert, but I do think I have some valuable knowledge in these areas..so feel free to message me if you have questions on anything unrelated to Medifast or other fad diets

CallMeCupcakeDammit

I did it, and I'm wishing I hadn't. I quit because I felt like I was cheating not doing it on my own. My metabolism was suppressed from eating 800-1000 calories for 6 months, so I just had to do a reset eating at maintenance, and I'm finally losing. Also, my hair was falling out, and that really pissed me off. My hair didn't fall out when I was on Weight Watchers, and I lost about the same amount of weight, just slower. Some of the food is ok, some of it sucks. It wasn't enough to fuel my workouts, and I started to feel run down, even when I was doing 2 lean & greens and only 4 of their meals. If you're pre-menopausal or menopausal, I've heard women say that the high soy content helped with symptoms. I have a few friends on here who loved it, I just don't feel like it was the right choice for me. There's a Medifast group here if you search in the groups.

TheVimFuego

I'm not going to blow-up at you, plenty of people try to lose weight on less calories, at least the Medifast thing has some balanced nutritional content (you'd think ...).

As you suspect, 800 calories a day isn't enough and I don't care what they put in it.

The main selling point on TV appears to be that it will "get you in Ketosis" ... Well, you can do that quite effectively by restricting your carbohydrates AND still eating well.

AND you'll be eating more than a 800 calorie semi-starvation diet. I'll wager that you'll also be less hungry and have more room for a treat every once in a while. Ice cream daily? Sure. Chocolate? Sure. All in moderation. Just set a carb limit and enjoy it.

Steaks, Eggs, Fats, Bacon, Cream, Leafy Veggies, Cheese versus Some Expensive Premixed Shakes.

Strike One, Two and Three for the real food.

Who doesn't want to lose weight fast? We all do, the question being, do you want to keep it off?

How much are you going to learn about decent nutrition chucking-back pre-made shakes?

To be honest the whole 'Ketosis' association with this food-like-product annoys me as it will just fix in people's minds the idea that Ketosis is an extreme, unnatural thing to be feared and is associated with deprivation.

Look, it may be a life-changer for some but I'll back dropping fat by eating real food every day.

You don't even *have* to exercise.

kathleenmattox

I am on Medifast and I will say it has changed my life. I have lost over 100 lbs and am now able to exercise and do so many more healthy things that I wasn't doing before. There are some meals I don't like but there are tons that I do like. I have done adkins as well and I find Medifast more balanced and I don't crave things like I did before, because I do get 90 carbs a day. I feel great, have lots of energy. The only thing I would say is the centers are very expensive and you can get a free health coach through take shape for life and that is more helpful in my opinion (I have tried both) because my online coach has been on the program himself and at the center only one of the counselors had even tasted the food. Anyway yes the old fashioned way is great, but for those of us with a lot to lose the speed in the beginning really helps you stick with it! I am in my 7th month and will stick with it to goal!

MayberryMama

I am on Medifast and I really love it. I am in my fourth week and have lost 20 lbs. Here are the pros and cons as I see it:

Cons:
The food IS mostly powder or freeze dried. (Although they tell me they add vitamins in so you still get them.) But of course that means it's heavily processed and we all know fresh is best. Also the cost is pretty high compared to just eating less. However I did my budget last night and it turns out that I already do spend about $300 a month on groceries and since my kids are only with me every other week, it's about a wash as far as shopping for food goes. My other complaint is that they obviously use artificial sweetners in their desserts, and those are BAD. Finally, when I first started I felt kind of icky, and light headed. NEVER hungry - but just depleted. My coach told me to add some Powerade and extra protein and that helped a lot.

Pros:
Um - 20 lbs in less than a month? That's awesome! Also, I am NEVER hungry. You eat every 2.5 - 3 hours. And the Lean and Green meal can be just about anything as long as it's not fried or something, which means I never feel deprived. For example, the other night, my kids wanted HAM. So, knowing that ham is not the leanest meat, I just had a smaller portion of it and also had squash with sauteed onions and some green beans. Now, last night, I had SEVEN ounces of chicken breast (that's a lot when you see it on your plate), plus a salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce and ranch dressing. It was plenty. My final PRO is my personal coach who checks in with me a couple times a week, helps me stay on track and will give me plenty of support when I go on maintenence in a month or so. She has done the program, she sends me fun recipes, she gives me lots of advice and she keeps me accountable.

So, for me, this is how I am getting the pounds off - and making my knees happy again so I can go back to running. I'm already feeling a difference in my knees and back and I love how my clothes are fitting. 20 more lbs and I'm done and can go on to make my own small healthy meals spread thru-out the day and ramp up my exercise and put on the final touches.

Feel free to message me if you want to chat further. Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

wish21

I am on Medifast and I really love it. I am in my fourth week and have lost 20 lbs. Here are the pros and cons as I see it:

Cons:
The food IS mostly powder or freeze dried. (Although they tell me they add vitamins in so you still get them.) But of course that means it's heavily processed and we all know fresh is best. Also the cost is pretty high compared to just eating less. However I did my budget last night and it turns out that I already do spend about $300 a month on groceries and since my kids are only with me every other week, it's about a wash as far as shopping for food goes. My other complaint is that they obviously use artificial sweetners in their desserts, and those are BAD. Finally, when I first started I felt kind of icky, and light headed. NEVER hungry - but just depleted. My coach told me to add some Powerade and extra protein and that helped a lot.

Pros:
Um - 20 lbs in less than a month? That's awesome! Also, I am NEVER hungry. You eat every 2.5 - 3 hours. And the Lean and Green meal can be just about anything as long as it's not fried or something, which means I never feel deprived. For example, the other night, my kids wanted HAM. So, knowing that ham is not the leanest meat, I just had a smaller portion of it and also had squash with sauteed onions and some green beans. Now, last night, I had SEVEN ounces of chicken breast (that's a lot when you see it on your plate), plus a salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce and ranch dressing. It was plenty. My final PRO is my personal coach who checks in with me a couple times a week, helps me stay on track and will give me plenty of support when I go on maintenence in a month or so. She has done the program, she sends me fun recipes, she gives me lots of advice and she keeps me accountable.

So, for me, this is how I am getting the pounds off - and making my knees happy again so I can go back to running. I'm already feeling a difference in my knees and back and I love how my clothes are fitting. 20 more lbs and I'm done and can go on to make my own small healthy meals spread thru-out the day and ramp up my exercise and put on the final touches.

Feel free to message me if you want to chat further. Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

Thank you for replying!! I know a lot of people are against this diet, but I have reviewed MY lifestyle and decided that Medifast was the best choice. I hope to be ordering my first supply tmrw and start asap.

princessnellie0629

I did Medifast for about 2 months and lost 20 pounds, which was perfect and just what I wanted. I eventually went off when I graduated college and wanted to be able to enjoy my celebratory weekend in Vegas and enjoy the summer not feeling so restricted and like such an outsider when my friends and family were having so much carefree fun with beer and BBQs etc.
I attempted to restart after summer ended, lost 7lbs in a week but then I just realized it was just way too restrictive and I really felt it impacting my happiness because I was too obsessed with measuring/weighing and not being able to do the things I wanted to do with people I wanted to be with. I would get extremely irritable and sad when people questioned me about being on Medifast because they don't understand how restrictive it is. They say things like "you can just have a salad or something" and it's like NO I can't you have to measure EVERY LITTLE thing even lettuce! And if you do choose to go out and find a reasonable meal, you need to plan your whole day around it. So someone would invite me out for lunch and I would go, and then I would have another event come up for dinner and either have to turn it down and feel lame, or go and just sit there and do nothing while everyone else ate and became the center of attention when everyone asked me a million questions about why I wasn't eating and made me feel anorexic or something.


Pretty much my only PRO is that It definitely works. I think the cost is not too bad when you take into consideration you won't be buying other food anymore, the only trips to the grocery store are for your lean and green which is lean meat and vegetables so it's not that expensive. , or any "condiments" you can have. You really do never get hungry once you are in ketosis and the weight really just falls off even with out exercise! If you do the program fully through transition and maintenance, should teach you how to eat correctly. It really has helped a lot of people.


My CONS: Too restrictive for me, as I said before. I started feeling like I had a eating disorder or became OCD or something weighing every little piece of lettuce and freaking at the possibility that if I something too high in cal/carbs it would put me out of ketosis. I got a free health coach through TSFL and she was great when I wanted her help but sometimes a little too pushy and pressuring for me to get back on and making me feel bad for saying it's just not for me and honestly I think its because she gets a portion of what I pay for buying food. The MF food really upset my stomach a lot too. Really gassy and gurgley and it was really embarrassing sometimes and no medicine was working.



I would highly recommend NOT going to a center unless you really need a lot of guidance and accountability. First I went and they wanted $1000 for a years worth of services plus about 80 a week for food.

I know missing out on food doesn't mean I'm missing out on life, but that was how I felt, so I just think there could be a healthy medium where I can learn to make good food choices and exercise and not change my social life. I think for someone like me with only 20lbs to lose and my eating habits aren't THAT bad, I don't need such a restrictive plan.

Good luck with whatever you choose!

garn1212

I just started today on Medifast. Nervous yet hopeful at the same time...

fitmissbliss

Medifast works. Period. But, it, like any other diet, "lifestyle change" "prgram", "way of eating" is not for everyone. Is it restricitve? Absofreakinlutely. Is it simple? Crazily so. Is it easy? Yes, and no. If you are motivated by quick results, you can't beat the results of being on Medifast. When you are looking to lose 10, 20, 30 pounds....I'd say, personally, there are easier ways to lose weight. But, when you are like me and started at 280 pounds...losing 1-2 pounds per week just doesnt cut it. Medifast allowed me to go from 280 pounds to 242 pounds in about 2 months and 2 weeks. It changed my life. Ive gone from a size 22 to a comfortable size 16. Ofcourse, the weight loss has slowed down...but, I still lose, on average nearly 4 pounds per week. I've never been able to keep up this sort of weekly avg on any of the other (probably 40+) "plans" I've tried.
I think old fashioned calorie counting and exercise are great when you need to lose a "few"...but, for peopl who are seriously morbibly obese...this is a great option. Personally, if you have less than 40 pounds to lose...I might consider something less restritve...but, if you have 40+ pounds to lose and want something that works-and teaches you the appropriate amount of food to eat, helps to "re habilitate" your tastebuds so that more healthy foods taste palatable...give Medifast a try. I plan on reaching goal using Medifast...and I'm SO grateful that I have finally, FINALLY found something that works.

wish21

bump

cynthiatwayne

I'm bumping this up because I've been struggling this debate myself for the past few days. I really feel like I need to reset my mental state and do something "drastic" to detox myself from to much indulging and a coworker has done very well on Medifast. So after lots of research, I've decided to eat my calories using "real" food and purchased a few boxes of the bars to supplement snack time since that is where I tend to get into trouble. I will use this approach for a few weeks, track everything on MFP and see what a month brings me. I really hesitate to eat these programs (having done Nutrasystem a very long time ago).

Thanks and look for others input/feedback on the program as well.

CallMeCupcakeDammit

I'm bumping this up because I've been struggling this debate myself for the past few days. I really feel like I need to reset my mental state and do something "drastic" to detox myself from to much indulging and a coworker has done very well on Medifast. So after lots of research, I've decided to eat my calories using "real" food and purchased a few boxes of the bars to supplement snack time since that is where I tend to get into trouble. I will use this approach for a few weeks, track everything on MFP and see what a month brings me. I really hesitate to eat these programs (having done Nutrasystem a very long time ago).

Thanks and look for others input/feedback on the program as well.

I've been using my leftover food as a snack, but I'm finding that not being 100% on the program, the food is not satisfying me anymore.

ang3h

My mother-in-law uses Medifast.. she's lost weight very quickly on it but when she goes off the diet, she gains it back just as quickly. The food is mostly powdered just-add-water stuff.. seems gross and not very healthy.

pascuam

This is my second time doing Medifast. The first time I did fantastic. I never even knew about the Ketosis thing. Living with a Hawaiian I did the best I could with the Lean and Green. Now I did lose weight and gain energy. total I lost 40 pounds. I started out not being able to have the energy to climb this particularly log staircase, by the end I was running up the stairs. I had an injury and some other issues unrelated to MF and over the next few years I slower gained everything back. Medifast works great for me, you see I travel for my job. I am always eating in restaurants. so for you go healthy and fresh people I am here to tell you that does not work for everyone. Even when I try to order fresh they put salt and butter in most things. As an example Applebee's salad 850 calories with a great deal of fat. I am on the road 3 out 4 weeks. I am trying hard to include exercise and even that is hard due to what is available at the different hotels are towns. but so for this month I have lost 16 pounds. And for the holidays that is not bad. I know how to eat lean and fresh it is just very hard on the road. MF is way easy to travel with. now, as I get to the weight I desire I will be moving better and I will be able to handle the road better. As I lose weight, I can do the research I need to find the better opportunities on the road. the information is out there, I need to lose weight now, and that will not be done the "old fashion way" . Each person will find their own way. Support each other. As far as the original writer that wrote her mother gained a lot after. I can tell you from experience. This program is suppose to teach you to eat 6 small meals, and as you transition what choices to make. plates that are balance with a half plate of fruit and veg, quarter whole grain and quarter protein for a 1550 calorie a day., if she skips that part and just goes from the weight loss portion to regular eating with out following the transition... also once the weight is off exercise is still key. My weight came back because I did not follow anything. I got depressed with the injury and let my mind play me. Not this time. For the nay sayers. I can only say, I have tried a lot that does not work for my lifestyle. This works for me, it is not frown on by Mayo or WebMD because of the balance nutrition and the transition period, the dieter does bare responsibility to learn how to eat once they are off the program. If you can dedicate yourself to eat like this over the holidays, you should be able to get the hang of the after program. It includes carbs, fat and proteins, something that is important to me. So I am very glad that another method works for you, really I am. I have friends (who eat at home every night and can pack their lunch) that are having success on the fresh way, I have friends that or using Jenny, Weight Watchers and Nutrisystem. I do not ever tell them that their way sucks. There is a plan for each of us. SUPPORT!

AtlNaturalGal

PROS
1. lose weight, QUICKLY
2. very easy structured plan
3. cost comparative to grocery/eating out bills
4. great online community support
5.Doctor recommended

CONS
1.you will gain the weight back if you don't have a solid maintenance plan (but this is true of all diet/lifestyle changes...even bariatric surgery)
2. powdery snacks get a little tedious after awhile
3. the amount of people telling you that medifast is "not healthy" "so nasty" "you will gain it all right back" and other various negativity


TIPS.....focus on how your clothes fit versus the scale...drink LOTS and LOTS of water.....even tho exercise is not needed for awesome results, do something consistently so that it is easier to incorporate into your maintenance plan...


GOOD LUCK...Please feel free to add me

ninerbuff

Real food isn't powdered. This is why a very high percentage of users regain and why Medifast hopes you do...................so you will come back again and spend money. ALL quick fix (diet plans that include their "specialized" foods or powders) rely on repeat users. If everyone kept the weight off, they would all go out of business.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

cwolfman13

Problem...it isn't a sustainable lifestyle. Are you going to shed the weight? Yup...you'll definitely lose the weight, but eventually the diet will be over...then what? Has it tought you anything about calories in/calories out? Has it tought you anything about portion control? Has it tought you anything about general nutrition? Has it tought you how to manage your macros to have a more nutritious diet?

Those are the things that are truly lifechanging and sustainable. I would wager that the vast majority do have a good deal of initial success but very little sustained success.

ThaRealNicki

Im on Medifast, it works. I went into this diet in hopes I would learn self control. I know how to lose weight but I felt I couldnt help myself with portion control. All this coming from a person who has never been on a diet because I thought what everyone else thinks....they arent sustainable.....(i.e. weight watchers which Ive seen an outrageous number of regainers from them)

Ill start by saying that the diet was created by a group of physicians. I am going to the centers to lose the weight (which isnt free but your monitored by professionals during the weight loss). They give mes supplements to not feel hungry. On top of it all Im sooooo ENERGETIC!!! Its so crazy! The diet does not feel low cal at all. Oh! And it does help teach you how to prepare healthy meals on your own. You get to prepare one day a while losing the weight. Its called your Lean and Green. the further into your journey the more food youll prepare on your own.

Im willing to bet the regainers from this diet are the people who didnt follow or even attempt the transition phase and maintanence phase. You will need these to add more food back to your life and upping your calories without gaining (in transitioning most people still actually end up losing more weight while they up their calories and introduce more food back). This diet WILL teach you how to sustain a healthier lifestyle and WILL help you to learn what a healthier lifestyle actually is. All you have to do is actually follow the plan.

You can go to a center or get a free online coach, all that is up to you chica! Like I said I started this to learn self control and forced to cope with portion control and It has done wonders for me so far!

to all the nay sayers that have never tried it......its just ignorant to judge something you dont have experience with. Research isnt even enough to form a valuable opinion.

to all nay sayers who have gained back. Dont scare away people who are probably stronger than you. Thats not fair to scare someone else away because YOU couldnt help yourself from falling back to old eating habits.

There are plenty more people who have done the diet and maintained than the nay sayers, trust me!

lveh8lve

I did medifast for about 3 months. First off yes you do lose weight and fast, but it's nearly impossible to maintain. The food, yeah, its pretty nasty. I remember the first time I had the oatmeal I couldn't even eat it (and I'll eat anything). I've never eaten something so disgusting in my life. I found "recipes" to make the food more palatable, but at the cost of the food and the time to do that it wasn't worth it.

It also made me feel horrible. I had migraines that lasted days at a time. My skin broke out and was oily all over. I also had an extremely short fuse as well and would go off on anyone. I was very sluggish the first 7 days, it got better, but I never had the energy that I do now when I eat a balanced meal. Definately no energy for a hard workout either.

I would chalk it up to another fad diet. I just log everything in MFP, exercise regularly, and eat my veggies. Who knew it actually works to lose weight this way??

Laylasmom77

Sounds like you were going through detox with the migraines etc. It last about a week. I didn't experience the detox but some people do. The oatmeal and the eggs are disgusting but Medifast has a variety of other foods that does taste good such as the bars, banana shakes, mac n cheese etc. People can regain weight on any program if they haven't made a lifestyle change. Medifast is a program to help people get down to a healthy weight quickly and start living a healthy lifestyle. I know if I go back eating like a pig again I will gain it back! If someone wants to try Medifast I say go for it and try it out for a month.

BobinNC66

My wife and I started this just today and we have tried everything in the past and decided we needed a jump start to really get things going. My shock at how disgusting this food is tasting is very discouraging, and not sure we will stay. I found out today my wife actually threw up here oatmeal today, so she is not real happy either. Ugg why can't healthy food just taste good!!!!!

lasmit4477

*Head-freakin'-desk!!!*

dthompson88

I did medifast for a month or two. Lost over 20lbs quick. As soon as I fell off the wagon, I gained it ALL right back. The diet does work, no doubt, but it is so expensive! I have all my medifast meals still handy, but I want to loose weight with eating right and exercising. With gaining weight back so quick, it didn't teach me anything. I went back to my old ways, and not caring. I guess I'm not for it, or against it.

concordancia

Your profile says you want to lose about 30 lbs. programs like Medifast were designed for the morbidly obese and to be used under medical supervision. Then a marketer got ahold of it....

The morbidly obese need quick weight loss for awhile in order to live, in order to be able to get around. In those cases, the dangers of quick weight loss are overshadowed by the dangers of not being able to get up on your own and having you body systems shut down.

When you are just overweight or mildly obese, the dangers of such programs outweigh the benefits, medically.

BubonicTonic

I did Medifast last year and I LOVED it. It is not a long-term diet, but it will break your food addiction (mine was sugar), and if you track your food like you do here, you will learn how much you really need to eat. Eating packaged food takes all the decision making out of "dieting", which was really good for me (I don't make the best choices when faced with temptation, lol). I learned so much.

Yes it's restrictive, but you eat so often you're never hungry. You must get your water in, and do your lean and green, and NOT CHEAT, or you won't get the results you desire. The secret is that the weight comes off so fast you stay motivated to keep going to goal. When you're losing 2 pounds a week that's motivating!! I started at 195 pounds in May of 2011 and hit my goal of 140 in November. That's about 10 pounds a month, which is about one size down each month. Yeah, I stayed motivated!! It got really difficult near my goal, and I was so ready to eat regular food, I started to slack off. Once I met my goal and started to transition, the holidays hit, and yeah, I let some different food in. 2012 was about learning to eat real food, and getting more exercise in my new body. I'm still learning. But I never could have gotten over the hump and understood what I really COULD do without Medifast. I highly recommend it, but it's not easy.

BobinNC66

Just a follow up to this, we were told we could return anything we didn't like, uhm SO NOT TRUE. You can only return unopened boxes, the opened boxes can be exchanged. They tried telling us oh give it more time and open each box so you know what you like, well if we did that we would be out $600, thankfully my wife read the return policy before listening to the TSFL idiots on the phone. So not happy with them right now, Not a program I would recommend from now not only a taste point of view but also a trust point of view.

CallMeCupcakeDammit

http://health.usnews.com/best-diet/medifast-diet

SinCity2003

I'm just curious...if they are selling you "Eggs and oatmeal", why can't you just eat eggs and oatmeal from the store? Every morning I eat a bowl of oatmeal. It's my breakfast. It's not powdered and it tastes good. Instead of paying $600 to someone to serve you powdered imitation oatmeal, why not go to the store and spend $4 on a box of 10 that will keep you full for 3-4 hours?

Faye_Anderson

Most of the people saying they use Medifast have either said they've tried lots of diets or they are on their second time of using it.
1. Stop trying diets and start eating healthily there is no permanent quick fix
2. If it worked so well the first time why would you need to do it again? Obviously nothing has been learnt about food and nutrition!

omyfamily

The meals are specifically fortified so that you get all of the nutrients and vitamins you need in an extremely colorie-restricted diet. So they really aren't just eggs. They're eggs pumped full of extra protein, fiber, vitamins, etc. (Which you'd notice if you tasted them. The eggs are some of me least favorite meals. )