Medifast Users: Questions and concerns.

When I first started with the germ of an idea of wanting to lose weight, I started with exercise first. Then, two weeks into my gym program, my friend showed me MFP. BEST day of my life. Then, shortly after losing around 20 pounds, I heard from some co-workers about MediFast. I, being someone who wants to lose the weight quickly too, looked into it, but outside of the fact that I'm probably the pickest eater in the world, I realized that eating pre-packaged food was not the right way for me. Losing quickly may sound great, but I also had a huge amount to learn about myself, about what I ate, and about how to take care of myself.

If you're not in danger of dying, taking it slowly isn't always a bad approach. Yes, we all want smaller clothes, we all want to look good, but unless you just gained the weight in the last year, you've been where you're at for a while. A little longer in learning how to control your willpower, how to do things that work for *you*, is hugely beneficial in the long run.

In the end, if you do choose to go with MediFast or anything like it, make sure that you're also understanding the nutrition aspect of the incredible weight loss results. What I can tell you is that the stories I hear about MediFast from work go like this:

Month one: Starts MediFast, talks about cost. Especially if you don't live alone, the rest of the household isn't on it.
Month four-five: Stops MediFast / falls off wagon (for various reasons: workload, work/life balance, summer fun, other reasons), regains about 20 pounds
Month eight: Starts MediFast again, loses weight.
Month ten-eleven: Stops MediFast, see above
New Year: Starts MediFast again.

MediFast isn't going to be a cure for willpower, so just make sure you a) do your research, b) really understand what's good to eat for *you* and c) understand yourself, your willpower, and your level of determination. From what I can tell, you're still going to have the same struggles as someone else doing something else (be it another diet, or traditional diet/exercise control), but your spurts of weightloss might be bigger. Then again, over the same year, I've lost more weight doing portion control, calorie counting, strength training, exercise than any of my co-workers on MediFast. Did they see bigger numbers in greater chunks? Yep. But I showed a much larger drop in sustained weight loss over the same amount of time.

And good luck!

I'm seeing a lot here about "it works! I lost weight!" and then "what about AFTER the weight is lost?"

Medifast's official program includes an entire YEAR of supported weight maintenance after you reach your goal weight. This is where a lot of the criticisms people have are addressed: during this stage you learn about portion control, appropriate amounts of protein/carbs/fats, and how to cook/eat/live in the world of real food. You simply cannot think of it (or any weight loss program) as only for weight LOSS. It has to be about weight maintenance, too. Once the weight is lost - which happens incredibly quickly on Medifast - THEN the hard work begins. From where I sit, having lost 37lbs on Medifast and still going, it takes the hard work out of the front-end (instead of counting calories and losing my mind weighing my food I eat my set number of meals and am golden) and lets me breathe easy while the weight falls off. Then, when I get there, I will have my work cut out for myself to maintain maintain maintain. I could see how many people get crazy having easily reached their goal weight and throw discipline and effort out the window at THAT point, then, they yo-yo. In my opinion that's not the Medifast program's fault, it's the person losing the weight thinking they could throw in the towel at that point.

In summary, Medifast works for the weight loss, but more importantly, the have a great maintenance program for when you get to your goal weight that is probably the most important part of all of it - yet no one is talking about that here.

I've been on Take Shape for Life since early May. I agree with some of the comments, but here's the thing: it's supposed to be a tool to help you lose the weight. It's not supposed to be what you eat for hte rest of your life. And you get more than 800 calories per day. You can eat between 5-7 oz of protein per day, which is a lot (one can of tuna is 5 oz, just so you get an idea.) Yes, you cut out white bread carbs, rice, sweets, etc. The food isn't what you'd pick for a treat, but some of the items are really good (depends on your taste, of course.) The great thing is that you don't have to calculate, figure, etc. My problem in the past is that I had to count points, etc., and could never make it work. This has worked for me. I've lost 20 pounds. I feel good. I don't hurt. I know that I will lose the weight and be able to keep it off. This is worth sacrificing some taste. The best part is that I'm relearning how to eat. I'm choosing different foods. It's not for everyone (what program is?) but I've tried many, and this one works for me.

My cousin uses Medifast (which I don't think is available in the UK or at least not in sunny Yorkshire) and has done for a few years. She has kept off the weight, probably because she is pretty disciplined and also does loads of exercise. She sent me some of her recipes and they're really tasty - although I haven't used the eggs haha! I personally don't really go for these type of diets - I wasn't even looking for one when I found MFP, I just wanted something to track my eating/snacking. I was surprised that I lost almost stone without really trying. The big thing with this diet is the realisation - for myself rather than everyone telling me - of the impact of any type of exercise. So basically I think that as with any diet, go for it, but use it as a tool to reeducate yourself - you do the diet, don't let the diet do all the work, and hopefully take back a bit of control for yourself.