Medifast? Extreme dieting?

Here's the dope....

95% of diets fail.

you got this way because you made poor food choices in the past, and now all you are doing is switching the decisions of what goes in your food from the fast food/ packaged food vendors to someone else who promises you weightloss.

All you are doing is shifting responsibility from one place to another instead of dealing with it yourself.

Using any program is just treating the symptom and not the disease.

FYI, I don't remember the last time I had fast food. I am on medifast.

This is a great place and congratulations for getting on!

As with anything worth the time, do your research. Figure out why you lose the weight and then gain it back. Figure out what you like. Figure out what is important for you to keep and to give away.

A very good friend of mine went on the Medifast diet in early August. I came home from that lunch and looked it up. Alas, couldn't afford that. So, I came up with a plan, set a calorie limit and got down to it.

Another good friend of mine suggested MFP instead of charting it in an excel spreadsheet. That was 51 pounds ago. The weight came off and continues to come off. I'm just an average girl with a lot of weight to lose.

Here's the truth about weight loss...YOU can do this! Really, you can do this! We all have bad days, good days and great days. I have to tell you, that most of my days are great days...Yours will be too!

I'm also doing Medifast, I'm almost to one month and down about 28 lbs. Nothing else I've done prior has gotten me anywhere. I do at times feel like I'm spending too much money but I remind myself that I'm also not eating out as much, I'm not drinking soda - I'm even able to resist it being in the house as my husband is still getting it for him. In the past, if it was in the house, I'd drink it, case closed. For the most part, I'm not hungry but there are times I feel like I fail. There are times I feel dizzy but I'm not attributing it to the diet as of just yet - I've been getting dizzy spells recently since before the diet and I also have sinus issues, so that could be the cause as well. I'm not a real active person for the most part, I have numerous jobs that require sitting at this blasted computer a lot and I've never been real sporty to begin with. I do try to do some Wii Fit or Just Dance, though, the hard part is finding the time.
If nothing else, I feel like this is going to give me the jump start I need.

It boils down to more calories going out than in and COMPLIANCE. If you think the structure of the medifast meals might serve to keep you under your caloric goal for the day I say go for it. Different things work for different folks and it seems foolish to suggest that what did or didn't work for one might work or not for another anymore than my corrective lenses would give you 20/20 vision. I have tried the meals and some are certainly better than others. It isn't fine dining for sure but for someone like me that works 2 jobs, cares for ailing parents and a family of my own the conveniance has made the difference between making a bad choice and a good one on several occasions. Last week on my long commute I became very hungry and that meal bar kept me from whipping in somewhere for a less than optimal choice. I have a friend that does the 4 MF meals + 2 lean and green and and is seeing success though at a slower rate. Another lost all her weight in a more traditional manner and works out like a fiend. She uses the medifast meal bars for her snacks to control her craving for sweets which aids her in maintaining her weight loss. I guess my point is that one should listen to their individual, unique and amazing body. If something is not working, try something else. The most important thing that I know for sure is that no matter how you loose it you must not make the mistake of thinking you can go back to your former way of eating.

I tried MediFast a few months ago and in my opinion it's not a healthy or economical way to go.

Medifast is actually cheaper than a lot of the programs out there (including WW) and it has more benefits (counseling, dietician services, etc).

They are 100 calorie meals so you are eating below 600 calories a day.

This is not true. MF meals range from 90-130 calories. You are supposed to eat 800 to 1000 calories a day. Yes, the Medifast meals are low calorie but you get the largest bulk of calories from your Lean & Green meal - which you can also split up throughout the day to satiate hunger.

Its the only program that works for me partly due to the structure. In 10 months I've lost 73 pounds. That's an average of just under 2lbs a week - a completely healthy and reasonable expectation for weight loss.

additionally the structuring of this program has allowed me to address the issues that contribute to my obesity. I've had many, many off plan days in which I ate whatever I pleased. But thanks to the structure of MF I'm in the process of conquering my obsessive binge eating...the reason most of us are here anyway. My off plan days are never a free for all disaster and I've never had a weight gain due to off plan days.

@dpedi (and anyone else) - if you want real, honest opinions and facts about this program I'm happy to speak to you about it at length. Medifast might not be for everyone but it works for many.

the reason diets fail "95%" of the time is because people don't take the time to truly address their eating habits. tracking your food is a fantastic tool. But until you start asking yourself WHY you stopped caring about yourself and eating your way into an early grave, you will not conquer obesity. It is entirely possible to lost weight on ANY diet plan and maintain it for the rest of your life. additionally, those that regain on medifast either didn't do what I just talked about OR they didn't follow the transition and maintenance plan. Medifast also teaches you how to transition and slowly re-introduce healthy, real world foods back into your diet.

I love threads like this. I weed out the responses from people with no experience on the plan themselves and really focus on the responses that have life experiences with the program. I as well as 15 others of my friends and family have had amazing success with losing weight using the Medifast diet but also maintaining a health weight thanks to Take Shape For Life program that acts as a cheerleader, drill sergeant, and counselor. We all have learned so much about our body and how it processes food and how we got to where we were that it empowered us to create healthy habits and knowledge to keep the weight off for good. Couldn't say enough amazing things about it! I really chuckled at the comment about losing muscle because that is so contrary to the truth. The diet actually preserves muscle mass. Check the science from John Hopkins University. It is the leading diet at that institution's medical obesity center. Not all diets are meant for everyone, but I was glad I gave it a try for 30 days. Changed everything for me and my family!

today is the first day i have ever heard of medi fast. my mom was telling me that her neighbor told her about it. she said that she only ordered the shakes. had a shake and store bought oatmeal for breakfast, a shake for lunch, and a regular dinner. she lost 80 pounds in four months and didnt work out at all. i am thinking of trying it to help get some of those weight off. tired of being obese. i just joined mfp last week, anyone please feel free to add me! thanks! good luck to you all.

For the most part, Happiness = Healthiness. If you can make the commitment to yourself to feel good about yourself, then you'll put good things into your body and exercise. Weight loss is normally most successful when it comes as a bi-product to living a healthy life.

Change comes from within.

I know someone who did it and had great success - as far as I know she kept it off. It looked way too extreme for me. 600 cals a day?! I would die! She called the food space food - it was freaky and nasty looking. I need something where I can eat real food and enjoy meals w/my family...

I did medifast three years ago and lost around 50 pounds. I gained it back plus some. Don't do it!