[Pinkhorseofcourse]

I am quitting Medifast that is. At least that is how I feel at the moment. I just can not, at this point in my life as a single, unemployed mother, justify spending $300 a month of special food for a diet. So... I need help. I STILL want/NEED to do this. I am WAY over weight.. and have absolutely NO self esteem. It's time for a change. But I can not do this alone, and I have very little support other than my sister and a couple friends.

Luckily, my best friend's mom gave me a months worth of MF food and I got a nice jump start. (Tuesday is my 3 week weigh in by the way, wish me luck!) But I am wondering, CAN I do this without spending all this money on MF? Is it possible to mimic this plan? I am willing to buy protein powder, fiber supplements, vitamin supplements, etc... I've got a basic rundown of the nutrients:
The 5&1 plan provides 800-1000 calories, 80-100 g of carbohydrate, 10-30 g of fat and at least 72 g of protein daily. The ratio of nutrients is approximately 40% protein, 40% carbohydrate and 20% fat.

SO, I guess some of my main questions are, with the most obvious first...

1) What can I eat? I still want to be able to eat 5-6 small meals a day. That helps keep my metabolism revved up and keeps me from being hungry. But, 800-1000 calories a day isn't much when you are talking about real world food. I do not want to go over the calories, fat or carbs. So what types of foods would you recommend that would fit into this low cal/fat/carb slot?

2) 10-30 g of fat seems like a pretty wide variance.. but ok. My question for this is, what kind of fat? Does it matter? Does it have to be healthy fat?

I know this is going to be something I really need to research, and it will probably be trial and error... but I had lost 14 lbs at my 2 week weigh in, and I do not want to undo what progress I have made. And I am very excited to see what I weigh tomorrow. I still have one weeks worth of food left and I will use it up.. that should hopefully give me enough time to gather some info and make up some sample menus.

Any and all input/advice/suggestions are welcome and greatly appreciated!!

[thelast20]

The New Atkins , Lean for Life and 17 day DIet are all semi-high protein, lob carb and 10-30 fat. They are easy to follow and you can probably get the details by goggling them. It's everyday food that you canget at the store. You don't have to calorie counts because its quantaties per meal.

The fat listed on Atkins can be oils, butter or margarine. The New Atkins has a lot more variety for me and is something I can stick to. Best of luck.

[bargoo]

And calorie counting is flexible, reliable and best of all it is FREE !!!

[shannonmb]

I don't know if it's possible to mimic the medifast diet, but I do know for a fact it is entirely possible to lose weight eating normal food from the grocery store!

[ShanIAm]

I'm sorry the MF diet isn't working out financially but I think it's GREAT that you are not just throwing in the towel and you are proactively looking for something else that will work for you. The fact is all diets work but the question is....does it work for you? And that's what you need to find out. I am doing low calorie and low carb because it's a sustainable diet for me that I'll be able to stick with (and understand) for the rest of my life.

And if MF costs money that you just can't spend right now, why add added stress to your life? Good for you for recognizing that now!!

[mandagrl1]

This is actually a great question and I can aswer it! A good friend of mine is a dietician and exercise physiologist who was starting a study with 2 groups-group one was doing medifast and group 2 was following a balanced diet of the same amount of nutrients and calories. The goal was to see if the weight loss was comparable and which was easier to maintain. I wanted to do the study but didn't qualify due to a med I was on, however, she did give me the plan for the group on the balanced diet. It's fairly simple and pretty much follows the food pyramid. She said not to worry about counting calories because if I simply made sure I only had one serving of each at a time, that I would be within 1000-1200 each day. I did it and yes, the weight came off!

It was this: 2 servings of grains (think healthy carbs) a day
4 servings of veg a day
4-7 oz protien a day
3 servings of fruit a day
2 servings of dairy a day
2 fats a day (IE: Low fat mayo, olive oil, butter, etc)

Hope that helps! I used the food pyramid website to determine accurate serving sizes and to make sure what I was eating actually fell into the correct group. Good luck!

[Fizziecat]

Congratulations, Pinkhorse, on your 14-pound loss! I did Medifast a couple of years ago, and I didn't have the success that I was hoping for. I did everything right, but lost very slowly. Eventually, I gave it up and gained it all back. It may have been the soy that didn't agree with me, but my face would get very red at times, plus I was always hungry and cranky.

One week ago, I started Atkins and wish that I had done this sooner, mainly because I feel so much better. I've been meaning to start a thread on the Atkins subforum asking if anyone else has experienced such good feelings that sometimes border on euphoria. And the best thing is that I'm not hungry!

You can find out about Atkins through their website or by getting one of the books at the library. I downloaded the 2002 version from Amazon for less than $8.

Good luck in whatever path you choose.

[Pinkhorseofcourse]

First of all, thank you all so VERY MUCH!!!!

@thelast20: My sister has done the Atkin's diet for years.. basically as a way of life, not just a diet. I don't think I could do it for a long period, because I LOVE my veggies and salads.. UNLESS the NEW Atkin's incorporates more of that kind of carb into the diet. I will have to check into it. Thanks for your input.

@bargoo & Shannonmb: Yes, I am kind of psyched about the whole 'being able to eat real food again' idea... LOL

@ShanIAm: Thank you!!! So much! You are always so nice and encouraging when I meet up with you here on the boards. I appreciate that so much! You said you are doing low calorie and low carb.. do you mind if I ask, how low? I did a test run today of the MF and it actually worked out pretty well when I did my totals at the end of the day. I WAS pretty hungry there for a while, and my protein for the day was/is down.. but I think I am going to get some protein powder to help with that. I wasn't sure if I would need to when I went to the store and bought food last night. I can't wait till I can PM.. We can keep in touch then.. if you'd like.

@mandagrl1: Wow, was I excited to see your post!! I didn't have mine broken down according to the food pyramid like that, but I did keep track of everything I ate today.. and all calories, carbs, fat and protein from each and every item. I came pretty darn close to a day on the 5 and 1 from MF. I will be tracking everything much more closely in my blog... soon.

@Fizziecat: Thank you so much for your encouragement! I am sorry the MF plan didn't work for you before. It could have been the soy. My body doesn't seem to have a problem with the soy, though, a friend of mine just said something to me about soy and increased risk of breast cancer.. I am going to do some research on that and talk to my doctor. Even though I am not going to be doing the official Medifast anymore, at least for now, I found some shakes that are soy based protein. EAS AdvatEdge Carb Control... I just had one as my meal and it tasted really good.. pleasantly surprised.. but there again, the soy. I have heard alot of good things about Atkins, but it just seems so unnatural... and as I said before, I love salad and veggies.. so I don't know if I could do it. But I am glad you are loving it!!!

[shannonmb]

You know what I am loving? Seeing all those dancing carrots in your post!!! You sound excited by the plan you are creating, and I think that is huge. Sometimes weight loss can seem like this big, sad, deprivation thing. But I have found myself pretty excited, inspired, and hopeful for a pretty long time now, and I think that attitude it going to help us a whole lot! You are doing great work, and I know it will pay off!!