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Old 03-31-2011, 02:48 AM   #61  
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Default Substitute list

Hi. Someone posted a pdf link that helped you find comparison items to substitute for medifast meals. Medifast pulled the link and it is dead. Can someone actually show us a link that is accessible or post it up.

Thanks.
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Old 04-15-2011, 01:49 PM   #62  
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I'm a newcomer here (this is my first post.) I'm getting ready to start MF, but I'm waiting because my wife wants to start with me (her meals are ordered and on the way.)

In the meantime, I'm "practicing" by following the MF plan using non-MF foods. This will get me into the eating habits the plan calls for.

I noticed in a very early post someone had averaged the nutrition information for various food items. I may have found a substitute for the shakes.

Carnation Breakfast Essentials (Milk Chocolate) with No Sugar Added comes close to the shake averages if you mix it with Unsweetened Silk Organic Soymilk.

The Carnation nutrition information is Cal. 60, fat .5g, carb 12g, fiber 4g, sugar 7g, protein 5g.

Unsweetened Silk Organic soymilk is Cal. 80, fat 4g, carb 4g, fiber 1g, sugar 1g, protein 7g.

Combined is Cal. 140, fat 4.5g, carb 16g, fiber 5g, sugar 8g, protein 12g

The French Vanilla 70 shake is Cal 100g, fat 1g, carb 13g, fiber 3g, sugar 9g, protein 14g.

Dropping the amount of milk used from 8oz to 6oz will drop the calories to 120 and the fat to 3.5g. The fat at least is the healthy kind, since it is plant-based fat, not animal-based.

And since this substitution is available in a typical grocery store, it's both cheap and readily available.

Thoughts?
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Old 04-15-2011, 01:59 PM   #63  
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Originally Posted by zoemow View Post
Hi. Someone posted a pdf link that helped you find comparison items to substitute for medifast meals. Medifast pulled the link and it is dead. Can someone actually show us a link that is accessible or post it up.

Thanks.
There are a number of calorie counting sites that include Medifast information.

It's very easy to find if you google it. (I'm so new I'm not allowed to post links yet.) Use the keywords "medifast nutrition information"
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Old 04-15-2011, 02:22 PM   #64  
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I just think about the price in how much I'd spend in food in a day, I ate out a lot so for me MF is cheaper and all in one spot. It's like $10 a day on food, which used to be the cost of my Coke burrito, chips and guac lol.
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Old 04-15-2011, 02:29 PM   #65  
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Originally Posted by Sequi 2008 View Post
I'm a newcomer here (this is my first post.) I'm getting ready to start MF, but I'm waiting because my wife wants to start with me (her meals are ordered and on the way.)

In the meantime, I'm "practicing" by following the MF plan using non-MF foods. This will get me into the eating habits the plan calls for.

I noticed in a very early post someone had averaged the nutrition information for various food items. I may have found a substitute for the shakes.

Carnation Breakfast Essentials (Milk Chocolate) with No Sugar Added comes close to the shake averages if you mix it with Unsweetened Silk Organic Soymilk.

The Carnation nutrition information is Cal. 60, fat .5g, carb 12g, fiber 4g, sugar 7g, protein 5g.

Unsweetened Silk Organic soymilk is Cal. 80, fat 4g, carb 4g, fiber 1g, sugar 1g, protein 7g.

Combined is Cal. 140, fat 4.5g, carb 16g, fiber 5g, sugar 8g, protein 12g

The French Vanilla 70 shake is Cal 100, fat 1g, carb 13g, fiber 3g, sugar 9g, protein 14g.

Dropping the amount of milk used from 8oz to 6oz will drop the calories to 120 and the fat to 3.5g. The fat at least is the healthy kind, since it is plant-based fat, not animal-based.

And since this substitution is available in a typical grocery store, it's both cheap and readily available.

Thoughts?
I found a more exact substitution (nutritionally speaking.)

Mix the Carnation Breakfast Essentials with water, but accompany it with two hard-boiled eggs (ditch the yolk, so you're only eating whites.)

An egg white for a large boiled egg is 15 cal, fat 0g, carb 0g, protein 4g.

CBE plus two egg whites totals Cal. 90, fat .5g, carb 12g, fiber 4g, sugar 7g, protein 13g.

This compares favorably to the French Vanilla 70 shake at Cal 100, fat 1g, carb 13g, fiber 3g, sugar 9g, protein 14g.

So far I've only tried the CBE with soymilk (tastes great), but I'll try it with water as well.
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Old 04-18-2011, 04:21 PM   #66  
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Default Grocery store substitute for MF bars

Both Kashi TLC bars and South Beach diet bars could be used as a substitute for the MF bars (based on nutrition content). The catch is that Kashi/South Beach bars don't have enough protein, and their fat content is a little higher.

Discussion on using alternate bars usually concludes with cutting the bars in half, or using them as maintenance bars. However, I don't think eating half a bar is realistic (they're pretty small to start with), and they're not quite the same nutritional content, anyways.

I'd suggest the trick is to replace the nutritional content of TWO MF bars as a pair. One Kashi bar and 5 large egg whites are the equivalent of two MF crunch bars.

So, for one meal you eat a Kashi bar, and at the second meal you just have 5 egg whites. The nutrition content of a Kashi TLC Honey Almond Flax Chewy Granola Bar is 140 calories, 5g fat, 19g carb, 4g fiber, 5g sugar, and 7g protein. The nutrition content of a large boiled egg white is 17 calories, 0g fat, 0.24g carb, 0.23g sugar, and 3.5g protein.

One Kashi bar and 5 large eggs is 225 calories, 5g fat, 20.2g carb, 4g fiber, 6.15g sugar, and 24.5g protein.

This compares to two MF Strawberry Crunch bars, which would total 220 calories, 5g fat, 26g carbs, 10g sugar, and 22g protein.

MF meals have more vitamins; this can be remedied by having a daily multivitamin.

The idea is that it IS possible to make the equivalent of an MF meal using common foods at the grocery store. Savings can be significant -- I can reliably get the Kashi bars for $3 for a box of 6, or about 50 cents a bar. Eggs cost about 10 cents each at Costco (purchased as two cartons of 18), which also translates into 50 cents each meal.

I used Kashi because they were on sale (at 33 cents a bar!). South Beach Diet bars had almost the same nutrition content and also worked. I heard someone mention that they had gotten bulk South Beach Diet bars at Costco, but my Costco didn't have them.

Last edited by Sequi 2008; 04-19-2011 at 02:49 PM.
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Old 04-19-2011, 03:01 PM   #67  
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I just think about the price in how much I'd spend in food in a day, I ate out a lot so for me MF is cheaper and all in one spot. It's like $10 a day on food, which used to be the cost of my Coke burrito, chips and guac lol.
Using the shake/bar replacements I found, the MF clone meals run about $2.50 - $3 a day on food. While waiting on my wife, I started by using the faux MF meals (and cheated somewhat, since I mentally didn't consider myself on the "real diet" yet), but still lost 2 pounds in the first 2 days.

I've now started the Medifast plan, so I'll see my results and taste compare to the real thing.
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Old 04-20-2011, 02:04 PM   #68  
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Sequi, thanks for that very helpful post regarding Kashi and South Beach bars. I have about 5 days left of my MF food supply and then I am going to look I to the others you mention instead. I have only been on a month but I can't afford the MF food consistently.
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Old 04-20-2011, 03:23 PM   #69  
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hello everyone....I would like to get opinions regarding WonderSlim meal replacement shakes? Good or bad opinions, please! I'm thinking of purchasing it but need more info from ya'll....thanks
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Old 04-23-2011, 07:33 AM   #70  
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Sequi, thanks for that very helpful post regarding Kashi and South Beach bars. I have about 5 days left of my MF food supply and then I am going to look I to the others you mention instead. I have only been on a month but I can't afford the MF food consistently.
If you're doing just bars and shakes, the two replacements I found should help out. You might continue to use some MF foods for variety, to keep your diet interesting and thus more likely to continue through the whole time.

Now that I'm trying the actual MF foods, I found that their cheese puffs and soft serves are fantastic, and I can't duplicate them.

Long term, I'm thinking my next order will be heavy on the puffs and soft serves (and any other items I discover I like but can't clone.) Instead of being a month's supply, however, it would probably last me for several months (because my bars and shakes would be fakes).

I'm very impressed with the MF plan. I'm down 8 lbs in 6 days (I'm counting the two days using fake foods.)

Its down to different tastes, however. My wife has been finding the foods overly sweet and some of them are downright terrible (chili, oatmeal.) I didn't mind the chili, but I don't normally eat oatmeal (so I skipped it in my order.)
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Old 04-23-2011, 09:53 AM   #71  
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I don't normally eat oatmeal either, except in cookie form .

I got the chili and chicken rice soup in my first order and didn't like either of them after the initial first tries, even with doctoring a bit with Tabasco or other spices (O, this is different and not terrible...). I ended up selling those on eBay.
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Old 04-27-2011, 09:37 AM   #72  
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I'm staying on MF food for the first month, so I have a benchmark for comparison. The first week is the biggest loss, and then you're supposed to settle into ketosis for a slower but steadier burn of 2-5 lbs a week.

2 bars and 2 shakes, then my L&G, then a soft serve or puff seems to be the routine I'm settling on. Kind of boring, but then I'm putting the variety into the L&G meal. It seems to be working for me.

After I run out, I'll start substituting the clone MF bars and shakes, and see if the diet stays on track.

I did get some soups; I'll have to see how to work those in. If I like them enough, I'll buy more of those to supplement the clone bars and shakes. So far, however, they're only tolerable at best. (The MF bars, shakes, puffs, and soft serves are worth the purchase over and over.)
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Old 04-29-2011, 10:49 AM   #73  
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I found this site after searching for "Medifast substitutions". I've done MF twice (present and once in 2009) Both times I've had very good results. I can usually keep the weight off and eat foods strictly from the grocery store. I put the weight back on this time because I ate like a garbage disposal over the holidays. I am finally back on track. I returned to MF 5&1 for a jumpstart.

I do find the MF foods to be extremely expensive. Though I feel they are worth the price because they work very well, and quickly. I'm on my 4th week and have lost 14 lbs.

Once I lose 20lbs I usually start to transition and use substitutions from the grocery store again.

So far these are some foods I've found nutritionally comparable (not perfect but close enough, which still work for me):

Bars
South Beach Diet high protein cereal bars- I like chocolate or chocolate Peanut Butter
Kashi Honey Almond Flax granola bars

Soup
Healthy Choice chicken noodle soup (1/2 can)

Shakes
Whey protein shakes (powder mix- brand doesn't matter as long as they are sugar free -personally I hate the taste of EAS brand which is watery- GNC and Vitamin World have thicker better-tasting options that mix well with water.)

Brownie Substitute
VitaMuffin "Vitatops" Sugar Free Velvety Chocolate -I never knew these existed until I read about them on the hungrygirl website. They taste great and are a good size. I was pleasantly surprised. 23 carbs but most of it is fiber.Only 90 calories. They are not cheap, but still less expensive than MF. The cheapest place to get them is Target. Google them and it will take you to the "vitalicious" site- you can order online direct from the site too- but Target is still much cheaper.

I've yet to find anything that is comparable to the MF cheese puffs. I have to really take a closer look in the organic/health food section of the grocery store and see if I can come up with something that is soy-based and similar.

Since most of the substitutions do not have as much protein as the MF meals I use a whey protein shake to balance things out. When making substitutions I focus more on the calorie and carb count being as close to MF as possible.

Last edited by verykeri7; 04-29-2011 at 02:49 PM.
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Old 05-02-2011, 04:07 PM   #74  
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Originally Posted by verykeri7 View Post

So far these are some foods I've found nutritionally comparable (not perfect but close enough, which still work for me):

Bars
South Beach Diet high protein cereal bars- I like chocolate or chocolate Peanut Butter
Kashi Honey Almond Flax granola bars

Soup
Healthy Choice chicken noodle soup (1/2 can)

Shakes
Whey protein shakes (powder mix- brand doesn't matter as long as they are sugar free -personally I hate the taste of EAS brand which is watery- GNC and Vitamin World have thicker better-tasting options that mix well with water.)

Brownie Substitute
VitaMuffin "Vitatops" Sugar Free Velvety Chocolate -I never knew these existed until I read about them on the hungrygirl website. They taste great and are a good size. I was pleasantly surprised. 23 carbs but most of it is fiber.Only 90 calories. They are not cheap, but still less expensive than MF. The cheapest place to get them is Target. Google them and it will take you to the "vitalicious" site- you can order online direct from the site too- but Target is still much cheaper.

I've yet to find anything that is comparable to the MF cheese puffs. I have to really take a closer look in the organic/health food section of the grocery store and see if I can come up with something that is soy-based and similar.

Since most of the substitutions do not have as much protein as the MF meals I use a whey protein shake to balance things out. When making substitutions I focus more on the calorie and carb count being as close to MF as possible.
Great suggestions! The soup is almost dead on -- I'll probably use it on weekends. (It's hard for me to split a soup into two meals at work.)

The Vitatops are really interesting. The 5 egg whites trick works with it to make it nutritionally the same as a bar or a brownie.

The idea is that matching the nutritional content lets you replicate the MF program and hopefully achieve the same results. (If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's still a duck! But hopefully a better-tasting, cheaper duck!)
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Old 05-04-2011, 10:54 AM   #75  
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It may look like a duck, and quack like a duck... but be careful, it's still not quite the same as a duck.

The problem with creating a plan based on substitutions is that MF is crafted so as to include the necessary vitamins and minerals. On a very low-cal diet such as MF, we have to be careful to get all the nutrients we need from a smaller volume of food. By replacing MF foods with every day items, yes, you will have low-cal and approximately similar carb/protein/fat ratios, but the rest of the nutrient profile will not be there. Though... I guess you can always take a multivitamin... Not sure if it's the same.
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