Medifast is a liquid diet designed for quick weight loss. We’ve heard about it for years, and squawked at the thought of giving up solid food for something that sounded so gimmicky. Why would we trade 3 square meals and a full stomach for a low calorie liquid diet? After reading about the successes of some of our members that used Medifast, we wanted to learn more. The Medifast program promises you can lose up to 20 pounds a month. All you have to do is drink or eat 5 of their products and eat one “Lean and Green” meal every day. Could it really be that easy, or would we end up gnawing on our knuckles all day?
Medifast has been around for more than 20 years, and is backed by studies with Johns Hopkins, the National Institutes of Health, and has been used by millions of people. It originally was used under a doctor’s supervision, but now anyone can buy it. The Medifast plan is low calorie, low fat, and low carb. The meals are portion controlled, and nutritionally balanced.
Medifast offers more than liquid meals. You can buy meal replacement bars, soups, and oatmeal. There are a lot of flavor varieties available, so you probably won’t get bored too quickly. Every day, you will choose 5 Medifast products. You might have a bowl of oatmeal, a Swiss chocolate shake, a hot chai drink, an oatmeal raisin bar, and a bowl of chicken noodle soup. Each Medifast meal contains 100 calories.
You’ll also have your “Lean and Green” meal that you prepare. This meal should contain between 300 and 500 calories, and will include 5-7 ounces of protein and 3 servings of nonstarchy vegetables. If you prefer, you can spread this out between two meals. When you get close to goal, you’ll be able to gradually add grains, dairy, and fruits back to your diet.
The Medifast diet plan really doesn’t sound bad anymore, does it? It’s not just a liquid diet after all. The plan includes real food, and is designed to be convenient and easy. It’s also supposed to keep you satisfied all day, so you don’t get tempted to overeat. We decided to put it to the test.
Suzanne: “I walked into this plan expecting to hate it. I love real food, and couldn’t imagine anything else satisfying me long enough to stick with it. I was willing to give it an honest try, because I’d been on a plateau for ages. Medifast offers a variety package, but I was afraid I’d receive some products I knew I couldn’t eat as a vegetarian. I carefully chose a wide range of products and was ready to give it a shot. I followed the plan to the letter for a month and it was much easier than I expected! The food was OK – not good or bad. There’s a slightly odd taste, just enough to let you know this isn’t Nestle’s Quik. After the first couple of days, I didn’t even notice the aftertaste anymore. I also learned to tweak the products to make them better, by adding Splenda or flavor extracts. I immediately noticed that I wasn’t hungry. I don’t understand why, but I really wasn’t hungry at all, and all of my cravings were gone. The plan was extremely easy to follow! The only day that I did get hungry was the day I had my Lean and Green meal for lunch instead of dinner. I didn’t repeat that mistake again. I followed the plan for about a month and I managed to bust through my plateau and lose 8 pounds! This was a far cry less than the “up to 20 pounds” they promise, but it was still a good loss for me and well within the guidelines for safe weight loss. The only reason I decided to quit the plan was because of a health condition that requires I eat more whole, unprocessed foods and I was unable to continue the plan long term. I honestly wish I could have, because this was the easiest weight loss diet I’ve tried.”
Jennifer: “I was ready for Medifast because I was in a place where I didn’t want to plan my meals and wanted someone else to do it for me. I couldn’t believe how easy this was! Like Suzanne, I never felt hungry and my cravings totally went away. I lost 7 pounds in my first week! That scared me, though. I must be the only person on earth that doesn’t like rapid weight loss. I lift a lot at work, and I also like to exercise, and I felt a little washed out. It’s perfect for somebody that doesn’t like exercise! They actually say don’t exercise for a few weeks until you get used to the decreased calories, unless you are already a regular exerciser. In which case, cut it in half for a few weeks. But as far as sticking to it, it was funny, but I had no problem sticking to it. It was actually….. easy!”
The scoop on the food:
The shakes were great, though reactions were mixed. Suzanne hated the orange and loved the strawberry, while Jennifer loved the orange and hated the strawberry. Both of us loved the Swiss chocolate flavor best. The hot drinks, such as cappuccino and chai, were very good and a great way to start the day.
The oatmeal is more of a gloopy mess than anything. There isn’t as much oatmeal in there as there is protein powder and other nutritional ingredients. However, you can mix it with a pinch of baking powder, Splenda, and cinnamon, and bake two big fat oatmeal cookies that are actually pretty good! We found a lot of interesting recipes for the oatmeal and other Medifast products at www.medifast-recipes.com.
We didn’t care for any of the soups that we tried. The minestrone tasted like scorched beef broth. The tomato soup was very chalky and bland. We tried to doctor both of them with fresh vegetables and seasonings, but still barely managed to get them down. We decided soup wasn’t a necessary part of our day.
All of the bars we tasted were fantastic! Actually, they were too good and we both felt like they would be too tempting to have on hand. We found our cravings went away when we excluded the bars, and several other Medifast users agreed.
There are a couple of Medifast knockoffs on the internet that offer similar products at cheaper prices. We compared the ingredients as well as the background of the companies selling them and found they could not compare to genuine Medifast. It’s really very affordable anyway, especially when they offer specials. Right now you can get up to 2 weeks free. First you buy a one month supply and you get free week’s worth of food as a bonus if you click here and use code PROMO at checkout. You can qualify if you order the variety pack or choose your own, as long as you order enough for the whole month. If you choose the auto-delivery option, they’ll give you another week free. If you aren’t completely sure this is for you, Medifast also lets you order individual boxes so you can try it out without investing much up front.
Overall, we both found that we were never hungry on this plan, and our cravings completely went away. We both agreed that this was one of the easiest diets we’ve tried. If you have had problems sticking to a diet because of portion control, lack of convenience, or thought dieting took too much time to plan, then Medifast might be an option for you. If you decide to give it a try, join our Medifast users on our forum for tips and support.
To try Medifast click here and don’t forget to use code PROMO at checkout for your free bonus week!
