Considering starting Medifast - Please answer some questions...
 

Hi everyone,

I'm new here to 3FC and I'm interested in the Medifast program. However, I have doubts as I've never tried a mostly liquid diet. I eat all the time, emotional eater and everything else. I don't need a reason to eat, it is just constant. I'm trying to use thedailyplate for tracking food and I love Leslie Sansone's walking DVD's.

I wonder if anyone found it difficult to stick with the shakes and soups on the Medifast plan instead of ''normal'' food?

Does anyone know if it really matters if you use the ''55'' shakes or the ''70''? Can you tell a difference in how full you felt or how long you felt full?

Has anyone ordered from buyers on ebay (I know about checking the expiration dates)?

Can anyone share success stories and how long it took them to lose the weight using Medifast? Is it really possible to lose 20 lbs in a month?

What about exercise?

Thanks so much for any answers, I've been reading all the posts I can find on here about Medifast.

Kris

Welcome Kris! These ladies here can help you with just about anything you need to know... that being said, I'll take a shot at just a couple of questions.

You need to give yourself more credit! You have will power that you need to tap into. (Your a mommie of four?) include your family! My 6 year old is my biggest fan,:cheer3: my husband is excited for the sexier wife and my three year old is just going along for the ride. (Says everything his older brother does... son1 "Mommy your looking not so fat today", son2"yeah, not so fat":rofl:) I get daily kudos! If you are too afraid of what you cant do, you'll never find out what you can do! Also, I tell people that I'm not going to be on the shakes forever, just through the weight loss phase. Cant I take a vacation from stuffing my piehole for a couple of months?:lol:
And lastly, the point Ive had to come face to face with is eating doesnt mean I have to be "stuffed" I have to slow down and enjoy my food and realize that I am never going to stuff my gut again. Its just my two cents, take it or leave it. Whatever you pick, it seems like your research will only help in your sucess! You can do it!:D

Welcome Kris! Feel free to jump into our July chat thread.

I haven't ever ordered from anyone on ebay, though I know others have with success. I know I couldn't do it, since I would be freaked about where the food had been or if the family smoked.

I lost 17lbs the first month, but I've never followed the program exactly as stated (for a variety of reasons). I would think the 20lbs would depend upon where you are starting from. I don't know if it would be achievable if you only had 30lbs to lose, for example. I could be wrong though.

Oddly, I've never considered Medifast a "liquid" diet, though I could see why it would be called that as there are a lot of drinks to choose from. However, you also have the lean & green meal and puddings, oatmeal, eggs, and bars you could eat. I have had a little more "luck" sticking with the Medifast diet than I have had on past diets, but I really think any program can work if you stick with it. My issues with food go beyond overeating on occasion. Some people do well with Medifast and some do not. I like most of the food and like many aspects of the program, so it has allowed me some consistent success. I lose, on average, 2-3 lbs per week.

I like Leslie's WATP as well. I try to use them a few times a week.

Anyway, welcome! I hope you find success.

Welcome to 3FC. You get a lot of support and encouragement here as well as education on a variety of subjects.

Look under the diets tab of the 3FC wesite, They tried Medifast and did a great review that answers a lot of your questions! It helped me make the decision.

I just made my first order tonight. I will be starting in about 10 days! I am excited from everything I have read s far!

Good Luck on whatever program you try!

D

Cool thing is you still eat all the time. Just learn to eat smaller amounts and then transition into more appropriate eating.

Hi there!
I am new to all of this as well but have two cents on "Medifast"...I looked into the program and found it way too expensive for my single mom of two tight budget!
However, I know a competion bodybuilder and asked him about what he does to burn and keep off fat...his answer was Whey and Caseins Protein powder shakes and loads of steamed veggies and fish and chicken.

So I bought the jar of Whey protein and a jar of Casein protein for about fifty bucks and have set out to change my life one drink at a time!

I add a spoon of non-dairy coffee creamer and a spoon of instant coffee and icewater and then put it in the blender...it actually taste REALLY good and is super, SUPER filling...the Whey fills me up for about four hours and the Caseins last for about 6-7 hours.

I take a multi-vitamin every day and eat loads of Broccoli! So far in about two weeks I have gone from 267 down to 252.

That is my "two cents worth" and I hope you are sucessful!
Feel free to read along on my diet blog "I used to turn heads"...Good Luck Kris!

I found Medifast to be a great diet. The 3FC review was spot on in this regard, as despite the incredibly low caloric content (about 700 calories/day in my case; I eliminated the lean and green meal entirely and went all-Medifast), after the first three days (which were very difficult to make it through) I never felt hungry or got a single craving. I stayed on the diet for about four months and lost 80 pounds (from 300 to 220), with zero cheat days. And especially since I didn't go with the lean and green, it only cost about $12/day, which is cheaper than I generally spend for my food anyway.

The issue I ran into was coming back off of it. You're still not really learning portion sizes because you're not eating regular food. And you're really not learning the long term habits you need to get into to KEEP the weight off. As soon as I decided to take some time off the diet, while I ate less for a while and maintained my new weight for about three months, I then began to fall into my old eating habits and over about a year regained the entire loss.

Overall I'm probably worse off having yoyoed that way than I would have been just staying 300 pounds the entire time. I feel worse than ever and while I want to get back on the horse again, I'm worried about coming out into the maintenance phase again. I'm giving BistroMD a serious look now, since while it's much more expensive, it should teach me about portion sizes and how I SHOULD be eating for the rest of my life. You can't really stay on just Medifast, even including lean and green, for life.

Just my two cents from a successful previous Medifast user. Great plan, and extremely easy to stick to because you really aren't hungry, but make sure you've got your ducks in a row for transitioning to the rest of your life once the weight melts off!

fourangelsmommy: I just started MF on 6/26. So far, I've lost 9 pounds! I do the 5&1 plan, and have gone out to eat 3 times. I order a small steak or a small portion of plain chicken, then steamed broccoli and a salad without croutons or cheese. If the restaurant doesn't have low fat/low carb dressing, I order balsamic vinaigrette on the side and dip the tines of the fork into it for each bite. I even made it through July 4th without falling off the wagon!

I find that the products are pretty palatable, except the oatmeal is AWFUL! (my opinion - no offense to anyone who actually likes it!) LOL

I went to Target and bought a Slushie Express single portion blender thingy for $19.99. I put a couple ice cubes in it, add 3/4 of the water and a packet of one of the shakes and blend. It's like a slushie and it takes about 10-15 minutes to eat it. The shakes taste much better if they're icy cold. I've even mixed half a packet of Orange Creme and half a packet of French Vanilla and made a 'creamsicle' slushie. You can experiment with the flavors, but make sure you're only using a total of one serving. (My next experiment will be 1/2 Dutch Chocolate and 1/2 Strawberry Creme.)

I'm in nursing school right now, so on Clinical weekends I usually eat a bar for breakfast and another one mid-morning - I'm so busy and Clinicals are so physically demanding that I need more than a shake to get me through. So far it hasn't hurt my weight loss any. You're only supposed to have one bar a day, because the carb count is a little higher, but I'm running it off when I'm that busy.

All I can say is, I like the program. I tend to nibble all day long, and carbs are not my friends! I space out the products every 2-3 hours, and I'm never hungry. It works for me because it takes the decision-making out of the process. I just eat a product every couple hours, drink tons of water and have a good, balanced lean and green at either lunch or dinner (depending on how my schedule is that day).

Good luck!! You can do it!!