I have be up and down for many years and only one thing has consistently worked for me - calorie counting. But the first thing you have to do is find out how many calories per day YOU need. First, go to http://www.ahealthyme.com/topic/calneed and calculate a rough estimate of your caloric requirements. Next, get a digital food scale and keep it on your kitchen counter. Weight everything that goes into your mouth (only takes a second to do). Last, set up an account at Fit Day http://www.fitday.com/ and keep a food journal. Fit Day is free and will also let you track your exercise and discover pretty close to what your caloric needs are. To lose weight, you must take in fewer calories than you need. So stop digging your grave with your mouth, eat fewer calories and get off the couch. There isn't a magic solution to our problem.

Oh I am up off the coach plenty, thankyou. I work out every other day for at least an hour. I'd say that is adequate or even more than adequate while being on a low cal liquid diet, wouldnt you? If a person chooses not to work out then they are going to regain every pound they lost or else not eat very much. I've been around a looooong time now, I dont need to look up how many calories to consume and I dont even need a food scale. Been there and done that and have learned how to measure without a food scale.

I got my Medifast package yesterday in the mail and started this morning!
I made the decision to eat some of the stuff that I normally would not like first that way I would not be stuck with it at the end. So I ate the peach oatmeal this morning and surprisingly liked it! maybe it tastes better to me because I know it is part of a plan to help me get thinner and healthier? hmm... anyway I am excited

Me thinks I am kooky because most people like the oatmeals but I have no use for them. lol However, we are all different and it would be a boring world if we were all alike and Medifast would run out of oatmeal if we all liked it! I also want to add that the chicken noodle soup is out of this world. It is thick and creamy and dang, I only have 3 packs left! I also order ala cart...would never do it any other way. It's trial and error on what you like and if I dont like something, I send it back and get a replacement. Medifast has been really good about this with me.

I can't stand the oatmeal, aka Cream of Concrete. I always made muffins out of it. They're pretty good. But, you can only do that with MF, the WS ones don't come out the same.

The muffins sound good but I dont have any cupcake liners and I am too lazy to go to the store, otherwise I would make muffins. Cream of concrete is a good one! lol

I didn't use liners just cooking spray. I did use mini muffin pans, however, and piled them up. They don't rise and the smaller cups made them cook a little better. It seemed a bit more solid and filling than as oatmeal. Also, I had 4 breakfasts ready to go when they were done.

well, I am at the end of my first day and over all it's been okay. My stomach was a little upset though..is that something any of you guys have gone through in the beginning?

A little bit. But worse was I had some major noxious gas that would knocked out an angry Rhino in full charge.

Haha oh no! I am going to assume this goes away after a awhile?
I am pretty excited, I made it to my 2nd day. Last night I could not sleep and was starving so I went down to find a dill pickle spear to eat and found an outdated jar in the way back of the fridge. So I threw it away and will go buy a new jar today. I just drank a LOT of water, that actually helped.
I love this site and forum, once again, thanks to al of you for your support and communication- it really helps!

Definitely drink at least the amount of water they say and any more you can get in since the ketosis could lead to kidney problems if not.

Yes, the gas did go away before too long.

Hi everyone! I am on my 4th day of Medifast and feel a LOT better- just thought I would check in!

Good job Arlen. Keep it up. You should have gotten past the hard part now. It's all down hill and down scale from here.

Oh yeah, as far as the "other" issue goes.....Beano became my best friend. I shoulda bought stock in the company.

For about the first month, I feel ornary and have gas! LOL

Even though the weight comes off, that first month is a beast. You just hve to keep plugging away, dont miss your meals and if you cannot stand one more minute, have another shake or soup. Often times I add an extra shake to my day. I dont think anything of it. So some days I do the 6 and 1 and other days the 5 and 1. And when I am doing the full fast, I always have 6 to 7 products. I kind of tweak the program to work for my hunger needs and that varies each day.