For those not allergic to soy - I recently bought soy protein powder in the bulk foods section of WinCo. I couldn't believe it, it was a few dollars for a pound of it! I was worried that the soy taste would be overwhelming, but I made a smoothie and my teenager loved it. I got to use stevia, a plus over those powders that use artificial sweeteners, it was inexpensive, and I got 15 gms of protein for only 60 cals.

Thanks for this thread.

I wonder, is there a board that may be more appropriate for those of us using mostly/only substitutions? As another post mentioned, it seems this may be the best board; but I don't want to upset people here either.

I don't know if this has been mentioned, I haven't had time to read through all the posts yet, but I have substituted some Weight Watchers Smoothies for some meals. You don't have to be a member to buy them at the centers. You get 7 for $7.50. Mixed with water they are 90 calories, 1.5 fat, 4 fiber, 10 protien & 11 carbs.

A little higher in Cal's, but I like them. I think their on the list for L&G, but good for a meal too.

Boca Flame Grilled Meatless Burger
Cal 120
Fat 4.5g
Carb 5g
Protein 15g

These seem okay, theres a lot of campbells soup that would work but the sodium is so high like 900 mg :/ the healthy choice soup has 300ish 3/4 cup KELLOGG'S, SPECIAL K Low Carb Lifestyle Protein Plus calories 101 fat 3g carb 14g fiber 5g protein 10g 15% vitamin A 35% Vitamin C 4% Calcium 45% Iron 1 cup Healthy Choice chicken noodle soup calories 100 fat 2g carb 13g fiber 2g protein 9g 28% ...

I love that people are looking outside of the "Medifast Box" but I encourage everyone to check the labels and do the math. Many of the substitute suggestions on the internet are not viable Medifast alternatives (I just got burned on some Trader Joes Power Crunch Bars). While some of these are great, please make sure you do the math on everything before purchase!

While Medifast is a great product I hated thinking about how much money i was spending, and how many horrible chemicals were in the food chemically treating my body into weight loss! I searched forever and studies alot and came up with how to do medifast on my own from home from the grocery store! all natural whole foods. I have gotten the same if not better weight loss as medifast advertises and LOVE it! diymydiet.com 31 pounds down in less than two months! Real food is best!

Medi-fast is not just about the protein, sugar, fat and calories. They are a complete soy and vitamin based meal substitution unless they specifically say it is a snack item. It is probably o.k. as a fill in once in awhile but avoid replacing any meals with a snack item from another source. Medi-fast is very low calories so it is important to get enough nutrition. I know this from personal experience. I l have lost 40 pounds on Medi-fast and over all I feel great! I had an order sent somewhere else recently and customer service suggested adding an additional lighter lean and green meal in place of the meal bars.

You can do Medifast from home complete REAL food from the grocery store! No gross protein shakes or anything like that! All clean eating I have now lost 60 pounds and Average three pounds a week! Diymydiet have fantastic info on how to do medifast all on your own!

I'm following The Simple Diet from the book by Anderson and Gustafson, and most Ideal Protein products fall within TSD, so I've been scouring the IP and Medifast threads, especially the alternatives and substitution threads.

This thread has been very helpful. I've studied the nutrition labels of many of the name brand and grocery store products, and I'm not convinced that any are as carefully balanced as the makers claim, at least for plans that allow you to pick and choose your options.

I have a decent nutrition and research analysis background and to me, it appears that the calorie, fat, protein, and carb content is as far as balancing efforts go, so its perfectly safe to choose alternatives that are matched on these nutrients as long as you're eating plenty of low-cal vegetables in an assortment of colors (which you need to be doing on the name brand foods too). Taking a daily multivitamin wouldn't hurt.

I think I may have found something today that is compareable to the shakes and relatively affordable. I bought Kellogs Breakfast to Go shake mix. 6/box for just over $5. It says to add it to 1 cup milk, however I added it to just plain old water and the taste is light, it mixes well, and no funny after taste. They come in Strawberry, Vanilla, Chocalate. I didn't bring the box to work with me, but here is what I remember:
Protein 13, Fiber 4, calories 130 (210 with a cup of milk).
It's gonna save me a ton of money!
YAY!

The Meal to Go isn't very Medifast-compatible. Without the milk, the protein content is only 5g and the sugar/carb counts are very high (17g of sugar and 27g total, 22g net).

Once you add the milk, the calories are about twice that of Medifast and the sugar content jumps to a whopping 30g and total carbs to 39g.

Made with water, it contains too much sugar and not enough protein. Made with milk it has too many calories and even more sugar.

You would be better off (and closer to Medifast nutrition) to just have a plain glass of skim, 1%, or 2% milk and skip the shake packet altogether. Even whole milk would be a better choice. Add a bit of Torani or DaVinci syrup and you've got a "smoothie." In the blender with a little ice and you've got a shake.

For all meal replacement plan substitutions, I would recommend comparing and matching on calorie, protein, net carbs, sugar, fat, and fiber (in roughly that order of importance).

If it doesn't match on at least the top three: calories, protein, net carbs (carbs minus fiber), I personally wouldn't consider it.

An 8oz glass of 1% milk would have
100-110 calories
8-9 g protein
13g of carbs (all from sugar, but it is naturally occurring milk sugar, not added sugar)
2.5 g of fat

A little low on protein, but if you had a 12 oz glass instead, I think it would match even better

150 calories
12-13g protein
17g carbs
4g fat

I tried Medifast but the foods were grose. Why would I pay a ridiculous amount of money for this low grade powder. I mean its not even high quality protein powder. So for any of you who have tried IP or Lindora foods....? Are they any better or just more crap?

I just cannot see spending the money and then taking the time to try to make food out of it with all the recipes, when its basically inedible.

I've lost weight on Medifast twice now. I lost 50 pounds in 2005 at the age of 49 and have lost over 60 pounds recently at the age of 56. I used Medifast bars in conjunction with my doctor's weight loss plan, as I don't care for meat that much.

It is, however, expensive, and I didn't want to stay on it forever. Have been looking for a replacement and have a few pounds to go.

I found Designer Whey - which is only 100 calories - 18 g protein, 2 g sugar, 6 g carbs. I mix it with either Silk unsweetened Vanilla or Almond Breeze, which ads 30 calories. You can use water- there is not much difference. It takes a little getting used to. You do add a pkg of Splenda or powdered Stevia. It comes in Chocolate, Double Chocolate, Vanilla and Strawberry and is the shake they use on Biggest Loser or Extreme Weight Loss.

They have it at Publix grocery stores, or at drugstore dot com. It was not expensive I paid $27 for 32 servings and $21 for 25 servings.

Glad to find this forum - it provided me with some ideas for bars - I thought I had seen every one out there!!!

The last few pounds really seem to be the hardest!!!

I find that Dr Kracker (I like 3seed) and a lite string cheese stick is a satisfying and tasty snack.