Anyone tried Medifast> What was your experience with it? Does it work? Is it worth the expense?

Just joined this website and yes I am a Medifaster. Yes it works amazingly well, but is pricey. You eat basically every 2-3 hrs. Have 5 medifast meals (shakes, soups (including chili and stew), puddings, oatmeal, one low carb bar a day and a lean and green meal (basically 7 oz fish or poultry or 5 oz lean meats and 1.5 cups cooked veggies or 2 cups salad greens. Calories are around 800 -1000 with carbs under 100g.

my mom used it and lost over 50 lbs in a very short amt of time.. like 5 months.. then immediately gained it all right back. Its just like doing a very restrictive calorie diet, if you dont eat that way forever you are going to gain weight back.. I tried it myself for 2 weeks but my body did not like it at all >_> I think it might be all the soy protein or something.. It is pretty expensive also. One good thing I can say about it is that if you are planning on doing a very restrictive 800-1000 calorie diet anyway, then medifast is probably good for you because it controls the amount of nutrients you are getting, whereas you might not get enough on your own restrictive diet plan..

I've been on the program for about 2 1/2 weeks now and am down 17 pounds. I've also been working my butt off on the treadmill and free weights. As far as expense it's about $10 a day which sounds expensive but if you think about it you probably spend that much now if not more already. I see a nutritionist (free through my program) once a week and see my regular doctor once a month. My meetings with the nutritionist are a group meeting and focus on what to do after the diet as well as support while we are on it. No diet will stick if you go back to eating the way you did before. My nutritionist recommends a 1500 calorie a day diet that is low in carbs and fat after you transition off the diet. I'm not going to say it's easy, because it's not, but it does work. It's just up to you to keep it off once you are off the program. I've found several of the foods that I actually like and will probably continue to use once I'm off the program.

Hey Lorihatesokra...I'm from southern cali too. I've been off and on the medifast plan many times. Personally I like it but it's hard for me to stick to ANYTHING. I have a horrible pepsi addiction that gets me everytime. Of everything I've tried this was the easiest to stick to and I'm ready to try it again. I noticed you and I weigh the same (although you're a bit taller). Is there a thread on here for medifast?

I've been looking for a thread and there doesn't seem to be one. I think I read that if enough of us are out there we can ask to have a board started for us.

I have a hard time sticking to things as well. I actually attend a group meeting with a nutritionist once a week and do my weigh in there. That way if I want to know what I've lost for the week I have to go to the meetings. It seems to be working so far even though I'm only 3 weeks into my MF plan. I'm one of those people that doesn't want to cheat or go in and not have lost anything so it sorta holds me accountable and that's good. Not to mention the support and information from not only the nutritionist but the people that have been on MF for a while is just great.

Lori,
My suggestion is that you start your own thread in General Diet Plans. That is how most groups start. They start with a single thread and grow from there. You could look through some of the current threads in General Diet Plans to get an idea of what other small groups do.

Hi Lorihatesokra & Jujubee..

I am not on Medifast but I am doing HMR (full liquid very low calorie diet). I also go to weekly nutritional counseling and medical visits and was hoping to find dieters who are doing similar program. I am also in So. Cal (Orange County). Let me know if either of you would like to start a VLCD or LD thread.

Nilla

I tried medifast and it was not for me. I personally didn't care for the food and so I returned everything after a week. I also was crazy hungry the whole time. They credited my account promptly, so I can say the customer service is good and they have the money back guarantee.

I looked at the site and was considering trying it.

I saw the two week package for women, 142.50, or something like that, so its basically 70 a week, is that about right? Do you need to purchase anything else? I was wondering how long it would take to lose 30 pounds, the cost would add up. How does this program compare to Jenny Craig? I thought JC was around 100 a week?

Does the program also come with instructions?

I was just thinking maybe a more structured program would give me a jump start because I seem to still have trouble eating the right portions and foods, but I hate the thought of spending a lot of money and wonder if I could do the same thing with my own purchased foods.

JC is about 80/week for food (at least when I did it many years ago) but there is an initial sign up fee. They are very generous with their food and focus on "real" food (or at least as real as you can get with their entrees). When I did JC, I was giving a 2000 calories/day allotment. I believe with Medifast you are doing a low calorie diet, 800 calories or so?

Thanks Nellie. Its quite a difference and low calorie diet compared to JC, didn't realize that.

Do you remeber optifast? Wasn't that a liquid diet resulting in fast weight loss?

Optifast still exists, they are really expensive though. I believe you see a nurse as part of the program on a regular basis. With JC, you are seeing a "trained" counselor. Their training isn't medical training but training by the company.

Also, since you are closer to your goal, you probably would eat a lot less than 2000 calories/day. I was over 300 lbs when I was on JC. I think their minimum though is 1200 and even then I think you have to be pretty close to goal for them to give you that calorie allotment.

I think with Optifast, like Medifast, you are giving a low calorie diet, 800 calories/day or so. I believe both programs used to be really big on shakes, and they may still be so but I also think they have other foods as well. Someone recently mentioned that with Medifast, you have one "real" meal a day and I think with Optifast you eat their meals exclusively until you get closer to goal.

If you are interested in any of these programs, I don't think it'd hurt to look them up and even talk to a representative. I'd be careful of the quick sell though. If they say "for today only, it'll cost you $$$", feel free to walk away and think about it.