I'm so excited to have found this little slice of heaven

I've been contemplating Medifast for the past couple months and have been looking for more information. It's great to find lots of answers to my questions here.

I've been "working" my own plan of eating better and exercising for a few months. I've lost 10 pounds. Unfortunately, that all came off in the first month and since then I've seen no progress I've come to a point where I just don't know what else to do and I feel like the eating thing is a big area that I am unable to figure out.

My hopes with Medifast are that I will be able to get a better handle on what I'm eating and that I will feel a level of success that I am not achieving right now.

My biggest fear, though, is that I will lose weight on Medifast and then get tired of the program and gain it all back. Or that I will not be able to handle the transition back to regular food.

I'm considering using Medifast 100% to get down 1/2 way and then try and transition in a breakfast and a snack. Has anyone had success with this???

Here is the thing about Medifast...are you listening closely???? DO NOT TRY TO FIX IT!!!! Do your 5 in 1, drink you water, weigh 1 time a week and KNOW there WILL be a week you lose nothing, but DO NOT cheat, do not fix it, do not do it your way... do the program one shake at a time and in 6 months or less you will be at goal.

Wow...thanks for the advice.

Now...are YOU listening closely?!!?

I'm typically open to KIND responses not snarky ones

That said...I'd love to hear how YOUR experience has been with Medifast!

I've had success on Medifast, but I have gone off plan a couple of times for birthday and Thanksgiving, going straight back to plan after. Consequently, I've only lost 16 lbs in a little over a month (I think I would have lost over 20 by now if I'd stuck to the plan). It's a very quick way to lose weight, and they do have a Transition and Maintenance program to help you go back to regular foods, and the nice thing is that your weight ever starts to creep back up again, you can just get a 2-week supply and get that 5-10 lbs back off again quickly. Hope this helps!!

16 pounds is pretty awesome!! Congrats

I've been working out quite a bit and have done some changes in eating, but apparently not enough. Over the past few months, I've gone down 10 lbs. I know it's a success...but I feel stuck. I swore I would never do something like Medifast...never say NEVER

Anyhoo...I'm ordering on Thursday and excited to see how it works. I've got plans to head to Florida in March, so I'd like to see a good drop between now and then. I don't plan on wearing a bikini...but feeling comfy on the plane would be nice

Thanks for sharing your progress!

I have some experience with Medifast ... A few years ago I lost 30 pounds, then fell off the plan when I had some surgery and although I tried to get back into it a few times I ended up gaining it all back.

I think in looking at those who were successful with Medifast, most really stuck with the program as written until they got to goal AND they went through the transition as prescribed by Medifast. (There is a theory involving set points and one's body becoming accustomed to a new set point.) The people who did this, seemed to be successful ... the ones who weren't successful were the ones who lost some ... then drifted off due to diet fatigue or whatever ...

I am headed back to Medifast as of today, much more determined this time. I like certain things a lot about Medifast. I liked the food, once I got used to it and found my favorites. I like the regimentation and feel it fits in with my busy family lifestyle. One of my problems is that when I hit a plateau, I get totally discouraged and give up. I'm hoping to muscle through the inevitable plateaus this time.

The other thing that's nice is that there's a 5/1 plan (5 MF meals and 1 Lean and green) but you can also occasionally do a 4/2 plan (4 MF and 2 L&G). The 4/2 is slightly higher calories (about 400 extra), but similar carbs (~90), so if you're REALLY starving or need to eat 2 meals in one day for social occasion, etc., you can without going out of ketosis. This has been helpful for me to realize because (shh don't tell anyone at MF) I'm still nursing, and some days I'm SUPER HUNGRY!! This is kind of odd, because the first month I was on it, I was rarely hungry, so I don't know why I've been so hungry the past couple of days. Maybe the crazy weather here in the Texas Hill Country.

Best of luck to you, Goalby40 and Lyre!!

I'm also a medifaster I've been on the program since May 13th of this year, and have gone from 235 to 177.8 (as of this morning). It's a great program and truly works, and works fast, but only if you follow it to the letter. I've gotten bored recently and have tried to spice up the meals or have extra protein, condiments, cheat meals/days, etc. and it has really slowed my losses. I was in the 180s for almost 2 months! Its weird because starting the program and sticking to it wasn't a problem for the first 3 months, but then my losses slowed, stalled a few times, and I tried to game the system by consciously cheating in attempts to restart my metabolism and have a woosh weight loss.

My advice for you is to follow the program and not get too obsessed with how much others are losing per week. A huge struggle for me has been seeing other people on the program lose faster than me, and then getting discouraged and eating on plan to jump start my weight loss. Just stick to the program and you can be at goal faster than you know. And if you do slip up, get right back on track and keep going forward.

Thanks for the good wishes and advice! I know I'm definitely going to be struggling the first time the scale shows no loss. I did exactly the same thing BarristerGirl describes, as far as trying to "game the system" ... I began to rationalize cheating in the same way. I have to remember that if I'd just stayed on the program I'd have been at goal eventually even if it took me a pound a week to get there.

Did your stuff come in yet? I just ordered my first month set and they come in next week- I'm excited to get on the stuff- I lost about 40 lbs and then gained back 10 and since then I've just been stuck. I'm sick and tired of counting every meal and this seems like a nice change for me. Apparently I'm AWESOME at maintaining lol. If I lose an average of 2 lbs a week I'll be ECSTATIC!

down 19 lbs as of this morning! That's in about 6 weeks, so woohoo! I'm pretty happy with the progress.

WTG

I'm getting antsy for my shipment lol.

Yes, my first shipment took 11 days!!!! Of course, I ordered it on a Friday afternoon and they didn't ship it till Monday. They sure could improve the shipping time. I ordered my 2nd order way early so I wouldn't have to skip any days waiting for it to get in! You're going to do great and LOVE how fast the weight comes off!

I just started one week ago... Lost 6.4lb in 6 days. I did the program a year ago but only for a couple weeks (extenuating circumstances) so was a little disappointed that I didn't have the 13lb loss I had in the first week last year! But I need to remember that 6.4lb IS fantastic, and any weight lost it progress in the right direction! You are going to love this program. Yes, you need to stick to the program and not cheat at ALL... but it's not as boring as it sounds. There are ways to have delicious lean and green meals, for example, that are totally on plan! Look at the meatless options list (google "medifast meatless options) for additional lean protein ideas (including cheese!). I have found the Morningstar Farms Grillers Prime Veggie Burgers to be fantastic! You are allowed 2 patties, but I usually have just one and use my other half protein for something else... like low-fat cheese! This is 100% on plan, too!