I've been sorta using a diet that I very loosely based on Medi-fast because I know a couple people who have done well with it but I didn't want to buy the food. I eat 5 mini-meals a day and one lean and green. I admit I've still been eating a little starch at that L&G meal though like 1/4 c rice or potato. I immediately started losing weight but recently I've noticed my mini-meals have been getting a little larger. Still within my limits where I know (from past experience) I can lose weight however.

Since we are planning a couple trips next month, I decided to try the MF foods this month (want to lose weight fast before visiting family!) and also have them for the trips for convenience.

I don't quite understand whether there is really anything special about the MF food products or whether they are simply portion control and convenient. Could I use some of them along with my own carefully planned mini-meals?
I don't mean at the same time of course, but sometimes use MF products and sometimes my own. I'm just wondering whether extra fiber or something has been added to the MF foods to make you feel full or to speed up metabolism or something. I ordered oatmeal, a couple kinds of bars, and some soups for starting out.

This MF forum seems very helpful and I'll probably be back with more questions if I continue with this.

Hi maryea!

The Medifast foods have been carefully formulated so that they contain the vitamins and minerals you need, and the Medifast combination of protein, carbs, and fat, plus fiber. And yet they are all close to 100 calories. Many of them are convenient for travel--the bars especially, since no water is needed.

I would use them all the time if I could, but I'm intolerant to protein isolate. So, I've had to come up with substitutes too. I have a list of food combinations I can eat that mimic the Medifast profile, and I also take a daily multivitamin/mineral supplement. I can have maybe one Medifast meal a day without triggering a reaction, so I do use them occasionally.

As far as I know, nothing artifical to speed metabolism is in the general Medifast foods, although they do have some specialized foods that contain metabolic enhancements.

I feel satisfied with the Medifast foods, and I'm not sure what components are responsible. But it's really great to have a 100 calorie meal that is healthy. Those store-bought 100-cal cookie packs that have come out are an awful idea!

I sometimes have half a piece of whole grain bread with my lean & green meal because I have found that I need closer to 100 grams of carbs a day to feel right. But, this is very individual. Also, one isn't supposed to have dairy products on regular Medifast, but I have no choice if I'm going to get enough protein with my substitute meals.

Good luck, maryea! Feel free to post questions!

Jay

Jay, do you know about the meatless options list?

http://www.medifastmedia.com/shared/...tions_list.pdf

There's cheese on it! Some days I just gotta have cheese.

Maryea, good luck with Medifast! I think you'll find it's a little easier than making your own mini meals. That's my favorite part about it - it's not complicated.

Oh yeah, that's right! And I do use lowfat cheeses in my meal substitutes--like lowfat string cheese, 2% cottage cheese. And even sometimes a lowfat cheddar, although I prefer the full fat version. Sigh!

Jay

Thanks for your responses. I can see this forum will be helpful. I do take supplements. But I hadn't thought of the proportions of nutrients being any different in the MF foods. So..just to see how I compared with my own devised mini-meals I plugged in the limits/requirements for the MF meals as given in the document recommended above into my diet software. I was amazed how well what I have eaten today compared!

I have not had my L&G yet, but here is what I have with my own mini-meals:

Calories 635 (so far..it is almost 6 pm and I have not yet had dinner)
Fat 33.6 (too high but I think I can fix that tomorrow)
Protein 36.1 I think if I really try I can get this up to where it should be at dinner. I'm having fish tonight and I can have up to 7 oz of fish, right?
Carb - I already have 77 gms so am going to have to be really careful tonight but it is doable.

When I saw the MF levels I really thought I'd come off worse than I did so that encourages me. I hope I'm understanding this correctly. Snacking in the evening is where I usually tend to get into trouble on any diet. But I know I need to get this in line due to my diabetes as well as my weight and have been doing better recently. Perhaps a MF product will be more helpful to me than what I'm doing right now in the evenings.

My partner, who doesn't have a problem with the protein isolate, often has a brownie or a pudding a couple of hours after the lean & green for dinner. A nice snack, and totally guilt-free and nutritious!

Jay

It's really all about the carb level (and other nutrition) as well as keeping your blood sugar levels stable.

If you can do the following, it will mimic Medifast and you should lose the same, but I am not sure about nutrition. You'd have to make sure you are getting enough of everything.

Eat 6-7x/day, every 2.5-3 hours
Each meal about 100 calories except the main meal, 400ish
More than 72g protein/day
Under 100g carbs/day
enough healthy fat for your gallbladder health
RDA of fiber
plenty of water
about 800-1000 calories/day

(p.s., not a doctor here, these are my own opinions!)

I am new and on the jumpstart program. I know I have made a few mistakes, but have not gone off program, so I hope all will be good. I'm only 3 days into the program, so am still feeling my way and trying the new Medifast meals. This string seems to be very informative and I appreciate all your comments.

Hey 2babetterme! Good to see you here!

Jay

I finally got my package yesterday and couldn't wait so started last night with my Lean & Green for dinner. I just forgot what I'd eaten before that day and had two MF meals in the evening (2 hrs apart) since evenings are my biggest problem. And guess what, they really did keep me full!! The chocolate pudding was my first one...it was ok. The blueberry oatmeal was my second...Ugh!! I forgot to soak it but boiled boiling water over it like my coach said...I'll try letting it soak next time. After the oatmeal, I craved sunflower seeds, one of my favorite evening snacks but I resisted and it soon passed.

Today I've had Apple oatmeal for breakfast (even worse!), beef vegetable soup (not good), a shake, and then had my L&G early so I can have two meals tonight. I can't wait to try the tips I've read about to make the meals taste better. I have bars and brownies coming tomorrow. I'm feeling fine and not really hungry...my stomach growled a little before my L&G but after I ate it was fine. I think if I can make the foods taste better (or get used to them) I'll be ok.

ETA: Now that I'm on Medifast, my blood sugar is great! My doctor will love that! :-)

Hey maryea! Good for you!

The foods take some getting used to. The shakes and the bars are the best, I think. But, I have grown to really enjoy the blueberry oatmeal and some of the soups (not all of them). Once you know what your favorites are, you can always order more of those in your next order. You can choose your order any way you like.

I like the beef vegetable stew, but it really does need a BIG microwave container so it doesn't boil over. I use a 4-cup glass measuring cup even though there's only 1 cup of water involved. And, I found that following the package directions as written makes it come out the best, of the different ways I tried.

Hang in there!

Jay

Day two is over and it went really well! I had a slight headache and occasionally, usually after a MF meal or when I'm forcing water, I feel a little nauseous but doesn't last long. So not too bad really.

And I'm rarely hungry. My stomach continues to growl right before my L&G and sometimes after it I wish for a little sweet plus after last MF meal, for some reason I crave something salty but I can tell it's not physical hunger and it passes quickly. It's after 11 pm right now and I haven't eaten since 8 pm and I'm hungry at all. Normally I'd be wanting to eat all evening!

Breakfast was Maple & Brown Sugar oatmeal, liked it a teensy bit better than the other two oatmeals but not by much and it looked terrible! Had to just eat and not look and I even put Splenda in it. My am snack was "my own" mocha mix which met the MF requirements after I cut the mix in 1/2 added a 1/2 scoop of protein and 1/2 t. fiber. I used water instead of my usual milk. Not nearly as good as my usual but not too bad. About that time my second package arrived ...the bars and brownies! I forgot these in the first order. So lunch was the PB Crunch Bar!! Finally something I really like! I have my L&G early 4-5 pm so I can have 2 more MF meals in the evening since that's typically my overeating time. My lean and green tonight was a hamburger patty (no bun) and a large salad with lettuce, sweet onion, tomato, cuke, and radish. No dressing, no fat of any kind since I had the hamburger. I rarely use dressing anyway. Just not something I like that much. My other two mini-meals (I still tend to call them snacks) were another PB Crunch Bar and a brownie! The brownie is my favorite!!! It tastes better than the Fiber One brownies! So glad I ordered them! So now that's 2 MF meals I actually like!

I'm picking up tips on how to make the oatmeal and soups better. Haven't yet tried the stew but thanks for the tip. I'm collecting all the tips I can get. So far I think I'm liking this diet. It is so easy! I'm a little worried about the expense of the food but hopefully I will lose fast and it will all be worth it.

Yay! It is surprising, isn't it, how one doesn't feel as hungry as one would expect?

If you are craving something salty, dill pickle is one of the approved snacks. It really takes care of that! You have the list of condiments and the list of snacks, right? If not, you can print them from the website.

The cost of the Medifast foods is offset to some extent by the foods you're not buying for breakfast and lunch.

Be sure to weigh the lean in your lean & green. 6 ounces of cooked chicken is more than most people think!

Jay

I agree with Jay on the importance of weighing the food. I was in a state of shock when I saw how much 6oz is!