Has anyone tried Medifast or have any firsthand experience with the program? The wife and I need to seriously kick start some weight loss and after some research this may be our best bet for a month. Thanks in advance!
Not sure if anyone was following this thread, but I went ahead and did Medifast. Started on March 1st and I'm down 33 pounds as of yesterday. I'm a little under 6'2" and I went from 238 to 205. If aynone has any question, I'd be happy to answer them. I'm thrilled with the diet obviously.
Wow, that's quite a drop. Congrats. My wife is itching to lose some weight, and I could stand to lose some as well. She exercises 4-5 nights a week and does a great job watching what she eats but is not satisfied with the results. I echo Barbara's question, what does it involve? Thanks for the input!
Very impressive. I set myself a target to lose only 20 pounds last year, and it was one of the hardest things I've done in a long time. Keep up the good work!
Medifast follows what's called a 5&1 system. You have 5 Medifast meals (usually a shake, but there are other things like bars or soups also) and one full meal of lean meat and veggies. At first there are no fruits or carbohydrates allowed, but you can eat all the veggies you want, and stuff like no-cal drinks are ok. Over time the other foods get added in, and you eat more real meals instead of Medifast ones. Stogey's loss is a pretty good rate for this plan. You will probably lose quite a bit at first, and then taper off to 2-4 pounds a week. One drawback is that, due to the water you drink plus the water content and fiber of the mostly vegetable diet, you go to the bathroom a lot more than you are used to.
Scott covered it mostly. The only chang eI would make is that you can't really eat all the veggies you want. It's supposed to be 1.5 cups of veggie and 6-8 ounces of lean meat. Basically our default "lean and green" is chicken stir fry with olive oil, minced garlic, and peppers or broccoli. However, I do tend to eat an additional spinach salad daily and can only imagine it's nothing but good for me. Here's the website: http://www.medifast1.com/weightloss/men.aspx Probably a good idea to get the variety package to start, and then make further decisions based on what you like.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask. The first 3-7 days is kinda tough, with your body going into ketosis. After that, honestly, it's much easier. Start researching "lean and green" meals to figure out what you want to make. The easiest is baked chicken and a salad. Most nights I just bake chicken, chop it up and throw it into a pan with olive oil and veggies. Add soy sauce and you're good.
I'll definitely take you up on that offer. And yeah, I have already started looking at the "lean and green" stuff. For me the hardest part is going to be no alcohol for a while. I live wine, beer, manhattans, martinis, scotch, bourbon, vodka, etc etc etc. My goal is to get to the weight I was when I got married, 21 years ago. I was about 185 then. I'm around 285 right now, far too fat. But if I can get a good jump start and drop the weight relatively quickly (I'm thinking at least a year) then in the long run not drinking booze for a while will pay off.
Jeremy, If you do this to a T, I can almost guarantee you'll lose weight rather quickly. The fact that you weigh more actually means you'll lose weight faster. About alcohol, my wife and I are more wine drinkers - and that's not allowed. However, I think straight liquor like Vodka, whiskey or gin should be ok since it's virtually zero calories. I could be wrong though.
Just avoiding alcohol completely - although I might have a drink or two every now and then. And I got the food and started the program on Thursday. I was very unhappy to step on the scale at 300.8 lbs. First time I've ever been over 300. But I'm already down to 292.8. In three days! I know it won't always drop off that fast, but if I can average 10 lbs / month, I'll hit my goal weight in a year.
Excellent! Good for you. The frustrating thing is that the closer you get to your goal weight, the slower the weight comes off. Although I found that one way to lose weight effortlessly is to eliminate alcohol almost entirely. I lost 15 or 20 pounds in about 6 months eating whatever I wanted. I just didn't drink at home. (Which sucks, but not as much as eating nothing but salad.)
I'm planning to start biking back and forth to work to get exercise in. The route is just over 9 miles, and is largely bike trails, with a few surface streets When I was working at the NIH (actually, NIA) a few years ago, I was biking back and forth to Bethsda, MD on this route, which was around 8 miles. If I could do 8 miles each way a few years ago, there's no reason I can't do 9 miles each way now. I just need to figure out how to get a dress shirt, dress slacks and necktie to the office without getting them too wrinkled, because there's no way in hell I'd wear that on the bike. I'd take a shower then change once I get into work.
JE, They do recommend not exercising for the first couple weeks, as a heads up. And full disclosure, I have not exercised the entire time. lol
FWIW, when I biked to work I had 10 shirts and a couple of suits. Suits and ties I kept in a closet at work. Shirts, I drove to work once a fortnight to bring them in, and brought the dirty one home each day in my backpack for laundering. When the suits/ties needed a dryclean I just had one of the local firms pick up and drop off to the office.
I started Medifast exactly 8 weeks ago today, and more or less took a week off in early June when I went to New Orleans for a business trip. I started at 300.8 lbs, and this afternoon I'm down to 264.8. I'm still a fat ass, but I'm a fat ass who's 36 lbs less fat than I was 56 days ago. So I'm pretty damned happy. I'm not sure if I will see 180 (my goal weight) but if I can keep up this pace, I should be at 200 in another 4 or 5 months. Oh, and I have started biking back and forth to work. It's just under 10 miles each way, so I get close to 80 miles per week (I work at home one day per week).
I'm on the "on crutches" or "foot in a cast" diet. It's amazing how one loses weight when it's difficult to get up and get food.
Keep it up. When you reach your target weight we'll nominate you to Medifast for a lucrative endorsement deal.
Down to 255 now, -45.8 lbs since I started. I ride my bike to work pretty much every day. I haven't hit the gym in a while, but plan to start doing that starting next month.
I'll have to look into this. I've lost an inch around my waist just by cutting out the snacking, and I'm going to knock off the beer in a week or two and see if I can carry that off for the fall and winter. I'm lucky to be able to walk to work: three miles one way, takes 45 to 50 minutes (75 or 80 this winter when there was 40 inches of snow on the trail). Been going to the gym a bit, too, but I really don't like weight training all that much.
I hit 50 lbs lost today. 50.3 lbs, to be exact. In 16 weeks, for an average of 3.14 lbs / week. Roughly one Pi per week lost since I started in early May.
