Anyone here currently on MediFast?

[michmike]

wife and I have been on the 24 week optifast program since the end of February. As of last Monday, I had lost 62 pounds and she has lost 58.

 

Even though I've purchased smaller pants, they are still loose enough that a couple weeks ago when flying out of Detroit to Ft Myers, when I lifted my hands up above my head for the new full body scanner, those nearby got a good look at my undies as pants ended up around my knees. *L* A new problem to have, but a good one.

 

I highly recommend a book titled "Bread is the Devil" for anyone who is currently doing well on a program of any kind, but needs some advice/perspective on how to keep the changes in place. Another good book is "The skinny on losing weight w/o being hungry" by Dr Louis Aronne. Don't have to go out and buy those. Just check w/ your local library. If they don't have them they can likely borrow them from another library in their network.

 

Most of my reading says that 70+ % of folks who lose weight thru whatever means, end up putting much of it back on within a couple of years. We're determined not to be part of that statistic and the better handle you can get on the reasons you ate the way you did and the realization that you can never go back to those behaviors. I think the better your odds are of beating the stats.

 

Was out yesterday shopping for a bike as I still want to take off another 38 pounds before we cruise in December.

[nurseingu]

I start Medifast tomorrow. Reading the posts here are giving me encouragement. Have really psyched myself up for this. Getting ready for next years cruise in May 2013. Determined to shed 40 lbs by then!

 

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[youngestof9]

I start Medifast tomorrow. Reading the posts here are giving me encouragement. Have really psyched myself up for this. Getting ready for next years cruise in May 2013. Determined to shed 40 lbs by then!

 

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Karen - I really like it. I never thought when I was first starting it that I wouldn't have a desire to "cheat". I do miss some things I used to eat - such as crusty Italian Bread (living in NY is the worst - best.bread.ever). I miss rum too since it's my go-to summer drink. But I really don't miss foods I thought I would.

 

My only advice, don't start with the oatmeal. LOL! My favorites are the shakes and bars, but I love love love the pancakes and eat them almost every morning. I have either a brownie or a chocolate chip soft bake every night for my last MF meal. Yum.

 

When I first placed my order, I thought I had to order from each section. But on my 2nd order, I realized you didn't - so I had more that I liked. Are you going to a center or ordering online? I just order online.

 

Good luck - I find the medifast boards a great support system and a great place to not only find great support when you're losing, but if you're struggling you'll realize you're not alone.

 

and if you follow it, you'll be down 40 pounds in no time! I'm just at 8 weeks and down 28.5 to go. I am almost halfway to my goal.

Edited July 15, 2012 by youngestof9

[nurseingu]

Hi Youngestof9! Thanks for warning me about the oatmeal! Was going to make it be my first Medifast meal! But now I think it will be pancakes. I see where the artificial sweetness and Sugar free drinks (Crystal Light) are limited to 3/day. I've tried everything as far as weight list and I'm ready to make this work.:)

 

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[youngestof9]

Dont overshake the pancakes and use just 1/4 cup of water. I cook them on a griddle and use LOTS of Pam! Enjoy :)

[nurseingu]

Good morning! Getting ready to prepare my pancakes!:D

 

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[nurseingu]

Good morning! Getting ready to prepare my pancakes!:D

 

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[youngestof9]

I hope you liked them - I had the chocolate chip ones this morning :) I log all of my food on the mymedifast site. A lot of people use myfitnesspal.com to log food. Whatever works. I like logging my food so I can make sure I'm within the right parameters (fat, calories, etc.). Although this plan is pretty straightforward so you don't have to actually count anything.

 

Have a great first day. Drink lots of water - you'll get used to it - I'm up to between 70 and 100 oz. a day.

[nurseingu]

I've tried tracking my food on line and for some reason I do better tracking on paper. Going to find a good food/fitness journal where I can track everything. Just had the cappichino and it was good also. I did add a packet of Splenda to it for sweetness. Drinking lots of water!!!:)

[youngestof9]

is the cappucino a meal? I don't drink that. Most everything is a meal (like hot cocoa is a meal - so that's all you can have at that time). There are some optional snacks you can buy too, but I avoided them. Didn't want to get used to having a snack.

[nurseingu]

Yes the cappacino is a meal. It was pretty good. Lunch is going to be the Chili. I've heard bad things and good things about the chili. Just have to tryit for my self. I'm with you youngestof....don't really want to depend on the snacks. Going to make it off the 5+1. I baked some chicken breast over the weekend and have leftovers. That will be part of my lean and green. I also purchased some of the ised tea from Ebay and found out that is also a meal. I was thinking that they were like Crystal Light. but they do have 100 calories. Do you ever drink Crystal light or have the sugar free jello sacks that we're allowed. i do know ther jello is only one/day. How often per day are we allowed crystal light?

Thank you so much for being here listening to me. :) Right now I'm so hungry!!! Don't want to bother my coach today. She lost her mother in law and I think the funeral is today.

[youngestof9]

I don't really drink the crystal light. But they are considered a condiment. Here's the approved condiment list.

 

http://www.medifastmedia.com/shared/docs/condiment_recommendations.pdf

 

I drink water and caffeine free diet dr. pepper. I'll have a snapple sometimes. I would stay away from things that have calories (especially 100 that's a lot! That's more than some of the medifast meals).

 

I've heard with the chili you should soak it for awhile so the beans aren't hard.

[nurseingu]

The chili actually came out very good. I did soak it for an hour before it was time for me to eat and it was very tasty and filling. Crystal light only has 5 calories and no carbs. The drinks that medifast selld have 100 calories and count as a meal. Thanks for the condiment list. I didn't see that in the guide that came in my package. Next meal.....Vanilla Shake!!! it's all ready in the fridge. Getting it nice and cold.

[hapster222]

Haha.... it's funny. I'm on Day 4 of Medifast and was surfing the web for yet MORE information and ideas about it and decided to Google "Medifast and Cruising"... looks like a pretty big thread to peruse. I, too, am 52 and have decided to make some lifestyle changes. My goal is around 55 pounds. Have a Transpacific Hawaii cruise planned in November for two weeks and after only a week of "eating right" -- I pre-primed my body while the MF food was shipping -- I already know I'm going to eat a LOT differently on THIS cruise this time around. Already am down about 12 pounds in the first week.

 

So far the food isn't bad -- I'm soaking EVERYTHING for at least 3 hours or so before preparing it. The soups are the tastiest so far -- adding a small squirt of Sriracha sauce helps immensely LOL. The least favorite thing I've liked -- never have been a fan of oatmeal -- but it took me a good HALF HOUR to get through the first oatmeal pack I ate so for any of you out there having a problem with the oatmeal, I've come up with a different way of preparing it. Yeah, I know you can exchange out with corporate what you don't like, but this deals with it more efficiently.

 

Drop in one packet of the oatmeal and one packet of ANY flavor of either a shake, a pudding, or a soft-serve. Blend those DRY ingredients till everything's a fine powder. Take off the cup from the blender and add 1.5 cups of cold water. Blend it again. Now split that result into TWO portions (each one is a meal now). Put those in the fridge for at least a couple hours. Then when you're ready to consume one of them, add a little more water and some crushed ice and BLEND it again. Boom... instant oatmeal "Smoothie" and a HELLUVA lot more palatable than the oatmeal by itself.

 

Anyone got a tip for those powdered eggs? The box is still unopened... LOL....

 

Here's to healthy living!!!!

 

Hap

[hapster222]

Oh, and by the way, anyone near a Costco... if you get the cans of chicken breast and drain them, then squeeze the remaining liquid out with a paper towel....you get just about EXACTLY 7 ounces of chicken... pretty damn close to the 6 you're allowed.... Chicken salad lettuce wraps for the Lean and Green tonight... YUM!!

 

H

[hapster222]

Looks like this is a pretty active thread. I'm gonna post the tips and tricks I've come up with from the research I've done in the last couple weeks till someone says ENOUGH already with the posting LOL...

 

Re: the pancakes... instead of making them the conventional way, the powder in a cup sprayed with the approved "Pam" and add the recommended water... put THAT in the fridge for several hours... then when you're ready, add a dash more water, stir it again and stick that cup into the nuker for about a minute and a half. Boom: instant "Pancake Muffin"!!! A LOT less work and just as tasty.

 

H

[hapster222]

Deliamc, you sound like a wonderful health coach. Keep on paying it forward and helping America get healthy.

 

I am now down 117 in 28 weeks. I attached a photo from a few weeks back just to share. I love this habit changing plan!!! :D

 

Wow, Nick... Congrats on the before/after shot!!! Keep up the good work... I know this is four months later, but I just happened upon this thread. Hope things are on track for you!!!

 

Hap

[nurseingu]

Wow. Don't thinks I could have made it my first day without this thread. Had my last meal @ 3pm. Left work @ 330p and went straight to the gym. Worked out for 2 hours. Home @ 7 and I was starved. Had cooked chicken breast in Italian dressing and opened a can of spinach. My lean and green was delicious!. Just made a shake and put it in the fridge for later. Thanks for the tips hapster.....anything to enhance the meals is appreciated.

 

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[youngestof9]

Karen - be careful with working out in the beginning. MF recommends that if you currently exercise (before starting MF), you must cut back immensely in the beginning because of the calorie deficit. After 3 weeks on program, you can do no more than 45 minutes of moderate intensity workout.

 

Your body will go into starvation mode and you won't lose the weight. You also have to make sure you eat every 2-3 hours, so you ate at 3 and then again at 7 - it's a little far apart. There's some science to why. Lots of info on the medifast boards

 

http://mfboards.mymedifast.com/index.php

 

I just began working out again and I'm 8 weeks in (although like I said, you can start at 3 weeks).

 

Here's a couple of great sites for recipes:

 

Sandy's Kitchen - TONS of recipes and ideas - different tabs across the top

http://www.sandyskitchenadventures.com/

 

New Beautiful Me - great recipes

http://newbeautifulme.blogspot.com/

Edited July 17, 2012 by youngestof9

[nurseingu]

Thanks for the links youngestof. I thought the reason why exercise was limited was because of the carb deficit and not having energy to exercise. Well tomorrow I will only get a chance to walk for a half hour. I thought exercise would aid the weight loss. Thanks for letting me know. Going to go online and read up on the plan. Looks like I have a lot to learn! :)

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Edited July 17, 2012 by nurseingu

[hapster222]

Yum... just came up with another tweak for the Cappuccino packets for today's midmorning meal.

 

Take a Cappuccino packet and drop the powder into your blender cup. Add 3/4 cup of room-temp COFFEE and shake it vigorously to make sure the powder dissolves good enough (This is the KEY to ALL the Medifast products in my opinion). Stick it in the fridge for an hour and a half or so. When you're ready to prepare it, add in the last 1/4 cup or so in crushed-ice form (makes it easier on that blender) and SHAKE it again and then blend it -- hehe... I'm blending my ice/slushy type drinks now till I smell the blender motor (Wonder how long that little thing is going to last).... anyhow, once it's blended, it's downright DELICIOUS!!!! Starbucks has NOTHING on Medifast LOL.

 

H

Edited July 17, 2012 by hapster222

[nurseingu]

That sounds good. I must try. I ordered a small Hamilton Beach blender from Amazon. Wanted something that will stand up to crushing ice. Wasn't too sure about the one that medifast recommends. I'm sure it's a good blender but I didn't know much about that brand.

Edited July 17, 2012 by nurseingu

[hapster222]

Yeah, I picked up the $25 one that Walmart sells... I think it is a Hamilton Beach... so far so good... a Medifast user named Quackenbush -- here's a sample page from his site -- http://ichoosethin.com/thinblog/category/medifast-individual-product-review/page/2/ -- he's got a bunch of reviews on just about all the different menu items, so search around that site; lots of good tips, tricks, and videos -- he says they went through THREE of these cheapo $25 blenders before they finally went with the $45 one that Medifast sells and they've been using without incident since.

 

I think crushing the ice first if you're able to will go a long way to a longer blender life.

 

H

[nurseingu]

Thanks hapster. When I initially ordered my first shipment of Medifast I was not aware that a blender was needed....especially for the frozen desserts. If I had known I would have ordered the Medifast one. Just to have it when my food arrived. Can't wait to try the frozen dessert. Does it taste anything like ice cream? Tried the shake last night and it was very good. Gong to have one for my 3PM meal!!

[hapster222]

It really is amazing to get on the scale just about every morning and see progress. Now I know why all the info out there about sticking to the plan religiously!! Hope everyone is doing well!!

 

H