Medifast Diet Program

Just another sales gimmick or does it work?

With so many different diets out there proclaiming to be the best on the market, I wasn’t sure whether I really wanted to try the Medifast Diet Program. By that time I was sceptical about any diet, especially one that had been hyped up like Medifast had been.

I needed something that would help me change the way I was eating, and I didn’t feel a diet with special food was going to do that for me. According to the advertising I had heard, Medifast Diet Program involved eating portion-controlled foods that were low in calories that would help you lose weight quicker and more effectively than traditional diets by helping your body burn fat.

Medifast Diet Program is a 5 + 1 program meaning you eat five Medifast meals and one lean and green meal consisting of lean meat with a salad or other green vegetables, so eat six meals a day with one low-calorie snack. It sounded good to me because you eat every two to three hours, so how could you be hungry? What I didn’t consider was that since the diet is only 800-1000 calories, I still wouldn’t be eating much food throughout the course of the day.

I also had to give up healthy foods such as fresh fruit, which I loved. In spite of the great weight loss, after about two weeks I became bored—there was certainly a variety of food from which to choose, but the lack of variety in vegetables and inability to eat fruits made it very difficult to appreciate the loss of weight.

Another problem I had with the Medifast Diet Program was the cost, which averaged $70-80 per week, and I still had to have the one meal of lean and green each day. I am a single woman with no dependents, and before Medifast, my average food bill per week was about $50-60 and on Medifast, I was still spending $30-40 at the store because I had to be picky about the meat and vegetables I bought.

In addition, the lack of carbohydrates made me somewhat tired until my body adjusted, and I guess began using stored fat for energy. I also found if I drank more water, I would ward off the hunger.

For those who only have a small amount of weight to use, the Medifast Diet Program is perfect, but if you have more than about 20 pounds to lose, it can become very expensive and even boring. My main issue was with the cost—I just couldn’t afford it.

I haven’t given up trying to lose weight, but I have chosen to take some of the eating habits I learned and transfer them to my own life by learning how to cook healthy meals instead of buying processed foods in order to save money and time.

Did it work for me? Yes, it did work for the time I used it, and if you can afford it, Medifast Diet Program will work for you as well. The other concern I had besides the cost was how my body was going to adjust to the return to “real” food.

I always had this fear that any diet that provides the food for you will let you down when you return to buying food in the grocery store if you’re not extremely careful.

Review by Mary Ann Draper