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Medifast

Medifast is a meal replacement program for weight loss. The company ships prepackaged meals and ready-to-eat snacks to your home. These are designed to help you reduce your calorie intake and lose weight.

Originally selling meal replacements through a network of primary physicians, the company now ships meal replacements straight to customers' homes.

Their meals include dried shake powders, snacks and dehydrated meals that can be shipped and stored safely, then quickly prepared at home without additional ingredients.

Eat six meals a day and still lose weight? Then add calories once you do?

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Medifast once offered the "5 & 1 Plan," in which you ate five Medifast meal replacements and one of your own meals for a weight loss of between 1 and 5 pounds weekly, and then the "3 & 3 Plan" in which you added in calories over 6 weeks with three meals and three meal replacements daily.

Medifast dieters eat small, frequent meals - six meals in a day. Some meals are smaller snacks. They offer two plans: “Go!” and “Flex.”

Medifast GO!

Program for busy people who need an easy-to-follow program and delivers fast results and Medifast Achieve for those who favor steady, gradual weight loss.

The Medifast Go! plan provides only 800 to 1,000 calories a day. You will lose weight due to the severe calorie restriction, but it's an approach that will be tough to stick with.

Medifast Achieve

Program for those who favor steady, gradual weight loss.

Medifast Subscription Cost

Using the services of the Medifast can undoubtedly be pricey for you. The average cost of food replacements daily is $12 which is a decent amount of money. However, you need to be aware that while you are going to eat strictly following guidelines and regulations of Medifast Diet, you won't be required to go doing groceries or dine out. Having that on your mind, Medifast might not be that expensive as it seems.

Medifast Go! - Start as low as $341
Medifast Achieve - Start as low as $323

Like any diet, Medifast has its advantages and disadvantages.

Pros

Short-term weight loss: Medifast is effective for short-term weight loss - around 2.2 pounds (1 kg) on average per week of dieting.
Fortified meals: Meals are fortified to provide 100% or more of the recommended dietary allowance of all essential vitamins and minerals.
Education and support: Medifast provides education and a limited support system to help you stay motivated.
Easy to follow: Prepackaged foods eliminate the need for diet planning and calorie counting, making the diet simple to follow.

Cons

May be boring: The limited variety of types and flavors of meal replacements can lead to food cravings and cheating on the diet.
Dining out can be a challenge: The company provides guidelines on choosing lean proteins and non-starchy vegetables, but menu items that align with the diet may not always be available.
Added sugar: Several Medifast drinks and snacks add sugar to make the meals more palatable. Some of their choices provide 20% or more calories from sugar.
Weight regain: Most Medifast dieters will regain part of their lost weight after stopping the diet.
It's expensive: A 30-day supply of meal replacements costs close to $400. Mightydiets.com calculated that Medifast would cost about $12 per day, which includes the cost of meals not provided in the plans.

However, because you'll be doing less grocery shopping and eating out, the cost may be less than it sounds. For example, if an average person spends about $7–9 daily on food, Medifast would cost $3–5 over their normal food budget.

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How Does It Work?

Medifast targets weight loss by using frequent, small, low-calorie meals. This pattern of eating is designed to induce weight loss without the same degree of hunger as skipping meals or reducing the size of three daily meals.

Eating several small meals in a day instead of three large meals helps reduce calories without making you feel constantly hungry.

Studies show hunger is a leading reason many diets fail. Appetite hormones including ghrelin and glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) change in response to what and when you eat.

A study of 20 men found that when the men ate breakfast as four small snacks instead of one larger meal, they experienced reduced appetite over the day.

The men eating four small snacks ate fewer calories later in the day when they were allowed to eat as much as they liked from a buffet. They also had lower levels of ghrelin and higher levels of GLP-1, indicating decreased hunger.

Another study of 108 men and women found that substituting a meal with a low-calorie meal replacement bar successfully reduced hunger compared to a conventional meal.

By providing a controlled, low-calorie diet in a way that helps reduce hunger and cravings, Medifast helps reduce your total calorie intake.

In addition to meal replacement, Medifast also provides some education and other support for weight loss, such as encouraging diet followers to keep a food journal.

One study looked at the effects of receiving contact or support from outside the home, following 63 adults on a weight loss program with prepackaged meals.

When participants were encouraged to stick with their diet plan, they lost about 5 pounds (2.3 kg) more than those who didn't receive encouragement.

How to get started on the Medifast diet?

If you have decided you want to lose your weight fast and effective and is a proven, healthy way, then Medifast is the right solution for you. Before you start this particular diet, first you need to choose one of the few weight loss plans that Medifast is offering. You can choose a 30-Days Kit meal program or Gluten-Free Kit. Start your diet, lose weight and bring the smile back on your face today!

Are Medifast shakes good for diabetic people?

Medifast Meals are suitable for those who are trying to control or prevent diabetes. Medifast is striving to provide enough, and consistent amounts of carbs and calories and they have made a unique nutritional guide for this group of people. Going for a strict and special diet such as Medifast would be the best choice if you have already consulted with your doctor on this topic.

People with High Blood Pressures

As we mentioned, losing weight for people with high blood pressure can be vital in improving their overall health. However, they must be careful with changing eating habits because that might trigger some other difficulties regarding health. Our advice is they should consult a doctor or a food expert before starting such a string diet.

Does the Medifast Diet Plan Help You Lose Weight?

The studies demonstrate that Medifast works for weight loss, resulting in up to 2.2 pounds (1 kg) of weight loss per week. However, in each of the studies with long-term follow-up, dieters regained part of this weight after 6–12 months.

In other, longer study of the Medifast 5 & 1 meal plan, dieters lost 16.5 pounds (7.5 kg) over 26 weeks, while the control group lost 8 pounds (4 kg) on a regular, self-selected weight loss diet.

In this study, Medifast dieters also lost more inches off the waist - 2.4 inches (6 cm) versus 1.6 inches (4 cm) for the control group.

In a study of 185 overweight dieters, another Medifast meal plan provided four Medifast meals with two self-selected meals and one snack.

Volunteers lost 24 pounds (11 kg) on average over 12 weeks. Those who continued the plan for 12 more weeks lost an additional 11 pounds (5 kg).

Variety and Nutrition of Medifast Meal Replacements

Medifast meal replacements include bars, snacks, shakes, drinks, desserts and prepackaged meals. These are designed to provide a low-calorie, high-protein meal with relatively reduced carbs.

Medifast meals are also fortified so that the diet will provide 100% of the recommended dietary allowance for all essential vitamins and minerals.

Their meals are also fortified with dietary fiber, to increase food volume and help control appetite without adding calories.

Several of their snacks and drinks also contain added sugar to help make them palatable. The amount of added sugar is small, but enough to contribute a significant amount of sugar to your diet over several meals.

Drinks

Drink options include low-calorie hot cocoa and instant cappuccino, several flavors of milk shakes and smoothies in pineapple and berry flavors.

Each is formulated to provide about 100 calories. They include supplemental protein sources like egg whites, soy protein isolate and whey protein concentrate. Protein supplies 50–75% of the calories in these products.

They also contain added sugar, accounting for 20–33% of the drinks' calories. These products are low in fat, with usually 1–3 grams.

Snacks

Aside from drinks, one of the six daily meals on Medifast may be one of their snack bars, desserts or “cruncher” snacks, such as cheese puffs or pretzel sticks.

Medifast offers 13 varieties of snack bars. These primarily contain carbs, supplemental protein sources and sugar to improve flavor.

Their cruncher snacks are high in protein isolates and concentrates, and low in sugar and fat.

Their desserts are also calorie-controlled to be about 100 calories. They naturally have a higher sugar content than other meal replacements and again contain supplemental protein.

Entrées

Medifast produces a few varieties of pancakes and oatmeal for the first meal of the day.

The pancakes are portion-controlled to provide 110 calories, with about 14 grams of carbs, 11 grams of protein and 4 grams of sugar. The amount of protein, calories and carbs in the Medifast oatmeal are almost identical, with a little less sugar.

They also produce a selection of “hearty choices,” such as mashed potatoes and soups. These vary in their carb content, but follow the pattern of being high in protein, low in fat and around 100 calories.

Dieters can also purchase from an optional selection of larger entrées to serve as their “lean and green” meals. Each of these entrées provides about 300 calories.