Good question... I dunno what is the answer. I'll do some research in Google and get back to you if I got an answer. You should email the people at Medifast as they probably can help you..

Yes it is very helpful... Can you recommend which foods / packets are best, I know about portion control (hysterical as it may seem I have had to take 4, yes 4 classes on nutrition and various other classes related to eatting stress in weigh in order to obtain my degreepretty sad when you are over 300lbs in a nutrition class that you could teach, like the back of your hand!).

But thanks I hope you keep in touch I would love to hear your trials and tribulations as well as I am striving for 178 lbs odd number I know but when I weighed 178 I was 38H-24-42 Size Juniors 12-14.

I too held weight very well got booty, boobs and thighs for years never mind days, just now that I am double that weight I am still shaped ok I just look like a HOT MESS!.

But it's ok I love me enough to reclaim ME~!.

Have you started walking or working out? what was the toughest part for you of the first week? or two or three?..

Hi ya CCT. I did my losses entirely here on line. I've been here just over 9 months. I'm a slow loser averaging only 1 pound on this plan. I wasn't losing and even gained on other plans! So I'm quite happy here. Here are some recommendations for you:.

- Keep it simple. If you can handle the foods, don't doctor them up into muffins, pancakes, what have you. That uses condiments leaving you nothing for your lean and green. Keep lean and greens simple too. Grilled meat or meatless options and roasted or grilled veg with minimal seasoning. Detox your tastes buds from all the salt, fat and artificial everything you've gotten used to..

- Drink all the recommended amount of water each day and if you can, drink more! Water helps keep your skin supple when on a carb and fat restricted plan. It also helps your kidneys out as you're flushing a lot of toxins out of your system that's stored in fat. High protein of this diet can be hard on some people's kidneys but again, if you're drinking the water, you'll be fine.

-Bite it, write it! It's the old weight watcher's maxim but it applies here too. We want to try and stay under 1k calories per day and try to keep our carbs in the ideal range of 80-85 a day (under 100g/day max). This means condiments count!.

- Rest when you need it. The first week or two can be rough. Try to arrange your schedule so you can get the extra rest if you need it. Have headache remedy with you..

- If you know you'll be out for the day or traveling, carry extra food with you so you don't run out or come up short..

- Last and most important. Read the material. Read the Quick Start guide a few times. Go to success tool tab at the top of the screen, then eat right. Bottom left corner are 5 pdf files you want to download and print out. Take them to the grocery store with you so there's no questions as to what is or is not on plan.



Welcome and I wish you the best of success!..

Pretty much what she said. I am now a fan of the oatmeal and the beef stew. I also eat a lot of bars and puffs as they are convenient, don't like the pretzels as they are too hard, the flavors are great though, wish they'd make puffs in those flavors...As you detox you will find things you love and things you hate. Try the "hated" things again in a few months and it might surprise you. Soak the soups and oatmeals, at least a little while, I tend to soak them for a couple of hours at work. Good luck and you can do this. IT's one packet at a time...

Welcome, CCT!.

I would venture to say that most of us have done the program/support entirely online. My doctor is a Medifast health coach and she highly recommends the program, but I didn't find that out until after I had already signed up. One of the nutritionists in her practice is officially listed as my health coach. I had only seen my doctor once or twice (she had just bought the practice from my previous doc), so we had not talked about my weight. She has kept track of my progress, though, and is very pleased with my results..

As far as how to start, just jump in! Read all the materials that are on the Success Tools tab (up above), get your house ready by getting rid of all the off plan food and making space to store the Medifast food, make a grocery list of all the items you can have (they will be found in the success tools tab under "Eat Right"), and get psyched about losing all that excess weight!.

I would suggest giving every Medifast meal at least 2 tries before deciding you don't like it. I didn't like much of anything at first, but I knew that it was because I loved salty, spicy or very sweet foods. Medifast is none of the above. LOL! You learn how to spice them up without going off plan, and you also learn what food really tastes like once you no longer over-salt or over-sweeten things. I became a big fan of the oatmeal, the puffs, the pretzels, the chili, the beef stew and the hot cocoa. I added hot sauce, caramel flavored Splenda, or sodium-free bouillon to some things, but other than that I did not make the meals into something else (bread, cookies, etc).

They were going to be extremely limited in my real life after Medifast diet, so they had no place in my weight loss diet..

I, too, was morbidly obese when I started. Now, a year and half later, I am a normal weight, healthy, active and maintaining my losses! If I can do this, anyone can!!.

I wish you much success. Not luck, because luck has absolutely nothing to do with this. It will be your own strength, determination, commitment and willpower that will get you to goal. May success be yours!..

Hi!.

Medifast saved my life....literally. We are very similar in our stats. I am just a smidge under 5ft 6 inches and started out at 329 lbs. I had high cholesterol, GERD, severe sleep apnea and was pre-diabetic. I wore a TIGHT size 28..

I am now in a comfy size 12/14, weigh in at around 175 lbs and no longer have health issues -cholesterol good, sugar good, apnea MUCH better!.

I ordered online on the Medifast site (through E-B A T E S) and have been happy. I come to these boards every day. I joined a team. It seems silly, but it really helps keep you accountable. I have joined every exercise challenge I could...again b/c I don't exercise nearly as much as I should and being an honest person by default the challenges motivate me.

I always customed ordered. And I tried to order one new thing every order to try and see what I liked. If I really hated something - Medifast was always good about exchanging..

The first week really sucked. It took me longer than most to get into ketosis - about 5 days...Suck it up, it really does get better..

That first week I did what I could to get through - I drank a LOT of tea and sodium free boullion, Loved celery as my optional snack since I could spread the three stalks of it out. I occasionally snuck in an EXTRA jello..

In the beginning I split my lean and green quite often. The leanest category is a ton of food and shrimp was a big go to. So are egg beaters - 2 cups is near to impossible to eat in one sitting. Also, do yourself a favor and purchase a good food scale. Totally worth the money and you will be amazed how much food by weight you get..

WATER - I try and drink 5-7 16oz bottles per day - I just refill it all day long. Harder to eat while you are sloshing..

Remember most of the time you will not be hungry but bored. Try and remember that when you want to eat the whole world. Also, hungry won't kill you. I also completely cleaned my house out of junk before I started. I have three kids so that was tough but they dealt with it. It only took about 3-4 weeks before I could let junk back in for the family and not have it bother me at all..

My typical day, especially in the beginning looked like this:.

7:00 a.m. - coffee w/ 1 tbsp of SF creamer.

8:00 a.m. - 2/3 cup of egg beaters omelet w/ 1 cup of spinach.

10:30 a.m. - Medifast meal - either Medifast muffins or a bar.

12:30 p.m. - Medifast chix noodle soup.

2:30 p.m. - Medifast puffs or pretzels.

5:00 p.m. - Other 1 1/3 cup of egg beaters made into a quiche/casserole with 1 cup of broccoli.

6:45 p.m - Medifast pudding or frozen Medifast crunch bar.

8:45 p.m. - Medifast cream of chicken soup chips and 2 wedges of Lite LC cheese (1 health fat).

As you can see, you are pretty much eating all day. Occasiionally, I will make a "sandwich" by making the oatmeal into a bun and then I will split my Lean of shrimp - 2 oz of shrimp and 1 tsp of lite mayo is enough to make a shrimp salad sandwich! Those days instead of an Medifast meal at 6:ish for dessert I will go with SF jello with a tbsp of cool whip..

LOG LOG LOG all of your food!.

Hopefully this long and rambling post will help! Best of luck to you!..

Thank you all so very much I am writting all these wonderful hints down... I truely can't wait to encourage someone as much as you all have me. I am placing my order now and having a few tough disisions as ther are certain thing I just dont like the taste of even now like ((Chai)) YELK!! holds in the up chuck just thinking of it....

How long does it take from order to get your meals... and what the heck is Ebates please message me on that... anything to save a buck will make me and my pockets happy..

I was also researching gastric surgery when I accidentally found medifast. Into week two I have to say this is the only plan I have stuck to and am succeeding on in years! I am weight loss resistant hypo thyroid and have done Medifast with very little results and lost 7 lbs my first week on MF!..

Www.ebates.com.

Is a web portal. You go to their site first, sign up for their program, then click through to the site where you want to shop. You get discounts for going through the ebates website instead of going directly to the site where you shop..

Your first order will get to you pretty quickly, but it all depends on where you live. The further from Maryland, the longer it takes. They are opening a 2nd shipping center in Texas this year, but for now everything is shipped from Md. I am in South Florida, and it takes about a week from the date they process it until it gets to my door..

There is no requirement to eat all of the meals that Medifast sells. If you don't like chai, don't order it. One warning, though. Do not expect any of the foods to taste like what you would make at home, buy in a restaurant, or purchase in the grocery store. They simply are not going to. The sweet meals are all artificially sweetened, and the soy gives them all a different taste.

You may be surprised to find that you actually like Medifast chai latte because it probably won't taste at all like other chai products you've tasted. To me, the chai tastes more like a spice cake than chai tea...