The Taste Of Medifast Food
How does Medifast food taste is a question everybody I know asks me. Since I have lost all of my weight and I have a very very thin physique, I am questioned about how I was able to make it happen so fast. Happening “really fast” was about 5 months and now that I have friends starting the Medifast program I am constantly answering the question of how Medifast food tastes. When I answer this question I get looks of disbelief and looks of confusion because it is not an answer that many people cannot initially understand.
The answer to how Medifast food tastes is one that requires a bit of explanation because it will all depend on when the Medifast food is tasted. What is meant by this is that before a person starts on Medifast food their taste-buds are very much “polluted.” The fact that when a person is living life by eating calorie dense, carbohydrate packed food from fast food restaurants, their ability to taste food is tainted. This I why I always follow up my answer with the statement that it takes about three days of consuming Medifast food before a person can accept the food for the flavor that really exists.
Just today I met with Carrie who just started the program tell me that she is starting to really enjoy the Lemon Crunch Bar and when she started the program just days ago, she hated it. When I first started the program I did not like the Beef Vegetable Stew one bit and now I love it and look forward to eating it. The point is, that Medifast may taste really bad at first but if a person were to just stick with it for about three days their tastes change. This is not to say that everyone hates every meal, it is just that after a few short days a person starts to really enjoy the food much more.
Also when I am asked how Medifast tastes I also advise any new comers that they can “doctor” up the flavor by adding “stuff” to the food. The one thing that must be stated about enhancing the flavor of Medifast meals is that you need to stay within the requirements of the program. I always refer my friends using Medifast to the official Medifast Condiment Portion Size List to make sure they stay on plan. I try to take the condiment list to an even higher level of Medifast compatibility. What I mean by this is that if I use ketchup on my Medifast Scrambled Eggs I go and get Heinz One Carb Reduced Sugar Ketchup
Overall what a person needs to understand about the taste and the flavor of Medifast is that a person’s taste will change drastically over just the first few days. Of the ten people I have “mentored” into the Medifast Program EVERY SINGLE ONE WITHOUT EXCEPTION saw the Medifast food improve in flavor after just three days. Again I want to state that not all of the food will be disliked at first. What I will re-state is that after just a few days a person discovers that the food really tastes pretty dang good! Whether it be the Medifast Brownies or the Medifast Chicken Noodle Soup, a person has the option to alter the taste or flavor by simply adding a condiment such as hot sauce or Splenda, or other like item. Just stay within plan and watch the fat keep falling off your body.
How does Medifast food taste? It actually tastes pretty dang good especially since I have discovered that I can spice it up as needed and still be able to lose weight.
Cost of Medifast
I have been asked what is the cost of Medifast many times and for the person that is hoping to lose weight, it is one that is really difficult for me to provide a simple answer. The reason why I find it so hard to explain how much money it costs to use Medifast is because all too often the person asking the question really will not understand a straight forward answer. I say this because it is too easy to dismiss the program as too expensive when the cost of Medifast is first heard. In an effort to help you understand the answer I want you to think of the price you will have to pay as not being one cent more than what you are doing right now. Let me explain my explanation of what the cost of Medifast can be for you.
If you are overweight right now by 100 pounds it is easy to assume that you did not get that way by not eating enough food. Unless there is some fairly rare health reason most people do not become obese by not spending any money. I do not make this statement sarcastically or with ill intent. I make this statement to help you realize that you are spending some sum of money right now on food. As you calculate your monthly expenditure of food costs there is some dollar figure that comes to mind. I want you to help understand just how much money you are spending each and every month to either maintain your current weight or to gain weight. To understand how the cost of Medifast factors into your life you need to come to grips with just how much you are spending in your current monthly reality.
I am not asking how much you are spending on food. I am asking how much money are you spending on food for YOURSELF. I ask this question because I do not know your personal living arrangement. I do not know if you are a single Mom with children or a married woman without children. I do not know if you are a single Dad or a husband married to a thin wife with 3 children. For the purpose of this article I do not know what your living situation is, so I need to understand how to calculate just how much money it will cost for you to use the Medifast program to lose weight. For that purpose I need to have you (the reader) calculate just how much money are you spending on a monthly basis to feed YOURSELF.
Eating At Home
If you eat at home chances are you have some control of the food that is prepared. One of the strong points of The Medifast Program is the Lean and Green Meal. This is where an individual can add and subtract many different sources of protein and vegetables. Some people have become very creative as demonstrated by Spaghetti and Meatbals medifast style. What you need to take away from this is that it is very possible to follow the Medifast 5 and 1 Program if you are preparing a meal for the family. You will still be able to sit down with the family and eat what can be considered a normal meal. In fact, you will be able to introduce family members to the Lean and Green Meal without them even knowing they are participating. Pork chops and salad, chicken and broccoli…the list is as long as your imagination can take you. What you need to understand is that you can simply adjust the budget to buy foods that will work for everyone, which means that this portion of the cost of Medifast is one that is already being spent.
Eating at Work
For many Americans the choice of not working does not exist, which means that those can can find work, and keep a job, there is money being spent to eat out. Some eat out daily and that is a cost that is by far…more expensive than the cost of Medifast. If you eat one meal out you have more than likely spent more money than what it will take for you to follow the Medifast program for one day. A typical meal eating out costs 7 to 11 dollars, depending on where you live. Without any discounts or coupons a typical day of Medifast will cost about $12.00. With discounts and coupons, the price drops significantly, which is why we devoted an entire article to the best price for Medifast. What we hope you will realize is that eating out bears a cost and with Medifast you will soon realize that eating out at work can be one expense that you actually reduce.
Another factor that you must consider in the cost of Medifast is that if you go out to get a meal there may be the cost to get there. Gasoline has sky rocketed yet again and every time you turn that key…you have spent money. When you calculate your cost of Medifast you will soon realize that you would be better off using your car to read your Kindle as your lunch hour can now be used to relax in your car and simple read. When you are following the Medifast 5 and 1 Program you will soon realize that half of your lunch hour will no longer be spent “getting food.”
Total Cost of Food Calculation
I want to continue to prod your thinking of YOUR cost of Medifast as compared to what you are doing now and determine if it is an expense that you are spending anyway! People have to eat and food is not free and that expense is always right there and you need to gather your total cost before you decide whether or not you can afford Medifast. You need to add up all the pennies, nickels and dimes you spend throughout the month. As you think about what I wrote here most people will start to understand that the cost to do Medifast is not really much more than what is being spent right now anyway! The real question is quite often not if the program can be afforded, but whether or not that cost can be afforded all at once. The real question is whether or not you can afford to spend all the money on simply getting started.
A wise person can budget the 2nd month of money for Medifast by the money that is NOT being spent once a person starts the program. Once a person starts the program they will soon learn that the second month can be very affordable and easy to do by using the money that is not spent while living the program.
Other factors that many soon realize in the cost of Medifast is that once the program gets rolling and the weight comes off there are many people that no longer need to spend money on prescription medications. I have personally seen a friend of mine eliminate 7 daily medications with that cost being almost enough to fund the cost of Medifast! That is one factor he never really thought about until he was sitting face to face with his doctor.
The Cost of Medifast
Simply put, the cost of Medifast will vary by how you order the program, and whether or not you sign up for the Medifast Advantage Program. If you are interested in ordering Medifast you should plan on a one month supply, or 28 days. That means you will need a minimum of 20 boxes, or 140 meals. If a person were not to take advantage of the Medifast Advantage Program and decided to pay full price, (foolish choice) they could plan on spending about $315.00, plus shipping per month. With the application of the Medifast Advantage Program is used, the cost goes down and a person saves a total of about $132.00.
As you can see the options are out there and the cost of Medifast is not a simple answer. The real question is not the cost of getting started, it really comes down to how tired you are of being over weight. Medifast works and it works quite well and when compared to other programs, is really less expensive. I will calculate the real question is not whether or not the cost of Medifast is too high because there is a credit card that could easily push you through your first order. The real question is whether or not you can make it work and whether or not you are really ready to commit to weight loss.
Whatever you decide to do I just hope that you do not decide to use the cost of Medifast as something that stops you from making a needed change, when you really do have the power to make that change!
Good Luck and God Bless You!
Does Medifast Really Work?
The entire purpose of this article has been decided to explain the age old question of does Medifast really work? To answer this question should really be quite easy if it were to be simply based on the math of the calories eaten. What we mean by this is that if you were to use Medifast and stick to the program you would normally be eating less than 1,000 calories a day. In the course of existence the average person will burn more calories than is eaten when
participating in the Medifast Weight Loss Plan. If you had to just base an answer on the numbers, you would not even have to ask if Medifast really worked because the math would clearly state you burned more calories than you ate…hence weight loss. Sure it is easy to answer that question in the abstract, but if you were asking if Medifast would really work for you, then the answer is a big fat “We do not know.”The reason we say we do not know if Medifast really would work for you is because we would require you to answer a few more questions. To touch on a few of those questions we would have to ask the following:
- Are you really commited to losing weight using Medifast?
Are you ready to jump into an entire new way of looking at food? Are you ready to look at a correct and healthy portion size of Medifast food and realize that the small portion really is not small, it is what should be normal. Are you going to be able to commit to using Medifast and not making “secret” runs thru a drive thru? Are you going to be able to pass up all of the temptations that will pass by your nose in the months to come? If you can’t pass up the temptations, then Medifast will not work for you.
- Do you understand the cost involved with Medifast?
When most people ask if Medifast really does work it means they are new to the Medifast concept and are exploring what it has to offer. This is also when the average information seeker looks at the cost of Medifast and thinks it is rather expensive. Before you say it will not work for you because it is too expensive, we want you to to refer back to the last point mentioned above. You need to look at food in a new light. Let’s say you spend $300.00 for your food per month with Medifast. Do you realize that the cost is really not that expensive? If you average that cost out it is about $10.00 a day to eat Medifast. Since there really is not much more food to buy, it may even have you spending less on food per month than you are currently spending on non-Medifast meal planning. Sure you will still have to buy the stuff for one Lean and Green Meal everyday, but the truth is that the cost is fairly decent overall and many people end up spending less money on the Medifast Plan. So if you want to know if Medifast really works are you ready to understand how the cost will or will not matter to your finances? Will you be able to continue with Medifast as long as is needed? Will lack of budgeting cause you to have to stop using Medifast? The question you need to ask is not if Medifast really does work, but can you afford to do Medifast in the first place? If you can afford Medifast, then we refer back to the caloric deficit you will achieve if you follow the plan and that deficit is what causes weight loss.
- Scientific Proof Means Nothing
We will be the first to say that we are tired of seeing all of the weight loss miracles and wonder drugs that proclaim that they help you to lose weight. For every diet pill and for every weight loss program there is always those before and after photographs. You always see them and you see how thin a person you never met now looks that they lost weight. What we hope to make you understand is that it really does not matter how many people have lost weight using Medifast. What we hope you understand is that Medifast is nothing more than a tool, it is a weight loss tool. If you start the program thinking it will work because of all of the scientific proof, you should realize that reason may not be good enough for youto be a success. Despite the claim that 25,000 doctors recommend Medifast means nothing if you, the individual can make it work in your life.
The final answer to whether or not Medifast really does work must be simply thrown back into your court. You should not be asking if Medifast works, because it does based simply on the math and the calculation of calories being eaten and the calories being burned. The real question you need to be asking is whether or not Medifast is something you will be able to fit into your life. Medifast is really a no brain-er and it simplifies weight loss down to a level that almost anyone will have the potential to drop many pounds. The real question you need to ask if if you have the ability to STICK with Medifast long enough for it to work its magic? The real question that you should be asking is if YOU are ready for what Medifast has to offer?
If you order Medifast and stick with the guidelines of the mealplan you should see a major change in your body the very first week and month. If you see the changes will you be able to continue? Will you be able stay the course? If you start Medifast and ignore the rules chances are Medifast will be a failure. When you begin Medifast and follow the rules, you should lose weight. You should lose more weight in the first two weeks than you have lost in the last 3 months.
So stop asking if Medifast works and start asking if you think you are strong enough to let Medifast into your life and then let it do what it needs to do. If you are ready then Medifast will be ready. In closing we really just want to answer your question as t0 whether or not Medifast really does work. We can answer that with a one word answer.
YES, but only if you are ready.
Medifast and Vegetarian
I am very active in helping people lose weight with Medifast in ways that I am not even permitted to discuss on this site. What I am able to tell you about Medifast is that it is one of the most effective weight loss tools I have ever have used. In fact, for Sue (wife) and I, it is the only thing that has worked for us. With that being said we went over to a friends home the other night to discuss Medifast and discovered that Ashley and her husband, (Channin) were interested in starting Medifast, but Ashley is a practicing vegetarian and had specific questions concerning her being able to use Medifast and yet maintain her status of being a vegetarian.
Despite my ever growing knowledge of being able to use Medifast to lose weight I had to admit the fact that I was not knowledgeable in the area of Medifast, when looked at from the perspective of wanting to maintain the standards of also being able to live a vegetarian lifestyle. What I have since learned about being able to use Medifast as a practicing vegetarian is that you first need to define exactly what is the definition of “vegetarian.” For the scope of this article we have taken the definition that Medifast uses, which is as follows;
“A vegetarian is a person who chooses to not eat meat, fish, fowl, or products containing these foods.
Reasons for this choice may include health, ecological, religious, or economic concerns, as well as
compassion for animals”
Looking deeper into the entire Medifast and vegetarian subject I further discovered that there are different types of, or different levels of what degree of vegetarianism a person may live their life. There are Lacto-vegetarians, Ovo-vegetarians and also Lacto-ovo vegetarians. There is also the stricter and more hard-line type of vegetarian that is referred to as a Vegan.
If a person wants to use Medifast to lose weight, or maintain a life-style geared towards optimal health, it is possible to use Medifast as a powerful tool for all degrees of vegetarianism, other than those wanting to live the Vegan life-style. Currently, it is not possible to maintain the Vegan life-style choice while using Medifast. For the other levels (Lacto-vegetarians,Ovo-vegetarians and also Lacto-ovo vegetarians) it is very possible to use Medifast.
What I have learned over the course of the last few months is that the use of Medifast has gone far beyond simple weight loss. The use of Medifast has become a way of life for Sue and I because the food is actually satisfying and also it is economical and simply put…it is good food fast. What that means is that now that I am done trying to lose my weight (I lost 112 pounds) I find myself in a weekly battle to ensure the weight stays off for the rest of my life. Now that I no longer strictly adhere to the 5 & 1 Meal Plan, I still keep the food on hand, and will continue to do so.
As far as the question of using Medifast as a vegetarian, as always, there is a wealth of official knowledge that can answer all of your questions. (Official Medifast vegetarian pdf file) If you are looking to start Medifast I will suggest that if you do start that you join the Medifast Advantage Program to get the best price available.
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Medifast or Weight Loss Surgery?
I was shocked today when someone I know at work ridiculed me for using Medifast because they thought I should of just had weight loss surgery. This person even went on to tell me that I am doomed to gain all of my weight back again really quickly! As I listened to this thin person make fun of the fact I was on Medifast, it amazed me that I was being made fun of by a person because I chose to use Medifast and NOT have weight loss surgery!
As the day continued it made me think about the fact that for the very first time I have been able to lose weight and now I have some ignorant thin person tell me that I was wrong because I should of had weight loss surgery. I know about weight loss surgery because I almost had it done as my wife and I even went to a three hour seminar on weight loss surgery options at Sacred Heart Hospital, in Pensacola, Florida. We went there and listened to the doctors talk about all of the requirements and how the insurance could be obtained to pay for the surgical procedure. We walked out of the meeting thinking that weight loss surgery could be the answer to our dreams.
When we went home and looked into the ability to use or insurance plan to pay for the weight loss surgery we were not too happy with the answer we received. We were first told that to quality for the insurance payment we had to gain a few more pounds! We were dismayed to hear that in order to quality for weight loss surgery, we had to get slightly fatter! We were still not giving up on the surgery and continued to seek more information and learned much. The thing that really slowed the whole thing down for us was not so much that getting insurance to pay for the procedure, it was what we would have to live after the operation took place.
When we learned that post surgical care would require monthly vitamin shots and this is when we started to think the whole surgery thing through some more. As we searched for answers on what to expect with weight loss surgery, we discovered that for the surgery to be effective for a lifetime that we had to give up many things we enjoyed. We learned that we would never be able to enjoy hot fresh bread fresh from the oven with butter drizzled on top. I did not want to swear off bread forever and this is when I started to look into Medifast. Sure I do not eat bread right now while on Medifast, but that means nothing in the totality of the rest of my life.
I love to drink soda and with weight loss surgery I could NEVER enjoy a guilt free pop again! As I looked even more into weight loss surgery options I started to see some serious reasons why I did not think I would be a happy weight loss surgical patient. I started to lean more and more way from surgery and more and more towards learning about Medifast as the best option available for me today.
I further learned that if I had weight loss surgery I would never be able to drink out of a straw again! WOW! A simple thing like drinking from a straw is a no-no for someone that has had bariatric surgery! This may seem like a little thing in the total scheme of life, but once I realized that straws would be taboo I started to want to learn even more about the ramifications of the surgical option. Soon I also discovered that many people become alcoholics because of the way booze gets dumped right into the bloodstream. I do not drink much, but I do not want to ever not be able to drink at a wedding or a night out.
As time went on I started to get turned off about the end results of weight loss surgery. I saw all of the people I know that had the operation only to lose a ton of weight, and then gain it all back again. I can think of three people that I know at work that had the procedure done and in less than four years they not only lost the weight, but also gained much of it back again.
As I stood there listening to this ignorant co-worker I smiled inside knowing the fact that my choice to use Medifast was the best decision I could have made for myself. I have lost almost 30 pounds in as many days and yes…maybe I can gain it all back again… but that is not what I am worried about at this moment. The reason I do not worry about gaining the weight back is because I have learned to deal with the issue of obesity all by myself. I have realized in just 30 days that in order for a person to be truly able to lose weight, and keep it off, they have to deal with the fact of what made them overweight in the first place.
Medifast has taught me that my food issue is with my inability to control my portion sizes combined with my snacking at night, while watching television. Since I have been able to lose the weight I intend to keep dealing with those issues because I never intend to let those lost pounds creep back into my life.
As I walked away from my snickering co-worker I felt very confident in my choice of Medifast over weight loss surgery. I say this because I know that no matter how I lose the weight, I will always be able to gain it all back again. I know that whether I had bariatric surgery, lap band surgery or any other weight loss surgery that the chance to gain the weight is always right there in front of my emotional being. I know now that even if the insurance company would have footed the bill, I would still run the risk of gaining all my weight back again. Can I still gain it back with Medifast??? Sure I can, but the big difference is that if I do can it back again it will be from eating bread, drinking out of straws and drinking Pepsi, which is a big no-no for a weight loss surgical patient.
As I sit here almost 30 pounds lighter from Medifast I know that for me Medifast was the better choice when compared to surgery. If you are contemplating surgery I implore you to think twice and at least look at Medifast as a much safer alternative. I say this because it has worked so well for my wife and I. I also say this because it is soooo much less expensive than going into the hospital and having a surgeon cut you open and remove portions of your body, never to be able to be replaced. I say this because the decision to have bariatric surgery is one that if you make it, it can NEVER be reversed. Medifast works and works well and you really need to check it out before you commit to another life of after weight loss surgery care.
Good Luck, and God Bless