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Medifast Diet: Can You Really Lose 20 Pounds in a Month?

The question as to whether you can really lose 20 pounds in a month as Medifast's advertisements state is likely the ultimate question in everyone's mind. I agree that it sounds too good to be true and right away it leaves the potential customer a little skeptical. But I have seen first hand many people who have lost 20+ pounds in their first month. Now these were people who were significantly overweight to begin with. It is not realistic to think that if you only have 20 pounds to lose that you will lose it all in a month. Although everyone is different and every day I see more amazing things happen to people while they are on this diet.

What are Typical Results on the Medifast Diet?

Every diet company is required by law in the U.S. to state that results are not typical in their advertisements. But what is typical weight loss in a month for someone following the Medifast plan? The answer is partially dependant on how much weight a person has to lose, how closely they follow the diet plan, and their own personal metabolic rate.

I lost 15 pounds in the first month and I didn't deviate much from the plan. What little I did deviate was purely unintentional and exactly what I would change if I had it to do over again.

How Does Medifast Work?

The most popular plan and the plan recommended by Medifast for the majority of customers is called the 5 and 1 Plan. The 5 means there are 5 prepackaged Medifast meals that you eat in a day. The 1 means there is one meal which they call Lean and Green, that you prepare yourself and eat every day. Generally the Lean and Green meal consists of a meat and a vegetable. The Lean and Green meal is the largest meal of the day. The Medifast 5 and 1 plan is low calorie - approximately 800 to 100 calories per day. It is low carb and Medifast recommends that you eat no more than 100 carbohydrates a day. It is also low fat.

If this scares you, don't worry. When you purchase a month of Medifast food, you'll receive 1 week of food free through this link. That's 5 weeks of outsourcing someone else to make these calculations for you. All you need to do is follow the 20-page Start Guide and the calories, carbs, and fat are all calculated for you. That's the beauty of the prepackage food you receive on the Medifast Diet. Compare the 20-page guide with a 300+ page diet book on the market today, and you'll be pleasantly surprised at how easy this plan is to understand and follow. And quite honestly the 20-page guide contains testimonials, photos and other information that isn't directly related to the new Medifast Dieter. So there are far less than 20 pages to initially comprehend.

For those people like me who like to be mindful of their carbs, calories and fat, Medifast provides software that is accessible on their website. There is nothing to download and install on your computer. It is super easy to use, and you can see a sample of MyMedifast Daily Plan account here. All you have to do is select the Medifast Foods you plan to eat that day and for which meal, and the software calculates everything for you. It allows you to keep a close eye on your calorie, fat, and carbohydrate intake if you wish.

Is Medifast Safe?

Medifast has been providing a clinically proven approach to weight loss and healthy nutrition for over 25 years. For most of those years, the Medifast Diet was only available through a doctor. That in itself says a great deal when doctors are eager to recommend a diet plan to their patients to ensure healthy nutrition while losing weight. To date over 15,000 physicians have recommended Medifast to their patients and Medifast has been used by over one million customers. In addition, Medifast does not contain any harmful herbs, additives, caffeine or other stimulants.

Are all the Testimonials Real? Where's the Scientific Proof?

Most diet companies do not have clinical studies to backup their claims. However, Medifast heavily promotes the fact that a Johns Hopkins University study provides proof of significant and healthy weight loss in both men and women who followed the Medifast plan.

I can personally tell you that it has been my experience through my own personal weight loss on Medifast and other people that I've seen that the testimonials are indeed real. Medifast doesn't have to fake testimonials nor are they lacking in success stories. There are hundreds of successful Medifasters on their message boards who are dropping pounds every day, and their energy level is like nothing they have ever experienced before.

How Much Does Medifast Cost?

The Medifast 5 and 1 plan costs approximately $250 a month. This cost is for the 5 Medifast meals provided for you. Your grocery bill per month will still include your 1 Lean and Green meal. But remember, your Lean and Green portions will likely be smaller than you are normally used to eating so you're out of pocket cost will be less. Your grocery bill at your local supermarket will go down.

Is the Cost Worth It?

In my honest opinion, the cost of the Medifast diet is certainly worth it. If you think about it, everything has been planned out for you. For a mere $250 a month, you are basically outsourcing most of your meal planning, nutritional research, meal preparations, etc. to Medifast. I agree that $250 is a bit expensive if you look at it solely from a dollar figure. But is it really that expensive when you consider that you will be on the road to a healthier you, learning how to eat so you can maintain your weight after you lose weight, and all the time you are saving by outsourcing meal preparations, planning, grocery shopping, etc.?

You can also rest assured that the food you are eating is well balanced and healthy. To read more about why the cost of the Medifast diet is well worth the price, read my article, "Busy People Diet". I go far more in depth about the cost versus your time.

Keeping the Weight Off

Inside the Medifast Start Guide dieters are provided with step-by-step instructions on what to do after reaching their weight loss goal. First there is a transition period of 6 to 8 weeks and then a maintenance period. If this scares you, don't be too concerned. Although I have not personally reached the transition and maintenance steps yet, it is possible to succeed through these phases as well from the comments I've read by the many veteran Medifast Dieters.

As with any diet, behavioral changes are required to keep the weight off. This is simply a fact of life and for some people like me it is the toughest part of the weight loss process. But through the Medifast Diet plan I have learned a great deal about myself, my eating habits, and in only 10 weeks I've discovered how much, when, where, and why I should eat. You see the Medifast Diet isn't just about losing weight. Medifast wants you to keep it off and they teach you without you really knowing it how you should eat, what you should eat, when, how much, etc. so you can survive in the real world after you lose your weight.

It only makes sense if you think about it. Sure they will make a little more money if you put the pounds back on and have to start the program again. This is where most diets fail. The other diets don't have a system setup to teach their dieters anything after the weight loss phase. But if you lose weight and keep it off, hundreds of other people you come in contact with every day will notice and they will ask you how you did it. Word of mouth referrals with physical evidence of your transformation are the best form of free advertising for any company.

Customer Service and Nutrition Support

So the diet plan is good. What about Customer Service? I have had to call Medifast Customer Service only once in the last 10 weeks. When I placed my first order, I forgot to enter the promotion code to get my 1 week of free Medifast Food. So I called and the customer service rep was polite and knowledgeable about the problem. It was corrected and the situation was resolved in less than five minutes.

How many diets do you know of that has certified Nutritionists that you can call, email or communicate with on a message board? Medifast provides these options to their customers. I've submitted several questions to Nutrition Support through their customer message board and have received prompt answers that explicitly answered the questions. These were questions that didn't require an immediate response, but knowing that if I did need assistance right away I could have called them on the phone is a tremendous amount of peace of mind.

Keep in mind that Medifast wants you to succeed in your weight loss and they want you to keep the weight off. So you'll never feel like you are alone on this diet. Not only will you have a certified Nutritionist at your fingertips, but you will be able to communicate with hundreds of other people just like you who are on the diet too.

Ordering, Shipping and Refunds

Ordering is simple. You can order by phone or through their website. Either way it is fast and easy. Each time I place an order I receive an automated phone call that lets me know that my order shipped. That's pretty cool. Follow-up is important to me and it let's me know that Medifast is indeed conscientious about their service after the sale.

My shipments arrive anywhere from 3 to 6 days after I place the order. That's pretty quick and I have no complaints whatsoever. Everything arrives neatly packed with a packing slip and a return form should I decide I don't like a specific food and want to return it for a full refund. Yes, Medifast is that confident in their products that they will give your money back if you don't like their food. But I've not sent anything back to date.

The photo on the right shows my first shipment of Medifast that I received (minus the 1 free week which I didn't get with my first order due to my error in not typing in the promo code).

Is the Medifast Diet Right for You?

If you have a significant amount of weight to lose and especially before you consider any type of surgery, I'd encourage you to give Medifast a try first. You will be pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to follow, the food isn't too bad even though it's diet food, and the weight will come off. I assure you. If you order through this link, you can get 1 Free Week of Medifast Food when you order their one month plan.

If you are a yo-yo dieter like me, Medifast is the plan for you. It teaches you portion control, healthy meal planning, nutrition, and balance. After 30 years of yo-yo dieting, I'm pretty knowledgeable on what diets work and why they don't. Medifast has far surpassed any of my expectations.

If you are a casual dieter who needs to lose 10 pounds or less, the Medifast Diet may not be the right choice for you. You will lose weight, but there are far better ways to lose the weight you need without the cost. But most importantly, you wouldn't be on the diet long enough to learn the life changing lessons you'll need to maintain your new weight for a life time.

What I'd Do Differently

There are three things that I'd do differently if I were to go back in time and start the Medifast Diet all over again. All of these were oversights on my part and certainly not intentional. If you are new to the Medifast Diet, I am including this section in my review to assist you so that you don't overlook these important aspects of the program. I likely would have lost more weight in my first month on Medifast had I not overlooked them.

1. Weigh Lean Portion and Measure Green Portion - I have always felt I knew by eyeballing my food how much I was consuming. Weighing my meat and measuring out 1 and 1/2 cups of vegetables seemed like a waste of time to me. I was wrong. Obviously I was obese for several reasons and one of those reasons is because I didn't estimate the portion control properly. During the first 2 to 3 weeks on Medifast I was not eating enough Lean meat according to my food scale once I decided to measure it. I was shocked! When I started measuring my Green portion of the Medifast meal, I was also surprised to learn that I was eating too many vegetables.
2. Drink More Water - Medifast recommends drinking eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day. But what I didn't realize is those 64 ounces is a minimum. When I increased my water intake, the weight started to really come off. Medifast recommends a maximum of 100 ounces of water per day to help flush out the toxins that obstruct weight loss.
3. When to Eat the Lean and Green Meal - The first several weeks on Medifast I was eating my Lean and Green meal at dinner approximately 6 p.m. in the evening. By that time of day I was hungery and really needing to eat and was getting irritable. One day I had to move the Lean and Green up to an earlier time period - around 3 p.m. and I have been eating it at that time ever since. I believe that my body was trying to tell me something by getting irritable every day around dinner time. Since I moved my Lean and Green up to an earlier meal, that irritability has long passed. So my best advise is to listen to your body and make adjust that are still within the plan to accommodate your body's needs.

Was this Medifast Diet Review helpful? Please leave a comment to let me know. A simple yes or no would be fine but if you want to say more or ask questions, I'd be happy to assist you. If you decide Medifast is right for you, don't forget to get your 1 week of Medifast Free through this link.