I've been on the Medifast program for 8 weeks now and am extremely pleased with my results. I've lost about 35 pounds in only 2 months! I say about because every day that goes by I weigh less than the day before! Thinking back I have spent so much money on so many different things including a 2 year gym pass from Costco, an elliptical, a heart rate monitor watch, dumbbells for at home, medicine ball, new shoes, new workout cloths, LOTS of "weight loss" supplements from stores like GNC, and so on. Behind each purchase was 100% full confidence that this was the time I was really going to do it and loose the weight I've been talking about loosing for so long (YEARS). However, within a couple weeks of each attempt my motivation had fizzled out to nothing and I was back to the same old habits and the "workouts" were gone again. With each burst of motivation I would workout (which in itself was such a challenge) and never "really" change my diet. I've now learned you can't work off a bad diet. I can honestly say Medifast is easy to follow. It doesn't leave much room for you to make any bad decisions. Eating their 5 bars throughout the day is brainless and very habit forming and eating the "lean and green" meal is something to look forward to in the evening and allows for a lot of creativity. I've never fully tackled the "diet" portion for loosing weight in the past. I would always just try burning a lot of calories during a workout. Which eventually just killed me. I was even to the point where I felt there was no going back [to being healthy and in shape]. I would defiantly recommend Medifast to anyone who truly wants to change their life. However, I would not recommend only ordering food online. I don't believe I would be this far without having to check in once a week, get weighed measured etc. I would have gone back to my old ways weeks ago. Accountability is the only reason I've succeed next to the motivation of seeing the numbers drop daily! I cannot stress the accountability enough. It certainly does cost more to have the counseling, but it's a whole lot less than all the money I've wasted in the past on things that not only didn't work but had me gaining weight in the end, over and over again. I only wish I would have discovered Medifast years ago.
To comment on the previous comments, my wife and I have only had fantastic experiences in San Marcos. All the people are extremely nice and caring. And again I don't believe any sort of online forums can replace the in-person counseling. It's just to easy to forget about it or not care. If it's free your looking for go for the online version, but if someone would have told me I was guaranteed to loose this much weight (without exercise) I'd throw down any day. Again, if you want to make sure you do NOT fail, do the in person counseling. You get workbooks to do to help you identify your problems areas, a book to give you your new knowledge of eating healthy, your food journal that you must write everything down to be reviewed by your counselor every week and the moral support. These items can't be replaced. So, do it right and only do it only once!
Also, I too went on vacation with my family and stayed on the Medifast diet the entire time. When we came back from vacation my wife and I had both lost weight. Medifast has tips for success and an "eat out cheat sheet" to help you out. With their meal replacements it's difficult to deviate from the plan, unless you really just aren't serious about it in the first place. read more
