I sometimes have people who email me and ask if I have any statistics or figures outlining the long term success rate of Medifast. In a nutshell, folks considering this diet want to know how many people have been able to keep off the weight for the long term. After all, no one wants to work hard to lose the weight, end up looking great, only to regress back to the weight that you were before you started. Gaining the weight back is the worst case scenario of almost every one. I'll discuss my take on this in the following article.
Why I Think I've Been Able To Keep The Weight Off Following Medifast: I am not able to find any long term studies on continuing success, but I do have my own experience to draw on and I spend a lot of time on forums where I have met countless people with the same experiences as me. Many of us have kept the weight off for years or longer. To put it plainly, folks who are having long term success are pretty plentiful and not all that rare. Sure, like with any diet, there are folks who yo yo and who go up and down, but that has not been my own personal experience this time (although I have certainly yo-yo'ed plenty of times before I went on this diet.)
I believe that what has made this experience different is the existence of the lean and green meal. You probably already know this, but with Medifast you eat five of the plan's provided meals, but you also have to provide one "lean and green meal" that you make yourself each day. Since this is the only food that you really have to prepare, most people will get creative with this and will learn some new recipes that appeal to them. However, the guidelines are pretty clear as to what makes a healthful lean and green meal and what doesn't. In short, you learn how to make healthy choices that you will enjoy eating. This helps to ensure that when you transition off of the diet that you know how to plan, shop for, and prepare decent tasting meals that are going to keep you in your target range.
I also learned that to keep losing weight at the fast clip that I was enjoying, I needed to move my body more. Sure, I could lose 2-3 pounds weekly just eating the foods as directed, but if I wanted to five pounds or more, I needed to burn more calories through movement. I've never been a fan of exercise, so I didn't give it this label. I just committed to power walking with my daughter. I kept doing this for a few months until I was motivated to strap on ankle weights before my walk. I was so happy with the results of this that I eventually added in resistance bands and hand weights. I certainly still don't consider myself an athlete and I only spend around 15 - 20 minutes a day on this, but moving more has certainly become a habit which I think will help me to keep this weight off for the long haul.
Another thing which I think really helps is that being on the Medifast diet makes you look at food in a different way. Since many of the meals are provided and made for you, it eventually dawns on you that there is no need to obsess over or to think about food so much. Eventually, you come to see your meals as just something that are needed for energy and health, but not something to be used as a reward or coping mechanism. This shifts your whole perception and world view so that food no longer has the same power over you that it used to.
Lindsey Price is the author of the free ebook "Getting The Most Out Of Medifast," which includes coupons and discounts, a list of all of the food options, detailed information about the diet and how it works, it's pros and cons, having success on it, and recipes for it. To get a free copy (immediate download/no information required), click here. You can also visit her diet review website at http://easiest-diet.com/medifast
