Medifast Review

Cooking is an art! Almost everyone who is not quite a culinary expert will accept this fact! But if you thought that cooking delicious meals was difficult, then cooking a delicious and nutritious DIET meal is a task that you cannot even begin to imagine! With a limited list of healthy ingredients, spices and oil, cooking a nutritious meal that is also delicious to taste is a true challenge, especially for people with average cooking skills. No wonder, there are many dieters who prefer eating a bowl of oatmeal or fruits as their meal instead of cooking something delicious and tummy filling. But it is during times like these that a good affordable meal delivery service offering healthy and delicious meals in no time proves to be a true savior for all. These meal delivery companies are time savers for busy people who offer top quality food menu without compromising on the nutrition facts and quality of the food.

In this review, we will discuss about one of the top meal delivery services in the food industry – Medifast, a company that has time and again, proved its quality and services to its thousands of everyday customers with its delicious meals and delivery services.

The food delivery service is ideal for people who wish to enjoy a healthy and delicious meal. In fact, it is also a great choice for all those who wish to reduce their daily calorie intake and lose weight in a healthy way. Medifast was established by food expert and doctor, William Vitale as a basic weight loss program. In the initial days, the company sold meal replacements to physicians, and only later started shipping meals directly to customers. The meals mostly included a variety of snacks, shake powders and also some dehydrated meals that are healthy replacements for your everyday meals.

The guidelines of Medifast are designed and created by dieticians and health experts to help you learn and understand the diet program yourself. These educational guidelines are precisely written to help you learn how to use Medifast snacks or the meal replacements to help you lose your excess weight effectively.

Diet Plans: The diet meal delivery company offers you three basic meal programs, namely: “The Go”, “Achieve” and “Thrive”. The first meal plan, “The Go” is a straight and simple meal replacement program that includes multiple small meal replacements along with advice on choosing the most ideal meals for your dinner. So, once you achieve your weight loss target or goal, you can happily go back to your previous self-made diets or even continue with the previous Medifast diet. The second meal plan is “Achieve” and is a simple 30 days diet plan that offers you Medifast snacks and health supplements along with an additional lean and green meal option for an entire month. However, if you wish to use the company’s special diet program, you must choose their long term weight loss program, “Thrive”.

The secret to Medifast’s successful weight loss programs is their reduced calorie content in all their meals. In short, No Skipping Meals and No Hunger. With their regular food intake, you can stay energized and at the same time also lose weight to achieve your weight loss goals. In order to successfully start losing your extra weight, all you need to do is just follow their diet plan for 8 weeks and then get back to your low-calorie home-made meals. Their meal replacements include snacks, milkshakes, smoothies, cappuccinos and a variety of entrées. You can completely trust the diet program, because they are extensively designed based on years of researches and several studies.

Costing: Medifast is definitely not a cheap weight loss program. To be honest, their monthly food replacements will cost you a lot of money. However, you will not be spending unnecessary time buying groceries or dining out, the overall cost will not be much higher. The average daily cost of food replacements is $12. However, you need to strictly follow their guidelines to make sure that you lose your desired weight.
Although the company is one of the topmost weight loss programs in the industry, there is still room for improvement. For instance, almost all Medifast meal replacements include added sugar in them for enhancing taste. So, if you are diabetic, you cannot opt for this diet program at all. Also they offer you a very limited food variety compared to their competitors. And, plenty of people regain a little weight once they stop the diet plan.

Facts: There are studies that have shown an average weight loss of 12% after you start following this diet plan. This is comparatively much higher than many other low-calorie and low-carb diets. People who have followed this diet program for as long as 1 year, have lost an average of more than 26 pounds.

Also, according to their results, it has been seen that most Medifast dieters regain a little weight back after the plan. However, their overall weight loss results are impressive and you must consider them if you are looking for weight loss programs. This simply proves the fact that Medifast is one of the most ideal weight loss programs available in the market.

Ideal For: Medifast is particularly ideal for people with High Cholesterol, patients with Heart Diseases, people suffering from High Blood Pressure and people who wish to Lose Weight.

Unique Features

Simple to Follow

Both the diet programs offered by Medifast are very simple to follow. All you need to do is just subscribe yourself to their meal programs and stop consuming your daily meals, simply replacing them with Medifast meal replacements. In short, no more outside meals! You can satisfy your hunger with their everyday snacks, smoothies, drinks and entrees.

Offers a Variety of Meal Replacements

One of the most interesting facts about Medifast is that they offer you with a wide variety of meal replacements that includes Snacks, Drinks and Entrees.

Snacks: They usually consist of a variety of healthy snack bars that include a proportionate amount of proteins and carbs. They also have a small amount of sugar to enhance the flavors and make them delicious for the followers. Their Cruncher Snacks are rich in proteins and have a very low amount of sugar and fat. They include pizza bites and pretzel sticks that keep you energized for an entire day while also making your stomach feel full. Medifast Snacks also includes desserts that are not very rich in calories or sugar. However, compared to all their other meal replacements, these desserts do have a little higher calorie content. So, when you are choosing your meal replacements, make sure that you choose wisely.

Drinks: Medifast offers you a refreshing variety of drinks that includes everything from smoothies, hot cocoa, milk shakes to cappuccino. Every drink offered by Medifast is delicious and refreshing. You will not only enjoy these drinks but they will also keep your hunger sated. Every drink you enjoy, will also satisfy your body’s calorie intake. In short, each drink includes just around 100 calories. These drinks are rich in taste, protein and have very little sugar added to them for enhancing their flavors.

Entrees: The very first meal of your day, entrees include a variety of pancakes and oatmeal that will definitely give a great start to your day. You may also get to choose healthier options on certain days that include mashed potatoes or a variety of soups. Each of these entrée meals have a very restricted amount of sugar, fat and calories but have a rich amount of proteins in them.

Meals are Fortified

The meals are fortified to provide you with all the basic body essential minerals, nutrients and vitamins. Each and every meal offered by Medifast meets with medical requirements or that recommended by medical practitioners for a healthy body and life.

You receive Support and Coaching

With Medifast, you can receive every help and support you need to pass through the diet programs. This additional support system is a great way to help you stay focused on your weight loss goals. Moreover, with the right help of professionals and expert guidance, you can successfully lose all the extra weight in a short timeframe.

Gives you Effective Weight Loss Results

Compared to all other weight loss programs Medifast is one of the most efficient diet programs. It is a weight loss program that is based on the results of several scientific research and studies. According to the experts, you can lose an average 2.2 pounds per week, if you follow the program perfectly.

Extremely Easy to Prepare

A true time saver! With Medifast, you never have to worry about food preparation. Medifast offers you prepackaged foods with simple and easy to follow instructions. They offer you a variety of food items, right from desserts and snacks to entrees and soups.

Designed by a Doctor for Weight Loss

One of the biggest advantages of Medifast is that it is designed and developed by renowned physician Dr. William Vitale in 1980. He constructed the weight loss program particularly for helping people lose weight, but in a healthy way. The meal delivery products were nutritionally healthy and were initially sold only to doctors, who further prescribed them to the needful patients. After 20 years, the company went through a restructuring and the meals were directly marketed to the consumers who wished to diet and lose their extra weight.

Medifast Diet Programs and Working

Medifast offers you 3 unique weight loss programs, each designed to help you lose weight in the shortest time without affecting your body’s nutritional balance. These programs are:

– Medifast Go
– Medifast Achieve
– Medifast Thrive

Medifast follows a simple philosophy – Eating smaller portions in regular intervals instead of 3 large meals. So, instead of 3 meals, you will eat 6 meals in a day and still lose all your extra weight. Each of these meals are carefully created and include the right amount of calories, minerals, vitamins and proteins. For instance, their nutrition bars contain as many as 24 vital minerals and vitamins, 11 gm protein, 4 gm fiber and lastly, 13 gm carbs, thus making them one of the most nutritious snacks for you. Also, you can eat at least 5 meals from the Medifast products you receive, and cook one meal yourself, but only if you follow the guidelines carefully.

Due to the lower calorie intake, your body will start burning the stored fat and thus initiate the weight loss process. The diet program has 3 stages:

– Weight Loss Stage: This is the stage where customers start to quickly lose weight. Dieters can lose 2-5 pounds in a week, especially in the first 2 weeks.

– Transition Stage: This stage lasts for 6 weeks and during this phase your body starts to get used to the low calorie intake. According to the experts at Medifast, you will lose just about 1-2 pounds in a week.

– Maintenance Stage: This is the last stage of the diet plan and is a lifelong phase. So, once you have achieved your weight loss target, you will receive a fresh set of guidelines that will only make sure that you maintain this body weight for a long time.

Medifast Plan Cost

The 3 weight loss programs offered by Medifast are ideally created to keep your hunger at bay. And unlike many other weight loss plans, you will not experience any hunger while following these diet plans. Every program offers multiple meal options that unitedly help you achieve your goals.

Medifast Go – $451 per month

A 30 day diet kit, the Medifast Go plan initiates the weight loss process in the body. The plan helps by burning up all the extra body fat and this helping you achieve your weekly goals. The meal kit includes as many as 154 special Medifast meals that come in a wide variety such as – low preparation meals, on-the-go meals, snacks, soups, pudding, shakes, snack bars, pretzel sticks, mashed potatoes and much more. The meal kit also includes a start-up guide, a food journal for 30 days, Dining out guide and a blender bottle. The meal kit will cost you $451 per month.

Medifast Achieve – $478.30 per month

The second diet meal plan offered by Medifast is the Achieve diet plan that slightly varies from the Go plan. Medifast Achieve comprises of 126 simple Medifast meals and 21 Cruncher Snack bags along with a special 30 day health supplements supply for a healthy heart and good digestive system. Additionally, it also includes 13 delicious “Lean and Green” meal options for you to enjoy. The kit further includes crisps, popcorns, lemonade flavor infusers, a dining out guide and a blender bottle.

Note: Some of these items are only included in your first Achieve meal plan.

Medifast Thrive – $325.90 per month

The third and last diet plan offered by Medifast, Thrive is designed especially to help you maintain your body and weight after the weight loss program. The plan includes just 2 “Lean and Green” options, some smoothie packets, chocolate bars, yogurt bars and shakes. Every meal option is rich in nutrition, proteins and fiber, thus ensuring you good health after you have achieved your weight loss target.

MediFast Vs Market Competitors

It takes a lot of dedication, mental strength and control to follow a chosen diet program. And all your efforts go down the drain if you fail to choose the right diet plan for you. With people becoming more health and fitness enthusiasts each day, newer diet programs are developed almost every day in the food and wellness industry. While some of these diet programs are really miraculous, some are simply fake. Medifast is one of the oldest diet programs in the market that has proven its might with its results over the years. Established in 1980 by a physician, Dr. William Vitale, Medifast achieved a lot of success mainly due to its well-structured diet plan and quick results. Here is a point-wise comparison between Medifast and a few of their top market competitors.

Medifast and Nutrisystem

Top brands in the market, Medifast and Nutrisystem both offer their customers with pre-packaged diet plans and meals. They both follow the same weight loss philosophy but vary mostly due to their meal kit tastes. Nutrisystem scores a little higher than Medifast when you compare the taste of their meals. Medifast meals are a little bland and lack flavors. However, if you have special medical conditions or diet restrictions, Medifast proves to be the ideal choice for you. Also, Medifast offers you quick weight loss results while Nutrisystem is ideal for long-term weight loss plans.

Medifast and Jenny Craig

Medifast and Jenny Craig diet plans are two very different diet programs, although they both help you lose weight quickly. Jenny Craig diet plans are mostly chef-designed meal plans that are great in taste and also have a good effect on your body. However, Medifast is a doctor designed diet plan that is highly recommended by medical practitioners and dieticians. Also, cost-wise Jenny Craig is a very expensive choice that will cost you an approx. $15 per meal, while a Medifast meal will cost you around $2.36 per meal. Jenny Craig further costs you an extra $29 shipping charges for all their meals, while Medifast offers you free shipping services for all deliveries above $300.