Medifast.. Good or bad? Thoughts?
Hi guys, still new here and am loving the forum. I have gotten back into cycling, for enjoyment and to help me lose weight. I have heard some about the new Medifast diet. I am wondering if anyone has had any experience with it and if they got good results, or not.
You eat 5 small items every two hours then a " lean and green" meal at night or whenever. This seems like a good plan. I am 6 foot and 280ish, I would really like to get down to at least 250 and I know I have to not only ride and be active, but also look at what I eat. All comments welcome. |
To get fit on the bike:
Ride lots of miles, mostly fast To lose weight: Eat often, mostly green No need to buy anything special. |
Originally Posted by bbeasley
(Post 16814534)
To get fit on the bike:
Ride lots of miles, mostly fast To lose weight: Eat often, mostly green No need to buy anything special. That makes sense, thanks bbeasley, I guess I'll just ride lots and eat celery haha. But really, thank you for the advice. |
Fasting and exercise don't go well together.
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Originally Posted by Dunbar
(Post 16814683)
Fasting and exercise don't go well together.
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Am I wrong to assume Medifast is a fasting diet?
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Originally Posted by Dunbar
(Post 16814709)
Am I wrong to assume Medifast is a fasting diet?
They are low calorie and high protein, mostly soy based. |
I imagine the "fast" in the diet name refers to (the claimed) speed-of-results, but there's certainly an element of calorie restriction (aka "fasting") in there, as well. As Rosie O'Donnell said, "Eat less, move more". I don't know about riding "fast" -- at 280lbs (I was 300lbs), it's all "fast". But don't make "fast" weight loss a goal -- you didn't put it on "fast", and it won't come off "fast", either (at least, not in a healthy and/or sustainable manner). Just my 2-cents (and 75lbs lost, thus far).
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It has some merit, does work for me a bit, but I'm not satisfied when I eat because I'm more restricted and I don't feel empty or full. I also don't like feeling that I always have something on my stomach and I also can't always get time to grab something. I have taken the principal though and use meal replacement shakes at work which works for me though they are not high protein or a piece of fruit, basically stuff that is easy. It isn't easy to grab something to eat at my job and I can go for 8 hours before I get my meal break.
The idea of the small meals through the day is to keep your metabolism up where if you only eat 3 regular meals you have time in between where your metabolism slows because the body goes into starvation mode. |
Originally Posted by Farhat
(Post 16814839)
They are low calorie and high protein, mostly soy based.
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Alternate day fasting. I do it three days a week. Eat only 200 calories for the fasting period of 24 hours. Otherwise eat smart, careful not to overindulge. It starts to activate fat burning which otherwise is dormant.
alternate day fasting - Google Scholar There is really nothing wrong with fasting and exercise, it takes a bit to get used to but certainly do able. I still ride about 30-40 km each day while doing it. |
Originally Posted by Dunbar
(Post 16814683)
Fasting and exercise don't go well together.
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Originally Posted by joeyduck
(Post 16814954)
There is really nothing wrong with fasting and exercise, it takes a bit to get used to but certainly do able. I still ride about 30-40 km each day while doing it.
Originally Posted by stephtu
(Post 16814964)
I would say fasting and very long extended bouts of exercise don't go well together. But it has worked well for me on rest days, and also combined with more moderate exercise days of < 1.5 hours.
http://www.bikeforums.net/training-n...nce-focus.html |
Originally Posted by WrightVanCleve
(Post 16814924)
The idea of the small meals through the day is to keep your metabolism up where if you only eat 3 regular meals you have time in between where your metabolism slows
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/23/he...anted=all&_r=0 Increased meal frequency does not promote greater ... [Br J Nutr. 2010] - PubMed - NCBI I've lost 45 pounds perfectly fine, eating most days twice a day, and a couple days just once per day. Bottom line is it's the total amount of food per week that matters, not how often you eat or when you eat. because the body goes into starvation mode. |
Originally Posted by Dunbar
(Post 16814982)
30-40 km while eating a total of 200 calories that day? I suppose if you don't mind feeling hungry and fatigued all day long (+ on the bike) there's nothing wrong with it.
But I know dinner is there. On the way home my son is having his snack (dried fruit and seeds) and he shares (he is in a rear seat). He knows I love the dates and apricots which are a nice collection of sugars to get the last 5 km push home. I am not say it is not tough, but the first week or two are the hardest, then it is just normal. |
In 1990 when I returned to College as an old man of 35, I went on Jenny Craig. It worked really well. After I got out of college I hit 300 lbs.
I don't blame Jenny. It, like Weight watchers, is based on sound nutrition. Medifast, Optifast and others like that offer a similar product, but are often faster weight loss. The danger of recidivism comes from the "on a diet" mentality. I used Jenny Craig to hit a goal weight of 175. Once I got there, I said "Great! I did it!" then went back to my old habits. A health crisis in '08 put me on a lifestyle change. I have lost nearly 90 lbs and am now down to 210 lbs. Rather than focusing on a goal weight, I focus on eating right. I have determined that I will maintain this for life. The weigh loss has been slow, but I have been loosing for over five years, and am mostly keeping it off. There have been some back slides, but the trend continues downward. I will not dis Jenny, it was a good program, and I took away something very important from it-structure. A common misconception is that over weight people obsess about food. In my case it was the opposite. I didn't think about it, I just ate it. Driving home from work; hit the drive through. It was automatic. Now I obsess about what I eat. Time, amount, quality. I track every calorie I put into my body, and every mile I put on the bike. If I let up, I go back on autopilot and gain weight. Now here is the deal. I will not discourage you from doing Optifast. I say go for it. Just remember that when you are done, you're not really done. You will never be done.
Originally Posted by stephtu
(Post 16815012)
This "eat many times a day" stuff has been debunked.
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Originally Posted by Dunbar
(Post 16814982)
30-40 km while eating a total of 200 calories that day? I suppose if you don't mind feeling hungry and fatigued all day long (+ on the bike) there's nothing wrong with it.
I've been doing a more relaxed regime than he has, restricting only down to 600 calories twice a week. |
Originally Posted by CommuteCommando
(Post 16815045)
Now here is the deal. I will not discourage you from doing Optifast. I say go for it. Just remember that when you are done, you're not really done. You will never be done. I know I will not lose he weight fast. I guess the best option for me her might just be to start a better eating regimen and then possibly use the "medifast" foods for small snacks, instead of going to the dollar menu or a soda. Thank you all very much for the positive input, I will be starting a new lifestyle and its nice to have some people that back me up and share the same passion of bike riding. |
Originally Posted by CommuteCommando
(Post 16815045)
I can offer one bit of anecdotal evidence to debunk this statement. It works for me.
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Originally Posted by stephtu
(Post 16815056)
I think 40km is perfectly fine. The body has ~2000 calories in glycogen stored up to use, along with practically unlimited fat stores. He's not doing consecutive days without food.
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Originally Posted by stephtu
(Post 16815085)
Not sure what you mean by this. If you are saying that eating many times a day works for you, I never claimed that it can't work. I am disputing the idea that it works because it "raises metabolism", or that it necessarily works better than eating the same amounts divided among fewer meals. If one can better manage their total consumption & hunger eating much smaller amounts more frequently, great, do what works. But it's not necessary, and it doesn't raise metabolism. Some of us prefer more substantial meals, less often. So if you don't like eating six times per day, you don't have to in order to lose weight. You just have to find a way to eat less than you did before, that you can sustain long term.
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Originally Posted by stephtu
(Post 16815056)
I think 40km is perfectly fine. The body has ~2000 calories in glycogen stored up to use, along with practically unlimited fat stores. He's not doing consecutive days without food. I agree that hard rides two days in a row combined with 2 consecutive days of fasting would become problematic, but that's not what he's doing. Fatigue shouldn't be an issue, and after awhile on the program, the hunger gets much more manageable. A lot of people have forgotten what real hunger feels like, a little bit peckish and reach for a snack, hence the obesity problem spreading worldwide. Force yourself on an intermittent fasting regime, try reaching for a glass of water instead, often you find the hunger diminishes or goes away for awhile, doesn't really get worse, and you make it to bed and eat normally the next day and feel perfectly fine.
I've been doing a more relaxed regime than he has, restricting only down to 600 calories twice a week. I used to do 72 hours fasts in my undergrad days. Once or twice a year, not for weight loss but meditative almost. There were definite cycles of true hunger that would pass with time. I would still cook and shop during the 72 hours. I would drink water or tea but no food. |
Originally Posted by Dunbar
(Post 16815090)
Saying that you should just live with feeling hungry for large chunks of your waking hours strikes me as a tad bit radical.
One of the benefits of doing enough exercise is that it's possible to eat more without gaining weight. So I just don't see the point of trying to mix a calorie restricted diet with moderate to higher levels of cardiovascular exercise. Weight loss with exercise only, no calorie restriction at all, is fairly unlikely to succeed IMO, too easy to undo an hour of exercise in a few minutes of eating. |
Before spending money on something like an organized program, figure out for yourself where your problems are by tracking what you eat for a period of time. I use the Myfitnesspal app and track my food and exercise that way. Once you track your food for a few days or a week of eating normally, it will become apparent to you where you are consuming extra calories. Then when you go to the grocery store, start looking for alternatives to what you are currently eating that are lower in calories. You can salvage alot of calories just by swapping out better choices. Things like bread can range from 50 to 120 calories per slice. Making the change from a 120 calorie per slice bread to a 55 calorie per slice bread is about 650 calories per week if you eat one sandwich per day. That is close to a pound fewer calories per month for something as simple as changing what kind of bread you buy. You can do the same thing with a whole variety of foods and end up cutting way back on your calories without fundamentally changing how much or how often you eat. Then if you start substituting veggies for part of the meat content in other things you eat, and cut down slightly on portion sizes for what you eat, you gain even more. But it all starts with tracking what you are eating. That is free, and it will open your eyes to where the savings can happen.
In my case, I have found that trying to front load calories with a high protein breakfast, and then spreading the rest out over the day in small meals and snacks is a very easy way to avoid that gnawing hunger feeling. I probably eat more often now at work than I did before, and I am currently eating less than half the calories I used to. I have been eating with a goal of 1500 calories net per day (net meaning I subtract the amount burned in exercise) since late February, and I am down 48 pounds in a little over 3 months. I try to eat about a 300-350 calorie breakfast high in protein, a 300-350 calorie lunch, and 2-3x100-150 calorie snacks during the day, then another ~350 calories for dinner. If I am going to work out or ride, I may add an extra snack either late afternoon an hour or so beforehand, or as a recovery snack right after the workout to replenish glycogen if I am doing high intensity intervals. One thing I found that has really helped me is to cook foods over the weekend and separate them out into individual meal sized portions. It is amazing what kind of food you can eat if you select ingredients carefully and parcel it out into proper sized portions. Doing it over the weekend allows me to just grab a tub of food from the fridge on my way out the door and not have to stop and prepare a proper lunch to eat at work, or worse head to a deli or fast food restaurant for lunch. We have been eating things like chicken enchiladas, black bean chili, avocado chicken wraps, etc. and they taste great and are less than 350 calories per serving, because we select good ingredients and avoid adding lots of junk to them. I was the type that thought I could never do it without an organized program, but I gave it an honest try, and have been absolutely amazed at how easy it has been to get where I am so far. |
Originally Posted by stephtu
(Post 16815171)
You seemed aghast at him doing 40k on a fasting day, like it's unbearable hunger.
How are you defining calorie restricted? Weight loss with exercise only, no calorie restriction at all, is fairly unlikely to succeed IMO, too easy to undo an hour of exercise in a few minutes of eating. |
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