The Medifast diet is a commercially available weight loss plan that utilizes meal replacements. With the increasing number of overweight and obese people, programs like Medifast have surged in popularity. This article aims to provide a comprehensive review of the Medifast diet, including its benefits, potential side effects, and overall effectiveness.
What is Medifast?
Headquartered in Baltimore, Medifast was founded in 1980 by William Vital, a medical doctor who sought to provide other doctors with weight-loss products for their patients. Medifast is a low-calorie rapid weight loss plan using meal replacements alongside solid food. UPDATE: Medifast closed their traditional program, and now sell product under the OPTAVIA brand. The program is one of an increasing number of home-delivered diet programs.
The Medifast (MD) MR plan features a combination of MD MRs and “conventional” food choices; it has been shown to be safe and effective for weight loss in obese individuals.
How Does Medifast Work?
The MD MR plan is a low-calorie, nutritionally-balanced, commercially available weight loss plan that consists of 5 portion-controlled MD MRs plus one self-prepared “Lean and Green MealTM”. The OPTAVIA approach advocates eating many small meals through the day to help your body enter “a gentle but efficient fat burning state while retaining lean muscle mass.” Dieters can choose from more than 60 nutritionally interchangeable Fuelings, which are the company’s specially formulated food products and are “nutrient dense and portion-controlled.” They contain no artificial colors, flavors or sweeteners. On the 5&1 plan, you’ll eat five Fuelings each day, which include shakes, bars, soups, puddings and biscuits. The sixth meal is one you make yourself and should include a lean protein such as shrimp or chicken breast and three servings of nonstarchy vegetables. OPTAVIA calls these user-created meals Lean & Green meals. You’re also encouraged to drink 64 ounces of water each day.
The MD MRs range from 90 - 110 calories each, are low fat, low on the glycemic index, provide an approximate 1:1 ratio of carbohydrate to proteins, and are either soy or whey protein based.
Read also: The Medifast Diet Program: A Closer Look
Available Medifast Plans
Medifast offers several plans to suit different needs:
- Optimal Weight 5&1 Plan: On the 5&1 plan, you’ll eat five Fuelings each day, which include shakes, bars, soups, puddings and biscuits. The sixth meal is one you make yourself and should include a lean protein such as shrimp or chicken breast and three servings of nonstarchy vegetables. OPTAVIA calls these user-created meals Lean & Green meals. You’re also encouraged to drink 64 ounces of water each day.
- Optimal Weight 4&2&1 Plan: With this plan, no food group is off limits and you can incorporate two of your own Lean & Green meals each day. Four of your daily meals are OPTAVIA Fuelings, which contain high-quality protein and probiotic cultures to support digestive health.
- Optimal Health 3&3 Plan: The Optimal Health 3&3 plan is a nutritionally balanced plan that supports maintenance of weight loss after you’ve achieved your optimal weight goal. The plan includes three Lean & Green meals and three Optimal Health Fuelings each day.
The company also offers plans designed for people with diabetes, nursing mothers, people with gout, seniors and teens.
Support System
In addition to prepackaged food products and information about the timing of meals, the OPTAVIA program also includes coaching and support from a dedicated OPTAVIA coach who checks in with you weekly about your progress. Jennifer Christman director of clinical nutrition at OPTAVIA, says the company has “found that the best way for people to reach their health and wellness goals is through scientifically proven plans combined with coaches that provide clients with individualized support.”
In addition to this one-on-on coaching support, there’s also an online community of OPTAVIA dieters that you can connect with to help you stay on track. The program emphasizes “creating healthy habits through an approach leveraging the Habits of Health Transformational System, developed by New York Times-bestselling author, OPTAVIA co-founder and independent OPTAVIA coach Dr. Wayne Scott Andersen,” Christman explains.
At Medifast Weight Control Centers (MWCC), the structured MD MR plan is offered along with individualized 1-on-1 counseling and support.
Read also: Is Medifast Right For You?
At the MWCC a high level of support is provided to clients, including medical oversight and individual, weekly counseling sessions. These sessions include a number of features that create accountability and provide feedback to clients while still allowing for program personalization by MWCC counselors: ketone testing, weigh-ins, blood pressure (BP) measurement, food journal reviews, lifestyle lessons, time for comments or questions, and MR selection for the upcoming week. Clients who choose to purchase optional body composition analysis (lean muscle mass (LMM), body fat mass (BFM), and percent body fat (% BF)) as a part of their program are measured using bioelectrical impedance every four weeks. This measurement provides additional details about the client’s weight loss and serves as another tool counselors can use to provide personalized feedback.
Medifast Products
There are 65 options available: bars, shakes, soups, pastas, desserts and breakfast foods.
I'll be honest, I didn't expect to like every single item I chose for my first month. However, I've been pleasantly surprised. I don't hate everything, and I actually really do have some favorites. I LOVE the Cinnamon & Brown Sugar Cereal Crunch. I typically eat cereal every morning normally and was worried that this cereal would be blah - but it so TASTY. The chocolate chip pancakes taste good, but there is a bit of a learning curve with adding the right amount of water for the type of pancake texture I like. All of the bars I have tried so far (cookie dough, fruit & nut, strawberry crunch and chocolate mint) are all good. They are small and at first you will want to cry over their size. Chicken noodle soup, vegetable chili (I add a pinch of shredded cheese to it), chicken and rice soup and the mashed potatoes are also really good. The strawberry and chocolate shakes are yum. The parmesan and olive oil crisps taste like the real deal.
Health Benefits of Medifast
If you’re overweight or obese, a diet that helps you shed excess pounds can improve your overall health and reduce your risk of developing certain chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke and certain types of cancer.
With OPTAVIA, the idea is that losing weight can help jump start a healthier approach to other areas of life too, Christman says. “Often, the journey to a healthy weight is a catalyst for other changes, and clients learn and sustain healthy habits in other areas of life, like sleep and mindfulness.”
Read also: Is Medifast Right for You?
As part of a structured approach to obesity treatment, meal replacements (MR) have been shown to be a safe and effective tool for limiting calorie intake and promoting weight loss and weight maintenance among overweight and obese people. Benefits of MRs include builtin portion control, ease of use, and convenience. A meta-analysis of 6 randomized controlled trials using portion-controlled MRs as part of a reduced calorie diet (>800 to <1600 kcal) for weight management demonstrated their safety, weight loss efficacy, maintenance of weight loss efficacy, and improved weight-related risk factors of disease.
Potential Side Effects and Risks
In the past, negative Medifast reviews criticized the diet for red flags like promises of fast weight loss and its extensive use of supplements to replace whole foods.
- Inadequate Calorie Intake: One Optavia diet side effect is that the program may not provide your body with enough calories. Fuelings snacks are low-calorie, typically clocking in around 90 to 120 calories per serving at an average of just over 105 kcal. And meals in the Optavia “Lean & Green” cookbook usually contain anything from 260 to 400 kcal per serving, averaging at 347 kcal. Altogether, that can amount to eating as few as 710 to 950 calories per day, putting your body in starvation mode. Calorie intake should not fall below 1,200 per day for people assigned female at birth or 1,500 per day for people assigned male at birth, except under the supervision of a doctor.
- Inadequate Nutrient Intake: Similarly, another potential Optavia side effect is that not eating enough calories can deprive you of essential nutrients. The diet also requires you to replace many - if not the vast majority - of your meals with replacement products (Fuelings). It’s almost always better to eat plant-based foods rather than these supplemental snacks or ultra-processed foods, as meal replacements often can’t provide the same nutritional benefits as natural foods.
- Muscle Loss: Severely cutting calories can not only deprive you of nutrients - it can also lead to muscle loss. That’s because your body tends to break down muscle in response to eating an extremely low-calorie diet.
- Weight Regain: Approximately 80 to 85 percent of people who lose a significant amount of weight eventually regain most, if not all, of it. While Optavia can lead to short-term weight loss, it may not be the best program for keeping those pounds off in the long haul.
- Digestive Problems: Some dieters have reported digestive symptoms like gas, constipation, and diarrhea on Medifast or Optavia. These issues may be caused by two key ingredients in Optavia shakes - xanthan gum and carrageenan gum. Some people with certain intolerances or allergies also experience digestive upset from whey or soy protein isolate. Both of these are ingredients in Optavia’s Fuelings.
- Gallstones: The Optavia diet can cause hard clumps of digestive fluid in the gallbladder, known as gallstones, in individuals who are already at risk, such as people assigned female at birth or those with obesity or those who are overweight. Crash diets lead to a higher risk of getting gallstones.
- Risk for Eating Disorders: Dieting can also put you at risk for developing an eating disorder, according to a review. It can also be triggering for those who’ve experienced an eating disorder in the past.
Transition and Maintenance
One of the primary concerns regarding commercial weight loss programs is that once you reach your goal weight, you essentially graduate out of the program and have to figure out how to maintain that weight loss on your own. This can be difficult if you’ve been eating only prepared meals supplied by the company.
To help clients make the transition to long-term maintenance of weight loss, Nutrisystem offers a transition and maintenance program called Nutrisystem Success. “If someone has hit their goal, they graduate to portion-controlled containers and a meal plan that supports those containers,” McCormick explains. Counselors help clients learn how to build balanced meals that support maintenance of weight loss.
OPTAVIA also offers dieters support when transitioning from an active weight-loss to a weight-maintenance phase. “Our goal is not to provide clients with a quick fix, but to provide them with the tools for lifelong transformation,” Christman says. “We want to educate and support our clients so they can reach their health goals and maintain their well-being.”
Once desired weight loss has been reached, a transitional plan called Thrive is available. The Thrive kit contains a selection of bars and smoothies that will be consumed along side regular cooked meals. Beyond this, Medifast recommend 1-3 packaged meals daily and a moderately intense exercise routine (e.g. 30-45 minutes 5 days per week).
Cost of Medifast
OPTAVIA. The most popular plan, Optimal Weight 5&1 Plan, costs about $414 for 30 days (or $14 per day). This cost includes all OPTAVIA Fuelings, which form five of your six meals per day. “The only thing you need to buy at the grocery store is protein and vegetables for your daily Lean & Green meal,” Christman says. “The OPTAVIA coach and community is a benefit that is available at no additional cost and provides another layer of support and motivation.” The other plans are similar in cost, with some variation based on the specific kits and food items purchased.
These prices are based on an auto-shipping model called Medifast Advantage. This is a loyalty program, that will apply a 5%-10% discount on the next shipped order. Medifast has a 30-day money-back guarantee.
What to Expect
You can't be 40 looking at the before and afters of a 20 year old and you can't be a woman comparing the weight loss of a man. Weight loss also depends on activity level. You can't follow the diet but never exercise and expect to look great. I've had to make lifestyle changes. I now do a HIIT workout for 10-15 minutes every morning and I try my best to reach my 6500 steps a day goal. This may not sound like much, but I want to start slow and build up from there. For me, working out for 45 minutes every morning is not something I have much interest in, let alone time. I need the kickstart to get me in the right mindset. OK, and here is the other thing and may be TMI for you, but if you are considering this plan then you need to know. The food binds you up. My tip is to increase your water intake (which should also help with hunger pains) and make sure your lean and green meal has roughage veggies like zucchini to help avoid this issue altogether. The other thing you can't forget is that inch loss counts, too. I absolutely look forward to my lean & green meal at dinner time every night because this is when I'm able to eat a protein and 3 servings of vegetables. I was able to get my hands on their Simply Well cookbook and it is AMAZING. For example, tonight I made a Makeover Meal. This is where you mix a Medifast meal with food you buy at your local market. I chose to make the Chicken and Rice Stuffed Pepppers. So do you feel hungry on this diet? Yes and no.
Weight loss is due to a number of circumstances. For one, if you are a female in your 20's, then look at other female 20 year olds that have done this diet to see what would be realistic for you. If you are 30, look at someone who is 30. Here's the thing - the younger you are, the easier it is to lose the weight "fast". Men also lose weight faster and differently than women.
Study on Medifast Weight Control Centers (MWCC)
This study is a systematic retrospective chart review of clients participating in the MD Plan at three different MWCC locations in Texas between 2007 and 2010. Client charts were considered “evaluable” if the following criteria were met: adult males and females aged 18 - 70 years, following the MD Plan, had a BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2, entered a weight management program at one of the three selected MWCC locations between 2007 and 2010, and had a signed health information consent form. Exclusion criteria were as follows: following a plan other than the MD Plan, completed the initial consultation but did not participate further, did not get baseline labs performed, the program was stopped for medical reasons unrelated to the MD Plan, no signed health information consent form or the presence of a written request to revoke consent, or if clients were currently an active participant at the MWCC.
The total number of charts included in the analysis is 446. A total of 730 were reviewed and 284 were removed based on the exclusion criteria.
Key Findings
- The majority of clients in the 446 person sample were female (86.5% vs. 13.5% male) and married (70.6%). The average age was 47 years (Table 1). Most (95.7%) reported that it was a personal decision (vs. spousal or doctor encouragement) that prompted their first visit to a MWCC.
- ranging from 5 to 67 weeks (x̅ = 18.2 ± 9.2) based on the estimated time needed to achieve individualized goal weights. The average length of time spent in the active weight loss phase was 19.6 ± 13.5 weeks.
Medifast vs. Nutrisystem
Two well-known commercial diet companies - Medifast and Nutrisystem - have stood the test of time and remain viable options for many people seeking to gain better control of their health and weight loss.
Nutrisystem was founded in 1972 as a brick-and-mortar operation in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, and has since grown to become one of the leading providers of prepared meals and nutritional support for people seeking to lose weight. The company offers counseling and a range of resources for members via the phone and internet.
“Nutrisystem is a program that looks at balanced nutrition,” says Courtney McCormick, manager of clinical research and nutrition with Nutrisystem . Portion control and an understanding of the glycemic index form the basis of how the program works.
Clients purchase pre-made food items directly from the company, but are also encouraged to supplement these ready-to-eat meals with fresh foods and their own meals. “We provide about 60% of the person’s calories for the day, and then we provide guidance for them to add in fresh grocery additions,” McCormick says. Clients can select from a variety of shelf-stable and frozen prepared options.
Digital resources, including a new app and lifestyle blog, also support modern dieters. But the company still emphasizes personal counseling and support. “Everyone who’s on our program has access to nutritional counselors,” McCormick explains. “They can call in anytime they have questions or need motivation.” For dieters with diabetes, these resources include certified diabetes counselors. “They can help those individuals personalize their meal plans,” she says.
A 2015 study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found that dieters on Nutrisystem experienced at least 3.8% greater weight loss at three months than the control group. Those in the Medifast program saw at least 4.0% greater short-term weight loss than the control, but some of the dieters were found to have regained weight when evaluated after six months.