At its core, medifast is really a low carb diet. It seems to me that a lot of people are a bit surprised by this, myself included. I used to think this was your staple low-calorie, restrictive diet, but there’s more to it than that. All foods are very high in protein and fiber, while being relatively low in carbohydrates and sugars. This is the formula that puts your body into fat burning mode and is a very important part of the equation. Someone asked me the other day exactly how much of each part of the equation you take in each day you take Medifast. I will answer this in the next article.
Sample Medifast menu with daily protein content: Probably the easiest way to demonstrate this is to review a typical day on medifast and then calculate the daily content from there.
Below is a sample menu with protein, fiber, sugar, and calorie (in grams) content. Keep in mind that each day you will consume five of the smaller prepackaged meals on the diet and prepare a “fat-free and green” meal of your own. You have quite a bit of freedom with this and you can make your own decisions. But, the company gives you some guidelines. They want you to eat lean meats or vegetable alternatives, and they want you to eat three servings of glycemic-friendly vegetables.
Food———————Protein——————-Fiber——- ————–Sugar—————–Calories—-
Oats——————–11———————–5— ——————————–1—————– ——-110
Chocolate shake————-11———3———- ———–9- – ———————————— 90
Chile————————-11———————- — 5————1———————————- ———————110
Crunch Bar—————–12———————–4—– ——————————two——————- —–110
Lean and Green Food ——-This varies, depending on the food you choose.———————-
Cinnamon Chips————–4————————1——- – ————-3———————————– — –70
As you can see, on this typical day, we have consumed 49 grams of protein, 18 fiber, 15 sugar, and 490 calories. But, we still haven’t calculated our lean and green yet. There are plenty of options here and as long as you eat a small serving of meat or meat alternate and 3 servings of vegetables, you’re fine. Some people will do this with stir-fries. Some will make a casserole or pot meal. And, some will do a more traditional meal with sides. However, no matter how you slice it, they want you to eat 5-7 ounces of meat or its substitute. In general, each ounce will have 7 grams of protein. So if you had a six ounce serving, you would consume 42 grams. Put this with the smaller diet meals you’ve already eaten and you have a total of 91.
This is pretty much like diets like South Beach and Atkins where many people aim for around 100. As you can see, you’re getting a very generous amount of protein that should have no problem putting you into fat burning mode (ketosis). ) unless you cheat a lot with your lean and green food and go carb-loading at the time.
