The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[Patti]

I had been wondering for the longest time if you could split your lean and green meal into two smaller meals. I know you must have your L & G meal with both carbs and proteins at the same time, i.e., you cannot have a salad at lunch and just eat your protein at dinner.

The following post was on the Medifast website:

On 2/22/2006, Medifast in MD said...

To Kelly in NC You want to make sure you are limiting your carbohydrate intake to 85 grams or less a day. You can split the lean and green meal into two small portions, just make sure to get the full serving size recommendations and the 5 Medifast meals in each day.

Also, I was not aware of the fact that carbs had to be counted and that you could very easily go over 100 carbs a day on Medifast (which I might add, I have done several times). I am paying more attention now.

Just thought I would pass this on.

Patti

[Patti]

Follow up on carb controversy going on at the Medifast website:

On 2/23/2006, Medifast in MD said...

Answer to the Carb Questions: For most people, it is not necessary to count carbohydrates while on the Medifast 5 & 1 Plan. However, as you continue to lose weight and get closer to your goal weight, you may want to be more aware of your carbohydrate intake, especially if it seems you have hit a standstill or are not losing at the rate you had expected. At this time, you should stay between 80-85 grams of carbohydrates a day. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

I am soooooooo glad we have this website, because the Medifast website can become so confusing at times.

Patti

[Jan]

Hi Patti,
First let me say that we here at Take Shape for Life, using Medifast products do not recommend splitting the "lean and green" We want you to learn portion size so that once you are on maintenance it will be easier for you. That's why we say have five meal replacements and one lean and green. Now as to the counting. Again, we say don't worry about it. If you follow the program as it is written in the quick start booklet, you will be fine. It is all figured out for you. That's why there is a list of approved veggies. It's when we start adding to that we get in trouble with carbs. When we start taking away -- we push ourselves into starvation mode and may burn muscle tissue.
jan

[Patti]

Jan,

I agree with you, like I said, what the Medifast people are saying can be confusing. I wonder who the people are that man the telephones and give out the information to medifasters who call in with concerns.

But, on the other hand, the Lean and Green meal does seem rather large when one goes back to normal eating. I don't think I would eat 7 oz. of chicken at one sitting if I added other foods with it, aside from vegetables.

But, I will ponder over that when that day comes.

Thanks for the reply,

Patti

[Jan]

Hmmmm,
I am assuming if you call the regular Medifast number --the one that you would call to order you get an order taker. That's exactly what happens when you call the TSFL number to order. They are not Health Advisors and sometimes I wish they would not answer questions except as to if a certain product is available or not. We've had to clear up several problems. You are right it can be confusing. Health Advisors -- especially the certified ones --are trained to help you with the program. We are not Medical People and always send people right to their Dr.s for medical concerns but we do know our program. Always ask your Health Advisor about program questions. This will make it the simplest for you.

jan

[Nancy]

Patti ~

One of the things I like best about the TSFL Program is that we do not have to do a lot of thinking in terms of our program. I've been on a TON of programs over my decades of living my flabby life and I got to the point where I HATED counting calories and fats and carbohydrates, etc. Man! I could just about tell you how many calories a food has in my sleep!

Medifast seemed ideal for me because I was always hungry on 'regular' DIEts, I'd lose a few pounds but could never stick with it because of the hunger issue and yet I was eating a very low calorie meal plan. Some plans I used were 300-385 calories per day, I lost weight but was so hungry and such a mess physically, I never stuck with it. I counted and weighed every thing that I ate – I had two meals a day.

Medifast has done the math work for us! Yeah! Each packet is poked full of all the food we need and all the vitamins and minerals we need are in there, too. And we get to have 5 pf them a day! PLUS the wonderful L & G meal. Too!

There may be times that a person is caught without a packet and perhaps they feel they must make a choice between skipping a packet or eating half portions of a lean and green and then having the other half of the lean and green later in the day. We're saying that it is best to not do that and yet there are people that I know who do that regularly.

I trust the program and adhere to it. I feel that TSFL has always been right up front with us; when changes need to be made to the program, they inform us and then the Quick Start booklet is revamped and reprinted. I haven’t noticed where the guidebook offers the 5 & 2 plan yet so I’m going along with the 5 & 1 for now.

Yep, we are allowed a generous portion of meat for the 5 & 1 Program and sometimes it seemed like a load of food for me, too. Many times people are tempted to cut back on it, thinking they will lose weight faster but we must not do that because the meal is carefully designed to ensure that our program is muscle sparing - our body needs the protein and the vegetable portions in order for the meal to be balanced. We are learning the things during the weight loss phase that will help us to understand what maintenance will be like...small portions of food, combinations of protein, low glycemic carbohydrates, low fat foods that are eaten at regular intervals throughout the day in conjunction with moderate exercise.

For maintenance I usually eat about 6 ounces of chicken - it depends on the rest of my meal components. If I have fish or shellfish, I eat 7-8 ounces as it is usually very lean. I have a lean chork pop once in a while. I rarely ever eat beef; it has to be really spectacular before I ever consider it and when I do, it is a very small portion.

I eat a lot of CHRISTmas food – green & red things! Romaine, cabbage, broccoli, spinach, zukes & cukes, olives!! (OK, Folks - don't go out a buy a cartload of green olives! I am on maintenance and I eat a FEW because I can!) Tuhmaters, red peppers - again…I’m on maintenance and I can! Red peppers are higher in carbs than those nasty green ones so I generally tell losin’ Peeps to steer clear of the red and yellow ones or just have a few slivers on their salad top.

I've written many posts about the importance of following the program because as Jan explained, when we start adding extra things, we get out of balance and we find that rapid weight loss can slow down and it also makes it more difficult to stay on the program as hunger can return, too.