I am 32 and weigh in at 130kg, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes about 3 years ago and have dropped about 13kg in that period with some yo yo weight loss and gain along the way. So I have now decided to get serious and start Optifast, which I think is the same as your Medifast? It's a meal replacement water based shake in chocolate or vanilla 3 times a day with a total calorie intake of around 700 calories. Day one was terrible for me, I thought I was going to die and at the end of the day I had a severe migraine and felt quiet sick. Day 2 was much easier and today being day 3 is a breeze, the cravings and hunger pains have all but gone and I actually don't feel hungry at all. The occasional craving is still there as I am a real food person, love to cook and love to eat, to my advantage I do know what's right and wrong and my diet for the past 5 or so years has always stayed pretty much on the right side of the tracks for the majority of the time, I have been carrying the weight I am trying to lose for at least the last 10 - 15 years. I think the last time I was less than 100kg was at 16 or 17.
As for the product Optifast her in Australia the meal replacement options are very limited, there are 2 shakes, a desert mousse of sorts and a tomato soup. Due to media coverage and high public demand all I could get my hands on were 6 weeks worth of shakes 1/2 chocolate and 1/2 vanilla. So I have to go pretty hard core to make my program worth while, I am aiming to drop between 10kg and 20kg in 6 weeks. This lack of product variety makes it a challenge to stay committed, but hey I knew this would be hard.
I am also walking quite briskly for around 40 mins a day and even though the program says I can also have 2 cups low starch green vegetables or salad as well I'm trying to avoid it as every bit of solid food simply slows down the ketosic process and thus my weight loss.
Here's a question for some of you, do you think it would do any major damage to have one low fat low carb restaurant meal a week with my wife, you know something like a Thai Beef Salad or some grilled fish and salad? It simply helps us maintain somewhat of a normal social relationship between us and our friends and gives me something to work toward, I know I will stay motivated and true to my program if I have somewhat of a reward at the end of each week?
Anyway guys these are just my thoughts and plans that I wanted to bounce off somebody to see if I'm thinking right as support is very limited here in Australia.
Cheers
Jason
The whole pounds to kilos thing is a bit confusing from my side of the world, so I guess I weigh 286 pounds and want to get rid of 44 pounds initially and then another 40 pounds down the track. My personal weight preference would be around 95 - 100kg or just over 200 pounds. We hear of people in the US who weighed 400 pounds and lost 100 or more pounds!! and you really have no idea how big someone who weighs 400 pounds is? But thanks to your conversions now I can work it out, it's big! There was a guy on one of the media stories here in Oz who weighed nearly 200kg (440 pounds 
) and in his first week on Optifast he lost something like 16kg and in the first month lost the best part of 30kg, but I guess for someone his size just moving around the house or getting out of a chair requires a massive amount of effort and burns a large amount of energy. Then when he's finished there's the whole ordeal of excess skin, I am hoping that if I lose 30 kg or more that excess skin won't be too much of an issue for me as one of the main reasons many of us want to lose weight is to become more physically attractive to ourselves and our partners, but does massive weight loss and then excess skin defeat the purpose to a degree? The removal of excess skin via surgery is very expensive and painful, I hate to sound like one of those no conformist type of anti everything kind of people, but it's a lot to go through just to look better for the sake of society or your partner. Sometimes when I'm low I just think why can't I just cruise through life the way I am, I'm not massively overweight and I haven't gained weight for a couple of years so I'm doing OK seeing that I have halted the weight gaining train, I don't think thin people realize the ordeals and struggle that people trying to lose weight go through. Anyway sorry to babble guys but as I said there's not really any support groups like this here that I can openly discuss things like this with other people like me, I guess when you find a resource like this you tend to unload a little 
Support for Men in particular who are trying to lose weight is almost non existent, where as women are offered a multitude of options and support networks or programs. It appears that men have to just get into it and we're not supposed to be emotionally affected by our weight or struggling to lose it, all I can say is I'm glad I have a wonderful and supportive wife and that I have now found this forum.
The best thing about Adelaide is that it's close to some of Australia's best wine producing regions. If you ever want to experience what Australia is really about Queensland is the place to come. In one state we have everything from cosmopolitan cities, to fantastic beaches 
, the "Outback" as you guys call it and of course the island resorts of the Great Barrier Reef and Whitsunday Coast, not to forget some of the most spectacular world heritage listed rainforests that you'll ever see. Nowhere near as much junk food here either. 
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