The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[ascicles]

Hmmm, it sounds like I've been doing it wrong then. I've been eating a cup of bouillon with crackers once a day, and if I am really hungry (on weekends) adding in another cup of bouillon without the crackers.

I haven't noticed any problems in my weight loss, so I'll probably stick with this. Really, with only 5 calories per cup, the only major problem with bouillon is the sodium...but when I drink 160oz of water a day, I think I'm doing ok to take care of that problem.

[momof2]

Thanks everyone for doing all that research!! I found out my order will arrive on Friday so I'm going grocery shopping soon!

[Nancy]

Medifast recommends that we limit ourselves to one snack per day. The snack choices are taken from the above mentioned items.

Initially when a person is on the weight loss phase of the program we have the tendency to focus on what we cannot have as opposed to what we can have.

I also think that until we are safely in the fat-burning state, about the third week that we may experience hunger and it is nice to have the option of choosing a low fat healthy snack.

Once a person is in maintenance and no longer in the mild dietary state of ketosis, hunger can return. This is where we must exercise conscious control of our food choices or we will return to our former foody habits.

Generally, I would suggest that if you want to have Jello-O for a snack that you limit yourself to one cup of Jell-O per day.

I can understand how some people can view the Quick Start booklet as being confusing.

On page 18, we find the paragraph with the snack choices.

To me it is saying, you may have as many as three stalks of celery or as many as two pickles or you could have five sugar-free mints or five pieces of sugar-free gum. It does not give the portion size for the sugar-free Jell-O or the bouillon - in my opinion both of these food items are not much more than glorified water.

At this particular point in time there are only two Medifast snack food products.

They are:
Medifast crackers (two flavors from which to choose: MultiGrain & Garden Vegetable)
Medifast Fast Soup (three flaves: Delicate Chix, Savory Beef & Robust Tomato)

Now here is where the Quick Start booklet truly puts the limit: one Medifast snack per day.
We may have one regular food snack (celery, pickle, sugar-free gum or mints, bouillon, Jell-O) plus one Medifast snack per day if we so desire.

Mom of 2, you ask great questions and they have been answered but allow me to recap them here for you.

Re:

Scheduling: Figuring I will have my first shake at 7 am and go to bed at 10, I can't fit a 5th shake in if I do every 3 hours. Do I just skip it or make my intervals less than 3 hours to squeeze it in?

Yes, you may need to adjust your meal schedule so that you can get all 5 of your Medifast complete meal packets in plus the Lean and Green meal. We are never to skip a meal packet, which would eliminate part of your daily intake of vitamins, minerals and essential amino acids and part of your daily allotment of calories. When we eat all of our meals, this is a muscle-sparing program, weight loss is rapid, and we have good energy. Try to schedule your packets closer together if needed.

I see your schedule as working this way:
7 AM oatmeal
10 AM Shake
1 PM Soup or bar
4 PM Shake or soup
6:30 PM Lean and Green
9:30 Pudding or shake or Chai Latte
10 PM Snoring…..

Freebies: Do they replace anything or are they just added to the plan? i.e. Can I have pickles on top of 5+1?

Freebies do not replace a meal packet. They are just added to the plan. Yup, you may have the ‘freebie’ pickles on top of the 5+1.

Does the info pack coming with my order tell me strictly what is allowed?

Yes, the Quick Start booklet includes the portion sizes for the Lean and Green meal, the list of vegetables from which we choose for the Green part of the meal, etc.

I'm sure I will have more questions as I go so bare with me please.

There are many posts throughout the MakeMeThinner Forum with information that may be of help to you, Mom of 2. Use the search feature and click away to find all the juicy stuff that you wanna know about!

If you spoke with Martin the other day, call him back if you have questions. He is one of our MakeMeThinner Health Advisors and he can answer your questions for you. We assigned Martin to answer our phone number this week.

Happy health to you!

P.S. ascicles, bouillon and a packet of MF crackers is all right. Most bouillon is 5-8 calories - some varieties have 10 cals - there is no fat and maybe 1 carb. If you had 2 cups of bouillon and one packet of Medifast crackers per day it is unlikely that it would jeopardize the plan for you.

[momof2]

Great info as always Nancy and all the others! Thanks!! I might have a problem doing the 9:30 shake since I don't usually like to eat anything after dinner time (usually don't have time either since after dinner..5:30ish.. is just non-stop cleaning, baths and bedtime routines for the kids). Do you think the schedule below might work out ok or are the intervals too short through the entire day? Is it ok to have a shake and go to bed right after?

7 AM oatmeal
9:30 AM Shake
12:00 PM Soup or bar
2:30 PM Shake or soup
5:00 PM Lean and Green
7:30 PM Pudding or shake or Chai Latte
10 PM Snoring….

I was wondering about the contents of the Medifast foods, is there something in there that helps metabolism, weight loss, etc? Or is it pretty much nutrients and the way it helps with weight loss is due to amount?

Ok, one last question for the evening. I take a multivitamin and calcium supplement every night. Should I continue once i start Medifast or does the program take care of all the vitamins that I need? Is it possible to "OD" on too many vitamins?

[Nancy]

mom of 2...

Your schedule is fine - it looks good. It can take a few days to figure out what works best and there may be times that you will want to adjust your schedule a little especially if you have company or go to a friend's house.

The Medifast Pudding is a small dab of goodness. Sometimes it is neat to have this on hand (It is not a snack but a complete meal replacement) in the evening if others are eating and you don't want to feel left out.

It is fine to have a shake and then jump right into bed. I always have a packet of Chai Latte or Medifast Oatmeal while I am reading and watching the late night news under the sheets.

Our program differs from most others because we often read that we should not eat in the evening and certainly not before bed time.

Most of us have our 5th packet after supper so that we do not go for long periods of time without food.

We eat our first packet within the first hour of getting up in the morning.

If you have your last meal of the day at 7:30 PM and don't have breakkie until 7 AM, that's 11.5 hours with no grub.

The key to our program is that the meals are glycemically balanced and we eat every three hours. This prevents our blood sugar from crashing and spiking. If you are super busy all day, I'd suggest that you use the Medifast 70 shakes for the added protein.

[Marseilles]

I actually find that I benefit from a supplement right before bed. I know our whole lives we have been told that night time eating will lead to weight gain but in the case of medifast and how balanced it is, we can toss that advice out the window with yesterdays trash. When I have the last supplement, usually pudding or oatmeal-ly goodness right before bed, I sleep very soundly and never ever wake-up feeling puny. For me this is beneficial as I am unable to have my first supplement within an hour of rising due to thyroid disease and the use of synthroid. I caution you to only adopt this attitude with medifast, of course, never will we be able to snarf a bowl of popcorn or ice cream right before retiring and feel the same confidence!

I love that this is a life change and not just another stupid DIEt!!!!

Best of luck to you, your schedule looks great. As an aside, I think you would probably benefit greatly from the last minute meal, if your evenings are about cleaning and bathing kiddies and such. Set aside a moment of decadence for YOU and enjoy!

Great to have you here, looking forward to hearing all about your success!
-M.

[momof2]

If you have your last meal of the day at 7:30 PM and don't have breakkie until 7 AM, that's 11.5 hours with no grub.

Nancy, That makes a lot of sense! Thanks!

I love that this is a life change and not just another stupid DIEt!!!!

Marseilles, That's what I'm counting on Medifast to help me with, a life change! One more day til I get my order!!