The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[broered]

I'm new to Medifast but about 18-years ago My wife and I successfully lost quite a bit of weight on the Optifast program. Neither of us had any trouble staying on the program, in fact, we must have been getting adeqaute nutrition because neither of us got sick or felt poorly as long as we were on the program.
The Medifast supplements appear to be similar to Optifast, in fact Optifast had -55 and -70 products much like Medifast does.

Can anyone compare the two supplements?
Thanks

[Ellen]

Dave,
Welcome to the forum. I have never tried Optifast and am by no means an expert, but I looked into a number of the liquid diet programs before settling on Medifast.

My understanding is that Optifast has changed their formulation in the last few years and their product is now a 800 calorie per day diet. Optifast is only available from a physician or clinic in the US (although there is always some on ebay). The formulations seemed similar as far as the amount of nutrients, protein/carb ratio etc.

What swayed me to Medifast? To be blunt. Cost. Medifast is substantially cheaper. I can use my own physician and have bloodwork done right here at my lab that is not far from my house. My medical insurace is covering my lab work and my doctor visits. With Optifast, my medical insurance wouldn't pick up anything, so my out-of-pocket expense would have been significantly higher. I also like the fact that I can order the product online and have it delivered to my door. With Optifast you usually have to check in weekly at the clinic.

Medifast also has a decent amount of real medical research to back it up (Optifast may as well, but I'm not so sure about some of the others). I've chatted with a number of Medifast users at several web sites and the vast majority are thrilled with the program. 5 weeks in, and I'm still tickled pink.

Hope this helps,
Ellen

[explorthis]

I'm new to Medifast but about 18-years ago My wife and I successfully lost quite a bit of weight on the Optifast program.

Dave,

I cannot compare Optifast to Medifast, but I am in the same boat. I am 42 now, and about 18 years ago (I was substantially overweight) I did the same thing. My Mom found Optifast, and we joined (she even payed). I lost 72 pounds in a record amount of time (younger, much faster system back then).

Being in my early 20's, loosing a ton of weight, looking great, I immeadiately stopped the program after the weight loss. I did not need the "paid for" maintenance part. I was skinny, and never was to put the weight back on again!!! On top of the world! We all know how that goes, I gained it back, and another 50# almost as fast as I lost it. (what a mistake)

I do remember having to go in weekly for a blood test. Though you were paying, it was a strict Dr. monitored program. The blood test (so we were told) was also supposed to reveal if you were cheating (eating) and we were threatned that if caught with "food" in our system, we were off the program. (this part worked, I never ate or drank) We additionally had to sit in a room w/ a counselor weekly, alone to talk about how Optifast was helping or hurting us. Nothing more a 20 something wants to do but spill out his feelings!!

I do remember basically the same thing as Medifast, 4-5 shakes a day, I do remember 800 calories total per day.

The difference now, is I am a little older, and a little wiser, and proven to myself I could do Medifast "unsupervised" - and it works.

I do promise this, I will follow the maintenance plan after. I have come too far now to ever revert back to the Fat person I once was - NEVER AGAIN!

Not a comparison, but my feelings anyway..... In some ways, this board is my "preventitive cheat area" I feel it an obligation to come here and share my success, and my (hate this part) failure.

Mike

[broered]

It's amazing, how my experience parallel's what Mike went through. In my case, My wife and I went through Optifast, including the meetings, the poking and proding and... for all of it, now have nothing to show except a higher weight than when we started.
One thing optifast proved to me was, it was my will power not some group or the threat of a doctor somewhere discovering I was cheating. The thought of cheating never occured to me.
The second thing Optifast proved to me was, I never changed my eating behavior. At this point, with the weight I have to loose, I'm not worrying about behaviorial changes. I'm just counting on my previous experience that I can do this without cheating. Later, when it's appropriate, I'll worry about changing my behavior.
And, Yes, Ellen. Cost is a factor. Weekly monitoring and labs substantially increased the cost. All the while, I felt better than I ever had in my life. Guess I was getting well balanced food intake and still loosing.
Tomorrow, I start Medifast. Time will only tell.
Thanks for your replies

[Unca_Tim]

Hi Dave and welcome to the board,
There's some similarities and some major differences between Medifast and Optifast.

I'm not an expert on the history of Optifast either, but from what i've heard, they were the same program back a few years. Somehow, for some reason, they split and Medifast went onto further development and improvements. Optifast I believe (i could be wrong) stayed basically the same as back in the days you were on it. I'm guessing it was some kind of politics on the direction of the company, which also could be wrong. If there's anyone in the know, i'd really like to get the real scoop on this some day.

As for today, some major differences are:
Medifast is soy protein based - Optifast is whey protein based
As stated, Optifast is only available through a recognized clinic
Medifast has a much wider selection of products

Medifast also has the health management line of products - Coronary, Diabetes, Fit for Kids, Joint Health (which i use), Women's health etc...

Medifast started the "Take Shape for Life" distributorships which gives customers the support (often by people who have used and succeeded on the products) from folks like Terry and Nancy.

As stated several other places on this forum, and never enough, you should take advantage of the period during the weight loss stage of the program to educate yourself on what lifestyle and diet changes are needed to maintain your weight.

The diet is only the vehicle to get you to your goal. There's no doubt that the product works, but if you go back to what got you here in the 1st place, we all know what will happen.

Happy Shakin'

Unca