Medifast is so easy - just shake and drink!

I gained a lot of weight while pregnant with my first daughter.

I was placed on bed rest and gained 70 pounds during the pregnancy, which put me up to 330 pounds.

Three months post-delivery, I decided to do something about my weight.

I had seen an ad about Medifast and I decided to give it a try, boy I’m glad I did.

In 9 months, I lost a total of 170 pounds. My energy went way up and I was never hungry.

Then, about 3 years later, I became pregnant again. Although I was nervous about gaining weight, I knew that Medifast would help me take it off again, and that's exactly what happened.

Within a few months, I lost 35 pounds and am now within 10 pounds of my pre-baby weight.

Medifast really tastes great, too. My favorite flavors are Orange-Pineapple and Strawberry Creme. I like to mix it and leave it in the freezer for about 30 minutes then I eat it with a spoon.

To think that I had even considered Gastric Bypass is scary. I am so glad I never went that route.

Medifast is so easy to follow just shake and drink: no measuring, no counting. I would recommend this to anyone who has been battling with his or her weight. Look at my before and after pictures and judge for yourself.

Jennifer has lost over 100 pounds with Medifast!

My Medifast Journey began in January 2005. I was having some health problems with digestion & acid reflux. No matter what I was eating, it just wasn’t agreeing with me. That’s when I decided to research the Medifast program. The website was very informative. I decided to give this a shot and I ordered my first 2 weeks. I was on my way! At this time my weight was around 250 lbs.

The first 3 weeks on the program was like a detox from food. What I liked the most about Medifast was the fact that it was rather restrictive. There was no option for me to cheat. I had to put forth 100% effort if I was really going to succeed this time. I once had a personal trainer tell me that losing weight was 100% mental. The physical part was just a result. I could not believe her statement, until now.

I was forced to deal with a lot of emotional issues that I have always pacified, whether it was with food, shopping, or another destructive habit. I’ve learned a lot about myself during this journey.

Over the next 5 months, I became so comfortable with the program. There was no stress about what I was going to eat, or what special groceries I had to buy. Everything was right in front of me, delivered to my door every two weeks!

A few interesting things have happened to me during this weight loss journey. I was writing back & forth with some of the other Medifast users from the discussion board. I had several women write to me and tell me that I was their inspiration. Me? How could I be someone’s inspiration? That gave me so much hope and encouragement to keep going on this journey. I continued to write and spread my encouraging words. For the first time in over 10 years, I actually felt good about myself.

Another interesting thing was that I still saw myself as 250 lbs., although I was now under 200 lbs. I went to a close friend’s baby shower and we took a group pictures, as we do at every event. The only difference this time was that I didn’t hide in the back behind someone. When the picture came back, I had to do a double take. I was always the “fat friend.” Looking at this picture, I actually looked “normal.” I didn’t look like the fat girl anymore. That’s when my mind slowly started to catch up with the rest of me. The same thing happened with the pictures from vacation. I couldn’t believe I was wearing a skirt! I haven’t worn a skirt in nearly 15 years. And, I didn’t look half bad in it.

What kept me going was setting small goals for myself. My first goal was to buy a smaller size jean. I was wearing a 20-22 when I began. I bought a size 16 jeans. My second goal was to get below 200 lbs. I weighed myself at the gym and saw the scale at 198. I was ecstatic. I haven’t been below 200 lbs. in over 12 years.

I am now right around 180 lbs. and a size 14. I am continuing the Medifast program, but I am incorporating more food into it. I have significantly increased my exercise and weight lifting, so I had to add more calories. I am making healthy choices like chicken, salad, sweet potatoes, apples, etc.

I have tried nearly every diet under the sun during the last 10 years of being trapped in this 250-pound body. I am down over 100 lbs. from my heaviest weight of 292. Medifast, along with a strong willpower, has helped me succeed for the last time. I made a promise to myself. I will never, ever let the scale go above 200. There is no reward like being able to shop at a regular store. There are so many stores to choose from! I feel so much better about myself. I have even started running. I never imagined that would be something I could do. Since I have been on this diet, two friends have seen my success and started the program, too. Another co-worker called me and “heard about how great I looked” and asked me for the Medifast information. Not only does the program work, I have become a walking billboard!

I call my weight loss a “journey” because that’s what it is, one step at a time. There is always going to be temptation to get off the path, or take a short cut, but I know the road now like the back of my hand. I will continue on my journey for another 30-pound weight loss, one step at a time.

If you are interested in a meal plan to assist with your weight loss and health, Medifast provides a diet that makes it easy to plan the foods and meals you will eat. Click here - Medifast Diet - to try the Medifast diet meal plan to help you get started losing weight. Medifast is physician-developed.

Now, more than ever you need to be aware that a healthy diet can have an effect on your DNA. Even for those who use Medifast, your health and weight are not the only things to think about, but your DNA as well. Here's more --

While scientists have been identifying genetic markers for diseases for decades, the connections mostly make a difference only when a condition is caused by the malfunction of a single gene.

And there are more than 6,000 known single-gene disorders, including cystic fibrosis, sickle-cell anemia, Huntingdon's disease and hereditary hemachromatosis (excessive iron buildup in blood cells).

But with some exceptions in cancer care, researchers have had difficulty making discoveries linking multiple genes to a disease relevant to treatment, or preventive steps.

"For the vast majority of (genetic) risk assessments, the increased risk of an individual developing the disease in question is modest. ... And in few such conditions are there specific effective interventions to diminish the risk," said Dr. James Evans, professor of genetics and medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

Most genetic studies simply didn't tell doctors much else about the people carrying the gene.

The National Human Genome Resource Institute last year announced a $31 million effort to start closing those knowledge gaps by matching about 300 genetic variants linked to common diseases with individuals' biological and physical characteristics.

So, if a person carries X gene variant, just what is his or her weight, cholesterol level, blood-sugar level or bone density? And how does lifestyle -- diet, smoking and drinking habits and exercise levels -- possibly interact with the gene to influence the onset or severity of disease?

After four years, the institute expects to have data from about 40,000 people, giving a solid base of how bodies and gene variants are arranged.

Many other research efforts are focused on how people with different gene variations respond to vitamins or medicines.

For instance, scientists at the University of California-Berkeley have been testing human gene variants transplanted into yeast cells to see how certain enzymes respond to vitamins.

"Our studies have convinced us that there is a lot of variation in the population in these enzymes," said researcher Nicholas Marini. "I wouldn't be surprised if everybody is going to require a different optimal dose of vitamins based on their genetic makeup" both to prevent disease and to optimize physical fitness in athletes or soldiers.

One of the more advanced projects to match genetics with dosing is reported this week in The New England Journal of Medicine, showing that the amount of the blood-thinner warfarin prescribed to a patient can be pinpointed with a formula that includes data on which version of two different genes he or she carries. Read more...

Note: If you are interested in a meal plan to assist with your weight loss and health, Medifast provides a diet that makes it easy to plan the foods and meals you will eat. Click here - Medifast Diet - to try the Medifast diet meal plan to help you get started losing weight. Medifast is physician-developed.

Here's the deal - while there are many scientists developing these 'futuristic foods' so that you can eat what your body needs, you will not and cannot go wrong with a healthy diet. Medifast may help you lose weight, and the Medifast Diet Plan is a good one. But a balanced lifestyle with exercise, plenty of water, avoiding fast food and soft drinks and tobacco - these are the things you must do while you wait for these so-called futuristic foods to be created. And by the way, I'm not sure they'll ever match the goodness that Mother Nature already provides with fruits and vegetables. Here's more --

CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- Wouldn't it be great if you knew which foods you should be eating based on your own personal health profile?

We know that certain foods are bad for people with particular conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes. Advising a generally healthy person on foods that will prevent future disease, on the other hand, is far more complicated, and represents one of the challenges for scientists working in food science.

In the future, people should be able to tailor their diets and supplements to their particular biochemistry, said experts presenting at the annual meeting of the American Association of the Advancement of Science this week.

Right now the food industry is centered on products, said J. Bruce German, professor and food chemist at the University of California, Davis. That means profits depend on lowering the cost of production and making things cheaper.

"No one's getting healthy in this model," he said. "It's clear we have to move toward a consumer-driven food supply."

In a consumer-driven food world, the industry would focus its goals on improving all aspects of the consumer's health, he said. People would receive dietary recommendations based on a very specific individualized health assessment, taking into account age, sex and medical history, he said.

Once scientists have a better understanding of the way metabolism works -- research that is well under way -- people will be able to better personalize their diets to meet their own health needs, German said.

Right now, the blanket recommendations are missing the mark. For example, look at omega-3 fatty acids, which may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. Although most people don't get the recommended intake of omega-3s, found mainly in fish oils, different healthy people react very differently to these acids, meaning some need them a lot more than others, German said.

Moreover, there's little hard evidence supporting the use of vitamin C and zinc supplements, although they're widespread in pharmacies, said Dr. M. Eric Gershwin, professor of medicine at the University of California, Davis.

As for herbal supplements like ginseng, Gershwin and colleagues found in a survey of products in Davis and Sacramento that half of the ginseng they bought actually contained no ginseng.

The immune system, "a complicated, multiorgan, chemical and genetic nightmare," evolved about 250,000 years ago, meaning it's unlikely that we can improve it much just by eating certain foods, Gershwin said.

What we do know is that being thin is good for the immune system, and that foods rich in antioxidants have the potential to reduce inflammation that occurs in the body, he said.

It's also important to recognize that the immune system slows down with age. When a baby gets hepatitis A, parents may not even know the child is sick, but older adults have a 25 percent chance of death from the disease, he said. In thinking about how to improve diets in the future, age is therefore a huge factor.

Educating the immune system at a young age is also key, and that means it's actually good that babies get exposed to some bacteria. Gershwin advises that if your child's pacifier falls on the floor, put it right back in his or her mouth.

If you are interested in a meal plan to assist with your weight loss and health, Medifast provides a diet that makes it easy to plan the foods and meals you will eat. Click here - Medifast Coupons - to try the Medifast diet meal plan to help you get started losing weight. Medifast is physician-developed.

Getting to a healthy weight is so important to the overall health and wellness of your body, and the Medifast Diet Program can help. Because the way in which you go about your weight loss is important. Weight loss should be a side effect of healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle. In fact, a healthy weight should be arrived at naturally, not some number that you set as a goal. You're body will stop losing weight when you've arrived at a healthy weight, but your habits shouldn't change. The problem most people run into is setting a goal weight, reaching it, then celebrating as if to be 'done' with their current way of living and eating. If you focus on develop a healthy lifestyle and healthy eating habits, then you just continue living that way long after you've reached a healthy weight. If you are interested in a meal plan to assist with your weight loss and health, Medifast provides a diet that makes it easy to plan the foods and meals you will eat.

One problem that constantly plagues Americans is their weight. Numerous theories have been developed about why we gain weight, why we retain weight, and why we can’t get rid of it. The blame has been put on everything from cortisone to thyroid to carbohydrates, and yet, it seems that it is still a major problem with no solution! However, here’s a thought: perhaps it is diet. 

I know, I know that may sound like an easy solution… and quite frankly, it is! Imagine if you will a body that is devoid and deprived of nutrients. In order for that body to survive in “starvation mode” it must save as much fat as possible in order to have back up. How are our bodies in starvation mode with all this abundance of food? Simple, our bodies are starving for “nutrition” not “calories”.

If we eat a healthy, balanced diet full of whole grains and plenty of fresh vegetables and fruits we are much less likely to overeat, and we are also less likely to store fat! Whole foods are your best bet all the way around. Potatoes with the skin contain all the nutrition needed to digest and utilize the calories. Rice and other grains in their whole form provide vitamins and minerals needed to assimilate them. Another key point to make here is the importance of organically grown produce. Not only are they clean and devoid of pesticides, but they also contain more nutrition, and they taste better. Try incorporating these tips into your diet and see what happens… you will be amazed. Need a place to buy organic?

If you are interested in a meal plan to assist with your weight loss and health, Medifast provides a diet that makes it easy to plan the foods and meals you will eat. Click here - Medifast - to try the Medifast diet meal plan to help you get started losing weight. Medifast is physician-developed.

If you are interested in a meal plan to assist with your weight loss and health, Medifast provides a diet that makes it easy to plan the foods and meals you will eat. Click here - Medifast - to try the Medifast diet meal plan to help you get started losing weight. Medifast is physician-developed.

If restaurants are forced with putting more information on their menus about the calorie count, including info about fats, will this make any improvement to the number of people that are overweight? Probably not. When you go to a restaurant, you most often go because you want to 'let loose and enjoy' the items offered, not to eat healthier...unfortunately. But restaurants typically make items that appeal to the pallet, not the health of the customer, otherwise they wouldn't find raving reviews and repeat patrons. Here's more from MSNBC.com about the a "Nutrition Disclosure Bill" that may find it's way into more places around the country --

Indianapolis - Nutrition disclosure signs could become the rule at chain restaurants around Indiana.

A state health committee approved a bill requiring nutrition facts on signs, menus or fliers at chain restaurants. Some restaurants, including Subway downtown, already have such signs posted.

"Especially when I'm on a diet, I do read them," said another consumer. "I try to carefully pick and choose what I'm going to put in my mouth. You are what you eat."

Health professionals say that the signs are an important part of a healthy diet.

"I think it's incredibly important for someone who is poised to make a change in lifestyle and they're looking for things like that," said Richard Cotton with the American College of Sports Medicine.

Some Indiana lawmakers agree and the Health Committee passed a bill that would require restaurants with more than ten stores in Indiana to post their nutrition facts.

"There should be a standard procedure. Keep it simple. Facts about carbs, proteins, sodium...," Cotton said. Read more...

Comments: This author disagrees with the assessment that 'signs are an important part of a healthy diet' when it comes to those in restaurants. Unless the signs posted in most restaurants that say something to the effect, Drinking soft drinks will increase your chance of obesity and poor health, and/or Eating a diet consisting of plenty of fruits and vegetables will help prevent sickness and disease, and/or Processed foods are not healthy and may increase your chance of health problems....then, no, I would say they aren't going to help. And for the consumer who says "I do read them especially when I'm on a diet", this just typifies the mindset of all 'dieters'. There really shouldn't be the attitude of I'm on a diet, but one that teaches a healthy diet being the only diet that one should 'be on'. This is the only way we'll return to an age of health and fitness.

The Health & Wellness Institute

If you are interested in a meal plan to assist with your weight loss and health, Medifast provides a diet that makes it easy to plan the foods and meals you will eat. Click here - Medifast - to try the Medifast diet meal plan to help you get started losing weight. Medifast is physician-developed.

If you are interested in a meal plan to assist with your weight loss and health, Medifast provides a diet that makes it easy to plan the foods and meals you will eat. Click here - Medifast - to try the Medifast diet meal plan to help you get started losing weight. Medifast is physician-developed.

Dr. Gupta, the soon-to-be Surgeon General, is in favor of taxing items that are filled with the cheap, but calorie dense, corn-syrup. Those items would be soft drinks in most cases although juice items should be included, plus any others with too much sugar - all of which are contributing heavily to the obesity epidemic. Aaah, yes, the old-fashioned time-tested way of paying for a problem....taxes. While we hate the idea of any new taxes, it seems to be the only way out of a mess that too many people are screaming about for a solution - that is, the whole health care issue.  I mean, do we really want to allow lawmakers to impose more taxes? That seems to be the only way the new President and administration are going to be able to solve and accomplish these seemingly insurmountable goals.

Most voters, like this one, just don't like the idea of new taxes. But more and more people are missing the forest for the trees, or are just not thinking long-term. There are too many laws and too many taxes on the books right now, and that includes tax laws. Here's the story on the obesity tax proposal and how it may soon become a reality with the next Attorney General (although it may start in New York) --

New York Governor David Paterson wants to fight obesity by taxing certain, but not all, sweet drinks. Could an 'obesity tax' achieve much?

The idea for "A Tobacco-Style Tax on Fattening Drinks" came from BusinessWeek reader Charles Weber, a U.S. Navy veteran and retired electrical contractor in Hendersonville, N.C. Read more...

Can taxing junk food solve the obesity crisis? This controversial idea has never been given a real-world tryout, but the combination of a budget busting fiscal crisis and a citizenry that keeps getting fatter is causing legislators and executives around the world to give a so-called "obesity tax" serious consideration. New York Governor David Paterson is the most serious of all, proposing in his 2009 state budget that an 18% sales tax be levied on non-diet soda and sugary juice drinks. Such a tax, he says, would raise $404 million in the fiscal year starting in April, and $539 million in the year after that—all to be earmarked for obesity-fighting public health programs.

Comments: One way or another, we are going to get back to being healthier. It may take some painful changes, some overcome cravings and habits, but it will happen... and the country will feel a whole lot better!

The Health & Wellness Institute

If you are interested in a meal plan to assist with your weight loss and health, Medifast provides a diet that makes it easy to plan the foods and meals you will eat. Click here - Medifast - to try the Medifast diet meal plan to help you get started losing weight. Medifast is physician-developed.

If you are interested in a meal plan to assist with your weight loss and health, Medifast provides a diet that makes it easy to plan the foods and meals you will eat. Click here - Medifast - to try the Medifast diet meal plan to help you get started losing weight. Medifast is physician-developed.

'Medicare-for-all' cure for health woes
Single-payer system is best reform approach

By DANIEL P. WIRT, M.D. - Americans are increasingly afraid that they can't afford to get sick, and with good reason. About half of all personal bankruptcies are caused by medical expenses, and 76 percent of these individuals had health insurance when they got sick or injured. Those of us with insurance are paying a greater share of the premium and more deductibles and co-pays as well. Thus, not only do we have 46 million Americans without health insurance, but at least an equal number who are seriously underinsured. With the recent economic downturn, the ranks of those who are uninsured and underinsured are growing. Many are faced with choosing between paying for medicine and needed health care and paying for food and housing. A typical story is: get sick or injured, lose your job, lose your health insurance, go bankrupt.

A majority of physicians (59 percent) and an even higher proportion of Americans (at least 62 percent) support single payer national health insurance or "Medicare-for-All". In spite of this, virtually all we are hearing about today are mandate plans that would require everyone to buy the same private for-profit insurance that is already failing us. The for-profit insurance companies and their plethora of plans make for a terribly complex, fragmented, costly and inefficient system. Administrative overhead consumes about 31 percent of health care dollars in the United States, and the for-profit insurance companies are responsible for half of this, or 15 percent of $2.4 trillion. This money, more than $350 billion per year, provides no health care: it is consumed by enormous administrative costs, profits for investors and shareholders, and large salaries for managers of these for-profit insurance companies. read more...

Comments: I have to respectfully disagree with the conclusion that a single-party pay system is the solution to our health care woes, although that conclusion is not surprising coming from a medical doctor. Most medical doctors have no clue as to what it takes to be healthy. Most (not all!) think that all health problems are solved with drugs. The truth is that most health problems could be avoided through a healthy diet and regular exercise since most jobs don't require any physical labor. Now if 99% of the US had a healthy diet that included plenty of fruits and vegetables, and avoided all the things that are making us sick - fast foods, processed foods, soft drinks, tobacco - then we could accurately assess any solutions needed for health care. The single pay system could work then, because the small percentage of people who then had problems - cancers and genetic-induced conditions - could then be covered under one budget that was paid by tax payers. While this may not sound feasible - that is, to have every American living a healthy lifestyle - it isn't practical or fair to think that an entire nation will be covered under one pay system because the majority won't take responsibility for their own health. Health is a choice in most instances, and this is why the one-pay system is not or should not be a viable choice. All it will do is make health care even more difficult, and citizens less responsible. The government can't even manage to balance the budget or run the Medicare system as it is, why should we believe that they can successfully manage a one-pay system for the entire country? Some regulations for the private sector are ok, but less government involved in our lives is definitely a better road!

If you are not getting enough healthy nutrients in your diet, then you are shorting yourself on the very thing that will help prevent sickness and disease. Eat more fruits and vegetables for better health and less dependency on the 'health care system'. If you don't The Health & Wellness Institute recommends Medifast because it provides a diet that makes it easy to plan the foods and meals you will eat, with good nutrition.

The Health & Wellness Institute