The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[saira]

ok..so i have been researching on the net....and i found a bunch of diets that seem kind of similar to medifast...just wondering what other people thought about them...optifast, cambridge diet....something like new direction??...what is the difference between these diets and medifast???hmmm its kinda confusing because they seem like meal replacement diets as well....i would appreciate it if anyone could clear things up for me a bit...maybe some of the experienced memebers please

thanx
saira

[Landylue]

Hi, Saira, I can only tell you about the one I was actually involved with back in the '80s--Optifast. I lost 100 lbs in five months, and even more when I went on maintenance. It is a strict, medically supervised fasting program requiring weekly trips to a hospital/clinic for one-hour support group sessions and nutrition training. Unless they've changed the program, it is a liquid-only fast just like the Medifast, but, Saira, it cost major $$$$ because of all the doctors, nurses, nutritionists, and counselors needed for that one-hour a week session. And the Optifast powder cost over and above the huge weekly payout for the check-up and support session, and costs about double what Medifast does. The groups were usually limited to around a dozen individuals, but even at that, not everyone had a chance to actually talk or get things off their chest, as it was more like a classroom setting.

Supposedly, if you made it to goal, you could come to the meetings for the rest of your life for free. The kicker was that the program closed down completely in Dallas after a couple of years when the majority of the dieters started gaining their weight back. Those of us that hadn't gained any weight were pretty much left out in the cold after that. I truly wouldn't recommend Optifast to anyone because of the cost. I was rather surprised to learn that it had started back up again. Did it work? Sure it did, as any diet will, but it costs a fortune, and those 'support sessions' didn't even come close to the support and encouragement that is available on this forum.

I'm afraid I don't know anything about the other two you mentioned. Maybe Unca Tim can provide some additional information.

Landylue

[explorthis]

i found a bunch of diets that seem kind of similar to Medifast
something like new direction??...
if anyone could clear things up for me a bit

Saira, I like Landy did Optifast – successfully about 1984. WOW, successfully lost about 72 pounds if I remember correctly. My story with support, and Doctor’s was about the same as her story. The only difference for me, from then to now, was I was NOT EDUCATED. The lack of education was my fault. I was about 22 years old, and probably did not want to be educated. Weight came off in record time, just like Medifast did. I gained the weight back as fast as I lost it, and another 40-50 to boot. The difference now, older, wiser, and I have the support of this board.

Here is the scoop. There are more diets on the market than you can count. We have all thought of them more times than we can count. We have all started them and finished pounds short – more times than we can count. See a pattern here? I think the difference from Medifast, and a cabbage, or Cyan-Lemonade diet, is that Medifast is cut and dry. I am not really concerned that Medifast was proven safe for more years than I was alive (duh) I was drawn to Medifast, as I was Optifast, cut-dry, no choices, no room for error, if we are only faithful.

I chose Medifast this time, for the last ditch effort. Well, I am proof, as many here are. You could not pay me to ever try another diet. Medifast is my choice forever. How could it not be? I am posting here, long after I lost the weight. I am not getting paid for this; Medifast is not compensating me for squat. I am doing this or one reason only – to hope you can have the SAME feeling I have.

Since you are here reading this post, why would you ever doubt any of this? Why would you even think of another diet that will not work? Maybe some other diets do work, but I bet the farm, not like Medifast. Why give them the chance? Don’t. Give Medifast its due diligence, this time only. If it does not work for you, move on. Do the cabbage, or whatever.

Not for me. Call it want you want. The expense I can tell you, compared to all the carp I ate was far less than what I spent in a month at the drive through.

It has been 246 days since I began my Medifast journey, and 113 pounds gone forever. I know it to the day. I have been successful in KEEPING the weight off. Let’s see the cabbage diet say that.

Like Landy says – FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION – believe her!

-Mike

[saira]

thanx for your input landy and mike....i know i am glad to have chosen medifast...just i wasnt sure what the other diets were about thats all...nayway i am gonna change the subject here...i am really upset today....if no one wants to respond to this..it is ok...i am doing this to get things off of my chest....

i am pakistani...and in my culture we have arranged marriages...a few years ago...my family wanted to arrange me with some family friends...my mom like totally in love with the guy she wanted to arange me with...anyway..he rejected me...basically because i was overweight....and everyone knew it...all of my parents family friends and all....so u would think after that incident i would have learned my lesson and tried to lose weight....no....actually...i gained more weight...

anyway...that guy ....who rejected me....his sister got married a few weeks ago...and they had invited me and my fiance....i made up some excuse not to go...it was easy....i am a 4th year in medical school...and i could always use the excuse...that i needed to study to not go anywhere....but deep down inside i knew the reason i didnt want to go was because i was still fat...and i didnt want people to see me...talk about me...laugh at me....

i felt really guilty afterwards for not going....cuz the girl who got married was a fairly good friend of mine....we went to highschool and college togehter....i emailed her though apologizing that i did not come...

so today...i went to the hospital...and i met one of my uncles who is also a docotor who was at the wedding..and he basically scolded me for not going to the wedding....he said everyone has things to do...not just me...and maybe at my wedding (which is in november)....everyone else will be busy....i guess i knew he was right...

anyway...i am writing this because i realized today that i have detatched myself for the past year or 2 from others basically because of my weight....i dont want people to see me....i avoid social finctions cuz i am scared poeple will laugh...or wonder why i dont do somethins about my wweight...little do they know that for the past 2 year i have tried every diet under the sun....

anyway,,,i was just upset about all this....and i think i have decided that i will not let my weight get in the way of life again....i am expecting my medifast package to come tomorrow....i am not even going to the hospital tomorrow...so i can recieve it....i am gonna do something about this once and for all....

keep me in your prayers everyone
saira

[Marseilles]

Saira;

You have come to the right place to vent about -exactly- things like that, and every other sort of thing too. I think we have probably ALL been where you were, when you chose not to goto the wedding. Look at the bright side, friend..when you attend YOUR wedding in November, YOU will have achieved YOUR goals and you will walk down that aisle, proud of yourself, true to YOU and you will see YOUR beauty reflected in the eyes and looks on the faces of those around you.

Bully, to the man that rejected you because of your weight. I hope that his bride, whomever he DID choose is not nearly so shallow as he was. Good luck to you and your fiance, I wish for you a lifetime of happiness.

I'm sure your Uncle was speaking from the standpoint that you -should- have made time, had your studies been the true reason for you not to go..and in that case, he may have been right. But Saira, that isnt why you didnt go..give yourself a break. It was a learning experience for you and you have made the choice NOT to hide anymore.

The first step to being the new you was your decision to DO and SUCCEED at medifast. The second step is to walk tall and believe in your success.

You CAN and WILL do it.

I believe in YOU.

-M.

[Sylvia]

Saira,

You are absolutely not alone. I too have avoided meeting people - my husband's co-workers, people I have met only by phone, etc. because I didn't want them to know how I look. I have been especially unwilling to go to things like high school reunions and the like for fear that people would comment on how far I have let myself go.

We can both do this for the last time - you sound committed and I know I am! Just keep tuning in to this board when it gets hard (because it will).

Sylvia

[explorthis]

Saira…

I have always, even through today been one that says: no one can rain on your parade, unless you let your umbrella down. Yes, family is important, but I believe this is now YOUR time. You are overweight (I am speaking from 42 years of experience here) and everything you do; every moment of every day (again this is Mike thinking out loud) is spent in someway thinking either directly or indirectly about your weight. It SUCKS, I know. I know I did many of the same things, avoiding this, avoiding that. Why is it easier for a man to be overweight, of why is it more accepted in our culture? Beats me, fact is I was overweight, weather it was accepted or not, I was not comfortable.

You are ready to embark on a new journey (Medifast) and I promise you this, all of the pain of your weight will be in the past, if only you are faithful to this. You will take on a whole new gleam in your eye for functions, family or not. No more will you be afraid to attend weddings, or parties because of your weight.

Medifast might not solve all of your problems (even if there are any) but it sure makes life easier, looking through a new pair of designer sunglasses.

2 years in my eyes is not along time of detachment, though it might seem like it. Soon, you will reattach all of this, life will change (from a weight loss perspective) and you will look back, and say it was ALL worth it.

Keep your chin up Doctor Saira, this will pass, I promise!!

I am not an overly religious person. I see you say: keep me in your prayers, well I do believe: God helps those that help themselves!!

-Mike

[saira]

thanx for the support everyone...

i feel real motivated. i think tomorrow i am gonna start...i will just have liquids in the morning till i get my package...and then start the shakes right away...i cant wait till wednesday to start this thing...

peace out
saira