How long does it take to lose weight with Medifast?
I get a lot of questions aimed at determining what people should expect in terms of a time frame for losing weight on the Medifast diet. People want to know how long it will take until they start shedding pounds or see real change and improvement in their body. Without knowing the circumstances of the person involved, it is difficult to answer this question definitively. But I can give you general guidelines based on what I’ve seen for myself, heard from others, and read about clinical trials. I am going to share these things with you in the next article.
How soon should I start seeing real weight loss with Medifast? When should they start losing the pounds?: The exact number and time frame everyone experiences varies from person to person. Generally speaking, though, most people can get into ketosis in three days to about a week. Ketosis is when your body isn’t getting the carbs it was used to and therefore converts its own fat for fuel. This sounds gross, but it’s good in terms of weight loss because it makes things go faster and more dramatically. If you’re unsure about this, you can use ketone strips to see how close you are to this state, but most people will tell you this is too much of a concern. As long as you can get into ketosis within the first week, you should start to see weight loss and pounds soon after this.
I know it can be tempting to weigh yourself every day, but this really isn’t that necessary. The diet is really designed so that you don’t have to think too much about it. You are provided with enough food to eat the Medifast diet meals five times a day while eating a “lean and green meal” that you prepare yourself. You are given quite specific guidelines about this lean, green food and it is advisable to follow them as closely as possible, especially early on, before you have hit fat burning mode. You want to keep your vegetables as low in carbohydrates as possible. Some vegetables (like sweet corn and peas) contain a lot of sugar. If you’re looking for faster results, you’ll want to limit them because they can delay your ability to get into ketosis.
Most people in ketosis typically lose between 2 and 5 pounds per week, at least in the first few weeks. After that, you can log out. There are variations in these numbers, of course. During the time I’ve been on this diet, I’ve seen a lot of variation from week to week. But usually, when I see low weight loss one week, I’ll have a much higher weight loss the next week, so everything will average out to be relatively the same.
If you want to lose a certain amount of weight (whether it’s 10, 20, 30, or 50 pounds), you can typically take your average weight loss per month and then estimate how long it will take to get there. For example, if you want to lose 40 pounds and you average about 10 pounds per month, then you’re looking at about 4 months.
When should I start to see some differences in my appearance and how my clothes fit when I take Medifast?: Obviously, most people’s attitude toward these questions is “the sooner the better.” No one wants to do what they’re supposed to do and then not see changes in scale and in the way their clothes fit. I saw some looser clothing and scale changes after a week. And these changes built on themselves over time, so that the end result became more and more dramatic. And it can be important to see these quick results because you feel confident that this could really work and it encourages you to keep going.
But, sometimes we focus so much on this that we make the process unpleasant. There is no need to put extra pressure on yourself. Many studies have shown that this diet is designed to work. If you follow the instructions and eat the food, you should be able to get into ketosis. Once this happens, you should start seeing those results we all want.
But you can also help yourself in other ways. Adding even a little extra movement certainly can’t hurt. Like I said, I got reasonably quick results at first. My clothes were looser and the scale showed what I wanted to see. But I didn’t start getting those long, lean lines I’ve always wanted until I added a little exercise. Looking stylish and fit has become more important to me than what the scale says.
Still, I understand that we all want quick results. In my experience, results with Medifast appear shortly after ketosis is achieved. If you can stay in this state, the weight loss should continue, although it may taper off or taper off after the first few weeks. However, exercise can help tremendously with the appearance of your body. Arguably a lower weight with a body that is not toned is not reaching its full potential. You don’t need to do anything undesirable. Simply going for a walk with weights in your hands certainly counts. The idea is to make small changes that you can live with and form new clothes. This is when the real results and real changes begin, at least in my opinion.