Someone recently contacted me and said that she was very impressed with what she had been reading in her research on the Medifast diet. She felt something similar might work for her, but she was hesitant to spend the money on diet food. She wanted to know if it was possible to eat similar foods with items that she could buy at the supermarket. This is a relatively common question that I had myself. And earlier, I tried to achieve something similar. I will discuss more about this matter in the next article.
What you would need to accomplish if you were trying to eat on your own Medifast-style: One of the main reasons for the success most people have with this diet is that it can put you into ketosis, where you quickly burn your own fat. You can usually do this because the ratio of calories, carbohydrates, and protein is very specific and favorable. I know from experience that it is quite a challenge to find foods that meet this criteria. And, if you can do it, it’s usually quite expensive and time consuming.
Also keep in mind that you will be eating six times a day. When you’re on this diet, you eat five of the plan’s prepackaged meals and then have a larger main meal on your own. This is necessary for a couple of reasons. First of all, eating this often helps keep hunger at bay and keeps your metabolism running for ketosis purposes. And yet, while you’re eating that much, you’re only consuming about 1,000 calories per day. Not only that, but the carb to protein ratio stays mostly even.
If you haven’t already researched the foods you’re going to use to accomplish this, I can tell you that “safe” products under this umbrella are hard to come by. Many will have too many sugars and carbs that are not keto friendly. It is common to compensate for the low amounts of calories and fat with added sugar so that the flavor remains palatable.
I’ll look at the new Medifast brownies as an example of what I would need to accomplish. This product has only 110 calories and 2 grams of fat. There are 15 grams of carbs, but this is balanced by a very high 11 grams of protein. There are only 8 grams of sugars and 4 grams of fiber. Even if you look in health food stores, it will be quite difficult to find a comparable product with as much protein and fiber. And, even if you do, you’ll likely find it’s more expensive and you’d still have to think of four similar meals for the day.
I know a lot of people research Medifast DIY because they think “doing it themselves” will save them some money. But in my experience, this is not the case. If you use the good Medifast coupons, your cost per meal for Medifast is just over $2 per meal. It is extremely difficult to find meals that cost less than this, especially since you will need many special ingredients. I tried something similar when I was on the zone diet. Not only do I think I never came close to the Medifast calorie/carb/protein ratio, but I also know that I spend way over $10 a day for 6 meals.
That’s not to say that if money isn’t an issue and you just like to cook, you can’t find something that’s low in calories and carbs and high in fiber and protein. I’m sure this is probably possible for at least a few meals a day. But I also suspect that it would be quite time consuming, expensive and challenging. However, I am generally someone who does not have a lot of patience and prefers comfort.