A gal I know is a nutrition coach and is trying to get me to do medifast...instead of surgery? Anyone ever try it? I really have my heart set on the sleeve and know I'll just screw up another "diet" lol

I know she said she didn't want to be a bummer on my decision but she's seen too many complications to WLS....

My cousin lost about 80 pounds on it but she's struggling a bit with maintenance. It definitely works for a lot of people, but you're always going to need to stay on their program if you want to maintain the loss. Plus it does nothing to decrease appetite. You just need to determine which option you think will give you the long term results you want.

Good luck!

I couldn't drink my food all the time it would drive me crazy...I just wish she'd be supportive and say she was glad I was making the right decision for myself

I'm also a coach with them. I lost 50 pounds with them several years ago. And put a hundred back on. Yes, I can coach people through the program and it's great for pre-op, but I honestly can count on one hand the people I know who have maintained their loss without staying on their foods. They're not all liquids anymore - there are ice creams, brownies, cereals, chili... and they do taste pretty good. Post-op, it's probably even a good choice since the nutrition is undisputably there. As a stand-alone weight loss and maintenance program though, it's hard for me to recommend.

I would look at your history with diets. Have you been able to reach your goal weight? Have you been able to maintain your weight loss? How long have you maintained it? Also, can you really see yourself drinking medifast for the rest of your life as part of a maintenance plan? Personally, having tried so many different diets both supervised and unsupervised, with support groups, without support groups, if it were me faced with this choice, I would do the surgery. The idea of this plan is probably appealing to the part of you that questions whether you really want to undergo major surgery to lose weight. If you are going to make such a radical lifestyle change, why not just do this instead. I know that voice because two years ago when I had made up my mind to have surgery, that was the voice in my head. Frankly, I feel like all I did was waste two years that I could have been living a healthy life only to end up finally having the surgery in June anyway.

Research your options. Find out the true weight loss statistics and maintenance rate and compare them to surgery. Also really think about yourself and how you would do at either one. Make up a pros and cons list of both. You have to be 100% committed to having surgery and following the food guidelines. You can stop drinking Medifast, but you can't get your stomach back. I wish you luck!

a lot of the complications people think of are from folks who've had an RNY/gastric bypass... my aunt works for hospice & says that there's a lot of weight loss surgery people who are in hospice centers, even young ones (20's & 30's) because they can't digest food properly... and they dump everything they eat & are dying because of it. at least with the sleeve you won't have that, or won't have it AS MUCH.. i guess it is possible to dump when you have the sleeve.. but at least your intestines are still intact.

if your mind is made up to have the surgery, and if you're anything like me at all.. then of course you're going to fail and end up just wasting your money on another diet. i would suggest just going through with the surgery & tell your friend thank you for caring about you enough to try to offer you another option, but you know yourself & you have your mind set on the surgery. on the other hand, if you try medifast & it works & you feel better after you've dropped some weight, you may be inspired to start eating right and exercise and just lose your weight that way. maybe it could work for you. only you will be able to decide what's best for you. but if you really believe you're just going to mess it up, i'd just go for the surgery.. it's a permanent solution & you can deviate from the diet, but it will be a LONG time before you can stretch your stomach out and hopefully you'll feel so great & look so great that you won't want to.

My friend did medifast and she looks phenomenal!!! It has the same concept as nutrisystem.

I have only seen packages of pretzels (because my church was giving them out after 9am service), don't know anything other than that.

I have done medifast several times. I know many people who have been very successful with Medifast -even through maintenance. I have never been able to make it to the maintenance phase. I am using Medifast for my pre-op diet. I think Medifast is great but it is not for everyone -

I did Medifast last year to get ready for my wedding. It worked, but then I quit the program and gained all the weight I lost last year plus some.

As far as programs like those, I've always been successful at losin weight with them, but not successful keeping it off. I think my sleeve is gonna help keeping it off.

Lost 90 lbs and gained it all back... Very glad I had my surgery!

Kimmie