I'm often asked how much cheating is allowed on Medifast or if you will still lose weight if you cheat. Well, I guess that depends on what you mean by cheating. Because technically, I've been cheating on my diet all along. However, I think there's a safe, effective way to do it, which I'll discuss in the following article.
Understanding How Medifast Really Works: The reason that this diet is so effective is really three fold. First, you're simply taking in less calories than you normally would, as the foods are low in calories and carbs. Second, you're eating six small meals throughout the day which helps to bump up your metabolism and combat hunger. Finally, because your eating less carbohydrates and a higher amount of protein, your body gets into a metabolic state called ketosis which encourages your body to burn its own fat.
Ketosis is really the promised land of this diet and where you absolutely want to be. You can test this by using ketone strips – which is tell you definitively if you've reached this state. (You can get these at most any drug store or super center.)
Does Cheating On The Medifast Diet Knock You Out Of Ketosis ?: You'll stop losing weight as quickly and as dramatically if you fall out of ketosis. However, the good news is that it only takes a few days to get back in. So, there's really no need to panic if you notice from the ketone strips that you're out. And, you're much more likely to get out of this state if you cheat by eating carbs. You'll be in much better shape if you cheat with protein. So, technically, it's better to sneak a nice juicy burger than trying to sneak a donut or a piece of cake.
The Cheat That I Think Has Actually Helped Me Lose Weight With Medifast: OK, so now I'm going to admit that I do not always stick to things as designed. But, I'm smart about it. I add things to my prepackaged foods multiple times a day. What I mean by this is that I add fat and sugar free syrups to the shakes, puddings, and cappuccino. I will also sometimes add fat free whipped cream. I also add fat free cheese, sour cream, and humus to the chili, eggs, and soups / stews. I'll also sometimes add soda water to the shakes for a fountain type soda drink. I use the dry ingredients for the pudding to make "safe" muffins, cakes, and cookies.
In short, I take a great deal of liberties with the foods, but I try to use fat or sugar free ingredients when I do this. This gives me more variety and makes me more excited about the eating the foods.
The Liberties That I Take With The Lean And Green Meal: Every day, you'll eat five prepackaged meals on this diet and will prepare one meal yourself. (Some people will skip this meal, but you should not because I believe that doing this will slow your metabolism. I've experimented with this and it has almost always slowed my results.) You're supposed to eat lean protein and low glycemic vegetables and for the most part, I stick with this. But, if my family is having chopped steak then I'm sometimes not going to make chicken breast just for myself. Or, if my family has sweet green peas, I'm not going to deny myself because these are high on the glycemic index. And, incidentally, I do not deny myself a burger if I remove the bread.
I figure that if I am pretty much eating a "lean and mostly green meal," I'm doing pretty good. And even with the little slip ups, I'm still taking in FAR fewer calories and carbs than normal. And, if my weight loss is any indication, I'm doing just fine.