People often ask me for secrets or tips that will ensure they have success with Medifast. If I were to tell you everything I know about success on this diet, this article would probably be too long. So, in the next few paragraphs, I’m going to give you some quick and easy tips that will hopefully give you a good starting point for being as successful as possible (as cheaply and easily as possible).

Make Medifast shakes and puddings as cold as possible, add more liquid, and add some sugar-free syrups if desired: I used to think that this method of making smoothies was a personal choice, but after mentioning this on my blog, I started getting a lot of feedback on how these suggestions made food taste so much better. I don’t think Medifast puddings and shakes are that bad right out of the box. But they taste better when they’re cold (which is why I refrigerate them for a bit after I make them).

However, doing this will thicken the product, so I find it desirable to add a little more liquid than is required. Personally, I don’t like a smoothie so thick that it’s a challenge to consume. (Unless I’m eating it with a spoon, in which case I like it thick and will add some nonfat whipped cream on top.) Finally, I find that I need as much variety as possible. That’s why I’m pretty generous with fat-free and sugar-free syrups. This way, I can have chocolate raspberry, chocolate caramel, and chocolate strawberry milkshakes and puddings instead of settling for regular chocolate.

Don’t skip your lean green food and be sure to stick with low glycemic foods (especially at first 🙂 Sometimes people are surprised when I tell them that you are eating six times a day with Medifast. This isn’t really as challenging as it sounds. Most meals do not require much preparation and are relatively small. That said, they want you to make a meal of your own. This is called “the lean green food.”

It’s not uncommon to decide that it’s much easier to just eat an extra bar or shake instead of the lean, green one. Once you get used to not having to prepare your own meals, you pamper yourself and may be tempted to skip this requirement. In general, in my experience, this is a bug. In order for Medifast to work as it is supposed to, your body needs to go into ketosis or fat burning mode. But some of the requirements that will make this happen is that your body gets enough fuel from protein instead of sugar and carbohydrates.

Skipping lean and green can delay or even thwart ketosis. Also, when you go to plan and prepare this meal, make sure that, at least initially, you’re not using high-glycemic vegetables like corn or sugar snap peas. You will need to limit sugars to get into ketosis. Once you’re there (which you can check with ketone strips), it’s much easier to maintain this state once you’re in it than to return once you’re out (or unable to get in). Once you’re safely burning fat, you can usually relax your standards a bit.

Buy in bulk and never pay full price: When I first started Medifast, my idea was to make it easy. I was reluctant to commit. So basically I would go online and make several small orders. This really added up in terms of cost. By the time it was all said and done, you were probably spending about twice as much as you would have needed to if you had gone ahead and ordered a bundle. The packages not only reduce the cost per meal, but also allow you to use the coupons that will often save you around 20 percent of your order and/or give you a significant amount of free food.

Learn from those who have already had success with Medifast: I’ll admit that one thing that convinced me to choose Medifast over Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig was the fact that I didn’t have to “weigh myself” to strangers or see a counselor. I just didn’t want to have to do this. But, even if you’re private like me, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take advantage of the free resources the website offers. They have free advice and some of the most successful dieters have blogs where they share their experiences and secrets. Learning some of the ins and outs of the diet can save you a lot of time and experimentation.