The Approach

The Jenny Craig Diet System places maximum emphasis on personal interaction. You are required to sign up to their program for a fee (usually about $20), and are assigned a personal instructor. One-on-one meetings are regularly held, and your instructor contacts you often through phone calls to check your progress.

There are no personal interaction plans with the Medifast program. Signing up to their website is free, and you are allowed online access to qualified health and nutrition experts, who can answer any queries you might have.
In theory, the Jenny Craig system is better for people who have the time to visit a personal counselor and require that extra motivation. However, these counselors are not trained professionals. Most of them earn a substantial portion of their incomes by selling you branded their diet products.

The Diet

The Jenny Craig Diet provides you with a range of 75 frozen foods that can be used as meal substitutes. Dieters are allowed 3 meals and 1 snack per day, and each meal must be supplemented with other recommended foods, such as fruits and vegetables.

Medifast follows a 5 & 1 Diet Plan, which allows you 5 pre-packaged meals in a day, along with 1 ‘Lean & Green Meal’ that you must prepare yourself. There are about 70 low- calorie, low-fat meal replacement options offered by Medifast that have an optimal blend of proteins, vitamins, carbohydrates, fiber, essential minerals, and special nutritional supplements. Diet plans are available for vegetarians, people of all ages, and dieters with medical conditions and allergies.

When comparing the 2 plans, it is evident that the Jenny Craig Diet is less flexible. Options are only available for teens, seniors, and people with Type 2 Diabetes. There are no vegan-friendly options, and this might not be a suitable plan for people with allergies or other medical conditions. Many products are heavily processed and are laden with salt and preservatives. (The average meal contains 2000 – 4000 mg salt). Jenny Craig meals may be low-calorie, but they can also be low on nutritional content.

Pricing

The Medifast System will cost you approximately $11 per day. There are no other costs associated with this program. There is also a money back guarantee for unopened food packets, and you are allowed to exchange items on the menu.
The Jenny Craig Diet is much more expensive and may cost up to $600 per month. There are no exchanges or refunds available. You will also have to spend more money for other products such as fitness or dieting videos.

The Bottom Line

If you are looking to lose a substantial amount of weight quickly, the Medifast plan may be more suited to your needs. It offers significant advantages in terms of cost-effectiveness and the nutritional content of the meals provided.

The 5 & 1 Plan

At the heart of this Diet program is the 5 & 1 Plan. You are allowed to consume 6 meals a day that offers you a total daily caloric intake of 800 – 1000 calories. Of these meals, 5 are Medifast meals. There are about 70 different options available on the Medifast menu at present including oatmeal, chili, shakes, puddings, soups, pancakes, and brownies. Your sixth meal of the day is referred to as a Lean & Green Meal, which you must prepare.

Lean Meal Options

You are allowed to consume between 5 -7 ounces of lean meat protein everyday. This is further broken down into 3 categories ‘Lean’, ‘Leaner’, and ‘Leanest’.

‘Lean’ Protein includes salmon, lean cuts of dark meat, such as lamb or beef, pork chops, 98% lean ground meat, soft tofu (15oz.) or whole eggs. You are allowed to consume 5 oz. of ‘Lean’ protein for your meal.

‘Leaner’ Protein options include white meat Turkey, trout, swordfish, 99% lean ground meat, skinless chicken breast, pork tenderloin, or Firm Tofu (15oz.). You are allowed to consume 6 oz. of ‘Leaner’ protein along with 1 serving of healthy unsaturated fats.

‘Leanest’ Protein includes crab, lobster, shrimp, flounder, cod, grouper, venison, tilapia, or egg whites. You may consume 7 oz. of the ‘Leanest’ protein with 2 servings of healthy unsaturated fats.

Unsaturated fats may include salad dressing, olives, olive oil, flaxseed oil, walnut oil, or margarine.

Green Meal Options

The Medifast Diet Plan encourages dieters to include fresh, green, non-starchy vegetables as part of their diet. As part of your Lean & Green Meal you are required to consume 3 servings of fresh vegetables. Green options are broken up into 3 categories based on their carbohydrate content.

Lower Carbohydrate – This option includes 1 Cup of lettuce, spinach (fresh/raw), watercress, or collards. Alternatively ½ Cup of celery, cucumber, mustard greens, endive, white mushrooms, raw jalapeno, radishes or sprouts.

Medium Carbohydrate (½ Cup) – This includes portabella mushrooms, asparagus, eggplant, cauliflower, eggplant, cabbage, cooked spinach, zucchini, fennel bulb, and kale.

High Carbohydrate (½ Cup) – Raw scallions, red tomatoes, okra, peppers, kohlrabi, hearts of palm, green/wax beans, cooked mustard greens or collards, red cabbage, broccoli, crookneck or straightneck squash, spaghetti squash, and cooked Swiss chard.

Some Dieting Tips

• If you are having trouble losing weight stick to the lower carbohydrate vegetables.
• Restrict your daily carbohydrate intake to 80-85 grams to maximize the fat burning stage.
• During the initial weight loss phase, avoid high-carb vegetables such as peas, onions, corn, carrots, Brussels sprouts, and endame.
• Limit consumption of caffeinated beverages to 3 servings a day.
• Alcohol, dairy, sweets, fruits, and grains should be avoided.
• Consume 64 ounces of zero-calorie liquids during the day.

It is always good to experiment with food, so here are some tips for experimenting with Medifast plans, so that the Diet program works well for you. Firstly, whenever you are having puddings or milk shakes for that matter, you are given the freedom to add your personal touch. You can chill them in the refrigerator for some time, to make it taste better. When you chill the shakes, you will realize that they will thicken up a bit. So you can add some sugar free syrups to your shake to water it down a little. It will give a new dimension to the taste of the shake. It tends to get a little boring having the same flavors again and again, so you are free to top you shakes and puddings with different syrups like chocolate, strawberry, butterscotch and so on, as well as toppings like nuts.

The next tip that you should follow, is to never skip your Lean and Green meal. Whenever you get cooked tasty food easily, you tend to get lazy. These meals need hardly any time to prepare, and that is probably why you decide to have snack instead of your recommended lean and green meal. If the Medifast plan is supposed to function well, your body needs to start burning fat quickly. Hence your body needs a lot of proteins instead of simple sugar and carbohydrates. If you skip your lean and green meal, the metabolism will slow down, thus delaying the fat burning process.

Besides this you should also exercise regularly. Otherwise all the calories will start accumulating, and you will remain fat. This is particularly true for those people who are living a sedentary lifestyle. Eating low calorie food does not ensure weight loss. Your body needs to burn more calories than it takes in, so that you lose weight.

Then there are a number of things, which you must strictly avoid while you are on the Medifast diet plan. Avoid eating whenever you get hunger pangs. If the meals are low fat, it doesn’t mean that you are allowed to binge daily. You need to exercise some control on your eating habits. You can snack on some healthy nuts if you want, or you can squeeze some lemon in water and drink it up. These will help you fill your stomach. All in all, Medifast plan cannot magically make you lose weight. You need to put in some effort too, and only then will you see the great results.

People suffering from Diabetes have certain needs and requirements, and they also need to lose the extra pounds in order keep diabetes under check. Medifast offers two types of plans to its customers. The first is the Enhanced 4 week Package, and the second is a 4 week package.

The normal 4 week package comprises of forty two milkshakes in flavors like banana, chocolate, strawberry and so on. Twenty different types of oatmeal which includes some exotic flavors which you will be tempted to try out, a wide variety of juices; forty two chocolate bars in some amazing flavors include Lemon Meringue crunch, peanut butter crunch, and many more. It also twenty eight different types of soups including normal tomato soup and fancy soups like cream of broccoli, beef vegetable stew to name a few. You also get three bonus meals free of cost.

The Enhanced 4 week diabetes package comprises of all the above mentioned meals. However, this plan is called the enhanced plan for a reason. It includes 60 soft gels along with a Super Omega 3 Bottle. Super Omega 3 is a must have for those suffering from diabetes. It includes all the good fats, as well as important fatty acids, which facilitate the functioning of your body, especially your heart.

The Medifast diet plan for diabetics is possibly the best diet plan available. You can easily lose to about twenty pounds, and that translates to about three to four pounds per week. All the meals are cooked in best quality ingredients and in a healthy manner. The meals are rich in proteins, vitamins and calcium, and this facilitates your overall health. The foods also contain the essential minerals as well as fibers, which help in the process of digestion.

Chromium and Biotin are two ingredients which help in controlling blood sugar to a large extent. These two ingredients are available in good quantities in the Medifast meals. The Medifast diet plan has been designed in such a way that it fills your stomach completely, so that you wouldn’t have to eat at odd times. This ensures that your sugar levels don’t suddenly increase. The Medifast plan is an ideal plan for diabetics, and you should start following it to ensure that you live a healthy life.

You can order breakfast, lunch dinner as well as snacks for yourself. You have options like healthy milkshakes, puddings, desserts, chocolate bars, hot and cold beverages, salads, soup and the list is endless. It hardly takes a few minutes to microwave them, and you can soon enjoy a piping hot meal at the comfort of your own house. All the meals are separately packed, and their names are printed on the covers. Besides this, you can get additional information about the meals like the nutritional content, fat level, carbohydrates and many such details on their official website.

However, a Medifast meal cannot guarantee success if you do not exercise some control on your own eating habits. The portions of a Medifast meal are large enough to fill your stomach. Sometimes, if you are feeling too hungry, you can always have some snacks. But then there are some things that you must strictly avoid while on a Medifast Diet.

Firstly stay off foods that are low in nutritional content but really high in calories. These foods can end up disturbing your digestive system, and thus create unnecessary problems. You should avoid juices that are acidic in nature. These include orange juice, lime juice and so on. Besides this, strictly stay away from alcohol, hot and cold beverages with caffeine contents in them, whole full fat milk, and cold drinks. You should also stay away from chocolates, ice cream and many such things. You are not required to completely keep away from dessert. You can always order desserts from the wide array of Medifast desserts that are available. Avoid eating chewing gum, sweetened cereal, dried fruits like cashew nuts, pop corn, dried meats, fried foodstuffs and those foodstuffs that are cooked in saturated fats.

You should also avoid overeating. Divide your meals into portions, and chew your meal properly. Drink a glass of water after your meal. It makes you feel full, thus reducing the chances of you overeating. Always eat food which is food rich in proteins and fiber. Fibers ensure that your food gets digested well. Always drink as much water as you can. You may have heard about this time and again, but it is high time you started following this rule. You shouldn’t drink any liquid right before your meal. If you do so, you won’t feel like eating food, and later you might end up eating some unhealthy snack. So keep these tips in mind, and lose weight while following the Medifast diet plan.

If you subscribe to the 5 Plus 1 Medifast diet plan for one week’s food supply, it will set you back by $300 approximately. There are separate diet plans for gout patients, patients who have undergone weight loss surgery, seniors, teens, new mums and vegetarians. Dieters on the Medifast weight loss diet plans also have access to exercise guides, online communities, online help as well as help from personal trainers and registered dieticians.

How does it work?

People on the Medifast diet plan are put on pre packed packages of carefully portioned meals which are protein rich, but contain low carbs. This drastically minimizes the calorie intake and makes weight loss possible. However, dieters don’t suffer from hunger pangs and feel full, even on this low calorie diet plan because the meal replacement bases are made out of whey protein and soy.

Weight watchers on the Medifast diet eat low carb foods and their daily calorie intake is restricted to 800 or 1000 calories. This ensures that dieters lose a minimum of two to five pounds per week without losing much muscle mass. People who are extremely overweight often lose up to 20 pounds in the 1st 7 days of the Medifast diet plan.

The advantage of the Medifast diet plan is that weight watchers don’t have to cook or portion out or purchase or measure their food, thus eliminating all kinds of guesswork and consumption of hidden calories. Several independent agencies have clinically tested this weight loss plan in different ways and have vetted it for its superior efficacy. The pre packaged food coming with the Medifast diet plan is highly nutritious, extremely fulfilling and very yummy indeed. Thus dieters find it easier to stick to this delicious tasting diet plan.

Is it safe?

The Medifast diet plan has been successful and popular for the past 25 years and it is regarded as effective and safe by doctors and dieticians. However, because this is a drastic weight loss diet plan, only severely obese people should go on it for whom the only option left is either surgical reduction of fat or this diet. Obese individuals suffering from different types of obesity issues and ailments can also opt for the Medifast diet plan. However it should be accompanied by medical supervision.

Low Intensity Exercises

Based on your weight in pounds, you will burn an average of 2.5 calories every minute by performing low intensity exercises such as washing the car or the dog, painting, walking, all kinds of vigorous housework and active gardening duties. You should perform these low intensity exercises thrice or 4 times a week for a minimum of 20 minutes per day.

Medium Intensity Exercises

Those capable of medium intensity exercises that work large muscle groups shed an average of 7.5 calories every minute. Some medium intensity exercises are hiking, different forms of vigorous dancing, sports like swimming, basketball, tennis, cycling and brisk walking. Obese individuals comfortable with low intensity exercises should graduate to these medium intensity exercises. These should be performed for 20 – 60 minutes daily, four to five times a week.

High Intensity Exercises

With high intensity exercises, which are not recommended for beginners, you can burn an average of 14.3 calories every minute based on your body weight in pounds. Combine medium intensity exercises with small amounts of high intensity exercises such as weight training, strength or resistance training, jumping rope, spinning, high level aerobics exercise, briskly climbing stairs, running and so on. But limit your exercises to four or five times per week.

Walking

Those performing intense workouts should warm up with 10 minutes of free hand exercises and cool down after completion of exercise routine. Stretching without bouncing is recommended. Medifast weight loss diet plans also recommend 12 week walking programs lasting at least 25 minutes each day. Walk briskly and regularly, sticking to a consistent schedule, start slow and then work your way up by increasing the daily steps. Know your limitations, drink plenty of water, follow the cool down and warm up procedure and definitely take your time without hurrying or hurting yourself. Increase the magnitude of walking by climbing stairs whenever possible and by walking down to the farthest parking spot or the farthest restroom. Use every opportunity to walk as much as you can, even if it means walking down to the grocery store or ATM or post office.

Lifestyle Exercises

Whenever you are active, you lose a few calories. This means walking down to the restroom, power walking during office lunch break, playing with kids or with the dog, doing all kinds of active household chores, engaging in activities in the park with neighbors or spouse and so on.

Strength Training

Weight lifting, strength training and resistance training kick start your metabolism, burn off greater numbers of calories, improve posture, maximize bone density and physical strength and tone muscles. Get into a strength training routine thrice or twice a week taking care to work out all the major muscle groups.

You don’t need to portion out or cook the food or measure the calories, which eliminates all kinds of guesswork. But a one week supply of pre packaged and prepared Medifast diet food is extremely expensive and can cost upwards of $300. That is why, dieters are always in search of Medifast diet discount coupons that can bring down this exorbitant price and allow them to save some money, while still losing weight.

How does a Medifast coupon allow you to save money?

By using online discount coupons for Medifast diet plans, you can get a whole week’s supply of pre packaged food completely for free when you order 4 weeks’ food supply. And then there are other Medifast diet rebates and free shipping codes which will reduce shipping charges and save you some money when your food is delivered to your door step.

With the numerous online promotional discount coupons for Medifast, you can save money on a huge variety of Medifast food products and services. With the meal replacement online coupons, you can save money on different varieties of lip smacking meal replacement soups, bars, shakes and so on. The free diet coupons can be used to purchase scrambled egg meals, oatmeal and puddings at discounted rates. Because of this delectable variety and lip smacking taste of the food, it is difficult to get bored with Medifast diet food. You can be assured that these are diet foods minus the tastelessness associated with other diet food products.

How to get access to Medifast coupons?

It is very simple actually. Just switch on the internet, type in the keywords ‘Medifast diet discount coupons’ in the search engine and search through the options listed in the results page. There are hundreds of sites which offer discount coupons on the different Medifast diet plans. Many of these coupons are annual and year based, for example, this year you will get the 2011 Medifast discount coupons. From January onwards, you can redeem the 2012 coupons. While other coupons are monthly and expire at the end of each month. Some of these discount Medifast coupons offer a limited period $50 discount on a purchase of Medifast plan worth $275 or more.

Others offer a free trial run for the 1st one week along with a 100% money back guarantee if dissatisfied. All you have to do is click on given links to take a look at the offer and redeem the discount coupon by typing in the particular promotional code or discount code during checkout.

But truth be told, there is a vast difference between them. Take Oatmeal for example. Oatmeal, frankly does not taste great, that is why there are a number of oatmeal variations available in the market. You can have apple cinnamon oatmeal, brown sugar oatmeal, blueberry oatmeal, peach oatmeal and so and so forth. These flavors are available in both the Medifast diet oatmeal as well as your regular oatmeal. So what is the difference? Well the difference lies in the nutrient level of both these products. Medifast products are low in fat and carbohydrates but very high in proteins, vitamins and essential minerals.

The Medifast Oatmeal comprises of a hundred and fifteen calories. It contains 16 grams of carbohydrates, and only 1.5 grams of fat. Its levels of sugar are also quite low. It contains just two grams of sugar. Now the rest of the calories are obtained from fibers and proteins, as well as vitamins and minerals. At least thirty percent of oatmeal comprises of them. It contains about five grams of fibers and eleven grams of proteins.
When you look at the normal oatmeal, you will find that it comprises of only hundred and thirty calories and this is not at all bad. But then when you will look at the fat, carbohydrates and sugar levels, you will be shocked. It contains about two grams of fat, twelve grams of sugar and twenty seven grams carbohydrates. The protein content is really low along with the levels of fiber.

Additional carbohydrates, sugar and fats lead to increase and weight, and also other complications in the future. On the other hand, proteins and fibers ensure that your body functions to its optimum levels. So make an informed and healthy choice, and see how you lose weight quickly.

The Medifast Plan aims to provide eight hundred to nine hundred calories daily. Besides this, you are required to make one Lean and Green Meal for yourself, to make up for the deficient calories. Medifast provided five meals for one day. In case of New Lifestyle Diet, men consume approximately one thousand two hundred calories, whereas women consume one thousand and eighty calories. Under this program, women are asked to consume seven meals, whereas men are asked to consume eight meals, along with one meal which they are asked to prepare themselves.

Both these companies have great telephone customer service, and the details of their diet plans are available on their official sites. Both these diet programs have different meal plans for people suffering from type two diabetes, and Medifast has a special plan for people over the age of seventy. Bothe these diet plans claim to help you lose about twenty pounds in thirty days, with an average of four to five pounds per week.

The Medifast products include snacks, soups, puddings, shakes, and so on. You can have these meals, whenever you feel like, but you shouldn’t exceed more than five meals per day. The Medifast shakes have about hundred calories, and are supplemented with vitamins, Proteins and minerals. The New Lifestyle diet comprises of drinks, snacks, puddings and shakes, and this program asks the customer to consume some food supplements. So this was in brief about Meidfast and New Lifestyle Diets.