Now, when you’re doing Medifast, you are to eat 6 small meals. Five of them will be the packaged diet meals that are shipped to you. They require hardly any work on your part. However, while they’re convenient, it’s not recommended that you only eat these prepackaged meals. Instead, you’re asked to prepare a “lean and green meal” made up of fresh vegetables and proteins once daily.

A lot of people assume that this meal must be eaten for dinner. While this is the most common practice, nothing says you HAVE to eat your main meal at dinner. You can just as easily have it for lunch and enjoy it in a restaurant. As long as you make the best selections, it will work fine and won’t affect your dieting results.

When it comes to selecting the lean and green meal at a restaurant, the requirements are rather simple. For example, if you have pork, lamb or beef, you can eat 5 ounces of it. If you choose to eat chicken, fish or turkey, you’re allowed to have as much as 7 ounces. Your serving size should be around the size of a deck of cards.  Now most restaurant portions are quite a bit larger than that, so I recommend that you cut your lean portion in half as soon as it is set before you and then just take the rest home with you for your next lean & green meal.

You’re also allowed to have 3 servings of vegetables along with your protein. You may decide to add a salad and green beans, but be sure to follow the instructions that come along with your meals. Stay away from junk food while eating out but if you choose healthy options available in most restaurants, you’ll be fine.

Don’t give in to the temptation of heavy sauces or gravies, and always get your salad dressing separately. Fast food is even possible if you choose wisely. For example, you can get grilled chicken, green beans and a small salad at many fast food restaurants. That’s a sound choice. Another great example is a lean stir fry.

There will be times that you may have to cheat just a bit. For example, quite a few fast food places have carrots as an option instead of fries. While carrots aren’t ideal for the lean & green, they are certainly preferable to French fries! So don’t worry about it too much; because for the most part, you’re going to be eating fewer calories and carbs than you normally eat when everything is taken into consideration. Everybody cheats at some point. You just need to get started again as soon as possible and forget about it. Most people blow their diet by thinking that cheating once means they should just fall off the wagon completely. But if you stick to the plan, that single cheat won’t make any real difference at all. Just keep at it!

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Any time you incorporate a regular exercise program with your Medifast program, you significantly increase your chances of reaching your weight loss goals in a reasonable time.

However, if you’re a rather sedentary person at the moment, they recommend that you wait at least three weeks after you begin the Medifast 5 and 1 Plan before you start a regular exercise regimen. If you’re already exercising, it’s recommended that you cut back on your current regimen by half during the first three weeks on the 5 and 1 Plan. Then you can build it back to where you were gradually.

Among the many things that exercise helps, besides staying in shape and trim, are preventing chronic diseases like heart, diabetes and strokes, decreasing high blood pressure, cutting back on stress, strengthening bones, muscles and joints, improving metabolism and energy level, staving off depression, strengthening the immune system, and helping to prevent osteoporosis. The three types of exercise that are recommended to stay healthy are aerobic exercise, lifestyle exercise and strength training.

Aerobic exercise works to strengthen the heart and lungs. Lifestyle exercise means things you do every day that can be used as exercise like walking your pet, using stairs instead of an elevator and parking further from your destination than you need to. Strength training will help your metabolism increase, which burns more calories, as well as tones your muscles.

There is a Medifast Exercise Guide that you can get that will offer tips on the best way to exercise, when to do it, and type of exercises to do. You will be introduced to the Medifast Walking Program, which is a 12 week walking program targeted at both beginners and veterans of exercise. You will also be shown how to incorporate a regular workout schedule into the rest of your activities.

As with any new physical activity, talk to your doctor before you start to be sure the program is safe enough for you. When you get the green light, start slowly and increase everything gradually. That’s how it will all work together for your greater good.

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The main reason that frozen dinners aren’t really appropriate for use as a lean and green meal is because of the way most frozen dinners are processed, they have too much sodium. Often, they don’t have enough protein either. But sodium aside, I thin even if you were to look long and hard at every frozen meal at your grocery store, you would have a hard time finding something suitable to match the ingredients of your lean and green.

Remember, your lean and green meal is pretty simple. It’s 5 to 7 ounces of lean protein, two cups of salad and 1/2 cup to 1 1/2 cups of raw or cooked vegetables. You can check the list of allowed foods on Medifast to get a better idea, but basically most frozen meals have all kinds of additional ingredients that you shouldn’t be eating (mostly fat) and not enough of what you need (protein and healthy carbs).

You’ll actually find that it would be pretty difficult to find a frozen dinner that contained as much protein as you need to eat. Medifast’s suggested serving is quite generous. You would probably need two frozen dinners to even get close to the right quantity of lean protein.

Now this isn’t to say that you can’t use frozen foods in your lean & green meals. You definitely can! Just avoid the the stuff that is packaged as “dinners” or “meals” and stick to frozen foods that are just packaged single ingredients.

There’s nothing wrong with most frozen meats or frozen vegetables. Just keep an eye on the sodium content and beware of any extra fats. So a bag of frozen broccoli or a block of frozen spinach is fine, but you wouldn’t want to get get frozen broccoli & cheese or frozen creamed spinach.

Plain frozen meats, fish or seafood is fine as well. So try some frozen plain salmon, or fish filets that are already grilled and just need to be reheated. How about some frozen shrimp? Frozen turkey burgers are great too. I’ve even seen frozen buffalo burgers at supermarkets like Whole Foods so you might want to give those a try as buffalo is on the Medifast lean meats list too.

For meatless options, Boca burgers are in the freezer aisle and they have lots of varieties and they are also on the approved Medifast list. There’s also Morningstar Farms products or GardenBurger patties. Any of their options are acceptable if the carb serving is under 6 grams. Even if you aren’t vegetarian, you should try some of these options. They are all quite tasty and quick to heat and serve.

Add some bagged salad greens to your shopping cart and you should easily be able to come up with Medifast lean & green meals that are far tastier than the packaged frozen dinners, but just as fast to heat and serve.

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The Medifast products are the primary foods that you’ll be eating each day. So you don’t need to put a lot of thought into those. Just pick your five Medifast meals and you’re all set. The question of what’s allowed comes up when it is time to think about your lean and green meal. Since you prepare this yourself at home, you’ll need to do some grocery shopping. Naturally you want to know what’s on the shopping list.

As the name of the meal, lean and green, hints, you’ll be picking up lean protein and lots of vegetables. So let’s take a look at each side of the plate.

Lean Protein

The lean part of your meal consists of lean protein. You have both meat and vegetarian options here. Portion sizes depend on the fat content of your selected protein. So if you choose certain types of fish, you can have 7 ounces, but beef or pork choices will limit you to 5 ounces. Poultry falls right in the middle at 6 ounces. For vegetarian options, the choices range from 14 egg whites or 3 whole eggs, with the whole eggs clearly containing more fat. Other vegetarian options include items like Boca Burgers, Morningstar Farms patties and Tofu.

The Green Portion

The green side of your plate is made up of leafy green vegetables and other colorful veggies. Eliminated are foods like potatoes, corn, carrots and other high carb vegetables. Serving sizes, for your greens, are determined by carbohydrate level. So, for example, you can have a 1 cup serving of of nearly all leafy greens such as lettuce or spinach, but only a 1/2 cup serving of cauliflower or asparagus. Your entire green serving is three servings, keeping the portion restrictions in mind. So you could have three cups of leafy greens, or one cup of leafy greens and a 1/2 cup of portabella mushrooms and a 1/2 cup of peppers to make a nice, colorful salad.

Additional Fats

Finally, Medifast also adds some additional fats to your daily diet and the amount depends on how much fat is in the protein choices that you made. Fats are added because some vitamins and minerals are fat-soluble only, so fats are an important part of a healthy diet. For your fat serving, you get to choose from items such as black olives, low carb salad dressing, olive oil, canola oil and even trans-fat free margarine.

As you can see the main items that are eliminated from the Medifast diet are white flour and other high carbohydrate foods like rice and potatoes, etc. But overall you have quite a variety of allowable foods on Medifast and so you should be able to maintain some variety in your lean and green meals without feeling deprived.

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Since Medifast works by limiting carbs as well as calories, it is important to pay attention to the carbohydrates in the “green” part of your Lean & Green meal. So some of the really starchy, carb-rich veggies aren’t allowed while you are in the weight loss phase of the plan. These no-no’s include potatoes, carrots and corn. You probably won’t be too surprised at that list, but would it surprise you to know that onions are excluded too? Yep, onions are pretty high in carbs. Peas and brussel sprouts are pretty high in carbs too, so be sure to exclude those as well until you hit your weight loss goals.

So what is allowed?

Well, you can start with all kinds of salad greens. You can have butterhead, iceberg and romaine lettuce. In fact, enjoy any lettuce that you find at your grocer. Try picking up some of the different mixes of salad greens available for some variety, such as the Spring mix. Since you can have three vegetables servings with each meal, I like to have two cups of salad and then another higher carb vegetable such as a 1/2 cup of broccoli or tomato to round things out.

Some other favorite veggies I like to eat with my lean & green meal are asparagus; summer or winter squash and all kinds of mushrooms. Oh, and don’t forget spinach, zucchini and cauliflower.

I find the best thing to do, so I’m getting a variety of vegetables every week, is to pack the list of Medifast approved vegetables in my purse. This way when I go shopping each week, I can pull the list out while I’m in the Vegetable aisle and just let my eyes pick out the nicest looking veggies to add to my cart. And whatever vegetables don’t end up in salads, I’ll lightly steam or roast. Pick up a salad dressing spritzer made with olive oil and use that to lightly spritz veggies for roasting for a delicious flavor that adds negligible calories.

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Medifast has been around for over 20 years and the doctors and nutritionists who have formulated the diet know what works. So it’s important that when you get your first Medifast order, that you read the booklet that comes with it and follow the plan as written. I’m going to cover the most important parts of this plan in the next few tips.

2. Eat all of your Medifast meals

Medifast is a very low calorie diet plan, so it is important that you don’t skip any of your meals — otherwise you may not be getting enough calories and nutrients each day. And when you eat your five Medifast meals each day, you’ll have a much easier time combatting cravings for foods you shouldn’t be eating. In fact, you may find you have no cravings at all after a few days.

3. Eat Your Lean & Green Meal

I’ve seen some folks decide that if they can lose weight fast eating 5 Medifast meals and the Lean & Green meal every day, they can lose weight faster eating 6 Medifast meals and eliminating the Lean & Green Meal. But that isn’t such a great idea.

The lean & green meal is an important part of the plan. It provides a significant amount of your daily protein and fat, as well as fiber from the vegetables you’ll be eating. This is important in making sure you stay regular. The most common complaint about Medifast that I’ve seen is constipation and the lean & green meal will help keep this at bay.

The lean & green meal also provides an important thing that helps most people keep committed to their diet: satiety. Satiety is that sense of fullness and contentment you get after eating. And it is an important part of making sure that we stick to our plans.

4. No more than one Medifast bar per day

The Medifast bars are quite tasty. In fact, I think they may be a little bit too tasty as I would happily eat several of them every day. But the folks at Medifast limit them to one per day. The reason they do so is that eating more than 1 Medifast bar each day will increase the number of carbs you are getting each day. And reducing your carbs is important to keeping your appetite in check.

Also, my own experience with the Medifast bars is that they tend to set off my sweet tooth and make me crave other sweets. So by eating more than one per day, they can make it harder to stick to your plan. In fact, some Medifast dieters find it best to not use the bars in their plan at all, preferring to stick to the shakes, oatmeal and other items. So if you find that using the Medifast bars increases your cravings for sweets, you can try cutting them out.

I think if you stick to these tips, you’ll have a pretty easy time losing weight with Medifast and you will reach your goals. Just remember that the best way to stick to Medifast is to follow the plan exactly. Sometimes it might seem a little boring, but the rewards feel really great.

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Medifast has a couple of different products that are designated as snacks and not a meal — these are the Soy Crisps and the Crackers.

Now the soy crisps I find quite tasty. They come in three flavors — apple cinnamon, ranch and white cheddar. I’ve tried both the ranch and the white cheddar and love them. Just be careful that you only eat one bag at a time! Maybe they are a little bit too good??

Aside from the soy crisps, there are also the Medifast crackers. These come in multi-grain or garden vegetable flavors. I personally find them to be mostly tasteless, but they aren’t too bad when added to the Medifast soups. Sometimes you just need a little crunch.

For snacks you don’t have to order from Medifast, you have your choice of the following:

• 3 celery sticks
• 1/2 cup sugar free gelatin
• 1 sugar free popsicle
• 2 dill pickle spears
• up to 3 pieces of sugar free gum or mints

Of these, I find the dill pickles to be the most satisfying. They have a nice crunch and they tide me over pretty well to my next meal without making me feel like I just want to keep munching away. If you like celery, that will probably work just as well. I’m not a fan of celery myself though.

Just keep in mind, that regardless of whether your snack is provided by Medifast, or comes from the list of approved snacks — you are only allowed one snack serving per day.

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One of the things that many people have a difficult time with, however, is coming up with menu ideas for the Medifast lean and green meal. If you use this meal properly, however, it can help to keep you focused on the meal plan and also give you the options that you need to be able to have dinner out or to eat lunch with a client without deviating from the Medifast menu itself. If you are having a difficult time coming up with lean and Green meals, here are some ideas that should spark some creativity on your part.

Medifast Lean and Green Meal Ideas

Because each of the lean and Green meals consist of a lean protein and a vegetable, you really have a wide variety of choices for your Medifast menu and you don’t need to restrict your Lean and Green meal to dinner every day. Feel free to have it for breakfast one day and lunch on another.

You can do such things as omelettes in the morning that are made with one whole egg and five egg whites, a little bit of cheese and the required vegetable. For lunch on the go, you can try a tuna salad that is made from 6 ounces tuna, to hard-boiled egg whites and some diced vegetables along with low-fat mayonnaise. If you want some breaded chicken, you can try making a breading from the Medifast crackers and using it just like you would shake and bake.

Believe it or not, menu ideas for the Medifast lean and green meals whenever you are eating out are quite simple to come up with. Most restaurants have a healthy portion to their menu and will allow you to mix and match some lean meat with some vegetables. As long as you choose wisely whenever you are eating out, you will not have a difficult time putting together a meal that fits right in with the diet plan. Not only that, it will help to keep you sane so that you can continue on with the entire weight loss program.

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Have a Partner – We all know somebody who would like to lose weight and perhaps has struggled with their weight for quite some time. These individuals can be the perfect solution to you experiencing more success with your weight-loss efforts. By recruiting a partner to go through the Medifast program with you, you will be able to bounce ideas off of each other and to give each other encouragement whenever necessary. Even if you have been on the Medifast diet for quite some time, bringing a new member on board can help you out in ways that you can’t even imagine.

Doctor Things up a Bit – Yes, the Medifast diet gives you plenty of options as far as food is concerned but there are times that you may want something a little bit special. It is possible to be able to doctor the meals and the shakes up a bit and still stick within the guidelines that the diet gives you. Make sure that you familiarize yourself with every aspect of the diet and read the material carefully so that you can step outside of the box without stepping outside of the lines. One good way to do this is by adding flavoring in the form of Jell-O or Tang to the vanilla shakes.

Rotate Your Meals – It is surprising that many individuals are able to eat the same things over and over again. You might find that it is easier for you, and that you’ll stick to your weight loss program better by keeping a pretty basic Medifast menu. For example, try eating the same basic “Lean and Green” meals for a week and then switch to another set of meals the following week in order to keep things interesting. As long as it doesn’t throw you as far as the way that you feel about the diet, this can be a great benefit to anybody who is using Medifast.

If you haven’t signed up for Medifast yet, you can check out the Medifast Specials here or you can read the Diet Inspector review of Medifast to see if it is the right plan for you!