How Much Protein Do You Get Or Consume on the Medifast Diet?

At it’s core, medifast is really a low carb diet. I find that a lot of people are a bit surprised by this, myself included. I used to think that this was your basic low calorie, restrictive diet, but there’s a bit more to it than that. All of the foods are very high protein and fiber, while being relatively low in carbohydrates and sugars. This is the formula that puts your body into fat burning mode and it’s a very important part of the equation. The other day, I had someone ask me exactly how much of all of each part of the equation you take in on each day that you’re on medifast. I’ll answer this in the following article.

Sample Medifast Menu With Daily Protein Content: Probably the easiest way to make the point is to go over a typical day on medifast and then figure out the daily content from there.

Below is a sample menu with protein, fiber, sugar and calorie content (in grams.) Keep in mind that every day you’ll consume five of the diet’s smaller prepackaged meals and you’ll make one “lean and green” meal on your own. You have quite a bit of freedom with this and you can make your own choices. But, the company does give you some guidelines. They want you eating lean meat or vegetable alternatives and they want you eating three servings of vegetables that are glycemic friendly.

Food———————Protein——————-Fiber——————————Sugar—————–Calories—-

Oatmeal———————11———————–5———————————–1————————110

Chocolate Shake————-11———————–3———————————–9————————90

Chili————————-11———————–5———————————–1————————110

Crunch Bar——————12———————–4———————————–2————————110

Lean And Green Meal ——-This varies, depending upon the meal you chose.———————-

Cinnamon Chips————–4————————1———————————–3————————70

As you can see, on this typical day, we’ve consumed 49 grams of protein, 18 of fiber, 15 of sugar, and 490 calories. But, we haven’t yet figured in our lean and green yet. There are many options here and so long as you eat a small portion of meat or meat substitute and 3 servings of vegetables, you’re fine. Some people will do this with stir fry. Some will make a casserole or one pot meal. And, some will do a more traditional meal with side items. No matter how you slice it though, they want you to eat 5 – 7 ounces of meat or it’s substitute. In general, each ounce will have 7 grams of protein. So, if you had a six ounce portion, you’d consume 42 grams. Put this with the smaller diet meals you’ve already eaten and you have a grand total of 91.

This is pretty close to diets like South Beach and Atkins on which many people will aim for around 100. As you can see, you’re getting a very generous amount of protein which should have no problem getting you in fat burning mode (ketosis) unless you cheat an awful lot on your lean and green meal and load up on carbs at that time.