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I took 4 Dark Chocolate anti-oxidant medifast shakes plus one medifast soup.

This is a very low calorie, very low fat/carb diet.

I also ate pickles and ‘better than bullion’ for the diabetes correction/weight loss phase.

Now that I’m trying to maintain my weight, I’ve added 2 oz of cheese, a can of kippers or fry up 1/4 - 1/2 pound of Black Angus beef. (In reality, I eat all the fish and beef that i want, I just rarely want more than 1/2 pound of meat a day.) I can eat chicken, but it’s not appealing to me at the moment.

When I add the beef, fish and cheese, the diet goes from 500 calories a day to up to 1000 calories a day and is better for maintaining and not so good for weight-loss. I do lose with this, but much slower.

I lost 25 pounds in 2 months and have been maintaining my weight pretty well (I did lose another 5 pounds - for a total 30 pound loss, but I wasn’t trying) for the the last month. I eat this maintenance diet for 5 days a week, then eat whatever the hell I want for two. (This give me an opportunity to go out to dinner or to enjoy a pizza party with my kids)

I now have normal blood sugars and I’m finding that I’m not gaining as easily as I used to on my ‘pig-out’ days. (So much for the ‘starvation mode’ hypothesis) I’ve gone from a size 20 jean to a size 12 and now the 12’s are getting lose.

I’m still dealing with the long-term side effects of PCOS/pre-diabetes, but that’s because I drank the wrong medifast shakes for the first two months. (Soy compounds those problems. The anti-oxidant shakes are whey-based.) I just switched to the correct shakes 3 weeks ago and I’m beginning to see an improvement.

(If anyone is interested, I’ll get into the details of how soy can cause symptoms of PCOS to get worse in pre-menopausal women)

This diet is not dangerous. You’ve getting all of your minerals and vitamins and it’s a heck of a lot better than starvation or fasting. The shakes even have pro-biotics and fiber.

I keep seeing the ‘warnings’ not to eat a very low calorie diet without a drs supervision, but I can’t see how it can hurt someone to go without food (while taking supplements) for a couple of months. Our bodies are designed to manage famine conditions. Heck, the complete *lack* of famine conditions is what causes the disease state of Type 2 diabetes in the first place. (Eating 500 calories a day for longer than 2 months IS a problem. We *need* fat in our diets and the 4 shakes/1 soup regimen doesn’t have enough fat.)