Good. I was surprised how much cheaper they were than New Hope and that worked out well for me! I have spent so much this spring on garden stuff and just on stuff in 'regular life' so to speak. Hub lost 75 pounds on Medifast since 1/3/13 and that has meant Medifast bills, grocery bills (all fresh veggies) and a new wardrobe including suits. Auto repair and house appliance repair etc. Now I will sell the extra 100 sweet potatoes and leeks I got in bulk to local folk on Craig's List. I needed around 375-400 sweet potatoes but they only come in 100 and 500 breaks. What I hate is that in MN you get your stuff last and that means you get the crap at the end.

I started the diet doing a program called medifast. I would drink a shake at 6am, oatmeal at 9am, soup or tuna salad at noon, protein bar at 3pm, then 4-5 ounces of lean meat plus a vegetable serving at 6pm, then another shake at 9pm (or bedtime). All the meals except the 6pm dinner were meals I purchased from medifast, but when I transitioned off their program, I knew I wanted to lose more weight, so I pretty much eat the same things now, just with products I buy at the store. I replaced the shakes with either 8oz skim milk or 8oz lite soy milk. I replaced the oatmeal with yogurt or kashi cereal. For lunch I usually eat packaged tuna, canned chicken or lite cottage cheese, plus veggies, for the protein bar I eat different low carb low fat store bought bars. I still eat lean meat and veggies for supper. I know it may not sound like alot of food, but really I felt and still feel like I'm always eating. It's just a plan that really works for me because I pretty much never get hungry so I have much less tendancy to snack on something that I shouldn't have.

Congrats on the 46 pounds. I agree with you about the fact that we overweight types need to watch and count what we are eating, and that's a permanent thing. I just ran across the Hacker's diet, by John Walker. Not much really new in that book, but being an engineer, I could relate to his way of explaining it. Anyway, what he says is that we lack the feedback mechanism that some have to naturally control their weight. It's like being nearsighted. If you are nearsighted, you have to wear glasses. If we quit wearing glasses, we won't be able to see, and if we quit watching our weight, we will get fat again. So you accept that you will have to do things differently, make that adjustment, and move on. Here is a link that might be useful: Hacker's diet

Week II in Hi-Energy (post "Detox"): Yesterday was my "first service" visit to the Gilbert, AZ office. (Btw, the contract states you have until 7 days or within 3 days of the first service date to cancel the program, whichever comes first.) Interviewed by a counselor regarding my first week of "Detox" whom when asked admitted to no credentials relating to nutrition, dieting or any medical field. After explaining the program guide booklet and selecting my food choices for purchase ($148.69--I bought extra boxes to accomadate food choices), she administered a 10-lead electrocardiogram. I learned this is a 5 and 1 program where I eat six (6)times a day. Five (5) times with their "Medifast" food and one (1) time, i.e. dinner from my home refrigerator. Dinner, or "Lean & Green", in one sentence is basically any lean meat, e.g., fish, chicken, pork, turkey, lamb and so on. You can go meatless with eggs. The "Green" is broken down chartwise into a low, moderate and highest carb count listing from their guide. Bottom line: After listening to the counselors about taking the upcoming urine test for Ketones, studying the guide and the Medifast food boxes, the Hi-Energy program offered here in Arizona--is the very same Medifast program offered online, or what is is offered at any Medifast facility (e.g. Texas). Online, you are offered an opportunity to start a franchise or join the program. See the link: http://www.medifast1.com/index.asp and you will know "Hi-Energy." Everything is there to include the program guides and food information. However, the this rabbit hole goes even deeper. These programs work by spilling ketones, or more simply put, changing the body metabolism to primarily burning fat stores in leiu of carbohydrates. At the deepest depth of this rabbit hole--you will find Robert C. Atkins, M.D. He wrote a #1 best seller called: "Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution" 2002 latest edition for $7.99. May he rest in peace. I own this book and lost 20 pounds on the Atkins diet serveral months ago. I've kept off the weight because my girl-friend who does the cooking always has presented my dinners with lean and green! Btw, a prevailing media misconception of Atkins is that there are no carbs on this diet. Actually, the first week "limits" carbs to 20 grams to induce ketosis, and thereafter to around 40 grams per day. If you look at carb gram counts in different foods-you will notice this is an abundance of food. It's dark in this hole . . . let me get my flashlight out . . . alias Hi-Energy at $924.00 plus food, or the Atkins book at $7.99 plus the frig and sensible grocery shopping? Here is a link that might be useful: Medifast is Hi-Energy