Slim-Fast and Medifast are diets for weight loss whose meal plans combine the company's own products with food you prepare yourself. Both diets restrict calories to help you lose weight, but Medifast is a more extreme diet for rapid weight loss, and you should only do it with your doctor's approval. Before starting any new diet, gather information about it and discuss it with your doctor.
Meal Plan
On both diet programs, you can eat six times per day. The name of the Slim-Fast program is 3-2-1, and Medifast uses its 5 & 1 Plan. Each day on Slim-Fast, you eat one meal, two meal replacement Slim-Fast meal bars or shakes and three 100-calorie snacks from Slim-Fast snack bars or healthy foods, such as nuts, fruit or vegetables. The 5 & 1 plan includes five Medifast meals or shakes and one Lean and Green Meal, made from fresh foods.
Diet Products
You can eat up to five diet products per day on Slim-Fast and Medifast. Slim-Fast has 100-calorie snack bars, meal-replacement bars and shakes that have about 180 to 200 calories each. Medifast offers a greater variety than Slim-Fast, and some of the options for Medifast meals are scrambled eggs, oatmeal, brownies and pretzels. Up to three of your five daily Medifast meals can be Medifast shakes with different features, such as extra protein, antioxidants or appetite-suppressing ingredients. Slim-Fast and Medifast products are fortified with vitamins and minerals.
Regular Food
Your single daily meal is a Slim-Fast balanced meal or a Medifast Lean and Green Meal. The meals have lean protein, such as chicken, fish or egg whites, and vegetables, such as broccoli, lettuce or eggplant. The Slim-Fast meal also includes starch, such as potatoes or whole-grain bread, and the meal provides 500 calories, compared to the Medifast Lean and Green Meal with about 300 calories. You can also have small servings of healthy fats and condiments if you are on Medifast.
Support
You can register for a free Slim-Fast account, or join the Medifast online community once you order a Medifast plan. Both sites offer tools for setting goals, creating meal plans and tracking progress, as well as group forums for communicating with other dieters to offer and receive support and advice. Medifast has counselors and dietitians to make recommendations and help you solve problems that you may encounter while you are following Medifast.
Transition to Maintenance
Both Slim-Fast and Medifast can help you lose weight, but only Medifast offers a specific set of steps for making change from losing weight to maintaining weight. The Medifast Transition Plan is a guide for adding normal foods back into your diet, over the course of eight to 16 weeks, so that you can prevent yourself from regaining the weight after you go off the 5 & 1 Plan. Slim-Fast does not provide detailed instructions for going off the 3-2-1 plan.
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